#Yet another Queen
"There she is. The Ant-Queen," said Jenna.
Having rested enough, we were ready to take on the boss. For now, we were simply observing her from afar.
*That thing's even bigger than the Wolf-Queen!*
Indeed, the Ant-Queen stood at almost six stories tall! And I literally mean "stood", as she is somehow able to stand on her back-most pair of legs with her ass-bulb (thorax) resting on the floor.
"See those ants flying around her? Those are her Drones. They're a little stronger than the Soldier ants we fought a moment ago. Once the match starts they'll continue to spawn every minute or so."
"Kang-kun, what is the Drone's job?"
"Well, Pepe.... They're job is to BEEEP the Queen."
"...Ew..."
"The Drones are considered a part of the Queen, and the Queen will take damage whenever you kill a Drone. So try to kill them whenever you can, since they'll also be a hindrance. On a side note, since they are considered a part of the Queen, their corpses won't dissapear until the Queen is dead."
"Then what about those eggs?" I pointed at the eggs that the Queen was currently laying.
"Yes, those are the biggest problem we'll face. Those eggs will hatch half a minute after they are layed, and those that are already laid will hatch a minute after the match starts. They're weak, but the Queen will keep laying them almost constantly throughout the entire match. Which is why I've thought of a way to get rid of them. And that is..."
All of us listened in anticipation.
"I WILL FLOOD THE CAVERN!"
"""!!!"""
"Just a little. The ants will only be a foot tall. They'll drown as long as the water is knee-deep. It will be a little harder to move, but it will be worth it."
The rest of us nodded in agreement.
"Notrem, between you and Pepe, you're the one with the higher accuracy. So, I want you to take down the Drones as soon as you can. If there aren't any Drones around, then you will attack the Queen directly."
"Alright."
"As for Kang and Pepe, just focus on the Queen. Honestly, her minions are more dangerous than she is, and she's not very mobile, but she can still shoot acid, so watch out for that."
"Yes! (Jenna-san!)"
"Combat will start the moment I cast my spell, but it might take them a few moments to find us. Take this time to get into position. If everybody's ready, let's go!"
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"Invoke Water!" whispered Jenna, as she tapped into the underground river.
The spell "Invoke Water" is used to draw water out of any nearby water sources. Normally this is used as a prelude to other water based spells, but in this case she's using it to flood the chamber.
As soon as the spell was cast, the Ant-Queen and the Drones started to look around in confusion. Kang and Pepe quickly crept closer to the boss, while I stayed near Jenna near the corner of the cavern. From this distance, I had a wider view, allowing me to quickly find and target and Drones that are spawning, as well as allowing me to protect Jenna whenever she might be in trouble.
Right now, there were 6 Drones flying about. I took careful aim at the furthest one, so that I can take out the hardest target as soon as possible.
KIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIK!
"WE'VE BEEN SPOTTED!"
One of the Drones managed to spot Kang, who had almost reached the Queen. Coincidentally, it was the same Drone I was targeting.
"(Fake) Double Arrow!"
I let lose the arrow that was already nocked on my bow and immediately cast "Snap Shot", while being careful not to move my bow after the first shot.
The first arrow hit the Drone dead center, but the second shot was slightly off mark and hit the wing instead, causing the Drone to plummet to his death.
*So it seems a quick way to kill the Drones is to make them fall down.*
Which was easier said than done, since I could barely see the translucent wings.
"PEH! PE-pe-pe-pe-pe-pe-pe-pe-pe-pe-pe-pe-pe-pe-pe-pe!"
Pepe started peppering the Ant-Queen's flank with arrows as quickly as she could, a relatively safe position that she couldn't quickly reach. With a target this big, Pepe could fire as quickly as she wanted without having to aim, and as long as the kept strafing, the Ant-Queen wouldn't be able to reach her.
The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.
Pepe's strategy was really the safest one, unlike what Kang was doing right now.
"SENKUUGOUSHOUHA!"
Kang decided to attack the Ant-Queen head on with a powerful dashing punch. (palm? I don't really know, it's not a very famous Street Fighter move) The punch itself probably wasn't very effective, but it attracted the attention of the boss.
*I see. He's trying to aggro the boss.*
But the Queen was smarter than she looked, as she realized that the biggest threat in the room was Jenna, who had flooded the cavern to almost a foot deep. Even if she stopped now, the ants that will hatch would have some serious trouble moving around.
Klack! Klack!
The Ant-Queen clapped her jaws together, a signal that she's about to spew acid.
"Shit!" I had just finished taking down my second Drone when I noticed, "Snap Shot!"
My "fired-from-the-hip" shot just flew past her head. Even though it didn't hit, apparently seeing the arrow fly by had startled her, causing her to misfire and spew her acid downwards.
"KANG! LOOK OUT!"
Kang, who was punching away at the boss right under her metaphorical nose looked up to see acid falling down towards him.
"Shinkuuu......."
"NOW'S NOT THE TIME FOR-"
"HADOKEN!"
A wave of force flew out from his palms and intercepted the falling acid, causing it to fly all over the place.
"YOU CAN DO THAAAAT????!?!?!?!"
"I CAN DO THAAAAT?!?!!?!?!?!?"
"YOU DIDN'T KNOW?!?!?!?!?"
"THE SKILL JUST GENERATED!"
*He's an idiot...*
"Kyaaa-! The eggs are hatching!"
"At the far end of the cavern, the eggs that were stuck to the wall were hatching, and miniature versions of the Giant Ants were crawling onto the cavern floor.
"Don't worry Pepe, by the time they reach you I would've flooded the cavern deep enough to stop them."
"Pepe!" There was a Drone that was flying towards her from above, but was intercepted by my arrow. A second arrow followed it, and a third one by Pepe killed it.
Not long after, I managed to kill the sixth Drone, and the seventh one that just spawned. I was starting to get the hang of hitting the wings, and could kill that almost instantly.
Kang was still hitting the Queen head on, and the Queen was having a suprisingly hard time trying to hit him as he was too close to her.
It seems that Jenna's prediction was correct, without her minions, the Ant-Queen wasn't much of a danger.
*Now I can finally focus on the boss.*
"Alright, I'm done! Water Jet!" Jenna was finally satisfied with the depth of the water, and started to shoot spears of water at the Queen's body. The damage was miniscule, but every little bit helps.
With all of us attacking her, the Queen began to look more flustered as she began to take more and more damage.
"Woah!" Kang made a desperate dive sideways as the Queen tried to crush Kang by falling on him. The resulting wave from her attack still managed to hit Kang, pushing him back quite a distance and stunning him.
The Queen slowly got back up.
KIIIIIIK!
Klack! Klack!
"Kang! She's gonna shoot you!"
But the Queen wasn't aiming at Jenna's cousin. Instead, she looked straight down and started spewing acid on the floor.
"Is she puking?" (Pepe)
*Oh shit.*
"She's not puking," I said as I realized what the Queen was doing, " Everyone! Climb onto one of the Drone corpses! Find higher ground!"
"""???"""
"THE FLOOR IS LAVA!" (Well, acid... but...)
All around us, the water started turning green.
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Authors note:
Hello again!
Has it already been a week since my last release?
It also feels like my releases have been getting shorter and shorter.
Like some kind of Manga whose first chapter if 50 pages long, and slowly drops to 20 pages a chapter... heh...
Well. Here's the first half of the boss fight.
First half, because you all know how much I love cliffhangers :p
The next half will probably come in another week's time, if nothing stops me.
As usual, any and all comments and criticisms are welcome!