#The Floor Is Acid
"I can't fight like this!" Kang complained, "Someone help me out here?"
Kang was stranded on a Drone corpse in a sea of acid. Without any movement skills (like my Lunge), he had no way of getting to the Ant-Queen without wading through the acid.
"I'm going to open a path for you, but it will only hold for a short time," called Jenna, "Try to grab on to her! "Split the Sea!""
A narrow path towards the Queen opened up as the water in front of Kang moved to either side. He ran forward without any hesitation and tried to leap and grab on to one of her legs, but fell short as he couldn't jump high enough.
"Kang-kun! Grab this!"
Pepe fired an arrow at the Ant-Queen which stuck onto her body, and Kang quickly grabbed at it. But of course, a single arrow couldn't possibly support his full weight, no matter how well made it was.
Krack!
Before the arrow could snap, Pepe fired two more arrows, which stuck beneath Kang's feet, giving him some footing. Another arrow landed next to his hand (almost hitting him), which gave him something to hold on to.
"Thanks! Keep doing that!"
"?Okay!"
Using Pepe's arrows, Kang slowly climbed to a more stable position on the Queen's back.
This entire time, the Queen was slowly turning towards me, but I was too pre-occupied with trying to shoot one particularly quick moving Drone to notice.
"Stop (Thwang!) Moving (Thwang!) You (Thwang!) Freakin (Thwang!) Gigolo!"
KIIIIIIIIIIK!
*Finally got him!*
"Wooooaaaah! Watch out! She's falling!" Kang shouted.
Looking to my side, I saw the Ant-Queen about to fall, not straight at me, but just beside me. She probably hoped to catch both me and Jenna in a tidal wave of acid.
"Lunge!"
"Split the Sea!"
SPLAAAAAASH!!!
Leaping straight up, I managed to avoid most of the acid, but the few droplets that hit me cut my health down a little. On the other hand, Jenna managed to protect herself completely by splitting the tidal wave down the middle.
When I looked down, I realized that the wave had also washed away the Drone corpse that I was using as a foothold.
"Grab my hand!"
As I fell, I stretched out and just barely caught hold of Kang's hand. The arrows that were supporting his weight snapped, but he managed to grab new ones, and I had managed to alter my fall enough to land on the Queen and stab my Sword-Bow(patent pending) into her to stop my fall.
With some effort, I pulled myself up onto her back.
But the Queen was not happy with that, and started thrashing around in attempt to throw us off and causing acid to fly all over the place.
"Stop moving damnit!" exclaimed Kang as he kept punching the Queen with a free hand.
"I'm gonna have to get off, I can't fight like this!"
*And perhaps she'll calm down a little if there's only one person on her back.*
"Alright, let's see what I can do!"
Kang carefully tried to support his weight on his two feet and held his hands together.
"QUARTER CIRCLE FORWARD TIMES TWO + PUNCH!"
"YOU DON'T HAVE TO SAY THE INPUT COMMANDS!"
"KIKOU SHOU!"
Instead of the "projectile-style" wave of force from before, Kang released a short ranged radial blast that hit the Queen as well as pushing me into the air.
*It's surprising how well he can control a move he just learned. He may be an idiot, but he's good.*
Luckily for me (and Kang), my Lunge cooldown had ended, and I was also able to use Lunge in mid-air. Otherwise, I'd be fairly pissed at him.
"Lunge!" I triggered the skill and landed on the corpse of the Drone I just killed.
One good thing about the constantly spawning Drones, is that more Drones means more footholds.
"Ack! I'm falling!" Kang's attack had blasted away most of the arrows that were stuck on the Queen's body, giving him nothing to hold onto but the her bare back.
Even though the she had mostly calmed down, the Queen's body was fairly smooth and hard to hold on to, especially in the upright position she was in right now.
"Uuugh! Don't give me more work Kang-kun! Double Shot!"
Pepe's two arrows hit the Queen a little off target from Kang, but it was followed up by several more, making up for accuracy with simple quantity. This allowed Kang to find his footing easily enough.
"Drown!"
As Jenna cast her spell, a large blob of water rose from the floor to engulf the Ant-Queen's head. It's most likely going to take up most of her concentration, but it would deal constant damage to the boss. Another advantage to being a Water-affinity mage is that her spells require little mana. This was to make up for their lack of offensive ability and restrictions of needing to have water at hand to cast spells.
The battle progressed in this manner for quite some time. Pepe and I jumped from Drone corpse to Drone corpse in order to stay on the Ant-Queen's flank. After her first "splash-attack", I became more wary and paid more attention to the Queen even when I was attacking a Drone. Jenna would drop her Drown spell each time the boss fell down to protect herself and Kang from the acid before putting it back up again.
The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
And as usual, Kang was bashing away at the same spot on her back over and over again with his fists. This was actually what brought the battle to a close.
KRRAAAACK!!
KIIIIIIIIK!!
Kang's constant punching had finally broken a hole in the Ant-Queen's carapace!
"OH YEAH! I'm gonna finish her off! SHINKUU..."
Kang put his hands together in the classic pose.
"HADOKEN!!!!"
...
...
...
...
...
"More mana is required..."
"YOU REALLY ARE AN IDIOT! (facepalm) Let us handle it..." I got down and straddled the Drone corpse I was on, "Jenna, launch me and Pepe up so that we can get a clear shot at the break!"
"Eh? Huh? Wait, Musta--"
"Okay! Water Spout!"
"KYAAAAAAAA--!!!!"
Two strong bursts of water burst forth from underneath our respective Drones and launched me and Pepe up and just above the Ant-Queen.
"(Fake) Double Arrow!"
"Double Arrow!"
Both Pepe and I fired as many shots as we could at the gap in the Queen's armor. Except for a few, most of them hit the mark.
Critical Hit!
Critical Hit!
Critical Hit!
Critical Hit!
"C'mon boys, just a little more!"
Looking at the game interface at the corner of my eye, I saw that the Ant-Queen only had a sliver of health left.
"Let's finish this! Lunge!"
Using my Lunge skill, I "leapt" straight downwards towards the gap and carefully aimed the blade of my weapon towards the target.
*One.... Good... STAB!*
With all my might, I stabbed my Sword-Bow(patent pending)straight into the wound and buried it hilt-deep.
Critical Hit!
The Ant-Queen has been slain!
Level Up!
Level Up!
Level Up!
Your "Stubbornness" skill has increased!
Your "Fighting Spirit" stat has increased!
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The Ant-Queen dropped three items in total.
One was a belt.
The second was a pair of mandibles (the jaws), which is a crafting material.
And the Third was a plain wooden staff.
"IDENTIFY!" Jenna cast the spell on the staff, "A-hah! This one's mine!"
"Jenna-san! Show us!"
Semi-Corroded Enchanted Wooden Staff:
Durability: 17/28
Damage: 9-10
The staff belonging to a wizard who fought with the Ant-Queen and loss. The staff was swallowed by the Ant-Queen, but has somehow managed to survive despite the acid in her belly. It seems that some of the acid has managed to be absorbed by the staff. Perhaps this is the work of the enchantment placed on the staff by its previous owner?
Equip:
+20 INT
+20% Mana Regeneration
+20 WIS
May give additional effects when casting a spell
Limits:
Level 20
INT 60+
WIS 40+
"I'll take the mandibles," I said as I grabbed them, "I'll probably be able to make something out of them."
"And without even Identifying it, I'm going to say the belt belongs to Pepe," said Jenna.
"Yay!"
"Eh? Why not me?" Kang complained.
"Because you already have two items."
...
...
...
...
"... Fine..."
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Author's Notes:
Hullo hullo again!
Weekly releases for the win!
And so concludes the boss fight.
Truth is I *completely forgot about the Stubbornness skill until the fight ended (oops). But that doesn't mean that it didn't activate during the fight XD.
Speaking of skills, I gotta find a way to give Notrem more combat skills. Combat might get a little dull otherwise, especially for an archer :/
As usual, any and all comments and critisms are welcome!