Chapter 284
The sounds of metal clashing mingled together, and hundreds of sparks burst forth. No one could strike the other, but soon, the queen's full braids stretched out on their own, like a dense array of snake heads, spewing highly corrosive spores.
This moment shattered the balance, forcing Yuki to sheathe his sword and unleash a wall of blades that sprayed foul liquid everywhere before slowly retreating.
Is it a combination of near and far ranges?
Nearby were knives, and behind them, Gatling gun-like bubbles of breath, unleashing dozens of attacks every second.
The queen was blinded by rage; she had no swordsmanship skills to speak of, only the most ferocious instincts. When the Red Lotus Fire unfolded before her, Yuki suddenly accelerated to create distance, her jaw dislocated as she spat out a spore the size of a washbasin.
Stop abruptly and dodge.
This thing was alive; it tracked Yuki like a missile, dodging the oncoming sword energy, and then exploded with a loud bang.
Pfft
There were no flames, only a torrential downpour of acid that instantly corroded through the thick flesh. Yuki's protective force field flickered, and his eyes twitched slightly.
This individual protective force field, worth hundreds of merit points, is practically a consumable to him. The Queen is really fierce; no wonder she's the big boss of this dungeon. If she were at her peak, she would be unstoppable.
A blurry figure pierced through the acid, its body covered in yellowish-green miasma.
It is highly poisonous.
Yuki quickly swallowed several potent antidotes and received an adrenaline injection. These special items couldn't be upgraded, but they were enough for him.
Retreat.
A dense array of blades burst forth before my eyes, interspersed with countless highly poisonous spores. The yellowish-green miasma had an even more corrosive effect, and the burning soul fire was rapidly being consumed.
Thrust, slash, spin, spit.
The Queen relentlessly pursued him, facing a devastatingly swift blade in front of him, while spores with their own tracking ability swarmed around him. Yuki retreated continuously, his eyes darting around, his dual swords forming an impenetrable defense.
However, the terrain for battle was not limitless. The flesh wall inlaid with Emerald Stone was already behind him, and just as Yuki approached, it wriggled and formed a giant, shark-like mouth that bit down from behind.
Yuki had no choice but to roll forward, repeatedly Lying Slash. Then he saw the ground crack open in front of him, from which countless hair-like tentacles sprouted. He quickly plunged his sword into the ground.
Burn!
The orange-red flames spread along the blade, forcing the queen behind her back back and burning those 'hair strands' to ashes.
It lacks geographical advantage, but after all, this is its territory.
Yuki was perfectly sober and showed no intention of turning around to retaliate. He broke free from the inside of the wall and ran to the other side, while the ground cracked and countless strands of hair wrapped around his legs, only to be torn off by his brute force.
It has excellent toughness, even stronger ductility than steel bars.
Walking on silk, his speed eventually slowed down. The sharp insect blade Piercer several layers of defense from behind, cutting through the armor. As blood splattered, Yuki felt no pain whatsoever.
Neurotoxin.
He turned around and saw the queen, who was over two meters tall, stretching out her body and slashing down with six insect blades at once. His hands and feet felt like lead, and he no longer had the chance to fight her fast.
Blood-Burning Heart. Incandescence.
Concept Enhancement. Severing Power!
Since he couldn't win by sheer speed, why try to outrun the opponent Yuki simply stuck his head out and let the opponent chop it down, while simultaneously putting all his strength into slashing at the Queen's head.
A life for a life.
Survival is the top priority; how could the Queen possibly trade with him? The six insect knives came together.
Clang!!
The insect blade chipped, and both blades trembled. The immense force sent both of them sliding more than ten meters away. Yuki swallowed the blood that surged to his throat and saw the Queen lower her insect blades, stick her head out, and another giant spore with its own tracking ability gathered in her mouth.
He tried to dodge, but found his legs were stuck in the ground. Only then did he realize that after the nerves were paralyzed, his sense of touch was gone, and his legs were covered with hair without him noticing.
"Let's see how you dodge this time."
Before the spores could even be released, instinct told her danger, and the queen quickly pulled her head back in.
Bang.
A gunshot rang out, and a Blaster Rifle struck her on the head, charring half her face. With a slight tremor, the Queen remembered the presence of someone.
That assassin was right next to me? No wonder he went straight to the Insect Chamber!
Mai Sakurajima's presence was amplified, but she couldn't focus her attention on the assassin because the swordsman in front had broken free of his restraints and decisively charged forward, ignoring the exploding spores that were closing in.
'The assassin isn't much of a threat; he's the key.'
The Queen also regained her composure, her scorpion-like tail continuously releasing 'Dissolving Insect Miasma', determined not to believe that the assassin could hide in another dimension and ignore the dissolving miasma.
Such a quick reaction.
Yuki was also surprised by the Queen's response, which was certainly correct. The senior's characteristic was to reduce her presence, not to hide in another dimension. Even if she wore full defensive equipment, she wouldn't last long.
'Suppress it, give your senior a chance.'
The Reinforcement Magecraft stacked with the Blood-Burning Heart allowed Yuki to unleash his full power; players below the Transcendental Grade level couldn't even see his afterimage as he raised his twin swords above his head.
Secret Technique: Phantom Lion Slash.
The surrounding space was filled with sword shadows, but the 'X'-shaped sword pressure that slashed at the insect's leg was extremely powerful, but the queen's response was also very simple.
It sheathed all its insect blades, manipulated its nest, shifted from offense to defense, and coldly watched the swordsmen rushing around it.
Several afterimages were indistinguishable from the real ones, but it didn't intend to attack. In any case, dragging things out was to its advantage. In ten minutes, it could rejoin the main army. Then, it would open its mouth and swallow them whole. Could those flies inside its body possibly escape?
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Yuki unleashed a series of heavy blows, each aimed at the lower body, but he couldn't kill the Queen who was determined to defend. However, he wasn't in a hurry and continued to waste his energy on futile efforts.
After several rounds, the Queen gradually adapted to this attack. With her insect blade defending her upper body and her lower body sinking into the floor, she could transform into a turtle that Yuki couldn't bite.
On the contrary, the increasingly thick miasma in the air caused the soul fire on Yuki's body to shrink rapidly.
After eight slashes, the afterimages surrounding her suddenly disappeared. Without a second thought, the queen raised her head.
Yuki hung upside down from the ceiling, his twin swords riddled with chips and dents. He gripped the blades in reverse, as if gathering his strength.
A storm was brewing, and the best way to deal with the Iron Turtle was to increase the intensity of the attack. The Queen also raised her equally pitted insect blade, and the insect armor on her chest and abdomen thickened at a visible rate.
It didn't know the power of Yuki's full-force slash, but it knew that if it continued to evolve down this path, its opponent would never be able to kill it.
A moment of silence followed. As energy gathered on the blade, transforming it into two fiery blades, the swordsman, before he could move, instinctively turned his head to the back.
Is it her?
Its previous all-out defense made it forget the assassin's existence, like a ghost that quickly disappears from memory when you shift your attention.
Not Blaster Rifle?
The Queen saw a blurry figure holding a musket that the swordsman had discarded at the start of the battle. The insect miasma was blocked by the defensive force field, and the two sides were less than ten meters apart.
The double-barreled musket had already fired one shot, but there was still one bullet loaded in the chamber, a bullet called 'Undead Core,' the entire soul of a Tier II Transcendental Grade player.
Mai Sakurajima didn't exchange any words with Yuki. She simply picked up the musket, endured the corrosive effects of the poisonous miasma, and then, at the opportune moment, pulled the trigger.
"Let's see how you dodge this time."
Bang--
Gunshots rang out, and the energy of the Undead Core was instantly and completely unleashed. This was no longer a bullet, but a purplish-red beam of light.
The Queen genuinely wanted to hide, but it couldn't move. To counter Yuki's Lying Slash, it kept evolving, burying itself in the fleshy floor to reduce its defensive area.
Not only that, but both the insect armor and the blades were facing Yuki in front of them.
Boom!!
The Undead Core's energy exploded on its back, as if it had been struck by a heavy hammer, tearing a large hole in its black insect armor.
The Queen had no time to settle scores with Mai Sakurajima. As she parted the bloody floor, she raised her insect knife, and an even more terrifying pressure was coming from above.
Secret Technique: Flow Severance.
With a stomp of his legs, Yuki seized the opportunity and slashed down from above, his mind, will, and body converging into a single line, enough to cleave even a great river in two.
With a crushing force, the two insect blades were severed with a crisp crack as the withered tree broke. Yuuki, finally breaking free of the tortoise Yuki, was pulled into the queen's arms, meeting her icy gaze.
There was no fear in those eyes. Any opponent, once adapted to, will evolve, and the fruitful result in dealing with the swordsman has already been achieved.
!?
Yuki's heart skipped a beat, but his hands moved faster than his brain. His crossed swords slashed at the long, slender neck covered in veins like scissors, until the queen's face split open on both sides, like a cosmos flower in full bloom.
Annihilating Insect Venom.
Swish—Pfft.
The knife pierced the neck, embedding itself in the bone, while a massive amount of liquid gushed from the wound, forming a purplish-black torrent.
The floor was instantly melted open with huge cracks, and a lot of white smoke billowed out. A moment later, a blurry figure emerged from the smoke and landed next to Mai Sakurajima.
"You idiot, are you... are you alright?"
"It's alright. I knew this queen would be hard to kill, but I didn't expect it to be this hard." Yuki said casually. He could no longer feel the pain and saw his own reflection in his senior's eyes.
His neck was crooked, and the left third of his body had vanished without a trace. Only his beating heart was visible in his chest cavity. His force field, armor, and flesh had all dissolved at the molecular level.
This was a fatal wound, but Yuki simply wouldn't die.
Vitality Shift involves Vitality Shift within five meters of the body to ensure immediate survival. As for subsequent injuries—
The Regenerative Tail.
The combination of the two skills grants the user immortality.
However, Yuki knew that his 'immortality' was limited, and after a chaotic battle, he figured out the queen's true nature.
"As the commander-in-chief said, this insect is adapting to me and then constantly evolving. Within my body, it can repair itself infinitely, thus possessing the ability to make infinite mistakes."
This evaluation almost bestowed the word "invincible" upon the Queen, which made Mai Sakurajima tremble with fear. However, she was not afraid because Yuki must have been confident to fight.
"We have to wait for others to install the Earthquake Generator? But the bugs are desperately blocking them, they can't get to the installation site."
To shatter the giant worm in an instant, the seismic waves needed to completely cover the area. Johnny Silverhand was tasked with mapping the area using a supercomputer and guiding the various units to their destinations.
Yuki command; she only needed to wait for the signal. However, the Queen wasn't stupid either, and she similarly handed over command to General Bug, issuing a strict order.
"You can't have your cake and eat it too. This is its territory, and its true form can't escape either," Yuki said in a low voice, raising his twin swords. "Senior, cool down my skills."
Mai Sakurajima pursed her lips and immediately used the 'Light-Covering Prayer Rite', while simultaneously activating the [Demon Angel Brooch] cooldown skill.
"I've already prepared the gifts."
Yuki remained silent, only looking ahead.
A 'Man-eating Flower' with four legs and four arms was swaying in front of the deep ditch. The queen had completely lost her human form, her braids danced like venomous snakes, and there was a hollow hole in the center of the flower's stamen. It was from this hole that the miasma that decomposed everything had just spewed out.
It was no easier for him; the Phantom Twin Blades were embedded in his neck, gushing disgusting pus from the wound, while dense blood vessels connected to his legs, and huge scars were closing at a visible speed.
Switching to the Devil's Vision, one can see surging soul energy flowing into the body through the blood vessels, and it can no longer resist devouring the offspring within.
Puff puff puff puff.
With four muffled thuds, the Queen plunged the General Bug blade into the gash in her neck, and when she pulled it out, the blade was stained purplish-black.
Through evolution, it has found a way to deal with Yuki.
The insect blade was coated with the terrifying insect miasma that had just disintegrated everything; if you got any closer, a single strike would deal real damage.
But Yuki didn't intend to get close, and lowered the tip of his sword.
"You're transitioning to the next phase, right? Give it a gift."
With a swift slash, a hole was burned through the thick flesh, and the two fell to the ground. The queen, who was about to spew out miasma, was startled, thinking that the two had retreated out of despair.
Good run, three minutes left, let's settle the score together.
The thought had barely formed when the fireballs that surged from all around illuminated it brightly.
Ah?
Boom boom boom boom!
During the fierce battle, the high-energy nitride explosives that Mai Sakurajima had secretly placed detonated, causing blood and flesh to fly everywhere. Even from the outside, the giant insect's head appeared to swell up.
Mai Sakurajima's Directed Demolition was at an excellent level, ensuring all the energy was concentrated inside the Queen's room. Even so, the aftershocks of the explosion left her clutching her head and lying face down on the ground.
"One ton of nitride explosive, just a small token of my appreciation." Yuki, however, was excitedly admiring the art. This was high-tech explosive, equivalent to nearly a hundred tons of TNT. Even if the giant insect's flesh and blood were as strong as steel, it wouldn't withstand the instantaneous explosion.
Sunlight streamed directly in through the hole overhead, but Yuki's excitement didn't last long; he slowly raised the serrated edge of his blade.
How could a being of Monster III or higher possibly be killed by a mere hundred tons of explosives?