Chapter 13 - First Boss Fight Part 2
"Scree-*Thunk*"
"Shut up!"
I threw my golf rock at the Queen before she could finish screeching. Sadly, it didn't do much damage. I was getting pissed. Every time I try to get closer to the Queen, her stupid Knights keep blocking me. They move their horns accurately to intercept my attacks so I can't finish them off either. The Bombers were continuously spraying their shit at me and Ambushers were constantly blocking my view. I keep killing the Ambushers but more and more of them keep popping out of nowhere. The only bright side was that the Defenders didn't seem to have a means of attack so they just stood there guarding the Bombers.
It was a stalemate. I couldn't get close to the Queen and the cockroaches couldn't do much damage to me due to my high DEF stat. But the situation was against me. Throughout the fight I had been constantly dissolving the crystals I stored in my body to recover mana. I was able to pick some up from the cockroaches I killed but the rate of my consumption was faster than my killing and recovery speed. The longer the fight goes on, the more disadvantageous it would be for me.
'I need to think of a solution while buying some time.'
I turned my left arm into a lasso and captured a nearby Ambusher. I covered it with mud as fast as I could while dodging the sprays and defending against the Knights. Finishing up, my left arm had become a balloon like shape with the Ambusher inside which I started to dissolve for mana. Sadly, I didn't get a new skill with Assimilation.
'Hmm. This yields a decent amount of mana. It's a shame that the Knights and Defenders are too big for me too completely cover with my mud.'
While recovering mana, I extended some mud from my right leg underneath a Defender that was standing still. I morphed it into a spike and pierced the underbelly of the Defender. I made the spike branch out like I did with the first Cockroach Charger I killed before I retracted the spike and recalled the mud. I made sure to grab any crystals on the ground while pulling the mud back because what I just did took a lot of mana to do.
'Okay I will keep killing the Defenders blocking my path so that I can make an opening to escape and get to my stash of crystals that I left behind.'
I had to give up on going after the Queen due to how heavily guarded she was. Figures that the Queen of a cockroach army would be well protected. I gritted my teeth in frustration as I now had to plan for escape despite coming so far. I glared at the Queen in hate. She looked back at me mockingly. At least that's what it looked like to me. It was hard to tell the emotions of a bug face.
"Scree- *Thunk*"
I threw my last golf rock at her because I felt like she was about to taunt me. I tried using the spike trick on a Knight that stopped moving for a bit. But it seemed like the Queen had buffed their defenses as the spike wasn't able to pierce through their outer shell. Giving up on killing the Knights, I returned to killing the Defenders.
"SCREEEEEEEE!"
The Queen screeched in fury. If I still had another golf rock I would have thrown it at her. The Bombers which were staying put and launching spit at me from behind the Defenders suddenly started moving. They unfolded their wings and flew into the air towards me.
"You know I hate flying cockroaches right?!"
Every Ambusher that came flying near me, I killed. And now it was the Bombers turn. I grabbed another Ambusher to dissolve while preparing for the Bombers. But just before they got within my strike zone, they detonated and spread their gunk all over me. It started to melt holes in my messy school uniform.
"No! I only have three sets of this uniform!"
The Bombers continued to detonate to try and melt me. I used Mana Release as usual to defend myself. But I couldn't block them all with so many Bombers coming at me. Handling one of them was hard enough, imagine 5 coming from all cardinal directions.
The Queen had probably noticed the reach of my melee attacks so the Bombers always exploded just before I could strike them. But what she didn't know that I can also fight midrange. Turning my arm into a whip after having finished dissolving the Ambusher, I attacked the Bombers and killed a few before they detonated. I even captured one for dissolving and Assimilation.
[Skill Detonate acquired through Assimilation.]
Information of the skill entered my head and I quickly analyzed how to put it to use. I came up with a plan for the current situation I'm in with this skill.
*Slash*
I was distracted while thinking and failed to notice an Ambusher which had pierced into my back with its sickle like front legs.
*Boom!*
A Bomber took this chance to get close to me and detonate as well.
"Argh!"
I got knocked down and rolled across the floor. One moment of distraction in a close fight is dangerous. With that thought, I pumped more mana into my head with Mind Enhancement to focus more. This didn't increase my stats any more but helped me to rearrange my thoughts. I started to put my new plan into action. I got up and looked around. There were about 20 Defenders scattered around me blocking all my escape routes. 5 Knights were staying near the Queen while 3 of them were rushing at me. Countless Ambushers and Bombers were in the air.
"*Inhale*… Haaaaah…"
Taking a deep breath, I made my move. I focused mana into my legs as I rushed once again towards the Queen. The 3 Knights were in my way so I had to take care of them first. I used the spike trick again but this time instead of a spike I made a pillar. Three mud pillars rose from underneath the Knights. When they were lifted about 3 cm off the ground, I used my skill.
"Detonate!"
The mana at the top of the pillars grew wild before suddenly bursting out in all directions as I detonated the top part of the pillars.
*Boom Boom Boom*
Three loud explosions were heard and the top half of my mud pillars were gone. The Knights however, were still alive and squirming on the ground. Visible cracks could be seen across their outer shells and horn.
"Tough bastards. Queen's buffs are no joke."
Despite my high INT stat, they were able to withstand the force of my Detonate skill. I quickly morphed the remainder of the pillars into spikes and pierced the bodies of the Knights through the cracks. They stopped moving after I did the usual spike tree move. Before one of them could completely evaporate I covered it in mud while fighting off the Ambushers and Bombers coming at me. Since it was dead, Assimilation didn't activate and I didn't get a skill. My mana had hit 10 percent so I had to dissolve this big guy to recover. My head started to hurt and I ran out of crystals too. The Detonate skill had also used up my mud so I had to regenerate some from my ruby with mana.
"SCCREEEEEEE!"
The Queen screamed loudly after seeing that I had killed some of her boy toys.
"You angry now huh? Whatchu gonna about it, ugly?"
"REEEEEEEEE!"
Falling for my taunt, the Queen sent out the remaining Knights toward me after buffing them up. The Defenders narrowed their encirclement as if to create an arena for us. Ambushers and Bombers flew at me in a flurry. My entire uniform was gone and melted by this point and I was fighting naked. My sleek mud body was exposed for all to see. I covered my entire body with the mud leaving a few gaps for me to breath so that I could escape some of the embarrassment. I could see just fine with Sensing so my eyes were covered too. I looked like a female mannequin with a wig on.
"Alright time for round 2!"
CHAPTER END.
Name: Ruby Sen
Age: 17
Race: Half-Human?
HP: 9 [39%]
MP: 15 (+5) [18%]
STR: 9 (+10)
DEF: 9 (+30)
INT: 17 (+10)
WILL: 15 (+10) <+1>
SPD: 7 (+5)
<
Assimilate
Mana Manipulation
Physical Resistance
Weaponized Limbs
Foresight
<
Dissolve
Morph
Body Enhancement (Active)
Mind Enhancement (Active)
Mana Release
Sensing
Analysis
Camouflage
Sculpting
Detonate
<
Tongue Enhancement