The Threshold Falls (1/4)
While the Queen is making her way towards the final wall shielding the World Gate, a single "Ant" is ever so slightly deviating from the path the Queen dictated. When the Ants go one way to avoid the Tar bombs, this "Ant" looks both ways to make sure no one is looking before casting a flight spell to leap over the carpets of flame that are still lingering on the streets.
Since flight magic isn't something that Rehkin (like the Ants) can use, then this "Ant" must be one of the human defenders in disguise.
For the better part of this past hour, Faylin has been trying to stealthily find her way towards the Queen.
Rather, she's been receiving updates from Haalfrin and Fisco this whole time, so she KNOWS where the Queen is; the problem is that it's incredibly difficult to actually get close to her without the other Ants realize that she's not one of them.
She can't just go completely against the current, since it will be TOO obvious that she's acting against orders. She can't just fly over the Ants, since the Queen will vicariously see this and know where she is; what's the point of an assassination if the target knows who you are from the beginning?
As for how the Ants aren't able to recognize her, this is because she's put on a face mask, which is seamlessly enchanted to look real. She's, since all the ants seem to have identical faces and stature.
Normally, a human would try to make themselves look SHORTER, not TALLER, since Rehkin are generally smaller than humans. However, Faylin was chosen as a Rehkin assassin specialist because she's an extremely short woman; she doesn't have to risk having her illusion magic found out.
In every way, the less magic you have in your disguise, the better. Magic is easier to detect than practical effects, after all.
This has, by far, been the most stressful hour of Faylin's life. The only reason she's been able to stay sane is keeping in mind that Haalfrin's Wills are floating above, ready to rescue her in case the Ants catch onto her disguise.
Just as Faylin is getting closer to the Queen, she suddenly gets a message. "Change of plans," comes Haalfrin's voice, "I see the Queen moving out. She's figured out how to attack and defend at the same time now."
"SH#T!" the assassin curses. She's spent so much effort circling around to this spot, only for the Queen to disappear.
"Ugh," she spits, "Fine. With her moving around, it'll be practically impossible for me to find her. I'll think of another way to get close."
"Girl," Haalfrin voices comes softly, "The Commander said that the seal is ready on the Gate now, and that they've begun evacuating. I think I should just have my Wills pick you up and take you to safety. There's nothing more you can do."
"NO!" she hisses, "I'm so close! I'm not giving up! Just keep me updated on where she's at!"
She then looks up and thinks, "If I can't get to her through the city, I'll try dropping in from above.
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A minute later, Faylin is hidden in one of the houses, and she's rummaging through her space bag. "Aha!" she mumbles as she finds what she wants.
She urgently pulls out a set of gloves an a special pair of boots. She double checks them to make sure the adhesive enchantment on them is still working.
These gloves and boots are things she usually wears when she has to climb some sheer wall – especially when flight magic is too inefficient. Since flight magic costs more mana the higher up you go, and because she doesn't have a monstrous mana pool like Haalfrin's she decides to just climb up the cavern walls. To speed up the process, she can just use body reinforcement magic to let her climb much faster.
And so, now that she's given up on her disguise (for now), she can easily hop between roofs while mostly ignoring the Ants. Sure, the Ants try swarming up and eating her, but she's much faster than them.
Once she reaches the edge of the Threshold, she unfolds a glider she had taken out of her space bag, and she uses it to reach the edge of the cavern. She doesn't have time to put the glider away, so she lets go of it just in time to latch onto the sheer cavern wall with her adhesive gloves.
Still, she was flying pretty fast, so she gets the wind knocked out of her when she slams into the wall. "Oof!"
Then, she looks up at the long climb. "I'd better get busy."
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While Haalfrin and the other defenders are busy holding off the Queen, Faylin spends nearly 10 minutes climbing up the wall. The going gets even harder when she gets to the ceiling; climbing upside down is WAY harder than climbing straight up.
Still, this girl has had a lot of practice climbing into places even stranger than this; she's not fazed.
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Several minutes later, Faylin is finally over the spot where the Queen is. She then plants her adhesive boots on the cavern ceiling, and she hangs upside down. To alleviate the blood rushing to her head, she casts a quick spell on her heart and veins to help her blood circulation.
Then, she pulls out a spyglass and spends several minutes studying her from her dark spot on the cavern ceiling.
Looking down, notices that the Queen is frantically waving her arms about and scattering eggs as she marches down the streets. Within the Queen's barrier is a few select bodyguards.
Seeing this, Faylin smirks, "Huh, not even trying to hide anymore? Still, how am I suppose to kill her like this?"
"Hmmm…," she mumbles, "I see that the eggs she's throwing out are passing through the mana shield; does the shield not stop living things from passing? Or… does it only let her fellow ants pass through?"
Standing upside down, directly over the Queen, Faylin winces as she realizes what she has to do. "Sorry, baby," Faylin coos sadly. "I'm going to have to sacrifice you."
She rummages through her space bag again and pulls out a small jar containing a spider. It's an extremely care breed with an incurable toxin.
Without hesitation, Faylin, uncorks the bottle and lets the spider fall to its death down below.
Faylin looks down and sees her pet spider bounce on the barrier, be enveloped in flames, then bounce to the floor as a sizzling, charred husk. "Huh. I guess it'll just let ants through."
She then pulls out another bottle – this one with a different spider. Then, she yanks off some of the Ant chitin she's strapped onto herself (for her disguise from earlier), and she wraps the spider jar round the piece of chitin. "Will the barrier let my spider pass if it has a piece of Ant with it?
She lets the second spider fall to its death… and it meets the same, grizzly fate. "Grrr…," Faylin growls. "I can't believe that there's no way to get close enough. I'll just have to wait for an opportunity."
The woman's gaze sharpens, and her presence retracts into the shadows like a blade being sheathed. "I'm used to waiting."
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While Faylin is silently waiting for her chance to assassinate the Queen, a single brown and green striped dragon is flying over the battlefield and anxiously roaring, "FAYLIN! WHERE ARE YOU!?"
In all honestly, Fhulk only cares about Faylin, Haalfrin, and maybe a few other soldiers he's gotten to know over the years. He's already snatched up the friends from his own squad and dropped them off at the world gate. With them evacuated, he only has to worry about Faylin.
As for Haalfrin? Pfft! That man doesn't need rescuing.
Still, being unable to find Faylin in this chaotic battle is really starting to scare the young dragon. "DON'T DIE FAYLIN!"
Deep in his heart, Fhulk is doubting why he's even looking for her. "She'll never want to be my wife anyway, so why am I still looking for her? I'm sure she's off doing her own thing without me. She doesn't need me."
However, part of him just can't forget his feelings. "Even if she doesn't like me back, the least I can do is make sure she gets back safely, right? That's not 'unwanted, romantic advances' as Master Haalfrin called it; it's just me looking after a fellow comrade. Yes. We're all comrades. Saving her is what I should do."
He tells himself this over and over again as he futilely circles above the burning fortress – looking for a girl he's convinced by now has already escaped.
While Fhulk circles around, he suddenly gets a message from Commander Fisco. "Fhulk. Instead of circling around and doing nothing, why don't you help Haalfrin distract the Ant Queen?"
The dragon looks down glumly and sighs. "Yes… sir…"
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Sweat drips down Faylin's upside down face as she stares intently at the Queen. With the Queen having realized she can no longer hide, she's not even bothering to run around. This certainly makes it easier to keep an eye on her… and it makes waiting at her ambush spot easier.
The only thing for Faylin to do is to wait for something to change… some chance to get close enough to not get instantly killed.
While Faylin is watching from above, she squints, then curses, "Idiot! Why is that stupid dragon attacking the Queen right now? Won't he get himself killed?"
"…" She goes silent as she thinks. "… Wait… This is my chance. Since Fhulk isn't as powerful as Haalfrin, he has to get a lot closer to the Queen. He's completely in her face; plus, he's weak and slow enough for the Queen to actually bother trying to shoot down. With her and her bodyguards preoccupied, this may be my best chance to attack."
And so, Faylin drops down from the ceiling and breaks a bead from around her neck. This was a valuable consumable object she had stolen from some Rehkin princess's bedroom. The bead is imbued with a powerful spell that renders the wielder completely invisible for a few seconds.
…What's even more important here is that the bead completely cuts the wielder off from the Spirit Realm – making her invisible to all Spirit Sight or other Rehkin magic.
Of course, these beads have to be crushed to be used, and she only has 2 of them – er; now she has one. Oops. Better be careful with these things.
After slowing herself down with a levitation spell, Faylin lands behind the Queen and briefly hides herself behind a piece of rubble where the other ants can't see her emerge since she doesn't want to just appear out of thin air once the bead's spell wore off; she wants to blend in.
A few moments later, once she's straightened out her Ant disguise once more, she emerges from her little rock, then takes a few steps up to the Queen.