Regardless of her diminishing stats, the queen seemed not to care as she swept through the wasps, changing tactics to lead them around while picking off the slower ones whenever possible.

After appraising her, I checked my own stats to compare.

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Name: Aurelia LV10

Specie: Cerastes Vipera

HP: 110/129 Defence: 108

MP: 71/79 Intellect: 85

SP: 106/108 Magic: 58

Attack: 119 Agility: 130

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Although she used skills far more advanced than mine. I would say I was fairly strong at level 10. My stats were relatively better than hers from what I could see, and would be even more powerful if I was able to evolve.

I felt pleased at the thought, but that didn't last long.

I was minding my own business when the detestable Queen decided to pull me into her mess by purposefully knocking down three wasps that were pursuing her, with a wind attack that landed them in my direction.

I cursed her silently and switched positions before the wasps crashed into the corpses near me.

I did not hesitate to move in on the closest one, a LV15 wasp that was already injured. I pulled it into the shadows and wrapped myself around its thorax, deciding to attack it before the others were alerted to my presence.

But it proved to be much stronger and managed to alert the other two wasps with its screech.

The two wasps immediately noticed me and one tried to sting me around its constricted brethren, while the other launched itself straight at me without a care.

I swiftly moved my body to reveal a gap and its stinger plunged into its fellow wasp, eliciting a painful cry. This allowed me to crush its thorax with ease and finish it off.

〚You have killed LV15 Melior Hesperia〛

〚You have earned 96XP〛

I lunged at the other wasp with [Rapid Strike] and embedded my fangs into its abdomen, pumping in multiple shots of [Poison Fang] until it dropped to the ground.

Then I turned towards the wasp that assisted in killing its own.

It attacked me with its claws to deter me but couldn't land a solid hit because its attack was too weak to get past my [Rugged Scales] and kept getting deflected. It wasn't long before it too became a victim of my poison.

〚You have killed LV12 Melior Hesperia〛

〚You have killed LV11 Melior Hesperia〛

〚You have earned 105XP〛

〚Skill Mastery Achieved: 『Poison Fang: LV9』has become『Poison Fang: LV10』〛

When the third wasp was dead, I noticed the queen and what was left of the swarm had moved closer to where I was and were now fighting among the corpses. Before long, there were multiple wasps finding me and attacking at once.

In the midst of this chaos, I found myself fighting on the same stage as the queen.

The unleashed wasps rushed towards us and I moved swiftly to coordinate with the Queen's chaotic attacks to kill off the wasps that were injured. She used her wind blades to hold back the swarm and I used my [Poison Fang] on those that succumbed in a smooth and efficient manner.

Despite us working together, I made sure to keep an eye out for the queen. Throughout the fight she did not kill any wasps that attacked me and neither did I kill the wasps that went for her.

And by watching her, I was able to observe the pattern in her fighting method.

She rarely used her coercion and when she did, it was to slow down the wasps and break their momentum - but it only lasted for a while before they regained their movements. And the timespan seemed to reduce the more she used it, with a longer delay each time afterwards.

During the cool down period, she substituted with wind blades, and when those also ran out, she went in with her chaotic fighting style, tearing them limb from limb.

I noticed she never slowed down for a moment, as if she felt no pain as she fought, not even when she suffered an injury.

I also found the lizard amongst the chaos, it too was fighting its own battles without pause.

The higher level wasps were mainly attacking the queen and were not paying much attention to me, but because of that, the queen kept throwing more and more wasps in my direction, causing me to fight non stop.

I decided to change the pace of the fight and sped away from the two wasps focused on me, trying to lure them into stinging me. Once they took the bait, I evaded the stingers and attacked one with [Poison Fang], proceeding to wrap the other in my constriction hold before it could turn around, killing it off quickly.

〚You have killed LV10 Iuvenium Hesperia〛

〚You have killed LV8 Iuvenium Hesperia〛

〚You have earned 84XP〛

〚You have gained a level!〛

Wooo!

But as I cheered, a third wasp came into the fray and my happiness soon vanished. It advanced into my [Heat Sense], before I could evade it and I was stabbed by a wayward stinger that pushed me through the floor, denting my scales in the process.

〚Skill Aptitude Increase: 『Rugged Scales: LV8』has become『Rugged Scales: LV9』〛

〚Skill Aptitude Increase: 『Impact Resistance LV7』has become『Impact Resistance LV8』〛

Pissed off by the sudden attack I launched myself at the offender, striking it with [Poison Fang] over and over until it was dead.

〚You have killed LV14 Melior Hesperia〛

〚You have earned 92XP〛

It seemed like an endless battle between myself, the lizard and the Queen, and only after more time had passed did I notice the numerous wasps on the ground and just how many we had killed.

With their numbers in decline, the remaining wasps weren't as enthusiastic to attack as before and it became easy for the Queen and I to clean them up completely.

I spotted the lizard on the other side, trying to reach me through the pile of corpses strewn all across the ground.

The aftermath was a chamber whose walls were covered with whirlwind marks that resembled scars. Many pillars had collapsed in the turmoil and the ground was covered in holes that resembled scorch marks.

Somehow we had weathered the storm and came out alive and now, there was an unspoken agreement between us.

We both knew this wouldn't truly end, until one of the queen's was dead. Yet, in the brief reprise of the battle, I couldn't help having contradictory thoughts.

The queen in front of me was not good - it could be argued that her reluctance to die was the cause of all this. At the same time, I admired her tenacity and resilience to have survived everything she did.

The queen landed on the ground before me and although she was covered in blood, she was still as elegant as ever.

[The imposter would not simply ignore this chaos.] She spoke, a tinge of tiredness evident in her voice. [Before we were interrupted, you mentioned something about leaving this place. Is that option still open?]

We had no choice but to leave quickly. Although we killed many, some of the wasps managed to get away in the chaos and were possibly alerting the Hive Queen in her chamber - if she wasn't already aware.

I pondered whether or not to suggest we go to the host graveyard as a possible hiding place, when suddenly I felt the sensation of something crossing my heat sphere.

Before I could react, the windblade was upon me and I instinctively moved aside, dodging at the last second. But even though I managed to avoid the worst of it and save my life, it still cut through a chunk of my flesh.

"Aaahh!" I couldn't help yelling out loud in pain.

〚Skill Mastery Achieved: 『Rugged Scales: LV9』has become『Rugged Scales: LV10』〛

But following the system alert, I heard a loud groan and the sound of a thud. It was only then that I remembered the lizard was not far behind me.

By avoiding the wind blade, I unwittingly let the lizard take the brunt of the Queen's attack.

My scales were utterly destroyed by the powerful wind blade and the continuous blood flow made my head faint. I looked back and saw the lizard who lay bleeding on the ground not far from me, with a wound that was much worse than mine.

But before I could fully comprehend the situation, my heat sphere detected another wind blade coming in my direction, attempting to cleave me in half.

My reflexes kicked in a flighty response, and by the time it crossed my heat sphere I was sprinting away from the Queen.

The imminent threat of death pushed my body beyond the pain and I instinctively moved away from its path. The next second, the wind blade tore through the ground in a cascade of debris.

Using this as cover, I disappeared amongst the many wasp corpses, activating [Stealth] to hide my presence.

As painful as it felt to move, I did not stop until I'd created enough distance.