“No you don’t!” Redwood’s roar echoed across the chasm, defiant and furious.
Before Luke could even register the sound, the massive soldier launched himself into the air. It was an impossible leap, spanning the fifteen yard trench through sheer, brute strength and desperate will. Redwood landed on the platform with a ground shaking thud between Luke and the advancing Queen, his shield coming up just in time to meet her snapping mandibles. The impact sent shockwaves through the stone.
Redwood grunted, digging his heels in, holding the line. His axe, shimmering with latent energy, swung in a wide, glittering arc, biting deep into the Queen’s already damaged foreleg hinge.
~ Redwood deals 180 Physical Damage (Critical Hit!) ~
~ Formica Queen HP: 85% ~
~ Status Effect: Crippled (Foreleg Severely Damaged) ~
The Queen shrieked, stumbling back as her leg buckled completely beneath her immense weight. Redwood didn’t relent. He stood defensively over Luke, a veritable mountain of steel and resolve, shield raised, axe ready for the Queen’s next move. “Get up, kid!” he bellowed, not taking his eyes off the enraged insect. “Fight ain’t over! Need you in this!”
Across the trench, Mark, Hark, and Silva, seeing Redwood’s incredible intervention, renewed their covering fire with the heavy crossbows, bolts thudding against the Queen’s carapace, trying to draw her attention, harass her flanks. Lestor, looking utterly drained but fiercely determined, began gathering faint wisps of arcane energy again, preparing another spell, however weak it might be.
Luke pushed himself up, groaning, every muscle screaming, the broken ribs sending shards of agony through his chest with each breath. He was alive, thanks to Redwood’s impossible leap. But they were trapped on the platform now, facing a wounded, enraged, and cornered Queen. He glanced at his HP: 5/100. One stray claw swipe, one misstep near the trench, and his journey ended permanently.
The Queen focused her considerable fury entirely on Redwood. She lunged, ignoring her now useless foreleg, relying on her remaining limbs and sheer bulk. She swiped with her functional foreleg, claws leaving deep gouges in Redwood’s heavy shield. Her mandibles snapped relentlessly, seeking purchase. Redwood met the assault head on, a masterclass in defensive warfare. His shield absorbed monstrous blows that would have pulverized Luke, sparks flying with each impact. His axe found openings, quick, powerful chops inflicting further wounds whenever the Queen momentarily overextended in her rage. It was a brutal, close quarters brawl, titan against titan, the outcome uncertain.
“Lestor! Whatever you got, give it now!” Mark shouted urgently from the far side.
“Almost there!” Lestor called back, sweat pouring down his face, the amber light around his staff flickering erratically. He was clearly pushing his limits.
Luke knew he couldn’t just stand there and watch Redwood fight alone. The big man was buying them precious time, but he wouldn’t last forever against the Queen’s relentless assault, especially with her poison likely still a threat. Luke needed to contribute, draw her attention, create an opening for Lestor or another decisive blow from Redwood. He scanned the Queen again, forcing his pain wracked mind to recall the Truth Seeker information. Underbelly vulnerable... difficult access...
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He saw it. An opening. As the Queen reared up slightly, trying to bring her massive weight down to crush Redwood’s shield defense, her softer, segmented underbelly was momentarily exposed, just above her rearmost legs. It was a tiny window, a suicidal gamble.
Taking a ragged breath, Luke ignored the screaming pain in his ribs. He activated Basic Evasion one last time and darted under the Queen, rolling between her massive, stomping legs. The stench beneath her was overpowering, a mix of pheromones, ichor, and decay. He came up beneath her massive thorax, looking up at the expanse of relatively unprotected, pulsating flesh. He slashed upward with both Anelace daggers, driving the shadowsteel blades into the vulnerable plating with all his remaining strength.
~ Damage Dealt: 23 ~
~ Damage Dealt: 25 ~
~ Formica Queen HP: 82% ~
The Queen shrieked, a sound far higher pitched, more intensely pained than before. She bucked violently, her entire massive body convulsing, trying to dislodge the unexpected agony beneath her. Luke clung on desperately for a moment, stabbing repeatedly, ignoring the viscous green ichor spraying over him, before the thrashing threw him clear, sending him sliding across the platform again.
“Now, Lestor!” Mark roared, seeing the Queen momentarily crippled by the underbelly strike.
Lestor thrust his hands forward. Not fire this time, but jagged shards of pure, crystalline ice erupted from his palms. The spell wasn’t as powerful as his earlier fire magic, clearly cast from depleted reserves, but it was precisely aimed. The ice shards struck the Queen’s wounded underbelly, shattering against the softer chitin, freezing the spraying ichor, deepening the wounds with chilling cold.
~ Lestor deals 280 Ice Damage (Vulnerability Exploited!) ~
~ Formica Queen HP: 75% ~
~ Status Effect: Frostbite (Movement Speed Reduced) ~
The combination of the deep underbelly wounds and the sudden, shocking cold sent the Queen into a final, uncontrollable frenzy. She thrashed wildly, disoriented, screeching. Redwood seized the moment, landing another heavy axe blow on her already crippled foreleg, nearly severing it completely from her body.
But the Queen wasn’t finished. Fueled by dying rage, she ignored Redwood, ignored Luke. With a final, enraged screech, she spun towards the figures across the trench, the source of the painful magic. Her abdomen pulsed violently, sacs contracting. She sprayed a wide, thick cone of milky white, neurotoxic venom across the chasm.
Mark, Hark, and Silva raised their shields instinctively, but the spray was too wide, too fast, coating them. Hark cried out, his entire body seizing, then going rigid, eyes wide with silent terror as the paralysis took hold instantly. Silva staggered back, gasping, dropping his crossbow as he clawed at his chest, the venom visibly corroding his armor, reaching the flesh beneath. Mark managed to block most of the spray with his shield, but some splashed onto his face and eyes. He roared in agony, dropping his weapon, stumbling blindly, hands clawing at his burning face.
~ Hark Status: Paralyzed (Full Body) ~
~ Silva Status: Critical Poison (Neurotoxin - Fatal) ~
~ Mark Status: Blinded (Severe - Likely Permanent), Moderate Poison ~
“NO!” Lestor yelled, helpless, watching his comrades fall in seconds. Silva collapsed, body shuddering violently before going still. Hark stood frozen, a living statue. Mark stumbled blindly near the trench edge, moaning in pain.
The Queen, seizing the advantage, ignoring her own grievous wounds, lunged towards the edge of the platform nearest the incapacitated soldiers, preparing another devastating venom spray to finish them off.
Redwood roared, charging again, axe raised, trying to intercept her, to protect his fallen commander. But the Queen, despite her injuries, despite the frostbite slowing her, was still deceptively fast. She spun, her massive, segmented tail whipping around like a scythe, catching Redwood squarely across the chest with immense force.
Luke heard the sickening crack of multiple ribs breaking, even over the Queen’s hissing. Redwood, the immovable anchor, the titan who had leaped the chasm to save him, was flung backwards off the platform like a broken toy. He disappeared into the bubbling green trench below with a choked, final cry.
Horror, cold and absolute, choked Luke. He watched Redwood vanish, watched Silva die, saw Hark paralyzed, heard Mark’s blind screams of agony. Lestor stood beside him, pale and trembling, completely out of mana, utterly defenseless.
It was just the two of them now. Alone on the platform. Facing the dying, venom spewing, monstrously enraged Formica Queen. And Luke had 5 hit points left.