The Hero System - Chapter 49: The Battle: Queen

“Then we should hurry up and escape!” Linus turned around to leave immediately.

“Wait!” Olivia ordered. Linus turned toward her with confusion.

“We can’t escape anymore. If the queen did evolve, we’d be her after-meal. After monsters evolve, they need to replenish themselves! If the queen hunts us down at the Energy Materialization stage, then we’re done for!” Gorilla explained with a dark expression.

“However, if we want to attack, our chance is now! The queen’s spiritual energy is unstable That means she can’t use a lot of it!” Fatty mumbled with fear.

The group went silent again. Can they take such a risk?

“Everyone I’ll stay and fight. We don’t know if there’s another exit. If there isn’t and the queen evolves, our chances of survival are close to nil. However, those who want to back down are free to do so. You can go look for another exit at your own risk.” Gorilla had a solemn expression.

Everyone started to hesitate, unsure of what to do. If they look for another exit, they might have a chance of survival. However, if there aren’t any

“I’ll fight.” Jonah looked at Gorilla and the latter nodded.

“Me too!” Olivia seconded.

“Same here!”

“I’ll do my best!”

“You guys are crazy! But I’m in!”

Everyone agreed. Even Linus, something that no one expected. Jonah realized that this guy wasn’t that stupid to flee by himself.

Since everyone was in, they had no reason to hesitate any longer. Thus, the group advanced!

There were a dozen or so bees in this floor and it had no compartments with only a hollow hall and two entrances. As soon as one of the bees spotted the group, it alerted the rest and all of the bees dashed toward the group.

From where they were standing, they can see the queen sitting in the center. She lied inside a plate-like structure with many pillars around it. Its body was two times larger than normal bees with its eyes being red.

“Jonah, take the left! Ben, you take the right!” Gorilla ordered. At some point, no one would have expected a trainee who has just ranked up to be one of the teams main forces.

However, that’s just because the enemy was at the Fourth Level of the energy condensing stage. Jonah’s weakness would be shown if there were monsters that are more powerful.

Gorilla, Jonah, and Ben took the front, while the rest took the flanks. While Norlan, Leo, Sana, Kim, and Ro where in the middle. Ro was the name of the swordswoman that was protecting Kim.

Fatty and Olivia took the right flank while Yan and Linus took the left. There was a 3 meters distance between each person so no one would obstruct anyone.

There were normal Blue-Eye Bees while there was also some Purple-Eyes Bees. More than 20 bees soon surrounded the group while there were also some coming from the rest of the hall.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

[Ding! A mutated monster killed. +16 Experience Points.]

The two daggers flew toward one of the mutated bees and killed it instantly. Jonah and Ben also surrounded a mutated bee while Gorilla took out two of them with one hit. Jonah thrust his spear toward the bee and it deflected it. However, this gave Ben an opening and he instantly killed it!

Leo and Norlan kept diverting the rest of the bees while the others fought. Yan and Olivia were like butterflies in a battlefield. Olivia used her longsword to slay the bees instantly killing them. Yan, on the other hand, killed the bees without them noticing!

The group advanced as they killed more. Jonah’s experience kept increasing but he didn’t reach the amount to level up. It was obvious that leveling up would prove difficult the higher his level was.

Heeeeessss

The queen gave another cry and its aura intensified. This also meant that she has reached the bottleneck of her current realm and she was trying to evolve. Gorilla saw this chance and decided to split the teams.

“E-93, take care of the bees and join us afterward! E-55, attack!”

Following his command, the two groups split immediately. Each group had its own strategies and formations that they immediately put them to use.

Jonah and Gorilla dashed toward the queen. At the same time, Norlan took one of the sides. Yan used bees corpses to hid and wait for her chance. Sana stayed at the back away from the queen and the bees casting her support skill. Leo stayed near Sana and protected her from any incoming bees.

[Support skill has been used on the user. Resistance +5, Strength +10.]

Jonah and Gorilla each took a side. However, Jonah stayed further away since a single hit would kill him instantly. He attacked with his daggers repeatedly although it barely inflicted any damage on the queen.

This time’s main attacker was defiantly Gorilla as he was the group’s strongest member. Effortlessly, he lifted his hammer up in the air and struck the queen!

The queen blocked with her two legs and a shock wave spread due to the impact. Gorilla gritted his teeth and attacked again! The two engaged in a high-speed confrontment that even Norlan had difficulties following their attacks.

However, that didn’t stop the rest from helping. With his daggers flying, Jonah attacked the queen’s head repeatedly but the latter easily dodged and deflect them. Jonah gnashed his teeth as sweat beads appeared on his forehead. His Spirit Points would last for long and he needs to give it his all with this last attack.

One of the daggers fell to the ground and the other accelerated! Jonah’s spiritual energy was rapidly declining since he focused all of it on this one dagger!

Cling!

The queen sensed the incoming attack and used it two front legs to block it. This, however, gave Gorilla a chance and he struck the bees back with his hammer.

The queen screamed a cry of pain and it tried flying away miserably. However, at this moment, an arrow penetrated its eye and a dagger pierced through its abdomen! Norlan and Yan didn’t lose this opportunity to strike!

The queen finally used its illusion skill! However, it was weaker than the last time!

Before the illusion took effect, the group closed their ears! They have already prepared for this and used some clothes to make earplugs. With the instability of the queen’s spiritual energy, the illusion only caused the group to be slightly dizzy!

At that moment, Team E-93 arrived! They have already taken care of the remaining bees and they were here to help! The two groups surrounded the queen and advanced!

At that moment, the queen knew it was in danger. It didn’t hesitate to use its last bit of strength to fly toward its minions’ corpses! Then, it started eating them!

‘She’s trying to evolve!’

The group realized and they bolted toward the queen trying to end its life. However, the queen flew away again and ate several mutated corpses!

Its aura kept intensifying and then it exploded! The hall shook and the two teams almost lost their grounds. They then looked at the queen with pale-faced. It had evolved.