Try again? - Chapter 50

As the second wave started to burst out in a frenzy even bigger than the first one, I didn’t hesitate to shoot them as I did earlier. I was already used to it.

Even if they appeared to be extra-zealous for some unknown reason, we managed to deal with them somehow.

But… What came afterward… Eh…

”…”

’What in the name of Holy Tree is that… that… whatever the hell it might be…’

”…”

My mind seemed to blank for a second looking at the just half-outside giant wasp who got stuck and blocked the whole entrance.

’Oh… Yeah. I should use [Appraisal] on it… Let’s see how bad my luck really is…’

’Yo… Holy Tree, dude… Are you laughing at me right now? Is this funny to you?’

*sigh*

Even without the [Appraisal] skill, it wasn’t that hard to guess what happened…

I mean, there was a giant one so big that couldn’t even property make it out of the nest which was surrounded by restless normal ones.

’Wait a moment, there are some wasps a little bigger than the normal ones too…’

It seemed that my intuition was correct… Even my friend [Appraisal] confirmed it… A goddammit 4/5 three-digit status Queen guarded by 3/5 three-digit status Royal Guards and normal ones on top of that…

I hadn’t seen a single thing with the spirit status in three digits… Not even I had that status so high even with my race and ring and anything… Outside of some very rare and dangerous monsters who could actually use elemental magic, these monsters had pitifully low spirit stats…

Usually, the monsters who could use magic had the rest of the statuses lowered but since this one was a freaking 4/5 three-digits one, it shouldn’t be able to…

’Oh, for fuck sake…’

I didn’t even finish what I wanted to say and the earth and rocks around the entrance started to vibrate and slowly split apart.

”…”

Not wasting any more time, I quickly shot several arrows in succession. I was aware that just that much wouldn’t be enough to kill the queen, but at least it would buy some time for us. It should cause some damage at least.

” That’s the queen… Something must have happened down there. ”  Frank said to me the moment he approached.

” No shit, Frank. She wouldn’t have guessed that something happened… Silvia, are you ok? ”

” I’m fine. Frank, you saw as well? ”

” Yes, the queen is injured. Most probably she’s trying to escape. We don’t have much time. Silvia, you are the fastest among us, go and announce the others to come here. ”

” Okay. ” she said and I noticed that the air around her legs started to change. With every step she took, a little wave of wind was left behind as she moved with ridiculous speed.

I didn’t know how exactly she was doing it, but I might as well raise my [Wind Manipulation] skill. Fiona was already fast enough. I was the one who would drag us back in a dangerous situation but since this wasn’t the moment to be lost in my thoughts again, I shoved it in a corner of my mind for the moment and turned my head toward Frank.

” And us? Slow her down or something? ”

Since he already sent Silvia for back up, I wasn’t stupid enough to think that we could beat that thing. If not even the guy who was able to block and even push back charging wasps with his shield didn’t have the confidence to fight the queen was enough of a reason for me to not even think about it.

Heck, I was sent flying several meters after a single normal wasp crashed in me. That thing was a big no.

” Can you do that? ”

” Well, don’t expect too much. Outside of my arrows, I don’t have anything else to slow it down. I’ll be dead if that thing came closer to me. ” I said honestly. Whatever he may think about me, I didn’t care anymore. I still planned to do a lot of things with this long life which for some reason was given to me here.

Surprisingly, he didn’t seem to be bothered by it. Was he already expecting it?

I raised an eyebrow as to question his lack of reaction but the ground was shaken again as the queen did something to enlarge the entrance.

Using the disturbance which distracted their attention from me, I took out another special arrow and shot it at the queen. It was still fine as they weren’t near but now I couldn’t take them out of thin air. I had several normal ones in my improvised quiver so they wouldn’t question me, but this was starting to become a pain.

” Frank, let’s switch. You stay with the two of them in the back and just help me from time to time. ”

” Alright. ”

” Lizza… ”

Turning back my head, I saw a worried Fiona who was unsure of what to do. Outside of taking care of the ones who managed to get past the front line, she wasn’t of much help here.

I didn’t blame her though… If it wasn’t for my synergy between the ring and my arrows, I would be even worse than her.

” Don’t worry. Just be prepared to defend your friend in case of me not being able to, or if something unexpected will happen. ” as I was about to say something to her, I was surprised to see that Frank did it before I could.

He even had a little smile as he said that. Was it because she was from the same race as him? That was my fluff, you know? Stop reassuring my fluff, that was my job.

To my delight, she just nodded to him in the same cold manner she was doing to everyone. It seemed that she didn’t care too much about things like being the same race and stuff.

” The situation seems bad but it’s not. The fact that the queen is trying to run that desperately means that Hector didn’t fail yet. Usually, she shouldn’t be able to use earth magic at all, so I’m almost certain that that’s the only reason she managed to escape till here. Hector should be there soon. We’ll do what we can to buy some time. ”

” Okay. ”

” Good. Then, if that’s all… Oh, here we go… ” he seemed to want to say another thing but was distracted by a wasp flying in our direction.

” Just focus on the queen. We will take care of these. ” he said and smashed his shield into it, sending the poor wasp on the ground like it was nothing. It didn’t even manage to get back on its feet before to be split in half by his sword.

Looking at Elliott, he was already surrounded by several of them since he was in the front. He wasn’t like Frank, smashing them with pure brute strength. Elliott preferred to evade them with quick movements and contra attack them after.

The ones on the ground didn’t even have a chance, being cut the moment they approach him. At the moment I was glad I didn’t say that he was a rude guy out loud.

I didn’t even know who was the real monsters anymore. Shaking my head, I continued to pour flaming arrows at the queen and the other wasps around her.

Things got even more troublesome as the entrance enlarged enough for more and more wasps to make their way out besides the queen.

Frank already stopped to deal with the wasps coming at us on the ground and instead focused on protecting me from the flying ones. Fiona had a hard time dealing with them instead. I even reached level 29 from how many we killed already.

At the moment the queen finally managed to make it out, the situation worsened even more. The Royal Guards who were helping her out till now took the initiative and headed in our direction.

The queen was already injured the moment she emerged out, cuts all over the body, some missing legs and so on, but right now, she had her eyes destroyed and most importantly, her wings we’re completely burnt.

” Frank, there’s too many. And the guards were coming here as well. ”

” Alright, we did what we could. You two retreat first, I’ll go and help Elliott and follow you afterward. ” Frank said and moved toward Elliott.

He didn’t have to say it a second time. I shot another flurry of arrows at the incoming wasps and flew in the opposite direction.

I just wanted to finish with this and get back to our temporary home already. I didn’t even care if they slew the queen or not. We shouldn’t even be here in the first place.

After we took some distance and killed some wandering wasps along the way, we started to hear voices in the opposite direction. A group of people I didn’t know came along with Silvia in our direction. I assumed they were the other adventurers.

” Elizabeth, Fiona… What happened? ” she said and sprinted at us the moment she saw us.

” We delayed the queen how much we could. She should be blind and unable to fly as well. We retreated first, Frank and Elliott should come after us. ”

” Good job. We’ll be going to help them retreat. You did enough. Go back and leave the rest to us. ”

” Okay. ” I just nodded at her and parted immediately. They were in a hurry to help the others after all…

I wasn’t stupid enough to return with her. I barely had some arrows left and even though I still had some mana, that didn’t change the fact that I was physically exhausted as well.

The moment I considered we got a good enough distance from the nest, I crashed near a tree and finally managed to get a break. Though my break was interrupted by two announcements…

[*Ding: You have reached level 30!]

[*Ding: You have reached level 31!]

To get two levels just from assistance, I already had a clue as to what was slain already.

’Goddamit, it’s finally over.’