Chapter 8: An Impossible Challenge

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I provoked the Queen to give me her attention, and she quickly unleashed two powerful attacks by charging her scythes with Mana, activating her damn skill from all things! As if she wasn't strong enough, she had a Skill!

CRASH!

However, I somehow managed to evade in time, and although my armor took a small part of the blow, its durability reduced by -100. Once a weapon or armor's durability reduces to zero, it shatters into pieces. This armor can at most take a few more hits before breaking, but it's good enough for now. It's already better than having my own body being broken into pieces instead.

"SHAH!"

The Queen furiously hissed back at me, as started her chase once more, attempting to catch me as I ran away from her attack range.

However…

"SHAAH?!"

Crack! Crackle!

The sound of her legs being stuck in lots of sticky spiderweb-like silk echoed around the labyrinthian caves. Her gigantic, crimson-colored eyes swiftly glared at the source of her restraint. And little Violet was right there, clicking his tiny jaws.

"Well done Violet!"

"KYU!"

FLASH!

He appeared right behind me as I called for his name, he was super-fast! He might be the fastest bug I've ever met in my life.

"Now, we have to take down those damn scythes. I cannot get near her head without those things chopping me into pieces." I said. "We have to target the joints, where the exoskeleton doesn't cover completely! Do you get it, Violet?"

"KYU!"

Violet nodded obediently. I've never liked bugs, but he might be the exception in my heart. However, if I just think, I won't get anywhere. The silk won't last that long either if the Queen keeps stretching it with her enormous strength. We have to act quickly.

"Violet, try to restrain one of her scythes, I'll stop both at the same time while they attack us!"

"KYU!"

FLASH! FLASH!

I boosted my speed using my Privilege as I armed myself with fearlessness, while Violet caught up to my speed easily utilizing his grossly high Agility stat.

"SHAAAH!"

The Queen seemed to be overjoyed as we moved closer to her, her enormous mandibles cracking and moving upwards as if they were smiling. Her scythes immediately began aiming at us again, my armor acting as some sort of attention-grabbing skill, probably because it was made by the corpses of her children.

"Come on, I am the one you want!"

"GRRAAAH!!!!"

The Queen only got angrier as I teased her as if she could somewhat understand the meaning of my words. Her two scythes aimed at me as she activated her Skill once more. Two slashing attacks made out of mana were unleashed, I evaded one and then parried the second using my spear.

CLASH!

Crack…!

However, my Spear quickly lost -70 Durability in that hit, gaining cracks all over. This spear wasn't going to last much longer if I used it to intercept blows. Thankfully, what I was crafting inside of my Inventory was finally ready.

Ding!

[You've combined: [Dungeon Stone (F Rank)] x70 [Rotten Heart Rose Roots (B Rank)] x4 [Rotten Heart Rose Crystal (B Rank)] x1 [Abyssal Dweller's Carapace (E Rank)] x100!]

[Due to the quality of some materials, the resulting item quality has automatically increased!]

[You've created the [Abyssal Dweller's Great Shield (C Rank)] x1!]

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[Abyssal Dweller's Great Shield]

{Item Type}: [Great Shield] [Insect Shield]

{Item Quality}: [C Rank]

{Item Requirement}: [None]

{Item Durability}: [4500/4500]

{Item Effects}

[DEF]: [ 700] [HP]: [ 35] [MP]: [ 5] [STR]: [ 15] [VIT]: [ 25] [DEX]: [ 5] [AGI]: [-10] [INT]: [ 5] [WIS]: [ 5] [LUC]: [ 5] [CHM]: [ 150]

{Item Abilities}

[Abyssal Dweller's Shield]: A giant shield made out of Abyssal Dweller's exoskeletons and dungeon stones imbued with Mana, while having a Rotten Heart Rose Crystal as its core. It can channel mana to conjure {Insect's Fortress} which decreases damage taken from Insect-type monsters by -25% and increases the weight of the user by 20% to be able to stand their ground.

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FLASH!

An enormous, purple-colored shield materialized in front of me, just in time for the queen's second set of attacks.

CLASH! CLASH! CLASH!

The shield resisted the blows much better than my armor, although its durability was still going down by -20 with each blow, it could last much longer this time around. Especially with its unique ability…

"{Insect's Fortress}!"

I imbued a tiny bit of Mana into the shield, as the purple-colored core, made out of the Rotten Heart Rose Crystal shone brightly encompassing the shield and my body with a fortress-like illusion made of a swarm of insects. The blows of the raging Queen suddenly became even more bearable, as my weight temporarily increased, helping me stand my ground and not fall by the enormous force of her attacks. This was barely working.

"KYUUU!"

And suddenly, as Violet called for me, the Queen's left scythe stopped moving as she desired, as she suddenly realized there were hundreds of thin threads wrapped around them and the ceiling.

"Well done, Violet!"

I quickly jumped over the walls, utilizing my enhanced Agility to reach the Queen's right scythe, and jumping right over the joints connecting it to the rest of her body, aiming my spear tip into the joints and then…!

"Take… THIS!"

CLAAASH!!

"GRYYSHAA….!"

The Queen gave an ear-piercing scream, as her scythe suddenly fell off her upper segments in a single second, hitting the ground with a loud thud.

BAAAM!

Ding!

[The [Abyssal Dweller Queen (D Rank)] screams in agony! Her Right Scythe has been cut off!]

[She has been inflicted with the [Intense Bleeding] Status effect!]

[Her Health Points have begun dropping rapidly.]

"SHAAAHH!!!"

The Queen furiously freed her other scythe and then the rest of her body, however, jumping straight towards me with her immensely heavy body. I put all my force into resisting the entire weight of her massive body, blocking her body slam utilizing the shield.

"Agh!"

Naturally, I was blown away and hit the ground rather harshly. The armor and the shield took most of the damage, but my HP was so low that it had already reached rock bottom.

Ding!

[Warning!]

[Your HP has dropped below 10%!]

"Uggh…"

I quickly popped up a Health Point and drank it, the pain slowly began to dissipate for a bit, and my HP quickly went back up to full as it was so low, that even a low-grade potion would fill it up easily.

"GRRRHHH…!"

And then, as I glanced back at the Queen, I realized it was something. Violet's little body was being pierced by the Queen's last scythe, his little entrails coming out, and bleeding all over.

"K-Kyuuhh…"

Ding!

[Warning!]

[Your {Friend} is in a near-death state!]

No…

"VIOLET!"

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Chapter end