After escaping the rock bridge, Silverwing and the others had been travelling through a long and winding tunnel. There were some Giant Ants and Giant Ant Warriors but the numbers were not as overwhelming as previous, so they could handle them easily. They saw a light at the end of the tunnel.
They came out of the tunnel and found themselves in a huge cavern hall with mostly flat ground. Some large boulders spread around the hall sparsely. They walked in as they looked around.
“I don’t see any path to take,” Bluedaze mentioned. “Is this the end of the line?”
“If so, where is the dungeon boss?” Warpath asked.
Before anyone could answer, a loud shrill cry was heard from above. They looked up just as a gigantic thing fell down from the ceiling above, landing right in front of them. The thing landed with a boom and created a small tremor.
Everyone was staring at the thing that had appeared abruptly in front of them with consternation. Its appearance was similar to the Giant Ants, except that it was much larger. Its height reached almost four meters while its length was around ten meters. It also had the middle section which was proportionately bigger, and the rear part of its body look swollen with bright red color. Its head had long antenna with addition to two large horns above its eyes. Its appendages were covered by sharp hairs and ended with long scythe-like claws. Every step it took punctured a deep hole into the ground.
Sinreaper Inspected the gigantic monstrosities.
Giant Queen Ant (Elite boss, Insect), level 15
HP: 10,300
Experience awarded: 3,020
Strength: 132
Physical Defense: 290
Magical Defense: 290
Sinreaper had improved his Inspect skill to Advanced Apprentice. Combined with the special effect of the Hermit Glasses he equipped, his Inspect skill had the effect of an Advanced Expert. Hence, he could see more information when scanning a monster.
“That’s the dungeon boss, all right,” he said to the others. “And it’s a level 15 Elite. It has very high defenses.”
“An Elite? Shouldn’t be a problem.” Warpath exclaimed as he brandished his two swords, “I’ve killed an Elite before, thought it was a level 13. Difference shouldn’t be too big. I’ll take point, you people just focus on giving me support!”
Warpath rushed forward with confidence. Selena and Queen Magenta both casted Mana Bullet at the boss. With their members down to three against White Scarfs’ four players, they were at a disadvantage. They tried to get the first strike on the boss to secure more points for the dungeon clear rankings.
The two Mana Bullets hit the Giant Queen Ant’s horned head. It produced 59 and 65 damages. The two Magicians were stunned, normally their Mana Bullet spell could score three digits number. But its damage was now reduced by almost half against this Boss. They did not put much importance when Sinreaper mentioned about the Boss’ high defenses, now they knew he was telling the truth.
The Giant Queen Ant shrugged its head as if it just got an itch. It looked at the direction of the two Magicians that had just hit it, and uttered a piercing cry. A ripple of energy was discharged from its mouth as it caused the surrounding air to shudder. A bullet of air shot out explosively from the Queen Ant’s mouth and left a trail of mist along its path.
“Watch out!” Selena had faster reaction as she pushed Queen Magenta aside and managed to duck at the last second. The air bullet passed through their sides and hit the wall behind. The wall that was hit exploded spectacularly, causing chunks of rock to rain down on the intruders.
Such an explosive attack! If they were hit directly by the bullet, they could most likely get killed instantly.
Warpath who was running towards the boss was also taken aback by the attack. He felt lucky that he was not the one targeted by the boss. But when he looked back at the Giant Queen Ant, he could see the monster had put its attention on him.
The Queen Ant crawled forward with explosive speed. Its six long legs scurried with extremely fast speed. Warpath was surprised that it had arrived in front of him in an instant, and one of its legs with sharp scythe-like end was slashing at him. Fortunately, his reaction was not slow, he managed to duck but a second slash from the monster’s other leg came at his side. He had no choice but to parry. It caused him damage and pushed him away with great force.
The boss chased after Warpath relentlessly. He scrambled pitifully as he put all his attention into dodging and parrying, he had no chance to attack at all.
“What are you people just standing there for?” Queen Magenta yelled at Silverwing’s group who were still stunned by the boss’ prowess. She and Selena casted their spells again on the Queen Ant to attract her attention in order to relieve some pressure from Warpath.
Silverwing gave his orders, “Honeycomb, go and support Warpath, prioritize on defending. Bluedaze and Sinreaper spread out, hit it with your range attacks from different directions. I will look for an opportunity from behind.”
The four of them then spread out and made their own moves. Bluedaze and Sinreaper took positions opposite from Wicked Witches’ Magicians. This way, they could attack the boss from four different positions. Honeycomb came to Warpath’s side and cover his left side so that he could concentrate more on the right side. While Silverwing sneaked to the Queen Ant’s back, he sent a Swift Stab once he saw the chance.
The Queen Ant which felt his rear was stabbed, furiously turned around. Silverwing was stunned by its speed of turning. At one second he was facing the Ant’s swelled-up abdomen, the next he was staring down at the Queen Ant’s gigantic mandibles. He was having the fright of his life when said mandible suddenly darted towards him. He reflexively used Roll to evade. If he was any slower in responding, his neck would have suffered the mandible’s cut. It would surely cause a critical damage if it did not kill him outright.
The Queen Ant slashed its front legs at the escaping Silverwing. This time he didn’t managed to escape, it grazed through his shoulder and sent him flying. He received 78 damage which was almost a third of his life. Just a graze and the damage was so high, he was having the fright of his life.
After sending the pestering backstabber away, the Queen Ant made a low crouch. The players were confused by its move. The heavy mass of the Queen Ant suddenly floated up into the air. It was leaping through the air heading towards Queen Magenta.
Stricken with terror by the sight, Queen Magenta threw away all manner of elegance and ran for her life. The Queen Ant landed with a crushing force, causing the ground around to tremble and crack. Queen Magenta who was in the process of running away, tripped due to the tremor, but she quickly rose back up and ran again as fast as she could.
—————
In the empty cavern hall, Jack and Jeanny was still at a loss. Jeanny had rested and her HP was already back to full, she was joining Jack in searching along the cavern wall now.
Jack had circled the wall twice, he still could not find anything out of ordinary. Frustrated, he decided to rest first, he walked to one of the boulders to sit down. While he was walking, he noticed a green marking in his God-Eye monocle. It was marking one of the boulders not far away.
He immediately headed towards that boulder. He arrived at it and inspected it. Nothing out of ordinary as well, just a normal boulder. But the monocle clearly marking it as something valuable. Jack touched the boulder and walked around it while touching its surface.
“What are you doing?” Jeanny asked when she saw Jack’s odd behavior.
“I think there’s something with the boulder,” Jack answered honestly.
“I don’t see anything’s wrong with it,” Jeanny said. “Why do you think there is something to it?”
“Just a feeling,” Jack was not about to explain about his God-Eye monocle.
“Maybe we can attack it?” Jeanny suggested.
“Eh?”
“Just a thought. In RPG games you sometimes met common looking object which you can break, right?”
Jack thought about it and thought she was right. He also heard Peniel’s voice, “she can be right, you know. Most of the items in this world are breakable, and some contains valuables.”
Jack pulled out his sword.
“Ok, stand back,” he said, then he made a slash at the boulder.
The sword collided with the hard surface of the rock and made a loud clanging sound. A damage of 82 appeared above the rock.
It had damage count! Then the rock was really a special item, which was meant to be destroyed to reveal the content inside. He made another two hits. The rocky boulder crumbled at the third hit and revealed a bronze color treasure box.
