How The Hell Is That Fair?

It was as though the pain of losing its stinger spurred the Ant Queen on. While shaking its wounded abdomen and finally getting Delphyne off it, the Ant Queen redoubled its effort to push against Alessia.

"Grr"

Alessia in turn dug her goes into the ground and pushed with her knees. The strain she was expecting as she pushed her body showed up in veins but then, the triple pincer pushing against her Axe started to give way- It started getting pushed backward.

Yvette was close by but knew better than to get involved in such an obvious clash of strength.

"Get back, you infernal ANT!"

With a final yell, Alessia pushed up to her feet, and when right when her tug-of-war of sorts with the Ant Queen was at its height, she sidestepped.

The move took the Ant Queen by surprise and before it could regain its bearings, Alessia redoubled her grip on her Axe and swung it against the point where the pincers joined the Ant Queen's large head.

*Clang*

Just with the Ant Queen's now-stumpy leg, the sound was metallic but this time, Alessia's Axe went clean through and she cut off two of the pincers on the side directed at her.

As she watched the Pincers fall to the ground, Alessia's lips stretched into a wide grin and she laughed.

"Haha"

*SCREEEEEECCCCHHHH*

The Ant Queen's Antennaes started to twitch which was now known to be a move to call for her already birthed minions but before it could really get those orders out, a dart attached to a rope swung and cut off one antennae.

To those with keen ears, there was a small metallic *Ting*, and for those with normal hearing, the dart move was much too swift to make a sound loud enough to hear.

Yvette pulled back her dart and with quick swings she tossed it out again for the second Antennae.

Again, there was an almost inaudible *Ting* sound as it was cut clean off.

With the Antennas cut off, the Ant minions just remained around Vincel. Shivering out of fear of his Exterminant Aura.

Speaking of Vincel, he was still catching his breath. Casting the 'Bind' spell three times had been tasking on his limited stamina.

With an almost battle-crazed look in her eyes, Yvette drew her dart back, and went for one of the Ant Queens eyes. Then she went for the other rendering it blind.

Alessia cut off the pincer she had not been able to cut before and then went for the remaining three.

Rendered blind, the Ant Queen started to trash around which made it a bit hard for Delphyne to get a clean chance for its thorax.

"Cut a clean cut through the Thorax"

Vincel saw Delphyne struggling and he stretched his hand forward to cast the 'Bind' spell. He had recovered enough stamina for it not to be an issue.

He cast the spell three times and the binds of Arcane Mana wrapped around the Ant Queen's thorax.

*SNAP!*

Two spells worth of binds snapped immediately and in the moment before the last one smaller as well, Vincel recast the bind spell four more times and daily managed to keep the Throrax frozen long enough for Delphyne to jump and come down at it with all her strength backing ger stab.

The Ant Queen reared at that moment but Delphyne welcomed it because that motion allowed her to slide backward and keep slicing open the Ant Queen's thorax all the way.

Yellowish-green goo oozed out, Alessia kept swinging bet Axe and cutting any part of the beast's body that she could and finally, the Ant Queen keeled over and flopped, lifeless.

Vincel had not seen Delphyne leave the body of the Any Queen as it flopped and he was starting to think she had been crushed when she walked out from behind it. Splashed with goo but definitely not squashed to death.

*Thud* *Thud* *Thud*...

In unison, all the Ants still alive, keeled over in the exact same direction and motion as their Queen.

Apparently, the death of their Queen meant theirs as well.

"We did it!" Yvette said.

The battle-crazed look in her eyes was gone. Replaced with the perkiness she had worn before.

Alessia was frowning and despite the Ant Queen being already dead, she still took a few swings at it with her Axe.

"Ngh, but it took longer than it should have"

"Because we didn't know how things worked. Now we do. Next time, we'll do better" Yvette said with a smile.

Alessia's brows furrowed and he looked over at her.

"Next time?"

Yvette nodded.

"Yeah"

"You mean inside another Gate or still inside this one?"

"Inside this one. These Ants are natives of this Gate. The walls are crawling with them. We'll probably meet another colony soon." Yvette explained.

Delphyne was observing the defeated Ant Queen with a contemplative look.

"We divide the spoils of the Ant Queen and get moving. There are more to kill"

Delphyne took out the core of the Ant Queen as the one who delivered the killing blow.

Alessia and Yvette shared the Pinvers equally. Yvette also took many vials of the Ant Queen's goo. She even dumped out the vials she had taken of the minions to refill them with the goo of better quality.

Vincel took the six claws that had topped the Ant Queen's six large hairy legs. He liked the look and saw the potential of it being material for a weapon. Alessia agreed.

'Status'

<User Status Screen Updated>

[Name: Vincel Grey]

[Race: Human]

[Job: Arcane Initiate Lv.4 {301/400 Arcane Shards}]

[Specialization: None]

[Title: The Exterminator]

[HP: 30/125]

[Arcane Mana Reserves: 75/175]

[Strength: 7]

[Stamina: 5]

[Agility: 7]

[Resistance: 5]

[Job Skills: Arcane Augmentation Lv.1]

[Spells: 2 {Indicate for more information}]

[Stat points: 16]

-

'I'm actually a little grateful for the Ant Queen. It was basically an Arcade shard spawner.'

Vincel did realize that he would get overwhelmed if he was facing the Ant Queen's minions and the Ant Queen herself all on his own but the fact that he had support in the trio of ladies made it easy to just be glad that he had now gone two levels up in his first huddle inside an Active Gate.

'More Ant Queens and I'll be unlocking the Spell Archives in no time. Just six more levels before I become an Arcane Apprentice.'

Vincel took out the vial of healing potion Zay'in had given him.

''One drop is enough' she said. Is it one drop on my wounds or one drop to drink?'

Vincel remembered Aidan dripping healing potion on his wound but he had no idea if this was the same type as that. And Zay'in instruction sounded a bit vague.

While Vincel was wondering with the vial of healing potion in hand and still seated on the ground, Delphyne walked over to him.

"Hey" she said and Vincel looked up at her.

She was smiling.

"That was fine work you did."

She sounded polite. Genuinely polite. No undertone of underestimation.

Vincel returned the smile.

"Thank you" he said. "But, it was a group effort"

Delphine chuckled.

"Yes it was. And you did you part well. Couldn't have stabbed the thorax or cut off the Pincer without you" she said.

"You're welcome" Vincel told her with a smile.

Then he cleared his throat and looked back at the vial of healing potion in his hand.

'You know what, fuck it. I'll just drip it on a wound and see' he thought before pulling the cork.

As he pointed the opening to a wound on his arm, he heard Delphyne say to him,

"That's a drink-type healing potion. You're supposed to drink it drop by drop."

"Oh, really? Thanks" Vincel said.

"You're welcome." Delphyne told him with a smile before walking away to tend to her own injuries.

Vincel open his mouth and dripped a drop of the potion on his tongue.

'Oh, wow'

A warm sensation started from his tongue to the whole of his moth before spreading all over his body. Every single wound he had began to seal up.

His fatigue also began to wear off and he certainly felt more energetic now.

"Powerful stuff" Vincel mumbled.

[User has used Healing Potion]

[+15 HP]

'Just Fifteen? How the hell is that fair?'