Published at 12th of January 2022 02:39:54 PM

487 Killer Queen

Weve succeeded in raising treants level out of the low numbers, and weve learnt that Aro and the others are capable of handling multiple B+ opponents at once.

It might be about time to aim for the summit of the mountain that Ive had my eye on. After all, we cant afford to delay too much. I dont want to enter combat with Lilixira while there are still things about this land that we dont know.

But, before that, theres an enemy I want to try fighting. Its the one I ran into while trying to raise my level and had to flee from.

Fortunately, after only walking a short distance in that direction again, we meet it again.

[Killer Queen]: rank monster]

It is driven by a strong urge to disassemble everything it sees.

Due to their nature, most [Boogie Dolls] run out of strength after fighting battle after battle without rest, and are eventually killed.

However, a [Boogie Doll] that has reached the form of a [Killer Queen] is the very proof that it does not know of exhaustion or defeat.

Statistically, it is almost impossible for a [Boogie Doll] to survive long enough to become a [Killer Queen].

Right, its the killer queen. Its the same rank as the shen and, as a pure-attacker type, it has skills that strengthen itself and give it an irregular attack pattern. Ill make the decision of whether to bring Aro and the others with me up the mountain, leave them behind in the waterfall cave, or get them to level up somewhere else, after seeing the results of this battle.

Species: Killer Queen

Condition: Berserk

Lv: 94/100

HP: 822/1025

MP: 488/511

The one-eyed female doll surveys its surroundings, peering in turn at Aro, Volk, the humanised nightmare, the black lizard, and the spirit-form treant.

AaAAAAAh!

Its faster than Volk, has more firepower than Aro, is sturdier than the treant, and possesses more tricks than the nightmare. Leaving aside the question of whether its a meaningful position to hold, the killer queen is almost certainly the strongest doll in the world.

The killer queen slips through a hail of sphere-type skills from the nightmare and Aro, and then pushes through Aros [Gale] to close the distance. It takes about twenty percent of its HP in damage, but shows no sign of stopping. Its probably a combination of its ability to take a lot of punishment, and the extreme state of excitation that comes with [Berserk].

Aro moulds a lump of earth that she prepared earlier into a shield. The only ways she can protect herself from a much faster enemy is to either rely on the assistance of others, or to use something prepared beforehand. Three of the killer queens arms stab their knives down towards Aro.

Kyahahahahahahahaha!

The wall of earth easily crumples, and behind it, Aros body flies apart. No, as I can see from behind, I can immediately tell what happened. The body that fell apart was no more than a decoy. In actuality, Aro had already fallen back, escaping from the killer queens knives. Of course, the killer queen soon notices, but the second of misunderstanding she bought has earned her a delay in its pursuit.

Our objective isnt just to defeat the Saint. Its to defeat her without losing anyone.

Aro and the others dont only need to learn how to fight more powerful enemies, but also how to survive against them. Aro didnt just prepare a lump of earth beforehand, but has also covered one of her arms with a thick coating of earth, allowing her to use it as a shield in close-quarters.

HaaaAh!

With one hand gripping around the nightmares neck, Volk plunges toward the killer queen from behind and slashes horizontally. By attaching a thread to the opponent, the nightmare can use the opponents own movement to momentarily chase them at the same speed. But her weight makes it difficult in her normal form, so in order to freely use it, shes forced to temporarily use [Humanisation Technique].

The killer queens last arm points backwards at Volk, and an ultrthin wire shoots out of its finger. Its not the nightmares thread, but the killer queens own [Severing Thread]. Its a hard-to-see, fast, and extremely powerful convenient skill. The killer queens ability to produce it from any of its four arms makes it particularly dangerous.

Guh!

Volks body jerks to the side as he dives to avoid the [Severing Thread]. It looks like he managed to avoid a fatal injury, but a chunk has been cut out of his belly in a spray of blood. To follow-up, another of the killer queens arms reaches out to grab him.

This might be a bit much. I should step in soon.

But then, all of a sudden, Volks sword morphs, the tip swelling a little.

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[Fireball]!

To fill in for Volks opening, magiatite-jii launches an attack. The killer queen gives up on using [Severing Thread] and uses its arms to defend against the [Fireball].

The nightmare, who had been thrown backwards, pulls Volk out of reach with a thread. To substitute for him, the black lizard uses [Roll] to quickly close in on the killer queen, drawing a curved line in the ground. The best way to safely fight a higher rank opponent is to constantly stay on the aggressive while always maintaining a backup plan, and by using the difference in numbers to force openings against them.

The killer queen extends an arm towards each of Aro and the black lizard. Suddenly, above the killer queen, the treants [Tyrant Guardian] form appears. At the same time as he was pulled by the nightmare, Volk kicked the tree spirit-form treant into the air.

Im doing it!

The treants body bursts into flames, and the the glint of metal shines through gaps in the blaze. Black light envelops its body, and it rapidly plummets down. Even the headstrong killer queen is seemingly able to sense the danger, as it bends its knees in preparation to jump.

[Meteor Stamp] is difficult to aim, and takes time to prepare. The killer queens body is far from a large target, too. With its speed, it could easily avoid under normal circumstances.

However, earthen arms are wrapped around its legs. Theyre formed from the same earth that Aro used to create her shield with [Clay]. One of the killer queens legs snaps off at the joint. It looks like it gave priority to escaping, but lost a leg in exchange. In addition, it seems it was unable to produce its usual explosive power in its jump.

Kyahah

The ultrhot and ultrheavy treant-san collides with the killer queen, blasting it away. Its head is partially destroyed, and an arm and leg flies off in the impact. Now that its reduced to just two legs and three arms, its appearance is more humanlike than it was at the start. The moment it hits the ground, the black lizard slams into it with [Roll], causing it to tumble across the ground.

The killer queen begins to rise with puppet-like movements, but then a crack runs through its body and it collapses to the ground. Its eyes slowly close, and the tension fades from the atmosphere.

But, its HP hasnt reached zero.

Dont let your guard down!

Just as Im about to warn them, Volk shouts out. The killer queens eyes snap open, and a [Severing Thread] shoots out of its mouth. Its even faster than before. Even though shes a fair distance away and hadnt let her guard down, the thread pierces through Aros shoulder.

Kyahahahahahahaha!

The killer queens head separates from its body and lunges down the thread towards Aro. Aro swings her enlarged arm up to meet it. At the moment of impact, Aros arm bursts apart and shes thrown backwards. But, as she pulls herself to her feet, she looks at the killer queens head as it rolls away and smiles in relief.

A huge crack has appeared from its forehead to its chin.

Ah.AAaaaAAAh!

The killer queen shatters into dust. This time, all I did was help them with planning their initial formation, and after that, I didnt interfere at all. Theyre finally able to take down an rank pretty much entirely by themselves.

It might be safe to take them with me to the summit. But if Im bringing along some of them, I want to bring them all.

Glancing around, I check the nightmares and magiatite-jiis levels. The nightmare is Lv: 64/70and magiatite-jii has reachedLv: 65/70. Theyre close to evolving. For the rest of the day, we should hunt some more monsters to get them the rest of the way there, and then tomorrow we can make for the summit.