[You know nothing of my pride.] The Queen sneered as she took off in the air. [You speak of selflessness, yet you ran away by yourself before saving your kin.]

I scoffed. [No matter how many of your brethren you consume, your core won't be restored to its previous state. Don't you think Ekharkai deserves more than serving a weak queen like you?] I threw back at her. [Release him from his bond to you, your actions are just holding him back.]

[And what sort are you?] The Queen taunted. [The wicked one who is greedy for everything, or the benevolent one who gets stolen from and betrayed?]

[Neither.]

I appraised her and saw that her HP was already halfway down to [104/295]. I needed to inflict more damage to her before the minute ran out and she regained the use of her wind blades, but I didn't think it'd be easy.

I wanted to retreat and find a better opportunity, but doing so would leave the lizard vulnerable to the Queen's torment.

As I was pondering my next move, the Queen dived down towards me and I jumped back, right before her serrated legs jabbed through the floor, creating a rumbling echo throughout the cave.

I got away with a bleeding slice, but my previous wound opened up again.

Ignoring the ache, I tackled her from the air before she could take off again by digging into her injured leg with [Bite].

The Queen took off regardless and grasped me in the air, attempting to rip me off her bad limb. Her sharp claws dug into me once more, but I resisted the pain and bit into her wings instead, succeeding in tearing them.

〚Skill Aptitude Increase: 『Bite: LV6』has become『Bite: LV7』〛

I thought it would bring her down, but it only served to alter her flight path as she slammed me against a pillar. I recoiled in pain as her claws dug under my scales but I constricted around her arm without letting go, exerting just as much pressure with [Dragon Scales] for cracks to form across her shell.

Noticing the damage, the queen released her grip but it was too late as I used the opportunity to coil further across her body, constricting it with all my might!

With more and more cracks appearing across her carapace, the queen began to panic. She twisted in an awkward angle and forced a gap through my tight grip to release her arm, in order to launch a wind blade towards me as soon as her cooldown period ended.

At such close proximity, the result would be devastating so I struggled to keep her arm from extending by constricting even tighter.

But ultimately my minute would soon be over.

After learning I could open smaller fissures with [Dimensional Box], I scanned the Queen once again with [Mana Sense]. Fixating on the locations of various blackened scars where her body was devoid of mana from repeated damage.

Like inanimate objects around the chamber that showed up dark because they lacked mana, they were also similar to dead creatures in the same way. Was it farfetched to think they could be swallowed too?

As the Queen's arm broke free to fully extend, I visualised fissures opening across the many blackened scars of her arm.

In the next second, there was a visceral screech from the Queen. The wind blade that was about to go off, fizzled out to nothing and her arm fell away, moth bitten and severed in a myriad of clean cuts and rough gouges.

There was no time to be thrilled by the result, I immediately focused on another one of her arms, repeating the same action before she could fire.

[Release me!] With two of the queen's arms amputated at their joints, her struggling intensified. I constricted even tighter as she cried out, to ensure she didn't try any more tricks.

I could see the Queen was enraged but without her wind blades there was no way she could break free. To ensure she stayed this way, I went in on her remaining two arms.

[Give up. Without your arms, what kind of Queen can you be? Ekharkai is better off free than serving a useless queen that can't even defend herself.]

At this point her cries were impossible to comprehend and were more like curses than screams. I had damaged her carapace enough to destroy her - there was no recovery from this.

With her HP near zero, I rushed over to check if the lizard was still alive. The system's HP Recovery Potion was an ace but it would no longer be effective if I took too long.

Before the battle I had instructed him to stay far away from the queen because I knew she would exploit him as a weakness, either through [Coercion] or other tactics, but even with that he ended up getting tortured by the Queen.

His HP was hanging at a dangerous [11/89] and after dousing him in potion it recovered to [31/89]. I fed him just enough to refill his HP over halfway, allowing his body to start regenerating his wounds naturally.

«He should be fine now.» Sensei mulled over in thought.

"He better be." I replied nonchalantly, but the moment the lizard opened its eyes, I heaved a sigh of relief.

The lizard blinked, bleary eyes darting around in confusion like it had forgotten where it was. His eyes fell on me and they regained their focus as he shakily rose to his feet.

I gave him a curt nod and returned to the Queen, my eyes cold and indifferent.

All four of her limbs were ripped off, her bright wings torn apart and her carapace shattered. There was no semblance at all of her former arrogance, and instead she resembled a discarded old toy.

Despite her ravaged state, she did not bleed at all, but then again, I did not expect her to. She was merely living on borrowed time with a body that was far too damaged. Anything that remained of a functional body was long gone after her first defeat and subsequent butchery by her children.

[I have been outdone.] Her voice was a low rasp. [If I wasn't so gullible, I would have killed the imposter as soon as she arrived. If I had, I would not be in this state right now.]

The Queen was slowly unravelling with her defeat. As her HP slowly dwindled to nothing she called out the many names of her children, and I did not understand why she did that. She had killed just as many of them, if not more, yet she spoke of them with affection.

I was not at all saddened by her impending death. Showing compassion and weakness caused her downfall. It was best to always show superiority through strength.

Only the strong survive. No matter what kind of world, that fact remained the same.

I didn't delay anymore and swiftly moved in and crushed her neck under my fangs with [Bite] and ripped it right off without much resistance.

〚You have defeated LV28 Horothia Decoris!〛

I tried to make her death as painless as I could. Her pitiful existence was merely the result of her inaction.

〚You have earned 398XP〛

〚You have gained a level!〛

〚You have gained a level!〛

〚You have gained a level!〛

〚You have gained a level!〛

〚You have gained a level!〛

With the queen dead, I collected her body with [Dimensional Box] and a few other wasps around the chamber for later consumption. But then the system dinged once more.

〚Conditions for evolution satisfied. Evolution tree of 『Ailith Cerastes』has been unlocked.『Neonate Cerastes』can evolve into『Small Cerastes』(Accept | Reject)〛

I looked at the display window with disappointment.

Was that it?

What was the difference between the two, anyway? Wasn't I just exchanging one level of small for the next?

Where was the gigantic anaconda evolution option?

What a microscopic rip off!

«You don't have time to delay, accept it and go. The other Queen will be here soon.»

Sensei hurried, but then he hesitated. «No wait, don't accept it yet, it will - »

But I already did…

«...put you to sleep.» Sensei sighed in disappointment.

Almost at once, waves of drowsiness hit me and the cavern walls distorted before my eyes, warping like melted candy. My vision began to grow cloudy, shapes swirling and blending into each other in my periphery.

The scene of carnage before me swept across like stretched film, like a distorted nightmare and I was filled with a rush of euphoria.

The lizard in front of me tilted its head as it stared at me with a puzzled gaze.

It too looked a little weird. Why did I suddenly want to eat it, like I was staring at a piece of meat?

And then I heard it. A low rumbling ringing across the tunnel and getting slower with every second.

The sounds amplified by my distorted sensations, sounded heavy, like something scraping along as it dragged a tonne of bricks. I soon realised it was the warped pitch of many wasps moving together in a group but I could no longer tell if it was far away or close.

Pulling the lizard out of the cavern, I activated [Mana Sense] to scan in the direction of the sound and I spotted a thick cloud of wasps moving together as a swarm and in their middle was a large ominous mana presence that could only be the Queen.

But she was too late and the original Queen was already dead.

Without wasting any time, I leapt down the tunnel in the Scary wasps lair which led to the Hive Core. It was sufficiently hidden and I could wait out my evolution there to escape the carnage.

Although it wasn't a safe location, it would do until the sleepiness that came with evolution wore off.