The Queen of Hodda had always been the worrisome type, but, because of her status, she was made the exemption from the rules. Cheonquq had been captured after being leaving from his home, at the age of 15 he was going out on his first adventure and the Queen realized that she was always at the seat of disasters. Most of the time when things happened in the kingdom that didn't make any sense to others, it was under the direct order of the Queen.
Hodda's Queen once had a platoon of soldiers out picking flowers, during a battle.
To the group, she was off her rocker.
There were only five days projected left on their timer, the group was confident in their ability and preparing to leave. Each day they focused sincerely on raising their power to the proper level. Even if it took their combined effort to penetrate the barrier, they would have still earned it.
The Royal Families of both nations were absolute monsters, profiteering from themselves. One of the Queen's abilities that had been a reason for her marrying into the family was her singing. The Queen was able to send anyone who heard her song into a state of paralysis, they would lose all motor function, some people even stopped breathing.
Inside of the Ship, there was nothing to worry about. Misozi's hull was impenetrable by standard means. The Queen had sung her song a few times during the final week, perhaps it was to delay their departure, perhaps it was just because she wanted to sing. Either way, Misozi recorded it.
Five days of cultivation meant the group only needed to absorb about two thousand spirit stones in total between the four of them. Still, five hundred stones was not very much when considering the strength of them.
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Having reconnected with the Crusher, Wu Hai kept it out and strapped to his back as he traveled. The added weight was enough to boost his training while he searched. He had hunted everyday without fail and accumulated enough materials to make several new suits of armor from each.
So many creatures were unique within the Ultinian Heavens, virtually nothing that existed there was like that of Shiyan. It was like the one that created this space had done so purposefully. Wu Hai saw something that looked like a Nutria Rat. It was fat like a hamster but big like a soccer ball. 'Something is strange about them, I wonder if I can catch them alive.'
The creature immediately noticed Wu Hai and ran, sprinting across the grasslands. It tripped, or at least, it looked like it had tripped for a moment. Then, it curled up and tucked its legs within to roll. The creature had balled itself up and its speed had actually increased.
'Crites? No.. no, they didn't have sharp teeth or quills.' Wu Hai leapt it the air and followed from above.
He wanted to find out where its nest was and whether there were a great number of them. Predators were low in number within his dimensional pockets but he needed a food source for them if he intended to keep any as pets. The Nuecrites were just large enough and since they had come from the Ultinian Heavens, they would no doubt carry some latent value in their meats or materials. Wu Hai did his best to remain far enough away and out of sight.
The third year of searching for the group had been a lonely one. Wu Hai didn't want to give up but it was getting harder to rationalize his lingering around the first level. For almost three months he had been considering ascension to the next level.
The Nuecrites den was actually rather large, there were dozens of small social groups scattered across the grasslands. With his vision, Wu Hai could see a lot of different types of grasses but there were only minor differences in the population of Nuecrites. They burrowed and swam, it didn't matter to the small mammals, they were somewhat blissful in their existence.
Pistis Gift had come with a new set of eyes, with his heat vision and combination of energy detection methods he was able to notice the subtle difference between the Nuecrite races. The difference between males and females was primarily color but some males were a mixture of both. Virtually all the females had the same patterns on their backs, like cattle, they had spotting while the males were generally brown in color.
Because of Pistis Gift, Wu Hai was now presenting, at least from the outside, the image of a Snake. When he approached the Nuecrite population, the males were prepared to defend.
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With Four days left to go in Hodda, the Queen had gone mad, the King had gone missing in the middle of the night. She ordered the royal guards to search for his presence and when there were no signs of him within the castle grounds, she grew angry and irrational.
Guards were shuffling across the Stonework and spreading out into the City, citizens were torn from their homes and lined up for inquisition. "Our Great Leader had disappeared, those who know something come forward. Those of you who do not, prepare to die." The Queen stood next to the head guard as he grimaced at her words.
He coughed, "My Queen, is it really necessary to kill them?"
"Anyone who stands in the way will die and that includes you." She stabbed him through the heart with her dagger and wiped the blood on one of the Citizens. "Who saw?"
"We saw nothing, my Queen." All of the townsfolk that had been lined up bowed and dared not challenge her words.
"Don't be stubborn, tell me now or watch your families die." She had lost her mind, her eyes were darting all directions and the knife was slashing out at the people who kept their heads down.
A red light appeared in her eyes and a wooden tail flipped out from under her dress while she maniacally laughed.
"You're not the Queen!" Cheonquq had been standing by the side, he dared not challenge his mother but with the change in her appearance it was now clear that she was not the Queen. "Guards! Stop her immediately."
"You insolent child! I should have had them execute you sooner but the arrival of those guests and that stupid King. AHH! I can't stand it, you and your Hodda keep hunting my kind. It's time for change." She was bleeding a strange red fluid that wasn't blood. It was running and bright orange.
She stood there alone and her power surged, blowing the royal knights away. It was hard to gauge how long the flow had been ongoing, the queen's dress was rather long but the orange puddles had grown across the courtyard of the Castle. The Dots turned and churned and more than thirty tailed beasts came out of the puddles before they disappeared.
Misozi was monitoring the situation and when the portals arrived, she knew it was time to warn the group. "Something is going on below, the Queen isn't the Queen. She's killed the Captain of the Guard and is trying to kill the Prince."
Vector and Mursayade had just come out of cultivation, they left their cabin half dressed and continued to put on their clothes. "What's going on?"
Misozi's voice showed that the situation was developing fast. "Enemy below, the Queen's gone berserk, but that's not the Queen."
The Guards were somewhat ineffective in fighting off the beasts that had arrived, many of them fell almost immediately and were in the process of being devoured. Prince Cheonquq had turned to flee, he was absolutely unable to put up resistance. His journey before was more of a journey of discovery than a journey on a path of power, his swordsmanship was extremely poor and it had been the purpose of his quest to gain some understanding of how to be a better person.
All Cheonquq could do was run.
The beasts devoured the rest of their kills and then turned to the citizens, Kuzunoha flew out of the Ship and played with the arrow in her hands and fired. The Beast that was about to chomp down on the Prince was blown backward and shook it off. 'Too strong..' She was surprised at the hardiness of the beast, it shouldn't have been able to survive her basic shots.
Vector turned out of the hull and spread his wings, when he saw the carnage below he dropped like a stone to the streets and spread out his frost. It covered the beasts and confined them but they quickly broke free. The Ice was only a hindrance and unable to postpone their rampage.
Mursayade dropped from the ship and scattered a sort of dust across the battlefield. The dust began to solidify and harden in the mouths of the beasts, they started to suffocate and drown in the dust. "I want out of this place!" She soared with power into the sky and started to target the beasts that were still alive.
"SCREW! THIS! FAKE! AS▓! PLACE!" Mursayade pulled out a weapon for each of her hands and began to unleash her fury.
The Queen was in control of the beasts, she flew directly toward her and her burning eyes.
The Creatures were melting after they had died, puddles of goo boiled and bubbled and then, more creatures rose from the goop.
Vector froze them as best he could but slowing them down was the extent of his capability, there were simply too many.
Kuzunoha shot wildly and picked off a few individually but they would quickly return to life.
"THEY ARE NOT LIVING CREATURES!" It had come to Vector after watching them die a few times, "THEY HAVE TO BE SUMMONS. KILL THE QUEEN!" Kiting the creatures was the best choice of action, getting their attention was easier said than done.
Ice spikes were difficult for Vector to form, even in the pocket space. His best was to form a single spike at a time but against so many, it was simply easier to leave a trail of frost that slowed them down. They followed in his wake and he led them around town by narrowly escaping their attacks to keep them enticed.
"Mursayade!" Kuzunoha called out, there was an arrow charged in her hands and Vira was standing next to her with a similarly prepared shot.
Vira called out for her to dodge and Mursayade flipped to the side after swinging her spear at the Queen's face.
A white beam crossed with a red beam that slid within inches of Mursayade's position, had she not continued to move away, she would have been caught in the blast.
The Queen was struck and send flying back, the dual attack had penetrated her armor, torn through her shoulder and ripped it from the cup. Her arm went flying and landed against the ground, skidding to a stop nearby. The Blood, which should have been red, was a bright orange.
"She's a puppet!" Vira called out, she had several in her collections that had a similarly colored fluid.
"That's a strong puppet." Kuzunoha fired an arrow at the arm, destroying it completely. "If she's a puppet, just blow her to pieces."
"I'm on it." Vira flashed out of the way and appeared next to Mursayade. They nodded to each other and dashed to the one armed Queen.
Seeing them attack, the puppet activated another formation on its body and the red fluid grew an arm. It wasn't a replacement for her arm but a manifestation like those of the creatures. Her body was lopsided and misshapen. The Queen staggered in place and her red eyes beemed.
"Now." Mursayade called out and struck toward the Queen's face.
Vira shot toward the Queens' feet, she ripped through one of her ankles with her claws and spun on her hands, kicking wildly at the puppets mid-section.
Mursayade's first strike scuffed the forehead of the puppet and sparks flew. When the Queen's body tried to move backward, Vira's kick had landed and the puppet was pushed forward.
Mursayade's second attack was a saber slash, she tried to cut off the Queen Puppet's head.
The puppet was remarkably nimble, flexing and twisting its body in abstract ways to avoid the second attack. It folded like a pop up book and then re-expanded like an accordion. Kuzunoha had predicted as much the moment that the orange fluid was discovered. She had fired an arrow straight into the air. It sailed for some time but the Queen had remained in the same place. In that instant where it had changed it's shape, it's perception had faltered. The arrow came crashing down, it penetrated the puppet and shattered its fluid containers, a burst of fluid exploded, scattering around.
Vira and Mursayade were safe behind a quick shield but it had barely been enough. The mixture of the two fluids caused a gas to spill out.
They ran backward and watched as the courtyard turned inside out.
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