Ragnar sat on his throne, munching on some Drone meat. So, it was much more supple and delicious as compared to the Workers.
He couldn't find any material in the caves that he could burn so he was forced to continue eating it raw.
He had of course considered leaving the network to look for better food or just something to burn. But when he started moving out, he had walked for more than two hours but he still couldn't locate a way out of the caves. He had tried using echolocation and even his senses in the Shifted form. Even though the scents told him which way should lead him out, they could not tell how far that way out will be.
He couldn't waste too much time on this because that would allow the Queen to stock up on more resources for the Colony. Hence, he decided to turn back around after travelling for that long.
He could also try to travel out directly in his Ethereal form but that had its own challenges. There was no way to tell whether he would be able to reach an open surface within the 5 seconds that his form gave him. And getting buried under Earth was not something he wanted to experience again.
Hence, he gave up on leaving the Network for now.
He could not let the conditions improve for the Queen, even slightly.
He had completely shut down all attempts from the Queen to gather resources to run the Nest.
After dealing with the first group of a Drone and 3 Soldiers, he had gone on to deal with more than 30 of such groups.
Once he could not locate any more groups while roaming or with his Echolocation, he started patrolling around the Dome. He circled the caves leading to the Dome all day long and didn't allow even a single group to get back.
Ragnar had made a path for himself using his Shockwaves with which he could travel through the caves near the Dome. Even though he did all that, he made sure not to get too close, because he was not sure how far the Queen's abilities could reach.
He was back for a quick nap and some nutrition for another tough day. He was sure that the Queen will change her tactics today.
Now Ragnar was as fresh as he could ever be. He had slept for a few hours which was already something that left him dissatisfied. He wanted to be out there slaughtering every single Quaraxi that came out of the Dome, but these few hours would have allowed the Queen some leeway.
Ragnar couldn't help it because even though he had abundance of Essence, his body still got tired and needed to rest. He needed to be at his best at all times.
Ragnar could only hope that the new wave was sent as late as possible, so they would not have gotten back yet. Now he was ready for another round of Annihilation.
***
Ragnar finished his meal and moved out, heading straight down towards the deepest regions of the Nest. But before he could reach anywhere near the Dome, he found his first targets for the day.
He sensed them through his Echolocation. There were 16 of them. Led by 2 Drones, there were 4 soldiers and 10 workers. Did the Queen really think this much would be enough?
Ragnar took his position as he hid behind a turn with his Mandible in hand. He will have to deal with the Drones first, as always. He was sure of finishing one of them in one strike, but the second one could threaten him if he had a strong ability.
Well, Ragnar didn't feel like he was going to die here, but he could get injured if he didn't think this through.
In the End, he decided to just go for it. He had to take such challenges if he was to improve.
When the group reached near the turn, Ragnar shot forward with practiced movement. His legs released Shockwaves and Soundwaves at once with full throttle shooting him forward at his maximum speed.
His Mandible passed through a Drone from its head to its stinger, cutting the body in perfect symmetry. This was followed by the voice in his head.
"You have disposed of a Shifted Menace of the Arcane Rank, Quaraxi Drone."
He came to a stop at quite a distance from the group since he did not have any solid breaking mechanism. He prepared to shoot off again towards the remaining Drone but that didn't seem possible in the situation that presented itself.
The Soldiers and the Workers had formed a barrier in front of the remaining Drone, blocking Ragnar from directly dealing with him.
Before Ragnar could think of his next actions, he was assaulted by a hail of bullets that made him dodge with a boost from his Shockwaves. He looked at the bullets that had lodged themselves into the ground, they were small spikes of Earth. This must be the Drone's ability. He turned his head to look at the Drone, he looked haughty, standing behind a shield of his subordinates.
Ragnar didn't like the look in its eyes. But another hail of Bullets followed up before Ragnar could do anything, this one was also accompanied by Earth lances and arrows, the abilities of the Soldiers, if Ragnar had to guess.
He could not dodge all of them so he used another tactic, firing a blast of Shockwaves through the air at the upcoming attacks. The blast completely ruptured all the Earth mid-air, preventing any of it from reaching Ragnar.
It also went ahead to disrupt the senses of the weaker Quaraxis.
Ragnar finally moved from his spot; he had let this act go on for long enough. He closed the distance between himself and the group with a thrust of Waves through his legs, dodging the most of the incoming attacks and deflecting the rest using a blast of waves.
He was hit by a few bullets on the way but they did nothing to slow him down. Reaching the group, he slammed the head of a Worker into the abdomen of the nearest Soldier, blasting them both with a burst of waves. The voice came along but it was ignored by Ragnar.
The other Workers and Soldiers standing nearby tried to attack him but suddenly they came to a stop. Because their target had disappeared. He had turned invisible. Ragnar appeared behind the Drone, who became alert as soon as Ragnar appeared and tried to turn around.
But it was too late. A mandible that looked similar to its own, passed through its thorax. Its lower abdomen separated from the rest of its body. It fell on the ground with a thud, not dead yet. Ragnar kept his hand on the head of the Drone, and shot a blast, creating a whole in the floor of the cave. The rest of the body soon followed into that hole. Then a voice was heard in his head.
"You have disposed of a Shifted Menace of the Arcane Rank, Quaraxi Drone."
Ragnar turned towards the scrambling group. The rest of them were a piece of cake. He dealt with them in less than a minute, without taking any more damage. The last one was also sent into a hole in the wall created from his shockwave as another kill was announced in his head.
"You have Disposed of a Shifted Rogue of the Arcane Rank, Quaraxi Soldier."
Ragnar evaluated the damage he suffered and it was not good. His shoulder was pierced by two of the Earth bullets.
His face didn't show any hint of pain as he pulled them out, rather a slight grin seemed to be ever present on his face. As if each kill brought him closer and closer to his target, the Queen.
He will have to do something about this damage though. Even though it was not severe, he will be dealing with dozens of such group today in the very least.
So, he couldn't allow himself to get damaged so easily.