She had still not noticed anything until Ragnar passed through the first line of the Quaraxis.
This was a gamble. He was counting on the fact that she really couldn't see through his invisibility and last time she had only sensed him after he attacked. If he turned out to be wrong, then this could get messy.
But luckily, he was right. The Queen didn't seem to notice anything as he made his way through the endless number of Quaraxis with flexible and nimble movements.
He was already halfway there. The Queen seemed none the wiser. But suddenly she became alert. Her body language changed as her expression turned sharp.
She had sensed a disturbance. But Ragnar was still fine because just as he had guessed, she could not see or sense his location.
The Army also seemed alert all of a sudden as they all stopped what they were doing and took defensive positions. But that wasn't going to help them.
The Queen knew this so her first reaction was creating an Earth barrier around her. A sphere of Earth started forming around her but it was useless. Ragnar was only a few metres away from the Queen.
He came withing a meter of the Queen, not having lost any momentum even while navigating this boundless ocean of creatures. He leaped at her, aiming for her core.
His claw had almost reached the Queen's exoskeleton, but he noticed her move. Her Scythe-like leg came in his path, she could finally sense where the enemy was. It was going to cut him in half if he kept moving forward. At least that's what she thought would happen.
Ragnar passed directly through the leg and then through her Exoskeleton reaching for the Core. He could see the core clearly inside her body.
It was a ball of black energies, even larger than Ragnar's own. Which was obvious considering she is much higher ranked than him. But she will still die at his hands.
He used his mouth this time, he needed all the damage he could muster. His fastest speed paired with his sharpest weapons attacked the big ball of Black energies.
The ivory teeth stabbed into the core, making it seem like it would pop and disappear. But it didn't happen. The teeth paused after stabbing into it. They couldn't penetrate any deeper.
Ragnar's Sleek body hung in mid-air. He had to leave now, if he became real again while inside the Queen then… Frankly, he was not sure how it would turn out. But he was not willing to test it out right now.
He turned around and used the core as a leverage, pushing himself outside the Queen's body. On the way out he did make sure to swipe at the core one last time with his tail.
The core was potted with holes that leaked Essence at an astonishing rate, but it was still nowhere near getting destroyed. He would need another 3 similar strikes to completely destroy it. But he won't have that chance right now.
He appeared outside of the Queen's body, still invisible. He had made sure to reactivate his invisibility before coming out.
His Ethereal form was on a cooldown, but now he only needed to get out. That was the best he could do.
Ragnar's body shot out of the Queen like a bullet trying to create as much distance from her as possible.
But he wasn't lucky anymore. His body was forced to pause mid-air. His chest was pierced by a sharp scythe that was actually a Leg. The Queen was ready for this.
Ragnar had hoped that the damage to her core would at least allow him enough time to escape but that doesn't seem to be the case.
He moved his gaze to look into the Queen's eyes. Even though there was an undertone of pain, it was hidden by the glee that appeared within them. She looked like she had finally caught the fly that had been bugging her, turning her life into hell.
She looked Victorious, just like last time.
She brought the Panther stuck to her leg in front of her face. She wanted a closer look at this hateful creature.
But she noticed that body of the Black creature shifting. It was changing, the black furs were seeping into the olive skin that emerged from underneath. Its claws turned into 5 fingered limbs that looked lacklustre compared to the previous claws.
The tail disappeared as a naked man was now hanging on her scythe. The leg still pierced through the chest of this new Creature but his expression made the Queen feel uneasy.
He was still grinning from Ear to Ear like a mad man.
Before she could make any further observations, the creature used his arms to hold onto her leg and brought his legs up planting them on her face.
Then a massive burst of energies hit her face accompanied by a rattling sensation as her head was almost lobbed off her body. She recollected herself, with her head still buzzing, only to find that the creature on her leg was now missing. Only a tint of blood was left where he once was.
Ragnar appeared near one of the exits of the Dome, then ran out with as much speed as he could muster while holding the gaping wound in his chest. He didn't forget to show a middle finger to the Queen before completely disappearing from her sight.
He had accomplished what he came for.
The Queen did not use her Earth Ability to stop him from exiting the Dome, which means it had worked.
***
Ragnar appeared in one of the caves, still quite close to the Dome.
He had to execute the final part of his plan. Getting this hole in his chest wasn't exactly the part of it. But he would have to push through, since if he waited for it to heal, then the Queen would also have time to recover her Core.
He was still naked as he stood in the now battered cave. The walls potted with holes, ground littered with Debris and broken pieces of the Crystals. Some of the Stalactites had also given out, piercing themselves into the floor.
He had already laid the groundwork for the final act in the past few weeks. Now it should just need a final push.
Ragnar extended his hand, and kept it on the wall of the cave, then sent out the most powerful blast of waves he could muster. A boom echoed through the caves as the Wall was completely obliterated. A path opened up to another cave behind it and the blast carried on to shatter the wall of the next cave as well.
Ragnar was not messing around anymore. He shot another blast at the opposite wall shattering it as well. Then he ran out of this cave since the ceiling seemed close to falling on his head.
Ragnar repeated the process for a few times in the caves near the Dome and finally, it started.
He demolished another segment of the network as he noticed the cave starting to collapse.
A shudder passed through the whole Network.
Now Ragnar had to run. He noticed the Stalactites started to fall down one by one. They didn't seem to be stopping. He moved away from them as he noticed the whole ceiling collapsing in the cave he was in. That served as the tipping point as it caused a domino effect.
He started running as the Walls and Ceiling behind him collapsed at an astonishing speed. He sent out blasts of waves whenever he could, fastening the process even more.
He moved through a pre-determined path that took him up and up in the Network. The caves kept collapsing left and right as he passed through them.