Chapter 180 - The Queen's History?

The moment her aura was released, the soldier-type giant ants surrounding the queen started to show visibly sign of getting affected by it. Without any power to resist, most of the soldiers were crushed heavily to the ground while some managed to resist, with the help of their queen. It goes to show that without a queen, all of them would be hopelessly crushed to death right there and then. The queen was affected too but, she only flinched for a moment and was fine after her antenna brushing against each other.

"Good, you are indeed a boss. it wouldn't be fun if you fell just like your soldiers there on the ground with only this, after all."

As if the queen understood her word, she screeched at her but couldn't do anything as her loyal soldiers are still having a problem standing still with her aura affecting them. With a smile on her face, Sheila whispered.

"Hardening. Boost. Cold Touch. Alright, that's enough for a buff. It would have been nice if I have a buff for fire attribute, but well, I shouldn't be too greedy, I guess."

Hardening is an earth attribute buff skill that would harden one's skin to become rock hard. Her body tone color immediately changed from a pure white into a full tan the moment the buff started taking effect. If Ria had been there to witness this magnificent transformation of Sheila, she would have trouble breathing due to how the latter look unexpectedly good in tan. As for Sylvia, she might faint on the spot.

As for Boost, wind attribute buff skill, it raised twice of her normal speed and reaction speed, which is very useful in combat, honestly. Once she uttered the buff, her whole body was then surrounded by a breeze of wind, creating a small whirlwind for a moment before it soon disappeared as if it was not there in the first place. Though it didn't stay like the previous transformation, nevertheless, it is still an amazing sight to behold.

In comparison to the other two, however, the last one is pretty mild. Both of her tan hands suddenly started turning pale white with a chilly wind around them for but a short moment, which soon disappeared shortly afterward, just like the boost buff. And its effect is pretty good in her opinion; it caused the opponent touched by her to slow down for just a bit. It's such a shame that it isn't stackable, though.

Since the queen didn't seem to initiate an attack on her as she was currently occupied with helping her soldiers, Sheila decided to take the opportunity given and immediately charge toward them, followed by Raksha and Kuu. The best defense is a good offense; if Sheila were to wait there like an idiot and given the queen a chance to help all of her soldiers, she would not have a good time later on. Sheila had said this before, due to the place being pretty tight, she can't use some of her powerful spells unless she didn't care about her own life since the moment she used it, the cave will be no more because of the destruction would definitely not be a small one.

Upon reaching the closest soldier crushed on the floor, Sheila immediately jumped on top of it and stabbed it directly with her icy sword before moving on to the next one. The wounds caused by her sword slowly brought a chilling effect on the giant ant's body before eventually, all that was left was nothing but shattered pieces of ice. Seeing how her soldiers had turned out after getting stabbed by the human female ahead, the queen soon started to screech once again, telling her soldiers to take heed of this finding while also commanding the other soldiers to kill the intruder immediately.

But no matter how many soldiers are attacking her, Sheila swiftly dodges their sharp mandible and legs with a smooth movement before cutting them down with her sword. Kuu and Raksha are also doing pretty well, which the latter attack like a fierce wolf it is while the former, defending Raksha's back and once there was a chance, Kuu would also attack them with its tentacle. One can easily guess that if the queen of the giant ant didn't do anything drastic to turn up this whole situation, eventually, she would also follow their footsteps once her soldiers have been all slain by the evil intruders.

To the Queen Giant Ant, Sheila and her tamed monsters are considered as nothing but evil intruders. All they ever did so far is making their home a much better place for their future descendant. The queen could still faintly remembered the time when she had developed a small nest to a bigger one, which almost as big as a continent, but suddenly, everything came to an abrupt end. 

***

It all started when the queen decided to initiate an attack on a human's village not far from her lair. At the time, the nest was having a shortage of food, and so, the queen had no choice but to go with that. The first few days, the plan had gone smoothly well that they managed to capture ten humans and brought them to the nest without attracting much attention. And because of that, they have somehow let their guard down and accidentally make a mistake the next day, which alerted the human of their existence. As expected, the confrontation between the human and giant ant soon started.

At first, the queen and her army were doing very well, heck, they even got more food for themselves. But, when the human suddenly decided to go with the human-wave tactics, the giant ants are quickly losing the upper hand in the battle. Honestly, if the queen and her army of giant ants are only fighting against the villagers, they would have won without a doubt. The story went to a different course the moment the villagers started asking for help from their country.

As the queen and her army are getting pushed back and without any choice but to abandoned their smaller nest one after another, it was then that the queen realized that there would be no future for her race if this continues. Just as the queen is about to enter a frenzy mode, suddenly, a human appeared before her. The queen didn't remember whether the human is male or female, but one thing she noted is that it is undoubtedly a human. The human uttered something to her before showing their hand at the queen, that was the last memories she could remember. When the queen opened her eyes, she found herself and a few soldiers, surrounded by a thick forest and, occasionally, a small group of a fierce wolf would appear before running off when they sensed that they couldn't win. It was none other than the Sixth Floor of the Trial Tower.

***

'Hmm, so this is what happened if I just let out my aura instead of restraining it. I had thought it would only frighten some of the giant ants but not all of the soldier-type at once, what a shocking result.' thought Sheila in her mind while cutting off the soldier and jumped backward when another soldier tried taking a bit on her. Just as she was about to launch another round of killing, the queen that had been silent up until now, suddenly started screeching out loud.

"Hmm? What now?"

Sheila muttered before stepping back right on the cue as she observed the situation while Raksha and Kuu are protecting her side. There, she witnessed the soldiers slowly getting up on their feet even while overwhelming by her aura. Even some of the soldiers whom she thought was hopeless as they were heavily overwhelmed, somehow also slowly standing up on their feet with sheer will. 'What is going on here?' thought Sheila in confusion.

*SCREEEECH!*

"What?!"

The second screeching from the queen appeared to be some sort of magical sound as the moment her soldiers heard it, they stood firmly on the ground next to their queen along with their antenna rise proudly in the air. Sheila immediately understood that they were clearly, showing her that her aura affects them no more. 'Did the queen have some sort of mental specific skill as the queen of a giant ant, or is it something else? Either way, the situation has been overturned somehow. What should I do?' thought Sheila.

When the soldiers are finally free from suffering under her frightening aura, they celebrate their freedom by brushing their antenna against each other, issuing a weird sound as a result. While Sheila was staring at them in confusion, the soldiers finally came to their senses when the queen 'shouted' to them in their ant language. To Sheila, however, it was just unintelligent noise.

Before Sheila could think further, the queen began commanding her soldiers to attack the intruders and rip them to pieces. 

"Shadow Bullet."

With all of them here can see in the dark, the soldiers easily avoid the incoming bullet by either jumping into the ceiling or sidestepping to the side before charging toward her fearlessly. Although most of her attack missed, the result is still within her expectation. With a thought in mind, a few pieces of large rocks suddenly dropped around her. It wasn't in her plan but, she did, occasionally, took a couple of 'stuff' from outside and keep it in inventory, just in case. Since it has been proven for her inventory to have unlimited storage, and that time within it is frozen, Sheila decided to take full advantage of it.

After pulling the few large rocks out of the inventory, Sheila immediately makes use of a certain skill at once. The large rocks that had been laid firmly on the ground suddenly started to rise slowly, until eventually, it stays afloat drifting slowly in the air. After practicing the skill literally, every single time without limit, it is now possible for her to hold something as heavy as a large rock without facing any problem. And it didn't just end there; Sheila now has the ability to fly in the sky. Though it is much sooner than she initially expected, one of her dreams has finally been accomplished through the hard work she put in practicing the skill, Telekinesis.

"Have a taste of this."

Sheila said with a smile as a couple of large rocks that were drifting midair suddenly started accelerating toward the soldiers. Without having enough time to avoid it, the soldiers couldn't do anything but watch as their death approaching. 

*Bam! Bam! Bam!*

"...it's much more impactful than I expected."

Sheila muttered in amazement while gazing at the aftermath. Perhaps, she may have underestimated her power too much. Looking at the half of the soldiers rushing toward her getting smashed to death, Sheila thought, 'Although I can only carry around 2-3 large rocks, there would be more damage if I guide it to speed toward my opponent, instead of dropping it on top of them; at the end of it, it all depends on my surrounding. Because I was in a cave, the former works much better than the latter method. Of course, some people with monstrous strength might be able to defend it with their monster-like body, but as of now, there is no such being in my knowledge. However, I won't put my guard down.'

『 You have leveled up! 』

"Huh? This also went against my expectations. Is it my lucky day today, or what?"

Sheila muttered. Without thinking deeply into it, she just shrugged off her shoulders before stepping forward to pick up the loot on the ground. After picking up all the loot off the ground, she didn't find anything interesting other than some gold and scraps, which have no use other than selling it off to the system's shop for a small amount of gold. 

*SCREEEEECH!*

"Ah, right. The queen and a few of her soldiers are still alive."

Just when Sheila thought of leaving the floor to reenter again, in hopes that her luck in the drop would increase, the sudden screeching from the queen brought her sense back to the battle happening right in front of her. Raksha and Kuu had been fighting with the queen and the leftover soldiers while she went off to pick up the loot on her own. It is apparent to her now that both of their attacks are starting to grow weaker, it's a sign that they are gradually losing strength due to tiredness. Even so, they do have enough strength to hold off her opponent for a while when they teamed up together.

"My bad, I guess it's time for me to end this battle."