Chapter 28 (XXVIII) Kaiju Kombat

The Muraŭjoŭka Hornet Queen and Mietalajed Ant Queen both rose from the lava simultaneously. The Hornet Queen's wings beat violently as the lava rolled off her body. The Ant Queen spilled lava onto the hardened platform, her long antennae wildly signaling toward the Nina Urqu Drake.

All three clashed against one another in a blur as the two insect queens attempted to team up against the drake, but their attacks were an exercise in futility as they could not pierce through her interwoven scales.

Jackson had long since abandoned the outcropping as the spray from lava was too high. He had punched a hole through the volcano's wall and slid down to the trail, running back to the top and hiding as he watched the giant monsters brawl.

Lava erupted around the platform in the middle of the lava lake as all three clashed in the center. The drake swung her tail around, swatting the Hornet Queen tumbling through the air.

The Ant Queen raised her mandibles up, lifting the drake's front appendages off the ground, snapping her mandibles repeatedly as the sound of metal grinding against each other echoed through the air.

The giant hornet regained her composure, aiming her massive stinger and shooting toward the drake's ribbed stomach. The drake swiped her claws against the immense ant's head, flailing to break free as the stinger glanced off her stomach, knocking the two behemoths over.

The drake thrashed on her side, expelling flames from her mouth, violently crashing against the Ant and Hornet Queens, who couldn't escape the destructive flailing.

Jackson stared in awe, his head peeking out from hiding as he watched the brawl before him. The Nina Urqu Drake flipped the Mietalajed Ant Queen onto her back, pinning her to the ground with one of her claws, simultaneously wrapping the Muraŭjoŭka Hornet Queen up with her tail before she unleashed a stream of blue flames from her mouth against the ant's underbelly.

The ant began squirming helplessly, screeching in pain as the hornet began jabbing her stinger into the drake's tail, which was tightly compressing around her body, repeatedly dealing glancing blows before finally piercing through the softer underside.

The drake raised her head back, roaring in pain as the flames billowed into the air above her, violently flinging her tail and throwing the Hornet Queen at Jackson.

The young man's eyes went wide as he instinctively activated his movement skill, Twenty Moons Under the One Sun, as he vanished from the spot, leaving an afterimage of himself sprinting along the edge before she crashed where he used to be located, destroying more of the volcano.

The destruction of the volcano's lip caused Jackson to be launched into the air, his eyes rapidly tracking all the rocks, quickly regaining his composure and kicking himself off the falling pebbles, stones, and boulders in the air as a streak of purple lightning rebounding through the only path to safety, landing on the far edge of the platform in the center.

"Tch!" Jackson clicked his tongue as a massive stream of wind caused him to stumble forward as the Hornet Queen flew past him and crashed into the drake again, her stinger finally piercing her underbelly.

The drake spun, flinging the Ant Queen over, tumbling across the platform as Jackson swore under his breath, looking for a way out of this hazardous arena. She gained her composure quickly, turning to face the drake as the young man dived forward underneath her swollen abdomen, crawling fast before she charged back into battle.

He quickly pushed off the hardened platform and began sprinting, spotting some floating boulders in the lava beyond the fighting giants as he circled the arena, keeping their match in his peripherals.

The Muraŭjoŭka Hornet Queen attempted to float away from her opponent's attacks, but in a surprise maneuver, the Nina Urqu Drake leaped into the air, grabbing the hornet mid-air, crashing down on top of her, causing the platform to rock violently.

Jackson was launched into the air, landing roughly and tumbling onto his back, above him, the Mietalajed Ant flailing as she fell toward him. He quickly rolled onto his stomach, using his hands and feet to dive out of the way as he was flung away by the shockwave.

The young man began coughing as he was stuck between the drake pinning the hornet to the platform and the ant frantically trying to flip off her back. He looked around quickly before he started running away parallel to both, toward the edge of the platform.

The drake roared in pain from the potent venom coursing through her veins, ripping both wings from the Muraŭjoŭka Hornet Queen with her claws and grabbing between the hornet's head and thorax, throwing her to the side.

Jackson quickly spun his arms backward as he stopped running, the queen's body crashing in front of him as the gigantic beast unleashed an ear-shattering screech in pain. He turned around to see the drake rush toward the trapped ant, again pinning her to the ground.

Blood was oozing out of the drake's eyes as she raised her head back, unleashing a gurgling victory roar as blue flames began shooting into the air again.

"Oh shi-!!" Jackson exclaimed, turning around and jumping on top of the dying Hornet Queen and dropping behind her body, punching against her diamond-like thorax repeatedly as it began cracking like glass until he made a hole big enough to dive into.

The Nina Urqu Drake lowered her head, superheating the Ant Queen as her dying screeches again filled the air. The flames flooded the entire platform, consuming everything on it and flooding out over the lava to the edges of the volcano, rushing out into the skies.

The flames slowly faded as Jackson slipped out from the charred corpse of the Hornet Queen. He grimaced, shaking the muck off his body and wiping his face. He jumped on her body once again to see the drake lying on her side, breathing laboriously, and the Ant Queen's charred legs and antennae slowly moving back and forth.

He grinned to himself at the development before him as a series of notification windows appeared before him. He jumped off her body and began casually walking toward the Ant Queen.

"Please! Wait..." A sweet, seductive voice weakly called inside his head.