Enraged, the queen turned around and used its tail to hit Wulf. Fortunately, the wolfkin perceived the attack through the skill ‘Beastly Instincts’ and barely evaded it.

However, the queen’s tail began to glow at that moment.

When Wulf evaded the queen’s attack, he prepared to counterattack using a skill against the beast. But at that moment, a strong sense of danger filled him. The warning from coming from ‘Beastly Instincts’ caused his expression to change; with a terrified face, he moved all his mana towards his legs and jumped away from the queen with all his strength.

And then, the tail that he evaded just a second ago, hit the ground.

With a bright glow, the skill in the queen’s tail activated. The space around the point of impact shook briefly, and an instant later, a powerful explosion occurred.

Despite the warning of his skill, Wulf was unable to escape completely the area of effect of the queen’s attack. At last, he resorted to activate the skill ‘Steel Body’ at maximum output to protect his body, but even it was not enough to avoid being seriously injured.

To be honest, Wulf could not be considered outstanding between other level five. His skills were pretty average and his combat techniques lacked finesse. He was unable to compare with a mage like Caira or an irregular like D’vina when it came to combat power. Actually, the only reason that he survived until becoming a level five was the skill ‘Beastly Instincts’.

‘Beastly Instincts’ was a powerful skill, only a level below the skill ‘Precognition’, one of the most valuable skills known.

But even a skill as powerful as that was unable to close completely the gap between him and the queen. So, when the queen used a skill that he was unable to evade despite knowing about it beforehand, Wulf could only make his best to endure the attack.

When the skill’s effects finally stopped, one of Wulf’s front limbs had been crippled, and his entire body was filled with injuries.

*SCREEEEECH!!!* The Queen Brooder cried in glee before jumping towards the injured level five to finish him. When the other three members of his team saw it, they tried to stop the monster, but it simply strengthened its defenses and ignored their attacks before continuing with its attack.

Wulf growled painfully, but he was someone that reached level five after all. He did not panic despite facing the beast's attack, and instead, used all his mana to activate his third skill, ‘Wolf Pride’. Different from ‘Steel Body’, this skill ignored defense in exchange for a powerful boost to his strength and speed. Wulf knew that he was unable to endure another attack from the monster, so he decided to discard any form of defense and concentrate completely in evading the beast long enough for the other three to come at his rescue.

However, Wulf underestimated the queen’s strength.

If the first queen could be considered young and inexperienced, the second one was powerful, old and wise. It knew that it had to decrease the number of enemies quickly if it wanted to survive the fight.

So, now that it had a great opportunity to kill an enemy, it wasn’t going to waste it.

At the moment when Wulf tried to avoid the queen, it activated the skill ‘Intimidation’.

To be honest, this kind of skill wasn’t very useful in fights against beings of the same level. After all, the mana and ki inside a super’s body would move automatically when it detects something affecting the body, eliminating any adverse effect towards the host. Because of it, ‘debuffs’ are not useful when the difference in strength between the user and the victim is not large enough.

Wulf’s body reacted at the instant when the skill was unleashed, and the mana inside his body moved quickly, helping him to recover from the skill almost immediately.

Despite it, however, the queen’s skill was able to stop Wulf for a very brief instant.

And that brief instant was all it needed to kill its enemy.

When Wulf recovered his movement, the scythe-like claw of the queen was already before him.

He tried to use his remaining claw to stop the attack, but the queen’s attack cut through his limb as if it was butter.

Wulf made a surprised expression when he saw it. In a last attempt to survive, he tried to move his body aside to avoid the attack, but strangely, his body refused to answer.

When he moved his sight to see what was wrong, he found his body falling backward powerlessly while blood flowed non stop from the place where his head was supposed to be placed.

‘Fuck.’ With that thought, the first level five from the group died.

“Bastard!” Caira swore when she saw it. She knew that the situation was spiraling out of their control. If things continued like this, every one of them would end dead.

D’vina also furrowed her brows when Wulf died. She did not expect the queen to be so decisive. It chose to endure the attacks coming from the three of them before leaving Wulf escape.

With an excited cry, the queen turned towards the other three. It had been injured in the process of killing Wulf; and though none of its injuries was fatal, they were enough to decrease its combat power. That did not decreased its bloodlust however. Before the other three could process the death of their companion, it lowered its stance and jumped towards the next enemy.

“Damn it!” Cir cursed when he saw the monster rushing towards him with great speed. His specialty was ranged combat, so though he was not completely useless at close range, he knew that he would be unable to endure long under the queen’s frightening attacks.

D’vina quickly rushed to stop the queen. Using her greatsword, she blocked the queen’s path and allowed Cir to retreat, but despite it, the situation continued worsening.

“We have to do something!” Cir shouted with a grave expression. “At this rate, we all will end like insect’s food!”

Caira frowned deeply while completing the incantation of a spell and attacking the queen with it. D’vina took advantage of the queen defending against the spell to retreat towards the other two.

“It’s hard.” D’vina said. “Our attacks are unable to break through its defense. It would be different if I can use ‘Calamity Sword’ again, but with my current reserves of mana I will be unable to break through its defenses and cut the beast.”

“Damn it!” Caira muttered while gritting her teeth. “Is the administration crazy!? This mission's difficulty if too high!”

Cir looked towards the monster with a thoughtful expression; But then, he shook his head and sighed briefly.

“We can only do our best and wait for an opportunity.”

D’vina frowned when she heard it and increased the strength in the hand grabbing her greatsword while trying to think of a way to change this situation.

Unfortunately, the queen was not going to wait for them to think of something.

With another roar, it charged towards the group once more. D’vina gritted her teeth and walked forward to confront it with her sword. She knew that she could not allow the beast to attack the others, lets them be killed by it. So, her only option was personally to stop the beast from advancing.

The remaining mana inside her circulated furiously, increasing the physical boost brought by the skill ‘Sword Body’. She held the sword before her and looked fixedly towards the monster rushing quickly towards them.

But when the beast was about to reach them, it suddenly stopped.

D’vina was stunned when she saw an expression of panic appear in the queen’s face. It hurriedly glanced towards the entrance of the nest and wailed panicked. Then, it ignored the group and ran towards the nest.

The group of three put stupified faces when they saw it. But instantly, one of them shouted.

“Stop it!” Cir yelled quickly from behind D’vina, waking her from her stupor. With a shout, she did not hesitate and jumped towards the monster swinging her sword to attack.

The queen, however, ignored the attack and continued rushing towards the nest. Cir knew that they could not allow it to reach the nest and used one of his skills to prevent the queen from advancing.

“Don’t allow it to return!” Cir shouted excitedly. “Something definitively happened or it wouldn’t be so hurried to return to the nest!”

D’vina immediately thought about Aleen when she heard Cir’s words. Quickly, she pressed the attack and blocked the queen's path. The queen screeched angered but continued trying to return to the nest despite the interference of the group.

Aleen didn’t know, but the magic stone he took had a trace of the queen’s mana; so when he took it, the queen immediately knew that something wrong had happened to its offspring.

The queen continued trying to return to its nest, but D’vina, Cir, and Caira obstructed it. Without more option, the queen could only raise its head up and roar.

*ROARRRRRR!!!!*

The roar traveled through the wind, towards all the brooders still alive. It was an order, telling them that something happened to its offspring.

The brooders heard the queen’s cries and roared in answer. In an instant, tens of roars answered the call of their queen.

Then, they rushed to the deeps of the nest, to find the intruders that dared to attack their brothers.

When they saw it, the three level five confirmed that something happened inside the nest and increased the pressure of their attacks. They immediately linked the situation to the group that fell when the queen made the ground cave and they understood that they could not let go of this chance.

At that moment, Caira seemed to think of something. Hesitating for a moment, she spoke.

“I think that I have an idea.”

Jke

This chapter was almost twice so long as a normal chapter...

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