Chapter 208 Against The Giant Ants. Part 03.



With their queen attacked the army of giant black ants switched their objective from devouring the human prey in front of them to eliminating the threat.

Nino found herself at the center of a sea of murderous intent, her ears about to explode from the maddening screeching of the giant insects. Fighting the urge to cover her then, she gripped her spear and prepared for the onslaught. Not a second later one of the ants launched itself at her and she severed it in half with a single swing, causing it to be torn into a cloud of smoke the next moment.

Another ant came at her from the right and another from the front. It was doubtful whether they were capable of harming a Valkyrie, however their white claws and mandibles were able to break through Venti's barrier. Because of that the girls had to fight while evading the monster's attacks, a task that became much more difficult when every ant in the swarm was desperately trying to land a bit on the Japanese doll.

After a while Nino began to feel overwhelmed. She swung her spear in a wide arc, creating a bit of space around her before teleporting up into the sky. She took a moment to breathe then looked down at the battlefield, her morals taking a dip right then and there.

Ten minutes had already passed since the start of the battle but it didn't seem like the number of monsters had decreased at all. Seeing the ease with which she had killed them, Nino expected the others to have cleared off half the army at the very least, however the number of ants didn't seem to decrease. The only good thing that happened so far seems to be that she managed to draw the swarm's attention to her. Even though she had teleported away, the giant insects didn't go back to marching toward the humans, instead directed their sights to her location above them and continued screeching.

Juni was going on a wild rampage, her broad sword cutting and crushing anything that comes in her way. Her usual cheerful and energetic aura was nowhere to be seen.

It seemed like she had yet to recover from the last battle and was taking her anger out on the monsters. She said she was fine whenever she was asked how she was doing, but it seems the psychological damage she took was more severe than expected.

Venti seemed to be doing much better. She was careful and focused, taking out the ants before they could notice her presence.

If they were to overlook the ant's ability to break barriers, one could argue that they were the weakest enemy the Valkyries have faced so far. The problem was their numbers that seems to refuse to go down. It was as if, whenever they kill an ant, another one spawns in its place.

'Hold on...' As she continued to absorb the swarm, Nino noticed something strange happening at the very back. 'You gotta be kidding me...'

"Um... Doctor..." she said, hesitant to be the harbinger of bad news. "I don't think those things will run out any time soon..."

As she had feared, new ants were spawning at the back of the swarm each time those at the front were destroyed. They start small then double in size with each passing second, and with the army closely packed together it was difficult to notice when they joined the rest.

[This doesn't sound good...] Sam said, sounding a bit troubled. [I guess we have no choice but the take down the queen first...]

There was no evidence that the queen was responsible for the ants respawning, but everyone knew that getting rid of it would deal a great blow to the swarm even before that.

Sam glanced at Ichigo for a moment then returned his gaze to the black swarm a distance away. He then raised his communicator and addressed the Valkyries.

[Nino,] Sam's voice came in as she was observing the ants. [I want you to draw the swarm away from us.]

"Somehow, I knew you would ask me to do that." She sighed with a smile.

It was the obvious move, after all the objective of this mission was to protect the humans and make sure none of the monsters reach the Sanctuary.

"How're we going to deal with the queen?" She asked. "I can probably break its barrier if I have the time but..."

[Don't worry about it, we will take care of the big one ourselves.]

He sounded awfully confident so she wanted to ask what he had in mind, but after a second of thought, Nino decided to just do as she was told.

[Venti, go back and prepare to create another barrier.] Came one more instruction, and another one followed right after. [Juni, control yourself. I need you to take out the Ant Queen while Nino distracts the swarm.]

[... Got it...]

Juni's reply sounded a bit unenthusiastic, but since the Doctor didn't comment on it there was no need to bring it up.

"I will be going, then."

[Be careful.]

Rather than pulling them along as she hovered in the safety of the sky, Nino was about to make her way to the back of the swarm, intending to land and draw their attention from there. However an idea popped up in her mind and a grin spread on her face as she changed the trajectory of her descent, heading straight for the Ant Queen.

Just as the others began to wonder what she was doing, Nino summoned her wings and suddenly accelerated. The Ant Queen had its eyes on her the entire time so it quickly protected itself with the barrier, but Nino didn't slow down, crashing right into the invisible dome causing a shower of sparks to rain on the surroundings.

Knowing she wouldn't be able to penetrate the barrier, Nino chose to attack one more time just to piss it off. As expected the moment she backed away the queen let out another cry causing the rest of its army to go on a frenzy once more.

ραΠdαsΝοvel.cοm "Good." Nino said with a smirk. "Now come get me."

The entire swarm turned back on its heels and chased after the Japanese doll, except for the queen which was moving at a much slower pace than the rest.

Juni and Venti were finally able to move back and take a break, however that didn't last for long as the Doctor's voice came in with new instructions.

[Juni, prepare yourself.] He said. [You too, Venti.]

The two were about to respond when they saw something teleport at the back of the ant army. The pink hair gave them pause, but the real shocker was the white lab coat fluttering in the wind right beside it.

[Doctor!!?] The two yelled at the same time.

Despite being the Valkyrie Ichigo seemed way more frightened than Sam was. Being this close to the monstrosities should've caused his body to tremble with fear, but with all of his emotions suppressed the giant insects didn't have any effect on him.

"Alright..." he said in a low voice, slowly sucking in a deep breath. He then turned to the Valkyrie holding his hand. "Let's hope this works."