The Apprentice of Ouroboros [Monster Evo LitRPG Adventure]

Neska's gambit paid off: The fiery ray missed by inches, incinerating her duplicate. The Instance core's eye widened in shock as it realized its miscalculation.

She curled her body around the core, constricting down as much as she could to keep it from recovering, clawing and crushing it, and biting at the remaining intact tendril. The queen spun wildly on its wings, taking fire from Noricatu and Kasfew as they recovered from the ongoing mental assault.

All Neska needed was to damage this last tendril. She clawed at the fleshy, slimy thing, drawing ichor and opening up a wound path. She withdrew the arrow she’d kept in her mouth, the last germination arrow, going against her self-imposed rule never to try to swallow arrows.

Well, there was a first time for everything. She grabbed the arrow and jammed it down with all her might into the open wound of the fleshy mass.

She’d never pushed her mana as far as this. Her mind was reeling, and her body was numb and tingly, a growing cold that was deeper than the bite of the deepest winter. She forced every bit of energy into the [Verdant Weave], and black ichor spat up from the wound as the roots formed.

[This exercise is pointless, Neska. You will achieve nothing!]

The ichor continued to bubble, and the tendril blackened as the others had. Meanwhile, the queen flailed and tried to stab at her with one of its legs, cutting across her shoulder. Her [Runic Barrier] did little to stop it, and she screamed, biting down at the dying tendril with her fangs and using her stored incendiary venom.

She wouldn’t say she created fire-breathing with extra steps, so much as created an injectable liquid fire that caused the tendril to wither and die.

The queen spasmed, and the entire hive shook again. The tone of panic in the room grew as more wasps swarmed in from the slowly diminishing fires that had previously blocked the passageways into the chamber

The firebird stood firm, casting fire and slashing with his talons at the wasps, despite them getting in raking hits on him. “Finish it, Cassia!” he screamed, jamming down his last antivenom. If he got stung again, he might not be able to endure it.

Neska coiled away from the creature, springing off while drawing all her power into the roots that were now formed in large masses around the room. She used her [Woven Root Hex] to lash out and grab onto the damaged tendrils–one, then two, then three—

Damn it! The queen slashed at two of them. This wasn’t over yet. She needed to incapacitate the queen's legs first! She tried again, sweeping vines out underneath the queen’s thorax as it charged at her, slashing and slicing with every intent on killing her.

Instead, it tripped when she formed a massive lasso with the vines. She quickly wound them around the legs, as the queen struggled and used its wings to try to fly away.

“Not this time!” Neska screamed out. “You’re not done yet, King!”

She cast out every available root she had in the room, weaving them together into massive strands of roots and vines that carried bits of honeycomb material and glowing flora that hadn’t been there before. They coiled and wrapped around the damaged tendrils of the instance core. Its eye widened as it realized the danger, trying to spur the queen to move and twist away, anything to escape this confinement.

[Why do you persist, little snake? Your witch turned you into this, made you a monster! You owe her nothing but undying hatred!]

Neska’s vision was blurring. She was exhausted beyond anything she’d ever done before, yet a spark of fire lit up inside her chest that felt like a second wind. She clenched her claws, feeding that extra spark of energy into the vines, and then pulled them into tension.

Waves of onslaught dove into the metaphysical. Flooding visions of dying Awakened she'd never met flickered in her vision.

She kept going.

Corruption attempt failed. Soul Resistance increased.

Juni, dying beneath her gaze, two puncture marks on her neck.

Corruption attempt failed. Soul Resistance increased.

The vision shifted, and Neska smelled the smoke before seeing the academy skyline burning in another intrusive vision. Acrid scents filled the air, and monsters swept through streets, killing without mercy.

Most were Varadur. A few bore the tattered remnants of green and silver uniforms clinging to their forms as they sliced and chewed, and the populace screamed.

She would never let that come to pass.

Corruption attempt failed. Soul Resistance greatly increased.

All the tendrils snapped taut, creaking and slowly oozing ichor at the seams. The queen let out a screech as the tension in each binding grew, the vines straining to their breaking point, but Neska held firm, directing mana into each cell of her woven creation, giving them just enough tensile strength to endure this.

Then, she pulled down on the roots tethering the queen to the ground, while it buzzed about in mid-air, trying to escape. Ichor began spraying from the tendrils as they slowly cracked and then snapped. The Instance screamed in a sound that made the entire hive shudder, shaking Neska’s footing.

The second fleshy tether snapped, then the remaining tendrils burst out of the queen wasp's back. The instance core screeched as it was pulled out like a deadly weed, dangling in the air and dripping ichor over the floor. The queen of the hive flopped to the ground, collapsed, writhing in pain.

Almost in sync, all the wasps shivered and floundered. Many that were airborne wobbled uncontrollably, as if the sheer trauma to the core had broken their coordination.

Neska let the instance core drop unceremoniously to the floor of the chamber, and she grabbed her last few arrows from her fallen quiver, snapping up her bow and firing until she ran out of arrows. She coiled and leaped toward the creature, its eye rolling in the membrane frantically, and flailed its severed tendrils as if it could backpedal away from her.

Its eye glowed, and it shot out a radiant beam of energy. She sidestepped, avoiding the worst of it with a [Spring Scales] leap over the core, firing her [Venom Bolts] while in mid-air.

Each hit staggered the eye, interrupting the stream of fire. She slid low and dodged behind a pile of burning hive, feeling the scorching heat as it continued its assault. “Nori, freeze it!”

But the bird was being assaulted by wasps from all angles, flapping and weaving through an aerial obstacle course and firing off freezing blasts with her clutching talons. She had all the grace of a swift in the air, untouchable by the stingers flying her way.

This made no sense. The core wasn't connected to the queen. How could they still be fighting?! She reached a grim conclusion: this fight would only be over when she destroyed this core in its entirety. The wasps had regained function and were likely being driven by the severed core directly, but the shift in control had left them severely disorganized.

Kasfew was fighting his own fight, incinerating everything with wings, a molten glare possessing his eyes as he burned more wasps streaming in from openings. Two stingers protruded from his body, and he took only a moment to swipe them away with burning talons, continuing the assault.

She charged more mana into her hands, quick-selecting an evolution she’d been meaning to take for a while now: [Twin Bolts] was an upgrade to her current [Venom Bolts], representing a massive increase in firepower and stacking damage with each successive hit in a short time window.

She activated her currently stored, temporary alchemical infusion: alchemical pyrogel. The bolts formed with an eerie molten glow within the gaseous blue envelope, carrying a fiery concoction that should deal with this monster once and for all.

Neska, you are dangerously low on mana, you could pass out or–

She ignored Vivi’s warning and sprang out of cover with a fully charged barrage of bolts, two from her hands and one flung from her tail, that drilled into the gelatinous membrane of the core.

It screeched as the bolts hit home, burning and boiling away at the fluid protecting the core. It rolled and flailed its truncated limbs, trying to counterfire with its beam. Neska ducked low and swerved to the side as it cut through a swath of wasps.

The core fixated on her, its eye glaring at her with murderous intent as it attempted to recharge its ability. [Your futile powers are nothing, snake!]

That sounded like someone who had their back to the wall, desperate for a way out. It wasn’t getting one. She went into a frenzy of casting her bolts, each hit scalding and burning the creature all over. Flesh cauterized and ichor boiled as she kept up the barrage, her wrath burning fiercely in her veins.

For the first time in her short Awakened life, she wanted this monster to know there was someone out there who could hit back where it hurt. She would not rest until she found the master behind the puppets. He would know what it felt like, the burning pain in her heart ever present since the night her witch died.

That smoldering ember in her chest filled the void as her vision narrowed and her head swam; cold prickles warning her of mana exhaustion burned away like frost on a spring morning. This new warmth spread from within, growing hotter and hotter.

Neska, stop! You’re pushing your body too far! We can’t lose you again!

Viva was practically pleading with her, as Neska’s magical assault continued.

This Radiant King would learn one thing today, if she couldn’t kill him directly: he would witness the wrath of Risha’s surviving apprentice. He would never know a peaceful moment, consumed by an emotion that she’d cast aside to become stronger.

Fear. He would come to fear what she represented. The person to lead the Awakened, and light the kindling flame of revolutions within his slaves.

She would free them all.

The blood of Ouroboros burns within you...

Her vision hazy, the magical assault continued as her chest burned and her fingertips went numb. Her alchemical infusion wore off several shots ago. The creature reeled from her wrath, screeching, its body perforated by dozens of magical blasts, writhing on the ground and trying to curl up to protect the damaged core

She heaved as exhaustion caught up and her vision darkened at the edges. Her lungs burned like acid, and it felt like her tail was on fire. Her hands trembled uncontrollably, and she curled them into fists to alleviate it.

The spark in her heart continued to burn like the warmth of a comforting fireplace.

She slithered forward, the core no longer able to fight back. “An exercise in futility?” She rasped, reaching into her mouth and carefully grabbing the cluster of stored arrows–her last incendiary-coated munitions. “Is that what this looks like, Your Radiance?”

[This changes nothing, Neska. You’re still a worthless creation of a woman who unleashed doom upon the world in the pursuit of forbidden knowledge. She opened the door for me to walk through, unimpeded. You should be thanking me for what you are! You love that taste of power, don’t you? It’s intoxicating, isn’t it?]

[You want more of it. All you have to do is take it.]

Even with the end looming, the Radiant King still taunted her. She kept her hand from shaking in rage, and she slithered forward, the membrane of the creature damaged, bits of gelatinous material leaking out from inside. “The only power I want is the one that brings back my witch. Do you have that power, Your Radiance? Can you alleviate the sorrow of an entire generation, with thousands dead, and lives irreparably shattered?”

[I can do anything, Neska. And the next thing I do will be to scour your sanctuary fortress from this world, and everyone in it. You will watch as I tear apart your loved ones, one at a time.]

[It's a kinder ending than you can promise them, Devourer of Worlds.]

She gripped the membrane with one hand, watching the eye dilate as she drew back her arm, with the arrows in hand. “Is that all you've got? Well, here's my promise to you: Risha’s legacy will live on. We will endure. We will rebuild everything you upended. She’ll be the one who saved the world…because she was willing to sacrifice it all to save me. A mother’s love.”

[You pathetic, emotionally barren snake! You wouldn’t know love if it–]

She thrust the trio of arrows through the gelatinous material, straight into the eye. All three arrows ignited as she drew back her arm and watched the vile thing burn.

The vibrant hum of the hive stopped. All sound except for the flames and the thrashing roots ceased, and a tranquil calm came over Neska as she watched the monster incinerate from the inside out, screaming and flailing.

She ignored the level increases, the ability proficiencies, and the possible warnings about overexertion as her body trembled, and she gripped her torso with both hands.

The spark has ignited…

She couldn’t stop shaking. She didn’t know if it was fear, rage, or a bittersweet relief as she killed off a small piece of the monster who took Risha from her. A shuddering sob escaped her lips, and she curled her body low.

She hadn’t avenged her witch. Not yet. But this…this felt like a monumental first step in fulfilling her promise. Her breath came shallow, and her chest felt tight.

That spark of power that had been there had receded. Yet, she was left with some measure of restored strength. Something more filled that hollow in her soul.

The flap of wings and a hand on her shoulder drew her out of her withdrawn moment. She turned and saw Kasfew looking at her solemnly. Plus, he was holding her armored uniform and equipment, and he offered them to her.

“You might need these before this is over,” he said quietly. Gone was the leering stare of a bird of prey.

This was something different. Respect.

"You're poisoned," she pointed out. Just standing there took all his willpower, and he straightened even as his limbs trembled.

"I'll be alright--"

"You won't be in about sixty seconds," she hissed. "I like you enough that I don't want you to die from foolish stoicism."

He let out a protesting squawk, extending his arm. "Okay, on the count of..."

She didn't give him a count. She bit him on the arm, and he glared at her as she injected her [Love Bites] antivenom. "Ow, no countdown?!" he clucked.

"Sure. Before, or after you collapsed from lethal envenomation?"

He didn't argue, and thrusted her hat and light armor toward her. "Better put these on before the wasps come back to their senses."

She quickly got back into her gear, taking no more than twenty seconds. All around, bugs flailed and died, either from the slowly building fire or the loss of connection to the Instance core. Noricatu landed, holding her side.

“I got hit by…a lot of stingers,” she gasped, and would have fallen if Neska and Kasfew hadn’t caught her.

Neska quickly pulled the stingers and gave her a quick [Love Bites] injection with her fangs, with the birds’ claws on her wing knuckle clenching her hand tightly. “Seriously not feeling the love right now,” she quipped, laughing softly.

“Great, the snake’s influence is spreading. By the Divines, what a fight,” Kasfew muttered.

Then, Neska heard it again: the fluttering of wings and clacking of mandibles. “Nori, put the flames out. I think the queen has something to say.”

The girl nodded weakly, and after downing their last remaining health potion, quickly extinguished the flames building on the chamber floor. Neska waved away the smoke and billowing steam and approached the queen, lying prone on the ground.

“You’re stronger than you look, child. I now know why the Radiant King fears you.” The remaining wasps left the collective voice of the hive sounding splintered, bits of syllables garbled as if the voices and drones that had provided them had now perished. “You carry her spark, after all.”

“Whose?” Neska asked, her throat parched and her words raspy. “Who am I to you, Veelah?”

“You are her inheritor, my child…her last…great…apprentice. We know of her death, but now we understand why.” One damaged leg pointed at Neska, and Kasfew subtly moved between her and the queen wasp, embers forming on his claw tips.

“We should end it. This thing is clearly on its last legs,” Kasfew muttered. “All that power to gain–”

“Stop.” Noricatu spat out one word more frigid than her abilities, and Kasfew went silent, the flames extinguishing. He gripped his tunic with one clawed hand, as if fighting against his urges.

Neska coiled low, reaching out to touch the queen’s limb. She could tell that its sluggish movements and the damage from extracting the tendrils would prove too much to survive. “Risha was the hope? Why? She was just a witch. A powerful one, but–”

“Not just a witch. An inheritor. Her power became yours. I see it now. To give up power so freely to aid someone else…That is a strength of itself that the Radiant King will never have. And that knowledge feeds into his building madness.”

“But what was all that about a purgatory of souls? Have you and I met before?” Neska demanded. More of the insects fell silent, as if they, too, were dying with their queen.

“You and I…no. Not these faces or forms. But from before. Another time, another place, yet you remain constant. You have the power to correct the imbalance. To restore the order of souls to their rightful cycle. But not alone.

“Find…the…Divines…break his control.”

The implication that this damn thing lorded over entire Divines should have been terrifying enough. The implication that she was on far more than a second life left her feeling numb.

No. Don't freeze up. This is the life of consequence now. Any past lives I lived, those echoes don't define the me I am now.

The queen let out a slow exhale like a whistling insect. “Don't let our death mean nothing. Take our power. Use it. Deliver the final sting to his Radiance. Please.”

The Queen's arm twitched, and she motioned Neska back a few steps. Neska scuttled backward one pace and watched the queen grasp the chitinous plating of her chest.

Kasfew’s feathers smoldered, but Neska held his hand before he could aim. “Wait.” It was barely a whisper, and he gaped at her with his beak open. He swallowed uncomfortably and let the embers extinguish, standing tensed beside her.

The queen pried back the chitinous shell, and the bugs chittered and clicked in pain, writhing as if in sync with the motion. With one clawed hand, she thrust her limb into the opening, tugging despite the tremor shaking her body, ichor spilling onto the chamber floor.

By the Divines, is she killing herself?! Why?! Neska's reaction remained muted except for her trembling tail. The queen tugged one final time, all the bugs chittering and screeching in a death rattle.

For one visceral second, Neska was reminded of Risha in her final moments, plunging her dagger deep into her chest to pierce her mana core, providing the last bit of power to her Awakening ritual. She could feel a phantom of that pain, lodged inside her. A wound that would never heal.

With one last pull, ichor splashed. The queen withdrew something glittering green, and a light emanated from it, as she slumped over.

“Why?” Neska whispered.

“Because the song of your divine soul is precious. And others will hear it, soon…”The wasp queen shuddered, falling forward, with the clawed hand uncurling to reveal something Neska had only seen once before.

A mana core. Intact, and awash with energy.

She lowered her body and pressed her hand against the clawed digits as the queen breathed her last breaths. “And what does mine sound like?” Neska asked.

“…We weep at its beauty.”

The buzzing grew quiet in the hive…then silence.

All that remained was Neska's shallow breath and her heart pounding as the truth sank in deeper than the power crawling over her.

"I'll find them, Veelah. I'll free them all."

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