65 64 Queen Sandracon (1/2)
At the edge of Donis's vision, there was a hulking mass approaching at a great speed. The regular Sandracons had a body that was about 4m long. The tail was 2m long by itself, and it's head took up a large portion of its upper body. This thing though was at least 9m long, with a 4m tail and a head that seemed to be far too large.
Donis shuddered at the idea of the size of the fangs inside the maw of a creature of such size. Let alone it's power. The Sandracons while highly leveled, physically powerful and aptly suited for the environment weren't all that impressive. They had high aggression and a good body, but nothing to worry about if you could see underground.
The queen here would be an anomaly. They had limited information on Sandracon Queens as they are normally cleared out quickly, leaving no survivors. They're a plague of a species on the local wildlife and fauna. They take over an area and leave it dead when they finish.
Donis alerted everyone of its position and took out the monster logger, hooking it up to his visual input. He sat perched up and a makeshift hill made of sandstone from the previous battles. He didn't know if it would stay submerged.
The soldiers and the crew were still tired from the excursion and battling for the last 15 minutes. Donis didn't actually realise how long had passed, to him it felt like hours of constant battling and the soldiers shared his thought process. Fighting that hard drains you more than any sort of training.
They set up whatever makeshift defence they could, and prepared with extra potions to fight this thing. Donis saw that he still had 5 minutes of the buffs left and decided against drinking it right now, and drinking them when the battle begins. He did chug a few Mana Potions and a detox pill to rid of the toxins that build up after too much potion and pill ingestion.
Donis noticed the queen speed up and diving deeper which gave him bad vibes.
”Guys, the queen has sped up and dove deeper, I think she's looking to resurface and I don't think she's going to land softly!”
The sand rippled around everyone, unsettling even Striga. The sheer force required to affect this much sand is unimaginable. It's not like stone, in which vibrations travel at the speed of sound. This is sand, it's supposed to dampen the effects of vibrations and the like.
”She's coming up!” screamed Donis.
As soon as the words left his mouth, the queen shot up into the air, easily clearing 15m vertically and landing with a loud boom, sending sand in all directions. A screech unlike any they have heard before assaulted their senses, dizzying the men standing, and knocking out the ones unable to fight.
Donis was unaffected but his ears still hurt. Etheria who had been hiding inside of Donis the entire time began trembling out of fear. Donis felt something off about this whole thing. The Monster Logger gave some really vague information about the queen, but what Donis saw was a hulking monster unlike the other Sandracons.
They seemed like tame pets in comparison. The maw was massive, the spines were sharper, more deadly looking. The colour of her skeleton was off a few shades, and it looked damaged from years of battling. The tail never stopped swaying, always looking like it was ready to lash out. This was a true dragon. Donis finally met something worthy of the title, and something inside of him called out to the beast ahead.
[Sandracon Queen]
[Level: 51]
[Danger Rating: Deadly]
[Mana State: Breath]
[Health: 4,304]
[Mana: 946]
[Strength: 82]
[Agility: 60]
[Perception: 77]
[Intelligence: 7]
[Titles: Hive Mind, Broken Limits, Sand Demon, Mother of Sand, Everliving, Survivor, Ancient, Overbearing, Mutation – Hunger]
No wonder. She was powerful. More powerful than anything they've faced and with many more titles that seemed to really push her over the edge. With the Hive Mind title she must have felt her children dying and rushed over to the battle, but it looks like she was too late. If she had arrived earlier with the entire army of Sandracons, they may not have stood a chance at all.
”Soldiers, behind me. I'll distract her while the remaining soldiers throw as many spells her as you can! Don't cease fire until you run out of mana or we'll all die!” commanded Striga.
”Sir, yes sir!” the soldiers bellowed out in unison.
She donned the Witching Hour once more and bolted off like a flash. An afterimage of Striga could be seen rapidly dashing through the sand. The queen saw Striga incoming and accepted her challenge with a roar.
Striga threw [Dark Lightning] at the queens weak spots, namely her eyes and open mouth. The queen dodged deftly and sunk underground far too quickly. A creature of such size shouldn't have the mobility the queen just displayed. Striga cursed under her breath and dashed to the side as the queens tail tore through the sand and at Strigas previous location.
”DONIS, I NEED YOU TO TELL ME HER EXACT LOCATION AT ALL TIMES!”