66 65 A Secre (1/2)

A ripple of fear ran through the battlefield. Striga was panting, the soldiers were bewildered, and Donis was now laying on his back.

'Was I wrong? Is this how I die?' he thought to himself.

Striga rushed to Donis without wasting a single extra breath of time. She picked him up and even though she knew it would hurt him, she cared more about his life rather than whatever he felt right now. She dashed towards to grouped up soldiers for some sort of solace.

As the dust cleared, everyone could see the queen was still alive and standing letting out a deep yet pained roar. Her massive body was boiled and charred in places. Still she stood and still she posed a massive problem. Striga had never recounted a monster of such vitality. It was truly frightening for her.

Everyone's morale dipped low. How could it not? The monsters were dead, yet the queen still stood while they were gasping for breath and trying to recharge whatever mana they could. It felt hopeless, but they couldn��t stop now.

Donis checked her stats from Strigas shoulder saw that she was just under a fifth of her health, which was still about 800, but he didn't know how he could convey it to the rest of them. Right now they probably feared that the attack did nothing but anger the queen.

He debated with himself whether or not to reveal even more about himself to Striga or to try and survive this keeping as many secrets as possible. Debate he did, though he came no closer to figuring out how they're going to survive.

”St.. Striga.. I need you to trust me.. Don't ask how, or why okay?” sighed Donis through his teeth, trying to keep the pain back. Though each second that passed Donis's shoulders and bones were mending at a visible speed thanks to his Draconic Blood.

”I don't know why you keep holding on to these secrets, but okay, shoot kid,” she spoke haggardly.

With a hesitant pause, ”The queen is below a fifth of her health, and she's not regenerating right now. I thi.. think the attack has messed her up more than she lets on,” said Donis. With each breath he took, he looked better and better.

Donis could actually feel his bones setting back into place slowly, which was agonizing, but it showed the real power of his Combat Job. He was able to sit back up after what he said to Striga, who had stopped being surprised at this point.

”You sure about this Donis?” she asked after a brief moment.

”Sure,” he said.

”Alright,” Striga said as she stood up.

”Men, the queen here is on her last legs. That last attack nearly killed her. Look, she's still kept her distance. She's scared. This is the final stretch of the fight. Don't give up now!” shouted Striga, trying to rekindle whatever morale was left in the soldiers.

There was a low murmur washing over the soldiers. If what she said was true, then they still have a chance. They weren't fully convinced, but the queen had stood still since the sand had cleared out. As moments turned into dozens of seconds, the soldiers began regaining their confidence.

”THE QUEEN IS INJURED, SHE CAN BE KILLED,” one of the men belted out.

A smile placed itself nicely on Strigas lips. She got them. She knew they would be there to fight it out. The last thing she needed was deserters at the most critical point of the fight. After telling the men she'll go to scout it out, Donis was strong enough to stand again.

”Lord you're one tough kid, you know that right?” she laughed.

”Yeah, it's the dragon in me,” wheezily laughed Donis.

”Alright, stay put, I'm going to go and check this bitch out,” she said as she started sprinting towards the queen.

The queen in question wasn't faring well at all. The closer Striga got to the queen the more she realised that what Donis said was true. It didn't look like she had much left in her. The lightning may have fried more than her insides. To Striga, it looked like the lightning had fried her circuitry and disabled her movement.

The Sandracon queen had been staring directly at Striga the entire time, unmoving. She let out a few roars, but made no attempt to lunge, nor to dive under the sand. Not that she could, she was surrounded by wet glass all around her – some of it still scorchingly hot.

Striga cast [Dark Lightning] from a distance and hit the queen square in the chest. The queen roared in anguish but did nothing else in retaliation. Hope erupted from the soldiers and Striga alike. Upon closer inspection, it looked like the queens legs were entirely encased in the glass below her, locking her position.

Upon this realisation, Striga called out to her men.

”Men, throw EVERYTHING you have at her. She's locked into place, and even my lightning attack damaged her this time. She's weak!”