Threads of the Soul

Chapter 440 - 440: Clever Girl

Although they were half the size compared to their gargantuan queen, the Queen's Guard was huge in comparison to these miserable humans, making a few of them wonder who the real insects were. It was the bugs, obviously, but it did make them think about it for a second at least.The Queen's guard shared some visual similarities to the other insects, with long bodies and heavy armoured plates. However they had a few important differences that made them all the more deadly.

Just like the Nursery bugs, the Queen's Guard had more than two legs. Six legs supported their heavy plated bodies, and an additional two arms sprouted from beside their head. These arms were razor sharp blades, like if a Praying Mantis and a Scythe had a baby, these arms would be the result.

Their armour exoskeleton's were pure white, with splotches of red colouration to imitate snarling faces and the skulls of other creatures on their face plate. Whether it was out of intelligent and intentional mimicry, or simply an evolutionary intimidation tactic was unclear.

Although they still had longer bodies that ended in a tail, it was half the size of the other worker bugs. Just after the point where the legs ended, their bodies split in half and formed two tails, which both curled up behind them and hung over their heads. Each tail ended in a wicked hooked spike that was visibly dripping with some kind of venom.

It almost seemed as if they had evolved from earth scorpions, or an even more disturbing thought that Scorpions were some kind of descendent of these creatures that had traversed the stars. The most likely explanation, however, was simply convergent evolution.

When nature found traits that worked, they would often find themselves repeating.

The Queen's Guard, loyal to their name and monarch, stayed close to their queen. They let out a series of hisses and snarls, waving their razor sharp scythe arms and jabbing their tails in the groups direction in a few different intimidation attempts.

Corvus narrowed his eyes, looking over the open area and glanced at the cuff around his wrist.

"The gate should open near where the Queen is. We could risk fighting, but I don't like our chances with those white ones. We could always keep our distance and make a break for it when it opens. IF we just don't make any sudden moves then-"

"Royal Jelly!"

The Spider-woman gasped in excitement. Without another word or a single care for what Corvus had said, she leapt from the tunnel they stood in and dove into the chamber. Lines of webbing shot from her hands as she dragged herself through the air, heading straight towards the Queen's lake.

The Guards did not take kindly to that.

They didn't bother continuing their hisses once the spider moves. Seeing that their intimidation was no longer effective, they immediately took action. A pair of the Queen's Guards darted across the various surfaces, moving in on the Spider-woman in a co-ordinated pincer attack that showed an unnerving level of intelligence.

As for the others, which numbered roughly around six, they quickly turned to the rest of the group and charged towards them, their scythe arms raised and poised to strike. However, before they could even hope to come close, a white blur moved from above the humans.

Corvus barely had time to move out of the way, so the desperate shout for others to dodge quickly died in his throat, as it was long since useless. A Scythe arm tore passed him, carving first through the air and then clean through the body of the man who was standing behind him.

The man didn't even know what killed him, before he was split cleanly in two from crotch to cranium. His face was still twisted in shock and confusion, before it slid apart and the two separate halves collapsed to the side, spilling a variety of guts and blood in the process.

One of the Queen's Guard had snuck around the edge of the chamber, while the group were distracted by the hissing, and attacked the moment they presented danger. They had actually planned an ambush and used an 'intimidation' display as a distraction.

The American's golden guns leapt into his hands, blasting out a hail of bullets as fast as he could pull the triggers. The bullets of freedom and democracy flew triumphantly through the air, before pinging uselessly off of the pure white armour of the Queen's Guard.

Xander's face paled at that sight, as the bug let out a hissing growl. It lunged forwards, but at the same time a thunderous roar came from behind them. The Lion centaur charged through the crowds, shoving others to the side without a care, and slammed his fist into the bugs armoured face.

The Carapace cracked slightly as the insect was flung from its perch above them and sent sailing into the chamber below. The Lion wasted no time, not slowing his charge for a second, as he let out another deafening roar as he leapt into the chamber in pursuit of his prey.

Wind whipped around them as the Captain shot from the ground and soared into the centre of the chamber, sending blades of pure air flying with a wave of his hands, while Astra was quick to follow. Light pulsating from the stars decorating her galactic body as she took to the skies and began to rain bolts of electricity down onto the bugs.

As Yuan took his Dragonoid form once more and leapt into the fray, Corvus turned to the pale Xander. He grabbed his shoulder, shaking him a few times before giving him a few slaps to knock him out of his stupor, then another couple of slaps just for his own satisfaction.

"Stay here! Protect the rest of them. If the portal opens before we can kill them, I need to you to be the one that leads them through while we hold them off. Can I trust you with this?!"

The American frowned deeply, opening his mouth to complain, but Corvus quickly squeezed his shoulder even tighter as he interrupted,

"Can I trust you?!"

Xander paused for a moment, staring into the black void underneath Corvus' hood. He wanted to complain that, as President, he didn't take orders. Especially not from someone from such a tiny, useless country that could not possibly compare to his own.

He wanted to shout that he should be in charge, and that this hooded nobody should be the one on baby sitting duty with the other useless idiots who would be better off under American rule.

But he didn't say any of that. He didn't say anything at all. After staring into Corvus' hood for a nerve-wracking few seconds, he simply nodded silently with a firm expression on his face.

Corvus let out a deep sigh, before giving him a curt nod back. He spared a single glance towards Woe, who was staring at him with fear in his eyes. That look twisted Corvus' stomach into knots, but he had to pull himself away.

Spinning on his heels, Corvus charged towards the exit and leapt out, cracking the ground beneath his feet with the strength of his jump. He spun in the air, casting his threads towards the pair of Queen's Guards that were scuttling towards the hole.

He grasped the air, solidfying the threads as they manifested themselves already wrapped around the bugs legs. They tripped up, their struggling movements only ensnaring themselves deeper into Corvus' web.

He might not have had the skills of the spider woman, but that didn't mean he was completely useless.

A thread as thin as a hair appeared beneath his feet, stretching from wall to wall, and flexing slightly as he landed on it. He leant back and, at the same time, yanked both arms towards him. The bugs lifted from the wall, their legs and arms bound against their bodies as they struggled to free themselves from Corvus' net.

Seemingly standing on thin air, Corvus dragged them from the wall and spun on place, whirling them around the chamber a few times. The threads strained against the bugs armour, unable to cut through the heavy plate, before they finally turned ethereal once more.

The bugs launched from his grasp, sailing through the room until they slammed against the wall with a wet splat. Their armoured bodies splattered the nursing bugs and the eggs they were caring for like they were a meteor crashing into the earth.

They were flung with enough force that, after killing their own kind, the bugs crashed into the reinforced walls and created all new tunnels tens of metres deep.

The earth around them rumbled, pebbles of gunk covered dirt and stone rained down onto Corvus' head. However even if the result was devastating for the nursing bugs and the eggs, he had no delusions that was enough to kill the Queen's Guard.

After all... they were Celestial Bugs.

Casting his threads back, Corvus pulled himself backwards, straining the thread he was standing on until it was nearly ready to snap. Then, he simply let go, launching himself across the room like a slingshot.