"Alright, we're off to kill a queen, I guess," I said to Vipera, who was still perched on my shoulder. She hadn't been around longer than an hour, and already I was talking to her, almost narrating. Being alone for too long was not good for people. Though I imagined I handled it better than most, after all, I had plenty of experience with being alone. I had spent most of my early years very isolated in some ways. Of course, there was school when I was younger, but I usually preferred my own company to that of others through most of those years. Not much had changed from then either. I spent most of my time alone, engaged in more solitary hobbies when I wasn't working. I kept a few close friends whom I saw on occasion, and there was always my family. We all made time to see each other when it was possible, but I'd always been the black sheep of the Kaesor family. My brother, Sean, was the party animal, always out drinking and partying. 'Enjoying his youth' as he'd say. My sister, Vicky, on the other hand, was the one driven to succeed, hardworking and earnest. We were all rather proud of what she'd accomplished so far as the youngest of the family. As the eldest, I had always been the one that the other two called when there were problems. Black sheep or not, we all looked after each other in our own ways.

  Thoughts of my family soured my mood somewhat.

  I wonder how they're all doing? Vicky was supposed to be studying for the Bar, wasn't she?

  Wonder if she made it?

  I shook off the maudlin mood that settled over me. I had other things to do than worry about my family and what they were doing while I was stuck here.

  "Probably better for you to be inside for this." I patted Vipera's head once again, poking at the reformed node in my mind that represented her Skill. While her stats were high, nearly as high as my own, and I doubted the regular ants would pose much of a threat, I had no idea how she'd fare against the remaining royal guard or the queen. Vipera's entire body wiggled all over my own, almost shuddering before her form began to blur. As she faded away, her head shot forward to tap me on the end of my nose, while my eyes crossed trying to follow her movement. It was an interesting sensation, a strange tingle on the skin that dug its way in deeper until I could feel her nestling into my soul. The feeling of being hugged was back again. I shook my head in amusement. She might not be able to speak in words, but she communicated well enough; apparently, my familiar was a bit of a joker.

  My form shifted as I approached the edge of the web once again. Adrenaline and nerves were a strange combination. I could feel my heart rate jacking up as I dropped off the side of the web. It wasn't from the fall. The coming fight worried me; perhaps that was just a nervous response because of the previous fight? I'd never come so close to death before. Part of me worried about the battle to come, the other part had a deep excitement to it, a desire to be hammered and tested, and come out the other side victorious and stronger for the struggle. It was an odd mixture of feelings I wasn't willing to investigate too deeply right now. Though I knew one day soon, I would have to brave the depths of my psyche. Or I would risk everything I'd been repressing, shoving down into the dark, bubbling up at the worst possible moment. I fired off a web line, sailing through the air as it caught. My unease was just that, unease, and it wasn't something I could concern myself with right now.

  Have your existential crisis later.

  Right now, it's time to kill a queen and her last guard, and get the hell out of this damn anthill.

  I crept up the root structure with [Stealth] active; none of the ants had noticed me as I ascended the root structure. I stopped, ironically, in the same place I had originally to observe the queen and her guards. Before I had been so rudely interrupted. I gazed down on the massive alcove from above much as I had before. What I saw was worrying.

  I could see the massive queen near the back of the cavern, her bloated body the subject of constant tending and ministrations from the worker ants that milled about the area. That much was the same as it had been before, dozens of worker ants tending to the queen, pulling new eggs away to make room for the next batch and dozens more carrying food to the waiting, hungry mouth of the hive queen. There were several other subjects in the alcove with large groups of ants milling about them now, however. Three large egg sacs were adhered to the floor near the queen, and the worker ants tended to them, massaging the outer layers with their legs, probing with their antennae as if checking for anything out of the ordinary. My blood ran cold at the sight of it.

  She’s already growing new royal guards, I thought grimly, staring down at the alcove. It had barely been a day, or at least I assumed it had only been a day. I had no real way of knowing how long I'd been unconscious, but it didn't feel like it'd been longer than a day.

  I gritted my teeth, realizing the urgency of the situation. If those eggs hatched, I'd be facing not just one royal guard, but potentially three more. Time was not on my side. Scanning the area, I spotted the remaining royal guard. It paced near the queen, its mandibles clicking nervously. The loss of its brethren had clearly put it on high alert. This wouldn't be an easy fight. I took a deep breath, steadying myself. The already familiar warmth of Vipera's presence in my soul gave me a boost of confidence. This was it - no more hesitation, no more doubts. It was time to end this. With practiced ease, I began weaving a complex web pattern above the alcove. The strands were nearly invisible, a testament to my rapidly growing skill. Well, more the instinctive knowledge that came from my bloodline, still progress was progress for a guy who couldn’t make a web at all a few weeks ago. As I worked, I kept a watchful eye on the scene below. The royal guard continued its restless patrol, oblivious to the danger lurking above.

  Minutes passed as I worked on my bundle of web, changing plans, the strands became thicker, more noticeable, but much stronger. Initially, I had thought to stealthily drop a web over most of the alcove, ensnaring everything I could. Instead, I would target the royal guard directly, aiming to take it out of the fight right at the start, which would free me to deal with the eggs and then finish it off afterwards. If the royal guard was out of the way, I could set Vipera on the worker ants; she'd have little trouble dealing with them with her stats. Once the web was complete, I readied myself for the descent. My plan was simple but risky: drop down, immobilize the royal guard with my web, destroy the eggs as rapidly as possible, then the remaining royal guard. After that, it would come down to a slugging match between me and the queen. I wanted to [Analyze] the queen, but I couldn't risk being detected before my plan began. I'd have to [Analyze] her as soon as the fight started.

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  I held the ball of web high with my two fore legs raised above my body and hurled the ball directly at the royal guard with all my might. The ball of web struck the royal guard like a cannonball, blasting its torso back into the cavern wall. While the guard was certainly both strong and durable, it only weighed so much, and my throw had enough force to push it back the scant few feet needed to back it into the wall. The ball of web burst open until it resembled a large net, adhering to the cavern walls and trapping the guard. The guard screeched in alarm, and the workers' movements became frantic as they swarmed the queen, sensing the threat. Adrenaline surged, and I launched myself from where I was hidden. I plummeted through the air like a meteor, gaze fixed on the eggs.

  Contact.

  My legs tore through two of the eggs as I passed by, spilling their green slime like contents all over the ground. Within the egg sacs were what looked like mostly formed royal guards, now stillborn. Well, mostly formed before I had torn their soft bodies in half. The slime-covered bodies looked almost fully formed, like they could have hatched at any moment. I skidded along the ground, legs scraping the stone as the third egg sac ripped open and the royal guard within emerged screeching in rage. I didn't give it the chance to act. It had just been born; its chitin armour would be soft, and it would still be disoriented. I activated [Sprint] and the world around me became a blurred tunnel with the newborn guard at the other end. The air screamed around me as I leapt. The screeches of the worker ants and the remaining guard fell away as my spider limbs punched into the soft body of the guard. One leg punched through its head, another through its chest, and two of my lower legs punched deeply into its thorax. I could see the black spreading from the wounds as [Venomous Strikes] empowered my blows with deadly venom. My venom was internal, though I'd never seen it have external effects before, so the blackening must have been caused by Vipera's venom. A strain of my arachnid limbs, a ripping motion, had the body of the guard in pieces on the ground.

  I couldn't stop there; however, the battle was far from over.

  The remaining royal guard screeched with rage from where it was trapped by my web; it thrashed in the hold of the strands. I could hear the web straining, creaking with every moment. I cursed as the worker ants entered the battle. I didn't have time to deal with them. If the royal guard got free, things would start going wrong. All it would take at that point was for the queen to join the battle, and I would be in serious trouble. My gaze snapped to where the queen was. She seemed to be watching with some degree of interest, but hadn't yet made any move to join the battle. Odd, and concerning. A snap decision, I prodded Vipera where she lay in my soul, and the large Nexus Root appeared around my spider body, coiled around my carapace. A flicker of thought and will sent her off, tearing into the horde of worker ants. For a moment, I couldn't help but watch as she lunged at the ants, tearing through them with ease. Her long body whipped around, glistening with venom as her scales stood on end. It was like a dance, and her scales became her weapons; they became like dozens of small blades ripping into her enemies and depositing their payload of deadly venom.

  The sound of tearing web dragged my attention away from my familiar as she battled the horde of worker ants. The royal guard was nearly free. I whipped around and lunged without thought, my forelegs poised to strike like spears. The last of the webbing tore away as I reached the ant. My forelegs slammed into the guard's chest, pinning it to the wall, penetrating its chitin armour. Taking no chance, another pair of legs came up and began spearing into the unprotected body of the ant. Every blow was a deadly dose of venom dumped into the ant's system. Within moments, it was unable to cope and slumped where it was pinned by my forelegs. I felt the buzz of a notification but ignored it in favour of checking on Vipera. My family was doing just fine. She was surrounded by the unmoving corpses of dozens of ants; each body was covered in gashes, surrounded by black ichor. Apparently, she was looking to make her piles of bodies even bigger.

  I turned to face the queen, who was hauling herself up to her feet as if preparing to finally join the fight. I triggered [Analyze] on the queen ant.

  As the queen rose, I felt a wave of pressure wash over me. The [Analyze] result appeared in my mind this time rather than as a screen, and I couldn't help but feel a wash of horror roll down my spine, which was immediately followed by a wave of fierce desire for victory.

  Shit, I thought the guards were damn monsters. The Queen's stats were absolutely obscene, and her skills were even worse. The damn bug got a bonus for every one of her children in the area. Every single one. Thankfully, most of her skills weren't combat oriented but were for managing her hive. The ones that were combat oriented were more than enough to be a concern, though. The queen let out a deafening screech that echoed through the entire cavern. I felt a wave of something follow it, mana? Immediately, I connected the dots and realized she'd used her [Call of the Swarm] skill to bring the rest of her hive into play, and buff the ones that were already here. I watched as the queen prepared for battle, lifting two large arms that had been hidden by her bulk. It reminded me of the royal guards, but without the humanoid torso. Two large arms with massive pincers branched off her Thorax above her legs, clicking menacingly as she faced me.

  I hissed in response, raising my forelegs into the air and readied for the fight to come.

  Bring it, you Big. Bug. Bitch.