Chapter 75

Vespae Hive, Etson National Forest, Etson - 9:41 AM

“So what happened to you, Jeff?” Thomas asked after a few minutes had passed. Everyone had caught their breath, taken their potions and settled in. Everyone except for Elder Tet, who was still panting although he appeared to be trying to hide it, and Kayla, who was shaking.

Jeff looked up from his wife as he was addressed. He had laid down a blanket and instructed Kayla to rest her head on his leg, and the dutiful husband had been stroking her hair ever since. Sometime during the wait, Corwin had transformed back to normal and slid in to rest between her arm and body. Kayla’s hit points had been topped off thanks to potions and Gabrielle was able to remove the Concussion debuff, but she was still understandably shaken from her near death experience.

“The system interrupted the fight to let me know I was offered a new class,” he answered quietly. “It felt right to take, so I did. I know we were going to get me the Needle Lancer class, but I stand by my choice.”

A moment of silence passed before Gabrielle spoke up. “Well? Don’t keep it to yourself, dude, what’d you pick?”

Chuckling, Jeff looked down at his wife. “Queen’s Knight. I’m a Queen’s Knight.” When I whistled in appreciation, he looked over at me. “You were expecting this?”

“No,” I said honestly. “Probably should have after that…” I gave a glance to the others in the room. “After we visited the safe room I should have had an inkling, but this one flew right over my head.”

The Queen’s Knight was a combatant class on par with my Warmind or Thomas’ Citizen’s Justicar. It was only offered out to those who showed complete devotion towards a woman, with the King’s Knight class being for anyone who showed that devotion to a man. The target of the knight’s loyalty would have some kind of item to show them as nobility, and in hindsight I realized that Kayla did have an item like that. One I had forgotten all about: the Queen’s Brassiere. Apparently, it counted.

Both Jeff and Kayla would get buffs from being near each other based on Jeff’s Gallantry stat, which I felt would be outrageously high out of the gate. It was almost unfair, but the boost of power would be comparable to Kayla getting a second class. A couple of abilities to use in tandem with her husband and the benefits of having a tank protect you specifically. Not that Jeff would only protect Kayla, but the buffs were worth it.

“All in all, excellent class, I approve,” I said, giving the man a thumbs up.

“Thanks,” he said wearily, not looking up from his wife.

"Wait, Jeff, you simped so hard for your wife that the system gave you a class that lets you simp for her harder?" Gabrielle asked before bursting out in laughter. "That's hilarious! You'll have to walk around yelling 'my queen' everywhere now!"

“I don't want you walking around yelling my queen this or my queen that,” Kayla said sternly.

“Of course not,” Jeff responded, smiling for the first time. “I’ll just say it like a normal person. No reason to yell, my queen.”

I chuckled as Kayla put her hands over her face and groaned. A shiny, golden glint on her left hand caught my attention, and it occurred to me that neither of them had been wearing wedding rings until just now. The jewelry probably didn’t fit anymore since their bodies changed with stat increases, but then where did these come from? A question formed in my mind. “Did you open the Gloves Box?”

“Yeah, I was expecting gloves but got a pair of rings instead,” Jeff admitted. “Twinned Rings of Gareth and Lyonesse. They share ten percent of the wearer’s stats with whoever is wearing the other, provided they’re already wed.”

“You picked up a pair of rings from Arthurian legend in a damn gacha box?” I almost yelled.

Instead of answering, Jeff looked down at his wife, who had opened her eyes after putting her hands down. “Gareth is King Arthur’s nephew and younger brother of Gawain,” she explained to her waiting husband. “Lynette is the noblewoman who treated him poorly at first because he was proving himself worthy of knighthood by deeds instead of lineage, but came to respect him after seeing him fight to save her sister, Lyonesse, from Sir Ironsides. Gareth and Lyonesse marry shortly after. Sometimes it’s implied that Lynette is the one who marries him, but I’m guessing the system didn’t find that to be canon.”

"Huh, neat," Jeff replied. "But yeah, the rings give both of us stat boosts based on the other's stats. 10%, so not, like, huge huge but definitely noticeable." When he finished without explaining the second ability of his ring and gave me a pointed look, I shifted my gaze and shut my mouth.

The Twinned Rings of Gareth and Lyonesse certainly did boost stats that way provided the wearers weren't too far from each other, but as the "knight" of the pair, Gareth's ring provided a secondary benefit. Should Kayla die, all of Jeff's remaining hit points will transfer to her. Kayla would survive, but Jeff would not.

I tried not to think about this man and his damn loyalty to his wife. I also tried not to wonder if she knew about that part of the item.

Instead, I glanced at Elder Tet out of the corner of my eye. The old Kobold seemed to be doing better but he wasn't in a perfect state just yet. As powerful as he was, his age was slowing him down. While I would have preferred him to survive, there was no backing down now for any of us. Even Kayla, whose shaking only just stopped, didn't have the luxury of stepping back.

Slowly, I stood up and walked over to Ylstin’s corpse. The items that dropped on death were still laying beside her. Nobody else had the energy to grab them, and I didn't want to push them in their moment of rest.

"We should divvy these up and head on our way," I announced. "Jeff should get the Stinging Yellow Jacket as a piercing specialist. If you two are fine with that, y’all can take shield and skill book."

"I'm fine with Jeff getting the jacket," Thomas said before looking at Gabrielle. Specifically, her shield. "You want what I assume is an upgrade?"

"We don't even know what the skill book is for," Gabrielle responded. "No deal until we do."

I chuckled, but picked up the orange skill book. A human was shown on the front covered in armor that looked suspiciously like a Vespae. "Exoskeleton," I announced. "It makes your skin more resistant to piercing and slashing damage. If you upgrade it later on, you can form a carapace like a bug."

"Yeah, I'll take the shield," Gabrielle stated quickly. "I don't want to go bug, no sir or no ma'am."

I tossed the book to Thomas before picking up the black shield. "Ylstin’s Tower Shield," I read aloud as I opened the item description.

[[Item]]

Ylstin’s Tower Shield

(+50 hit points, +5 Strength, +3 Constitution, Immovable Object skill acquired, Block Strength x2 passive acquired)

[[Skill]]

Immovable Object

You can reinforce a shield that you are wielding. The next attack to hit the shield will deal no damage or knockback to the wielder. This skill will last for five seconds or until struck, whichever comes first. This skill has a ten minute cooldown.

[[Passive]]

Block Strength x2

When blocking with a shield, consider your strength to be twice as high as it normally is.

I gently tossed it towards Gabrielle and used my Warmind abilities to make sure it made it into her hands without trouble. The healer examined the properties before glancing at Thomas. She offered it to him after he finished reading the Exoskeleton skill book. “You can borrow it,” she said.

“You’re sure?” Thomas asked, surprised.

“You’re protecting me, right? Then do it right,” Gabrielle responded with a smirk. “I’ll get it back after we’re done with the queen bitch.”

Thomas watched Gabrielle for a moment before nodding. “Alright, promise.”

I watched the exchange with a smile before picking up the last item. The jacket was black with yellow sleeves, collar, and buttons. Picking it up, I regarded the armor fondly. It was the same jacket I had worn as a Needle Lancer in my last run. It would be useful to Jeff even as a Queen’s Knight.

[[Item]]

Stinging Yellow Jacket

(Growth Item, kill 5 bosses to upgrade; +20 hit points, +2 Strength, +2 Dexterity, +2 ???, +1 to the Piercing Weapons Mastery ability, Wasp Knight's Venom skill acquired)

[[Ability]]

Piercing Weapons Mastery

While wielding a Piercing weapon, increase accuracy by 8% per level and damage by 4% per level.

WARNING: Piercing Weapons Mastery is a class ability that you don’t have. It cannot be upgraded like normal class abilities.

[[Skill]]

Wasp Knight’s Venom

Coat a piercing or slashing weapon with poison from the Wasp Knight. The Wasp Knight’s Venom can cause paralysis upon inflicting damage with a potency based on your Constitution score. You can activate this ability once every twenty strikes.

I jumped off of Ylstin’s corpse with the jacket and stopped at her legs. Jeff’s Killer Sting was still inside. Grabbing it, I pulled it out to see that it had been snapped in half. It sounded like it had broken earlier when the Vespae stood up, but that didn’t stop me from being hopeful. As an item with the Broken condition it was salvageable, but not here. I brought it along with me before stopping in front of the Mills.

“You should wear the jacket,” Jeff said in an uncharacteristically hesitant manner. “I’m going to be stuck with one of Kayla’s daggers, and you have that stick that can turn into a spear. You’re the closest we have to a piercing specialist right now.”

I dumped the Stinging Yellow Jacket on his head and snapped open my inventory. Near the bottom I found what I was looking for, and by then Jeff was looking up at me with confusion with the jacket bundled up in his arms. Producing the rondel dagger I had received from killing Betin, I offered it to him. The blade was just over a foot long and made of a gleaming silver metal. The hilt was made of leather but was painted in a swirl of pastel pinks, purples, greens, and yellows. Aesthetically, it was quite pleasing.

[[Item]]

Betin’s Fairy Dagger

(+8 Dexterity, Tricky Strike skill acquired, Attack Speed Up passive acquired)

[[Skill]]

Tricky Strike

Make an attack with your weapon and activate this skill. Your limbs holding that weapon elongate to up to twice their normal length, allowing you to strike from farther away. This skill may be used once every minute.

[[Passive]]

Attack Speed Up

Increase the speed of your strikes by 20%.

“I know it’s much shorter than what you’re used to, but this’ll work in a pinch,” I said “Just be careful with it; I’ve got to sell it at an auction later and I can’t do that if it’s damaged.”

Jeff took the dagger and looked over the properties. After a few moments, he spoke. “How come you didn’t let Kayla have this?” he asked quietly.

I glanced at Kayla, who had shifted up into a sitting position. “She’s learning, and I didn’t want the attack speed buff to interfere.”

“+8 Dexterity meant she might have been able to jump off in time instead of getting crushed,” he retorted, voice low and rumbling.

“Maybe,” I responded, perhaps more coldly than I should have. “But I-“

Kayla flicked Jeff in his nose, causing him to recoil. She stood up, brushing the rubble off of her pants, and moved to stand in front of me. We locked eyes, and the Double Agent slowly raised her hand towards my face. I rolled my eyes, but let her flick my nose just as she had her husband. “If you two are done, I think it’s time we get moving,” Kayla said, her voice full of bravado that I couldn’t see in her eyes.

Jeff stood up. “You could have-“

“Tommy,” Kayla interrupted. “What was it that Gloria said? When she was giving you the what for about fighting the Zeppelin?”

Thomas sighed. “If something goes wrong, then it’s going to be her fault, not his,” he grumbled.

Kayla looked back into my eyes and nodded before turning to her husband and offering her hand to him. “And there you have it. I’m the one who jumped on the bug’s back, after all,” she said. “We’re not with Anthony to accept handouts, but to help people everywhere. Right?”

Jeff locked eyes with Thomas for a moment, and I could imagine what they were thinking about strong-willed women. Whatever he was thinking, he took Kayla’s hand and allowed her to drag him to his feet.

“You know I don’t want anything to happen to Kayla, Jeff,” I said.

“Yeah, I know,” he answered before pulling on the Stinging Yellow Jacket. I offered him the broken Killer Sting.

“We can get this repaired later if you don’t find a better one,” I said. Jeff nodded and took the rapier from me, throwing it into his inventory. I handed him the last of my stat enhancing potions next. When he looked at me curiously, I mimed drinking it before turning to face the others. “Everyone, get ready to go. I just have to upgrade my Heelies and I'm good. Elder Tet, we’re going to need to go straight up; that’s where the queen’s chamber is.

“I can do that,” Elder Tet said with a nod.

Navigating through my menu, I landed on the page for my Heelies of Hermes.

[[Item]]

Heelies of Hermes +2

(Growth Item (this item is ready to be upgraded), kill 10 bosses to upgrade; +10 dexterity, +8 constitution, Divine Messenger skill acquired, Air Step+ skill acquired, Broken Boundary skill acquired)

It was almost hard to believe that I was upgrading them to plus three so early, though I knew it was because of my time in the Mausoleum of the Arsonist. My kill count for Vespae was impressive and couldn’t be discounted, but without the Scorching Skeleton and the ghost of Mathias Gray, I would still be two short.

When the menu asked if I wanted to upgrade the shoes, I hit Yes.

[[Item]]

Heelies of Hermes +3

(Growth Item, kill 10 bosses to upgrade; +13 dexterity, +11 constitution, Divine Messenger skill acquired, Air Step+ skill acquired, Broken Boundary+ skill acquired)

[[Skill]]

Broken Boundary+

Mark a door by touching it and activating this skill, this mark does not go away until it is used or you mark another door. You always know what direction the mark is in and how far away it is. At another doorway within range, you may activate the skill and open the door to find that it leads to the door you marked prior. The range of this ability is equal to 1 mile per point in Dexterity added by the Heelies of Hermes. You may allow others to travel with you in this manner at the cost of one feather per creature. The portal will remain active for up to one minute or until the wearer enters, whichever comes first.

In addition, you may touch a door and leave a permanent mark. When using Broken Boundary+ in this way, double the range and increase the amount of people who may travel to two per feather. This permanent mark may only be changed once every time the Heelies of Hermes is upgraded.

Current permanent marks: 1

I nodded to myself as I closed the menu. I was happy with Broken Boundary+. The permanent mark was going to be placed on the train, leaving me with an escape route from anywhere with a door inside of a huge 26 miles. Only ten more boss kills before the next upgrade, too. Nine, after this scenario.

While I was bothering with my shoes, everyone else had gotten ready. Thomas had strapped on Ylstin’s Tower Shield and was practicing attacking around it while Jeff was thrusting at the air in front of him with Betin’s Fairy Dagger to get a feel for it. Kayla watched this practice, and I saw her grip change on her Vanishing Dagger as she took mental notes on her husband’s form.

Gabrielle was with Elder Tet, staring and pointing at the ceiling. I walked over to them. “Straight up from the bullseye,” I said.

Elder Tet glanced at me before looking back up. “This is going to take most of my remaining magic power, young hero,” he stated. “I’m afraid I won’t be much use to you in the final fight if we take this route.”

“It’s the fastest way and we’ve already dallied for too long as it is,” I replied. “We can’t afford to get stuck in any of these tunnels when the queen wakes up from her transformation.”

The Kobold nodded grimly before raising his staff into the air and began drawing circles. His voice was low as he chanted out a much longer spell than he had before. The magic took a few seconds before it began working.

Like before, a spear of earth shot out of the ground, though this one didn’t stop at a mere twelve feet. It continued to grow taller as it worked its way up towards the forty feet high ceiling. The spire bulged as it reached its tipping point, but it pierced through the hive before it could start toppling. Elder Tet changed his chant to another, and the spire shifted in shape. One end of the round structure caved inwards, leaving us enough room to climb up it. Indeed, there were even ladder rungs that we could use to climb upwards into the room above.

“Oh, Corwin isn’t going to like this,” Kayla muttered as she pulled out a rope from her inventory. Since he couldn’t climb, he would have to be lifted up by someone.

“Elder Tet, take a break and only join us if you’re up to it. Thomas and Gabrielle with me, Jeff and Kayla get up asap once Corwin is secured.” Without waiting for a response, I jumped onto the ladder and started my ascent.

The rungs were easy to climb, and we were able to make it up in record time. The distance between the ceiling and the next room was around ten feet of musty brown mud paste, but it was no trouble to traverse.

I entered a chamber that was just as brightly lit as Ylstin’s and quickly got away so that Thomas could come up behind me, standing on top of the pile of debris caused by Elder Tet’s spike pushing its way through the floor. The room was mostly featureless except for two curious items. One was a large, black and purple cocoon that was lashed to the far wall by metal chains. It pulsed with a jerking, unnerving irregularity, and I could swear that something was writhing inside of it. There was no doubt that the queen was inhabiting the cocoon.

Next to the cocoon was a glass box. Inside was a series of tools and a black barrel with some glowing sludge around the rim. Sitting inside, sneering at us with his crooked teeth, was Pustibule. The demonic doctor hadn’t changed at all since I had killed him. He squatted on a chair inside of his box with his massive arms crossed. The machine he wore on his back wasn’t there any longer, but he wore a thick metal collar around his neck.

“Anthony Fra-“ he began before I retrieved my Vague Stick from my inventory and Pushed it towards the glass.

The sight of him enraged me, though not nearly as much as it had before. Was I getting used to it after experiencing it once? Or did it have to do with wielding Pustibule’s scalpel? Whatever it was didn’t matter. My anger only swelled as the Vague Stick slammed into the glass box without making so much as a crack.

“Oh, impatient? Too bad, too bad,” Pustibule cackled. “You’ve made it just in time, yes, she’s emerging. No time for banter, no, no time at all.” Without looking away from me, the demon gestured towards the cocoon just outside of his workshop. The pulsing chrysalis had picked up speed as whatever was inside struggled, and then it exploded.

Demonic gunk spewed all around the cocoon, wetting an area ten feet in all directions except for the glass cube, where the disturbing liquid simply slid to the floor. Standing in the center of a purple haze was the Vespae queen. No, it was whatever Pustibule had morphed her into.

“An… thon… y… Fra…nkl…in…” came a distorted voice from the mist, sounding as if it was using its vocal cords for the first time. “His… name is… Antho… ny… Hate him. Kill… him.”

“What the fuck?” Thomas asked as he pulled up behind me, and I couldn’t help but agree with the sentiment.