The Primal Hunter

The human and Hive Queen walked out of the mansion and onto the grass lawn outside. Vesperia spoke as they walked, explaining some more things.

”The Hive Queen form is designed to appeal to as many of the higher-tier races in the multiverse as possible in order to optimize our ability to find mates, and like other monsters, we do possess the polymorph skill to further alter ourselves. The lower the level of a Hive Queen variant, the less humanoid its default form tends to become, which is why the Isoptera Hive Queen you encountered was not fully capable of creating a human form quite yet. However, there is one issue with this approach: the human form is far from ideal when it comes to combat,” Vesperia explained. She looked at Jake for a brief moment before further clarifying.

”From the perspective of a creature classified as a monster, that is. We cannot wear equipment, we cannot truly use any weapons – though some specialized tools do exist – and we have limited skills when it comes to making use of the advantages of the human form. For other Hive Queens, this innate weakness of their form is something that is inevitable. Even their full monster forms are not ideal for combat, so they rely solely on spawning powerful defenders and using the hive as their protective shield. However, we, as True Royals, are different. We are not just the mothers of our hives but the last line of defense.”

Vesperia took a stance a bit of distance away from Jake as her aura began to change. It retracted into her body, making her seem entirely powerless for a moment before she spoke.

”Vespernat Metamorphosis.”

A bright light resembling the shape of a pupa appeared, and Jake felt it served as both a protective barrier as well as as a way to hide the transformation. Not that it worked against Jake’s sphere and insane Perception as he saw her change.

Vesperia’s humanoid legs extended, becoming thinner and far more insect-like with jagged blade-like growths all over them, both looking almost like they were made of bone with sharp spear-like ends. Her skin transformed as it was replaced by plates of yellow and black chitin. Both arms transformed as the right one changed into looking like a long lance-like stinger, the left one changing to still be vaguely humanoid but with claws rather than fingertips, and a large piece of chitin grew on her forearm, resembling a shield.

Exoskeleton covered her entire body, even a helmet-like growth covering her head, leaving not even a slit for a visor, but instead had black circular coverings on each side one could faintly peer through, making her look quite a bit more wasp-like. Her four wings remained but had grown larger than before to match her increased bulk. The wings were covered in some pollen-like substance that gave off a powerful life affinity, but in general, her body did not give off much magical energy. Jake was confident… she was not a caster of any kind but a pure warrior type.

The pupa shattered in the very next moment, releasing a blast of energy as her full form was revealed to his eyes.

Vesperia had gone from a tall woman with soft features to a creature clearly designed purely for combat. Not a single natural opening remained, not a single identifiable weak point visible. The only slight giveaway that she was even a female Hive Queen was her thin frame and long golden hair flowing out of the helmet, but with even the chest region not having any outgrowth, showing her otherwise oversized mounds were no more. It could just be a thin long-haired dude.

Her new exoskeleton honestly looked like full plate armor, and Jake knew just by looking at it that it was insanely resilient. However, out of everything, the thing that made the biggest impression was the massive stinger-like right arm.

It made her look like a knight with a giant lance, except the lance was a deadly stinger dripping with potent venom. With her shield-like growth, she truly did look like a knight. A wasp knight.

”How long can you sustain that form?” Jake asked with interest, admiring the transformation.

”Perpetually. It is not a boosting skill but merely a transformation between two natural states,” Vesperia answered, her voice clear despite her head being covered by the helmet.

Jake nodded, inspecting her form more. The black pattern on the yellow armor did make her kind of resemble a wasp, but it was actually more like she wore some kind of… eh, mecha-suit, maybe? Not quite, but close.

”… so what do you think?” she asked after several more seconds passed. Her tone caught Jake off guard, as it seemed off compared to her usual speech pattern.

Is she… fishing for approval?

The thought seemed preposterous, but maybe?

”It looks powerful and resilient, and your presence is a lot more intimidating, but what ultimately matters is not how it looks but its effects on your fighting prowess,” Jake said honestly. ”Care to demonstrate?”

”Naturally,” Vesperia nodded as he saw her wings vibrate. Her entire form disappeared as she flew into the air with impressive speed, the armor obviously not slowing her down. Vesperia made dozens of stabbing motions, every single stab releasing a shockwave with impressive control. He used the word control rather than potency because what was made was more a penetrating shockwave than a big and powerful one, as thin as a bullet and far deadlier.

hive back on

me,” Jake

moment before nodding. ”Very

hadn’t even aimed for a lethal spot, and

It was not quite as strong as the Hive King… but it was far closer than he

Don’t be afraid

affinity mana revolved around

came, aimed for his skull. He raised his foot and kicked off it, sending himself backward, as Vesperia stabbed towards his retreating figure.

into full swing as his eyes opened wide. They weren’t just shockwaves. A small needle-like stinger

went on the offensive. Both katars appeared as Jake teleported behind Vesperia, aiming for her wings. She reacted instantly, whipping around to defend herself as Jake teleported again,

vision? Jake questioned. The eyes on the helmet were clearly not for

but just as Jake was about to be disappointed by her lack of diversity, a weapon he had

legs were not

like a blade. Jake barely managed to dodge as the other leg kicked, releasing a crescent wave of energy outwards, forcing Jake to block using both weapons. Just as he staved off the wave, the stinger

pushed back as he faced the Wasp Queen’s assault. Her entire body was a weapon, every movement deadly and purposeful. In his opinion, she sure didn’t fight like someone who wasn’t even born yesterday. In fact, she pressured Jake hard enough for him to struggle to find openings. Her way of fighting was almost like

up the pace as she pushed herself. Jake’s windows to dodge got narrower and narrower, Vesperia overflowing with life as her body boiled with

was about to dodge, he felt odd. His movement was slightly slower than it should have been, resulting in Vesperia’s leg leaving a gash

both weapons to try and block, but the lance-like stinger skirted off his blades and managed to stab him in the shoulder before he could launch himself backward. As he was stabbed, he felt the venom invade his body, which was also when he

had believed Palate of the Malefic Viper would handle the venom from the small stinger before, but that had clearly not been the case. It was worse than Palate not handling it… Vesperia made him think it had handled it, as she had controlled the

Neurotoxin, Jake concluded.

a clear advantage. The Wasp Queen knew this, too, as she pressed forward. Jake looked at her charge as he knew he wouldn’t

than Jake in her combat form. Right now,

the two. Vesperia had activated a

stats by 30%. His sudden boost took Vesperia by surprise as he slipped by her stinger, punching both katars into her chest at the same time. The resulting explosion launched her back, Eternal Hunger failing to penetrate the armor with the Blackpoint Nanoblade,

his katars as she retreated. Jake wondered what she was up to as suddenly the stinger

Wait.

Jake as it flashed

That’s a fucking gun.

the next two seconds. He dodged them all as he took out his half-ruined bow and coated it in some stable arcane energy to keep it from breaking apart

Ranged battle it is.

most

a string stayed attached. The Hive Queen soon realized that facing Jake in ranged combat wasn’t wise and resumed fighting in melee. Needless to say, then Jake found himself more pressed in melee, and Vesperia also had a bit more juice

even used Eternal Shadow as Vesperia also displayed some more skills while also willingly taking full advantage of her far more resilient

fighting her for a

me with Arcane Awakening

more well-rounded - based on Jake’s estimate, but still below someone like the Fallen King. He also had a feeling she wouldn’t be able to measure up to the Sword Saint, but