---
Yet despite all this ruin, the creature grinned. "You dirty little ant…" he growled, the words thick with blood and spite.
He spat. It wasn't just blood, it was clotted, blackish sludge, like a clot torn from deep within his lungs. "…That almost worked."
His voice didn't sound painful. It sounded hungry. His wounds quivered. And something beneath the ruined skin… began to stir.
Akayoroi's claws clenched. "Vel. Shae. Naaro from the blade front."
They emerged behind her, wounded but standing. Only fifteen of the original fifty remained standing. Many were injured, many buried. Many were paste. All of them were furious.
The Frog-Man charged. And the Queen met him with all her force.
She again launched forward with her Rootstep skill, disappearing through a patch of bark and reappearing behind him. This time her claws glowing. She slashed his hamstring. Black-green sludge erupted.
