The Demon Queen's Royal Consort-Chapter 95 - Dungeon - III

The swamp fell eerily silent. The bubbles bursting on the black surface ceased. Even the wind seemed to hold its breath as the mist thickened. It was this deathly silence that first alerted Dorian.

"It's coming!" he snarled, his fingers tightening around the hilt of his sword until his knuckles turned white.

The waters parted as if split by an invisible blade. First emerged the head—a triangular monstrosity covered in green-metallic chitin plates that refracted the dying sunlight in venomous hues. Each plate overlapped like a living, pulsating demonic armor. Between the gaps in the carapace, amber mucus oozed, hissing as it touched the water.

Its segmented body rose meter after meter, revealing jointed legs ending in chitinous hooks as sharp as surgical scalpels. The stench it emitted wasn't just rot—it carried the metallic reek of a battlefield after slaughter, mixed with the nauseating sweetness of decaying flesh.

"Combat formation!" Dorian roared, his shield already positioned in front of the group, glowing fiercely as his prana fueled its defenses before the order was even fully spoken.

The centipede arched its body like a scorpion ready to strike. Its abdominal plates split apart with a wet, tearing sound, revealing hundreds of pulsating glands that released a yellow-green mist. The air hissed as the gas met the swamp's moisture, forming acidic droplets that rained down on the group.

Aeloria moved with the grace of a maestro. Her fingers danced through the air, weaving a dome of bluish ice that encapsulated the poisonous cloud. The ice began melting immediately, dripping acid that corroded the ground.

Before anyone could breathe in relief, the creature's maw split open at an impossible angle, revealing not teeth but a crown of inner thorns that pulsed like independent organs.

From this anatomical nightmare, where its tongue should have been, emerged a black serpent—a living appendage writhing with a will of its own, its surface so dark it seemed to absorb the surrounding light. The creature lunged, slamming into Dorian.

The impact against Dorian's shield echoed like a funeral bell. The warrior was thrown backward, his boots carving furrows into the earth, each step a struggle against momentum. His arms trembled under the force, muscles straining like ship ropes in a storm.

"Front left leg joints!" Seraphine shouted, her hunter's eyes already pinpointing the weak spot in the living armor.

Dália, remaining calm, began exuding a vital aura that clashed with the purple smoke attempting to envelop the group. In an instant, she understood the threat.

"It's not just physical... it radiates necrosis aura," she warned, watching as her life energy reacted to the venom.

Glenn felt the chill before he saw it. In the surrounding waters, smaller centipedes floated dead—not just dead, but mummified, their life fluids drained simply by proximity to the main creature.

Seraphine spun like a living steel whirlwind, her spear tracing silver arcs that sliced through the damp air with sharp whistles. The storm of blade-like wind concentrated at her weapon's tip should have found the exposed joints, but then, the unexpected happened. The green-metallic chitin moved.

'That's not armor... it's living skin!' was her last thought before the plates rearranged with a metallic screech, sealing the weak points like intelligent armor. Her spear ricocheted in a shower of sparks, the vibration shooting up her arms like an electric shock, throwing her back.

The counterattack was brutally fast. The centipede's circular maw swallowed Aeloria's ice orb in a savage motion, crushing it between its thorned jaws. The resulting explosion sent razor-sharp shrapnel flying in all directions.

"Shit!" Seraphine barely had time to shield her face as the debris struck her like shrapnel. A fragment the size of a bowling ball slammed into her abdomen, hurling her violently backward, while smaller pieces cut into the unprotected gaps of her armor. The impact sent her crashing into the black swamp waters. The last image she registered was Dorian being surrounded.

The red warrior fought with demonic fury. His shield spun in circular patterns, deflecting three of the bladed legs attacking simultaneously. But the fourth found an opening—a chitinous hook scraped against his side armor, finding the flesh beneath.

Blood gushed, but Dorian made no sound.

Until the creature's serpent-tongue launched its concentrated strike.

The beam of dark energy sliced through the air at absurd speed, hitting Dorian's left trapezius. The sound of burning flesh echoed across the swamp. His skin wrinkled and blackened instantly, muscles seizing in agonizing spasms.

This time, his scream tore through the swamp—a primal sound barely recognizable as human.

"AGHHHHHHH—"

"Dorian!" Glenn acted on pure instinct, his energy surging to its limit. His eyes burned as if injected with molten mercury—and then, the lightning came.

Two colossal bolts erupted from his eyes like divine spears, illuminating the swamp with ghostly light. The scent of ozone filled the air. The creature snapped its maw shut to protect the black serpent, but the attack was so powerful it blew a hole through the side of its jaw, striking the serpent.

Inside the centipede's mouth, the serpent writhed in agony, retreating into the creature's body. The first bolt melted its black scales, which evaporated inside the centipede's maw. The second missed by centimeters, charring the other side of its jaw.

The armored centipede shrieked, a sound that began as a high-pitched whistle and ended like a child's wail. Its plates fanned open, revealing rows of pulsating spiracles that began pumping out more of the venomous mist.

Dália was already moving, her fingers weaving threads of golden energy that wrapped around Dorian's neck like luminous bandages. "I need thirty seconds!" she shouted, eyes fixed on the necrotic flesh bubbling beneath her touch.

Another toxic gas cloud was intercepted by a massive ice wall, preventing it from reaching Dália and Dorian.

Noticing the toxin's inefficiency, the centipede charged, its bladed legs slicing through the air in a murderous frenzy, shattering the ice wall with its body.

The temperature plummeted.

Aeloria raised her hands, and the air crystallized into geometric patterns of bluish ice. Her power came not from effort, but from silent fury, the cold that precedes the storm. The ground cracked, freezing over in seconds.

The armored centipede, mid-frenzy, lost its footing. Its bladed legs, once precise, slipped on the ice. Its massive body slid like a drifting ship, missing Dorian entirely and crashing into an ancient stone block. The impact was so violent the rock exploded into shards, collapsing onto the monster in an avalanche of rubble.

Glenn didn't waste the moment. His eyes glowed violet, and the gravity around the creature intensified. Fifty times heavier, its green-metallic chitin cracked under its own weight, sinking into the ice like an anchor. But it was too strong—Glenn's magic lasted mere seconds.

It was enough for Aeloria to act.

With a precise gesture, she channeled absolute cold into the exposed joints Seraphine had marked. The ice spread like a plague, encasing segment after segment in blue crystals. The centipede shuddered, half its body now trapped in a frozen coffin.

And then, Glenn vanished.

The sound of shattering glass announced the spatial rift where he'd stood, and suddenly, he reappeared face-to-face with the creature. Six front legs rose like lances, ready to impale him, but before they could strike, violent bolts erupted from his arms, shaping into two pure-energy spears.

The spears struck. On one side, three legs were obliterated at the joints; on the other, three were vaporized.

That was when Seraphine reappeared.

She emerged from the swamp like a ghost, her face pale, lips blue. But her eyes still burned with determination. In a precarious leap, she closed the distance and drove her spear into the centipede's unprotected belly, piercing one of the few areas without chitin.

The creature screamed, a sound that ruptured eardrums.

And then, the world darkened.

The greenish chitin began glowing with black light, the ice on its body evaporating into toxic mist. The black serpent inside its maw writhed, gathering energy—a sphere of pure darkness growing between its fangs.

"Dodge!" Glenn and Aeloria shouted in unison.

From the centipede's wounded maw, the black serpent unleashed a black orb of energy.

From the orb, a black beam fired.

Everything in its path disintegrated. The mist evaporated, the ice turned to vapor, and half the ruins behind them simply ceased to exist, sliced away as if by a cosmic blade. The ground trembled, cracked, and then, gave way.

The unstable terrain beneath their feet shook, stones split, and beneath Dorian and Dália, a massive crater formed.

"BOOOOOOM!" The deafening roar of exploding stone echoed as the black beam continued vaporizing everything in its path.

Dália and Dorian, unprepared and focused on recovery, fell first, swallowed by the abyss opening beneath them.

"No!" Glenn screamed.

He didn't think. He dove into the void, reaching for Dália. Their bodies vanished into the darkness below.

Aeloria and Seraphine exchanged a single glance, and jumped together, disappearing into the abyss as the world above collapsed.

The crater's walls began crumbling, the entire ground giving way under the centipede's weight. Stones and swamp water cascaded downward. The hole collapsed in on itself, sealing shut.

R𝑒ad lat𝒆st chapt𝒆rs at free𝑤ebnovel.com Only.

And then... silence.