Queen Vania's eyes squinted, narrowing on the armor. "I'll have to speak with my children after this," she said sternly. "For now, we aren't done yet," she said, summoning a pillar of blood that rotated around Veronica, growing faster and stronger with every rotation.
"Don't worry!" Bike yelled, sending a Vine to help. It pulled Veronica out of the way of the pillar, leaving it to disperse.
"A clever bunch you are," Queen Vania said.
The steed wasn't harmed in the attack, being right under Veronica while being manned by the Brass Knight.
"I got you!" the Brass Knight said as he caught Veronica.
"Thanks," she said. She took control of the steed and galloped straight ahead. The knight drank one of the potions as they circled back.
They repeated the first attack pattern, speeding up the steed and then launching the knight. It worked without fail, with Veronica picking him up again to continue.
"This trickery is beginning to grow old," Queen Vania said, pulling together stray winged swords and sending them out in an AOE circle.
{-300}
"This is getting aggravating..." Veronica said as she rolled her eyes. She did not know how many more new attacks she would have to account for.
"Steeds are almost done for anyways," The Knight said.
"True," Veronica said, followed by them promptly jumping off and Veronica tanking a hit from one of the swords the queen hurled at her.
(-100}
It glowed again. "Just 2 more Veronica said.
"Enough of that," Queen Vania said, before Veronica could summon another steed, she turned a pillar vertically and shot it out at Veronica.
"What the heck!" Veronica yelled, barely dodging it.
"Gaugh!" The knight yelled as he was hit by the beam.
"Welp, there goes that plan!" Veronica said in her head. "Please hurry up, Cardinal!" she said in her head again.
"Bike, no more vines, we need your help!" she yelled as she summoned a steed to tank the hit that was heading towards the knight.
"Sploom!" It blew into many parts, the ribcage hitting Veronica right in the face
[-30]
"Are you serious?" She yelled with rage after her head bounced forward.
"On my way!" Bike yelled as he swung down on a vine.
"I made 4 bridges, and Cardinal filled me in on your plan so I made sure to space some apart," while he talked, he was healing the knight.
"Thanks," he said.
"Don't mention it," Bike said gleefully.
Before anything else could be said, the Queen sent out another beam. Without even communicating, Bike pulled them out of the way.
She looked at Griffa, giving her a thumbs up. She was still shooting the moving swords.
"Okay, that's enough," Veronica said. "Cardinal" she yelled out, using her hands to echo the sound, "start throwing things at her!"
Cardinal looked confused but went along, throwing darts and other stray things from his bag at the queen.
She wasn't phased.
"Griffa, join in on the, uh, throwing!" Veronica yelled. Griffa quickly stopped and swung on the vines to get to Cardinal.
"Hurry, those swords are going to target us again!" Veronica yelled, summoning a steed and picking up Bike and the Brass Knight.
"Utter Nuisances!" Queen Vania Yelled. Throwing a sword straight onto one of the bridges that held up the platform the two were on.
Debris started to fall, dealing chip damage to the group and Queen Vania respectively.
"It's working!" Veronica said.
"Keep going!" The Brass Knight said, rushing Veronica.
"Yeah, sorry!" she said. She sped up and dodged the majority of the oncoming beam. It did a bit of damage to Bike, he was using his vines to aid in quick turns during the barrage of Queen Vania's attacks. He healed himself, letting go of the steering vine to do so.
"Woah!" Veronica said, the shaking of the steed not being made better by the fact its time was almost up.
"Everyone, off!" she yelled, sending the steed into The Queen again as she jumped off, arms outreached.
{-1500}
"Yeah, I think we are screwed," Brass said.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
"Hold on," Veronica said as she looked up. More bits of debris fell, but this time they were pretty large in comparison to the first round of them.
"Griffa, start aiming for her eyes!" Veronica said.
Griffa nodded, increasing the intensity of her shots.
"Sthek!" Sthek!" The arrows were knocked away.
"Dodge left!" Veronica yelled to Griffa and Cardinal.
They followed without hesitation, rolling leftward of the platform.
"Bike, pull them down faster!"
"Okay!" Bike yelled, growing vines to pull them faster.
"What?" Queen Vania yelled. She has already launched her beam attack. Veronica's plan came to fruition.
'Crumble!" "Rumble" the platform started to shake as the last of the vine bridges were eviscerated by the attack.
"How could-" Before Queen Vania could finish, the platform started falling. Veronica had already summoned two steeds, fueling up on a spare potion that the Brass Knight had. "Get out of the way!" She yelled, Griffa manning the second steed while she used the first. They were launched to a large, but not as large as the current one, platform.
"I have you all covered!" Bike yelled, making a loose vine to sweep them off of the steeds as he grappled it to a rock on the platform before them.
"Crash!" they landed, took damage, but nothing life threatening.
"Fwooom!" "Crash!" The platform fell, crushing Queen Vania
{Queen Vania of Wistgardia}
[HP:-100k]
"We did it!" Bike yelled.
"Hells yeah!" Cardinal said as he punched the air and jumped up.
"Don't celebrate yet," Griffa said.
Veronica grimly nodded, waiting for the letters and numbers to reflect their desired outcome.
{Queen Vania of Wisgardia: Blood Lusted}
[HP: 60K]
"Damn it!" she yelled. Before they discussed anything, a laugh as terrifying as a nightmare was heard.
"Hahahaha!" it continued, echoing, being more and more distorted by the time it reached the group.
"Hahahaha!"
"That's creepy as hell," Cardinal said.
"I agree," Brass said, followed by a stunned nodded from Bike.
Veronica's eyes widened, closing instantly after the platform they left exploded entirely.
"Yes, yes, yes!" Queen Vania started yelling as she clutched her body. "I haven't been pushed to this state since our war with the Succubi of Mount Sucundia!"
"What? Succubi?" Veronica said, puzzled.
"I'll kill you all! Die! I'll leave nothing but rubble of you!" The Queen said, viciously lunging. She was covered in spiked black blood armor.
"Yes! Die! So much blood! Worthless! Worthless! Worthless beings!"
"Veronica what do-" Cardinal started.
"You die!" Queen Vania said, her form enlarged and right in front of Veronica. She lifted a hand covered with a black-red aura, it grew to the size of the platform the group was petrified on, "I-" Suddenly, it dissipated.
The aura seeped back into her body, she returned to her form. The only thing that remained changed was her hair. It laid disheveled as its strands were sprawled around her shoulders and chest.
"I-I, W-what..." Cardinal started. Everyone else was petrified with fear.
"Lighten up, you passed my test!" Queen Vania said as she laughed, greatly contrasting with the faces of the group.
"I thought it was over for us..." Cardinal said dimly.
"Yeah," Veronica said.
"What monstrous power," Griffa said, her bow still trembling in her hand.
"Let us return, shall we?" Queen Vania said, lifting her hand, the room began to turn to normal. Within a few moments of the debris going into the void, the void itself started to rise. It left nothing but the throne room that they had been in beforehand.
"That was fun..." Veronica said. She thought she wasn't strong enough. If Queen Vania were taking the battle seriously, she surely would have died- they all would have. She would have no answers, no clearance, and closure. "I need to get better at this thing..." she said.
"You passed our Mother's test!" Meryl said cheerfully, clapping while jumping in the air.
"They really did," Malachite said in subtle disbelief.
"You say that like you expected us to lose," Cardinal said with fire as he leaned forward.
The King had been sitting on his throne, thinking.
"Vanicus dear," Queen Vania said. The King arose.
"So I should alert the army?" King Vanicus asked with his alertness. Queen Vania nodded, leading him to clip his furred cape that had rested on the throne. He left the throne room, followed by the thud of the door shutting closed after him.
"Ominous..." The Brass Knight said.
"I think so too," Bike said.
"I'm exhausted," Cardinal said.
"I relate," Griffa said, faintly yawning.
Maryl giggled, "You can't sleep until you've eaten!"
"Food?" Cardinal responded excitedly as his ears stood up.
"Of the greatest variety," Queen Vania said.
Queen Vania lead the group to the castle banquet hall. Inside it held the marvels of the gothic architecture. The deep red that decorated the walls was greatly complimented by the black and gold chandeliers, all kept illuminated by the candles that resided in them. The candles were black.
"It smells like rosemary," Cardinal said as he sniffed the air.
"Indeed," Queen Vania said. She ushered the group to the dining table. The table was long and rectangular, not a spec on the finely-tailored wood it was made of. It was adorned with a multitude of plates, each accompanied with a white napkin under it and on the side.
"Please, sit," Queen Vania said as she sat all the way at the end of the table, the seat with black lace strewn on its rim. Everyone sat down, Griffa being the first.
"The food will arrive shortly, it took a while longer because the chefs are not used to draining the blood from meat," Queen Vania said as she heard the monster, that being Cardinal's stomach, growl. Eventually, the food arrived.
The chefs removed the lids of the silver platters that covered the steamy food. Steamed rabbit, finely diced onions and herbs. They were all but the appetizers. The main course was a roasted chicken paired with a blood-red sauce.
"Don't worry, the sauce is tomato sauce," the Queen said.
Everyone but Bike had a sigh of relief. It wasn't a vow they had to take, but the Druid Class Progression Path usually intertwined with a person's desire to no longer eat meat.
"Anything vegan?" Veronica asked, seeing Bikeâs discomfort.
"Sure thing," Meryl said. "Chefs, a herb-only platter please!"
The chefs moved quickly, serving a platter of only the vegetables.
"Thank you," Bike said.
"Now I can dig in!" Cardinal said, starting to practically inhale the platter of food. He had begun grabbing bits and parts off of the main dish before even finishing the appetizer. "Oh, this is too good!" He said with a messy mouth and dirty fingers.
"Where are you manners?" Griffa said.
"How savage..." Malachite said under his breath.
"Be nice to our guests," Queen Vania said as she laughed, covering her mouth with her hand.
Everyone finished eating, before the chefs came and disposed of the plates.
"Thank you for the food, but how do you obtain that while your people are starving?" Veronica said, easing into her words to seem respectful.
"A curious question," Queen Vania started. She had just finished wiping her mouth with a napkin. "We only require blood, the most important part of the hunting department is that they extract blood, not meat."
"I get that," Veronica said, but her face had grown a look of even more curiosity, "But how do you have so little blood with so much food?" she asked.
"That, is a question that I can't answer right now. But, you will be able to ask more question to our generals Aria and Melkight."
"Melkight?" Veronica asked.
The Queen responded, "You'll be involved with our strategy to put this war to an end," she said grimly, the serious nature returning to their trip to Wistgardia in the first place.
Queen Vania began before more questions could be given, "Alright, the servants will clean this, Meryl and Malachite will show you to your quarters. I have things of utmost importance to attend to," with that, Queen Vania left the banquet hall.
"We can sleep? Finally," the Brass Knight said.
"Yep, right this way," Meryl said as her and Malachite stood up, showing the group to the guest rooms. There were 5 in the wing, but the group settled to share one. The rooms were so massive they could have been their own 3-bedroom apartments.
"This room is nearly the size of my house on earth," Veronica said.
"I tend to forget you and the other two are outworlders," Griffa said.
The group settled into their rooms after Meryl and Malachite left. They became acquainted with the mirrors, even bathrooms of the room. It was genuinely rich in nature and function.
They took turns bathing, and getting ready for sleep. In the room there were provided spare clothes and towels. They hurried to bed to gain rest for what would come the next day.
Griffa took the shortest showers to save time. That was what Veronica had observed at least. Cardinal took drastically long servers that let the others talk while he bathed, he was the dirtiest because of that itchy leather armor he wore. "Stench be gone!" Cardinal said as he dried his ears off with the towels.
"These towers are fancy, I almost feel bad getting them all dirty," he said before finding the tower to the side of the room.
"There's a dirty tower holder right there..." Griffa said as she pointed to the holder. It was a little close to where the dirty towels had landed.
"That's my bad," Cardinal said as he put the towel in the holder.
The last one to their chosen bed was the Brass Knight, "Knight, Can you blow the candle out?" Veronica asked him.
"Sure," he said, "Also, you can call me Brass."
"Thank you, Brass," Veronica said. The candle blew out and darkness blanketed the room.