Epic of Caterpillar

"You\'ve realized a little bit too late!" I laughed. "NOW!"

CRAAASH!

"Eh?!"

The queen reacted in surprise, seeing Black and White emerge out of the ground below her at a rapid speed. Their entire bodies covered by materialized chaos and bright holy light respectively as they had grown several times as big!

"One Hundred… SHADOW STINGERS!"

"Shining… HEAVEN!"

The two spears unleashed their strongest techniques in unison, as Black turned into hundreds of spears in a single second and clashed against the resilient Queen that even with her being out of MP, was still a tough nut to crack.

CRASH! CRASH! CRASH! CRASH! CRASH! CRASH!

"AAAGGGH!"

Black\'s powerful multi-hit attack was perfect to chip away the HP of weakened foes, constantly hitting her body and filling it with small holes, the Queen was being shredded into pieces right in front of our sight.

FLAAAAASSSSH!

And then White unleashed her strongest blow, as her entire body began the embodiment of the light of heaven itself, impacting the Queen as if she were the spear of judgement created by an angelic being itself, piercing through the Queen\'s body and quickly filling her insides with holy light!

Crack… crack…!

"Nnnggh…! No…. NOOO!"

The Queen, however, was incredibly resilient and stubborn, roaring furiously as her entire body continued unleashing shockwaves all around her despite her body beginning to shatter away into pieces. However, Fiere and Ariant and Eriant were not sitting there watching, they immediately used their strongest attacks"

"[Divine Earth Spirit Summon: Terra\'s Palm]!"

TRUUUUMMMM…!

An enormous magic circle appeared atop the ceiling as a gigantic hand made of stones and ores emerged, rushing down as if it were the palms of judgement itself, clashing over the Queen\'s entire body. But her very arms were resisting the enormous weight and pressure, somehow, despite the palms constantly becoming stronger and pushing forward even more.

CRAAAASSSHHH!

"Nnngggh…! GRAAAAH!"

The Queen opened her jaws as bright cosmic light surged from within, an enormous Cosmic Beam was unleashed, piercing through Terra\'s Palm, the powerful Divine Earth Spirit and then destroying it!

BOOOOMMM!!!

"Not yet… We are not done yet!" Fiere ferociously said, as she took the last arrow she had in her quiver and pointed it at the Queen, her eyes blazing with flames as she put all the remaining MP she had into it, and something even more within it. This simple elven maid was awakening a divine aura of fire, which flared with power, reaching her arrow, and shaping as a fierce Phoenix!

"Genie, I\'ll bring back lady Elfina with us no matter what! [Divine Phoenix Arrow]!!!"

FLUOOOSSH!

Her arrow flared with divine fire, being fired with an incredible, sonic speed towards the Queen\'s head. In the way, the arrow\'s flames consumed the arrow completely, shaping it into a ferocious, roaring Phoenix made of fire, with majestic and colorful feathered wings, and furious flaring eyes!

"CRAAAAAH!"

FLUOOOSSSHHH!

The flames quickly surged from within the explosion, reaching the Queen\'s entire body, her scream of agony echoed across the entire caves, as her body withered in utter pain, only to finally fall apart into pieces!

"T-This is…! I was… blessed by the gods…! No…! NOOOO!"

BOOOOOOMMMMM!!!

In resume, her body blew up into pieces.

"PHEW…"

I sighed in relief, as I slowly reformed myself into a smaller than normal butterfly, taking human form right now would be too much for me, so staying in my base form is good enough…

"W-We did it…" Ariant sighed with a smile.

"That was… tough as hell." Eriant said.

"We did it somehow without the help of everyone else, thankfully." Fiere sighed, resting over the floor.

I was about to celebrate while healing myself, but suddenly, I felt as if something was wrong.

This ominous feeling when this happens.

Where\'s the EXP?!

"Defeated me…?"

The voice of the Queen echoed across the cave, as we all looked with disbelief at where her corpse should be. The Cosmic Stone was there, being infected by a black, miasma-covered soul, turning completely black and then lifting off the ground.

The soul of the Queen was enormously strong, like those of gods due to her high Divinity stats, she was able to still remain "alive". A tenebrous, ghostly form emerged from within thin air, grabbing the Cosmic Gem as a smile surged in her lips, her form quickly shapeshifting into a monstrous chimeric bug, materializing, and taking into an overpowering chaotic and cosmic aura…

This monster was supposed to be just a side boss but she\'s getting final boss vibes out of the blue! Like seriously? A second phase after all of that hassle with her? I am going insane now!

"Hahahaha…! HAHAHA!" The Queen stared to laugh manically like those cliché villains you see everywhere. She was getting ahead of herself…

"T-This is impossible…" Ariant sighed.

"A-After all our efforts?" Asked Eriant

"A second form…" Fiere said. "It feels… stronger than before!"

I tried reading the Queen\'s stats now, but they were corrupted, showing me glitchy numbers and skills. No matter how hard I tried I couldn\'t see through her anymore. The power within the Cosmic Stone was interfering the power of my Appraisal.

"To think that this Stone would grant me the ability to even come back after death… I feel even stronger than before, and my MP is overflowing!" Laughed the Queen of Beetles. "I am no longer merely the Queen of Beetles, call me the Swarm Queen!"

Suddenly, her entire soul began to spread out, dividing. Her chimeric parts began to detach themselves from her body, as hundreds of bug-like monstrosities made of her soul fragments started to appear, roaring furiously at us. If she was able to go this far, it probably meant she was strong enough that dividing her soul into small fragments to create minions wasn\'t a hard thing at all!

"This has suddenly ramped up in difficulty…" I sighed.

"This is… my rebirth, as a goddess!" Laughed the Swarm Queen. "Now, my swarm, eliminate them, and feast on their flesh! I shall personally devour their souls!"

As the swarm approached, I heard the sound of cracking eggshells behind me.

Crack… CRACK!