The Rise of the Winter Wolf - Book 6 - Chapter 52 - The Bug Parade

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Wolf

I continue to dodge the soldier bug’s attacks one after another, leading it to slam into one tower after another. But no matter how many times I try to attack it, and no matter where I try to attack it, the bug doesn’t get so much as a dent from me. And in the end, the other soldier bugs all join the fray. Leaving me stuck facing about eight of the stupid things at once.

Without being able to even scratch one of them, much less all eight.

This is just getting ridiculous.

I share a glance with Sapphire before we both nod our heads and head in opposite directions. Leading five of the soldier bugs to chase after me and three of them to go after her.

And just like that we flee as fast as we can from the stupid creatures. With Sapphire eventually teleporting back to my shadow again when she’s far enough away.

Then we repeat the process again with her splitting off once more and taking away another two of the soldier bugs.

But when we try to do this again, the three soldier bugs chasing don’t split up at all. They just keep going after me.

So I in the end have Sapphire return to my shadow as I continue fleeing from the seemingly indestructible war bugs. With me occasionally throwing attacks back at them to see if anything will actually hurt them now that they’re further away from their towers.

Because who knows? Maybe their towers give them power or something.

But that idea fizzles out rather quickly when their defenses are just as strong as before. Leaving me flying away without being able to do much of anything against them.

Fortunately for me though, while they have an incredibly fast and powerful tackle, they can’t exactly turn very well. Or change directions at all.

That’s pretty much all they’re good for.

Tackling things and probably stinging things to considering their scorpion tail and stinger.

Fortunately I haven’t had the chance to experience their stinger yet. And hopefully I never get the chance to. Because I doubt it’ll be a pleasant experience.

Eventually I start to think that I may be able to get out of this by just killing the other bugs I run into while these soldier bugs chase after me. Since they aren’t hard to dodge, even if they don’t want to lose me no matter how hard I try.

But that plan is ruined as well when more soldier bugs find us. No doubt from other towers Sapphire and I have already cleared of bugs.

Shit.

One after another, more soldier bugs join the hunt. All the way until there are a total of two dozen of them chasing after me.

Two dozen bugs with defenses I can’t penetrate and who can all break my ice.

I grit my teeth before deciding to just try freezing everything in sight to see if that’ll work. But it doesn’t. The bugs just shatter my ice and continue the chase.

So I fly, and fly, and fly some more. All while fleeing the stupid soldier bugs.

Until something surprising happens during my flight of survival.

When the soldier bugs almost trap me, and multiple of them fly straight at me at the same time, they slam into each other instead of me after I manage to barely escape. And when they hit each other with their super-powered tackles?

They crack their armor.

I almost stop fleeing for a second as I see that. But the sight of another soldier bug flying at me makes me move quickly to get out of the way.

Then I change my plan of escape to a plan of fighting back.

One using the bugs’ own attacks against them.

Without hesitation, I immediately begin moving from tower to tower in a way that will encourage the soldier bugs to fly straight at me in a tackle. But in a way that will angle them to hit each other instead of me.

I do it over and over again, cracking their carapace more and more.

All the way until the first one’s cracks grow so severe that parts of its carapace begin to crumble.

Exposing what looks like a rather gooey and almost honey-like inside.

An inside that proves to be very easy to freeze before turning said bug into a popsicle from the inside. Leaving it to fall down to its death just like many of the regular bugs before it.

A wide grin spreads across my face as I hear Sapphire cheering in my head through our bond.

Then I’m hit by one of the tackles at last and sent flying until we both crash into a tower and I hear numerous bones crunching in my body. With some of my bones even breaking so far that they pierce my skin and start sticking out of my body in a disgusting sight.

But I manage to avoid the bug’s stinger that immediately follows and stabs into the tower where my head was moments ago before I moved it.

I grit my teeth before turning into lunar ice elemental energy and then reforming somewhere else while healing my wounds. Then I continue the hunt with a lot more care and caution than last time. Making sure not to get distracted while baiting the soldier bugs to tackle each other.

And slowly, one after another, the soldier bugs fall prey to my strategy. With me freezing them from the inside every time their carapace shatters.

All the way until there is only a single soldier bug left.

Leaving me with absolutely no idea how to handle it. What with there not being any other soldier bugs alive to tackle it for me.

I frown at the creature that is covered in cracked carapace, even if its carapace isn’t broken yet. With the cracks not stretching all the way to the interior of the bug’s carapace. Making it so I can’t just squeeze my lunar ice of eternity into the cracks.

Okay, so how exactly am I going to deal with this one…