The gap between grades only grew larger and more challenging to overcome the higher one went. For a decently talented E-grade to beat a weak low-tier D-grade was only to be expected, while the same could not be said for a D-tier killing a C-tier.
This did not mean it wasn’t possible or even considered relatively commonplace among those classified as geniuses. In fact, Jake had a high level of confidence he would be able to kill plenty of C-tiers before he eventually reached the tier himself. But even with this confidence, he was still not sure if being level 150 – only halfway to C-tier – was quite good enough.
However, some things did give him a chance. What Jake was walking into was the area of a C-tier Isoptera Queen variant based on his own estimates. He did not hold doubt in his mind it would be significantly stronger than the late D-tiers before, but that honestly mattered less than it should.
If the C-tier Queen acted in the same vein as the D-tiers, there were many things to exploit. The fumigation-stratagem would likely still prove effective, and even if it didn’t, then the Queen was a healer with little-to-no offensive capabilities.
Jake did not think it would be a short fight either way, but he had high confidence in waiting out even a C-grades mana pool if he could force it to waste mana on trying to protect hordes of eggs for an extended period of time.
He also assumed there would be more Guards, but it should be possible to maybe kite them out of the biodome or also use them to consume the mana of the Queen. One thing was certain, though, it was going to be a marathon, and Jake would try to hold back on using any boosting skills unless absolutely necessary.
The thought of getting a bit of melee weapon practice in did occur to him, but he ultimately decided not to as it would be too risky.
Before entering the next biodome, Jake prepared everything. He poisoned stable arrows with his best Necrotic Poison and even had some with Hemotoxin Poison on them in case that proved more effective, as well as a third bunch with Blood of the Malefic Viper.
Without seeing his target, he could not make an Arrow of the Ambitious Hunter, so he would have to go in without that.
As a final moment of preparation, he did something he rarely even considered: planned a path of escape.He had located narrow tunnels the large Guards could not fit through, and with some Alchemical Flame and arcane beams, he made them longer to allow him to connect to tunnels further above him, effectively giving him shortcuts through the maze that was the termite hive.
With everything ready, Jake made his way over to the sealed-off entrance to the biodome. Jake assumed these termites simply dug their way through and sealed it back up whenever they needed to leave, which was probably rarely. They did not have to eat, so all they needed was to bring in natural treasures and open the hatchery up when a new generation was born.
A path was burned before him as he went through the nearly ten-meter long wall of soil, dirt, and stone, breaking the final enchanted barrier as he entered the biodome. The moment he did so, the mana washed over him as his senses spread out all over the biodome. This one was far larger than any he had ever seen before, spanning perhaps fifteen kilometers in diameter and with more than a kilometer to the ceiling.
There were no eggs right around where he had entered, but he felt them further in as he saw movement. A massive figure mulled across the ground, looking like a moving warehouse. The huge thorax of the termite swayed as some magical mist was expelled onto some eggs, and Jake instantly used his Identify.
[Isoptera Hive Queen – lvl ???]
It was a true-blue C-grade monster - the leader of the termite hive and likely the mother of all the other Queens Jake had seen so far.
Jake scouted the room as he felt its defenders too. Ten figures rose from the soil not far from the Hive Queen, all of them familiar ones as one of Jake’s predictions had been true.
[Isoptera Queen’s Guard – lvl 193]
[Isoptera Queen’s Guard – lvl 195]
…
[Isoptera Queen’s Guard – lvl 199]
They were all towards the peak of D-grade, but there were no C-grade Guards. Jake had hoped and assumed the Hive Queen was only early C-tier at best, probably between 200 and 210, so it was likely it would not have been able to make any C-tier Guards yet.
But… he knew not to underestimate the ten Guards. He had beaten five at once two times, but these were stronger than any of the others had been, and their supporting Queen far more powerful than anything Jake had ever fought.
With a motion, he made a small barrier of soil at the hole he had just entered from, making a mental note of where it was in case he needed to flee. Focusing on one of the Guards, he began summoning an Arrow of the Ambitious Hunter within his quiver.
From the beginning, the Queen had been aware of his presence but had yet to move. If it was aware Jake had slain three other Queens was questionable as the termites so far had only shown surface-level intelligence, with none of the non-Queen ones displaying any signs of having actual egos. They were nothing more than biological cogs in a machine.
Jake prepared his starting attack as he cut his own arm and willed for the blood to seep out as it formed globes in the air. He then condensed arcane mana around the blood. Simultaneously, he took out his bow and began charging Arcane Powershot.
Displaying clear acts of aggression, the termites finally moved. Five Guards charged Jake while the rest stayed defensively around the Queen. The arcane bolts with blood were fired at an upwards angle not targeted towards any termite, while he released the Arcane Powershot straight for the Guard at the front.
The arcane bolts summoned had been of the stable variant with only a sliver of destructive energy, so when he triggered them, the resulting explosion was just them shattering, sending bloody shards of arcane energy flying everywhere. This was a tactic he had used against prior biodomes to great success, and this time too, it made the Hive Queen instantly react as barriers were summoned around all the affected eggs.
His Arcane Powershot was also blocked by a golden barrier, as the Guards kept charging unbothered. Jake fired a few more salvos only to get them all blocked before he was forced to dodge away. Unfurling the wings on his back, Jake flew away as he spread poison in his wake.
They chased him with great speed as Jake just kept fleeing, not even having time to land potshots. He had been prepared for the Queen to summon barriers to cut him off, but no such thing happened. Jake just kept flying as the poison mist began permeating the room, with Jake making it worse by spraying a bit of his blood here and there.
Arcane bolts were also still being flung out, with nothing having done any damage to anything so far. The Hive Queen protected everything from his attacks, no matter how minor, and as the poison mist began spreading everywhere, that became a lot of surface area to keep protected.
To begin with, Jake was being chased by only five Guards, but soon another three joined them. He was lucky in that they had no real strategy to their movements but just chased him directly, meaning that as long as he was faster, he would avoid getting pincer-moved.
Jake was not truly fighting the C-grade but just trying to tire it out. He tried a few times to damage a Guard, but it was honestly a waste of time. Barriers would pop up instantly, and Jake would waste his time. Due to this, he focused on attacking the eggs and sometimes even the Queen herself with cost-efficient attacks.
Flying a bit lower and closer to some eggs, Jake took out Eternal Hunger as he changed the shape to be similar to a rake. He swung it down towards some eggs and met a barrier as he kept flying, raking across the golden shield, sending up sparks of energy. However, more importantly, he absorbed energy.
Smiling, Jake was confident for now. He would not change things up too fast, and he even purposefully allowed the Guards to get close on many occasions, even making one scratch him with its mandibles. It was all in an attempt to avoid the Hive Queen deciding it needed to finish him off faster. He wanted it to think it was a moment away from victory at all times, and doing more would be a waste of energy.
He was more or less hoping the Hive Queen would fall into the sunk-cost fallacy and not throw away the mana it had already spent by sacrificing a few Guards or eggs to take him down.
Jake even made some “desperate” attacks towards the Hive Queen to really sell it, all of them utterly useless. After around fifteen minutes of this, Jake noticed that his mana pool had barely depleted as he smiled.
The environment and high mana density to feed the Queen mixing with the poison mist made the environment absolutely optimal for Jake. Coupled with the increased mana regeneration from the mask and his already high pool, he could wait with a potion, maybe even consume a stamina potion instead.
Time kept passing a minute at a time with Jake just training his ability to dodge. The Queen had begun doing some different things and had even slightly done something to empower the Guards, which had resulted in Jake finding less time to do damage, just prolonging the “fight” even more.
It was now a competition of resources. The Queen was far more powerful than anything else but did not have any true offensive abilities as far as Jake could tell. Considering this was his first encounter with a C-grade, he honestly was a bit in two minds about it.
But… this was a different kind of challenge, and he would take it. As it was currently going, Jake had no idea when the fight would end, but considering he felt like he could do this for a week straight, and that he was sure the Guards expended more stamina than he did, that would never become relevant. Jake barely had to think when dodging the uninspired blows of the Guards, as he just kept flying, kiting, firing out arcane bolts and orbs while occasionally striking barriers with Eternal Hunger to drain a bit of energy.
Jake was not delusional enough to think this would keep going until the Queen ran out of mana, and he didn’t need it to either. He still had many tools in his arsenal to pull out. So as long as he could keep it going for a good while, the Queen should have wasted enough resources for him to win even if she got serious.
All ten Guards were now chasing Jake as he kept up the act. He looked at the Queen as he got an odd feeling. Normally he could get some kind of read of an opponent. Anger, annoyance, impatience… at least something.
Yet all he felt from the Queen was apathy: like his presence was barely of any consequence. He was confused… as he felt something. Movement below…
Fast…
Something was com-
Suddenly it entered his sphere, and Jake barely had time to use One Step Mile as where he had just stood erupted in an explosion of dust and soil. Jake’s instincts went on full overdrive as his danger sense exploded, and without any hesitation, his body was covered in scales as Arcane Awakening jumped to 60% right off the bat.
As he looked up the ceiling of the hatchery, he saw a figure. A sleek termite, smaller than even Jake when on all six legs. Its legs looked like black spears of metal, its body covered in a reflective dark carapace. There were two menacing mandibles at its mouth, but the two black compound eyes on its head were more disturbing.
That is when Jake remembered something he had once learned from his grandfather. A little factoid he had completely forgotten until today:
Termite hives had kings.
[Isoptera Hive King – lvl ???]
And this one was not made for breeding.
Every cell in Jake’s body screamed, and for once, he listened as he did the only wise thing: he ran.
Or, he tried to run.
His danger sense exploded again as Jake did not even have time to step down before the Hive King leaped at him. Like a bullet, it reached him instantly as Jake held up Eternal Hunger to block as he instinctually stabbed down with the Bloodfeast Dagger. He felt the impact on his arm as he hit the carapace of the insect, and it felt like he had just hit metal. The impact from the blow of the Hive King came at the same time, and it wasn’t as bad as expect-
With a swift motion away from Jake’s blade, the termite bit down again before he could react as his chest exploded, sending scales and blood flying everywhere.
Wha-
A deep cut had been left from his shoulder to his groin, tearing through everything. The mandibles of the termite moved again, but Jake managed to step down as he teleported away, his mind yet to fully register what had happened. He fled straight for the tunnel he had entered through as the ten Guards also arrived.
Jake did not have time to think as he pushed Pride to its fullest as a mental attack on the Guards as he also used Gaze on all ten of them. Blood spilled out of his eyes as they all froze. Jake’s danger sense reacted again as the Hive King moved, and Jake managed to step down again and teleport.
The moment he appeared, he tried to sway, but a black termite leg penetrated through his chest and pinned him to the ground. Before the mandibles tore his head off, Jake exploded with arcane mana out of his one hand and managed to blow himself to the side, ripping out his own flesh as a deep hole was torn in the ground with the termite’s mandibles.
He gripped the ground and pulled as he launched himself forward with another arcane explosion. Another black leg came down and penetrated his thigh, but he kept his momentum as his entire leg was shredded.
While in the air, he turned and saw the Hive King nearly upon him, the mandibles only a few meters from his face. Jake reacted as Gaze of the Apex Hunter activated again, freezing the Hive King for a fraction of a moment. Jake’s eyes popped, and his vision turned black as he nearly lost consciousness from the strain of using the skill.
Yet he kept moving as he got into the tunnel that he had entered through. His one leg was just shredded meat, and his entire body was bloody and broken, but his wings had managed to stay intact as Jake landed on the ground to teleport one more time.
He went straight for one of the emergency tunnels he had made before. Just before he reached it, his danger sense alerted him just in time as he flapped a wing to dodge. It moved him slightly to the side as a black termite-shaped bullet passed him, tearing off his left arm and wing in the process.
With his one remaining leg, Jake slammed it down as it exploded with arcane mana, and with his one remaining arm, he held it up before him as he channeled pure destructive arcane energy in front of him to make sure he would create a path.
Jake flew upwards like a rocket as the Hive King followed again. It simply tore through the ground towards him, but at least it was slowed somewhat, allowing Jake to dodge out of the way just as he entered another large tunnel.
I need to thi-
The termite attacked again, and Jake pre-emptively dodged the charge but still had the wound on his left side worsened. Jake tried to find a solution as an idea struck him. Mana began moving around him again, but it was not of the arcane variant this time. Black mana began condensing with the help of Pride as the Hive King charged again.
He did not move as it reached him in a flash… as time slowed down.
Moment of the Primal Hunter activated, and Jake blew up the dark mana all around him to mask what he planned to do. At the same time, he swayed and dodged the charging termite, making it fly past him. Above him was the next emergency tunnel, while the tunnel the termite had just come through was below.
Jake dropped down in the hole as a bow appeared in his one remaining hand. He positioned it, so he held it with his one leg as a large white arrow appeared – Arrow of the Ambitious Hunter.
However, he did not fire it towards the termite but straight up through his next escape tunnel as he dropped down into the hole just as time returned to normal and Arcane Awakening was disabled. He put back his bow as the arrow flew upwards, and Jake covered himself with his half-broken cloak and willed it to camouflage him – everything he had just done hidden within a bubble of dark mana.
He fell into a small crevice in the tunnel as Jake hid, focusing on his stealth skill as much as possible. He dispelled all signs of magic, and he felt incredibly weak all over as he huddled up.
Above him, he felt the Hive King through his Mark he had instinctively placed on it and knew it had chased the Arrow of the Ambitious Hunter up through the escape tunnel. Jake held his breath and focused on making his presence as invisible as possible. He focused on suppressing everything to make himself completely invisible.
He felt the termite move around above as it inspected the area. It stood still for a moment before it turned back. Jake felt it move slightly upwards before it leaped again.
Jake nearly had a heart attack as the Hive King tore through the soil, less than ten meters to his side as it dug downwards again towards the hatchery. Luckily, he managed to keep his focus as he hid away, not even daring to take out a health potion in fear it would reveal him.
Needless to say… Jake’s first encounter with a C-grade did not go as expected.