Selena explained to Richard how the next few days will go down. To assure their chances of victory, not only did they need to kill the queen but also massacre the brood at the same time because there was a slim chance that in this situation of crisis, the news of the death of the current queen will push one of the broods to become the new queen. This was the main reason this species was so resilient. Richard had to sneak inside the nest, found the brood and put fire to the different alcoves of the nest, the panic will bring most of the soldiers and workers to try and move the brood out of the nest. So far Sepu found three entrances to the nest, Selena will use her magic to seal shut two of them and will ambush and kill the remaining zenkabs trying to flee the burning nest. While this will be on going the queen will probably be on her way to the exit escorted by her royal guards. This whole operation relied on the confusion of the zenkabs and the abilities of Richard to sneak in and take down the queen as fast as he could. The longer she was alive, the least chances of survival Sepu and Selena had outside. Apparently zenkabs had two weak points in their exoskeleton, the abdomen near their stinger and a precise point in their throat. Their heads were as hard as a rock and they had fangs as long as daggers. Selena warned him that the elite soldiers and royal guards were faster and smarter than the rest and that they had humano?d features, they were said to be able to move on two feet and their fangs were not their main weapons. Sadly, details on them are missing as it is said that if you encounter them you are as good as dead.

  After a few days of preparations, the day of the assault was upon them. Richard, Sepu, Selena and a few of the olders teens came to the entrance of the nest. The best moment to attack was when the first lights were creeping out on the entrance. The preparations also accounted for clearing any trees around the entrance, the Zenkabs spent their time underground and used hosts because they were photosensitive, so the morning lights will render them less dangerous to fight against. Everyone was putting traps around the entrance while Richard was sitting on a rock checking his equipment. He was silently watching everyone getting ready, " Once I'm inside I will have to hurry or all those children will die, none of them are ready to fight.". Selena was reciting a chant and once she was done, Three small stone golems raised from the ground, they were the same size as Richard. " I wish I could learn this ". Selena walked towards him.

  " Everything is ready, we are just waiting for your signal now."

  " I'm ready." He took a deep breath and stood up. He was worried and looked at Selena " I hope you are aware that we probably are gonna have some casualties? They are sons and daughters of farmers. "

  " They are aware of the risks, they fight to save their village and family, none of them is gonna back out now. "

  Richard looked at the young group, they were all tensed, they knew that by the end of the day they might not be there anymore, yet they were here, standing to fight.

  " One last question before I go, you told me they had a keen sense of smell right? "

  " Yes they do, why? "

  " I might have an idea, I'm going in. "

  He flipped his hood on and entered the zenkabs nest. Luckily enough he had great vision, he was slowly making his way through the tunnels. He came to a corner and while peeking he noticed a zenkab worker slowly advancing in his direction, he pulled out his curved dagger, ready to attack. When the zenkab passed him, he jumped on its back and slit its throat in a quick motion. The zenkab fell heavily to the ground, Richard turned it on it's back and opened his abdomen open from the second weak point. " It's truly disgusting but that's the only way I will go far in this nest, eww.". He started covering himself in the guts of the Zenkab, if these creatures worked like most insects, they will not rely on their eyes but their other senses so this tactic will normally help sneak in. He made his way through the tunnels and finally spotted a worker transporting a newborn larvae. He started following them and discovered the brood room, many workers were there placing the larvaes in order and cleaning them. It was time to start the fire, he had a vague idea of the direction he was going to go to reach the queen. He pulled out of his pouch the small vial of oil that he had obtained from Senob and threw it to the mass of larvaes. He then made a small flame appear at the tip of his finger and directed it towards it. Almost instantly all the workers screeched as if they could all feel the pain of the larvae that were lit on fire. Richard turned around and lit the ground where he was just standing on fire to slow their escape down. He started making his way towards what he thought would be the royal alcoves. On his way he tried to take down as many soldiers as he could. After ten minutes of constant running and fighting through the tunnels, he finally ended up in a room way bigger than the others with tunnels three times the size of the ones he was in. These were definitely the tunnels the queen was taking. " Shit! She is already gone! " Richard kneeled down and tried sensing the queen through the vibrations of the ground, he sensed a presence larger than the others in a tunnel to his right. No time to think, he pulled out his dagger and started running towards it. Suddenly out of the darkness, a spiked arm tried grabbing Richard, he slid under it and turned around to look at his opponent. The creature in front of him was the same size as him, standing on two feet, its mandibles closed, its jawline was quite defined, it had broad shoulders and long claws for fingers. " So that's one of those famous royal guards? "

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  " Sorry friend, I'm here to kill your queen, so be a nice little bug and tell me where she is! "

  The zenkab tilted its head and made a high note in a strange rhythm, it was laughing at him. Richard pulled his crossbow from his shoulder and aimed at the zenkab, he couldn't underestimate it. He threw a knife with his left hand and while the Zenkab was dodging it, he fired while aiming at its throat. The bolt pierced straight through it and the creature looked at Richard in what could be seen as a surprised look. Seeing it fall to the ground, Richard resumed his track of the queen. Above his head he started hearing the fight of the fleeing workers and soldiers with Selena and her group. " Faster! I have to go faster!". He was sprinting down the tunnel and arrived in a giant room. From the corner of his eye he saw a giant shape move to his right inside a tunnel. " That's her I'm sure! ". But before he could run in there, two royal guards flew towards him. These two seemed somehow bigger than the one he had just killed. They both rushed at Richard, he evaded the claws of the first one and jumped over the second one but the zenkab grabbed onto Richard's cape and started dragging him on the ground of the room. He had no choice but to unbuckle his cape from himself. When he managed to let it go, he got tackled mid air by the second zenkab guard. Richard hit the wall with such force that his vision got blurry, his instincts took over for him and he rolled to the side even though he couldn't see very well. He had to keep moving, one second of inattention and he would die, these two were fast. He tried striking at the guard coming straight for him but the monster evaded his blow and grabbed both of his wrists, making Richard drop his dagger. Using its wings as propulsion, the zenkab pushed Richard till his back was against a wall. His mandibles opened and he tried biting at Richard's face. He dodged once to the left, once to the right, the zenkab pulled back to try to bite him again but Richard tapped his boot on the floor and made his boot blade pop out. Before the creature could realise, Richard threw a kick right between its legs and hit its weak point. He pulled his leg back and pushed on the wall to make the Zenkab fall. He rolled over it, this small hit wasn't enough to kill it so before it could fully get up Richard used his boot blade and kicked it in the throat. The first guard was now dead, the second one was already in Richard's face. The deadly claws slashed his left shoulder open as he barely evaded being cut in half. He needed his dagger, sadly it was on the ground to his right. His crossbow was attached to his cape that was way further. Trying to gain some time he threw knives at the Zenkab and started running for his dagger. As he plunged for it, he called the dagger to him and it flew in his hand, he turned around and in the split second he had, striked the diving Zenkab in the throat. They both slid heavily on the ground. Richard groaned in pain as he stood up. He had to follow the queen, he ran towards the tunnel but it was empty. But it wasn't leading outside. The queen had vanished, the hair on his neck stood up as his instincts screamed at him to move. He jumped back and evaded the queen coming from the ground. If her guards were more humano?d than the other zenkabs, the queen was the most monstrous looking of them all. She must have been five or six meters tall, her huge abdomen trailing behind her, her exoskeleton was completely black and her mandibles were open and showed rows of sharp teeth. She made a wide motion with her right arm and slapped Richard across the room. Not only was she strong and massive but she moved quite fast. When he hit the wall Richard heard a crack and fell on the floor, he had troubles catching his breath. He didn't even have time to get up when the queen attacked him again, flinging him into another wall again. Richard was on the ground coughing blood, the queen raised her arm, ready to impale him. He rolled to the side, dodging the blow. He managed to get up. The queen was rushing towards him when suddenly they both got distracted by a whistle, looking to his right, Richard saw Sepu trying to get the attention of the queen. Taking advantage of this distraction, he jumped towards the throat of the queen and tried stabbing it, she noticed and moved her head in an attempt to bite him. Just like he did against the Liéchi, Richard moved in mid air to dodge her and planted his dagger in the left side of her jaw line. She was now moving her head in all directions in an attempt to throw him off. He pulled on the dagger as hard as he could and it sectionned the tendons and ligaments of her jaw. Richard fell to the ground just to be hit by the abdomen of the queen that was now twisting herself in pain. Richard landed on a harder part of the wall and heard a weird sound followed by a piercing pain in his right arm. Trying to get up he realised the shock had just dislocated his right shoulder. Now with his right arm out of commission and his left arm heavily bleeding, he stood up to face the raging queen. Sepu's distractions were not enough anymore. Richard had an idea, he focused on his feet, the ground around him started shaking, just before the queen could slash him in half he leaped into the air even higher than before. The queen jumped right after him trying to catch him in the air. When he jumped, Richard opened his pouch with his left hand and grabbed the bomb that Senob gave him. Once again using his magic to move in the air he dived towards the queen.

  " Open wide! "

  She opened her mouth to swallow him with a raging screech. Just before she could do so, he used magic to light the bomb's fuze and threw it down her throat. When he passed by her she used her leg to kick him towards a wall. On impact, his head smashed against the wall and he fell heavily on his back. At the same time the bomb exploded in the queen's throat with enough power to separate her head from the rest of her body. As he faded into unconsciousness, Richard saw the nest slowly collapsing on itself due to the explosion of his bomb and the vibrations caused by the queen's body falling from such a height. All around him, the walls were falling apart and he would soon be buried under the rest of the nest. His last thought before he blacked out was of Bella, hoping she was fine and that he could have told her how much he loved her.