The poison carried by the bone army.
Though it couldn't deliver a fatal blow to the Bone Lord—the pinnacle of all Bone Parasite monsters—it was still more than enough.
As if to prove that this venom had been prepared for this very day, the Bone Lord's relentless pace in devouring the army began to slow.
Creak, creeeeak…!
The bone tendrils twisted as if each one possessed its own will, writhing in agony.
It wasn't just imagination.
The Bone Lord was far too massive to be called an ordinary organism, and it had consumed far too much to this point.
[Kreeeek…]
[Khak! Khaaaak!]
Grotesque howls and bone-splitting noise echoed endlessly.
Ordinarily, such a scene would only occur during a Wave, but this wasn't a Wave—and yet it recreated one in scale and chaos.
Crack! Crackkk!
Craaaack!
From the Ark's perspective, this might appear to be a typical territorial conflict between monsters, but the Turncoat Queen saw it differently.
This was a war to determine the true king.
The Turncoat Queen revered the very nature of the conflict—thus, she had no intention of limiting herself by method or morality.
"Hm…"
She had played one of her cards, but capturing the Bone Lord wouldn't be so simple.
Proving that point, the behavior of the poisoned bone tide slowly began to change.
Creak, crreeeak…
The tendrils transformed.
Where once they were simply massive tendrils of bone, they now began to take on forms more akin to individual Bone Parasite monsters.
The difference from the Turncoat King's army was clear: the Bone Lord's soldiers were interconnected.
[Kreeeek…]
[Khak! Khaaaak!]
And the transformation wasn't just physical.
These beasts of bone, once driven solely by instinct to consume, began to move with precision—an army in form and function—pushing back against the Turncoat King's forces.
What began as a clash between mindless tendrils and a regiment now became a battle of armies.
Could this even be called a mere fight?
No—it could only be called a war.
That thought naturally surfaced, as the scale of the battle before them grew overwhelming.
"…As expected, not so easy."
The Turncoat Queen muttered under her breath.
As soon as the Bone Lord's behavior shifted, the tide of battle flipped instantly.
Just moments earlier, the Turncoat King's army had held the upper hand with their venom, but now they were being pushed back.
Crunch!──
Craaaack!
It wasn't consumption anymore—it was slaughter.
For Bone Parasite monsters, devouring and fighting were usually synonymous. Yet the Bone Lord had now chosen to defy that instinct.
Naturally so.
Once aware of the poison, there was no reason to keep eating.
[Creeeeak!]
[Khaaaaak!]
The Turncoat King's army, dominant just moments ago, was now crumbling.
The venom the Turncoat Queen had painstakingly prepared was meaningless if it couldn't be ingested.
Though the armies of the Turncoat King and the Bone Lord appeared similar, a key difference remained:
The command structure.
No matter how quickly the Turncoat King issued orders, there was an inevitable delay before they reached his subordinate monsters.
But the Bone Lord's army was different. Born of a singular entity, there was no such delay.
Easier said than done, of course—controlling an army of tens of thousands with a single consciousness shouldn't be possible.
Thousands—no, tens of thousands of troops.
Who could command such an army with a single mind?
Anyone would think it impossible.
But the Bone Lord did so effortlessly.
A scene that would terrify any Ark ecologist. Yet for the Bone Lord, it was ordinary.
A single creature, yet one that possessed a consciousness akin to a hive mind.
Such was the Bone Lord.
"As I suspected… he is indeed worthy of calling himself a king."
The Turncoat Queen had never expected this would be enough to bring the Bone Lord down.
This had only been one of many cards she had yet to play.
'As expected…'
Her gaze shifted toward Carl's group in the distance.
As predicted, Carl's party was facing part of the Bone Lord's form, but they were holding back—as if waiting for the right moment.
That alone was already helpful, so the Turncoat Queen didn't mind.
The Bone Lord was surely wary of Carl's group, who possessed firepower potent enough to stir him from slumber.
And when the time came, they too would have to act.
"Shall we?"
No answer came.
The two at her side were never ones for many words.
"I'm always the only one talking…"
Not that the Turncoat Queen felt lonely.
For Turncoats, speaking aloud meant little.
Shhhk…
From her back, massive bone wings spread wide.
Though the frontline situation seemed to favor the Bone Lord, there was a critical weakness:
His consciousness was largely occupied with controlling his army.
Controlling tens of thousands simultaneously could not be easy—so she would exploit that.
"Kill the enemy."
A rare spoken command fell from the Turncoat King's lips.
A royal decree.
None present dared defy it.
"Gladly."
There was no hesitation.
The Turncoat King, Queen, and Bishop spread their wings in unison and surged toward the Bone Lord.
And whether by coincidence or calculation, the Bone Lord's response was slower—perhaps distracted by commanding his army.
Crreeak…
From the Turncoat King's hand, a massive bone spear began to take shape.
Normally, long-range attacks risked sapping strength and were inefficient.
But now, there was no need to conceal his cards.
Soon, the pure-white spear in his hand began to stain violet.
He was imbuing it with the same venom used to create his army.
Whirr!
The Turncoat King spun fiercely in the air, building centrifugal force.
Ten spins, twenty, thirty…
So fast that whirlwinds formed around him.
BOOM BOOM BOOM!
The spear left his hand, hurled at the Bone Lord with violent momentum.
BOOM!
Screeeeeech!────
The spear tore through the air toward its target.
The Bone Lord, observing closely, responded by converging his tendrils into a massive bone shield.
RRRRRRRUMBLE!
The spear and shield clashed, and the battlefield echoed with explosive force.
Crreeak, crackkk!───
But even as one spear launched, the spinning didn't stop.
More spears formed in the Turncoat King's hand.
The whirlwind wasn't for a single throw—it was sustained.
BOOM BOOM BOOM!───
RRRRUMBLE!
A continuous volley of spears.
Each like a meteor—bombardment falling from the sky.
A scale of assault requiring massive Ark resources, yet the Turncoat King unleashed it alone.
"Now."
Amid this devastating barrage, the Turncoat Queen and Turncoat Bishop moved.
Hidden within the whirlwind, they closed in on the Bone Lord in an instant.
Their mission was simple:
To deliver the venom—painstakingly created by the King and Queen—directly into the Bone Lord's core.
CRACK!
The plan succeeded.
The Bone Lord's form was so massive it was impossible to define—and thus had many vulnerable points to guard.
Especially now, as he contended with both the king's army and his bombardment.
Even the Bone Lord couldn't defend against a stealth strike from the Queen and Bishop.
Shudder…!
The Bone Lord's body trembled slightly.
At the same time, his army at the front faltered, and the shield blocking the bombardment slowed.
Proof that the venom, while not deadly, was effective—at least enough to split his focus.
BOOOOM!───
And with that—
The Bone Lord, who had blocked the bombardment near-perfectly until now, began to take real damage.
Though the poison wouldn't be fatal, it had disrupted the Bone Lord's concentration.
GROOOOOOOO!────
With a violent convulsion, he lashed out, flinging away the Turncoat Queen and Bishop.
The Queen narrowly blocked the blow—but the Bishop couldn't prevent much of his body from being shattered.
"Ghhk…!"
"Recover yourself."
The Turncoat Queen pulled the Bishop back and rejoined the frontline.
Perhaps due to the opening created, the Bone Lord was no longer passive.
The momentary hesitation that came with each poisoning had stopped.
'…So, it's no longer working.'
It was clear.
The Bone Lord had begun developing immunity to the Queen's venom.
And that wasn't all.
'That…'
The Turncoat King's army—still fighting on the front—began to collapse rapidly.
Their bodies darkened.
The Bone Lord had now deployed his own venom—distinct from the Turncoats'.
"As expected… this won't be easy."
The army she had brought was nearly annihilated.
The Bishop was out of the fight.
And yet, the Turncoat Queen remained composed.
Because she still had cards to play.
A card so powerful, it could only be used when things had reached this point.
At that moment—
A flash of light streaked across the battlefield.
Familiar by now, but no less terrifying in its magnitude.
RRRRUMBLE!───
The sound came late.
But the aftermath did not.
[GROOOOAAARGH!]
A massive hole had appeared in the Bone Lord's side.
Created by that single flash.
The Turncoat Queen grinned as she saw it.
"So, you've finally decided to act."
Carl Marcus.
The man who had observed silently until now—
was finally entering the war.
===BREAK===
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