Shadows 7-2

As a large shape blocked the light coming from above in the water, casting a shadow over the entire 30 feet long keelboat, The Queen of Wasps realised she might have gone into this task uninformed.

When she had heard a flock, she knew to expect multiple, but them being described as worming their way out of the bogs of the Abyss into the sea also made her think it couldn't be that many of them. She expected maybe up to 10 of them? Instead she estimated to be looking at at least twice as many. Not only that, but they had gotten the drop on her, and they were bigger than she had anticipated, too.

The Queen of Wasps hated the way that the world seemed to continue mocking her for her size.

She immediately took hold of her bow and started shooting arrows. She'd taken two quivers, all tipped in the poison she'd obtained. Actually shooting them down proved difficult. As big as they were, putting holes in their fins, which took up most of their bodies, was not effective enough. That wasn't to mention the way they swam around in an angry swarm made it difficult to keep track of them.

Suddenly the ship started to turn in a desperate attempt to get away as the swarm started their descent towards the ship. The once-sprite was thrown against the railing in the process. She growled as she regained her footing and continued her volley, abandoning precision for speed; it wasn't like she could make out a real target anyway.

As the stingrays ravaged the ship and particularly the ones present on it, The Queen of Wasps drew her blades to try and fend them off. Her body twitched and she felt the desire to spread her legs and bend her back, trying to sting the creatures. She ignored it best she could. This wasn't what she knew nor wanted, and only served to distract her. A sharp sting razed through her body from near her own stinger, as if to mock or provoke her.

She struggled to get a good hit in, while they were occasionally able to strike her. She was fortunate that her carapace caused most blows to be glancing at best. At least she was able to keep herself from getting piled on. She'd be a goner if it came to that. Still, the handful of effective stings were starting to get to her, pain throbbing in her hip and insect abdomen as the poison spread. It twitched, aching not just physically but mentally to be denied the chance to give the creature a taste of its own medicine.

Between the screeches of the demonic stingrays ravaging the ship, she could hear the voice of the captain speaking the arcane words of a spell. The water started to move unnaturally, and The Queen of Wasps had to hold on to the rails of the ship so as to avoid being flung off it. At least it worked wonders against the Umibozu, pushing them back and scattering them. Using her bottom hands to keep her grip, she fought against the tide to aim her bow and shoot.

Seeing them scattered allowed her an opportunity to take in the flock better. Around twelve or so left, though she was able to get a few clean shots in and she was able to reduce their numbers to seven. Then they found their proverbial footing again and returned to their swarming state.

Her leg was starting to get numb, and she lost her balance when it gave out on her. Knowing time was of the essence, she used her wings to navigate the water instead. It wasn't identical to flying in the air, and with the currents in the water it was even more difficult, so her bow was out of the question at this point. Instead, she reached for her swords once more, this time shooting forwards on the offensive. “Scatter them and pull me back when I get one!” she called out.

“I don't have that tight of a control on the currents!” The woman yelled back, “I'm keeping them away from my ship.”

“Then just keep pushing them away!” The Queen of Wasps exclaimed as she charged towards one of the Umibozu blades first. A successful hit, swords stabbing straight through the demon. Before it would have a chance to respond, she started to pull the blades away from each other, employing her second set of hands to get enough force to nearly cut the creature in two. Six left.

Of course those six creatures didn't swim idle while one of their own was cut to ribbons. Fortunately there only being 6 of them made injuries a lot more avoidable. She prioritised parrying stingers. Even if the demons would be able to land their bites, they weren't nearly as debilitating as the poison from the stingers was.

As ichor mixed into the water, it became harder to see and more difficult to fend off attacks. Outmaneuvering these things was out of the question as well. They already had the upper hand in their swimming skills, but a numb leg and abdomen also meant she could not streamline her form.

A thought occurred. It wasn't the most graceful plan, but at this point it was better than letting herself get turned into a pincushion and letting them eat her as her body goes completely numb.

Instead of just partying the stingers, she used her additional hands to grab hold of them. With two of them in her grasp, she twirled around to either batter or scare the remaining four away. Then she slammed the pair against each other, before a set of arrows came in to skewer them from both sides. She entangled their tails as well, making them effectively helpless as the poison spread through their body.

At least now she had a meat shield. Those extra arms of hers were really making the difference. Of course the demons weren't so dumb as to mindlessly attack their kin now, but this was a boon in its own right, as they slowed down their attacks to aim them better. Additionally everytime she used them as a shield, they would screech which clearly threw off the remaining ones.

Soon there were only three left, then two. The remaining ones tried to flee but The Queen of Wasps didn't let them. One she was able to strike as it turned tail, the other she shot down.

Finally rid of the threat, all she could feel was the throbbing of most of her body, and all she could hear was her heartbeat in her ears. She nearly tumbled back into the deck of the ship.

The captain laughed. “Well damn, I for sure thought this was gonna be a bust.”

The Queen of Wasps slowly dropped to her knees to rest. Dark blood was oozing from her wounds, continuing to pollute the water and fog her vision of the surroundings. She was starting to get dizzy. “I need the bodies…” she responded, “I killed all of them and protected the ship… You can do that much...”

“Oh don't worry, I wasn't going to let that much good meat go to waste. I already started getting them on her.”

She didn't care about the meat. She needed the tails. Sardar had promised her that she could receive the poisons for free if she brought the tails. “I used poisons to kill most of them.”

“What the hell, bug?! That's so much good meat wasted! What do you even want it for then?”

She twitched at hearing that nickname. Raising herself upright, her clawed feet dragged over the wooden floor as she leaned on her bow for support. “Don't… call me that…” she panted. Using her bow as a walking stick, she dragged herself towards the skeleton-like fiend with wobbly steps. “Don’t ever… call me that… again…!” she exclaimed, single-minded hatred burning in her eyes. She didn't blink.

At first her companion seemed amused by The Queen of Wasps’s pathetic attempts at walking, but the persistence and focus made that amusement shift to discomfort and even fear pretty quickly. They both knew the smaller creature was ready to lay down her life over just a small word and the taller one couldn't be certain enough of her victory to take that gamble. “Calm down, miss Queen, I was only messing around,” she said hesitantly.