The Nomadic Huntress
The movement was unnaturally swift, like a blade slicing through the wind itself. The scarab beetle could not move with the fluid efficiency it had shown moments earlier.
Ashtien's strike had pierced straight through its six legs, locking the creature in place.
To Vesta, this was the greatest blessing possible.
Closing the distance to a living opponent had always been impossible. Not for Vesta, who had never faced such a foe in the arena, and certainly not now.
"Uushun would have handled it," he thought. "But not me."
The insect's shell was too tough to tank directly. Even though his body had gained strength beyond his years, he remained small and light.
In battle with humans, Vesta had always avoided raw strength clashes. Against monsters, he had never possessed the confidence to risk it.
One well-placed hit and he would have been nothing but meat.
He took a careful step forward, then halted instantly.
His instincts screamed warning.
Whoosh.
The beetle's front leg slashed across the space just inches from Vesta's chest.
His spine chilled.
The creature's limb was larger, heavier than Vesta's entire frame. And it moved faster than any human sword could possibly swing.
The power behind it must be terrifying.
"Even one hit and I'm done for."
Vesta drew on the flame burning inside his blade. It roared to life.
He swung the sword in a wide arc, targeting the scarab's head.
Kiii—
The beetle sensed the heat. Its body jerked violently, joints bending at impossible angles.
Even if its body shattered, it would never let the flames touch it.
Vesta charged forward. The beetle raised one leg, clearly waiting to intercept him the moment he came close.
Piiing.
Thwack!
A tense arrow cut through the air. It struck the scarab's eye and buried itself deep.
The creature opened its mouth wide and chittered wildly.
"**Ashtien!**"
Vesta did not miss the opening. He drove straight into the gap where the damaged eye had been.
"The monster's compound eyes are beyond human limits. If I want to win, I have to keep probing the weak spot."
The scorched antennae and shattered compound eye formed the creature's blind spot.
Kiiiing!
The beetle swung its front leg in desperation. The attack carried raw momentum, but it still could not crush a living being.
Still, it missed Vesta entirely, carving a deep trench in the sand.
Vesta lifted his blade, ready to melt the scarab's waist.
"**Vesta-nim!**"
Ahor's voice snapped him back. Vesta rolled across the ground just as the sand exploded.
Whoosh—
The creature had yanked its front leg from the ground and clawed furiously.
If he had been even a moment slower, he would have been torn apart.
"Here!"
Ahor fired. The scarab, blinded in one eye, reacted violently to the arrow.
Elves rushed in at the same time. Ahor had drawn them here specifically to draw the beetle's attention.
The scarab had grown too dangerous for the elves to finish off on their own.
They could not breathe fire, so they had no effective way to wound it.
"But they have more flesh than you, right? Let's see who can take a hit from the 'adults'!"
They believed the flames would still protect them.
The scarab could not ignore the warriors. It had to find a way.
Its simple mind worked like any insect's: instincts and survival instincts over emotions or breeding.
And its role was soldier, pure combatant. It had been born for fighting, unlike humans who could choose peace.
It had pushed aside all unnecessary traits to keep only the brain needed for battle.
A superior being with more senses than humans had found the best solution.
The scarab scraped the sand with its front leg, raising a cloud of dust.
It was a shield against the arrows.
"Stop it!"
An elf warrior frowned and pierced the sandstorm. It was the same woman Vesta had once protected from a larger enemy.
"This sand wind is no match for us!"
Warriors slipped through the barrier one by one. Every gap made the beetle's nerves twitch.
**Focus on the rear.**
From behind, a bright light shone. Not for the light itself, but for the creature.
"Now!"
Flare!
Kiiiik!
The beetle raised its leg and shielded itself. Flames clung to its shell.
It slammed the limb into the sand pit, trying to smother the fire.
Puhwak!
The sand erupted in a massive burst, clutching the leg like a second predator.
"**Antlion!**"
It was another hidden hunter in the sand. Its jaws were massive enough to match the scarab's.
The beetle slashed with its head, splitting the antlion cleanly in two.
But Vesta did not miss the opening. He fired again.
The fire spread once more. The scarab's leg twisted at a grotesque angle. The metal had clearly melted.
It looked ready to snap at any moment.
Piiing!
And the steppe's greatest hunter did not hesitate.
The arrow, shaped like a crescent moon, dove into the gap between leg and body.
The weakened limb fell away.
Now the only weapons left were its jaws and one front leg.
"But so is the ground beneath me."
The flames on Vesta's blade were beginning to die down.
"How's this? Our conditions are almost the same now, right?"
They each had only one sword.
"Blade against blade."
The first to move was the scarab.
It swung its remaining leg. The power was still impossible for a human to endure.
"I don't need to endure it."
Vesta led the beetle into Ashtien's prepared blind spot and dodged perfectly.
One mistake and he would have been fatally wounded.
But strangely, he felt no real fear. Perhaps because he knew Ashtien was watching over him.
Piiing!
The arrow Ashtien had fired severed one of the beetle's antennae.
Now Vesta could close the distance. The scarab opened its jaws and threatened the human approaching.
Thud!
Ashtien's arrow pierced straight through the gap in the jaw.
And Vesta struck from beneath.
Wham!
Perfect timing. The sound of splitting wood echoed.
The scarab staggered back. One of its legs snapped.
Chiiik—
The transparent blood flowing from the wound evaporated in the heat of the blade.
"**I did it.**"
The damaged body stared at Vesta. With one antenna missing, the creature could not truly see him.
It was only its last instinctive drive, the same drive that made a moth charge toward flame.
"This is my final attack."
Vesta felt it in his bones.
The beast would throw everything at him.
He did not care if its legs broke or its neck came off.
"...It should be fast. Extremely fast."
The only mercy was that nothing was blocking him now.
The smaller scarabs had already been dealt with by the other warriors.
The battlefield had no more variables.
"Hoo."
He exhaled deeply while keeping his body tense.
Soon.
Very soon.
The severed antennae twitched.
Vesta stepped aside at an angle and swung his blade with all his remaining strength.
His stance was messy. If he were fighting a human, that would have been fatal.
Tung!
The leg shattered under the impact.
A line cut straight across the desert. Sand swirled behind him belatedly.
The scarab passed him by.
Chiii—
A drop of clear blood boiled at the tip of Vesta's blade.
"I cut it."
Vesta and the beetle both processed the information too late.
The scarab's head fell onto the sand.
"Ah."
Vesta cried out belatedly, the shock still vibrating through his hand.
The elves' cheers thundered across the desert.
*
The queen, who had seen her soldiers fall, rose without hesitation.
Though her appearance was ragged, she felt no shame.
She was not a creature that experienced emotions the same way humans did.
Yet from her head, various strategies and terrifying plans were being reassembled.
"Plant eggs inside human bodies and raise the larvae. Then release them onto the steppe."
"Can we breed antlions?"
"Then... next time..."
No sympathy, no understanding. Her stance was that of a researcher treating test subjects rather than a commander or even a hunter.
Piiing.
She was struck and fell.
Her wing had torn.
Kiiiik.
Thanks to the hard exoskeleton and thick desert sand, the queen could survive.
She crawled across the ground. Losing a wing would not stop her. Her species' fate depended on it.
She had to take them to paradise. In that land, the humans and livestock could feed an entire scarab swarm.
"And if that's not enough... we will raise humans. We will produce food with our own power."
The queen crawled for a long time. The landscape did not change even a little.
"What is this?"
At some point she had stopped moving forward.
"Why are you crawling so desperately?"
It was a woman's voice. The woman had stepped on the queen's left leg and stopped her progress.
The queen rubbed her exhausted body. The gold-eyed elf looked down at the creature.
"You will stay hidden and live as usual."
Ashtien spoke lazily, then placed her foot on the scarab's head.
Krruk—
"Kiii—"
"You've said your goodbyes? It's been tens of years, hundreds of years, since you last saw the outside world."
Crack—
"Show proper respect to my master and die like the bug you are."
Thud.
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[Crime description / charges]
The scarab's head split apart.