## Chapter 288 – The Queen’s Fall (9)
Had there ever been a time like this before?
‘It’s so quiet… I hope everyone’s doing okay…’
A completely empty lair, an unprecedented situation.
With the exception of Aurora, who was spying on Laratina’s other businesses, Vivian, Ranie, and all the Henias had launched an all-out offensive.
They had declared their ambition to finally take Laratina’s head, and I, left to wait for them after they departed from the lair, could only enjoy this rare moment of tranquility and spend some time alone.
“What are you doing?”
Of course, just because the Henias were gone didn’t mean the hive members or those unrelated to combat had left.
‘I’m not really doing anything…?’
“Oh my… I thought you were always busy taking females?
So you have this leisurely side to you?”
‘Leisurely… I’d rather you just call me unemployed…’
“Ah… You must have used so much energy lately…
Your tentacles look so thin, don’t they?
That won’t do.
As your bonded one, should I make you a tonic or something?”
‘Uh oh… Is that tonic made of…?’
“I’m just joking. My male should be like this.
Since we have so much free time,
shall we spend some quality time together…?”
Since I couldn’t run away anyway, being stuck in the ground, she stuck a tentacle or two between the joints of her long legs, as if declaring she would keep me in place.
Then, with sensual movements, Rea began to caress my tentacles, causing them to tremble under her touch.
Spending time with her was like watching praying mantises mate.
Once it started, it would last at least a few hours.
And her eyes held the terrifying gaze of a predator about to devour me.
The only saving grace was that, towards the end, that gaze would melt away along with her composure, revealing the shy faces of a vulnerable female.
“Hehehe… Then, shall we…
take our time and savor each other…?”
Anyway, just as I was facing this crisis of chastity(?), the sound of hurried footsteps echoed through the tunnel leading into the lair, causing both of us to turn our heads (and tentacles) in that direction.
“Master…!! Master…!!”
“You have to stay conscious…!! No…!! Don’t close your eyes…!!”
“Ranie-nim…!! Please stay awake…!!”
Startled by the commotion, Rea’s eyes narrowed sharply as she suddenly began to sniff the air.
“An unpleasant smell…
Blood… and poison, perhaps…”
‘Poison…? What poison…?’
“Master!! Our girls are…!!”
When the Henias burst out of the tunnel and into the lair, carrying several others on their shoulders, I finally understood Rea’s muttering.
“They’ve been poisoned…!!
What do we do…!! We have to do something…!!”
They were covered in blood, bleeding from wounds all over their bodies, with pus oozing from their festering skin.
I felt sorry for the Henias, with whom I had mingled countless times, but seeing them like that made me feel repulsed.
When one of the Henias carrying Ranie cried out, I was panicked, having never encountered such a deadly poison before.
Fortunately, Rea seemed to understand the situation and said something knowledgeable, drawing the attention of everyone, including me.
‘Poison…?
I don’t know anything about that…’
“This is… Chao Xing’s poison.”
‘How could that be…?’
“I don’t know…
But as far as I know…
It must be from the Tang Clan.”
‘Tang Clan…?’
I needed a little explanation for this unfamiliar name.
“I had dealings with them once.
I wish I had time to explain…”
Whether Rea was avoiding the question or simply didn’t want to talk about it, she gestured towards Ranie and the Henias, who were in very bad condition, and crossed her arms.
“Isn’t this a bit of an emergency?”
‘Yeah, you’re right… So, is there an antidote or something…?’
Since she seemed to know about the poison, I assumed she would know a solution, so I asked her.
But even she seemed confused by the question, muttering her thoughts to herself.
“Hmm… No. Or…
To be precise, only the Tang Clan would know.
But… we’ve made enemies of the Tang Clan…?
Why have they been poisoned by the Tang Clan…?”
‘I don’t know that right now either.
We need to find a way to treat them first…’
In the end, Rea lowered herself slightly towards one of the bloodied Henias who was still clinging to consciousness, and reached out her hand with a simple word.
“Give me your arm.”
“M-My arm…?”
“I won’t eat you.
I wouldn’t want to eat poisoned prey, would I?”
Rea raised an eyebrow, and the Henia trembled as she lifted her arm and showed it to her.
Rea took it and looked at it for a moment, then began to sniff it delicately. Soon, she tilted her head and turned to look at me.
My tentacles writhed wildly, expressing my agitated emotions, at the shocking words that came from her mouth.
“If we leave them like this, they’ll all die.
It’s clearly a combination of several deadly poisons…
A neurotoxin that stiffens the body, a hemolytic toxin that dissolves living tissue.
And a hormone agent that disrupts the body’s flow.”
‘You can tell just by looking?’
“What do you take me for?
Ugh… Look?
Don’t I have fangs too?
I have neurotoxins and hemolytic toxins too.
And I’ve smelled hormone agents before…”
As I looked at the fangs she revealed by slightly lifting her lips, their glossy shine was quite impressive.
My tentacles, which had been happily buried in her neck, trembled, and a considerable chill ran down my spine, causing the entire lair to shake slightly.
“Neurotoxins and cell-destroying toxins, which are mutually exclusive, require a delicate combination.
Neurotoxins are made of protein enzymes, so they would be broken down by hemolytic toxins.
The hormone agent… could be improved by increasing the opposing hormones, but…”
‘So, is there a way to treat them…?’
“We have to cut out all the areas where the poison has spread.
Or the only other way is to suck out all the poison.
But… with the poisoning so advanced…
Once it’s spread throughout the body, sucking it out won’t do any good.
We can’t just drain all the blood from their bodies, can we?”
At Rea’s despairing observation, I fidgeted, trying to think of anything I could do.
“Hic… Ranie-nim…”
“No…!! Open your eyes…!!
Just a little more…!!
Master will do something…!!”
If we didn’t purify the blood, everyone would die sooner or later.
My mind went blank with this sudden, time-limited assignment.
‘What about Vivian…?’
“The Queen… was poisoned trying to save us…
She’s saving the comrades scattered in Mademoiselle now…”
“So you’re saying she’s staying in a place full of poison, breathing it in?”
“Sob… What do we do…”
At the shocking news that everyone had become terminally ill, my tentacles slumped down in despair.
The bloodied females who had already lost consciousness, the other beastkin females who had realized they had inhaled deadly poison and were in a state of confusion.
And even Vivian, who was late in coming, saying she would save the others and follow.
‘They’re… dying…? All of them…?’
Their deaths would mean that the lair itself, which had been so carefully built up, would collapse.
Vivian and Ranie, who were from human backgrounds and held the center of the lair, and who managed the various human resources in the back alleys on my behalf, which could be seen as external resources.
And the Henias, who were loyal to me and did anything I asked, the elite corps of the lair who had proven themselves to be high-level combat personnel, and also providers of nourishment.
To lose them, who had more than just the value of simple assets of the lair.
“Maybe an hour left?
There won’t be much time left.
I’m sorry, but there’s nothing you can do.”
At Rea’s seemingly indifferent muttering, which seemed to be gauging my reaction, I could only stare at them, who were now almost completely exhausted and dying.
Just because I lost them didn’t mean there wouldn’t be another chance to rise again.
But before that, I felt like I would collapse helplessly if I lost them.
I couldn’t just do nothing and let them go like this.
‘Everyone gather… Move!! Move!!’
My desperate struggle to do something, anything, was beginning.
.
.
.
.
.
.
– Deadly poison. “Harvester.” Cannot withstand.
‘Then what about you guys? Can’t you expel the poison by changing your bodies?’
I frowned at the Parasites’ firm denial that they couldn’t solve the problem with their spider forms, and then asked another question.
At my question, the Parasites wiggled around among themselves, whispering something, and then shook one of their small, hand-shaped legs.
– Body modification. Possible. Detoxification or antitoxin. Impossible.
They could roughly mold the human body as they pleased, but sucking out poison or detoxifying it wasn’t their specialty. My thoughts deepened.
I decided that it was time for collective intelligence, and called everyone who could contribute their thoughts.
The Parasites, who were the lair’s engineers, Rea, who was a poison expert(?), and even Fina, who had hurriedly run over after leaving the children waiting in the room, at the news that her kin were in danger.
Among them, the answer from the Parasites, who were most familiar with what Enic could do, seemed to be a negative one.
‘I was counting on you the most…’
The Parasites had some intelligence and survival instincts, but they were also hive members who moved for the benefit of the lair.
They wouldn’t lie to save themselves, so I had to believe them.
‘The Parasites can’t solve it…’
“Um… Do we have to suck out the poison…?”
“How many times do I have to say it?
It’s too late to cut off their bodies to stop the poison from spreading.”
At Fina’s sudden question, everyone turned their heads in her direction.
“Hiiiik…!! Then… if we suck it out…?
Can’t we make something to suck it out…?
Like that thing on the floor below…”
The swaying, anemone-like mind control tentacle sealed in the Parasite Research Lab on the fourth basement floor must have been quite memorable, as Fina shuddered and spoke in a barely audible voice.
Everyone’s eyes widened at that.
Even the Parasites widened their tiny eyes, and I, too, smacked my tentacles together as I remembered something.
Thinking about it again, if there was no way, couldn’t we just make what we needed?
‘Dialysis…?’
Dialysis, the act of filtering out all the waste products in the blood and making it like new blood.
Of course, there would be technical problems with sucking out the poison dissolved in the blood, but the Parasites might be able to do something about the modification.
If we could modify the tentacles to suck out the poison?
‘Can you do what she said?’
– After confirming the ingredients.
Determine whether modification is possible.
One of the Parasites approached the bloodied Henia, wiggled its legs, and then began to suck up the blood that flowed out, drawing everyone’s attention once again.
Perhaps because their bodies were small, they reacted violently even to small amounts of poison, as the one who drank the poisoned blood writhed and rolled on the floor.
Soon, the Parasites surrounding the one who had collapsed to the floor, bleeding as well, seemed to have heard the ingredients in that short time and confirmed the possibility, nodding the legs at the head’s location.
The Parasites were preparing to move on to the next task without any concern for sacrificing one of their members.
It was a bit sickening, but their professionalism seemed quite reliable.
‘Then it’s settled…!! Start immediately…!!’
“What are you talking about…!!
Didn’t you hear what I said!?”
But before I could finish speaking, Rea’s sharp voice rang out.
Her urgent voice, rushing to my tentacles and gripping them tightly, made the surroundings even more somber.
