The strange nest before it was still in front of him. This was strange and angering to the giant magical beetle, as no nest had stood before him for long, if at all. So it charged again and again at the strange nest before it. Still, no matter how many strange ones it sent with its horn or how many times it charged at the strange nest, they refused to fall to him. This wouldn't be bad, as he didn't care about the nest, as he was no egg eater. The problem was the beetles he knew that would challenge him were in the strange nest.
So he had to get the strange nest down so he could get at the rival beetles deeper within it. He just didn't know how he was going to do this, as he hadn't found a way to bring the strange nest down, and its strange instincts hadn't told it how. They had helped it throw strange ones at it, but then the strange nest had thrown its own strange ones back to face its strange ones. It had also done the charging that its kind was known for, but that wasn't working either.
The giant mystical beetle was brought out of its frustrated thoughts as it was thrown to the side. It felt a stinging sensation and knew what it was instantly that had thrown him, as he had become familiar with the sensation. It was the strange nest that had thrown him! Or part of it, as there was a head-on portion of the strange nest that kept throwing strange blue and green winds at him that failed to cut his shell.
Though as the fight went on, the blue and green winds did end up throwing him back. As by that point the blue and green winds had built up enough force by the time they reached him to do so. Though they weren't doing any damage, they were just annoying him. He was starting to hear angry hissing coming with the green and blue winds. He was sure it was just another way his beetle rivals deeper inside the nest were challenging him.
This caused him to let out a shriek of rage in counter challenge that echoed around him. This challenge, much to its surprise, was answered, though not in any way it could have expected. As seemingly out of nowhere, a big creature of three heads appeared before it, hissing and snarling at it. He saw the challenge for what it was and faced it to meet it.
He and the one with three heads circled each other for a moment, eyeing each other in silence. It was broken by him charging his impatience to get this settled so he could defeat his rivals within the strange nest, causing him to go first. The creature did not meet its charge; instead, it simply stood there waiting to be run through. Which he was more than happy to do. Then it opened its mouth as he got close, and he realized too late his mistake.
It had been watching from afar as the great city meant to honor them for defeating the invader came into being. It was amazed at the sight and the feeling of power that thrummed in the air as its creator performed his acts of creation. It saw its walls that represent it come up, and it didn't know how to feel about it. On one hand, it was honored to have itself immortalized in such a way.
On the other hand, it was being honored and immortalized for simply doing what it had been made to do. On the final head it could not reject such an act even with its second thoughts about the whole affair, as that would be denying its maker, which it could not do. This had left the three-headed skull serpent a bundle of emotions as it watched the outer district of the necropolis come into being.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
Then the creature came, a large thing of pale shell and purple horn, charging and falling further into the creatures at the walls. The skeletal Hydra wanted to attack the invading creature, but it was held back. The creature was being used as a test of the serpent walls to see how well they would do against an invading force. This was a logical thing, as the creature was only attacking one side of the wall, and reinforcements would come in to deal with it should the creature breach any part of the serpent wall.
The problem, though, is that as the battle went on, it became a stalemate, with neither side getting a clear advantage. This was bad for the three-headed skull serpent, as its nature was that of conflict, not just as a creation meant for war but even against itself. As each of its three heads held a different breath, they were in a constant state of anger, sadness, and nostalgia.
The last emotion was a bit difficult for it, as it wasn't old enough to be nostalgic. So with the constant infighting within itself pushing itself on, it charged, wanting to end the deadlock. They had circled, trying to measure each other, but now the battle has truly begun as it tested its different breaths against the invaders' bone shell. While the invader tried to get within reach of the strange creature so he could run it through.
The barrage began with the head on the left sucking in necrotic grass and dead beetle-worm hybrids lying around them before spewing out a tornado filled with the phantoms of both. This slammed into and slowed down the giant magical beetle charge. The invader, under the constant pressure of the phantom tornado, slowly worked his way closer towards the three-headed grass skull serpent.
So seeing the phantom tornado wasn't enough; the next head added its breath to the attack. The center head roared! "Tear it apart, you useless fangless worms!" The center head screamed before its angry necrotic smog roared forth, hitting the ground. Which caused angry smog serpents to burst out of the ground and try to dig into the underside of the invader. They did not have much luck, as its underside was as well armored as its topside, but they did not make it hard for it to move its legs.
So the third and final head, seeing that the other two heads' attacks were slowing it down significantly, was still coming, and they weren't doing that much damage to it. So the third head added its firepower. "Oh, we're not going to win!" The head cried out. "It's all over." It said before releasing a river of acid that moved like it was made of tears. This river of acid tears hit the shell of the giant magical beetle, causing a hissing sound to fill the air.
He knew things were bad as he felt the burning of his shell. His legs were not listening to him, as they were too tangled to obey. The strange wind was pushing him so hard he couldn't even keep his head up. His instincts were screaming to flee, that the fight was over, and he could hear why. As the last of his strange ones was killed, the strange nest began to focus its attention on him.
His instincts were telling him to take flight, to use his wings to fly away, but he decided he would not. He would lose, and he would die, but he would never have fled before rivals. So putting all his remaining strength into his wings, he managed to pick himself off the ground. He then, without hesitation, charged once more, turning himself into a living arrow. Pushing through the river of acid tears and the tornado of phantom wind. He buried his magical horn to the hilt inside the strange creature.
A great act of a defeated creature. Sadly for him, the three-headed grass skull serpent was a creature of necrotic and dark worm fae magic, not flesh. So its grand act in the end had only brought within reach three stone serpent skulls. They quickly tore into the weakened magical giant beetle, biting and tearing until they found a weak spot in the shell and ended it.
Maxwell watched the end of the beetles' siege with his necrotic senses and thought on it. First was on how to handle the aftermath while giving the corpse of the powerful creature a second. Decided to hand it over to Wormer, figuring he would make the best use of it. He then turned his thoughts to the serpent wall and their performance.
He came to the conclusion that they did well enough, all things considered. "So with that out of the way, it's time to get started on the inner district." Maxwell said, his necrotic voice filled with excitement, as he looked towards the inner part of his necropolis. His mind was already wondering which of the two elemental undead grass lords he should start with first.
