Immortal Ice Empress: Path to Vengeance

Mira fought her way through hoards of Nightbringer Ants, all Peak-Stage Rank 6. Fortunately, and unfortunately, at the same time, the tunnel is extremely narrow, only allowing the ants to file in one by one.

It's fortunate because Mira doesn't have to fend off waves of ants all trying to consume her, but unfortunate because avoiding their mandibles became more difficult over time.

After she killed several Nightbringer ants in the same manner, they began learning and adjusting to her habits, something Mira was quite shocked about.

Although they've shown signs of intelligence, most beasts she's encountered were still beasts at the end of the day. However, these ants showed intelligence beyond their race.

'Have they mutated? Great…'

Mira also had a feeling that their carapace seemed a bit too hard. Her full-powered punches fueled by her Martial Intent, combined with her ice gauntlets, should be enough to kill an average Peak-Stage Rank 6 beast.

Of course, that's only if she can sit there and beat on its head without any interference. If she had to face a Peak-Stage Rank 6 beast with only her fists, she'd have to spend a bit more effort since beasts, on average, have tougher bodies compared to humans.

Seeing the ants learning from her attacks, Mira decided to switch things up a bit as well. Unfortunately, just her ice alone isn't enough to kill them directly without spending tons of Qi while also amplifying it with her icy blue tail.

However, she hasn't fully explored the uses of both her Martial Intent and Hell Scythe Intent. While her Hell Scythe Intent is definitely stronger when used with her scythe, that doesn't mean she can't use it without her scythe.

First, Mira tried combining Martial Intent with her Hell Scythe Intent, but that didn't was a huge failure. From that one try, Mira knew that it was impossible to combine Intents.

The second thing Mira tried was using her Martial and Hell Scythe Intent to attack from a distance. Even if she couldn't combine them, she could still use them side by side.

So, Mira layered her fists in Martial Intent and Hell Scythe Intent, then from a distance, Mira began throwing one punch after another toward the Nightbringer ants who were chasing her.

With every fist thrown, she shot out 'lumps' of Martial and Hell Scythe Intent. Each shot was perfectly timed and would shoot out with maximum power.

Oddly enough, her attacks' power didn't diminish much, even when she attacked from a distance.

That's when she got an idea.

Right now, she was basically just tossing lumps of power at her enemies, hoping to do some damage, but the attacks themselves weren't very refined.

She also used a lot of stamina by throwing tons of full-powered punches. So, to add a bit more lethality to her attacks, Mira created her version of a 'missile'.

The shell of the missile was created with her ice. She coated the tip using her earth affinity. Her Martial and Hell Scythe Intent were housed in the tip of the missile, while Yin Fire filled up the rest.

At the end of the missile, Mira also created 'thrusters' using her Yin Lighting to increase its velocity.

Lastly, Mira coated the whole thing using her wind affinity to decrease its wind resistance.

Creating something this complicated would normally be a burden on one's mind, and if it were before Mira broke through to the Core Formation Realm, she would also be feeling it.

With Mira's increased mental faculties, she could handle an ability of such complexity with relative ease.

It used about .5% of her Qi reserves to create a single Elemental Missile, but if it could do more damage than her fists, it's worth it.

With that being said, Mira hurled the Elemental Missile at the closest Nightbringer Ant, and without even giving it a chance to defend, it collided with its head.

*Boom!*

A small explosion occurred when the two hit, and what Mira saw greatly pleased her. She cracks on the ant's exoskeleton while her Yin Fire and Hell Scythe Intent try eating through its carapace.

Based on this, Mira assumed that she'd only need to use 2 or 3 more Elemental Missiles to kill a Peak-Stage Rank 6 Nightbringer Ant!

That was only a prototype, yet she was able to cause such damage! Maybe after she perfected this ability, it'd only take 1 or 2 Elemental Missiles to kill one of them!

Just the thought of that excited Mira, so over the next few hours and after killing over 100 Nightbringer Ants, she finally felt like she couldn't improve her Elemental Missile much more, at least not against these Nightbringer Ants.

Mira originally thought that using blunt force against the ants was the most efficient method, and in terms of Qi usage, it is. However, Mira would rather attack from a distance in this narrow tunnel against creatures that can crush her instantly if they catch her.

Not only that, but Mira could sense many ants trying to burrow around to flank her. Naturally, Mira wouldn't let herself get surrounded by these insects, so fighting from a distance was the way to go.

That being said, using something like the Elemental Missile to carry her Martial and Hell Scythe Intent created something that had both penetrating power and blunt force. Her Yin Fire would then cause an explosion, which not only increased the damage but, due to the fire's characteristics, would also try and 'dissolve' the ant's carapace.

After perfecting the Elemental Missile, she only needed 2 of them to kill a Nightbringer Ant while only using .5% of her Qi per missile.

On paper, this meant Mira could only kill 100 Nightbringer Ants with her Qi reserves, but if one takes into her account her improved passive Qi recovery and her black rune's ability to absorb the vitality and Qi of anything she kills, Mira can seemingly solo an army of these ants!

However, Mira didn't want to absorb every ant she killed because their corpses are quite useful and could sell for a decent chunk of money. Their carapaces should be great materials for any Peak-Earth Grade armor.

Well, she didn't need to have her black runes absorb every corpse to replenish the used Qi. Just her passive Qi recovery rate and occasional absorption of a Nightbringer Ant would keep her core nearly full at all times.

Thanks to this, Mira was able to comfortably slaughter her way through the tunnel until she eventually reached a crossroads.

Mira could feel several powerful entities at the end of one of the tunnels, while the other one seemed to be filled with an army of ants.

Given a choice, Mira didn't hesitate to choose the latter!

'I'm not about to go charging into the Queen's home without killing off all the underlings! I have no intention of getting overrun by ants while I'm in the middle of a boss fight!'

Mira knew if she went to go fight the queen right now, she would have to face an army of ants while also facing the Queen.

Her time in Quake City and the surrounding chasms wasn't for nothing. During her dives into the chasms, she often faced various species of ants, and anytime she went straight for the Queen, she was swarmed with fodder!

Worst of all, the ant minions were always suicidal maniacs! They'd charge at her without any regard for their own life!

It could be said that since she's not facing the Queen directly right now, the Nightbringer ants are less suicidal, but she knew that as soon as the Queen was in danger, they'd throw their survival instincts out the window!

Right now, Mira's only about 60% confident in taking down the Queen without the interference of a bunch of suicidal ants, but that percentage drops to around 25% if she has to fight an army on top of the Queen and her guards.

So, before her face-off with the Nightbringer Ant Queen, Mira decided to slaughter as many of the minions as possible before the Queen eventually realized that her kin was being massacred.

Naturally, Mira spared no effort in doing so. She supercharged her Elemental Missiles, using more Qi in the process, but giving her enough power to one-shot the Peak-Stage Rank 6 ants. Then, she had her black runes absorb every bit of energy from their corpses, so she could continue her neverending slaughter!

*SCREEEEECH!*

Unfortunately, Mira's shenanigans couldn't be kept hidden from the queen for too long, and she soon heard a furious screech after killing a few thousand of her kin.

'Don't worry, Queen. I'm coming for you next! Hehehe~' Mira inwardly chuckled, sensing the rage and grief in the Queen's screech.

Mira continued her slaughter until she felt confident in defeating the Queen. Calmly walking to the room the Ant Queen was staying in, Mira prepared for her attack.

She knew this battle would be difficult and had no intention of underestimating her opponent. This was a Nightbringer Ant Queen who had probably mutated; she needed to be careful.