The Spider Queen

(Unknown Planet- Hyperion Knight Basecamp)

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Boom!

The sounds of explosions and heavy plasma fire echoed through the empty desert as Sophie and her clones targeted the floating ball of flames.

Sophie poked her head out from behind a large sand dune and placed the sniper rifle in front of her body.

Concentrate…

She carefully adjusted the scope and pressed the trigger. Blue light lit up the weapon's core as the sniper slowly begun to charge up.

Sophie kept a steady hand on the weapon and locked the crosshairs on the core of the floating ball of flames.

One minute… two minutes…

She did not panic as the weapon continued to charge even as the core begun to overload.

Blue sparks of electricity brushed against the sides of her palms, but Sophie considered the pain as a mere tickle.

An enormous wave of plasma energy shot out from the tip of the weapon and flew towards the captain's inhuman body.

This attack easily bypassed the ring of fire surrounding the captain and maybe Sophie was a bit lucky, but the shot landed right at the spot where the tendrils emerged.

Boom!

Sophie's golden eyes narrowed, and she could see a significant chunk of the captain's body instantly disappear.

She connected to the mental network with the clones and sent out a message to her other selves.

[Don't give up! Keep on the offensive!]

[This is the perfect opportunity to strike a killer blow!]

Sophie quickly picked up the heavy sniper and rushed towards a new spot.

It was just in time as a pillar of fire sprouted up from below the location where she was just seconds early.

"Arghhh!"

"Fuck… burning to death… what a way to go.."

"TAKE THIS YOU SON OF A BITCH!"

The enraged cries of Sophie's clones disrupted the quiet peace of the desert as the captain focused his attention on the minor annoyances constantly preoccupying his attention.

He was only able to attack the main threat once before a wave of attacks forced him to redirect his energy elsewhere.

This was exactly as Sophie expected.

A million ants could defeat an elephant and Sophie was prepared to continue forcing the captain to use up even more of his divine energy.

She smiled darkly as the injured areas of the captain's body healed from her heavy plasma shot.

There was not even a hint of panic in her expression.

Rsychosis!

Sophie's figure blurred and then split into seven identical copies with her same characteristic.

These new clones had all of her memories so they instantly knew what to do. Sophie handed out additional weapons from her storage bag but there were no more plasma guns left.

Some mirror images were forced to pick up a handful of needles as well as a solitary dagger.

These clones could only be used as a distraction.

Honestly Sophie was more reluctant that anyone else to see her clones sacrifice themselves.

As for why?

Because she would experience the process of their deaths as well as all the emotions and feelings that the clones had suffered!

Sophie already had to fight the urge to constantly check the surface of her skin for burns since the memories of those painful deaths would occasionally reappear in her mind.

"Split into teams and fill the gaps that appear in the encirclement," Sophie ordered in a firm tone.

"One of you stay with me and we will head to another vantage point to get a clear shot at that monster's body."

"Let's kill that piece of shit."

A solemn atmosphere appeared as each clone bowed towards Sophie before heading off to a different location.

One of the clones stayed back and Sophie pointed at a gigantic boulder a few miles away as her destination.

Cloud Treading Dragon!

Both bodies disappeared from the spot and reappeared at locations closer and closer to the boulder that Sophie had selected.

From there the process was simple.

Sophie once again charged up the plasma sniper and fire off another heavy shot at the captain's body.

She retreated from the location and then headed towards another vantage point along with her clone.

The other mirror images continued to launch an all-out assault on the floating ball of flame.

Everything was used from plasma shots to needles to even pocket bombs.

Sophie spared no expense and was prepared to use every single resource that was available in her storage bag.

Now there was nothing left inside her storage space except nutrient pills, clothes, and medical supplies.

The sudden influx of attacks caused Captain Dawn to extend the ring of fire and he managed to catch two of her clones in the surrounding blaze.

Sophie staggered slightly and was forced to rely on her clone to steady herself. She experienced a memory where her skin charred and turned to ash.

Captain Dawn's flames… were no ordinary fire.

Sophie could feel a pain that seemed to come from within her body rather than her flesh.

She had the ominous suspicion that getting hit with those dark purplish-black flames would burn not just her skin… but her soul.

Danger!

Sophie threw her body forward and narrowly avoided a spear of flames that passed just mere inches away from her head.

The clone that she was travelling with was not so fortunate as the spear embedded itself in her chest.

Sophie watched in horror as her clone screamed in pain as the spear melted into her flesh before spontaneously igniting.

It was not a pleasant death.

Sophie activated her movement ability once more and disappeared before another spear could find its way to her location.

What was happening?

Sophie closed her eyes and used her consciousness to travel into the minds of her clones and see how the situation was unfolding.

It was not good.

An endless wave of flaming spears materialised out of thin air around the captain's body and shot forward towards her clones.

Some managed to narrowly avoid the attacks while others were not so lucky.

Captain Dawn had sacrificed his defense to create these spears and the ring of fire naturally disappeared.

The problem was that there was no way to take advantage of this opening since her clones were doing their best just to survive.

Rsychosis!

Sophie's figure blurred and then three clones appeared. She felt a bit confused and tried to activate the technique again.

It was no use.

No matter how hard she tried, Sophie could not create more doppelgangers. She had enough qi in her dantian but nothing was happening.

Was it a flaw in the technique? Or was her understanding too low? Was there a limit to the number of clones produced within a certain time frame?

Sophie could not help but let out a swear,

"Shit…"