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Roy's strength left the remaining four Predators in awe.
If they could survive, who'd choose to die in this pyramid?
Besides, the trial rules didn't say anything about not teaming up with a powerhouse. Each of the four Predators had already killed an Alien, fulfilling their trial requirements.
But the Thing's presence had skyrocketed the trial's difficulty.
The Predators exchanged words in a language Roy couldn't understand. Finally, their leader projected text to respond.
"We agree, but we have a request. We want to capture a special Alien to bring back to our tribe."
Despite having faster-than-light technology, the Predators still followed a tribal system.
Their supreme leader, the Predator Queen, was merely a figurehead chosen by the tribes, with limited authority. Most of the time, the Predators operated under tribal autonomy.
Roy frowned at their request.
"You want to capture a Thing-Alien hybrid? How? That thing can split and infect other organisms as long as it's got any strength left. Unless you can freeze it."
One Predator showed off a gun on his arm—a cryonic freeze gun.
Well, damn. These Predators were packing serious heat. The leader had a shoulder-mounted plasma cannon, the most powerful of the lot. Another had a flamethrower, and the one who'd tried to shoot Roy earlier had a laser gun. Their firepower was no joke.
Still, their high-tech weapons had limited ammo or energy, so the Predators didn't use them lightly.
"Alright, I'll help you catch a Thing-Alien, but whether you can keep it contained is your problem. Let's go!"
The Predator leader nodded and activated his cloaking device, taking the lead.
The Predators' cloaking wasn't true invisibility—just light refraction that made them nearly invisible. Up close, you could still spot them.
So Roy had no trouble following.
But after searching for a while, they found no trace of the Thing-Aliens. The creatures seemed to be hiding.
"This is pointless. I think they're scared of me. How about this: I'll hide, and you make some noise to draw them out."
The Predator leader agreed, and Roy vanished right in front of them.
The four Predators were stunned. They tried thermal imaging, sonar, and energy detection to find him, but came up empty.
Roy's mystique grew even greater in their eyes.
After he disappeared, the Predators started banging their weapons against the walls, making a racket. It worked.
Three Thing-Aliens crept toward the Predators, planning an ambush. One passed right by Roy.
Without hesitation, Roy kicked it, sending it crashing into a wall.
The commotion drew the Predators' attention, and the other two Thing-Aliens leaped out to attack.
Roy transformed the Leviathan Axe into a spinning blade and threw it. The blade sliced through the air, neatly bisecting the two ambushing Thing-Aliens before returning to his hand, spotless.
The Predators snapped to attention and joined the fight.
The one with the flamethrower started roasting a Thing-Alien, while the leader readied his plasma cannon.
The Predator with the freeze gun aimed to ice the Thing-Alien Roy had stunned, but Roy stopped him.
"Every part of the Thing can act independently. You don't need the whole body—just a piece will do."
The Predator with the laser weapon locked onto the Thing-Alien, slicing off its head with a laser. Another Predator froze the head into a solid ice block.
Roy burned the rest of the creature with a Molotov cocktail.
Since the other Predators had already claimed their trial trophies, Roy kept the shells of the remaining two Thing-Aliens.
"Alright, now can you take me to the Alien Queen?"
The Predator leader nodded.
Though the pyramid's layout shifted periodically, it followed a pattern, and the Predators knew its secrets.
Led by them, Roy soon found a downward staircase leading to a vast chamber below.
"Is this it? I'm going down."
As Roy started to descend, the Predator leader let out a low growl, like he had something to say.
"What's up?"
The leader pointed at Roy, then thumped his own chest.
"What, you want to fight alongside me?"
The leader nodded. The Predators' sense of honor wouldn't let him watch Roy fight alone.
"Fine, join if you want, but I'm not babysitting you in a fight."
Roy laid it out upfront. Having four cheerleaders tagging along wouldn't affect him, but some of these Predators might not make it out alive.
The staircase didn't lead straight to the Queen's chamber but to an incubation room filled with Facehugger eggs.
Roy spotted several human corpses—likely dragged here by Aliens for Facehugger implantation. Each had a gaping hole in their chest.
The Predators immediately began clearing out the eggs.
Every now and then, a Facehugger would leap out for a sneak attack, but the surviving Predators were quick on their feet, giving the creatures no chance.
While they were distracted, Roy secretly grabbed a few Facehuggers and unhatched eggs, stashing them in his inventory for later study—or to sell.
The FEA would definitely be interested in these alien critters.
The Alien Queen, sensing her offspring being slaughtered through pheromones, let out a deafening roar from her chamber.
Five worker Aliens burst out, charging at Roy and the Predators.
The Predators, big on one-on-one combat, insisted on fighting the Aliens solo.
Roy didn't care. It'd just waste a few minutes.
"Die!"
He transformed the Leviathan Axe into a folding spear and threw it. The supersonic spear punched a massive hole through an Alien.
Though Aliens were tough, a wound like that was fatal.
After casually dispatching one, Roy watched the Predators battle the others.
For Predators, killing an Alien was a mark of valor, not unlike some human tribes where young members prove themselves by fighting beasts with basic weapons.
Think lions or leopards in Africa's most primitive tribes.
No wonder their populations struggled to grow.
This trial alone had killed three of the seven Predators—a near 50% loss rate. No way their numbers could climb like that.
The remaining four Aliens were eventually taken down. Aliens were better at ambushes than head-on fights, and they couldn't match trained Predators in direct combat.
"Let's keep moving!"
Roy finally entered the Alien Queen's chamber and saw her.
She stood over ten meters tall, with a body length of maybe fifteen meters—hard to tell with her tail curled up.
Her massive fan-shaped crest was like an ornate shield, impressively thick.
Compared to regular Aliens, the Queen was bulkier, likely due to her reproductive role, with a prominent ovipositor for laying eggs.
Otherwise, she wasn't much different—long tail, dorsal spines, and a terrifying maw.
Just scaled up.
Only two chains still bound her. If Roy's team had arrived a few minutes later, she'd likely have broken free.
No matter. Chains or not, she couldn't beat Roy. So he threw the spinning blade, slicing through the remaining chains.
The move stunned both the Queen and the Predators.
"Come on, let's go one-on-one!"
The Alien Queen was highly intelligent, on par with a human. She quickly grasped Roy's challenge.
Her massive size made her feel insulted by this tiny creature. In nature, bigger usually meant stronger.
Having never seen Roy in action, she probably thought he was just a puny snack. He was the shortest one there.
Predators were generally tall—their leader was around 2.2 meters. Even regular Aliens stood taller than Roy when upright.
"Underestimating me, huh?"
Roy reverted the spinning blade to its axe form and hurled it.
Crack!
A deafening sound rang out.
The Queen couldn't react in time. The Leviathan Axe struck her.
Roy didn't aim to kill, targeting her crest instead. Her head buzzed, but she survived.
"Huh, didn't break the crest?"
The axe embedded itself in the Queen's crest, the force knocking her massive body to the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.
Roy was mostly impressed by the crest's durability.
Since acquiring the Leviathan Axe, nothing had withstood it—not Predator alloys or anything else.
The Queen's crest was an exception, though it cracked noticeably.
No big deal. The crest was large enough to make a shield even if part was damaged.
The problem was, the Queen was now scared.
In the movies, she was a dominating, destructive force.
But that was against humans and regular Predators. Realizing she was outmatched, she tried to flee.
She wasn't built for fighting, just breeding.
If she could crush her enemy, she'd fight. But now?
With a roar, she ordered her two Queen's Guards to stall Roy while she smashed through a passage, trying to escape with her massive bulk.
The Guards lunged at Roy, but the four Predators intercepted them.
The Predator leader signaled Roy, then took on the Guards two-to-one.
Roy could've ended the Guards in seconds, but since the Predators wanted to help, he let them.
He recalled the Leviathan Axe as the Queen broke through the gate, charging out of the pyramid.
She was tough, with strength likely close to 100 in attribute terms.
"Trying to run?"
Roy dashed after her, grabbing her long tail and pulling.
Shockingly, the massive Queen couldn't budge—Roy was dragging her back.
The Predators and Guards stopped fighting, staring in disbelief.
Even with strength just under 100, the gap to Roy's baseline 115 was massive.
Only after breaking 100 could he throw weapons faster than sound.
"Come back here!"
Roy yanked hard, toppling the Queen.
She went berserk, snapping off her own tail to keep fleeing.
Her acidic blood sprayed, blocking Roy's view and path. His 141 Constitution could probably withstand it, but his clothes and hair wouldn't.
Losing even a few hairs would be a tragedy for Roy.
Since she couldn't escape, he took a slight detour, chasing her through the breached cavern.
The frantic Queen reached the tunnel, her sharp claws unfazed by the slick ice.
But she didn't notice a small red thing silently climbing onto her.
Compared to her size, it was like an ant.
Yet this tiny thing was about to make a big move.