Chapter 68

Keith watched with wide eyes as the army coordinated their attacks to wipe out the horde of Worker Bees, amazed by their might. While he had multicasted Small Meteor before, he’d never witnessed thousands of meteors falling at once. The fallout resulted in an apocalyptic scene that left him awed.

It was thrilling.

It was exciting.

It was terrifying.

But the hive was undeterred.

Thousands of bees shot out from the hive in response to the army’s assault. Keith immediately noticed three variants. First was the Skewer Bee. It was slightly larger than the Worker Bee, with blinding orange fur, and had two sharp spear-shaped limbs.

[Legendary] Skewer Bee – Level 550

Health: 300,000/300,000

Next was the Carapace Bee. It was many times bigger than the Worker Bee and had a brown shell covering its body, while its limbs were thick and bulky.

[Mythic] Carapace Bee – Level 570

Health: 1,000,000/1,000,000

Of the three variants Keith spotted, the last was the Spark Bee. It was the sleekest of the three and had motes of lightning coiling around it.

[Mythic] Spark Bee – Level 585

Health: 250,000/250,000

The bees rushed toward the Innate Dimension’s army as soon as they left the hive, the Carapace Bees leading the charge. In the distance atop a tree, Keith unknowingly held his breath as he watched the two sides grow ever closer. The moment they collided, Keith’s heart clenched.

BOOM!

With the two armies as the center, a shockwave visible to the eye spread out, shaving a few inches of dirt from the ground wherever it passed. Keith gripped the tree he stood on as it swayed back and forth, his eyes locked on the battle.

On the ground, the Carapace Bees used their massive frames to repeatedly slam into the Mana Barrier encompassing the Innate Dimension’s army. At the same time, in the sky, the Skewer Bees increased their momentum before charging into the Mana Barrier with their front limbs.

The Innate Dimension’s army didn’t remain idle; they counter-attacked with hundreds of different skills as projectiles and colorful elemental spells flew everywhere. Roars and shrieks of pain rang out as several thousand bees met their end, yet the bee army seemed not to know fear as they continued to attack the Mana Barrier regardless of their losses.

Keith watched as the Innate Dimension’s army split up even as they attacked; legions became battalions, battalions became squads, and squads became parties. Finally, after several minutes, the Mana Barrier protecting the Innate Dimension’s army collapsed.

Already prepared, the tanks in every party used their skills to partition the bee army into manageable pieces. Under their intricate control, what was once a massive battle between two armies quickly became a collection of small-scale fights.

“Get ready,” Mariane said next to Keith, her bandages beginning to float.

Keith mustered his courage as he watched the Innate Dimension’s army – now split into hundreds of parties – spread out along the forest’s edge. At this moment, the spots given to the adventurers came into play. Each of the military’s parties led a group of bees toward a designated location, after which the adventurers waiting nearby came to assist.

While the military’s top brass hated admitting it, adventurers were several notches above the military elites when compared individually. Their involvement in the battle instantly caused the bees heavy losses.

“#412!” shouted a soldier upon arriving near Keith’s position, over a hundred bees surrounding their party.

“Bring it on!” Mariane laughed heroically and charged forward. Her bandages shot out and wrapped around a Skewer Bee as soon as she appeared. With a shout, her bandages retracted, sending her barrelling toward the bee.

BANG!

A skill-empowered punch shattered its skull. Without pausing, she kicked off the injured Skewer Bee and smashed into a nearby Spark Bee, sending it flying. Her bandages granted her incredible agility, even in the air.

Serilla’s appearance wasn’t as flashy as her sister's. She was like a flickering shadow, appearing atop one bee after another. Every swing of her dagger severed the muscles controlling the bee’s wings, causing every bee she touched to fall helplessly to the ground.

Those were Keith’s targets.

A Holy Flame Lance pierced the brain of a Skewer Bee, while an Earthen Spire split another in two. Keith used high mana cost skills without concern, knowing he could replenish his Mana by spending gold to retrieve it from his Grimoire.

The military team of ten didn’t hold back either.

They knew their companion’s skills like the back of their hand, giving them incredible synergy. One bee after another died to their teamwork.

When only a few bees were left, the military’s party leader scanned the battlefield and saw that bees continued to fly out from the hive in a neverending stream. He glanced toward military command and saw no changes, so he turned to Mariane and asked, “How many can your team handle?"

"More than just now,” Mariane grunted, her breath barely fluctuating.

The party leader wiped his brow. “Since we performed better than most, I want to relieve some pressure from the adjacent parties. What do you think?”

The agreement the military had with the adventurers was to hold specific locations. Doing more than that wasn’t the adventurer’s responsibility, so he asked for Mariane’s opinion. In reality, he was asking for Mariane’s help.

“No problem,” Mariane agreed without hesitation.

Giving Mariane a grateful nod, the party leader glanced at his party’s tank, who said, “Leave it to me.”

While the tank went to aggro more bees, Serilla appeared next to Keith and praised, “Good job.”

“You too,” Keith smiled tensely. “Did you gain any levels?”

“One and a half,” Serilla answered with a joyful expression.

“Do you have enough Mana?” Serilla asked, trying to learn Keith’s condition.

Keith coughed. “Uh, it should be enough.”

He really wanted to say he had several hundred million Mana stocked up, but divulging one of his Innate Ability’s secrets would cause Serilla to admonish him.

Upon seeing the tank returning with several hundred bees, Serilla said, “Okay, keep it up. Make sure to conserve some Mana for emergencies.”

“I know,” Keith replied, though Serilla had already teleported away. Taking a deep breath, he prepared for another round of battle.