Chapter 702: The Swarm Returns
Lyle’s lightning arrows had caused quite a bit of trouble for the beehive before, so the Queen Bee seemed to be specifically targeting him. As the lightning arrow flew, she blocked it with a piece of the beehive.
However, my steel nail was too fast for her to react. Since the steel nail hadn’t pierced the beehive’s armor before, she hadn’t paid it much attention. As a result, she suffered a great loss.
The steel nail shot into the side of her large abdomen, splattering a large amount of blood plasma. The Queen Bee’s sure-to-hit stab was deflected by me, hitting a spot only half a meter away from Paris. Although it sent her flying again, her life was not in danger.
“Screech!!!” The Queen Bee let out a painful cry. The beehive closed again, and it was my turn to face its wrath. A large number of Iron Winged Bees shot towards me desperately.
I tried my best to take cover behind a tree, but it wasn’t thick enough. It was instantly pierced by the Iron Winged Bees. Countless poison stingers and sharp blades fell onto my shield, and in almost an instant, they pierced through my magic shield, sacred protection, and Thorn shield.
Helpless, I could only pull up the sleeve of my right hand and block in front of me with an item. Although I didn’t want to reveal my identity, if I lost my life, what was the point of having an identity? My life was more important, and I could explain this item.
A translucent shield unfolded in front of me. Painted on the shield was a two-headed eagle wearing a crown. This was the princess’s gift of gratitude to me from a past memory, the Shield of the Twin Eagles.
I lacked defensive means, and this weakness was fully exposed when I went on the Sturgeon No. 3 adventure. Fortunately, the princess sent timely aid, giving me a powerful defensive magic apparatus. I practiced using this apparatus that very day and kept it on me.
The Shield of the Twin Eagles was completely immune to physical attacks. No matter how strong the impact force of these Iron Winged Bees was, or how numerous they were, it was useless. As long as I hid behind the Shield of the Twin Eagles, they couldn’t penetrate the shield.
“Magic? No, it’s a magic apparatus?” Lyle asked, looking at my shield emblem. As the Count’s son, he should also have a protective magic apparatus on him, right?
“I bought it with money,” I made up a casual reason and continued to hide behind the shield, waiting for the Iron Winged Bees to finish their attack. I didn’t believe the Iron Winged Bees in the beehive were infinite.
As expected, it wasn’t long before the Iron Winged Bees became sparser. Moreover, while I was holding up the shield to draw their aggro, they were also seizing the opportunity to attack the beehive. Milti had even sent Liya to a safe place and returned. It seemed we could counterattack soon.
However, just as I was wondering how to bring down the flying beehive, a sudden chaotic buzzing sound arose, and a large, dark cloud drifted in from the horizon.
“What is that? The swarm that was lured away!” Lorna shouted. Our successful rescue was thanks to Hunter Tandri’s plan of luring the snake out of its hole, which had drawn away the main swarm.
Because they had been gone for so long, I had forgotten about the large swarm. Based on my estimation of time, a single Bobo shouldn’t have been able to delay them for that long. I guessed that Tandri had come up with some other method to buy more time.
“This is bad!” Milti’s expression also changed. Although they had tried to use some magic to counterattack, it wasn’t enough to stop the main swarm from returning. Soon, they flew over the Main Nest.
First, a group of Iron Winged Bees entered the beehive. They were likely there to treat the injured Queen Bee and fill the vacant worker bee positions caused by heavy firing. The remaining Iron Winged Bees clung to the beehive, and I didn’t know what they were doing.
Half of the remaining ones charged at us, a dense black mass that made my scalp tingle just looking at it. I finally understood why such a well-equipped team could only flee when encountering the Iron Winged Bees. There were simply too many of them!
“Let’s escape! We’ve already rescued Liya, so let’s fight and run!” Milti immediately shouted. We quickly retreated, and she waved her hand, creating a strong gust of wind in mid-air, causing the swarm to sway erratically and preventing them from pursuing us for the moment.
We turned and ran, passing through forests and over hills. Some monsters were also startled by us. Looking up at the massive swarm, they turned and fled in different directions in fear.
“Something’s not right. That beehive is actually following us. It seems to be completely enraged!” Lorna shouted. Indeed, in the sky, the beehive, protected by countless Iron Winged Bees, was still flying, closely following us.
“Let’s find a pond and jump in! Iron Winged Bees can’t swim, but my Nature Breathing will allow you to breathe underwater,” Milti shouted. I suspected they had planned this when they were being chased earlier.
At this moment, Older Brother Jayad gave me a look. Simultaneously, he pointed his sword at the sky and shot out a white sword light. Others might have thought he was using the sword light to counterattack the swarm, but I knew he was signaling me to look up.
But what could I see apart from the beehive and that dense swarm of bees? Wait, that’s not right. Higher up in the sky, above the clouds, a white figure was flying. If you didn’t look carefully, you’d truly overlook it.
It was a Hippogriff. It was actually flying in the sky. Earlier, because the cave was too narrow and the pure white Hippogriff was too conspicuous, Jayad hadn’t let it enter with them. Now, it was still flying in the sky, waiting for an opportunity.
Older Brother Jayad’s intention was probably to have the Hippogriff come down to pick us up so we could escape by riding it. The swarm wouldn’t be able to catch us. However, the Hippogriff could only carry three people at most, so Lyle wouldn’t be able to come with us.
To be honest, we had gone above and beyond. Not only had we saved their lives, treated them, and assisted them in rescuing someone; now that the person was rescued, even if we abandoned them and fled now, they shouldn’t blame us. After all, we hadn’t asked for any remuneration.
However, I had finally gained the friendship of an Elf. Fleeing now would surely leave a bad impression on her. Although Milti would definitely remember our kindness today and repay it, friendship and mere favors were different.
I shook my head, signaling Jayad not to rush. We hadn’t been pushed to a dead end yet. Since the Hippogriff was ready to take us to retreat at any moment, there was no need to flee in a panic immediately. I had an idea.
At this moment, the Iron Winged Bees had already caught up to us. After all, escaping in a forest wasn’t as fast as flying. Even with our continuous magical counterattacks, it was useless. Furthermore, Paris had significantly slowed down our escape; I couldn’t run fast either.
Just then, a large number of the swarm suddenly fell to the ground inexplicably. This baffled the others, and the Iron Winged Bees that fell to the ground were motionless, already dead.
That was me secretly using Life Drain to draw blood from behind. My ruby was also a magic apparatus that could assist in casting spells, and it could be hidden in my sleeve to be used secretly.
Just as I thought, although these Iron Winged Bees were numerous, they were actually vulnerable. Their lives were as thin as paper. As long as there were no teammates within range, I could kill however many came.
