The Dungeon’s Sixth Floor, often called “The Sea of Trees”
This place was a natural world, full of fungi, insects, and small animals- as well as monsters- which formed an ecosystem.
“Uwaaaaaaaaaaaa!”
“Ah, it’s dangerous, these insects are dangerous.”
“Uo, I can see my death in front of me. Death at the hands of insects.”
“Uwa, uwa, I never want to come to this place again”
“Mister, miss, you need to help, where are you going?”
“Mou, running as soon as trouble occurs and a few people are having trouble…”
They scream, her three friends running swiftly forward on this huge mushroom, with others escaping in various directions.
These three were probably useless in battle.
Swiftly following them was a huge amorphous ma.s.s, a Black Cloud.
It was a horde of Killer Bees.
One alone was the size of a human infant. A strong bite or poison sting comes with the customer. The poison is a severe neurotoxin which paralyzing effects, though just a single sting is not big deal.
Hundreds of them nearby is another deal altogether.
The movement of the few has become a large ma.s.s of monsters integrally governed by the pheromones of a Queen that lurked burrowed underground.
“Is it safe?”
The girl who saw her three friends getting chased by the swarm of bees was hiding in the gaps of a small bush, slowly crawling away.
She had hid herself, and was not chased by the swarm. Only she was taking refuge.
Killer Bees usually never swarmed.
They were generally solo hunters, only extracting pollen and occasionally s.n.a.t.c.hing people to be larva food, and generally self-sufficient. One alone could be considered death.
But, the ever so often “Breeding Season” completely changes that story.
They require a large amount of food to produce larvae, and the whole race becomes ferocious, actively hunting down other monsters and humans, and truly becoming “Killer Bees”.
Of course, the bee’s “Harvest” is proportional to the number of offspring they have. Over ten years, the population has grown exponentially. This year, the population in this forest alone that the colony included nearly a hundred bees. Eventually, colonies could reach the tens of thousands.
Already, many investigators had become their victims, but not only them, even large monsters had been swarmed and dragged to the Beehives.
The situation that would occur if this “Breeding Season” continued to grow larger in range was not hard to imagine.
Therefore, the Seeker’s Guild had doubled back on its efforts, raising forces to quell the hordes of bees, which she had joined.
One dead queen, fifty thousand Gerun. This was an unprecedented award.
Mint was one of these Seekers allured by the reward, going into this Dense Forest.
“…”
Mint climbed up the mushroom again somewhat and surveyed the situation.
She was opposite to the direction the three friends had run away.
The huge, eye-catching mushroom was also in this direction.
It was comparable in thickness and base height to a huge tree, so saying it “towers ahead” is not inaccurate.
Above, the board umbrella draped a shadow large enough to hide the sun.
Something huge and vaguely spherical hung below, somewhat brown in color.
This must be the Bee Colony. The only animal in sight were three Killer Bees, in the entire surrounding area. They were vigilantly flying around, as well as darker than the usual Bee, this was clearly a trio of fierce Sergeant Bees.
Of course, inside the nest were a combination of many brown hexahedrons, consisting of the residence of the Queen Bee, a sp.a.w.ning ground, and a storage location for honey. The bees themselves worked night and day, only returning when they brought nectar or prey.
There were no bees entering or leaving the hives. The rest of the residents of the hive were all chasing the three friends from before, clearly.
Getting in now would be quite easy.
Mint could suddenly hear voices.
It was the three friends from before, suddenly returning here. They were loudly shouting while running, seeming as if they were playing about, but clearly they were still getting attention from the bees. Apparently, they thought Mint would now play a role fighting the large black clouds behind them.
Mint jumped down from their perch, wishing they did not have to run again. They landed on the soft ground, the halo of the mushroom.
This is a popular method for entry into hives, using companions as decoys so that the guards would move from the hive. Though, in this case, some guards refused to leave.
Mint whipped out her cane.
She spun an incantation, while moving it like a parade baton.
Witchcraft is a means for communication with the world. Gestures, hand symbols, and spells were all methods of doing so. Like here, through fully understanding these gestures, you can get magical phenomenon to occur.
A small fire is created at the end of the cane, immediately expanding immensely before Mint condensed them, forcing it to be fist sized.
“Everyone, this is it!”
Her friends began running faster at the call.
They were glaring as an added bonus.
The hordes of killer bees like a black wall came rushing in with waves of momentum.
This was nearly as intimidating as a gigantic monster.
Mint had to rea.s.sure herself not to panic.
Mint wasn’t amazing at ‘action scenes’. Since the aggressive spells one could use were many in number, she was easily a battle mage, but the lack of firepower from her spells were obvious. She was devoting herself to her party’s support non-stop.
That being said, dealing with the colony alone would be rather difficult, even with a few sergeants alone and a Queen Bee.
“The Bee Hive has been found!”
“Okay, Yeah!”
“Go straight to the destination, there are only three Sergeant Bees!”
“It’s an easy win!”
“See you later!”
“Yes!”
Mint nodded, his back to the companions running through.
“I’ll devote myself to support again today.”
She wielded her cane resolutely.
The posture was nearly the same as one wielding a sword.
From the ground a fire was raised, a ma.s.s of flame blocking and spreading along the road.
This pay-out was the magic “Wall of Fire”. Mint finished the wall without great difficulty, a spell like this was clearly child’s play.
Still, it had some effect.
If they were ordinary insects, Mint would dive in right away. Instead, she put up a fence to first slow down the group of enemies, which was especially dangerous due to Killer Bees being somewhat intelligent.
This swarm of Killer Bees was well beyond a hundred in number.
While one animal would make only a buzz, a number this high truly pounded the head.
Goririririri…
Presenting herself as new prey, Mint ensured she was captured by the many compound eyes.
Her back shuddered.
If one carefully observed them, you could see a Sergeant Bee among them. Of course, a single sting was still not fatal. However, even one sting could cause fainting and paralytic effects for several minutes, with an additional effect that left the target awake.
While conscious, the sufferer would be unable to resist and be brought back to the hive, awake while being indulged in by the hungry mandibles of these many bees.
In other words, if Mint failed her task, she would have an experience more scary than death.
“But, I don’t need to hesitate”
“I don’t need to fight this horde.”
“I only need to support, not achieve victory.”
It was hard work, but her job was to have a plan for every situation.
“This, I do declare. You shall not pa.s.s!”
Mint was wearing her amber shawl, loaded with every piece of magic clasp she could find, such as the brooch located in the center of it.
This shawl alone was her trump card. It was also a cornerstone of her subduing of these bees