441 Chapter 441: Killer Bees

We crept to the edge of the forest, staying cautious as we hugged the trees for cover. There were a couple of harrowing moments when the scouts hurried back, reporting sightings of a Phantom Tiger or a Medicinal Mastodon, both of which were massive monsters with enough power to wipe out a small platoon. They were not creatures we could rush into battle with, not without expecting a few casualties at least. Of course we could kill them, but that would just draw the attention of other monsters lurking in the mountains, and as mentioned earlier, it was not a simple matter of Doctor Dorden casting healing magic on them and they could jump back up to their feet and immediately fight again.

This was a search and extraction mission, not a combat one, so there was little point into getting into meaningless fights. While the goal was to eventually exterminate all monsters from this world, it remained unrealistic. Not unless we could somehow stop Emergence Events totally.

So for now, we had no choice but to coexist with the monsters. Defend against them when they attacked, but otherwise it was unwise to launch a campaign of extermination and genocide. We were not going to hunt them into extinction, not like we did with normal animals a thousand years ago. Monsters were a lot more tenacious, adaptable and ferocious. In a battle of attrition, it would be us humans who lose. We only had the slight edge in technology and magic, but numbers wise the monsters had us totally beat.

Eventually, the journey toward the plains – while only a couple of miles – took longer than expected because of the hiccups and powerful monsters who passed by, their massive shapes being within a whisker of our location. The monsters didn't notice us, or if they did we were beneath their notice, like ants to a dragon (though I was pretty sure that all monsters were hostile toward humans and would find any excuse to attack us, so I suspected it was the former). Fortunately, we were there within the hour and lurjed at the edge of the forest before committing ourselves forward.

Just as well we did, because the scouts reported movement back to us.

"Sir, there are monsters in the plains." It was Shen Cha. He had dropped back, keeping his profile low as he made his way toward Feng Hai. "A whole swarm of them."

"What type?" Feng Hai asked without any hesitation, and I could almost hear the gears whir in his mind as he contemplated several strategies simultaneously. Should he launch an attack and wipe out the monsters in the plains? But what happened if our battle attracted the attention of other monsters? Then should we wait it out and hope the monsters leave? What if they settled down on the plains and refuse to depart? A diversion to draw away the monsters, perhaps. Then who should be assigned such a dangerous mission, and how would they regroup with the rest of the guild afterward?

I was so glad that I wasn't the leader. Each of these choices weighed heavily on Feng Hai, and the burden of leadership was a massive one. He was responsible for all the lives of his men, and a single mistake could condemn many of us to our deaths.

Even so, we trusted him to make the decision because we knew that he could handle it. Not everyone can be a leader, but those who proved themselves capable possessed amazing judgement and an impressive tactical nous. Just like Harrison, now that I thought about it. I wondered how my team was faring in the tournament. Even though I left them to handle the third place match, I still couldn't help but be concerned for them. Would they be able to win without me?

No, that was quite the arrogant statement to make. The world didn't revolve around me alone. The Jing Tian Academy team, even without me, was still a formidable one. I wasn't deluded enough to think that they would fall apart the moment I left, that my presence would make a difference. Sure, perhaps it did, but I wasn't the only one in the team, and I certainly wasn't the smartest or most skilled. Probably I could make the claim that I was the strongest in terms of raw magical power (none of the other members could boast about being able to nuke an entire city), but that was about it. Strength wasn't everything. Skill and intelligence also made a considerable difference – just because I had the power to nuke cities didn't mean I was invincible. I would still fall to an Assassin's blade as easily as any other mage.

My spells might be strong, I might command an army of Constellation spirits, but my physical body certainly wasn't immortal. I was not a god. I could be bested in a match of blades, just as Charles Lacroix proved.

"I'll trust my friends and pray for their victory," I muttered to myself.

"Huh? What was that, Brother Richard?" I must have been louder than I thought, for Adrian heard me. I shook my head.

"No, it's nothing. Just talking to myself."

I didn't suppose I could ask Adrian if he knew the result of the match. Right now, we were cut off from the rest of the world. Even with magic and advanced technology, we still couldn't receive a signal in the middle of nowhere, where there were no satellite towers or whatever it was that allowed cellphones to work. So we had no reception, and no way of knowing what happened in the outside world. It reminded me of the times when I couldn't contact Dad because he was away on a mission. It was the same logic there – Dad's missions often took him to places where he wouldn't have reception for his phone, so I couldn't contact him, and he couldn't call me. He usually turned off his phone during missions anyway, because he had to go incognito.

So, as tempted as I was to call Harrison or Yue Chu to inquire about the results of the match, I couldn't even if I wanted to. I had to be patient and wait until I returned, and I was sure I would receive the notification of them sending me an email once I set foot back into civilization.

I turned my focus back to Feng Hai and Shen Cha, who obviously didn't pay any attention to the exchange between me and Adrian.

"Killer Bees." Shen Cha had come up with the identity of the monsters. "An entire swarm of them."

"Oh, Killer Bees, huh?" Doctor Dorden popped up of nowhere and strode toward us, his figure hunched. He nodded thoughtfully. "That makes sense. They collect nectar from the flowers, and in doing so help to pollinate the Belfrost Flowers."

"Despite their sizes?" Shen Cha asked dryly, spreading his hands out to indicate how big they were. About the size of a human hand, it seemed. I double-confirmed that with my knowledge of monsters and that sounded about right.

"Why wouldn't they be able to pollinate flowers? They are just twice the size of normal bees." Dorden had a blank expression on his face, totally missing Shen Cha's joke, and then he shrugged. "Even though they are monsters, they are still part of the ecosystem, and the honey they make from the nectar of Belfrost Flowers are often rich in nutrients and antioxidants. Now that I think about it…their honey might be another source of ingredients that Ling Dan might use for his medicinal remedies."

"So should we go look for their beehive as well?" I asked, unable to keep the sarcasm out of my voice. Dorden shook his head, completely missing my attempt at wry humor.

"No, I don't believe that is necessary. I mean, if we fail to find anything here, we could consider that as the next step, but it would be extremely dangerous. After all, there's the Killer Bee Queen that we have to worry about as well."

That did not sound good. I remembered one of my favorite sci-fi horror movies (well, the sequel, anyway) and how the Queen turned out to be this badass monster that was several times the size of the drones and infinitely more dangerous. I would hate to deal with the Killer Bee version of that. In any case, I prayed we didn't have to deal with that bitch, and focused my attention on the plains just beyond the edge of the forest.

As Shen Cha said, the giant bees that were hovering above the plains were the size of an adult male's hand, their stings gleaming in deadly fashion despite being such a distance away. There was a whole swarm of them, their relatively tiny bodies forming a black blur as they drifted almost lazily across the flowers. They settled down onto the petals and began collecting whatever nectar they could.

"Hmm…" Feng Hai watched the Killer Bees for a moment, thinking hard. He then smiled. "We'll just wait for them to be done. If they're just collecting nectar, then they shouldn't take too long. Don't provoke them, and stay out of sight."

He then relayed the orders to the Guild, who acknowledged it. The mercenaries hunkered down and used the opportunity to take a break, while the sentries kept an eye on the Killer Bees. As for me, I continued to monitor the valleys through the eyes of my Corvus, while Adrian and Melina lingered nearby. They watched the Killer Bees, fascinated and partially horrified but weren't stupid enough to get any closer.

Even the kids knew that it would be a disaster if they got caught by the Killer Bees…and worse, the casualties that would result if they inadvertently lured the Killer Bees back to the mercenaries' position. I was glad that they were sensible and not reckless.

"Hey!" A reader shouted mockingly as he tore his way through the fourth wall and pointed an accusing finger at me. "You have those nuke spells, right? Why are you so pathetic? Just nuke the entire plains and exterminate those Killer Bees!"

Feng Hai casually tossed a wind blade and decapitated the stupid reader, and I watched as his head rolled on the forest floor, his headless body toppling over ignominiously.

"What an idiot," Adrian remarked with a shake of his head. "The whole point of getting to the plains is to search for clues as to the whereabouts of this Ling Dan receptarier. How are you going to do that if you nuke the entire plains, along with whatever traces or trails that might be left in them? Sometimes I doubt if these edgelords ever use their brains before commenting."

"Just ignore them," I told him with a sigh. It was another case of the readers thinking they knew better than the characters in the story when they actually didn't, and just wanted everything to be an easy breeze for the main character. Again, they were reading the wrong story. I honestly didn't understand the obsession with "evil" ruthless overpowered protagonists. Besides, there were othe stories that featured such characters, so they could read those instead. There was no reason to come to my life and start demanding that I be ruthless and evil.

Fortunately, the Killer Bees didn't take very long to hover away from the flowers, having collected enough nectar to bring back to their hive or something. We watched them leave, but stayed put even though they vanished out of sight. Monsters had very sharp senses, after all, and the Killer Bees might still be able to spot us even though we could no longer see them. Better to be cautious than to underestimate the enemy.

Once Feng Hai was sure that the Killer Bees were gone, he gave the order to move out. The mercenaries responded professionally, their weapons out just in case. I kept an eye on Adrian and Melina, ensuring that they stayed close to me as we moved out into the open. I wasn't going to let either of them fall to harm, not under my watch.

The mercenaries formed a perimeter, posting sentries outward in a circle to keep an eye out for monsters. As the sentries took up position, the majority of the mercenaries gathered around Feng Hai. He raised a fist in the air to signal that they should listen.

"All right, people, you know the drill. Sweep out and look for clues. Signs that someone has been here, collecting the Belfrost Flowers…a dirt trail, litter…anything!"

"Yes, sir!"

The mercenaries spread out and began ruffling through the flowers for any clues. I wasn't trained in scouting and tracking, not like Troy, so I didn't bother to join them and instead maintained my spot as a sentry. Adrian and Melina lingered nearby, not sure what to do. Like me, they didn't have the skills for scouting or tracking, so they could only stay out of the way. Yet they couldn't stray too far from my position, because I needed to ensure their safety.

"Let me know if you see anything," I instructed them. Giving them a task and getting them on alert would alleviate their boredom, or so I hoped. If they had something to do, they wouldn't get bored, and if they weren't bored, they wouldn't run off somewhere and get into trouble. Even though they didn't appreciate the task I assigned them, they obliged because they wanted to make themselves useful, to compensate for their stowing away.

"Anything?" Feng Hai called out after a while. I started, and then glanced at my cellphone, which still had no signal. Before I knew it, over thirty minutes had passed. Yet it seemed that the Silver Wolves had dug up nothing useful.

Our chances of locating Ling Dan were getting less and less likely.

"No, sir," one of the mercenaries said, confirming my sense of foreboding. I stifled a sigh, and closed my eyes. Unlike me, however, Feng Hai refused to be bowed.

"Continue searching," he ordered without any hesitation.

"Yes, sir!"

The mercenaries complied without complaint. I felt a little ashamed of myself for giving up too easily. However, I knew from experience that holding onto any kind of hope would only lead to disappointment. That said, I couldn't give into despair and adopt some edgy, nihilistic attitude because it was downright toxic and poisoned the atmosphere, damaging other people's morale.

So I should watch my words and attitude instead of following the example of some edgelords, who had forsaken the world or human race or whatever. I chuckled when I recalled an image where you had edgelords making statements such as "I wish I was dead", "there are too many people", and "we need a new plague", only for the coronavirus to arrive and ask them "why are you running away?" Seriously, these edgelords were hypocritical incels who couldn't back up their nihilistic viewpoint.

My humor was short-lived when one of the sentries jolted up and spun around to shout a word of warning.

"Killer Bees! They are returning!"