Chapter 102

Chapter 102

According to Dorien, the Vox Forest had a problem. A very big problem. One that needed to be resolved as soon as possible, unless the repercussions were severe. And it was that the entire ecosystem was faced with collapse.

“Do you hear it?” the [Druid] asked as he trudged forward.

I frowned, listening carefully. But all I heard were his footsteps on the muddy ground. “Uh, am I supposed to hear something?”

“Exactly.” He shook his head. “Where are the buzzing insects? Where are the birds and the butterflies and the animals rustling between the trees?” L1tLagoon witnessed the first publication of this chapter on Ñøv€l--B1n.

“Right.” I nodded as I followed after him. “And this is all because... some bees are going to die?”

Dorien snorted. “They aren’t just some bees. They’re called bastion bees, and they’re going to go extinct if we don’t do something to save them.”

“And it’s all because of some poachers, right?”

“Exactly.”

I sighed. “Right...”

Apparently, bastion bees were classified under the Adventurer’s Guild as sacred monsters. I never heard of that term before, but it meant that they were protected by the guild itself, and that killing them would lead to immediate revocation of an adventurer’s badge.

Anyways, that wasn’t going to deter poachers from poaching. And that had ultimately led to this.

“So you want me to kill these poachers and save the bees?” I asked, and Dorien paused.

His brows snapped together as he glanced back at me. “What? No— the bastion bees dealt with those idiotic poachers on their own.”

I blinked, coming to a halt as well. “Seriously?”

“A colony of bastion bees is an A-rank threat,” the [Druid] said as he waved a hand dismissively. “Those poachers were barely even C-rank [Hunters]. They didn’t stand a chance once the swarm found them.”

“Why would a bunch of C-rank [Hunters] attack a colony of bastion bees?” I asked quizzically.

“They didn’t,” Dorien explained. “They were after the queen alone. So they snuck into the hive, and they shot her with a poisoned arrow while she was asleep. They thought that was enough to take her down, but she survived her injuries... for now.”

“I’m not a [Healer],” I said as I crossed my arms. “And neither am I a doctor. I don’t know what Noele told you about me, but I can’t cure someone who has been poisoned.”

“I understand that, and I have already acquired a cure from an [Alchemist] in Whiteridge.” The [Druid] nodded at me reassuringly. He patted a bag slung around his shoulder as I peered at him curiously.

“Then what do you need my help for?”

“I need your help with getting to the queen bastion bee,” he said, raising his head. “The colony has not left the hive since they killed the poachers, and they have not allowed anyone to come close to their queen. Not even me.”

I stared at Dorien. I looked at the way his brows creased as he said the last part. He spoke those words bitterly— like he was upset. But it wasn’t directed at the bastion bees. Rather, he seemed to be upset at himself for whatever reason. Either that he hadn’t been able to catch the poachers before they got to the hive, or that he wasn’t able to convince the bastion bees to let him enter their colony after the queen was nearly murdered.

I didn’t know the full story between him and these bees. But he was supposedly called the Guardian of the Vox Forest. The fact that he had failed to fulfill his role... he must have felt like a failure.

“Well, don’t worry about it,” I said as I placed a hand on his shoulder. “You just want me to get the cure to the queen, right?”

And in the distance, I started to hear a buzzing. At first, it was very soft. But the closer I got to the source, it almost sounded like the chirping of a thousand birds. A chittering that was so cacophonous I was surprised I didn’t hear it from outside of the cavern.

I turned the final corner, and I saw it.

A mass of bastion bees. Each one was the size of my head, and their stingers were about the size of a finger. Their translucent wings rapidly beat behind their backs as they clustered together into a giant abomination in the center of the cave chamber.

There had to be hundreds of them— maybe even thousands of them. And while each one wasn’t exactly stronger than a B-rank alone, altogether they were considered a high A-ranked threat. It was dangerous. Very dangerous.

But I still took a step forward and I waved at them.

“Hey,” I called out casually. “Sorry, but I need to see your queen to give her this antidote or whatever.”

And all at once, hundreds of heads snapped towards me. Their gazes bore into me. Their bulbous crimson eyes were glowing in the dark. It illuminated their figures, revealing a striped black pattern on their golden chitin. They hissed, flapping their wings faster as I got closer. Probably a warning.

I raised my hands placatingly. “I’m not your enemy—” I started.

But the bastion bees attacked. Hundreds of them swarmed out, their stingers aimed at me as they circled around me. I sighed, shaking my head.

“Dorien was right. You guys really are irritable, huh?”

In response, the bastion bees just stung me. They crashed into me from behind— their wings buzzing loudly in the cavern. Perhaps they struck with enough force to topple even the walls of Windrip. But I didn’t even budge back.

I just continued walking forward as I rubbed my temples.

“Man, I’m just trying to help...”

Their stings didn’t actually hurt me, but I couldn’t lie and say that their cacophonous buzzing wasn’t really annoying. I walked straight up to the large mass of bees, and they charged me, trying to slow my approach.

They failed, of course. Their stingers couldn’t even cut my skin.

In their attempts to stop me, the swarm of bastion bees slowly peeled apart to reveal their queen at the very center. I spotted her amongst her workers. It was not that hard, really. She was quite big— about the size of a child.

Unlike the other bastion bees who were shaped like large... bees, she actually looked quite distinct. She had four segmented bodies instead of the usual three, and a coat of black fur that was shaped like a dress. Not only that, but she was vaguely human-like in shape too.

And she was hurt. Her golden chitin was a dull yellow in color, and there was an arrow puncturing her sides. Her wings fluttered weakly behind her back as she raised her head to face me. I strode up to her while her hive continued to assail me from all sides. I gestured at the bastion bees, before raising the cure Dorien had given me.

“Hey, can you tell your workers to get off my back? I’m here to save you, and I kinda need to get that arrow out of you first before I can help.”

The queen tilted her head, before her antennae twitched. Her workers slowly started to fly back as I stared with round eyes. Her mandibles parted open, and I blinked.

“Huh, I didn’t think you’d actually—”

And a wave of acid shot out from her mouth. The attack engulfed me as the watching bastion bees buzzed with excitement. The rocky ground beneath my feet melted, and the streak of green liquid struck the back wall. But I didn’t even flinch.

“...why can’t things ever be easy?”

I just shook my head as I walked up to the queen bastion bee. She struggled— her swarm continued to attack me. But eventually, I managed to remove the arrow from her body. And finally, I could feed her the antidote.