On the swamp bank, a black mass of Poisonous Sting Bees crawled out of their collapsed hive, beating their agitated wings, clearly enraged to the extreme.
They searched everywhere for the culprits who had destroyed their hive.
After circling the tree, their gazes finally fell upon the swarm of Beetles at the base of its roots, who had just dazedly woken up.
Besides these Beetles, what other monsters could have attacked their nest!
"BUZZ BUZZ!"
The furious swarm of Poisonous Sting Bees seemed to have lost all reason. They swarmed around the oak tree, firing Poisonous Stings at its base.
The Beetles: ?
Before they could figure out why their neighbors were so angry, a shower of Poisonous Stings rained down on them.
This immediately angered the Beetles, who were suffering from a bad case of morning temper. They stretched their six legs and tremblingly crawled out of the ground to face the Poisonous Stings.
The scene was like a dark Knight Order fearlessly charging at an invading dragon. The dense patter of their steps was enough to send the swamp worms and Moss Monsters scattering in terror.
A great battle was about to erupt.
"BOOM!"
The massive boom was like a typhoon and a tsunami as the Knights and the dragon collided. They would retreat like the tide, only to immediately regroup and charge again. The two forces repeatedly clashed and ground against each other, turning the battlefield into a boiling furnace.
Of course, the battle beneath the tree was obviously not that dramatic. These scenes were all just a product of Chen Yu's imagination.
If he had to describe it, the fight between the Poisonous Sting Bees and the Beetles was more like a village brawl. They'd trade blows, one punch after another, looking terrifying but in reality, neither side had suffered so much as a scratch.
Sergash, however, was witnessing such a large-scale monster war for the first time. She was far more invested than him, her eyes wide open, unwilling to even blink.
Only when a Poisonous Sting Bee flew overhead would she shrink her head back into the swamp.
Just as Chen Yu thought the battle would devolve into a stalemate like before, with both sides eventually pretending nothing had happened, the situation on the battlefield suddenly changed. The Poisonous Sting Bees had gained the upper hand.
'It's a new tactic!'
The Poisonous Sting Bees were using a new tactic.
They were no longer fixated on using their Poisonous Stings. Instead, they used their numerical advantage to pin the Beetles down one by one, then beat their wings furiously, intending to suffocate their opponents with their body heat.
The temperature inside each ball of bees rose rapidly. The Beetles tried to escape, but they were too slow to shake off the Poisonous Sting Bees swarming around them.
And if any Beetle tried to flap its carapace wings to escape, a Poisonous Sting Bee would viciously plunge the sting on its tail into the Beetle's spiracle.
This caused the poisoned Beetle to struggle before finally falling still.
Casualties finally appeared in their war.
The Beetles were facing a total rout; ultimately, they were no match for the long-reigning hegemon of this patch of land.
"Sergash, get ready to move."
Chen Yu wasn't about to watch the Poisonous Sting Bees win so easily. He silently began to recite the incantation for the Little Arrow Skill.
"Oh, okay!"
Sergash gripped her Oak Staff tightly. Her stance looked less like she was about to cast magic and more like she was ready to smash any enemy that came near.
'That's some good spirit.'
Chen Yu slowly emerged from the water, aiming at one of the bee-balls, his Little Arrow Skill poised and ready to fire.
Sergash was still warily watching the Poisonous Sting Bees flying about when her attention was drawn to the activity in front of Chen Yu.
She saw a water arrow slowly condense and stretch, like a fully drawn bow, before shooting out with a swift "WHOOSH."
"BANG!"
A clap of thunder echoed across the flat ground.
The bee-ball exploded. The torn limbs and juices of the Poisonous Sting Bees splattered everywhere. The Beetle inside was sent flying several meters away. It staggered back to its feet and stood there stunned, as if it had been blasted into a daze.
"Huh?"
'Ancestral spirits above, what was that?'
It wasn't just Sergash who was stunned. Even the Poisonous Sting Bees and Beetles on the battlefield were dumbfounded by the commotion. Then, they saw a Slime covered in a black shell gliding onto the shore.
The aura of a Warrior threatened the surrounding monsters. Some of the Beetles even began to back away silently in fear, wanting to hide back under the tree.
"BUZZ BUZZ!!"
A giant bee hidden in the collapsed hive let out a shriek. In an instant, all the Poisonous Sting Bees abandoned their assault on the Beetles and turned to swarm Chen Yu.
"Swamp Glide!"
Worried he would be attacked, Sergash couldn't help but raise her Magic Staff and cast her magic.
Her Oak Staff glowed with the light of nature, which then transformed into motes of light that merged into Chen Yu's body.
He felt as if swamp water was surging up from beneath him, lifting him. With just a thought, he shot away from his spot, escaping the Poisonous Sting Bees' encirclement.
"WHOOSH—!"
Several Poisonous Stings shot out from his Gel, instantly hitting the Poisonous Sting Bees closest to him.
"Take this! Myriad Swords Return to One!"
He continued to collect the scattered Poisonous Stings from the surroundings, firing them off wildly as if they were free.
Blackened corpses rained down from the sky. The Poisonous Sting Bees suffered heavy losses.
However, his target wasn't these scattered Poisonous Sting Bees, but the Queen Bee in the hive!
He slid steadfastly toward the hive. Boosted by "Swamp Glide," his speed was astonishing. This clearly frightened the one in the hive, who frantically organized the swarm to launch suicide attacks.
"I'm coming!"
Sergash mustered her courage and appeared. For some reason, she felt a strong impulse to swing her precious Oak Staff.
And in fact, that's exactly what she did.
That's right, just like swinging a club.
She knocked a large swath of Poisonous Sting Bees out of the air.
In the end, the Oak Staff couldn't maintain its elegance and became a melee weapon.
The moment she saw the swaths of Poisonous Sting Bees fall, it was as if a switch had been flipped inside Sergash. She felt an incredible rush of exhilaration.
'It felt as if this was how the staff was always meant to be used.'
She didn't even feel that bad seeing her new Magic Staff stained with monster juices.
'Could it be that she has the blood of a Warrior, just like her sister?'
The moment that thought arose, she saw a swarm of Poisonous Sting Bees dive toward her, so she quickly chickened out and retreated back into the swamp.
Meanwhile, the swarm had been cleared away by the swinging club, giving Chen Yu an opportunity. He had already reached the rotting flesh hive, his Little Arrow Skill aimed and ready, the threat unspoken but clear.
"Come out. Stop hiding."
The hive was silent for a few seconds, then a Queen Bee with a massive tail was carried out by several Poisonous Sting Bees.
Before Chen Yu could use his Sound Transmission Skill, the Queen Bee tremblingly held a piece of rotting flesh high above its head, as if to signal its surrender.
'Huh?'
'These monsters are smarter than I thought. They even know how to surrender voluntarily.'
'Still, it would be a shame to just wipe them out.'
'Diligent workers like these Poisonous Sting Bees are hard to find. If I get rid of them, who will prepare my breakfast in the future?'
'Besides, with the Poisonous Sting Bees guarding the oak tree, even if some beast or Sub-human wanders in by mistake, they won't dare to get close. They're excellent guards for the home.'
He lifted his soft Gel, accepted the coronation-by-rotting-flesh, and then pressed it onto the Queen Bee's head.
"From now on, I, boss. Understand?"
The Queen Bee nodded and prostrated itself on the ground, using its limbs to help clean the debris off his Gel.
"You, fix hive."
The Queen Bee froze for a moment, then seemed to understand. It commanded the swarm to stand down and start collecting the fallen pieces of the hive.
Sergash came ashore.
"Is it over?"
Having just witnessed a monster war, the excitement on her face had yet to completely fade.
Gazing at the messy patch of land under the tree, she had never imagined that a war between monsters could be so brutal. But thankfully, they had defeated the hegemon of this place.
If someone had told her before that a Slime could defeat a swarm of Poisonous Sting Bees, she would have thought they were joking, even as one of Putu's Believers.
But after witnessing this scene with her own eyes, she accepted it as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
'Perhaps it's because I've seen too many strange things since I came here. I've probably just gotten used to it.'
"We still have another neighbor here."
Chen Yu bounced as he turned to look at the base of the tree.
The Beetles hiding inside noticed his gaze and began to tremble, as if they were looking at some great Demon King.