Mother Bee's End

Sieghart's party finally decided to follow the Wither Bees that suddenly flew away and is heading back to where they all came from, with Edle and Kaien following shortly behind them.

The group went out of the walls of the city, chasing the insects down in the forest and the mountains. Incidentally, they went through the road where a small neighborhood consisting of a few houses clustered around each other can be seen not far from the left side of the road they run in.

"They're going inside the forest!"

The Elven girl pointed at the Wither Bees as they all disappeared behind the trees.

"Lira, go ahead and follow them."

"Alright!"

Lira's pace changed drastically with her agility and flexibility, running straight ahead from the group, with her incredible acrobatic skills, she leaps through trees as she went and vanished from their sight inside the forest. As the rest of their group follow the road that is leading towards the forest, Edle noticed a group of two people, a young man and a woman came out of the forest, seemingly running in the hurry as they took the route that leads to the small neighborhood. Edle began to talk to Kaien about the two while Sieghart and the rest also took a glance at the young man and the woman running.

"Those two, they came out of the forest."

"It seems so. It also seemed like they are a bit in a hurry, perhaps they have seen whatever that is attracting the Wither Bees?"

"That's most probably the case. But apart from that..."

Kaien gave Edle a stern and confused look as Edle began to think inside his head.

'If the Wither Bees really came this way, and if they are moving like a pack to hunt food, then that small neighborhood would be devastated. But that doesn't seem to be the case, the houses looked like it was completely intact despite they are mostly built from blocks and timber. Apart from that, there are no sign of Wither Bees attacking the area.'

Edle took a glance at the neighborhood, pondering about the houses that looked like nothing serious had happen. He also saw a number of people coming out of their houses as they follow the two who came out of the forest entering a certain house.

'And it looks like there are quite a number of people living in there.'

The group entered the forest while Edle ponders, concluding his thoughts about what Sieghart told him.

'That small neighborhood did not get attacked while our City suffered casualties from fending off the Wither Bees. If we noticed everything beforehand, would we be able to avoid losing people on that defense. If we noticed it early on, could the outcome be different?'

Right after he finished his thoughts, suddenly, the sky briefly turned red as a gigantic burst of flame erupted from the sky in front of them.

"What in the world?"

"Fire...?"

Two young men who are part of Sieghart's party spoke in astonishment. In that time, Lira came back in a rush. She spoke to them with a troubled tone and expression on her face.

"Everyone, something happened deeper in the forest, you need to see this. Hurry!"

Their eyes widens with Lira's message.

In the scene where the flames came from abruptly, the gigantic form of flames gradually lost its size, reducing to a tiny ball until it turned into a figure of a human surrounded in flames. Christa looks at the Mother Bee with a smirk on her face.

"So you can endure my flame, huh?"

After releasing her flames, the fire engulfed not just the sky, but also the Wither Bees who came to attack all at once, as a result, they were all burned and have died. Their corpse fell on the ground like a rain while the Mother Bee, their leader were able to take on Christa's magic. Leaving a single human and a single killer insect standing in the battlefield as they both prepare for their next attack.

*Buzz!*

"Hmm?"

Just then, a similar buzzing sound is approaching them from a distance.

"There's more?"

A horde of a normal Wither Bees that came from Reilaea Capital City is flying in haste as they got attracted by the sound wave Christa sent out a little while ago.

"Are those the ones that flew passed the neighborhood? ...Wha?"

As Christa watched the Wither Bees approaching her, the Mother Bee flew straight at them, chomping off the head of one of the members of the horde. After getting their attention, they all went to attack the monster. Christa were perplexed watching the Wither Bees fighting against their once own Mother from a distance.

"So they don't recognize it as their Mother anymore, huh?"

At that time, Sieghart and Edle along with everyone reached a wide landscape after following Lira. There, they found countless number of burned corpes of a Wither Bee. Some parts of the corpses have a faint purple color around their body.

"Huh? What is this?"

Despite having their body burned that changed their color in a degree, the hardness and shape of the crystal around its body is still recognizable. Sieghart and even his party were bewildered about the rare skin of a Wither Bee corpse.

"Everyone, up there!"

Everyone turned up in the sky where they found a girl levitating and her eyes that seemed like she's watching something.

"That girl...!"

"Ah, do you know her, Prince Edle?"

Kaien cuts in to answer Sieghart's question.

"We met that girl back in Carmila Town, and she helped us fighting a group of bandits. She also is the one that saved the Prince that day."

"Eh..."

*Screech*

A sound coming from the insects flying not far from the sky caught their attention. They were all shaken up at seeing a number of Wither Bees ganging up on the monster Sieghart and his group had never seen before.

"Those things are fighting that monster?"

"That purple thing, she looked almost the same as the Bees. What is that thing?"

"That's a Mother Bee."

Christa suddenly talked to them from the sky, looking down on them as she realized they were in the ground.

"Mother Bee? But that skin... That thing in its abdomen."

Kaien pointed the purple crystal that was sticking out from under its abdomen. The others also looked at the direction Kaien pointed at.

"Ah, you know about that crystal, huh? ...Ah, you're the guy from back then. That means, oh I knew it. Yo, Prince! It's been a while!"

Christa gave Edle a warm and beautiful smile as she waved her arm for him, making Edle feel a bit flustered.

"Y... Yes..."

Kaien quietly stares at the flustered Edle, he was bewildered seeing a rather rare expression he sees from the Prince. After being sidetracked for a brief moment, Sieghart and his party watched the purple Mother Bee finally took the last Wither Bee's head, swallowing it whole without even trying to crush its head with its strong mandibles.

"It wiped out the Wither Bees..."

The Monster roared after devouring the Wither Bees heads. All the bruises it received after taking Christa's flame have healed. Not only that the wounds have been healed, the creature seemed to have gotten stronger just by feeding on the Wither Bees' heads. Everyone watching from the ground felt the creature powered up quite a bit, especially Eileen.

"It healed itself by feeding from the Bees."

"It looks like it got quite a bit stronger than it was just a bit ago, too. We should kill it before it feeds on another monsters or humans."

"Sorry, but I'm gonna ask you to stay back."

Christa spoke and interrupted the man holding a bow and the other Adventurers as they prepare themselves to fight the creature.

"This thing is mine. I saw it first, so it's mine."

"I mean that's fine but, can you fight it all by yourself. You're a Gold rank Adventurer, right? That thing might be a little stronger for you alone."

Christa looked at the gold dog tag she's wearing that gave Sieghart an idea that she was a Gold rank adventurer.

"She's an Adventurer?"

"It seems like it. And its most likely that she was registered in the Adventurers Guild in the capital, Prince."

The two spoke to each other as they continue gazing at the girl with her hair that was wavering from the wind up in the sky. Christa looks down on Sieghart with a cranky expression on her face, she responded to Sieghart.

"This is nothing, so don't interfere."

"...What an ill-tempered brat."

Eileen approached Sieghart from behind, tugging his pauldron as she whispers to him.

"What's wrong, Eileen?"

"That girl... She's strong for a Gold rank, but I can also sense a malicious aura around her, she could be one of those False Rankers."

Sieghart turned back to Christa who seemed to not move an inch.

"That girl...?"

The Mother Bee roared as it flew at a speed not a normal Mother Bee woud with be able to do.

"It's fast!"

Everyone kept their eyes on the Mother Bee as it goes on the attack using its powerful sting. But Christa blocked it rather easily with her wooden sword. The Mother Bee tries to push her way onto Christa, but she can still hold her own despite the Mother Bee that got regenerated and has powered up.

"You're doing the same thing back inside the cave. Forcing your sting to hit me forward, yet, it's not working. You're a gluttonous monster but not quite smart, eh?"

Christa proceeded to kick the Mother Bee that blew it away. After seeing it with his own eyes, Edle began to wonder.

'I thought Wither Bees are on the same level as the Gold rank ones, especially the Mother Bee, those things are stronger than its child. But...'

Edle took a glance at the dog tag hanging around Christa's neck. Doing so made him look at her delicate face, making him a bit flustered again. He shook his head to keep him calm.

'T-to think that a Gold rank is holding her own against a Mother Bee... You really can't trust someone's status or their rank in the Adventurer world.'

The Mother Bee made a ferocious shriek as it dashes back onto Christa, using its sting and even its legs, the monster thrusts, fly and shoots wax and stings, but Christa is dodging them, avoiding every single attack while not even moving from the same spot.

"What the heck! She's dodging them easily, she's amazing isn't she, David?"

The guy with two gauntlets spoke excitedly in astonishment and amazement. While the other guy brushed him off.

"You're being way too excited, Jinrah."

After dodging a few times, Christa decided to make a move.

"I'm getting bored dodging everything. This time, it's my turn!"

Christa disappeared from the eyes of the Mother Bee, until one of its legs were cut off before its eyes. She then appeared behind the monster, calling to turn around in a way that she's literally mocking it.

"Where are you looking at? I'm here! Come at me~!"

With her childish mockery, the Mother Bee became even more furious. It tries to assault Christa once again, but before it could even move a few inch closer to her, another one of its leg were cut off at the same time she vanished from its sight.

"Kaien, can you see her moving or attacking?"

"No, not at all. What about you, Prince?"

"I wouldn't ask you if I could. And I said quit calling me "Prince" already!"

After easily cutting two legs that left the Mother Bee in pain, Christa had decided to end the Mother Bee's pain by killing.

"I think this is more than enough playing, I'm going to end this now."

"Oh, she's going to kill the Mother Bee now."

The group watched silently as Jinrah told everyone her declaration.

Christa took a stance, pointing the edge of her wooden sword to the Mother Bee as she gets ready for the final strike. But the Mother Bee who were shrieking in pain just now had suddenly stopped from making a noise. Seeing it perplexed Christa.

"Huh?"

"What is she doing?"

The group focused their eyes on the girl who seemed to be confused, while the girl was looking at the Mother Bee. Its wings were flapping like usual, but its body had completely stopped from moving as if it was now a corpse. Afterwards, something that had never happened before occurred.

The crystal lying on the Abdomen of the Mother Bee started glowing with dark purple light, glimmered throughout the whole area.

"What's happening?"

"The Mother Bee... It's getting stronger!"

Eileen's eyes were glimmering in horror as she sense the Mother Bee's strength that is gradually increasing.

"This is not good!"

"We need to do something about it quick!"

The monster continues to increase its strength, its roar is starting to send strong winds that makes the trees go wild as it struggles to hold on the ground, keeping itself to not get blown away. The elven girl casts a wind barrier to keep themselves from the strong wind.

"Wind wall!"

"This thing is dangerous, if it keeps getting stronger..."

"We should do something about it!"

As Jinrah and David spoke in a serious manner, Eileen, who is observing the strength increasing inside the Mother Bee was taken aback in fear after sensing its strength in an unbelievable degree.

"I... Impossible..."

"Hey, Eileen, what now?"

"It's strength... It's on the same level as an Emerald rank Adventurers now!"

Lira, David and Jinrah, as well as Kaien were shooked at the terrifying revelation.

"Emerald?!"

"Hey, that thing is still going at it, we should kill it now while we have a chance!"

"Hey, Sieghart! ...? Sieghart!"

Sieghart ignored Lira who is calling for him about taking the killer insect down, but Sieghart continues to gaze at the sky. Even Edle is doing the same, with a serious look on his face, it's like no one could distract them both from what they were doing.

Baffled and confused, Sieghart's party and Kaien went to look at the sky, when they did, Christa was there, flying in mid-air, completely unfazed by the storm of strong wind coming from the monster.

Christa took a deep breath, as she, too, have slightly boosted her strength. The group watched carefully, as she raised her wooden sword with both her hands in the air.

"Ha!"

She swung her wooden blade strong enough that the monster was sliced in half without even getting hit by the actual blade, the Mother Bee splits in half, from its head down to its abdomen, the crystal also suffered damage, but it was quite hard that it didn't get cut unlike the body of the monster.