Sting

No words could describe the face Lyrica is making right now. The exquisite taste of the mother bee's honey is so out of this world that the word "Delicious" simply cannot do it justice.

Looking at the delighted expression on Lyrica's face who completely forgot to keep her composed demeanor around people just makes even Magdalo and Roberto who're both trying to keep their guard up against the Wither Bees to be curious.

Just how good and tasty is the mother bee's honey? There's only one way for them to find out.

Following Riko's lead who's standing beside Lyrica, the group went to get their own taste of the mother bee's honey. Their reaction is just like the girl.

"It's heavenly!"

"How can a honey bee be so rich in taste?!"

"This honey bee is not all just taste, though."

While Riko and the others are savoring the taste in their tongue, Lyrica opens her character window to see her HP finally back to 100%.

"What Rona said is true."

The girl looks down at her right ankle. The pain that was slightly bugging her for a while has now disappeared, meaning she is indeed back to full health.

'All right. Now we just need to take some for Nela and we're good to go.'

Lyrica shifts her attention to the group that's completely enthralled by the exquisite mother bee honey. They were only able to get back to their senses thanks to the girl who urges Riko to quickly pour the honey into the empty bottle he brought with him. However, at the exact same moment she told the young knight to make haste...

"Huh..."

[You Have Received A Quest!]

A quest popped out.

Quest: Bee Swarm!

Avoid getting stung by the Wither Bees while trying to escape the beehive!

Bee Sting Received: 0 / 1

Reward:

- 10,000 EXP

- Stat Points: 5

As soon as the quest appeared before her eyes, Lyrica felt a presence in the far dark corner of the beehive, seemingly targetting the oblivious Riko who's pouring his bottle with the mother bee honey. Everyone else felt it except for the young knight.

"Look out!"

However, it was only Lyrica who's fast enough to react as something sharp suddenly came out of the dark and flies straight to Riko's defenseless back. If not for the girl who pushed Riko aside, the object that appears like a needle would have struck his back instead of Lyrica's right forearm.

"It's a bee sting!"

As soon as Marlo shouted those words, the knights immediately gather around Riko and Lyrica. While the young knight tries to get back up with the honey-filled bottle in his hand, the girl observes the skin around the bee sting beginning to wither.

"So that's why they're called Wither Bees, huh?"

That's right. The Wither Bees' sting can make anything it touches, except for inanimate objects, wither like a dry land that has never felt the touch of rain for a very long time. It's a powerful weapon which effect could get worse if the sting is not removed right away.

'I'm not gonna just stand here and see how worse it'll get!'

Lyrica proceeds to grab the sting with her left hand, but the withering effect of the sting is affecting her hand even though she's just touching it.

"How troublesome!"

She tightens her grasp with the sting and forcefully tries to pull it out of her forearm.

"Nnngghh...!"

Lyrica managed to pull the sting off her forearm, but because it dried out, no blood would come out of the wound.

"Are you okay?"

The young knight asked the girl as soon as she revealed the palm of her left hand completely shriveled due to using it to pull the sting out.

"Yeah, I'm all right."

While saying that, Lyrica turns around and dips her withered hand into the honeycomb. She quickly took a sip, allowing the sting wound to heal up, as well as her hand as if nothing happened.

'It's a good thing the mother bee's honey is just right next to us. But...'

Quest: Bee Swarm!

Avoid getting stung by the Wither Bees while trying to escape the beehive.

Bee Sting Received: 1 / 1

[You Have Failed The Quest!]

No words could describe how much she is disappointed to have failed the quest.

'What a waste of EXP and statistics points.'

At that moment, Lyrica and the rest start hearing numerous buzzing noises coming from the dark corners of the beehive. The moment they did, they knew they're in trouble if they stay idle any longer.

"We gotta go... We need to move now!"

Magdalo tries to get everyone to follow his lead, especially Riko. But before they could reach the tunnel that leads to the long exit, a human-sized creature, one of the sources of the buzzing sound, appears before them, stopping the group from going forward.

"That's...!"

"... A Wither Bee!"

[Wither Bee - Lv. 25]

The knights raised their weapons against the giant bee, but just like before, Lyrica is the one who acts the fastest.

"Raagh!"

Pow!

Crash!

Right before their very eyes, they see Lyrica sending the Wither Bee to the ground with a powerful left punch. However, her strength is not enough to knock the creature out that it was able to get back up and fly across them with incredible speed.

They all watch as the Wither Bee disappeared into the dark, and another one reveals itself before them. The monster tries to go straight for Riko but was thankfully stopped by Lyrica who threw herself to the creature, sending it away.

"That Wither Bee... it was targeting Riko just now."

"It must have been because of the bottle full of honey in his hand."

"They probably want the honey back."

Lyrica brushed off the idea. The Wither Bees don't want the honey in Riko's hand, instead, it doesn't want the young knight to get out of the beehive alive.

"Why me?" The young knight asked. "Why is it just me?"

"You're wrong," Said Lyrica in reply. "They just find you as the main target seeing as you have the honey in your hand, but they wouldn't let every single one of us out of here alive, either."

"How can you be sure of that, Lyrica?"

"Come on now, this is not the first time we fought an intelligent creature."