Obscuring Darkness

"Roberto, I'm glad you're alive."

Magdalo and others went towards Roberto who came just in time to eliminate the remaining Wither Bee. They're relieved to see him in one piece.

"I'm sorry for leaving you behind. Those Wither Bees made me panic."

"It's all right, Marlo. I was only able to get out thanks to Lyrica, though."

Hearing this, the group looks at one another. There's still some lingering feeling of worry inside Riko. He knows Wither Bees are nothing compared to the Guardian Snake, but even so, the monsters can still as a formidable enemy, especially when they attack in groups.

Riko also knows that Lyrica is capable, but strength doesn't really matter if you get hit by their sting.

Magdalo faces the young knight and sees him trying to hide his worry. He walks closer towards Riko.

"Hey," Magdalo spoke as he called out to Riko. "She'll be all right."

The young knight looks at Magdalo with a serious expression on his face. But after a short silence, Riko proceeds to slightly nod his head in response to the veteran knight.

"Oh, right."

Roberto tries to get Riko's attention, advising that he should go ahead back home. Right after that moment, they begin to hear the sound of Wither Bees buzzing their wings as they come closer and closer.

"There's more coming?!" Marlo said in a hysterical voice.

"While I was on my way out of that cave, I could hear those loud noises resonating behind me." Roberto tightens his grasp on his dagger. "We've got to take them out here right now."

Following Roberto's lead, Cardo also takes a fighting stance with his magic tool, facing the cave entrance where the Wither Bees are about to come out anytime soon. Between them, Marlo takes a stand and drinks a small bottle of blue liquid.

"Guaah..." Marlo uttered as a sour expression begins forming on his face. "Why can't they make mana potions taste like treant fruits?"

"You still can't tolerate its taste?" Said Cardo as he opens up and drinks his own mana potion. "What are you, twelve?"

"I'm gonna bury you to the ground after I'm done with those wither a**holes." Marlo reposted in response to Cardo and his unimpressed gaze.

Meanwhile, Magdalo goes over to Riko and tells him to go. As he gave the veteran knight a resounding yes, Riko turns around, puts back his sword inside its sheath, and makes a run for it.

But just in time, a group of Wither Bees comes out of the cave. And one of them has its eyes locked on the young knight who's sprinting away in the distance.

"There's five of them..."

"... This is going to be a headache."

Humans and monsters, Magdalo and the others versus a pack of Wither Bees. Both sides are raring to clash with one another. Or at least, it's what Magdalo thought.

All five Wither Bees flew right above everyone's heads. It was so sudden that Magdalo and the others could not help but duck instinctively.

"Where are they...!"

They all turned around to see where the pack of Wither Bees is going. And that's where they saw the monsters firing their sting towards the back of the young knight.

"Riko, behind you!"

The young knight hears the panicking voice of Magdalo who shouted at him on top of his lungs. His head pans around, only to see the stings inching closer towards him.

Riko in his mind wants to step aside or even throw himself down to the ground. However...

'I can't control my body!'

His body would only continue going forward in the same direction, but the stings are now deadly close to him. At that moment, Riko knew it was already too late.

'Damn it!'

***

Rewinding time by a few moments. Back inside the beehive, Lyrica stands before the Mother Bee along with her children.

The atmosphere inside the beehive becomes filled with tension as the girl and the mother of Wither Bees stare down at one another.

"Ah... All that talk just to get them out of the way... How funny." Lyrica uttered. "It was a clever idea though, a plan to get me out of their town—their kingdom. But that's too bad."

Lyrica dashes towards the honey the Mother Bee made.

"Leaving this town is not in my plans," Lyrica said as she soaks her index finger with the honey and proceeds to suck on it. "At least not yet."

Surprisingly, the Wither Bees allowed her to run across the beehive. That's when Lyrica thought:

'They're confident that I'm not getting out of this place. But not just that. The only exit is the cave we all went through, but I went for the honey instead of going for it, and now the exit is far away from me.'

Lyrica thought the bees must be thinking that she's a fool for basically making it impossible for her to even set foot on the exit. However, unbeknownst to these oblivious creatures, leaving the beehive without giving them hell is not in her plans either.

"I've seen all your moves... I think so, at least."

Their stings are dangerous. Even just touching it, its effect is horrifying. Not to mention the way how fast the sting travels in the air as the Wither Bees fire them. Lyrica and the others could barely intercept or even dodge them.

"But not only that, you're quite agile, too."

The Wither Bees can fly and move fast despite their size, which impresses Lyrica. However, after witnessing what they can do not long ago, the girl realized that the Wither Bees aren't as fast as the others thought they are.

She saw how Roberto can match a Wither Bee's speed without even activating Liksi he tried using before to get to Marlo. In fact, even she can handle one herself.

"We are even in terms of agility. So if I'm looking to get out of this situation alive, I need to be even faster."

However, she's not looking to increase her agility stats right at the moment.

"I'm not wasting my stat points to increase my speed when there's another way to do that."

Lyrica throws away the fire torch. Shortly after, the fire dies out, and the pitch-black darkness begins to obscure the girl's vision.

As soon as the fire died, one of the Wither Bees charges in towards the girl. They thought that unlike them, the girl doesn't have the eyes that let her see in the dark.

'Well, I don't need to see it coming anyway.'

Through her ears, she could hear the sound of its wings buzzing in an increasing volume. In that instant, the girl jumps in mid-air. The Mother Bee watches in surprise as Lyrica is now above the Wither Bee who attempted to strike her.

"Graah!"

Splat!

Without delay, she slams the creature's head on the floor of thick wax with the soles of her shoes.

[You Have Defeated A Wither Bee - Lv. 25!]

[You Received 2650×6 EXP!]

[The Required EXP Has Been Met!]

[Level Up!]

At first, the Mother Bee thought it was a fluke. Then another one of its children tries to attack Lyrica by firing a sting.

BuzZzz

But then, Lyrica leans her head sideways and effortlessly dodges the sting. That's when the Mother Bee realized, the girl is not like the first humans ones they've encountered before.

"Now then..." Lyrica proceeds to crack her fists. "... Let's go ahead and level up, shall we?"