Frigid Beetles that can spit sharp shards of ice. Dark Mosquitoes that spread a veil of confusion and life-sapping darkness. Bronze fleas that jump and ram your body en masse cannot be defeated except by melting them. A hive of magma ants the size of hamsters that are literally made of molten rock and run faster than a horse burning everything in their path. These are some of the remarkable bug species we had to fight while in the way to the dungeon entrance.
We had to camp for the night without a repellent potion. Zahariel and I are both too sensitive to that thing. The dungeon is at the edge of the 'safe travel distance' the guild enforces, one and half days of hiking. But we have two people with well-developed presence detection and Emory and the rats with their keen rodent senses.
For added protection, I removed some F-rank pemadras from the stored bugs and placed a minefield of fire traps around us. Duration 9 hours. I can set the detonation parameters, I chose non-mammals. Angels and trolls are also mammals. Any race whose females have breasts are considered mammals in this world. That is fantasy for you.
We were able to grind all the tier 2 jobs to the tens and the girls are now sporting brand new tier 4 jobs. Marcy became a Ranger, Helen a full-fledged Elementalist. Zahariel is back to his Acolyte job and he took overhealing. The amount of low hanging job fruits is shrinking, but each of the girls nearly doubled in combat value. I am working my way up Magician right now. Sacrifice aura is now level 6 from natural level ups and invested skill points.
What was once a temperate forest is now a hodge-podge of bug nests with patches of naked earth between them. There are even signs of battles between the bugs. Above us, squads of wasps fly in droves hunting some fireflies to lay eggs in. This hellish landscape decorates the area around the crater leading to the bowels of Beelzebub's Hive.
"Shouldn't the monsters be cooperating with one another?" I ask Zahariel while we watch some magma ants fight some huge frostworms double the size of the one that we took home.
"Inside the dungeon maybe, but out here they revert to their primal instincts. Beelzebub must've weakened during these long millennia of incarceration, just like I did. He cannot control the bugs outside yet."
"And it will take a couple centuries for him to recover just like you?"
"No. Because unlike me, nobody ate his magical power," an angel is giving me the stink eye. How far have the mighty fallen.
"Don't hate me. We were actually trying to save you to the best of our ability."
The brat pinches his eyelid down and shows his tongue. "How are we going down there? Are we attacking these hives?"
"I guess we are. I'm going to attempt something we do back in my original world when this kind of thing happens, that is very profitable. To kill all of these bugs in a swift strike."
"What is it?"
"Let me prepare some things." I take a kite shield and the horn spear from the storage. I lay the kite shield over my lap, crush a C-rank pemadra and chant. "[Enchanting King]! Item resilience and auto repair!" A huge chunk of my MP mixes with the powdered pemadra and it drains over ten long minutes, permanently infusing the shield with magic. I was able to infuse three effects, quite a success.
Living Kite Shield. Durability increased x5. Negates 2/3 of all damage dealt to the shield. Recovers 10% of max durability every minute.
"Shouldn't we had done this before leaving town?" Helen asks me.
"I agree that the outskirts of a bug hive are not a place to prepare gear, but I had a tenth of my current MP back when we left town today. We have grown this much, you know?"
"Now, let me check one thing. I'll change both of you into the Villager job. Helen and Zahariel, how many castings of your highest area spell you can cast as villagers?"
"Four", "Two" our casters reply. That will do.
"Here is the plan." I throw a low power fire trap at a narrow gap between a hill and a big rock. "I will gather all the bugs through that place and both of you will overlap your area spells on that spot and defeat the biggest amount of bugs at once. And you keep casting over and over at the same place until out of mana or I give you the signal to stop. Marcy will do point support and shoot only stragglers that aggro on the casters or come to this place. This is a common strategy back in my world."
"How is it called, Beowulf?" Marcy is curious.
"Mob Train," I say with a smile stamped on my face. Let me turn off system notifications, or the huge wall of blue messages will make me blind.
I equip the shield and the horn spear and run to the nearest bug hive. Of course, I have to give out a battle cry.
"LEEROY..." I'm so dead. "JANSEN!" At least these are not dragon eggs. But I won't get chicken, so it evens out. Now to run at full lungs and [Athletics] skill.
Here it comes. Ice shards from the beetles, lava spit from the ants. I throw low potency [Intimidating Shouts] around just to AOE aggro the bugs. They stop fighting and start to kite after me. [instant Movement] to get out of tight spots, [Full Defense] to dodge the barrage of shots when it gets too close, [Taunt] to keep the stragglers trained on me. [Shield Master] to block projectiles and melee blows. My body takes a beating but I can regenerate. The shield gets battered but It is strong enough and it also regenerates. I also use fast-chant spells to defeat some troublesome wasp. The amount of damage I am taking is staggering but thankful to [Hordebreaker] and the mind-boggling quantity of bugs following me
One thing I am grateful for is that the real world does not lag. With this big mob of bugs behind me, it was bound to have an FPS drop or even just disconnect from the server due to bandwidth issues.
One thing I am loathing is that I did not enchant my armor or my clothes to regenerate. Some acid spitting bees that were on the other side of the clearing decided to give me a free chemical bath, and my clothes and armor are now only rags. I'd have lost two dozens of shields if it were not enchanted. When the damage to the shield becomes too big I use [Full Defense] to buy time.
My presence detection just shows a big blob behind me. Some slower bugs are left behind but their aggro is firmly maintained so they are just trailing behind me. I am about going through the marked spot and I stop. The faster bugs are also the less resistant ones. and if I let them through they will aggro on the casters. I have to stop, move the shield to my back and wield the horn spear with both hands.
"Spear Technique {Dead Zone}!" The latest spear technique I learned. It is a superior version of circle slash that can attack any and all enemies that enter the reach so long I remain with both my feet planted in the same spot. I begin to spin the spear around and the horn at the tip sings as it cuts the air. The blue glow of the {Whistling Double} shows itself, granting an extra attack to every swing and stab I make.
The bug throng's vanguard enters into the Dead Zone and the slaughter begins. The flying bees, wasps and giant mosquitoes get either bisected or have their wings clipped and fall to the sides. Dashing magma ants lose their legs and just fall aside twitching. My MP and stamina are drained fast to power the techniques, but the horde breaker enhanced recovery stalls the exhaustion.
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Once the main group is a dozen yards away, I stop and run for it. Past the boulder, past the valley, I yell. "Helen, Zarr, on the count of 3, 2, 1!
"Meteorite Shower!" Zahariel celestial magic creates meteors the size of a baseball above the area and propels them down the instant they are created. The rocks burst in small fireballs when they hit something peppering the area around with sharp crystalized shards.
"Flame Pillar!" Helen's fire and wind gestalt spell spurts great tongues of flame from the center and spins them in a tornado-like wind to create a cylinder of fire and ash.
I stop a dozen feet away from the area of the spells and pierce down any bug that crosses the death zone. The familiar sound of Marcy's bow is heard several times picking the bugs that try to go above or around the magic's AOE. I retreat slowly back to the group, to place my friends in the range of sacrifice aura.
They repeat the spells three times in total and Zahariel kneels from MP Depletion. "Helen, switch to single target spells, hit only the ones going to attack you guys." Time for a full-power forward-facing cone-shaped [Intimidating Shout].
We kept fighting for almost an hour after that. Marcy ran out of arrows and switched to melee, going around the front and keeping the bugs at bay with the help of Emory. Zahariel did his best healbot impression and Helen abused the firebolt and water jet spells to deal with the troublesome bugs. I went for the big ones that would be trouble for the agile but fragile crew behind me. We were steadily putting more distance between us and the hives, to thin out the amount of pursuing bugs.
When it ended, everyone dropped on the ground. I kept ready for a bit longer, but this is because I did not receive the usual Exp award window at the combat end. Every muscle in my body is burning and aching. There is no regeneration that can cover for this kind of stress.
"I guess the outside is safe now," I state after approaching the party.
"Beowulf! Your..." Helen is surprised at something. Zahariel is laughing.
"Finally we got a good look at the Legendary Hero's Holy Sword!" Marcy teases with an amused look.
I realize what is happening and block the danger with the shield so hard that it bashes both of my knees. The final scraps of clothing were lost and I was fighting like a naturist hoplite. "Muuu... Sorry about that."
"Thanks for the treat." Marcy licks her lips.
I take a spare set of clothes from the item box and restore my modesty behind a bush. "Is anyone hurt?" People are just tired. And the sun will set soon, we only have one or two hours of light left.
"We should retreat while there is light, and camp away from the dungeon entrance." Zahariel shares his wisdom. "The bugs will return but not in the same quantity as before.
"I wanted the pemadras from some of them. Let me run there and store some corpses in the storage." With the skill points I earned in this fight, I can raise [King's Item Box] to level 10. It gives a bit over 90 metric tons of capacity. 200,200 lb to be exact. I'll just cut the sections with the pemadra off and store the pieces, leaving the bulk of the bodies behind. Took me some fifteen minutes. I also retrieved whatever arrows I could find.
"Are you done looting? I must say, people in your world is crazy to try doing things like that. I can only picture a world full of trolls that have no regard for their own lives." Marcy approaches the edge of the ocean of green and yellow goo that the battlefield became to share a piece of her mind.
"A world full of trolls that have no life? Hahaha, so true!" Where I lived back on Earth really had a lot of these types, right? But not the ones that lurk under bridges, instead of lurking in social media and bulletin boards...
Seal strength decreased by 7%.
Yes, I can remember! It is blurry, but I was one of those no-life internet denizens, wasn't I? I had a lot of money so I really didn't need to work, and...
Seal strength decreased by 9%
The seal is under 20% now. Judging by the size of this headache I will be out for quite some time when this thing comes undone. Not even 'if', it is a matter of 'when' now. I get near Helen and give her a big hug, burying my face in her shoulder.
"What is wrong, Beowulf?" She asks and pats my head.
"I am having another episode, so I need something to take my mind off of some painful things. Can I use your shoulder?"
"As much as you like, my love. This shoulder and everything else belongs to you."
"It is dangerous to stay here. Let's fall back, Marcy and I will share the watch so Helen has all the night to heal the wounded hero." Zahariel snaps us out of our pink bubble.
We retreat to a safer place and deploy the usual security. 12-hour fire traps non-mammal minefield, round watches. I left a bigger area inside the minefield separated from the camping zone. Since all of us can go back and forth without triggering the mines, there is no problem.
"I will try to get some help to dismantle the bugs and get the pemadras," I announce. My companions are curious. Time to try out one of my latest skills.
"Summon Earth Elemental!" I picture in my mind the type of elemental I want. Small merry and bearded men. Gnomes. They sprout from the naked earth, ready to receive orders.
Each elemental summoned reduce your maximum MP and drains a fair amount of MP at regular intervals. With my current stats, I can keep four gnomes summoned.
"I have seen the entry for these elementals in the monster manual back at the guild. But to put them under your command!" Marcy is amused.
I take a lot of bug parts from the storage into a pile. "Retrieve the pemadra out of those monster parts, place them inside this crate, and dump the remains in that depression over there." They get to work humming some kind of song.
Time to heal some fatigue and stress placing myself under Helen's care. Tomorrow we will dive into the dungeon. Is everything ready for tomorrow? I forgot the system messages. Let me turn them on.
Helen (villager) has gained 27 levels! Zahariel (acolyte) has gained 14+18 levels! Marcy (villager) has gained 27 levels!
Beowulf (magician) has gained 2+14 levels!
106 skill points.
Water Magic level 5. Fire Magic level 5. Athletics level 6. Shield Mastery level 6. Long Spear level 8. Whistling Spear level 4. Evasion level 7. Water Mastery level 4. MP Recovery level 4. Max Stamina level 4. Intimidating Presence level 6. Intimidating Shout level 6. Taunt level 6. Full Defense level 7. Instant Movement level 5. Stamina Recovery level 2. Summon Elemental level 3. {Summon Water Elemental} learned. Elemental Trap level 3. {Cyclone Trap} learned. Enchantment King level 2. Sacrifice Aura level 7.
Title Bug Exterminator awarded. Those that slaughtered over 5,000 bug monsters. Grant 50% more exp for each bug kill and deals 50% more damage to all bug monsters. (100% if set) Title Fortress awarded. Those that killed over 200 charging enemies without moving a single foot. Grants a flat 25% damage reduction for as long as one does not move. (37% if set) Title Devoted Defender awarded. Those that take over 100 times their max HP as friendly fire. Reduces all HP damage taken from friendly fire by 25% (37% if set) Title Bug Bait (curse) awarded. Those cursed by an enemy's dying breath to attract bugs.
Greatly increases chance of being detected by and entices bugs to eat the title holder. Yummy.