The day after, we went back to hunting. Hansen’s summons were now the ones sent out to gather bugs. At some point, though, the Hero had wandered off on his own. Before I could guess what he was doing, he returned with a couple of captured bugs. He then went off to talk to Hansen.

While I couldn’t hear them this time, it wasn’t hard to figure out what was going on when he gave one of the bugs to a summon. He was trying to increase their ability to attract bugs! Haa, I hope this goes well.

It didn’t take long for the pace to once again increase. At least we started to have breaks much more often too. The Hero was even helping me with harvesting. While things have gotten a bit more difficult, we are collecting fluid much quicker. We might even finish gathering after a few days! Haa, I can’t wait to be done.

______

Those few days sadly turned into a week, as we were taking a break every two days. We were still going way faster than I initially thought we would, though. Things ended up going ‘peacefully’ for the next few days.

Then, one day Hansen reported that one of his summons died. While odd, it wasn’t anything to be concerned about, at least until the second one died. We quickly realized what was happening.

Any summons that were using a captured bug were being hunted down. “Did the hive perhaps send something out?” Gregory theorized.

“That would explain why the summons were being killed.” Rapunzel agreed. “I’m going to check it out. Hansen, could I borrow some summons?”

“Indeed.”

After a bit, Rapunzel returned. “The hive sent a soldier out.”

“That could be problematic. While there is likely only one soldier currently, should we delay our departure, more will be sent.” Gregory worried.

“While annoying, we are almost finished, so we should be fine to continue hunting. If we kill this soldier, the hive shouldn’t notice until tomorrow. So, we can keep hunting until Hansen’s summons get attacked again. We will leave then with however much fluid we’ve gathered." The Hero suggested.

“That should work, blast hives do tend to be fairly slow to react.” Gregory agreed.

“In the meantime, we should set up some pit traps. While blast soldiers aren’t as powerful as a troll, they are capable of grabbing people with their pincers, which is usually lethal, and their exoskeleton makes them hard to damage. Luckily their final gambit will only activate if we destroy its exoskeleton, so we are unlikely to have to deal with it. But, just in case, its final gambit vastly increases its speed and jumping ability, making it have a far easier time grabbing and killing someone.” Rapunzel explained.

“Do they still explode?” I ask.

“No, these don’t have that sort of weakness, they do however spit acid onto anything caught in its pinchers, so do not get caught.”

After we prepared for the soldier by digging a few holes and covering them with a weak stone cover, Hansen got Zarewthem to lure it over. It didn’t take long for us to see the soldier charging towards us. Surprisingly, it was even slower than the troll. Zarewthem jumped over one of the hidden traps before Gregory raised a stone wall at its edge.

The soldier bug itself looked similar to a black rhinoceros beetle, but with a pair of barbed pincers and a dozen thick, stubby legs partially protected by its overhanging shell. It was also about as tall as an actual rhinoceros, but decently wider.

The soldier’s charged into the wall, before partially falling into the pit. The pit was made wide and deep enough to have the soldier’s legs to fall in without actually being able to touch the ground, while not being big enough for its large shell to fit.

Sadly its legs could still scrape against the walls of the pit, so it will only be trapped for a bit. But that’s why we dug multiple.

“Cut off one of the pincers!" The Hero advised as we started our assault.

It was now Melly’s time to shine! I had already buffed her strength and speed with the linked buff, so the power behind her great ax’s slash will be immense. One blow was able to break through the plating protecting the pincer. Excited at the damage, Melly repeatedly slashed the same spot as the soldier screeched in rage. The others didn’t even have a chance to really assist before Melly severed the pincer all on her own, sending it flying into the distance.

The soldier started shaking in anger, its rage blinding the bug from properly trying to escape the trap. Gregory, noticing the trap working better than expected, started a fire under the bug, trying to cripple its legs, but sadly releasing an unpleasant smell. Everyone else started focusing on the few small joints of the outer shell.

Sadly, the bug’s shell was too tough to do anything but slowly chip away at it, even for Melly, who had swapped to a maul. Zarewthem started to claw away at its face, trying to destroy its eyes, but even his mighty claws could only leave scratches.

Despite attacking uninhibited for a few minutes, only Melly barely managed to break through the shell to start attacking its body, while Zarewthem could only destroy two of its six eyes.

The bug eventually managed to break free of the trap, making it much more difficult for us to damage it. It’s a good thing we spent the past several days practicing how to hit specific areas, so we won’t be too inhibited.

The soldier, despite being free, was barely a threat now. We had already dealt with its most dangerous ability, and its acid spit is easy to dodge. Also, because Gregory burnt its legs, its speed has dropped so it can’t even try to crush us.

The battle, despite being fairly easy, was still going to take quite a while. So, Gregory went to reinforce one of the covered pits so we could try again. Sadly, when we lured it over, the trap broke early, so the bug was only leaning into the pit. It was then able to crawl out.

The next pit Gregory reinforced so much, the bug just walked across without collapsing it. We decided to lure it over again, while he activated the trap manually. He then started roasting the bug again. While the smell became more potent, at least the bug also got slower. And, by the time it escaped, Zarewthem had destroyed three more eyes, and we were actually able to start attacking its body.

After escaping, the soldier became hesitant to move, only moving when someone got close in an attempt to attack.

So, that’s how the rest of the battle went, we attacked an effectively imobile enemy that was too cautious to move and too slow to hit anyone with its attack. The only time it would move from its spot was when Gregory tried to set another fire underneath it.

After several minutes, the soldier let out one final screech as it forced itself to launch a ball of acid towards Melly in rage, killing itself in the process.

“AHH!” Melly screamed as the acid hit her leg.

“Melly!” I yelled as I rushed over. “Melly, this is going to hurt, don’t resist.” I say as I start healing her.

“Do it.” She clenches. I then started to cast one of the few ‘damaging’ spells I had. The spell is capable of separating and removing flesh, but it struggles to even scratch children should they resist. I would like to cast a calming mental spell, but as it would be difficult to get her to not resist and accept both that and cutting spell, all trying would likely do is prolong her suffering. Haa, it’s just not worth the risk.

“It’s okay.” I say as I hug her. Despite my spells numbing the pain, acid is still massively painful, and I don’t even want to think about how horrible the wounds it creates are. After a few tries, Melly eventually let the spell work. As I removed the flesh the acid was on so the healing spell could actually work, Melly let out a yelp. “Good job, you'll soon be as good as new.” I comforted as her wound slowly healed.

I kept holding her for a while even after she’s been healed. It’s not easy to just walk off taking acid damage or losing a chunk of flesh. While I’ve not seen anyone hurt by acid before, I have seen people who’ve lost a part of themselves, and it’s never pleasant. It took a bit for Melly to calm down, but once she did, it was almost like nothing happened. She’s definitely quite tough.

“How are you doing?” I ask. She did just lose, and then recover, like half a pound of flesh.

“Surprisingly good, all things considered. My leg still feels off, but I know that’s because it’s only just been restored. I’ll probably be as good as new within an hour. I’ve got to say, your healing is so much better than any other healing I’ve ever received. I know it’s a bit late to say this, but it is truly wondrous, being able to just do things afterwards. It is really nice.” She complimented.

“Yeah, the true healing unique to the saintess and a few really high-level healers is really amazing. It never ceases to amaze me how I can just restore flesh instead of effectively just gluing it together. And, if I get a bit stronger, I can apparently even restore limbs with a single spell.” I say in wonder. While normal healers can restore limbs, it usually takes months of healing to accomplish. I mean, even this wound would have taken days to heal for a normal healer.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

“That sounds like it could be useful, but I really hope you never have to use that on us.” She says with a sigh. I definitely agree.

“How are you fairing, Melly?" The Hero asks after we finish.

“I should be good to continue hunting in a few minutes.” What?

“I see, we’ll go with that then, just make sure you aren’t forcing yourself and take breaks whenever you need them.” Haa, and he’s just letting her.

“Don’t worry, I’m not forcing myself. In fact, I can’t wait to kill a few more bugs as payback for the acid.” She says with a determined anger.

“I understand, make sure to take care of her, Elizabeth.” He asked.

“Of course! I won’t let her do something stupid.” I promised.

“Oi! I’m not going to do anything stupid, I’m just going to kill a few bugs!”

I shrug. I trust her, but I’m going to watch her anyway.

So, a few minutes later, the Hero asked. “Shall we resume hunting now?”

“That should be fine, go ahead and start luring in bugs.” Rapunzel responded.

“Okay, I’ll be back in a bit. Can I borrow some more summons, Hansen?” He’s going all out already? Really? Wow.

“Indeed.” He said as he got some summons to follow the Hero.

A short time later, the bugs started to appear. At least they started slowly, before they steadily increased in pace. Pretty soon, we were hunting at the same pace we were before the soldier arrived.

We kept up a similar pace (with breaks here and there) until it started getting late, so we went back to camp. As we went to sleep, I made sure to cuddle with Melly. While she seemed fine, it’s always nice to be comforted after something bad happens.

After we woke up and had breakfast, we (the Hero) finally packed up our camp. Haa, we’ve been here for over a week! I’m so glad that we can finally leave, I’m sick of these bugs. Though we are still going to hunt for a bit, hopefully by the end, we will have enough explosives for whatever the Hero needs them for. I really don’t want to come back here.

Well, at least our last hunt went surprisingly well. We were able to increase our pace even further and were able to keep hunting until a bit after noon.

“My summons are starting to be killed.” Hansen reported.

“Okay, let’s finish harvesting these last few bugs before leaving.”

“Ahh, we’re finally done. I can’t wait to finally do something else, like fighting some orcs.” I say with a stretch as the Hero quickly harvests the last few bugs.

After we finished and were just starting to leave. “A soldier should be nearby.” Hansen suddenly reported. “A nearby summon has been killed.”

“Okay, let’s run then." The Hero suggests.

Sadly, before we could leave, Rapunzel announced. “It's found us.”

I turn over to look and see it off in the distance. As soon as it noticed us, it started to charge. Its speed, even when weighed down, was still faster than we could run, even if I’d buffed us.

“Let’s use one of the pit traps." The Hero suggested. We were in our usual spot, so the unused traps were still there.

“That is a clever idea. I’ll prepare to block it.” Gregory approved.

Luckily, we managed to trap this soldier just like the first one. These bugs really aren’t too smart.

“SCREEE!!” The bug screeched.

We ignored it and kept running. I made sure to cast speed buffs on everyone. Sadly even my improved buffs can only increase your speed by almost seventy percent. That meant that the bugs would still be faster than even Rapunzel, much less me and Gregory, and Hansen, though not the Hero or Melly.

We were able to run for a few minutes before. “Another one’s found us, it will probably catch up within a few minutes.” Rapunzel reported.

Her perception is as great as always, I can’t even see it when I look. Though that doesn’t last for long as it soon starts catching up.

“What do we do now?” I ask.

“We need to slow it down. We probably can’t stay here for long, who knows how many soldiers the nest sent out." The Hero said. “Gregory, prepare a big fire spell. Melly, Zarewthem, get ready to attack its legs. If we can inhibit one side, it won’t be fast enough to catch us. Sadly we can’t use Hansen’s summons to lure them away as it has already found us. Some others are likely heading this way as well.”

“I will be ready.” Gregory said.

“Understood.” “Got it.” Zarewthem and Melly responded.

I buffed everyone as we ran, trying to get as far away from the nest as possible.

Once the bug was in range, Gregory cast a flame pillar under it. Melly then charged over and swung her ax at its left legs, with Zarewthem following with several swipes. Rapunzel started shooting at its eyes to distract it, while the Hero charged forward to attract its focus. Haa, the Hero is playing a dangerous game by being in front of its pincers, but if anyone could avoid being grabbed, it’s him. Gregory continued to cast flame pillars while I prepared to desperately heal the Hero should he get grabbed.

Melly and Zarewthem then started to alternate charges as they tried to maximize the damage to its dozen armored legs. As long as we damage its legs enough, we can outrun it. And, the quicker we accomplish this, the less likely another soldier can catch up to us.

Annoyingly, its legs are too numerous, thick, and armored for us to really cause any damage. That’s when the Hero shouted. “Gregory, smokescreen. Everyone, run as far away as possible and brace!”

Sadly, we only managed to escape a short distance before we suddenly felt an explosion. I instinctively started healing myself as I could while I tried to figure out what just happened.

Ah, I see, the Hero bombed the bug. And us. I was about to get really mad, but then I saw how injured the Hero was. He didn’t have the leeway to run, so he instead jumped onto the bug to use it as a shield. While it worked, it wasn’t perfect.

As I started to rush over to him, the bug moved. THE BUG IS STILL ALIVE. I quickly started healing him as I checked on everyone else. Melly is mostly fine. Rapunzel is struggling to get up, but is otherwise ‘fine.’ Hansen was protected by Zarewthem, so his injuries are minor. Gregory luckily managed to summon an earthwall, but was still severely injured. I was about as injured as Gregory, but I’ve mostly healed myself already. Yay super fast self healing. That’s why proper paladins are feared.

“Let’s hurry! I’ll keep healing everyone as we leave!” I shout once the Hero is no longer in critical condition. “Melly! I need you to carry the Hero for now. Don’t worry about his injuries, I can always heal them later.” I must admit, I am a bit mad at him. “The bug is still alive!”

“Okay.” She responds as she quickly picks up the Hero.

I then turned my attention to Gregory. I focused on healing his legs so he could start walking. Soon, he could walk, despite really not wanting to.

“Let’s start walking, if we take too long the bug will attack us.” That got everyone moving. I sent a quick heal to Rapunzel and Hansen, before continuing to heal Gregory.

We were able to slowly increase our pace as Gregory got healed. Once his legs were fully healed, he was almost as fast as everyone else, gritting through the pain his movement was causing him with the help of my pain relief spell. After I made sure the spell was going to last, I did my pseudo heal on Zarewthem, before returning to the Hero to try to get him to wake up.

“You’re finally awake.” I commented when he finally woke up. “I have a lot I want to say, but I’m going to wait until we are out of here first.”

“Okay.” He says as he checks on everyone else. “Make sure everyone is fully healed before focusing on Gregory.” That sound’s concerning.

I quickly started to heal them, before Rapunzel shouted. “One’s coming. And it’s fast!” And there’s the reason for the warning.

Before I could even ask how fast, I saw it. The pink, shell-less bug rushing way faster than I’ve ever seen anything move on ground.

“A final gambit Soldier!” Melly shouts.

“Stop it’s charge!" The Hero shouted.

Before we could figure out how, Zarewthem said, “I won’t let it pass!” and charged.

Understanding his plan, I said, “Dump the Hero and get ready for battle. We need to kill this fast.”

“Got it.” Melly said, literally just dropping the Hero, causing him to yelp in pain. I guess she’s mad too.

“We can actually damage this one, so as long as we deal with its mobility, we should be fine.” Rapunzel reminded us.

I buffed up everyone, starting to really feel the drain on my mana. I pulled out a mana potion just in case, but I doubt it would even help us at this point.

Luckily, Zarewthem successfully stopped the bug’s charge, but he won’t last long in its grapple. He spends his final moments clawing at the bug’s unprotected eyes as Rapunzel assists with her arrows. Gregory launched a fireball, setting the bug on fire, and surprisingly causing it to drop Zarewthem as it screeched in pain.

Despite being released, Zarewthem just kept clawing at the bug since he was almost dead from the acid. Luckily, with Rapunzel’s help, they were able to finish off its remaining eyes.

Melly was then able to slash down with her sword and sever the bug's unarmored pincer. Yes! Now the bug can no longer use its most dangerous attack.

The bug, realizing this, just started to attack mostly randomly, as, despite having a heightened sense of smell, it doesn’t actually know how to properly use it in combat, especially with the stench being emitted from its own burning body.

Melly, taking advantage of its panic, started to destroy its legs. After it lost a few legs, it started to just run around randomly, probably hoping for a lucky hit.

After we spent a few minutes attacking it, we finally managed to injure it enough that it finally slowed down, enabling us to finally kill it.

“Haa, let’s go. I really don’t want to fight another soldier.” I complained. “Thank you Zarewthem.” I say with a bow, despite him having already been unsummoned. If he wasn’t here, someone might have died.

Everyone agreed as Melly picked up the Hero and we started traveling to wherever the Hero pointed. After a few hours, I finally managed to fully heal everyone’s injuries as we arrived at the clearing the Hero led us to.

Before I could give him a piece of my mind though, he said. “Let’s talk about this tomorrow. I’m sure everyone is exhausted.”

“You just want to cool our anger off with your meals.” I grumble.

“That certainly helps.” He said with a smile.

“Fine. Tomorrow.” I relent. Truthfully, I’d rather just go to sleep as well.

So, after eating and setting up watch, everyone went to sleep.