“I never thought anything could smell too sweet,” Tafel said and wrinkled her nose. She was holding a barrel of insect gold, pouring its contents into a portal by her feet. Not too far away, there was a portal in the sky with insect gold flowing out of it and onto the rocky surface below. It oozed and spread out like honey, folding over itself as it advanced and painted the ground with a golden-amber color.

Stella flew down from Vur’s shoulder and dipped her finger into the golden liquid. She retrieved a droplet with the tip of her finger and gave it a taste. “Blech.” The fairy queen made a face as she voiced her disapproval. “It tastes funky.”

“That’s why it’s called insect gold,” Mervin said as he followed after Stella. “It’d be named tasty gold if everyone found it delicious.” The genie king grinned. “If you’re looking for something sweet to eat, I can find a snack for you.”

Stella shook her head and flew back towards Vur, landing on his shoulder and partially hiding with his hair. He glanced at her before turning his attention back onto the task at hand. He picked up an open barrel of insect gold and threw it in the air, launching it off into the distance. It left a trail of liquid behind before crashing and exploding into splinters upon impact with the ground. Standing not too far away from Vur, Lindyss was coaxing the sap out of trees and sending the liquid into waiting barrels with her mana.

Vur stared at the barrel, watching as it filled with the viscous sap. As he thought, it was much faster to simply smash the trees and throw them to spread the insect gold around, but Lindyss stopped him, saying his actions were too wasteful.

“There’s no hurry,” Lindyss said, her eyes shifting to look at Vur while her hands continued to move in the air as if she were conducting a chorus. “The dragons and phoenixes aren’t even here yet.”

“But it’s slow,” Vur said before looking at Tafel. “Can you cast haste on Auntie?”

“You will do no such thing,” Lindyss said, glaring at Tafel before the demon could respond. “Extracting the right amount of sap without hurting these trees requires precision. With a haste spell, you’ll make my hands twitchy.”

Vur tilted his head. “What if I command your hands not to twitch?”

“How about…,” Lindyss said, dragging the two words out, “no.”

Vur shrugged. It was worth asking. He went up to the almost-full barrel and lifted it over his shoulder before positioning himself to get a good throw. With a grunt, he heaved it while placing a spin on the bottom, causing the barrel to tumble and scatter insect gold everywhere as it flew towards the horizon.

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Kim Hajun let out a sigh as a barrel flew through the sky past his vision. Standing in the portable shelter behind him, there were all the lords of the tower, and behind them, there were the elites of their guilds. Even though Vur hadn’t felt the lords’ help was necessary to defeat the Oebu Sin, Kim Hajun went and alerted them anyway. The lords might’ve been disgruntled with Vur’s behavior after being defeated by him, but they wouldn’t miss out on a chance to obtain materials from Oebu Sin. A furrow appeared on the well-dressed man’s face, and he exhaled through his nose. Hopefully, everything would work out.

Another barrel flew through the air, splattering the honey-like substance everywhere, but the familiar crashing sound didn’t follow. Instead a curious, wizened voice asked, “What’s this?” The surroundings lit up with an orange glow. “It smells so sweet!” There was a short pause. “And it tastes so bitter!”

“Queen Malvina,” another wizened voice said. “If I’m not mistaken, this is insect gold.”

“This?” Malvina asked. “Isn’t insect gold a rare item? There’s so much on the ground; it might be fake.”

“That’s true….”

Kim Hajun held his breath as the surroundings turned from orange to red. Hundreds of phoenixes came into view. When Kim Hajun saw them, they also saw him, their heads turning to look at the camouflaged tarp that was the outer layer of the portable shelter. The well-dressed man didn’t have to look behind himself to know everyone was tensing, readying themselves for a fight.

“Humans, begone!” Malvina said and flapped her wings in their direction. Massive plumes of blood-red flames roared and stopped just outside the shelter, flooding it with a sweltering heat. “You have ten seconds to leave this place!”

The lords and the people behind them exchanged worried glances, their faces glowing blood-red under the massive flames outside the shelter. Kim Hajun took in a deep breath and stepped forward. “Wait!” he shouted. “I am a prophet. I’ve foreseen the arising of another Oebu Sin; today, at this location, a new enemy of the towers will appear! I’m sure the noble and strong phoenixes know all about the threat of the Oebu Sin.”

The flames flickered before parting, revealing the sky to the people within the shelter. Malvina glared at Kim Hajun, scanning him from head to toe. “And what are you hoping to accomplish by showing up as weak as you are? The Oebu Sin aren’t opponents that can be defeated with mere numbers.” The phoenix queen’s eyes widened, and she turned her head to the side before flapping her wings, sending her shooting off to the side. A lightning bolt flashed through the space where she had just been and struck the ground with a bang.

“This is what happens when your lazy butts fly too slow!” Fern shouted, his voice echoing from the horizon. “They got to the ambush point before we did!”

“Dragons!” Malvina shouted in return. “They must’ve caught wind of what we were going to do!”

Fern waved at Volearden and gestured towards the phoenixes with his neck. “Are we going?” he asked with his body language, not using any words.

The armored dragon frowned underneath his helmet and swept his gaze over the area. Was Vur not going to make an appearance?