"Fly magic?"
Itsuo could not help but to look down at the sight of their neighborhood dwindling from their sight as they flew away, the tall mountains that stood side by side and the forest as he and Selene are being carried as if they are lifeless bodies of monsters being carried after getting killed by a monster hunter.
"This is not magic, this is levitation."
"Huh? Isn't that the same?"
Selene gave Christa a puzzled look.
"No, unlike people who uses their magic to fly in the sky, what I'm using is my energy, manipulating it to make me fly just like them. But the difference is I can make myself faster or slower at any time. Anyway, this should be the direction where the Wither Bees came from. We should be able to see their hive in this height but..."
Christa soared the sky in a normal speed, gazing at the green and rocky land, not leaving a single spot unseen with her keen eyes. But as she continue to fly the direction the Bees came from, Christa noticed that the hive is nowhere to be seen.
"We've been flying for a while now but I don't see the hive. Those things are big, so their hive should be big, too, right?"
"To be honest, I've never seen a hive of a Wither Bee before, but the hive should be appropriately big for their size."
Itsuo gave Christa a vague reply.
The three continued inspecting the area, but all they could see was the land full of rock and soil, forest that extends as far as the eyes can see, covering most of area with large trees, trees that are strangely clustered at the side of one of the tall mountains as if they are purposely placed there by someone and not nature itself. Its strange formation caught Christa's attention.
"Oh, what a strange cluster of trees."
"Cluster...?"
*Gasp*
As the two people Christa carries stared at the group of trees she saw, suddenly, she felt something was looking at them in the same direction they were looking at. Then, she saw a flicker of light as if something reflected the light from the sun. In that instant, something flew like a bullet, headed straight to Christa's eyes. Luckily, Christa managed to avoid whatever it was.
"Uwaah!"
Itsuo and Selene was shook up from Christa's sudden movement. He then gave Christa an expression of terror and displeased look on his face as he questioned her.
"Christa, what's the matter? Why did you move suddenly out of nowhere? Eh, blood...?"
Blood started dripping from Christa's left cheek as she got grazed by the thing that went flying out of nowhere.
"It got me, huh. Everyone, get ready, we're going back on foot."
"We're going down? Hey, Christa! Break, break!"
Christa maneuvered back to the ground, as she continues to gain speed in every meter she descends. Despite the dive with such speed that no ordinary human would survive, Christa landed on the ground safely, with her two feet still intact and is standing on the soil, completely unscathed and uninjured. Selene and Itsuo who thought they are about to meet their end from falling at an incredible height were finally released from Christa's tight grasp.
"I... thought I was going to die..."
Itsuo was breathing in shallow pants while Selene is doing the same.
"Christa... Do you always... Fly like that...? Christa?"
Christa stood idle in the same spot she landed with her eyes seemingly drifting into space. But in Christa's mind, she was trying to sense something that would come from every direction. It was then something caught her attention, a Wither Bee was behind her and is flying straight towards her.
"Haa!"
Christa swiftly draw her wooden sword and sliced the insect the moment it got to her range.
"That's..."
"Wither Bee."
Soon after Itsuo and Selene spoke, the resounding buzz could be heard around them as the Wither Bees appeared one after another, circling around them.
"I think we got into this same situation not too long ago."
Itsuo recalled the moment they got trapped by the goblins and was saved by Christa's flames.
"Don't worry, this time, we'll help you fight, Christa."
"No, let me handle this alone."
Christa abruptly rejected Selene and Itsuo's help who drew his blade in front of the Wither Bees.
"Huh?"
"These insects aren't just normal Wither Bees like we saw flying over the houses earlier."
Unlike the normal Wither Bees' appearance that almost similar to a normal bee, the Bees that surrounds them are clad in purple, crystal-like skin, just like the creature Christa killed in Carmila Town.
'Unlike the normal Wither Bees, these things manifest the same skin as that one, and they all have incredible speed and accuracy when throwing their stings."
Christa recalled the moment she almost got shot in the head by the sting thrown by one of the Wither Bees.
'I could burn them all at once but, Selene might not be able to handle it again, and the trees... Angelica is not here to restore them back to normal. And my sword... I'll use my fist just to be sure.'
Christa approached Selene, giving her the wooden sword in her care.
"Can you hold this for me, Selene?"
"R-right."
Selene took the sword from Christa's hand before she turned towards the Wither Bees once again.
"Once they all attack me, head straight to the cluster of trees we saw earlier, the hive should be in there."
Christa suddenly disappeared in the blink of an eye, then they heard one of the Wither Bees screeching in pain. When they look, its gut was crushed by Christa's kick that it was sent flying away to the tree with such a force that the tree ended up getting destroyed.
'I ended up destroying one...'
Christa muttered in a dead tone.
"Whatever, give me back my sword."
Selene gave Christa's sword back to her. The Wither Bees that was shook after seeing their fellow Wither Bee twitching from the pain it received from Christa, have turned their eyes all on her, seeing her as a threat.
Selene, whose holding the wooden sword until a few seconds ago asked her.
"How about you? Are you going to fight them all alone?"
"There should be more of them in the hive..."
Christa suddenly felt a jolting sting of pain around her left cheek, there, she noticed the small wound she got from earlier was starting to show the skin withering around it, sending pain around her head. But for her, it doesn't seem to bother her at all as she looked pretty well despite its obvious effect.
"It's starting to take effect..."
"Christa, that's..."
"Once I'm done here, I'll follow you both right away."
Christa interrupted Selene's words.
"Alright. Let's go, Selene."
Itsuo responded to Christa, before telling Selene to follow him. The two then make their way towards the clustered trees. The Wither Bees that was blocking the way was sliced apart by Christa's sword swing, giving both of them an open path. The other Bees that watched the three of them died by the same girl who attacked one of them earlier have fueled their hatred towards her and attacked her all at once.
"Come!"
Meanwhile in the Reilaea Capital City, the Wither Bees that came from the area where Christa and the others were are approaching the borders is about to be intercepted by the Knight Guards and some Adventurers. Acting as the vanguard, standing on top of the tall and long brick wall, a Knight Commander shouted his order to battle.
"They're coming! Ready the arrows and long range spells!"
The Knight Guard Archers Squad as well as the long ranged Spell Casters have started to imbue and cast their long range spells, ready to fire at the insects with a single order from the commander.
At the rear point of the city, where the rearguards are in standby, Prince Edle and Kaien along with his entire unit was in a middle of convincing Edle to not go to the vanguard area.
"Prince, the vanguard is too dangerous so we can't let you go there."
"But it's better if we intercept in that point all at once than just waiting here and let the vanguard killed a few of them and get wiped out. So let me go."
The Knight Guard and Edle continued to argue with each other while Kaien was standing behind, letting out a sigh of vexation. Then a man spoke from the sidelines, stopping the two from arguing to each other.
"Why don't you just let the Prince go? I'm sure he will be a great help to stop the vanguard from attacking before it's too late."
"Huh? Stop the attack?"
Everyone turned their attention towards the man who spoke, only to realize its identity that shooked everyone.
"Hey, isn't that..."
"It's him! The man who defeated a demon all by himself!"
"A demon?"
Edle was confused watching the people look in awe and astonishment at the man who spoke a few moments ago.
"So they finally returned..."
Kaien said in a low tone. Confused, Edle asked him who the man was as the people stood back from the side to give the man and the other four people behind him a way.
"They have returned? Do you know him, Kaien?"
"Yes. Those five are the highest ranked Adventurer in Reilaea. And the one in the middle, the man who fought and slain a demon all by himself... His name is Sieghart."