"That giant black blade... The scar in his right eye that he received from fighting the demon. It's really him, the man that defeated the demon all by himself and is one of the five strongest Adventurers in Reilaea. It's Sieghart, the Demon Slayer!"
The crowd's mouth fell open and was staggered at the breathtaking sight of the man who they look up to as a hero standing before them.
"Are you kidding me, They're still calling me with that lame "Demon Slayer" title."
"Well, I don't see anything wrong with it. You did defeat a demon only by yourself 15 years ago, that's quite an impressive achievement during your young days, Old Man."
The girl with a pointy long ears and ocean green hair spoke with a scornful look on her face. Just looking at her doing that expression exasperates Sieghart. And so he responded, to get back on her.
"It's been 15 years already, huh? It's as long as the time I met all of you. Speaking of Old Man, you sure have gotten older, too, right? How old are you now in Elven age, 420 years old?"
"Wha?! Who said you can speak in front of the public about my real age, you ogre!"
Sieghart gestured, acting like he can't hear anything as he continued to mock the Elven girl.
"Huuh...? Sorry, I can't hear you. Is it because I'm getting old, or is it because you're too old to even utter a word in a high tone anymore?"
"You...!"
Everyone on the sidelines could not say a word but to just stood there, watching Sieghart continuously insulting the girl whose trying to hit him but she couldn't as Sieghart grabbed her by her head, making himself unreachable within the girl's punches. Edle who was idly looking at the two like everyone else does.
'What the hell are those two doing?"
He whispered through his head while giving a blank expression. Then, the other girl in Sieghart's group stopped the two.
"That's enough, we need to stop the people from attacking those Bees."
The two finally halted as Sieghart stared at Edle who he thought was at the vanguard point already after suggesting him to go a few moments later.
"Eh, Prince? I thought you already went and stopped the people from attacking them?"
"Stopping them? What are you talking about?"
"Never mind, it was too late."
The other girl muttered. In the vanguard point of the city, the Wither Bees have reached the firing range of the Archer Squad and the Adventurers. But even as they get closer where they could literally see the people standing on top of the border, the horde of Wither Bees continues to fly in the same altitude. It's as though they don't have any interest to descend and attack the prey on their sight.
The commander of the vanguard failed to notice the unusual and abnormal behavior of the Wither Bees as he perceive them as a killer insect. And so with his mind set on defending the city, he began to shout the call for the Archer Squad as well as the Gold and Platinum ranked Adventurers to fire at the insects.
"Here they come! Shoot the Wither Bees!"
Everyone aimed their projectiles to each one of the insects.
"Defend the city! Shoot every single one of them! Fire!"
The crowd began to storm the sky with their projectile spells.
"Magic Arrow!"
"Fire Ball!"
"Thunder Bolt!"
"Water Lance!"
A Knight Guard went to Edle to tell him about the start of the barrage of magic spells against insects.
"It has begun. The vanguard have started their long range assault against the Bees."
Edle watched the battle to defend their city from a safe distance in the rear point. Lights that looked like fireworks that was set off under the morning sky can be seen flying through the sky, heading straight to the Wither Bees. The first wave of their spells proved effective as Wither Bees fell from the sky one after another. However, the other insect who saw the members of their horde falling down as they lost their lives from the attack of the crowd have finally set their sights on the humans in front of them.
After being angered by the sudden attack, the Wither Bees began maneuvering towards the humans in the border with such speed that made the commander faulter.
"T-they're coming! Fire again! Don't let them reach us!"
The crowd began to recast their magic, firing and hitting the Wither Bees as they get closer and closer. But the horde was too many for them and they don't have enough mana or mana potion to keep them from casting their magic. It didn't take long before the Archer Squad used up all their arrow and the Adventurers using all their magic.
"The long range attackers have used up all their magic, switch to melee combat!"
That's when the vanguard switched from long range to melee combat, the long range knights and adventurers retreated as the Knight Guards and the other Adventurers who uses swords, ax and other melee weapon took their place. And thus the real battle to defend Reilaea from the killer insects began.
"Ah, we were too late, huh?"
Sieghart calmly said.
"You could've just get there and stop the attack yourself, you know?"
The girl muttered once again with the same emotion less expression on her face. The elven girl stopped her attacks that couldn't reach Sieghart as she asked what to do.
"What do we do now? Should we go there and help them?"
"Well, I guess that's what we came here for after the Queen's notice."
"Prince Edle, please wait! You can't go there!"
A voice of the Knight Guard caught their attention as it calls Edle who is running straight to the vanguard area along with Kaien and his units.
"Hurry! They need our help quick!"
The Prince's back fades from the distance. Sieghart and the four people beside him looked at each other, as though they are talking inside their heads. Then, Sieghart spoke, inviting them to go to the vanguard.
"Let's get going?"
"You can just go ahead of us, but okay."
"Eileen..."
Sieghart frowned. The five finally began to make their way towards the battlefield.
In the forest where Christa, Itsuo and Selene are, the three splits into two groups with Itsuo and Selene heading to the clustered trees where they suspected the hive was hidden. While Christa stayed behind to fight the purple Wither Bees alone.
In the middle of her fight against the number of the insects, Christa finds herself in a situation where all she was doing was to dodge their bullet-like speed as she observes the Wither Bees difference to the normal ones.
"These things really are faster than the normal Wither Bees. They also have a good aim at throwing their stings, if I'm not careful I'd get hit by those."
Christa began to match the speed of the Bees as she caught one of them, killing it with a thrust of her sword. It was then she realized something different about this unsual purple Wither Bees to the purple monster she fought way back.
"Unlike the creature in Carmila Town where it regenerates even after being cut into two, these insects only need a single thrust or a powerful kick and they'll die immediately."
Christa continues to kill them one by one.
"I don't see the same crystal that the monster had in them. Is it because they are different species even though they have the same skin? Or is it because they are made by someone who actually has the crystal?"
Down to kill the last Wither Bee, something hit Christa like a thunder that made her realize something.
"Could it be...? There's only one way to prove it, I need to go there now."
Christa jumped and went over the trees as she flew straight to the trees they found earlier. At the time where they parted with Christa as she stayed behind and was about to fight the insects, Selene and Itsuo finally reached the clustered trees rather quickly and safely, unlike what Christa told them.
"Christa said there's more of them around here but we didn't encounter a single one of them."
Selene spoke as she looks at every angle of the surroundings, being wary of something that might appear and suddenly attack them out of nowhere.
"I guess we're just lucky this time."
Itsuo spoke as he looked at the odd trees that are really close to each other, its trunks could touch the other.
"It's too quiet to be true, Itsuo! I have a bad feeling about this."
Selene could feel the tension in the air, the trees that makes a sound as the wind blew sends a chill down her spine. And the fear and terror is starting to crush her inside. But Itsuo who seemed too absorbed looking at the trees doesn't seem to feel the same thing that Selene feel.
"The hive should be in here, but I don't see anything, nor a sound that the Bees make when they're close."
Itsuo touched one of the trees as he tries to figure out where the hive could be. But as he puts force on his touch, he felt the tree moved an inch.
...
Itsuo walked back a few steps after noticing the tree's sudden movement.
"What's the matter, Itsuo?"
"The tree... It moved."
"Eh?"
"When I put my hand on it, it felt like I pushed it a little. It's like its not intact on the ground at all."
Itsuo crouched down in front of the tree trunks he touched, and out of curiosity, he suddenly took the dirt around the tree trunks and saw its roots that doesn't connect to the ground, it's as though someone just placed them in one place after taking them from somewhere.
"The roots, their not connected on the ground."
"What?"
Itsuo stood back up and asked Selene for help.
"Selene, help me push this thing from the side."
"What are you..."
"Just help me!"
"A-alright."
The two used all their strength to push the tree down to the side, and surprisingly, they did it as the roots that supports the trunks was indeed cut off. Which made Itsuo realized that the trees were just put there together to hide something.
"So it really is cut off. That means these too are..."
The two proceeded to push the other trees aside. After a few moments of pushing all the trees one after another that really did wore them out, a giant cave entrance from the foot of the mountain was revealed before them.
"A giant cave..."
Selene spoke as she looks at the cave consciously.
"Could the hive be inside here?"
"Seriously? Another cave...?"
Itsuo recalled the moment they got trapped by the goblins inside the cave along with Christa.
"Itsuo? Are you okay?"