"W-what is this?" Queen Bee was at a loss as she felt searing pain all over her body. She tried to move but realized that the slightest movement and her body would be diced up into several smaller units.
The thought of the pain that would erupt was enough for Queen Bee to remain still while gritting her teeth. "Damn it, who's interfering now?"
Just then there was a pained voice. "Forest of Silver Weaving, complete."
Queen Bee's eyes went wide in shock as she was well aware of the owner of the voice, in fact, she had just left him to his fate not too long ago.
Then how?... How come he's still talking?... His jaws should be paralyzed… Wait, he said something about a forest…
Queen Bee did not want to accept it thus she probed the air around her with her aura. She was immediately stunned!
She had been so focused on Laura that she did not notice the trap that Steel set up for her. The entire area was covered with fine silver threads so thin, that magic probing from weaker magicians won't pick up anything out of the ordinary.
"T-this… How?... When did he do this?" Queen Bee was at a loss when Steel's voice came once again.
"You were so enamored with my contractor, you didn't bother to use your aura during our fight because you were of the misconception that I could only use my physical strength to fight…"
Queen Bee shot back. "You used your silver threads defensively…"
"Of course, now look at the webs that are wrapped around you, did they actively seek you out?" Steel asked.
"…"
Lisa at this point was already feeling a deep sense of foreboding as she watched Queen Bee struggle against an invisible obstacle.
"What's going on?"
Meanwhile, Laura and Steel were having a telepathic discussion.
"Why did it take you so long?" Laura asked, feeling wronged.
Steel tried to chuckle but ended up coughing. "I couldn't act before Queen Bee willingly walked into the weaving. Even if she had her aura on you, any wide movement would have alerted her to my trap and everything would have been for naught."
Laura felt the pain in Steel's voice. Even if he was trying to stay strong, Queen Bee's poison was no joke. "How are you holding up?"
"Let's just say that I'm glad that I completed the trap before that hateful insect stabbed me with her stinger."
"Let me finish her."
Steel firmly refused. "Your attacks would just break her skin at most, I doubt you would be able to land a killing blow in your condition. Just worry about her contractor and the Worker Bees. I'll handle the big one… But I need some help."
Laura quickly responded. "What do I need to do?" she felt bad that Steel had to go through so much just because she had asked that they fight to win.
Under normal circumstances, Laura would have been okay dragging out the fight since Lisa was weaker than her.
Based on the number of magic circles Laura had compared to Lisa, it meant that her summoning would last longer than Lisa's.
But today she needed to show a certain someone that she was not a pushover in fights.
That even though facing Lisa in a head-on confrontation would surely require paying a sufficient price, she would be willing to pay it.
"Maybe this way, he won't continue to look down on me as a total weakling." Laura managed a weak smile as Steel informed her of what to do.
Taking a deep breath, she channeled magic through the single red line that connected her to Steel. This red line was known as the Sire's bond.
A bond that confirmed the relationship between a Magician and a dimensional being.
The next second, Steel got enough magic to brute force his way through the paralysis just enough to wiggle his fingers a bit.
Queen Bee felt the movement in the webs that bound her and almost like she knew what would happen next, she screamed out. "Stop!"
Steel muttered. "It would seem I win this round."
Forming a fist, his webs tightened their hold on Queen Bee and then… slash
Queen Bee got decapitated with her body parts flying every which way and her blood dying almost half of the arena in red.
Lisa felt a dull pain in her stomach, causing her to crumple while wrapping her arms around herself.
She could tell that Queen Bee's aura had dropped due to her death. Of course, this did not mean that Queen Bee was permanently dead.
A dimensional being wouldn't die if summoned into Midgard as the real truth behind summoning was that it would only bring out an avatar of the contracted beast.
An avatar capable of channeling 80% of the dimensional being's power. Thus the worst that could happen would be that the dimensional being, upon dying on Midgard would receive a backlash in their home world, effectively affecting their cultivation rank.
Of course, this could be recovered but no one would want to readily die, even if it's just an avatar.
As Lisa tried to recover from the pain she felt, Laura prepared to receive hers.
"I will leave everything else to you." Steel said in a tired voice after which he died, his body scattering into particles of light that drifted away with the wind.
The pain came like a train as it slammed into Laura, causing her knees to buckle but she remained standing. Fighting through the pain, she muttered. "Don't worry, I'll make sure to end this quickly."
Her fingers began to move after which the air current around her began to pick up.
Lisa saw this and instinctively felt the urge to run away but she remained in her position, why?
Because she still had backup while Laura was alone.
"There's no way she would be able to win against ten thousand Worker Bees, right?" Lisa tried to assure herself.
Sensing her thoughts, the Worker Bees let out screeches as they dove down to attack Laura with a vengeance.
Of course, Laura did not back down even when faced with such numbers. "Bring it on."