Chrysos and Meiros looked at the colony's nest for a while until the vibration became weaker and weaker. When there were no more vibrations, it meant that the hornets were all dead.
"Should I throw a rock just to be safe?" Meiros was playing with a small stone with a stick as he sat. He felt that the hornets were probably done killing each other by now.
"No need, I feel like it's done now." When Chrysos deemed it safe, he looked around and saw a boulder nearby.
He pulled out his Alizuite sword and used his spell Wind Slash. He then gathered strength to slice the boulder into a cube. He failed to slice it into a cube, but it resembled one. Albeit crudely.
He then carved this cube to resemble a shovel. When Chrysos was satisfied with the shape, he started digging up the colony. It honestly looked like an enlarged stone spoon instead of a shovel though.
Chrysos uncovered the soil bit by bit.
And sure enough, thousands of dead hornets could be seen from the patch of soil that Chrysos dug.
The reason why Chrysos was digging the colony up is because the adventurer's guild wouldn't believe it immediately, so they'll send people to investigate if Chrysos really did what the quest told him to do. But if he shows them evidence of the quest's completion, they'll save manpower and they'll even add in an extra reward.
There will be punishments for false reports and if the adventurer didn't show any evidence of the quest's completion, the adventurer would not receive the extra reward.
So of course, as a man with an unstable source of income, Chrysos wanted the reward.
That's why he's digging the colony up to get enough evidence. He didn't want anything else, he just wanted to get the hornet queen. The hornets will guard the queen during an attack, so showing them this means that he did eliminate the colony.
"Meiros, why do you think the hornets lost?" Chrysos asked while digging.
"Is it because they cannot think? That's why they lost?" Meiros answered with an unsure tone. Not understanding what his master was getting at.
"Nope, it's because they believe things with their limited perception. So if we ever get in a situation similar to these hornets, don't go attacking the air with your sword, you might stab yourself." Chrysos then followed up with a light laugh. "Or in short, don't be stupid. You aren't a hornet, Meiros."
Meiros couldn't keep a straight face and he ended up spurting some air before laughing. "I really thought that you were going to give real advice." Meiros knew that the joke wasn't really funny, it was the delivery that got him.
Chrysos continued digging and eventually saw something shiny sticking out the ground. His eyes opened wide for a split second before saying,
"Oh wait, I got the queen." Chrysos saw a large shiny hornet that was six inches long. He was sure that this was the queen because of the eggs sticking out of its abdomen.
Crushing the eggs, Chrysos brushed his hands against his legs and turned to Meiros, "Alright, let's go home. This quest is too easy."
"Alright." Meiros followed behind and was prepared to be carried home as usual.
Chrysos stabbed the shovel in the soil where he dug the colony, but as they were about to leave, they both heard a sharp sound like glass hitting something hard. It sounded like it came from the colony that Chrysos just dug up.
Clink!
Chrysos turned around and looked at the deep hole that he dug up and saw a faint glow coming from it.
"Hold on, what is that?" Chrysos picked up the shovel and began digging once more. The more he dug, he could see small tunnels leading towards the glowing thing.
When he fully unearthed it, both him and Meiros couldn't help but open their mouths in shock.
"It's..." Meiros gasped in shock.
"A high grade Divinious crystal?! And it's at the strange tier!?" Chrysos couldn't help but fantasize about upgrading his sword even more. And not only that, he'll have spares for his armor and Meiros' equipment too! And even if he used up that much of the Divinious crystal for the both of them, he would have enough for making potions too! It was a miracle!
"We're rich!" Meiros jumped in excitement.
Chrysos now realized why the hornets decided to make a colony here. They were getting strengthened by this crystal, so they decided to stay here and grow.
"We'll be taking this then." Chrysos laughed and reached his palm out. "High five!"
"Erm, what's a high five?" Meiros was unfamiliar with the English term.
"Oh, it's something that you do if you're really happy with someone so both of you just.." Chrysos clapped his hands together to demonstrate. "High five, just like that."
Meiros reached his hand and did the high five that his master spoke of.
"Yeah, you got it. Now do a fist bump." Chrysos turned his hand into a fist.
Meiros understood the logic behind this and his fist met with Chrysos' fist.
"And there we go. Whenever we succeed on something together, we'll do a high five from now on. It'll be something like a victory tradition." Chrysos carried the shovel above his shoulder.
"Sure, I would like that." Meiros felt closer to Chrysos. Chrysos was the first one that Meiros could call family.
Chrysos continued digging and finally took out the crystal and found out that it was around one and a half meters in length, height and width.
It was pretty huge, so Chrysos took the sheepskin and wrapped the rough ball shaped Divinious crystal tightly. He was wrapping it up until he heard laughing from the forest.
Meiros turned around and tried to scan where the sound came from.
Chrysos also felt danger from the unknown source. "Who's there?" He unsheathed his sword and attached three Wind Slash spells.
Three men came out from the forest. One corrupted swordsman, a steel armorclad and a hunter.
Chrysos became more alert after seeing this.
The swordsman wore a mask that covered his face except for his eyes. He wore some armor, but it didn't fully cover him. His hair was orange and he had a very punchable face.
The hunter is tall and a bit lanky. But because of his posture and how he held his double blades made him look shorter. He had black hair with leaves and grass all over it. He wore lightweight armor that didn't protect him much and a mask made of grass rope.
The steel armorclad is fully donned in iron armor, leaving no way to identify him. His armor had chiseled designs that stopped on his back. He held a heavy sword that requires two hands to wield properly.
"Hey, that's a nice find there... Such a shame that we'll have to take it." The swordsman who looked like the leader of the trio pointed his sword at the Divinious crystal that Chrysos was wrapping up.
"Take it? I'm afraid I can't let that happen sir." Chrysos narrowed his eyes as he tightened his grip on his sword.
"What if we kill him?" The swordsman looked at Meiros.
Meiros pulled his sword from his back and used his unique ability "Fast Thinking" to prepare for battle.
"Huh?" The swordsman felt corrupted Divinious coming from Meiros. "You're a corrupted one too? So is that alchemist also one of us?"
Chrysos shook his head and said, "He's a corrupted one, but I'm part of the heroic faction."
"So what is this? You're a spy?" The swordsman didn't get why a corrupted one and someone from the heroic faction was working together.
"No, I believe that corrupted Divinious is merely an energy. It depends on who uses it, that's why I trust my student." Chrysos spoke with a serious tone.
The trio laughed.
The hunter looked at Meiros and said mockingly, "Are you kidding me? Hey kid, this man is just tricking you. I can't believe that you fell for his sweet talk. I'm warning you, he isn't someone you can trust."
Meiros frowned. "So what? I trust my master very well. What has the corrupted faction ever done for me? Did they feed me? Did they protect me? Did they clothe and let me live comfortably? Did they accept me as a person? And you're telling me that my master isn't someone I can trust."
The trio stopped laughing when they saw that Meiros was serious.
"Fine then, don't blame us for getting nasty. Let's get them together." The swordsman signaled to the others as he dashed forward.
Chrysos quickly turned to Meiros and said with some urgency in his tone, "Meiros, you'll take down the swordsman, I'll take care of the hunter and the steel armorclad. Use the 'secret technique' I told you about that one time if things get deadly."
"Got it." Meiros' eyes locked on the swordsman like a hawk.
The three corrupted ones treated Chrysos as the priority. They didn't even mind Meiros at all, because they felt that he was too weak.
Chrysos sped up and bolted towards the steel armorclad and the hunter. Since the swordsman was in the forefront, Chrysos decisively kicked him away.
The swordsman blocked Chrysos' kick but he was still thrown off course because of the powerful impact coming from the kick. The swordsman was visibly surprised that an alchemist could kick with that much power.
When the swordsman was about to rejoin the battle, Meiros confronted him.
Seeing this, the swordsman sneered.
"Kid, get out of the way if you don't want to get hurt." The swordsman angrily moved his hands as a gesture for Meiros to stand aside.
Meiros was adamant and he didn't step away.
"You asked for it." The swordsman swung his sword directly towards Meiros' head.
Meiros' brain worked in milliseconds.
"Dodge it by ducking down and watch out for a counterattack. His right leg is lightly touching the ground so he's definitely going to kick after I dodge this. The perfect counter to this would be..." Meiros thought of this in 0.003 seconds.
Meiros ducked down and dodged the slash, and he immediately leapt back, dodging the kick in quick succession.
"Woah." Meiros felt cold sweat drench his back. He can't believe that it actually worked.
The swordsman wasn't expecting that Meiros would be able to dodge his attack but he didn't think too much of it and said with a sneer, "Lucky brat... let's see if your luck is still good as ever."
The swordsman struck once more and Meiros' brain whirred into action once again.
Meiros parried the swordsman's strike, sidestepped to the left and dodged a counterattack. The swordsman barely even touched his clothing.
"I had enough of this." The swordsman got impatient and used an Abnormal tier magical ability. His sword moved like the wind and his slashes became even faster.
Meiros was analyzing the trajectories of the slashes. He knew that with his strength, he couldn't parry all of these strikes by himself.
When he finally thought of an idea, he didn't know how feasible it would be. He only heard of this move from his master and he didn't know if he could do it as well.
Meiros used telekinesis and ran forward.
Seeing this, the swordsman revealed a look of confusion. Did this kid have a death wish? This surprised him and this stunt made him focus on Meiros and think about what this brat was planning.
But before the slashes could hit Meiros as the swordsman initially expected, Meiros used his unique ability 'Telekinesis' and jumped high in the air. With the combined force of his legs and his Divinious launching him in the air, he was sent at least seven meters in the air.
Meiros then used his sword and threw it towards the swordsman with every strength that he has!
That sequence only took around 1.5 seconds.
Shwing!
The sword darted so fast it nailed the swordsman's thigh to the ground as the swordsman looked up. And because of the glaring sunlight, he wasn't able to see the sword approaching at all.
"AAAAAHHH!!" The swordsman couldn't help but scream in pain.
Meiros slowed his landing using telekinesis and rolled down the ground to weaken his momentum. When he landed, his heart was beating rapidly.
"Yes! The sword throw worked!" Meiros was filled with accomplishment in his heart. He walked towards the swordsman who was still wailing in pain and kicked him in the face with a roundhouse in proper form. Chrysos would be proud if he saw this.
Bam!
The swordsman couldn't do anything but receive the kick. Meiros pulled his sword out and caused even more pain and bleeding to the swordsman. He has never felt pain this excruciating before.
Meiros remembered that there were two more of them, so looked at his master and was about to help him when he saw both the steel armorclad and the hunter were being lifted from the ground because Chrysos was carrying them by the neck.
"Hm, Meiros you defeated him?" Chrysos turned around and saw the bleeding swordsman next to Meiros.
"Yes and it seems that you don't need any help." Meiros saw the two men struggling without any way to get rid of the hand clutching their necks tightly. They did try to kick Chrysos though, but Chrysos' skin is as durable as the steel veined rhino. How could these kicks of desperation possibly hurt him?
"My plan is to keep them alive and we'll turn them over to the guild." Chrysos laughed.
"Yeah, they'll be worth fifteen gold coins minimum." Meiros said after some calculation.
The three corrupted ones felt suffocated. The hunter and the steel armorclad though, that was a literal feeling.
"Just kill us already!" The swordsman tried standing up, but he already lost so much blood and the bone supporting his leg was broken.
"You guys will be worth more alive." Chrysos shrugged. He smashed the knight's head against the ground and knocked him out. He then took a healing potion and gave it to Meiros. "Cure his wound, so that he won't die. Remember not to give him too much or else he'll recover."
"Yes master." Meiros took the vial and healed the swordsman's leg.
The hunter couldn't bear it anymore so he shouted words that Chrysos couldn't understand nor hear properly.
It was an ability to transmit sound.
The master and the student both revealed confused expressions when a huge lion came running towards them from the forest.
It had red and orange fur with a beautiful scarlet mane. There was a beast tamer riding the lion and Chrysos could see that it was another corrupted one.
"Reinforcements?" Chrysos tossed the hunter who just passed out into the unconscious steel armorclad and was about to pull his sword when the lion suddenly accelerated and ran past him.
"Huh?" Chrysos turned around and saw the lion running away from him. He also saw that the hunter, steel armorclad and swordsman were being carried in its mouth.
"Hey! Give me back my money!" Chrysos couldn't accept that amount of gold coins slipping away from his hands.
Activating swiftness, Chrysos ran madly after them as he grabbed Meiros on his back.
Meiros was surprised, but with quick thinking, he used telekinesis to cover the Divinious crystal in dirt just as he joined the chase with his master.
"Master, warn me next time if you're going to take me on a high speed chase." Meiros said after he was done hiding the Divinious crystal back in the hole.
"Alright, but now's not the time.. My hard earned money is running away!" Chrysos was fixated on the escaping corrupted ones.
Meiros showed a doubtful look. "Master, are you sure it's hard earned? It looked like you just beat up a bunch of helpless folks."
Meanwhile, at the escaping corrupted ones…
"Are you guys alright?" The beast tamer riding the lion asked the three of them.
"Do we look alright?! Put us down now, it stinks here." The hunter complained as he looked at the lion's mouth with dripping saliva.
"Fine." The beast tamer commanded his lion to drop the three of them. After being dropped, they all grunted in pain.
With some difficulty they got on the lion and continued their retreat.
Grunting heavily, the swordsman said, "Let's leave for now.. When I recover, I swear I'll kill that kid and rip him apart!" The swordsman growled.
"Sure, sure... let's go now." The beast tamer commanded his lion to run as he whipped down the lion's reins.
The four of them were trying to recover their Divinious when they heard a weak explosion from the distance.
Bam.
Bam.
Bam.
They heard that it was coming from behind them.
When they turned around, all of them couldn't help but swallow their throats.
Chrysos was sprinting towards them at full speed with Meiros on his back.
Chrysos shouted with unconcealed wrath. "Come back here you idiots!!" Chrysos said as he jumped over a large boulder, barely even slowing him down for a second.
The four of them screamed in fear.
"Run faster! Can't this lion go any faster!?" The hunter urged the beast tamer.
"Of course it can, it'll outrun this guy in no time!" The beast tamer was shocked that Chrysos could catch up, so he commanded the lion to use its speed ability.
A strange aura surrounded the lion, it was a thin red mist that seemed to enhance the bodies of whoever was surrounded by it.
The lion run with its full might after being strengthened by Divinious.
Because of this, Chrysos was left behind again.
"Phew.. See? Told ya he'll be outran in no time." The beast tamer laughed and scratched his beard.
Everyone sighed in relief.
However, when the hunter looked behind them again, Chrysos was still in their tails!
"AAAAHHHH! He's still here!!" The hunter screamed as if he was seeing the devil running towards them to claim their souls and trap them forever in hell.
Chrysos activated the rage mode ability of the rhino to catch up. The same ability that the rhino used to try and catch Chrysos off guard during their fight. He roared ferociously at the four of them. "Come back here!! Money bags aren't supposed to run!"
Meiros covered his ears and just watched his master shout like a madman. He inwardly found it funny.
"Shoot him!" The swordsman nudged the hunter to use his bow.
"Ah, right!" The hunter pulled out his bow from his back, grabbed an arrow from his quiver and aimed it towards Chrysos.
Clink!
The arrow bounced right off him. Dealing zero damage and a minor inconvenience.
"It doesn't work!" The hunter panicked. "Make him bump into the trees! That'll help!"
The beast tamer nodded and told his lion to run towards the area where trees are densely packed.
The lion is an excellent climber and it can jump from one tree to another in order to use it as leverage and run a bit faster. In short, the trees wouldn't hinder it at all.
When the four of them sighed in relief, thinking once again that they were safe, they saw Chrysos smash through a thick tree with one arm!
BAM!
"Get… Back… Here!!!" Chrysos uttered each word with bloodshot eyes.
"Whoa!" Meiros watched the tree fall off behind him. "That was terrifying.." Meiros was fully expecting his master to run around the tree, not knock it off with his arm!
The lion was getting exhausted from overusing its Divinious. It was slowly letting Chrysos catch up.
The four of them prayed that Chrysos would run out of Divinious first. They sensed that Chrysos was starting to also run out of Divinious because of his waning aura.
However...
Chrysos took a Divinious recovery potion and drank it in front of them.
The four of them couldn't help but curse in their hearts. "How is this even fair?! Aren't you supposed to be an alchemist!?"
The lion was exhausted soon enough and stopped running. Chrysos took this opportunity and jumped towards the four of them in the lion's back and sent a flying kick.
Meiros jumped off his back and landed smoothly using Telekinesis.
Bam!
The four corrupted ones received a powerful kick and were sent flying with severe injuries.
The hunter for example, broke his pelvis from the kick since he was at the back and therefore received the most damage.
Chrysos landed and saw the four of them sprawled in the ground. Two of which were choking on their own blood.
Chrysos caught his breath and healed them with his spare healing potions. "You gave me quite the trouble catching up to you."
They all looked at Chrysos as if their souls were on the verge of escaping their bodies. There were all pale in fear after seeing what this monster was capable of.