Eve of the Torrential Rain

"Envoy, this is bad!"

"I found something in the forest, I found..."

Seja came jogging back, panting for breath.

After she returned to camp and explained, Chen Yu finally understood why she had been so flustered.

"You mean there's a lot of Abnormal Mana in the forest?"

"Mm. That mana is gathering together like mist, drawing in quite a few Demonic Beasts."

"I'm worried... a Mana Riot might happen in a few days."

"Like that torrential rain before?"

Chen Yu did his best to squeeze a grave expression onto his gel.

He had known that had not been an ordinary downpour. If it happened again, every Demonic Beast in the entire forest would probably pour out of its nest.

At the mention of the rainstorm, Seja's face visibly grew more tense.

"If it hadn't been for that torrential rain, I wouldn't have lost my staff."

"Envoy, what should we do?"

"Leave this place. Leave the Swamp Forest."

He was a swamp Demonic Beast. Even if a Mana Riot truly occurred, he only needed to hide inside the Slime Nest.

Seja was different. If she stayed in the forest, her situation would only become more dangerous.

Once the torrential rain arrived, the camp would be trampled away by frenzied Demonic Beasts until not a scrap remained, much less her.

He had to send her out of the Swamp Forest.

The matter of building up his territory could only be pushed back a little.

But he had already wanted to venture beyond the swamp and take a look. This was the perfect chance to carve out a Forest Path connecting his territory to the outside of the swamp, making future trips back and forth more convenient.

"Leave this place?"

Seja knew she would have to leave the swamp sooner or later, but she had not expected the day to come so quickly.

She was not as happy as she had imagined she would be.

But the Envoy was right. It was time for her to leave the swamp.

Perhaps her older sister was still anxiously searching for her outside.

"I understand. We'll leave right now."

"Wrong. I'm going with you."

"Huh? You're going out too, Envoy?"

Seja's tone was full of astonishment.

Chen Yu wobbled his gel in a nod.

"I'm planning to open up a Forest Path leading outside. It'll make things easier when I go out in the future."

"If you want to come back, follow the Stinger Bees. They'll guide you here."

To open a Forest Path, he naturally had to fight his way through and make the swamp's neighbors move aside.

Those unwilling to move could be beaten a few more times.

Then he would send the Stinger Bees racing back and forth along the Forest Path, driving away Demonic Beasts and approaching Demihumans, maintaining the route.

He had even thought of a name for it: Smooth Bee Path.

"Seja, check your equipment. The expansion will take several days."

"Mm, I'll go right away."

Seja ran back to the Shelter and took all the wooden-bladed blow darts hidden beneath her bed.

When she returned, she saw a column of Stinger Bees lined up before Chen Yu. Like soldiers awaiting inspection, they held their heads high, chests out, obeying every command without fail.

They seemed even more professional than the Tribe's hunting party...

She could already picture the hunting party being chased around by the Stinger Bees.

Just thinking about it was enough to make a Lizardfolk afraid.

"Seja, lead the way."

"Oh, okay."

She carefully picked up the slime and headed down the path she had taken before.

To better command the swarm, Chen Yu had brought the Queen Bee along as well. It was wedged into the slime gel, with only its head sticking out.

The Queen Bee was smarter than ordinary Stinger Bees, but its intelligence was only equivalent to that of a three-year-old child.

After a mind-numbing exchange with it, Chen Yu finally got it to nod in understanding. It divided the swarm into three columns, positioning them ahead and on both sides, tightly protecting Seja.

Wherever they passed, Demonic Beasts either dove into the swamp or scattered in all directions.

Moreover, the pheromones left behind by the Stinger Bees seemed to frighten these Demonic Beasts. Even after Chen Yu and the others had gone far away, they still did not dare set foot on the Forest Path.

It was also the first time Seja had seen such a grand spectacle. When she had first arrived, she had still been fleeing from Demonic Beasts that chased after her.

What she was seeing now was something she had never even dared dream of before.

It was wonderful to be able to follow Lord Envoy.

This felt less like pioneering and more like taking a stroll.

They passed a hollow Twisted Oak.

"Lord Envoy, I remember there's a terrifying Swamp Poison Frog hiding inside..."

Before she could finish, a Lesser Arrow Technique shot forth and instantly blasted the Swamp Poison Frog hiding beneath the tree into the air.

"Good. Now there isn't."

"Keep moving."

The words Seja had been about to say caught in her throat.

Actually, when she had passed through here before, that Swamp Poison Frog had bullied her several times...

Good thing she had not said it out loud just now. That would have been far too embarrassing.

The Pioneer Squad pressed onward. Chen Yu had no idea how far they had walked, but the Demonic Beasts had certainly eaten their fill, and his Toxin Resistance proficiency kept rising without pause.

Night fell early in the Swamp Forest. They returned to camp to rest that afternoon and did not set out again until the following morning.

With the Stinger Bees accompanying them, Chen Yu did not need to personally deal with most Demonic Beasts they encountered. The moment they approached, they were stung to death and ended up in his stomach.

After all that work, before they had even left the swamp, the talents and skills on his panel underwent a major upgrade.

[Devour and Digest Lv.2→Devour and Digest Lv.3]

[Acid Secretion Lv.2→Acid Secretion Lv.3]

[Tough Carapace Lv.1→Tough Carapace Lv.2]

[Lesser Arrow Technique Lv.1→Lesser Arrow Technique Lv.2]

The third day of pioneering.

Chen Yu and the others ran into a small problem.

The Abnormal Mana was expanding even faster than they had expected, already covering the Forest Path they had opened.

Even though the torrential rain had yet to arrive, the Demonic Beasts in the forest were already as restless as ants on a hot pan.

Too many Demonic Beasts had been affected by the mana, constantly crashing into the Stinger Bee Formation.

He could not finish eating them. He simply could not finish eating them.

Chen Yu was so stuffed that he had begun to pick and choose what he ate.

"Rumble..."

The sky was thick with dark clouds that day, with flashes of lightning flickering faintly within as a light rain began to fall.

The downpour would probably arrive in another day or two. Chen Yu was certain they could not turn back now.

They could only continue onward and leave the Swamp Forest before the torrential rain descended.

The good news was that they were very close to the forest's edge. The number of Demonic Beasts was gradually decreasing, while traces of Demihuman activity were becoming more frequent.

In the dim swamp forest, beneath the misting rain, Seja lowered her body and crept forward. Carefully climbing over a fallen oak, she spotted a familiar mark carved into the tree and immediately realized that they had reached the edge of the swamp.

"Lord Envoy, we're here."

Chen Yu had been distractedly reading the Talisman Scroll Shao Qingsong had given him. Hearing Seja's words, he blinked from within her arms and came back to his senses.

"How many Stinger Bees are left?"

The Mana Riot affected all Demonic Beasts possessing Magic Organs, and the Stinger Bees were naturally no exception.

The Queen Bee possessed intelligence and knew the dangers of the Mana Riot, though she occasionally became somewhat irritable.

But the Stinger Bee Soldiers were different. They might break free from the Queen Bee's control, lose themselves in the Abnormal Mana, and never find their way out again.

Along the way, Chen Yu had lost quite a few bee soldiers.

"Thirteen remain."

Not bad. More than he had expected.

"Lord Envoy, this is our tribe's Hunting Ground. There may be Corrupted Lizardfolk wandering nearby."

To the Demihumans in the surrounding area, a Mana Riot represented both danger and opportunity.

As long as they were careful enough, they could catch enough food to last them a whole month.

Thus, the more intense the Mana Riot, the more Corrupted Lizardfolk would be wandering nearby.

"Let's find somewhere to hide first. We'll wait until the torrential rain passes."

"Mm. When hunting parties spend the night in the wild, they hide in Shelters built by the tribe. It's dry inside, so it should be enough to see us through the downpour."

"I know of an abandoned place nearby."

Seja felt her way forward, moving with great care.

But before long, surprise colored her face.

Chen Yu noticed something was off with her.

"What happened?"

"There's the smell of blood here. Human blood."