After several days of rest and recuperation, the party had replenished their strength and fully returned to peak condition. At last, they set out on a new journey. Their target this time was the Red-Blue Bee Nest deep in the mountain forest, a place as mysterious as it was fraught with deadly danger.
As they advanced, everyone kept their footsteps light, threading cautiously through the dense forest. Not one of them let their guard down. Deadly threats lurked in the quiet mountain woods around them, and everyone's nerves were stretched taut. Their sharp eyes swept their surroundings, filled with vigilance and tension, constantly on guard against any danger that might suddenly appear.
As they ventured deeper and drew closer to the Red-Blue Bee Nest, a strong, pungent, sickly-sweet odor struck them first, making them choke and furrow their brows. Then, when they saw the scene ahead, even these seasoned fighters could not help drawing sharp breaths.
Thousands upon thousands of Red-Blue Bees clustered together in a dense mass, crowding the area around the nest in layer upon layer. Each bee was as large as an adult's head, its black-and-blue body gleaming with a cold, hard sheen, its sharp stinger glinting chillingly. Their sheer numbers and tightly packed ranks made the scalp prickle and the flesh crawl. Had anyone with a fear of densely clustered things been there, that single glance would have been enough to leave them terrified and unable to sleep all night.
But not one person present was an ordinary civilian. Among them were elite warriors who had fought through life-and-death struggles and countless battles, as well as powerful mages who commanded the elements of heaven and earth. Every one of them had endured hardship and possessed a resolve far beyond that of ordinary people. Even faced with such a horrifying sight, none showed any fear. Instead, they swiftly focused, raised their guard, and prepared for battle.
With their carefully devised battle plan in place, combat was poised to erupt. Huohe immediately took the lead, his vital energy surging as he charged to the very front of the party with his weapon in hand. Relying on his formidable physical strength and combat experience, he forced a path forward for the others while holding off the swarms attacking head-on. The three warriors, Xifaman, Shiheng, and Kelan Kai, swiftly took their positions beside the three mages, each guarding one of them. They formed a solid defensive barrier to keep out surprise attacks from the Red-Blue Bees, doing everything they could to ensure the mages could safely cast their spells and attack without disruption.
Nalan Jingyu was the first in the party to strike. Standing within the defensive circle with a composed expression, she rapidly chanted an intricate fire-element spell. Her hands traced nimble patterns in the air, searing fire elements gathering at her fingertips. As she finished the incantation, she swung both hands sharply, and a surging torrent of blazing flame instantly erupted. Carrying waves of scorching heat, it swept straight toward the densely packed swarm of Red-Blue Bees, warping the air with its heat wherever it passed.
At the same time, Nalan Ruoshui showed no sign of being outdone. Her gaze focused, she rapidly mobilized the wind-element magic within her and completed a fourth-level wind spell in an instant. Fierce winds suddenly howled into being, sweeping up the flames and making the already ferocious blaze even more violent. The fire rode the wind, and the wind fueled the fire, turning them into a towering sea of flames that swallowed vast numbers of Red-Blue Bees.
In an instant, waves of shrill cries rose from the swarm within the sea of fire. Countless Red-Blue Bees died in the searing flames and fell, littering the ground. In mere moments, the Red-Blue Bees killed by the mingling of ice and fire accounted for a third of the entire swarm. The opening assault had been extraordinarily swift and fierce.
Yet even as the two female mages gave their all and sustained their magical attacks, they still struggled to withstand the swarm's overwhelming numbers. They were, after all, only fourth-level mages, with limited reserves of magic. After this bout of intensive spellcasting, both soon realized that their magic was about to run dry. They could no longer maintain large-scale, high-level spells.
Left with no choice, the two could only grit their teeth and prepare their final trump cards-each would pour all her strength into casting one more third-level spell for one last powerful attack. As two dazzling flashes of magical light swept past, the remaining Red-Blue Bees suffered heavy losses, but they were also thoroughly enraged. Letting out piercing shrieks, they launched a frenzied counterattack at the party, heedless of their lives.
At that moment, the advantage of magic was gone. Only now had the true test of everyone's coordination, strength, and resolve arrived!
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