I aimed with steady hands at the charging monster, timing the shot so that the beast would become unbalanced. Ready… I squeezed the trigger. With an explosion of fire and sound, my shot flew true, making the squirrel veer off course right into the waiting twin pistols of Vlugh.
“Screeeech!”
“Piss off.”
The three of us collectively groaned at Vlugh’s attempt to sound cool. Even Dip squawked in embarrassment.
“You said it, Dippy-poo. Vlugh, leave the one-liners to someone less lame.”
“Hey!”
Regardless of Vlugh’s delusions of grandeur, he did manage to finish the monster squirrel off with some well-placed shots. The five of us continued the trek, leaving the squirrel corpse behind.
Wandering the Vultuous Forest was noticeably easier since those freaks had devastated the place. My team was by no means weak; we had trekked into the forest on occasion. Even encountered some of the vultures in the past. Even so, only having to deal with the occasional squirrel meant our progress was far faster than what would be considered normal.
Vlugh had questioned my intensity about preparation, and I now found myself agreeing with him. For once. Journeying into the forest was nothing like it had once been. No vultures in sight and no constant harassment from Fernen. Just squirrels. Tons and tons of squirrels.
Now we only had to pause for several minutes instead of hours whenever our lives came under threat.
Our new gear was almost certainly a factor as well. These guns from the capital were a true marvel, requiring little to no maintenance or skill to wield. Even Vlugh had opted for two, one for each hand. It made no sense that neither Rette nor Grehn had picked one up. Sure, Grehn liked his swords, but I thought the Riktish were really getting into firearms lately. But no, both of them had decided to stick with their original weapons.
“Squawk.”
“I agree with Dip. We should take the squirrel corpses to sell.”
“Squawk!”
“Eat…? But we could sell them instead.”
“Squawk squawk! Squawk!”
“I already explained, you two,” I said, interrupting Dip and Rette’s bickering, “Our job is investigation. If we finish faster, we get paid faster. No need to be slowed down by cargo. Seriously, how many times do I have to explain it?”
“True… Counterpoint: more money.”
“Squawk!”
Dip’s adorableness almost made me change my mind. Maybe we could take just one squirrel for him to have a snack? No, no I wouldn’t give in. I wanted to get back as fast as possible. Money? Who cares. The faster we got back, the faster I could lay in bed with Dip!
“You just want to be alone with Dip again, boss.”
Urk! Shut up, Grehn! Even if you know, just keep it to yourself! Of course, rather than say that out loud, I opted for punching Grehn in the arm. Though the big lug barely grunted in amusement.
“Screeeech!”
I sighed in relief as another monster charged toward our group. Perfect timing. Raising my rifle, I took aim…
And it was gone.
Before I could even fire a single bullet, the beast zig-zagged out of the way and ran off into the forest. Odd.
“Stay sharp. We might be close,” I cautioned, even as the others began to relax. That skittish behavior wasn’t exactly unusual coming from the squirrels. They were certainly powerful beasts, but they weren’t the peak of the food chain in this forest, not by a long shot.
No, what was odd was that it avoided us. In the current state of the forest, they weren’t preyed upon as much by the vultures, so they had grown more bold. Every squirrel we encountered saw us as a tasty snack and attacked us, either foolishly or bravely. My new rifle made the encounters much simpler than in the past. Once upon a time, Grehn had been the only one with a physical weapon capable of piercing the tough hides of the squirrels, but now even Vlugh and I could compete.
I had originally been hesitant to exchange the familiarity of my Mind-enhanced knife play, but being able to save my stamina was turning out to be a massive boon. Of course, as of yet, we hadn’t encountered anything that required me to use my Ability.
That might be changing soon.
“We proceed carefully,” I whispered. Whatever the squirrel had been afraid of was likely our goal. The Lord had assigned us the simple task of investigation: why had the vultures disappeared? My theory? Some powerful beast had risen to prominence in the forest.
“I’m starting to think your theory was right, Yelah,” Grehn whispered even more softly than usual, “Even the squirrels had been acting differently. The ecosystem seems to have shifted since the Burning.”
“Maybe one of the squirrels got powerful enough to take down the rumored vulture king?”
“As if one of these squirrels could become that powerful. I think it’s a different monster. Or maybe your breath is just that bad, Vlugh.”
I couldn’t help but poke fun at Vlugh’s Ability as we crept along. Seriously, what had he been thinking? Breath attacks? What sort of foolery was that?
Vlugh grunted, “When will you get it through your thick skull? Breath attacks are the mark of the strong….”
“Sure, whatever. You Drevani and your dragon worship.”
“Are you speaking ill of-“
My hand shot up. Maybe I was being a bit unsportsmanlike with the banter, but something had caught my attention.
“Look.”
“The hell is that?”
Before us was a wall. In the middle of the forest, no less. Black and gray and red and white, the formation stood eerie and unnatural.
“Quiet.” Strange as the wall was, that wasn’t what had sparked my caution. A faint sound could be heard. The familiar buzzing of bees.
Poking above the wall was the tiny head of a bee, and the pieces began to fall into place. This wall’s strange complexion was, in truth, beeswax mixed with various materials, ranging from bones to blood. Then, this wall could only be the beginnings of a gigantic beehive.
“It’s beeswax. Seems a queen bee survived the slaughter.”
“Bees?! Which means…”
“Yep. Honey!”
“Wait. Don’t be hasty.” Vlugh and Rette turned to me in confusion. Both were drooling over the thought of the rare treasure, albeit presumably for different reasons. The sweetness and pricelessness were certainly both drool-worthy, but something else was off here.
“Notice anything strange about those bones?”
It only took a moment of inspection before realization dawned on their faces. Grehn had likely already realized. Those bones were huge, and not just that. Upon closer inspection, a strange feature could be observed on some of the broken bones.
“They’re vulture bones.”
It may have been a coincidence. The telltale porous structure of bird bones didn’t guarantee that these bones belonged to the mighty vultures, but it was a fair assumption in my estimation.
“This doesn’t mean the bees are responsible for the disappearance of the vultures, though….” Vlugh said without much confidence. While he was right, none of us could shake the sense that we had found the culprits.
“Squawk…”
Dip was right. Bees using materials like bones was highly unusual behavior in the first place. However, little bees destroying the massive swarm of vultures would be even more unusual. Either way, the bees were connected in some way to the vulture’s disappearance.
“Does this mean we can head back? That bee up there noticed us….”
I hesitated. True, we had potentially found the reason for the vanishing vultures, but would that be enough for the Lord? Some clients could get seriously annoying if their requests weren’t fulfilled to their satisfaction, and someone as self-important and wealthy as the city lord could certainly afford a painful tantrum.
Regardless, I had to make a decision. The lone bee was charging at us, after all.
“Uh, Yelah?”
“Hold. It might just be investigating.”
I dodged out of the way of an angry stinger. So. Not investigating, then.
“Okay! We kill it and run before more arrive.”
The team grunted in agreement and converged on the insect, slashing and shooting. I calmly fired, but the thing was too small and fast for me to blast accurately.
“Little bugger is too quick!”
The monster wasn’t stupid either. I kept having to back away as it attacked only me, and the others had to follow, so our numerical advantage couldn’t be pressed. So be it. If it was going to try and get in close, I’d face it head-on!
“Yelah, not yet-“
Coming to a stop, I activated [Friendly Immersion] and my vision shifted. I suddenly found my vision split, both next to a charging Grehn and facing down the bee’s alarmed buzzing. No doubt the sudden appearance of Dip had scared the little monster.
“Now!”
Swiveling, I raised my rifle but even as Dip and I gave the monster a harsh slap, I noticed the sound of buzzing begin to crescendo.
“More are coming! Finish it off quick!”
No good. Our bullets continued to miss the tiny form of the insect and Dip’s slap had pushed it out of the way. Grehn’s slash barely reached the little thing, but it was starting to slow down with various injuries, so we probably still had a chance.
I looked toward the wall, and my heart sank. Only two bees approached from the right, but a big swarm was converging from the left. Granted, most of them seemed small, but the number of monsters was creeping into intimidating territory.
“Sorry Rette. You might need to put in some effort.”
She nodded grimly, sheathing the knife she hadn’t swung once and stancing up, ready to use her town Ability. Dip was backing away from the feisty insect as Grehn went for another slash, but the bee barely managed to minimize the damage, its movements slowing even further. I noticed the bee pause, acting like it wanted to charge us again, then instead changing directions and limp-flying back towards the wall. What?
“Brace!”
As Rette activated her Ability, the four of us enabled our Deafening Lock just in time for the air around Rette to waver and explode outwards, causing the swarm of bees to shudder and falter. Her sound attack was the perfect weapon for the situation, uncontrolled as it was.
“Run.”
I spoke into their Minds, instructing Rette to use her Ability again if the bees began to follow. Too late. Before Rette could respond, the two bees from the right smashed into her.
Dammit! Those two must’ve been made of tougher stuff than the swarm. Without Rette to hold back the swarm, we were going to be overwhelmed! I popped [Friendly Immersion] again, this time allowing Dip’s presence to completely cover my own. With his strength, I dashed towards Rette’s unmoving form, horrified to see two deep puncture wounds in her stomach. She had managed to stab one of the bees with her small knife, but the damage was bad.
A quick smack to the healthy bee sent it stumbling, and I grabbed Rette’s injured body to carry her away. This Immersion would only last so long, and I needed to get her out of there. Grehn and Vlugh were putting up a fight against the recovering swarm as I ran, and I saw some of the small bees fall to pieces. Those idiots decided to hold off the reinforcements for us instead of just running away!
“You two! Come. Run!”
But it didn’t matter.
The bees were too fast and too numerous. They surrounded us in an instant, occasionally flying in and placing a nasty sting that sometimes penetrated our protective clothing. I fought desperately, swiping at any bees that got too close, but my hope was starting to crumble. The swarm was annoying, but weak. Hiding in the swarm, though, were some deceptively strong creatures. Since those were the only ones penetrating our clothes, maybe we could stage a counterattack? Were we going to die? I noticed the gravely wounded bee we had fought first lying tiredly on the ground. Yeah. Yeah, we were dead. They weren’t going to forgive that.
I braced myself. Dammit! Whether I lived or died didn’t matter, but I had failed my team. My Dippy-poo was going to die.
But death never came. I looked up at the same time as the others, and my resignation turned to fresh terror.
The swarm was deathly still. Above them floated a true monster. A massive bee with a stinger as big as my entire body, missing all the arms on its left side. But as intimidating as the monster’s body was, it was nothing to the horrific Mind the bee was openly flaunting. The breath was squeezed out of my lungs, and my dry throat swallowed without success, viscerally affected by the sheer power of the thing’s Mind. How had something so terrifying snuck up on us without me noticing? It was like a final insult to my poor leadership.
So this… this was the cause. A beast worse than the rumored vulture king really had appeared in the forest. Vlugh muttered a prayer. Good idea. We would need every ounce of divinity to save our Minds from this unnatural horror of a creature.
Another smaller bee appeared behind the giant monster, this one sporting an angry red color compared to the yellows of the rest. Somehow my heart sank even further. Even though this one was much smaller, its appearance was intense, and it emanated a presence of evil along with a terrifyingly strong Mind. Despite its intense aggression, the giant monster held it back. Alongside fear, worry and suspense clawed their way into my heart.
Especially when I saw what happened next. The swarm parted, and the huge bee motioned for us to stay still. So they weren’t going to kill us outright, apparently. I separated myself from Dip slowly, but the creature expressed no alarm. No, this was much worse. They were going to do something to us. What could creatures like these want?
As the horrific bee looked towards the wall, I could sense a shadow encompassing my Mind. Some deep part of me realized with a shock that this wasn’t the end. No, something even worse than the horror insect was on the way. Something… beerie.
Wait, what?
I aimed with steady hands at the charging monster, timing the shot so that the beast would become unbalanced. Ready… I squeezed the trigger. With an explosion of fire and sound, my shot flew true, making the squirrel veer off course right into the waiting twin pistols of Vlugh.
“Screeeech!”
“Piss off.”
The three of us collectively groaned at Vlugh’s attempt to sound cool. Even Dip squawked in embarrassment.
“You said it, Dippy-poo. Vlugh, leave the one-liners to someone less lame.”
“Hey!”
Regardless of Vlugh’s delusions of grandeur, he did manage to finish the monster squirrel off with some well-placed shots. The five of us continued the trek, leaving the squirrel corpse behind.
Wandering the Vultuous Forest was noticeably easier since those freaks had devastated the place. My team was by no means weak; we had trekked into the forest on occasion. Even encountered some of the vultures in the past. Even so, only having to deal with the occasional squirrel meant our progress was far faster than what would be considered normal.
Vlugh had questioned my intensity about preparation, and I now found myself agreeing with him. For once. Journeying into the forest was nothing like it had once been. No vultures in sight and no constant harassment from Fernen. Just squirrels. Tons and tons of squirrels.
Now we only had to pause for several minutes instead of hours whenever our lives came under threat.
Our new gear was almost certainly a factor as well. These guns from the capital were a true marvel, requiring little to no maintenance or skill to wield. Even Vlugh had opted for two, one for each hand. It made no sense that neither Rette nor Grehn had picked one up. Sure, Grehn liked his swords, but I thought the Riktish were really getting into firearms lately. But no, both of them had decided to stick with their original weapons.
“Squawk.”
“I agree with Dip. We should take the squirrel corpses to sell.”
“Squawk!”
“Eat…? But we could sell them instead.”
“Squawk squawk! Squawk!”
“I already explained, you two,” I said, interrupting Dip and Rette’s bickering, “Our job is investigation. If we finish faster, we get paid faster. No need to be slowed down by cargo. Seriously, how many times do I have to explain it?”
“True… Counterpoint: more money.”
“Squawk!”
Dip’s adorableness almost made me change my mind. Maybe we could take just one squirrel for him to have a snack? No, no I wouldn’t give in. I wanted to get back as fast as possible. Money? Who cares. The faster we got back, the faster I could lay in bed with Dip!
“You just want to be alone with Dip again, boss.”
Urk! Shut up, Grehn! Even if you know, just keep it to yourself! Of course, rather than say that out loud, I opted for punching Grehn in the arm. Though the big lug barely grunted in amusement.
“Screeeech!”
I sighed in relief as another monster charged toward our group. Perfect timing. Raising my rifle, I took aim…
And it was gone.
Before I could even fire a single bullet, the beast zig-zagged out of the way and ran off into the forest. Odd.
“Stay sharp. We might be close,” I cautioned, even as the others began to relax. That skittish behavior wasn’t exactly unusual coming from the squirrels. They were certainly powerful beasts, but they weren’t the peak of the food chain in this forest, not by a long shot.
No, what was odd was that it avoided us. In the current state of the forest, they weren’t preyed upon as much by the vultures, so they had grown more bold. Every squirrel we encountered saw us as a tasty snack and attacked us, either foolishly or bravely. My new rifle made the encounters much simpler than in the past. Once upon a time, Grehn had been the only one with a physical weapon capable of piercing the tough hides of the squirrels, but now even Vlugh and I could compete.
I had originally been hesitant to exchange the familiarity of my Mind-enhanced knife play, but being able to save my stamina was turning out to be a massive boon. Of course, as of yet, we hadn’t encountered anything that required me to use my Ability.
That might be changing soon.
“We proceed carefully,” I whispered. Whatever the squirrel had been afraid of was likely our goal. The Lord had assigned us the simple task of investigation: why had the vultures disappeared? My theory? Some powerful beast had risen to prominence in the forest.
“I’m starting to think your theory was right, Yelah,” Grehn whispered even more softly than usual, “Even the squirrels had been acting differently. The ecosystem seems to have shifted since the Burning.”
“Maybe one of the squirrels got powerful enough to take down the rumored vulture king?”
“As if one of these squirrels could become that powerful. I think it’s a different monster. Or maybe your breath is just that bad, Vlugh.”
I couldn’t help but poke fun at Vlugh’s Ability as we crept along. Seriously, what had he been thinking? Breath attacks? What sort of foolery was that?
Vlugh grunted, “When will you get it through your thick skull? Breath attacks are the mark of the strong….”
“Sure, whatever. You Drevani and your dragon worship.”
“Are you speaking ill of-“
My hand shot up. Maybe I was being a bit unsportsmanlike with the banter, but something had caught my attention.
“Look.”
“The hell is that?”
Before us was a wall. In the middle of the forest, no less. Black and gray and red and white, the formation stood eerie and unnatural.
“Quiet.” Strange as the wall was, that wasn’t what had sparked my caution. A faint sound could be heard. The familiar buzzing of bees.
Poking above the wall was the tiny head of a bee, and the pieces began to fall into place. This wall’s strange complexion was, in truth, beeswax mixed with various materials, ranging from bones to blood. Then, this wall could only be the beginnings of a gigantic beehive.
“It’s beeswax. Seems a queen bee survived the slaughter.”
“Bees?! Which means…”
“Yep. Honey!”
“Wait. Don’t be hasty.” Vlugh and Rette turned to me in confusion. Both were drooling over the thought of the rare treasure, albeit presumably for different reasons. The sweetness and pricelessness were certainly both drool-worthy, but something else was off here.
“Notice anything strange about those bones?”
It only took a moment of inspection before realization dawned on their faces. Grehn had likely already realized. Those bones were huge, and not just that. Upon closer inspection, a strange feature could be observed on some of the broken bones.
“They’re vulture bones.”
It may have been a coincidence. The telltale porous structure of bird bones didn’t guarantee that these bones belonged to the mighty vultures, but it was a fair assumption in my estimation.
“This doesn’t mean the bees are responsible for the disappearance of the vultures, though….” Vlugh said without much confidence. While he was right, none of us could shake the sense that we had found the culprits.
“Squawk…”
Dip was right. Bees using materials like bones was highly unusual behavior in the first place. However, little bees destroying the massive swarm of vultures would be even more unusual. Either way, the bees were connected in some way to the vulture’s disappearance.
“Does this mean we can head back? That bee up there noticed us….”
I hesitated. True, we had potentially found the reason for the vanishing vultures, but would that be enough for the Lord? Some clients could get seriously annoying if their requests weren’t fulfilled to their satisfaction, and someone as self-important and wealthy as the city lord could certainly afford a painful tantrum.
Regardless, I had to make a decision. The lone bee was charging at us, after all.
“Uh, Yelah?”
“Hold. It might just be investigating.”
I dodged out of the way of an angry stinger. So. Not investigating, then.
“Okay! We kill it and run before more arrive.”
The team grunted in agreement and converged on the insect, slashing and shooting. I calmly fired, but the thing was too small and fast for me to blast accurately.
“Little bugger is too quick!”
The monster wasn’t stupid either. I kept having to back away as it attacked only me, and the others had to follow, so our numerical advantage couldn’t be pressed. So be it. If it was going to try and get in close, I’d face it head-on!
“Yelah, not yet-“
Coming to a stop, I activated [Friendly Immersion] and my vision shifted. I suddenly found my vision split, both next to a charging Grehn and facing down the bee’s alarmed buzzing. No doubt the sudden appearance of Dip had scared the little monster.
“Now!”
Swiveling, I raised my rifle but even as Dip and I gave the monster a harsh slap, I noticed the sound of buzzing begin to crescendo.
“More are coming! Finish it off quick!”
No good. Our bullets continued to miss the tiny form of the insect and Dip’s slap had pushed it out of the way. Grehn’s slash barely reached the little thing, but it was starting to slow down with various injuries, so we probably still had a chance.
I looked toward the wall, and my heart sank. Only two bees approached from the right, but a big swarm was converging from the left. Granted, most of them seemed small, but the number of monsters was creeping into intimidating territory.
“Sorry Rette. You might need to put in some effort.”
She nodded grimly, sheathing the knife she hadn’t swung once and stancing up, ready to use her town Ability. Dip was backing away from the feisty insect as Grehn went for another slash, but the bee barely managed to minimize the damage, its movements slowing even further. I noticed the bee pause, acting like it wanted to charge us again, then instead changing directions and limp-flying back towards the wall. What?
“Brace!”
As Rette activated her Ability, the four of us enabled our Deafening Lock just in time for the air around Rette to waver and explode outwards, causing the swarm of bees to shudder and falter. Her sound attack was the perfect weapon for the situation, uncontrolled as it was.
“Run.”
I spoke into their Minds, instructing Rette to use her Ability again if the bees began to follow. Too late. Before Rette could respond, the two bees from the right smashed into her.
Dammit! Those two must’ve been made of tougher stuff than the swarm. Without Rette to hold back the swarm, we were going to be overwhelmed! I popped [Friendly Immersion] again, this time allowing Dip’s presence to completely cover my own. With his strength, I dashed towards Rette’s unmoving form, horrified to see two deep puncture wounds in her stomach. She had managed to stab one of the bees with her small knife, but the damage was bad.
A quick smack to the healthy bee sent it stumbling, and I grabbed Rette’s injured body to carry her away. This Immersion would only last so long, and I needed to get her out of there. Grehn and Vlugh were putting up a fight against the recovering swarm as I ran, and I saw some of the small bees fall to pieces. Those idiots decided to hold off the reinforcements for us instead of just running away!
“You two! Come. Run!”
But it didn’t matter.
The bees were too fast and too numerous. They surrounded us in an instant, occasionally flying in and placing a nasty sting that sometimes penetrated our protective clothing. I fought desperately, swiping at any bees that got too close, but my hope was starting to crumble. The swarm was annoying, but weak. Hiding in the swarm, though, were some deceptively strong creatures. Since those were the only ones penetrating our clothes, maybe we could stage a counterattack? Were we going to die? I noticed the gravely wounded bee we had fought first lying tiredly on the ground. Yeah. Yeah, we were dead. They weren’t going to forgive that.
I braced myself. Dammit! Whether I lived or died didn’t matter, but I had failed my team. My Dippy-poo was going to die.
But death never came. I looked up at the same time as the others, and my resignation turned to fresh terror.
The swarm was deathly still. Above them floated a true monster. A massive bee with a stinger as big as my entire body, missing all the arms on its left side. But as intimidating as the monster’s body was, it was nothing to the horrific Mind the bee was openly flaunting. The breath was squeezed out of my lungs, and my dry throat swallowed without success, viscerally affected by the sheer power of the thing’s Mind. How had something so terrifying snuck up on us without me noticing? It was like a final insult to my poor leadership.
So this… this was the cause. A beast worse than the rumored vulture king really had appeared in the forest. Vlugh muttered a prayer. Good idea. We would need every ounce of divinity to save our Minds from this unnatural horror of a creature.
Another smaller bee appeared behind the giant monster, this one sporting an angry red color compared to the yellows of the rest. Somehow my heart sank even further. Even though this one was much smaller, its appearance was intense, and it emanated a presence of evil along with a terrifyingly strong Mind. Despite its intense aggression, the giant monster held it back. Alongside fear, worry and suspense clawed their way into my heart.
Especially when I saw what happened next. The swarm parted, and the huge bee motioned for us to stay still. So they weren’t going to kill us outright, apparently. I separated myself from Dip slowly, but the creature expressed no alarm. No, this was much worse. They were going to do something to us. What could creatures like these want?
As the horrific bee looked towards the wall, I could sense a shadow encompassing my Mind. Some deep part of me realized with a shock that this wasn’t the end. No, something even worse than the horror insect was on the way. Something… beerie.
Wait, what?
