According to the method by which an adept's strength was calculated, an ordinary beeman soldier only had 0.7 points of Strength. However, they couldn't be underestimated because of their feeble power. The danger of these creatures exponentially increased if they managed to rally some of their allies.
They had wings for flying and were skilled in the use of poisoned weapons. They could fire long ranged attacks with their bows and arrows while using their spears to dive down as a melee attack. These advantages stacked together and benefitted from their countless numbers. Once a tribe of Aba Beemen managed to gain a foothold in a territory, they would quickly rise to become the rulers of the nearby area.
That was why almost all other creatures in the vast Black Forest were on the Aba Beemen's hunting lists. The only exceptions were the powerful magical creatures that had tough hides, such as the brutelephants and the wyverns.
During the time Greem had been gone from Fire Throne, the uncontested Aba Beemen had increased their numbers at an explosive rate. Their unrestrained reproduction had undoubtedly threatened the forces around Fire Throne, which had barely just gathered together.
In a mere seven or eight days, Gargamel had already received news about the deaths of two outsider apprentices and a dozen mercenaries. For a moment, the fifteen kilometers around the Aba Beemen's nest was categorized by Fire Throne as a zone of extreme danger. The tower even established a strict ban going near the place.
The rise of an excessively powerful magical tribe around Fire Throne was not a good thing, no matter how you looked at it. Consequently, the tower restricted mercenaries and low-grade apprentices from getting close to the Aba Beemen's hunting area. They also released an internal extermination mission to send high-grade apprentices out to exterminate the rampant Aba Beemen.
…………
An encounter had just reached its conclusion in a narrow mountain stream nearby.
A three-meter-long and three-hundred-kilogram heavy Flaming Tiger that had strayed from the pack had become the prey of a beeman hunting squad.
The dead flaming tiger lay on the ground without moving. Many short black arrows pinned its yellow body filled with red stripes. There were even two long spears embedded in its neck that had been snapped in half.
The Aba Beeman soldiers' strength might not be enough to kill a berserk flaming tiger, but the toxic poison on their weapons could. This unfortunate flaming tiger had been poisoned to death!
However, the flaming tiger's strong fireballs had still tremendously damaged the beeman hunting squad. Four beeman soldiers had been blown to bits when they failed to avoid the fireballs. Another three had died to the flaming tiger's jaws and tail when they had dived at it.
The remaining eight beeman soldiers had all received varying degrees of fire damage. However, this didn't prevent them from happily cutting up the flaming tiger's body to take its meat back with them.
This kind of magical creature meat, filled with elementium aura, was an exceptionally nutritious food. It was the favorite food of the Aba Queen.
Just as they gathered around the tiger's corpse and busy at work, a voice rang out from the forest nearby. A humanoid creature cloaked in thick black robes appeared within the vision of the soldiers.
Human!
Not only was this newcomer a human, but they were also a human caster that the Queen most liked to feast on!
That was because the only ones that dared to walk through this forest in black robes were those so-called apprentice adepts.
The beeman soldiers couldn't help but be happy.
Weng, weng, weng!
The buzzing sound of their wings began to spread out throughout the forest.
The eight beeman soldiers tossed away the bloody flesh in their hands, picked up their spears, and instantly took to the skies. A few of them spread out to avoid possible magic attacks from the human apprentice. They took cover behind thick branches and vines and quickly closed in on the black-robed individual.
What puzzled them was the fact that the human hadn't tried to run. Instead, they raised their head. A pair of pale green eyes shone from beneath the shadows of the hood, staring coldly at the beemen.
Even though they could tell something was off, the beeman soldiers still initiated their attack according to their usual strategy.
The first wave of attacks was naturally the mid-ranged poison arrows.
Phew! Phew! Phew!
Eight poisoned arrows shot through the space between the trees and barraged the human like a swarm of locusts.
Surprisingly enough, the enemy had no intention of dodging. They didn't even try to cast any defensive spells. They just stood there and allowed the poison arrows to hit against their body. Judging from the dull sound of the poisoned arrows hitting their target, the human wasn't wearing any metallic armor beneath their robes.
The eight beeman soldiers became even more excited. They quickly closed-in while firing even more arrows at the apprentice. When they were within ten steps of the hooded figure, they tossed aside their bows and charged at the enemy with forked spears in hand.
The black-robed human suddenly unleashed a strange bug's screech when all eight spears dug into their body. The human's body exploded into a sky full of black beetles, instantly drowning the eight beeman soldiers in a terrifying tide of insects.
It was the first time the beeman soldiers had ever faced such a terrifying retaliation. They screamed and tried to get back on their feet, but they were covered in a layer of black beetles. Their faces, heads, bodies, feet, and even their semi-translucent wings were crawling with these strange insects.
What frightened them more was that strange chattering sound of silkworms feasting on mulberry leaves, and the intense pain from every part of their body.
A few stronger beemen barely managed to fly by flapping their wings. However, their vision was obscured, causing them to fall to the ground after crashing into branches.
The beeman soldiers struggled and frantically fought back. Many black, bean-sized beetles were crushed into a paste or reduced to pools of black liquid by poison. However, their remaining numbers were still enough to kill these eight unfortunate victims with no magical abilities.
Soon, the forest regained its peace.
Only chilling crunching sound remained in the silent Black Forest.
A short moment later, the black beetles gathered together after their feast. They once again reformed into the appearance of Billis.
The apprentice adept that had just experienced glorious victory in his first battle stood in the pool of blood on the ground. He silently savored the comfortable feeling of sweet blood coursing through his body.
The Aba Beemen were a type of magical creatures, but their appearances were a combination of elves and bees. They were humanoid magical creatures. In the past, Billis' personality would never have allowed him to conduct such a cruel act as devouring the enemy alive.
However, after he had assimilated the Queen Bug, all of this seemed to be a matter of fact for him. He was indifferent to it all!
This place is the world of my goals!
Greem had always suppressed Billis' violent and bloodthirsty nature after his successful assimilation. Even though Billis had enjoyed plenty of snacks in secret before this, those weak humans couldn't provide him with much energy needed for evolution.
In comparison, the magical creatures soaked in elementium power were the most suitable food for him!
Those sweet and delicious human apprentices were also walking delicacies. However, Master Greem had given him strict orders. He was not to eat adepts or apprentices without permission. That was why Billis had to suppress his impulse to hunt in the tower. He followed his master's guidance and came here to look for the Aba Beemen.
Once he had finished eating, Billis pushed into the depths of the forest with heavy and shambling footsteps. A swarm of bugs followed closely behind him like loyal hunting hounds, sweeping the bits and pieces of flesh left on the ground along wi
th them.
Billis had only barely completed the evolution of his body of bugs. He now possessed an immortal body of bugs, but he had yet to cultivate a single combat beetle. His current self was undoubtedly frail. He could only turn around and run if he ran into those powerful magical creature leaders.
That was why it was time for him to find a place to create his bug's nest!
Chapter 466 The Greem Faction
Two beeman squads that had gone out hunting went missing in a single night.
It immediately caused unease in the nest.
The silent bee nest started bustling once again when the sun rose. Squads of fully armed beeman soldiers charged out of the nest and began a close and careful search of the area where the team had gone missing.
They quickly discovered the battlefield, but the signs of conflict that remained at the location were shockingly few.
Apart from some burn marks and snapped arrows, they could not find any corpses or even flesh or blood. That was extremely rare in a battle between magical creatures!
One was able to deduce that the hunting squad had run into a flaming tiger based on the clues left on the ground. However, the situation perplexed the beeman officer. If there had been too many flaming tigers for the hunting squad to take down, they had only needed to flap their wings and hide in the canopy to escape; there was no need for confrontation.
Since the hunting squad had initiated a fight with the flaming tigers, it meant the leader of the team was confident in being able to take them down. But where were they now?
One could tell that the site of battle had been carefully cleaned up. It was so clean that it was hard to find even a shred of meat or a drop of blood. If it weren't for the unique body odor of the flaming tiger that lingered in the place, the beeman commander would have suspected that a human adept had broken into their territory.
The signs left behind didn't seem like the actions of a human adept.
Those greedy human adepts were not cruel and bloodthirsty magical creatures. They would only extract their prey's organs, which contained their life essence, after killing them. They wouldn't act like savage magical creatures and strip the victims of every piece of flesh.
While the beeman commander was beating its wings and moving through the scene of battle in hopes of finding some clues, a beeman soldier came rushing to his side, panting.
"There… there's a demon's nest…" The beeman soldier racing back from the distance to send this message was obviously in shock. He stuttered even as he spoke.
That made the commander's heart tighten with unease.
A short moment later, the beeman commander hurried to that 'demon's nest' with a large troop of beeman soldiers behind him.
It used to be the den of a terrifying gray bear. However, this twenty square meters large cave had forever lost its owner with the arrival of the Aba beeman.
However, it was clear that this place had been taken over by some horrible demon since last night.
This place looked like an abandoned bug's nest. The floor, walls, and ceiling were all covered in a layer of strange moss. Erected in the middle of the cave were five or six dirt piles that resembled anthills. However, these piles of dirt had already been taken apart and pushed over. One could no longer see how it had looked when they were still intact.
The beeman commander was immediately disgusted by the thick scent of blood when he stepped into the cave. He could no longer suppress his rage when his eyes fell upon the crumbled piles of dirt.
These goddamned bastards!
This damned anthill-like bug's nest was constructed with a mixture of beeman flesh, wood splinters, and mud. The beeman commander could see the remnants of wings and beeman stingers in the crumbled dirt pile.
Judging by the scene before him, this place was an accursed nursery for bugs to devour the corpses of the beeman soldiers!
They had been one step too late. Those damned insects had already hatched and moved out from their nest.
"Send out all patrol squads. I want them to comb every inch of the forest nearby. We must drag out those evil bastards from hiding." The beeman commander's sharp roar rang out in the cave.
Squads of beeman soldiers swarmed out of their nests at this order. They instantly turned the Black Forest into a riotous and chaotic swamp.
…………
All that was occurring in the distant woods didn't affect the daily routine of Fire Throne.
Greem had just finished an instance of tempering his Spirit. He received a magical message from Billis when he returned from the underground sea of lava.
Billis had successfully gained a foothold in the Aba beemen's territory and had succeeded in hatching five Stinging Scorpion larvae.
After assimilating with the Queen Bug, the difference in Billis' elementium affinity and talent caused Billis not to hatch carcass beetles. Instead, they were the Stinging Scorpions that possessed the twin attributes of darkness and earth.
Thanks to the message Billis sent to him, Greem was able to obtain an elementary understanding of the scorpion larva's basic abilities.
Sadly, these scorpion larvae had lost the beetle's flying ability. In exchange, they obtained the ability to tunnel rapidly and the use of earth and dark attacks. Their central strategy was to tunnel below the enemy's feet before launching terrifying melee attacks. Their primary weapons were the large pincers and wicked jaws at the front of their body, and their poison stinger.
They could cast a weakened version of Quagmire and trap the enemies around them in a thick, swamp-like pool of earth elementium. Their attacks also had strong shadow damaged attached to them.
Of course, once these larvae managed to mature into adolescence, they would be able to use Earth Spikes and Shadow Assault while hidden in the ground. As long as the enemy couldn't drive them out from under the ground, they would be undefeatable.
If they went one step further and evolved into elite-level magical creatures, they would awaken to even more numerous and terrifying magical abilities. However, Greem could not predict the capabilities they would get without reliable data and information.
The tough shells of scorpions would protect them from most physical damage, while Quagmire and their shadow attacks would allow them to keep a large group of enemies close by. From this perspective, Billis' future army of stinging scorpions would likely become an army of meat shields that specialized in chaotic up-close fights.
That would significantly relieve the pressure of defending from the elementium golems, and allow them to display the full extent of their power as long-ranged cannons!
Greem had vaguely started forming his thoughts about warfare after the last planar war.
The so-called planar war was no more than an embellishment of planar invasion. The invaders had to face both the suppression of the planar consciousness and the tides of natives. A lone invader would be committing suicide in trying to start trench warfare against the enemy under these circumstances!
That was why the key to victory was possessing a method to raise an army while maintaining mobility and stealth quickly. Greem's elementium golems, Mary's vampire army, and Billis' stinger scorpion army were all critical and irreplaceable components of this strategy.
Of course, trying to invade a mature plane with their current ability was immensely difficult. That was why Greem, after considerable thought, decided to set the operation date for after he became a Second Grade adept.
Greem was sure that their servant army strategy would have come to fruition by then. It wouldn't be like now, where everything was only in the early stages with just bare bones to show; he couldn't even pick out a commander or general that could hold his own.
Greem quickly shifted his attention to himself after thinking about Billis' message. It was his second time tempering his Spirit!
The last Spirit tempering had caused his Spirit to fall from seven points to six points. Greem had only managed to return his Spirit to the limit of seven points after a period o
f rest and adjustment. He had also used multiple methods to hasten the recovery of his Spirit.
However, his second time tempering had caused his Spirit to once again fall to 5.8 points. Intense and continuous quakes had appeared in his mental space as well.
This trembling on the mental level had both benefits and drawbacks.
The benefits were that these tremors could shake the already solidified mental space. They would detonate the hidden troubles that were detrimental to the growth of Greem's mental space and allow him to have a wider area for future development. The downsides were that these mental quakes involved Greem's body and mind. Greem would be unable to cast any spells before they resolved. He would need to be careful when drawing upon his Spirit, to not affect the adjustments happening in his mental space.
Of course, the spells stored beforehand in the Scroll of Voodoo were a different matter!
According to Greem's estimates, he would require five to seven days to eliminate these mental quakes, even with sufficient potions and resources to waste. If he took into consideration the limits of his physical body and the need to nurture his Spirit, Greem felt like it was most suitable to determine a Spirit tempering period to be between ten to fifteen days.
In this state, he would lose almost all of his casting abilities. He could only rely on the tower and its tight defensive arrays to protect himself. If the enemy discovered this weakness of his, Greem's life would be in danger!
Two days later, Adept Keoghan arrived at Fire Throne as planned, bringing with him plenty of materials. Snorlax and the many disciples under Greem had also tagged along with him. They were a lively party of over two dozen people.
These were all the apprentices that the Sarubo Clan had assigned to Greem over the past ten years, and they had all been sent along on this trip.
It was clear that the attitude of the Sarubo higher-ups towards Greem had changed drastically after the new contract was signed. Their previous suppression had turned into the current support. It was apparent that Lady Sanazar had plenty of confidence in being able to wear away Greem's ambition. So much so that she didn't mind giving Greem an advance of benefits.
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