Swordsman's Regression: Reawakened as a Necromancer-Chapter 125: Battle With Bees

"Eugh! Those are the ugliest beasts I’ve ever seen!" Bromm growled.

The Forsaken Soldier Bees truly were hideous. They were also massive, each one the size of a baby horse, covered in thick, yellow fuzz that bristled like wire.

Beneath their multi-faceted, violet compound eyes, their mouths were a horror show of serrated mandibles. As they clicked repeatedly, a thick, green viscous fluid dripped down and hissed as it hit the resin floor.

Their bodies were plated in segments of black and yellow chitin that looked as hard as iron, and it almost seemed like a golden smoke had formed in the distance.

Nessa narrowed her eyes. Apart from Aethelstan, she seemed to be the only one who wasn’t very afraid.

"They have stingers behind them," she sensed. "Most likely there will be some kind of poison. We have to be careful."

"By the Gods," Teson whispered, his shield raising instinctively. "There’s so many of them."

"They’re nothing compared to us," Liraeth shrieked, her voice pitching up an octave. She raised her hand, her fingers lighting up red. "Burn them! Just burn them all!"

"Wait!" Aethelstan commanded.

He stepped to the forefront, his cape billowing despite the lack of wind. He looked annoyed, not with his team but with the swarm of bees.

It was as if they were an unruly crowd blocking his path to the throne.

"Look at their pattern," Aethelstan said, pointing with his A-Ranked sword. "They are clustering. They are trying to overwhelm the center. If we attack in panic, they could flank us and most of us with simpler gears will die."

Liraeth’s face softened, cheeks turning red. "Oh yes. I’m sorry, Aethelstan. You’re absolutely right."

He turned to the tanks.

"Ugmar! Teson! Calarin! Like I told you. Create a wedge formation, now! Interlock your shields! Do not let a single one pass!"

The three heavy Knights moved forward in unison, slamming their massive tower shields into the mulch floor, creating a wall of steel.

"Mages!" Aethelstan yelled, not looking back.

Liraeth beamed.

"Liraeth, as an Elemental Mage, you’re very important to our attack. Create a wall of fire on the flanks! That will funnel them to the center! Aelade, use wind blasts to knock them out of the air! Force them to the ground!"

Aelade wanted to say that her Wind magic wasn’t that strong, but she didn’t want to disappoint anyone on their first mission.

"I’m on it, Aethelstan!" Liraeth declared, biting her lip. She turned to the encroaching chaos and began to summon the strongest flames she could, sweat already beading on her forehead.

It was difficult, she was already spending much of her mana. But whatever it took to impress Prince Aethelstan, she was going to do it.

"Corvell. Princess Corisande." Aethelstan eyed the two of them. "Remain in the center. Use Buff magic to make sure spells last longer, and jump in to heal anyone wounded."

"And the rest of you," Aethelstan said, his eyes narrowing as he looked at Deron, Bromm, and Vadrian. "You are the clean-up crew. But I am the spear. Stay behind my line of engagement. Do not clutter my space."

It was a subtle order, but the intention was clear to everyone: Aethelstan was the main character. The rest of them, they were the support.

"Here they come!" Bromm roared, slamming the haft of his axe against his palm. "Kiss the steel, you ugly bastards!"

The swarm collided with the formation.

CRASH!

The loud sound of chitin slamming against enchanted steel filled the air. The weight of the bees pushed Ugmar back a foot, his boots carving furrows in the resin, but the Dwarf held the line with a grunt of exertion.

"Push back!" Ugmar bellowed, veins bulging in his neck.

"⸢Flame Wall!⸥" Liraeth screamed.

Two roaring curtains of fire erupted on either side of the canyon, searing the wings of the flankers. The sounds of the Bees screeching covered the Zone, as they were forced inward...

...Exactly where Aethelstan wanted them.

"Now!" Aethelstan shouted.

With no intent on waiting for others, he launched himself over the shield wall, transforming into a blur of gold and white.

"⸢Sun Blade: Zenith Arc!⸥"

His sword, coated in blinding solar mana, swept out in a wide, majestic crescent.

The blade sheared through the chitin of the first two bees like hot knives through butter. Green ichor sprayed into the air, illuminated by the golden light of his mana.

He landed in a crouch and immediately spun, thrusting his blade upward into the thorax of a third bee.

"Three," he counted in his mind, driven to show his power to the rest.

He was dancing. While the tanks groaned under the pressure and the Mages struggled to maintain their spells, Aethelstan moved and killed, knowing he was being watched. Maybe admired.

Every strike was perfect. Every parry was photogenic.

"Bromm! The left flank is buckling!" Corvell shouted from the back, his hands glowing with white light as he cast a shield on Teson.

"I got it!" Bromm charged, his axe chopping into a bee’s leg.

"No!" Aethelstan shouted, interrupting his own rhythm. "That one is mine!"

He dashed across the line, shoulder-checking Bromm out of the way to deliver the killing blow to the crippled bee.

"Four!" Aethelstan declared in his mind.

Bromm stared at him, bewildered. "What the hell, Prince? It was dead anyway!"

"Efficiency, dwarf!" Aethelstan retorted, not looking at him. "My damage output is higher. Don’t waste stamina on kills I can secure faster."

He turned back to the swarm and continued to attack.

Slash. Thrust. Parry. Pose. Again, again, and again.

Aethelstan was racking up experience. He was showing them the gap between a Lvl 100 Awakener and them: Newbiers.

He saw a massive Soldier Bee, larger than the rest, buzzing furiously as it tried to grapple with Vadrian. Vadrian was struggling, his sword caught in the creature’s mandibles.

"Step aside!" Aethelstan ordered, charging his sword with a massive amount of mana. "⸢Solar...⸥"

He prepared a heavy, theatrical overhead strike that would split the beast in two. Suddenly, a blur of silver shot past him.

Deron, the white-haired Knight saw the opening Aethelstan was winding up for. Realizing the Bee was exposed, he took the shot.

He slid under the Bee’s guard and drove his sword upward, through the soft tissue of the neck, straight into the brain.

SQUELCH.

The Bee went rigid, its wings spasming once before it collapsed, dead weight.

Aethelstan stood there, his sword raised for a strike that hit nothing but air. The golden mana fizzled out harmlessly.

He stared at the dead bee. Then at Deron, who was panting, wiping slime from his pauldrons.

"Got it," Deron said breathlessly, nodding to Vadrian. "You okay?"

Rage, hot and white, flooded Aethelstan’s mind.

Rather than relief that his teammate was saved, all he felt was indignation.

That was my kill. That was my moment.

That moment of vulnerability left him literally vulnerable as well.

While Aethelstan was glaring at Deron, a second Soldier Bee had bypassed the distraction. It lunged, its massive, barbed stinger flashing forward.

"Aethelstan! Look out!" Nessa screamed, immediately bursting into shadow mist.

But she was too late. The stinger punched through the gap in Aethelstan’s armor, right between the pauldron and the breastplate, sinking deep into the muscle of his shoulder.

"ARGHHH!"

Aethelstan shrieked, a sound entirely undignified. The pain was blinding, burning like liquid fire as the venom pumped into his veins. He dropped his sword, clutching his shoulder as his knees buckled.

It was then that Nessa materialized out of thin air behind the Bee. In one fluid motion, she drove both her daggers into the creature’s eye clusters and twisted.

The Bee shrieked and fell sideways, thrashing in its death throes.

Aethelstan writhed on the ground, his face pale, teeth gritted. "My arm... I can’t feel my arm!"

"Healer!" Bromm bellowed, swinging his axe wildly to keep the other bees back. "Our Party Leader is down!"

Corvell was already sprinting through the mulch, his staff glowing with intense, purifying light.

"Hold him down!" Corvell ordered, sliding to his knees beside the Prince. "The venom is fast. I need to purge it before it hits his heart."

Corisande was there too, casting ⸢Barrier⸥ to protect them while Corvell worked.

"It burns!" Aethelstan gasped, sweat pouring down his face, his golden armor stained with muck.

"I know," Corvell said calmly, placing his glowing hands directly over the wound. "⸢Purify. Greater Heal.⸥"

A hiss of steam rose from the wound as the green venom was drawn out, dissolving into grey smoke under the light of the spell. The flesh knit back together rapidly. The color returned to Aethelstan’s face.

Within ten seconds, the wound was gone.

"It’s okay," Corvell exhaled, wiping his brow. "He’ll be weak for a minute, but the poison is out."

"Thank the gods," Liraeth cried from her position, nearly losing her concentration on her fire wall. "Aethelstan! Are you okay?"

"Prince," Vadrian asked, stepping forward with concern. "Can you stand?"

Aethelstan lay there for a second, breathing heavily. Then, his eyes snapped open.

They weren’t filled with gratitude. They were filled with humiliation. With anger.

He shoved Corvell’s hand away roughly. "Get off me," he snarled.

He scrambled to his feet, ignoring his sword in the mud. He stumbled, his equilibrium still off, but his momentum was fueled by pure anger.

He pushed past Corvell. He shouldered past Vadrian.

He marched straight toward Deron, who was cleaning his blade, looking relieved that the leader was alive.

"Aethelstan?" Deron started, lowering his sword. "I’m glad you’re—"

Aethelstan reached out and grabbed Deron by the collar of his chest plate, slamming him backward against the resin wall of the canyon.

THUD.

"Hey! Hey!" Teson shouted, turning around. "No! What are you doing?!"