"T-the ground is shaking!"

"Damn, what the hell is this…!”

The ground beneath their legs shook as if there was a major earthquake. People would instinctively try to find their balance when the ground shook, but all the Players here were veterans.

"Be careful not to get dragged under the splitting ground! You’ll die in an instant!"

"There's something underneath!"

“Keep your balance!”

They calmly assumed the best position to regain their balance. They lowered their posture and moved their body's center of mass downward. However, the way they handled the situation calmly was a mistake.

- Keeee!

- Kieeeee!

Pop, pop!

Hundreds of stingers popped out of the ground like thorns and began to poke the Players. Even if they were just wasps, the stingers that came out like machine guns were very dangerous.

"S-shoot!"

"Damn it!"

The Players used their own skills to block, break, and dodge the stingers. But not everyone was able to do that. Dozens of people were injured, and two Players died in no time.

"Just how many of them are here?"

"I don't know! Just kill them all!"

It was a much more advantageous battlefield for the bees. They hid in the ground, indiscriminately attacked, and shook the ground. The Players were attacking while trying to keep their balance, so their attacks weren’t as accurate and as powerful as usual.

‘I have to step up…’

Seo Jun-Ho made up his mind and gathered his magic. Ice energy spread from his feet and permeated the ground.

Crackle!

A huge ice sheet was created. A thick sheet of ice isolated the bees from the Players.

Crack, crack, crack!

The bees’ stingers were having difficulties penetrating the ice sheet.

"Good job."

With someone's quiet voice, Seo Jun-Ho's body floated in the air.

‘Is this Skaya? No… it's completely different.’

If it were Skaya’s Reverse Gravity, one would feel as if the gravity pressing down on one’s body was now pushing upward, but this felt like space itself was pushing his body away. It was obvious who was doing this.

‘Shin Sung-Hyun…’

Looking around, Seo Jun-Ho was impressed, as he wasn't the only one floating in the air. Every surviving Player was floating like balloons in the air.

‘Is this the power of a Heaven?’

Shin Sung-Hyun waved his baton and pulled Seo Jae-Gil close. He asked while looking down at the ground dozens of meters below, "…Player Seo Jae-Gil, what are those?"

"Mmm."

Seo Jae-Gil looked at the hundreds of arm-sized bees swarming over the ice. He groaned before saying, "Those are digger wasps. They are the most aggressive bee in the world. Wasps are known for their single, powerful stings, but these guys are especially famous for stinging like machine guns... Their population is also very large because it doesn’t take them long to grow into adults."

"Is that so?"

There was no emotion on Shin Sung-Hyun's face. The faint smile that often lingered around his mouth had also disappeared. It was impossible to figure out what he was thinking.

‘He’s angry.’

Seo Jun-Ho thought he was angry.

‘I see, the three Players who just died...’

Coincidentally, they were all members of the Goblin Guild. The boss was angry at the death of his subordinates.

"These bugs..."

Shin Sung-Hyun shook the baton lightly.

Craaack!

At the same time, the space below began to warp and distort.

- Keeeee!

- Kiuuuu!

The thick ice broke like sorghum straw, and the digger wasps broke into pieces, writhing in pain. Despite being broken in pieces, they still flailed about with their antennae and legs, struggling to live.

"Ack, that's gross."

"Damn it. I normally don't like insects..."

The moment Players frowned at the disgusting sight, Shin Sung-Hyun's baton shook once again.

Whoooong!

Shin Sung-Hyun’s neat pomade hair shook violently.

'What a strong energy...!’

Shin Sung-Hyun's spatial skill couldn’t be seen with the naked eye. However, Seo Jun-Ho could instinctively feel that Shin Sung-Hyun's space was pressing on the world itself.

Shaking.

The world shook, and his body trembled with it. Seo Jun-Ho didn't feel particularly afraid, but the overwhelming vibrations intimidated him.

'If you get hit by this directly...’

Seo Jun-Ho gulped and looked down.

Craaaack!

It was like pressing down on cans with a hydraulic press machine. The furious space crushed hundreds of digger wasps together with the surrounding trees and stones.

"M-master! Are you okay?!" Vice Master Jang Kyung-Hoon voiced his worries.

"...I’m fine."

Shin Sung-Hyun raised his hand to say he was fine, but it turned out that he had overdone it. As cold sweat slid down his pale face, he slowly sent the Players down.

"It's not good..."

Milphage spoke as he stepped on the hard ground that had been compressed by space.

"It seems those bugs have a perfect grasp of our position."

"…We moved quietly from the camp, but considering that they sent out these digger wasps or whatever, I'm sure…"

Kiora spoke, raising her sharp eyebrows even more.

"What are we going to do now?”

“Even though our location has been revealed, there's no reason for us to change the plan. However…"

Milphage turned around and revealed a look of discomfort. He was staring at where the base camp was.

"I'm a little worried about the guys I left behind...”

There were only about ten Players in the base camp. Both Hallem and Goblin left an equal number of members to protect their food and equipment. If the bugs had started to monitor them from there, they could be targeting the relatively weak base camp.

"Send back twenty more," Shin Sung-Hyun said, wiping the sweat off his face with a handkerchief.

"…Twenty people? I think that's too much. I'm concerned that the main unit’s power will be diminished."

"You still don’t understand, even after the battle just now? It's not the kind of fight where we’ll have the advantage the more people we have.”

In fact, a large group could easily be tracked down. Their reaction to ambushes would also be slower, as orders had to be passed down to each individual.

"Hmm."

Milphage couldn’t find anything to refute, and he eventually sent ten mercenaries back to the base camp. After taking a breather, the group looked toward the Magic Tower again.

"…It seems pretty dangerous over there, too."

"There’s too many of them...”

Shin Sung-Hyun frowned.

The sky was still dark. It meant that the bees were still continuously popping out of the Magic Tower. It was hard to imagine their numbers.

"At worst, it should be over four thousand?"

"It's certainly strange. Halo said that hundreds of years ago, there were definitely fewer than a hundred of them."

"What did they eat in this space to reproduce like that?"

It was impossible to know. The only thing that mattered was to break through them and hunt the one and only 'queen bee.’

‘Wait, if our ultimate goal is the queen bee...’

Wasn't this a considerable opportunity? Seo Jun-Ho approached the two masters and said, "Wouldn't it be better to just go and hit their main base right now than to join up with another guild?"

"…Hmm?"

Hit the main base? The two men's expressions became strange after hearing some unexpected words. However, they continued to talk for a bit with a stiff look still on their faces.

"What do you think?"

"If there are so many bees outside...”

"Right? Common sense suggests that the tower should be empty.”

"I don't know about it being empty, but it should be fewer than when they were in there.”

The swarm of bees that had colored the sky dark were still pouring down toward the other four guilds. The only group that had targeted Seo Jun-Ho's group was the digger wasps just now.

"If they can hang in there a little longer, we can take out the queen bee and mess up the chain of command."

“This could be an opportunity that will never come again.” Milphage nodded. It would be impossible to create this kind of situation the moment they joined up with the other four guilds. "Since there's no way anyone's going to stay and play bait."

The nature of the Blackfield hunt was an imperial commission given to the Big 6. Guilds that had played a bigger role and had achieved greater merits would inevitably receive better rewards.

"Of course, killing the queen bee would be the greatest achievement."

"If they just thought about it, everyone would want to go inside the tower."

As such, the best time to seize achievements was right now. Fortunately, except for themselves, the four other guilds were now cannon fodders. The two masters agreed with Seo Jun-Ho's proposal.

"It's not bad. No, it's good."

"Hahaha, my mercenary came up with a good plan."

The two were on the same wavelength, and they agreed with the new plan.

"Player Seo Jae-Gil."

"Yes?"

"If there was a queen bee's room in that tower, where would it be?"

"Well…" Seo Jae-Gil looked closely at the Magic Tower and nodded. "Usually, the queen’s room is the safest place in the hive. You have to face many bees to break into it."

"Well, then that means…”

Everyone's gaze went up slightly to the topmost floor of the Magic Tower. It was the place where the bees’ commander—the queen bee—was located.

"Shin Sung-Hyun, can you use your skill like before and bring us to the top?"

"…It's impossible.”

Shin Sung-Hyun admitted to his inability, which was rare. He had always wanted to show only his strong side since he ascended to be one of the Nine Heavens, but now wasn’t the time to do that.

"With a small number like ten people, it might be possible, but it’s impossible to take everyone to the top."

"Hmm, it seems that even one of the Nine Heavens isn’t omnipotent."

"Quiet. Think of another way."

"Even if you say that, there's only one way. We can't divide our main force, so we have to break through from the first floor."

Once the plan was decided, all that remained was a battle against time.

"We better kill the queen before the members of the other guilds notice us."

"Well, they definitely won’t take it well when they notice."

After coming to an agreement for the first time in a while, the two quickly ended their discussion.

"I'm sorry I couldn't protect you…"

Shin Sung-Hyun took the Vita of his dead subordinates. The Vitas would return to the arms of the families waiting for the safe return of their son, daughter, brother, or sister.

"I'll make a grave for you later."

Shin Sung-Hyun couldn’t make their graves due to time constraints, so he made them float instead.

‘Is this freezing of space?’

After putting the bodies in a unique space that did not allow any outside intrusion, Shin Sung-Hyun turned around.

"Let's go."

Having lost the comrades they had just eaten breakfast with this morning, fury could be seen within the eyes of the Goblin Guild members.

***

"So weak!"

Slice!

When she charged forward, Kiora’s sword flashed and split a wasp into eight pieces. The moment she looked back with a triumphant look on her face—

Hwaaaaa!

Heat quickly filled the first floor’s hallway as waves of flames inundated the place in an instant. The wasps and hundreds of their eggs everywhere gave off a savory smell.

Gong Ju-ha raised a corner of her mouth as she brushed the sweat from her forehead and said, "Oh my, when do you plan on going up? Why are you being so slow and catching them one by one? Did you come here to sightsee?"

"…You cheap element user."

The competition between the two guilds intensified upon entering the Magic Tower. But fortunately, it created a positive effect. As they fought even harder to prove that their own guild was more excellent than the other, the number of bee eggs continued to decrease.

"At this rate, we’ll soon get to the tenth floor."

"Well, that’s if the ones upstairs are similar."

The two masters nodded with satisfaction. When they came in, the other guilds were still fighting with the bees outside.

"We probably have around thirty minutes before anyone else comes."

"That's enough! Didn’t we only take about two minutes to clean up the first floor?”

The wasps were helplessly destroyed by Gasman and Gong Ju-Ha’s combination attack. Fortunately, the bees had no flame resistance.

"Something… Something is wrong."

Seo Jae-Gil had a grim look despite the cheers of victory.

Shin Sung-Hyun found this to be suspicious and asked, "What do you mean, something’s wrong?"

"The proportion of bees in this place is strange. There are only a few worker bees, and they are mostly wasps and male bees. Typically, a beehive without worker bees will never last long. Without worker bees, a colony will quickly decline and collapse.”

"Hey, don't try to understand each and every one of these guys. Even if they look like bees, they’re an alien species, monsters to be exact."

Milphage tapped Seo Jae-Gil on the shoulder and took the latter’s words lightly. Shin Sung-Hyun thought for a moment before agreeing. The current situation was too good to point out such a small problem.

"But, just in case, let me know if you find anything more that’s strange."

"Yes…"

Apart from Seo Jae-Gil's worries, the group achieved consecutive victories.

‘Fast! We’re definitely moving fast!’

Seo Jun-Ho's face also brightened up. Second floor, third floor, fourth floor... With Gong Ju-Ha in the front, they quickly climbed to the Magic Tower’s sixth floor.

"We'll win by a long shot at this rate! Just trust in me!"

A highly excited Gong Ju-Ha laughed as she stepped on the seventh floor.

"Huh...?"

At that moment, her face stiffened. Those behind her also felt the strange atmosphere.

“…”

The doors of every room in the magic tower were open, but the rooms in this floor had closed doors. The corridor was flooded with green liquid, and the bees’ innards were haphazardly scattered. A pungent smell also pricked at the Players’ noses.

Boom!

A closed door opened all of a sudden, and a wasp shot out like an arrow.

"Ugh...!"

Shocked, Gong Ju-Ha hurriedly tried to ignite a flame.

Wheeeee!

However, a long antenna popped out of the room and wrapped around the wasp's body like a whip.

- Keeee! Keeeeee!

The bee shook and screamed, but it was dragged into the room by the antennae.

“W-what was that?"

"…Come back."

Shin Sung-Hyun sensed danger and placed Gong Ju-Ha behind him. Before they knew it, Milphage had overtaken the mercenaries to take the lead.

Munch, crunch.

They heard an unpleasant sound as if something were chewing a crab with its shell on.

- Burp.

The sound of something burping eerily reverberated through the corridor.