Chapter 28
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 28
Chapter Title: A Calculated Rescue
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Though they were survivors who had become players in this topsy-turvy world, most of them typically established shelters.
Even if their stats granted them superhuman strength, humans were still beings who would die without food.
Thus, they secured places like supermarkets overflowing with food or locations easy to defend from monsters, turning them into shelters and gathering other survivors to continue their activities.
But the world was wide, and everyone had their own way of life. Not all survivors belonged to a shelter.
Some were ostracized by shelters for having poor job classes or being physically weak, while others chose to live and fend for themselves entirely in the wild.
"Dammit. I'm sorry. I never thought it would ignore the detection traps I set..."
"We don't have time for regrets! Just run!"
"Give it a rest, Cheon-su! It's not some regular mob, it's a field boss. It must have had an ability to hide its presence, so stop whining!"
The four players currently fleeing from a giant mushroom chasing them through the mountains belonged to the latter group.
Their job classes' growth methods were unsuited for the safety of a shelter, and they had set out seeking a more active struggle for survival.
Whether it was a stroke of luck or not, what made this lifestyle possible were the job classes they acquired early on.
All four of them possessed 3-star or higher job classes, considered high-tier from the start.
In particular, the leader, Im Seok-cheol, and his wife, Yeon Su-hee, were skilled players, each with a unique job class.
"Hah, haaah... I can't. Leave me and save yourselves. At this rate, I'll just get you all killed!"
"Seok-cheol, please, just a little more!"
"If you die here, who's going to lead us? There's light coming from over there, just hold on until we get there, please!"
But had their luck run out the moment they got their job classes?
The spore attack the field boss had unleashed during the initial ambush.
Seok-cheol had taken the hit meant for his wife, Su-hee, and his condition seemed to have worsened while they were on the run.
*Thump— Thump—!*
As if it couldn't care less about their circumstances, the Stinger was slowly closing in.
Its gruesome appearance was adorned with white skeletons, melted onto its body like macabre decorations, evidence of the people it had already killed.
"Kishishishit!"
The four players' faces twisted in terror at the sight of the mushroom, which seemed to wear a wicked grin.
"Everyone, I'll buy us some time! Run!"
Seok-cheol roared, as if resigned to death.
But did misfortune always have to strike twice?
Despite Seok-cheol's final act of will, the other three couldn't bring themselves to move.
And for good reason...
*Bzzzzzzzz—! Bzz-bzz-bzzzz—!*
An eerie buzzing of wings came from the direction they were trying to flee.
As if by instinct, the players turned their heads, only to freeze in place.
[Peridot Azure Toxin Legion Commander Bee (★★★)] - Elite Bee
Two bees, their size as immense as the dreadful sound of their wings.
The mere presence of those two was enough to make them tremble, but that wasn't the end of it.
"Oh... my god..."
[Ruby Gem Worker Bee (★★)]
[Peridot Worker Bee (★★)]
[Ruby Gem Honey Pot Bee (★★+)]
[Peridot Azure Toxin Kamikaze Bee (★★+)]
...
As if the first two had been a mere joke, an innumerable swarm of various bees followed.
Their numbers were too great to count.
*Thud.*
Faced with the overwhelming legion, Su-hee and the other players lost all hope and collapsed to the ground.
With the Stinger on one side and the bee legion on the other, what could they possibly do?
The only thing they could wish for was a painless death.
However, contrary to their expectations, the situation began to unfold in a surprising way.
*Bzz— Bzzzzzz—!*
As if to protect them.
A large bee took the blow from the Stinger's vine-like stem.
*Bzzzzzzzzzz—!*
Then, with a rough buzzing that sounded like a command, the bees began to act strangely.
*Whoosh— Bang— Bang— Ba-boom—!*
Projectiles rained down from the sky, as if the bees had already taken control of the air.
The bomb-like objects struck the Stinger with perfect accuracy, creating expanding zones of red and green.
"What... what is that!"
Bees using what looked like items?
The absurdity was short-lived.
"Yeon-ah! This is no time to be shocked! Get out of there! That's poison!"
"But the bees..."
"We'll die for sure if we stay here! Just focus on surviving!"
Snapping out of it at the sharp cry of Kang Cheon-su, the 3-star Trapper, they lifted the fallen Seok-cheol and quickly moved out of the zones.
And was their choice the right one?
*Bzz— Bzzzzzz—!*
The bees flew past them as if they weren't even there.
They swarmed the Stinger, which was still swinging its stem, displaying extreme hostility only toward it.
*Thud— Thud-thud-thud—*
In the process, quite a few bees fell to the ground as cold corpses, but the surprises didn't end there.
*Ssssss—!*
The bodies of the bees that should have been dead.
[Peridot Worker Bee Zombie (★★-)]
[Ruby Gem Worker Bee Zombie (★★-)]
...
As if there were necromancers among the bees, the bee zombies rose one by one and latched onto the Stinger, throwing themselves at it without a care for their own bodies.
"Ki, kikit!?"
A momentary opening caused by carelessness.
Seizing that fleeting chance, the bees performed nimble aerial acrobatics and plunged their stingers into the monster.
"Kikit! Kiiiiiiit!"
Completely surrounded by the swarm of bees, the Stinger could only flail about, unable to do anything.
Soon after, as if its health had dropped to zero, it became a corpse and collapsed on the spot.
"No... way..."
"It killed a field boss just like that?"
The bees had neutralized the field boss monster in an instant, employing all sorts of extraordinary methods, from their bizarre use of items to the appearance of zombies.
Of course, a fair number of bees had died in the process, but perhaps due to their sheer numbers, the bee legion still appeared countless.
"What's... what's going to happen to us now?"
"I don't know. I've heard that bees aren't carnivorous, but I'm not so sure now."
Even with the death of the Stinger that had been chasing them, Cheon-su couldn't let his guard down.
In some ways, this bee legion could be even more threatening than the Stinger.
It was impossible to tell if they had saved them or simply eliminated an obstacle.
Furthermore, it wasn't just their own lives at stake. Through the party status window, he could see that Seok-cheol, who had been hit by the Stinger's spore attack, was still continuously losing health.
The Stinger's spore poison was a 3-star-grade toxin.
With no known antidote, Seok-cheol's death was a 100% certainty if things continued like this.
They had used up every last penny they had on health potions on the way here, but this damn poison seemed to have a significant stacking and duration effect, showing no signs of being cured.
*Bzzzzzz— Bzzzzzz—!*
In this worst-case scenario.
A single bee suddenly emerged from the swarm.
In that fleeting moment, as they wondered whether that buzzing was the gateway to hell or to death, their lives flashed before their eyes.
*Bzz— Bzzzz—*
But surprisingly, they felt no pain, nothing but the sound of wings buzzing nearby.
Yeon-ah cautiously opened her eyes and saw something hanging from the bee's hind legs, her eyes widening in astonishment.
[Guardian's Ruby Gem Honey Tea (★+)]
[Guardian's Ruby Gem Honey Tea (★+)]
...
Guardian's Ruby Gem Honey Tea?
This was an item Yeon-ah recognized.
Of course she did. This was an item produced by Honeybee himself.
The top name on the Korean server's marketplace, someone you'd have to be living under a rock not to know.
"Could it be..."
Now that the frantic battle was over, Yeon-ah finally remembered.
Ruby Gem and Peridot.
Weren't the words attached to these bees the same keywords found on those famous processed honey products?
"M-Mr. Honeybee... are you saying it's okay for us to take this?"
As if to confirm her words, the bee wiggled its fluffy rear and pointed toward the injured Seok-cheol.
After they used the honey tea to stabilize Seok-cheol's fading life, the bee began to lead the players away with a gesture-like dance, beckoning them to follow.
***
Images sent from the scout bees were constantly being updated.
As he watched the players being guided by his bees, one of them supported due to the poison, Seong-hyeok checked the Peridot Honey Soap.
※ Hygiene of Guardian's Peridot Honey: For 40 minutes, gain immunity to ★★+ grade poison effects and increase attack power by 2%. (Durability -1, Cooldown 60 minutes)
The hygiene effect provided immunity and detoxification for poisons up to 2-star+ grade.
However, the Stinger those players had faced was a 3-star-grade field boss monster.
Naturally, to detoxify its poison, a 3-star-grade detoxification effect was required.
The only other option was to keep pouring health potions into him until the poison's duration ended.
But one shouldn't forget that the poison's power was a 3-star-grade toxin, comparable to the Azure Toxin.
What if the poison's duration was incredibly long?
And what if it had additional, unknown effects?
"Either way, detoxifying him first is the best option."
If the honey soap alone wasn't enough, he could just add a few more things to the treatment.
"Bee venom is inherently a poison, but depending on how it's used, it can also be a medicine."
The first ingredient would be the venom collected from the Ruby Gem and Peridot bees.
Using poison to fight poison.
A so-called remedy that uses one toxin to neutralize another.
And the next method involved a skill.
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[Bee Sting Acupuncture (Lv.1)]
※ Can only be used when equipped with a weapon that has a stinger or blade.
* Mana Cost: 0
* Effect (Passive): Allows you to see the pressure points of living beings.
* Description: By identifying a target's pressure points, you can inflict critical damage or bestow beneficial effects. As the level increases, you can identify more numerous and deeper pressure points and gain various additional effects.
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Bee Sting Acupuncture was a skill he had acquired upon reaching level 20.
Since all he did was collect and process honey at the bee farm, it had become a largely useless skill, but the passive ability to see pressure points was quite good.
After all, in his 24 years dedicated to bees, Seong-hyeok's ecological research had included the study of bee venom stings. He was well-versed in which pressure points to target for things like neuralgia relief, blood circulation, and even hair loss treatment.
He knew exactly where to sting.
"It's my first time doing it for real, but I'm sure it'll work out."
...Well, that being said, Seong-hyeok wasn't an oriental doctor. The only experience he had with bee sting therapy was trying it on himself a few times.
In other words, he was an unlicensed practitioner with plenty of knowledge but no license.
But when the alternative was a 100% chance of death, wasn't it better to at least attempt a cure?
"It's not like it's free, anyway."
He felt a little sorry for those people following along unsuspectingly, but Seong-hyeok was no saint who would let players who had discovered his location go peacefully.
Besides, although they had hunted the field boss Stinger, he had to be properly compensated for the value of the bees sacrificed for their sake, not to mention the cost of the invested items like honey tea and venom bombs.
"I don't know about anything else, but they at least look like they'd be good workers, which is a relief."
A doting father to his bees, but an endlessly calculating being to his fellow humans.
That was the basic motto of the Honeybee Guardian, Yu Seong-hyeok.