Chapter 318
Chapter 318
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 318
Chapter Title: Hornet Havoc
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"I'll carve you all to pieces!!!!!!"
The sword strikes had grown not just heavier but faster too, filling me with the satisfying thought that investing in this new blade had been money well spent. At the same time, an unbelievable surge of confidence welled up inside me.
Good gear breeds good confidence.
Shwick!
I didn't even need to measure the distance with those hornet spawn. Every swing of my blade cleaved them in two, sending them crashing to the ground. Of course, none of their attacks so much as grazed me.
Buzzz!!
The greatest strength of the Flowing Shadow Swordsmanship was its chain attacks.
With fluid footwork, I flowed seamlessly from one chained strike to the next, dominating the space around me like water cascading endlessly.
A blade that had gained momentum knew no mercy.
The hornets caught on my sword were sliced apart alive. Whoosh! Even those lurking in the vines, darting out for a surprise attack, couldn't inflict any harm on me. You thought a cheap ambush would work?
"You filthy bugs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
I cleaved the one in front vertically in half, twisting my body sharply to unleash the Asura Blood Palm Strike. My gauntlet-enhanced fist rocketed forward with devastating force, and the hornet that had tried to ambush me had no choice but to take the full brunt of it.
Crack!
The mana-infused punch shattered the hornet's head.
Thick ichor sprayed from the cracked shell and fragments as it plummeted, its body twitching violently.
"You're all too weak."
I was the kind of guy who always made sure to wear his armor properly, so I had zero worries about these punks stabbing me with their venomous stingers.
No worries meant more confidence.
More confidence meant higher combat prowess.
And that boosted prowess let me dismiss every enemy in this space as 'weaklings.' It was practically destiny that I'd go berserk here.
This was the power of fate.
Fate power, in other words.
It was a fight I could never lose from the start.
"Blackie's doing great!"
Winia kept watch around us, covering me relentlessly, while Claudy was, needless to say, in full slaughter mode. Was there a nest nearby? There had to be close to twenty of these attacking hornets.
The way they swarmed so aggressively suggested a nest was probably nearby.
Clack.
Only after I'd butchered every last one of the killer hornets did the killing stop. I shook the sticky ichor off my blade with a flourish and sheathed it quietly.
"...Man, this feels way too good."
Feeling the true power of my new sword firsthand ignited an unnatural craving for more slaughter. The handfeel was just that addictive—it made me want to rampage even harder.
Trash like these hornets couldn't satisfy my urges. I craved hot blood laced with hemoglobin, not this green sludge.
"Whew, Katt. You've gotten stronger, huh? Looking real good."
Claudy said as she grabbed a hornet's body and yanked out its stinger.
"Heh, yeah?"
"Yep. No doubt about it. At this rate, you'll hit that realm you touched on before in no time."
I doubted it'd be 'soon,' but Claudy flashed a bright smile, showering praise on my potential and pumping me up.
Mama believed in me.
"But to get there, you'll need to feed that sword a lot more blood, right? Let's keep pushing hard from here on out?"
"You bet. Trust me, Claudy."
My motivation was already sky-high.
Even just glimpsing that 'realm' for a split second had been a massive stimulus, reshaping my entire mindset.
Right now, my goal was raw strength itself.
Mastering the Flowing Shadow Severance at will was my first target. Once I nailed that, next up would be the Heavenly Demon Death Beam, no doubt.
Having previewed my potential made my goals crystal clear, so it was only natural for my drive to explode like this.
I couldn't wait to become the mighty warrior Claudy envisioned.
"Hee hee hee. You're just... so manly, Katt. Think we'll have a baby soon?"
"Doesn't feel like 'soon' yet."
"Nah, it'll happen soon. Winia, you should start getting ready too, huh?"
Winia, who had been prodding a hornet corpse with her staff, reacted to that.
"...Getting ready to get pregnant?"
"Yep."
"No way, if I skip contraception for just one day, it'd probably happen right away..."
What the hell.
Winia rubbed her lower belly and glanced at me.
"Yeah, Blackie. Honestly, you still seem pretty far off, so hurry up and become that strong warrior like sis said."
For some reason I couldn't quite pinpoint, I was getting hard.
Contraception... Seeing Winia cast her daily contraception spell on herself always stirred something weird in me. She said there were no side effects or body harm, so no worries there, but what was this odd feeling?
Especially when Claudy and Winia chatted about pregnancy—it stirred up these strange thoughts, and my lower half felt unbearably heavy.
"Honestly, aren't I a decently strong warrior already?"
"True that."
Frankly, I figured I could take an orc one-on-one without much trouble now.
Compared to back then, I'd bulked up my muscles for sure, and my skills, techniques, and even mana reserves had all grown.
Mana.
This mana stuff seeped into muscles and bones, boosting not just physical strength but durability too. No doubt my raw power far outstripped a normal person's.
The enhancements were nearly permanent—deplete all your mana, and you'd revert to baseline human, but as long as you didn't burn it all, your body stayed powered up indefinitely.
And while I couldn't say for sure, a bit more growth might let me match an orc's brute strength.
Steadily closing in on Heavenly Demon territory.
"Alright, Blackie. Enough daydreaming about knocking me up—time to harvest heads. Still a long way to go."
Winia smirked, reminding me of our original goal. Right—1 silver per three killer hornet heads. We'd massacred nearly twenty, so the payout looked solid.
"Uh, uh... yeah. Still a ways off."
I pulled out my knife and got to collecting heads.
But damn, these things were gross. Those long, squid-like tentacles sprouting from their mouths were unbearable. Made me want to show zero mercy.
Twitch twitch.
As I kept decapitating and bagging heads, the half-dead ones thrashed their legs and wings, practically begging for mercy.
Of course, I wasn't sparing any—I stomped their necks flat, kindly separating head from body. In total, eighteen heads. Exactly 6 silver worth.
Pretty straightforward work, and a damn good daily haul.
"Shall we push a bit deeper?"
At Claudy's suggestion, we ventured further in.
"Oh, by the way, feels like there's a nest nearby."
They perked up at that—Claudy out of curiosity, Winia probably wanting to check the hive for magical material potential.
Buzzz!
Winia tried tracking flying hornets to find a nest. Solid plan, but... even after quite some time, no dice.
"For bugs, they've got some serious caution. Tracking failed today. Head back."
True to her sharp mage instincts, she cut losses quick.
No helping it—we turned back, focusing on picking off any hornets we encountered along the way.
We snagged a few more and retraced our steps. I half-worried we'd get lost again like last time, but Winia was Winia.
No detours, no issues—we exited the jungle smooth as silk.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Two weeks later.
"Kyaaaaah!!!!!!"
"Uwaaaah!!"
"Grahhh!!!!!"
The killer hornets had spread like the Black Death.
"What the actual fuck..."
As I'd predicted, the hornets had invaded the city.
Flying swarms assaulted in packs, filling the streets with endless screams and wingbeats. The casualties were beyond counting, and officially reported kidnapped kids numbered over a dozen.
Dead adventurers overflowed to the point no one bothered tallying them. Countless folks turned into meat dumplings, reduced to the hornets' meals.
Citizens had barricaded indoors, windows shuttered, outdoor activity halted entirely.
The city—guild included—was on high alert.
Even Lord Isvant had recognized the crisis severity and issued extermination orders. Private soldiers led by the lady were marching out.
"Knew it'd come to this."
Casual handling had let it escalate. Of course, we'd capitalized on that laxity over the past two weeks to rake in solid cash.
Though bounties dried up midway, halting further gains.
Still, I figured the bounty cutoff had let hornet numbers explode unchecked.
"Katt. Word is, destroy a nest and bring proof, and they'll pay big."
"Yeah?"
Per Claudy's intel, massive bounties hung on killer hornet nests. Throngs were risking it all, plunging into the jungle nest-hunting.
We decided to join the fray.