#265. I Told You to Listen.
Joo Se-ah swiftly dispatched the five 4th-generation carnivorous wasps they encountered on the path leading underground.
As they delved deeper toward the core, she muttered in puzzlement at the sharply decreasing number of engagements.
"No more 5th-gens showing up at all. Even the lower generations are thinning out."
"They're pulling back to protect the queen. Given the frequency of 4th-gens so far, most of them must have been devoured by the 5th-gens. Considering the carnivorous wasps' breeding rate, there should be way more than this."
Johanna answered Joo Se-ah's question.
She was from Italy, a country perpetually on high alert for carnivorous wasps crossing over from Africa—some had even built hives on Sicily. Thanks to that, she was intimately familiar with their biology.
Her knowledge and experience were proving invaluable in aiding Joo Se-ah's on-site decisions.
Joo Se-ah came to a conclusion.
"Looks like one of the two guilds has reached the hive proper. Maybe both. It'll be hell for them, but that's good for us. Let's pick up the pace."
In her view, it was now a race against time. Which would come first: the other two guilds taking heavy losses, or her own arrival?
As they hurried along, Go Eul-ji suddenly spoke up.
"Guild Master, doesn't this feel off?"
"What does?"
"The Captain said a ton of freelance hunters would have come through here, right? But there's not a single trace. Win or lose, there should be something—dead monsters or hunters at least."
Johanna fielded Go Eul-ji's question as well.
"Hives don't leave bodies behind."
"Why not?"
"Because they get eaten."
"Isn't that obvious in a monster fight?"
"Other monsters leave something behind. These things strip you down to the last bone fragment. Kin, hunters—human, animal, all the same to them. That's why they're called carnivorous wasps. And every morsel fuels their next evolution, making them even deadlier."
"Hold up. So if all those hunters got eaten... doesn't that speed up their next evolution?"
"No need to worry. Evolution doesn't jump a 5th-gen straight to 6th. Only the queen evolves first. The wasps she lays after that become the new 6th-gen. Those will evolve further by feeding on different prey from the existing 5th-gens."
"So as long as they've got time and food, they just keep evolving? Eugh, chills."
Go Eul-ji brushed the goosebumps off her arms.
Taking down even one 5th-gen tank or vulture had drained considerable energy. Their carapace hardness and agility far surpassed the 4th-gens.
Without Joo Se-ah, their mana and stamina would have run dry long ago, plunging them into peril.
Listening to her party's exchange, Joo Se-ah suddenly felt a twinge of unease.
Come to think of it, this situation's kinda weird. The queen should've pegged me as the biggest threat. But instead of blocking us, she chose to defend the nest. And the other guilds reached the hive way faster than expected? Widening the gap with our party even more. It's like she deliberately cleared the path.
One term sprang to mind.
Defeat in detail.
Not targeting the strongest first.
"Clear out the small fry first to avoid interference?"
"What're you mumbling about?"
Go Eul-ji asked at Joo Se-ah's murmur.
"Guess we gotta run for it."
"Huh?"
"I'll take point. Jang Deok-gu Hunter, cover the rear."
"Got it. Don't worry."
Before Go Eul-ji could even ask what was happening, Joo Se-ah vanished, leaving only a cloud of dust filling the narrow tunnel.
* * *
Typical tanker shields were forged from gate minerals.
Even the same iron ore, when infused with gate mana, boasted ten to twenty times the strength.
Optimized smelting or alloying with other gate ores amplified that hardness and flexibility beyond measure.
Mass-produced in megacorp factories with cutting-edge tech, they hit the market as branded standard gear.
But in the hands of a master smith, they transcended into rare-grade artifacts or higher.
Expedition teams from major guilds favored custom orders over off-the-shelf.
These bespoke shields could withstand strikes from red gate monsters—true treasures.
Call My Name's tank line endured the 5th-gen tank wasp's charge and blocked the vulture's ambush thanks to such shields.
Kwajik! Kruduk!
"Whoa! This musclehead wasp punk dented my shield!"
"Shut your trap, Bron! If it hurts that bad, offer your skull instead!"
"Natalie! Peel this thing off Bron! Reform the line! Dorian, fill Natalie's spot! Just four seconds!"
"Got it, Cap."
"I'm the DPS, not a tank?"
At the party leader's command, sub-tanker Natalie slipped out, Dorian plugging the gap. A close-range DPS, he packed tank-level tricks up his sleeve.
Berserk Muscle
Wielding a massive two-meter-handled greataxe, he unleashed an explosive strike that shattered the 5th-gen tank's head.
Seizing the opening, Natalie circled to the side of the wasp gnawing Bron's shield.
She dropped into a low stance, shield forward, charging pose set.
Charging
Natalie barreled forward like an armored truck, slamming the muscular wasp's chest flank.
The wasp's torso crumpled with a shriek. Some reacted, wheeling toward her.
She bolted back to position like her tail was aflame.
The party leader bellowed.
"Fall back ten paces! Eyes front!"
Wasps surged into the vacated spot, lunging for the party's tail—only for ranged fire from the expedition rear to pin them. Not heavy damage, but enough to snag their ankles.
The 5th-gen tanks faltered briefly, unhurt but stalled—mission accomplished for the expedition.
Overseeing the entire hunt, expedition leader Taylor gradually pulled back the front line across the board.
The wasps chased, exposing their flanks wide open.
"If we're setting the table this nice, time to dig in, right?"
Taylor addressed the empty air. Far off, Gunpowder's expedition leader Camilla responded as if hearing him, barking orders.
"If we can't rack up kills here, we've got no excuse. Sweep 'em clean!"
Mana surged into hunter weapons. Skills flooded the space. Blinding rays scythed through the wasps. Gunpowder's barrage hit like a tsunami—monster headcounts became irrelevant.
Yet even in this favorable flow, Camilla scowled, snapping at her adjutant.
"Reel in the stamina potion guzzlers. Tell the cocktail poppers they'll answer to me. We're just getting started—doping already? Got time to waste on small fry?"
"Seems the forced march wore out a lot of them. relaying the order now."
"The named tags did all the heavy lifting. Whining after this much consideration? They deserve the shit-talk. It'll haunt them forever."
The adjutant stayed silent—his pride already scratched. It was tactically sound, so he'd followed Taylor's play.
"Why the pointless favors? Pissing me off for nothing. Tch! Gotta put Taylor in his place someday."
She kept face verbally amid the crowd, but as expedition head, Camilla shared Taylor's pragmatism. She knew this was ideal—no real complaints.
"Call My Name's pushing back too. We'll clear this quick at this rate, right, Leader?"
Her adjutant was optimistic, but Camilla saw the opposite.
"Shit, too cocky."
Gunpowder and Call My Name formed an L-shape: Call My Name on the base, Gunpowder on the leg, pressing in. Relative to the hive core, Gunpowder's side-rear hung exposed.
She yelled at her adjutant.
"Everyone back to position!"
Camilla fired off message skills to party leaders without waiting.
Too late.
Suddenly, slender, elongated silhouettes burst from the dark—horse-wasps.
"What the hell? Centaurs?"
More horse than wasp.
Precisely: horse lower body, wasp upper. Wings aside, they mirrored mobile monsters like centaurs.
"Wasps buzzing around is one thing. Cavalry?! Ranged fire, now! Target the centaur... bees? Whatever—halt their charge!"
Before Camilla's order spread, Call My Name reacted first.
Spells and ranged skills lanced at the mounted wasps. Explosions rocked the cavern. Dust choked the air, mana turbulence dousing half their floating light orbs.
Darkness swallowed the battlefield in seconds.
Taylor, who'd swiftly assessed and ordered the strike, shouted.
"Status? Blocked?"
"Can't see."
"You learn scouting for fun?! Detection team, report!"
"Been up since earlier... not working."
"What? Someone countering?"
Taylor spoke then froze.
Skills always trigger post-acquisition, unless countered.
Detection blocked meant...
"So there's a wasp that can do that?"
Visible charge plus skill block screamed ulterior motives.
"Everyone, brace—"
Before his new order, screams echoed from somewhere.
Taylor pinpointed the source instantly.
"Damn it, rear flank!"
Only then did he spot the long airborne line of mounted wasps overhead.
They'd soared over the ranged barrage.
"1st and 2nd parties, with me! Protect the ranged DPS!"
In desperation, Taylor plunged in personally.
But the wasps denied him.
Chyarararak!
Hundreds of wings unfurling at once—from the dark ahead.
Expedition hunters instinctively braced. Massive impacts shook them.
Most couldn't identify the attack, but one sharp-eyed hunter did.
"Stingers!"
Taylor felt his blood drain earthward.
Monsters pulling this coordination?
Queen's intelligence and 5th-gen evolution aside, insect monsters had brainpower limits.
Yet these carnivorous wasps moved like a drilled army, commander wielding strike teams.
The difference: zero fear of sacrifice, hurling bodies at objectives.
"So it comes to this."
Taylor needed cold reason now. Ruthless calls: who dies, who lives. Minimize losses meant buying reform time—with sacrificial bait for the wasps.
"3rd party leader."
"Yes."
"You know what I need."
"Didn't think it'd wheel back to me. Understood."
"Count on you."
"Paying forward what the ones ahead took. Prepared long ago."
"Billy. I'll remember your name."
3rd party leader and team charged the stingers with grim resolve.
They burned mana recklessly, spamming skills—no easy attacks for the stingers.
The same unfolded at Gunpowder.
"5th party holds while we reform front. 6th, 7th, 8th—rescue the ranged line. If DPS folds now, we're done. At least claim the queen's head before we go."
Camilla responded with North American huntress grit.
Her hunters matched her steadiness.
A single slip meant wipeout, yet calm prevailed—trust in her track record shining.
"Just follow orders. Can't save everyone, but won't doom all. If I go, it's to save you. Lend me your lives awhile."
"Woooah!"
Adjutant led the morale roar; hunters bellowed in unison.
Then.
An unfamiliar shadow loomed over Camilla's back.
What? Didn't sense a thing.
Attacks stabbed from four directions.
She spun her bowstock to block. String snapped, but her custom Emperor Bow wouldn't break easily...
Kwajik!
"Kuhk!"
Camilla spewed blood midair.
"Leader!"
Adjutant intercepted the shadow—only to miss the rising strike from below.
A blow pierced his jaw, erupting from his skull. Elite major guild expedition? Laughably fragile.
"Wh-what the hell is that?"
The shadow entered light orb range.
Nearby hunters recoiled in horror at the unseen form.
"Fu... ck."
Camilla heaved up, vomiting blood.
"What are you? Wasp or human?"
Reasonable question. The shadow assaulting her mimicked human shape: wings on back, stinger tail.
Grotesque fur and bulging eyes, but features eerily humanlike. Absent the gaping maw and extra limb pairs, it'd pass for Halloween costume.
Not expecting reply, yet the humanoid wasp lunged silently.
"Block it!"
Hunters rushed to shield their leader—futile.
Powerful, yes, but broken formation doomed them. Tanks forward, no body shields.
Melee DPS fought valiantly, stalling briefly.
Then limbs flew, heads rolled.
Terror incarnate, yet none retreated. They poured everything into holding the humanoid wasp.
"Enough!"
Camilla drew her back bow. Nocked a million-dollar arrow. No minor skills—full-power shot.
Sun Shot
The queen-reserved arrow pierced the humanoid wasp.
"Damn, dodged that?"
Camilla grimaced in dismay.
It grazed the right shoulder.
But soon, a triumphant smirk.
Close, but not over.
Intense light erupted from the wound, spreading wildly.
It melted the humanoid wasp's body.
Sun-infused arrow: burn till the foe was ash.
Yet its next move left Camilla stunned.
Sgak!
"!!"
The humanoid wasp had severed its own burning half.
Problem: intimidation undiminished despite losing near-half its mass.
Some hunters dared optimism—half raid down—but as the champion's body regenerated in seconds, even they lost heart.
Not queen, not drone. Champion.
Upper-gen queen's guardian.
The ultra-rare champion wasp had arrived.
It cleared remaining hunters, finally facing Camilla.
"Can't die alone!"
Camilla triggered her final skill: self-immolating suicide blast.
The champion leered grotesquely, reaching...
Puk!
Camilla didn't grasp what happened.
Only the headless champion stood before her.
"I told you to listen. Why charge ahead and spill blood like that?"
An utterly unfamiliar voice.
An East Asian woman with dark crimson hair cascading down, fist raised, stood before her.