Chapter 6: Gathered Together

Polius’ hair flowed with the wind breeze as he stood there waiting for the inevitable. His Astral ability was on overdrive as he continued to observe the bees. They were advancing by the seconds.

First the beast tide, then the food crisis and now the Zenon Bees. Igysil keeps on facing threats one after another. For a village that has experienced peace for centuries, this was a predicament. It was a never-ending trial for the village. However, despite their perilous time, they had yet to give up. Their fighting spirit flourished along with their confidence.

Every single warrior was busy gearing up while Theo and his Acolytes were amidst the creation of their saving grace, the Apis Teracus. Soon, the warriors gathered up behind Polius as they waited for the upcoming battle.

A small figure stood behind Polius. It was Novus, the individual Polius instructed to gather the ingredients for Theo.

“How are the preparations proceeding?” Polius questioned Novus without looking back.

Novus responded, “Theo said it would take another hour till its completion.”

“Is that so…” Polius said with regret. “We must stall for the time then,” he concluded.

Polius finally took a step forward from his spot. “Guardians, battle formation!” he commanded.

At once, all the Guardians walked forward and formed a line. Differing from their previous battle, they did not form shields with their arm guards. Instead, they posed with one leg forward and arms raised up. They were prepared to fight.

“Hunters! Draw your bows!”

Behind Polius, the Hunters drew their bows ready to fire. Novus, who was next to Polius before, had disappeared. Dusk was soon approaching, and the darkness of the night sky could only be a disadvantage for Igysil.

As the sun started to descend, Polius shouted, “They're here!”

Flying out of the forest, a massive bee swarm appeared. They rushed straight towards the village without delay. Hunters channelled their Astral ability and launched a barrage of energy arrows.

However, the Zenon Bees were swift as they manoeuvred around, dodging the Hunter's arrows. Only ten bees went down with the attack but that wasn't even a dent to the swarm. Within seconds, they closed up to the Guardians.

“RAMUS LEAFIER!” Polius unleashed his second Astral ability in response. He waved his right hand and leaves of the trees all gathered up - manifesting a leaf storm!

The bees were entrapped inside the storm as the leaves were slashing against them. Another fifteen bees fell. Polius’ ability was effective!

Within the leaf storm, the bees all gathered together as they all illuminated in a yellow hue. The yellow glow enlarged and swallowed up the Zenon Bees. In their place, the energy had taken the shape of a humongous bee!

Normal Zenon Bees were the size of a human's arm, this gigantic bee-shaped energy was the size of a truck. Thousands of leaves slashed against the energy, yet they couldn’t leave a single mark on it.

The bee-shaped energy charged through the leaf storm and escaped without trouble. On the bee’s exit, everyone was shocked by the Zenon Bees. No one had a clue that they could do. Certainly not Polius or he would have planned for it.

Polius stood there gasping for air as his fierce eyes stared at the bees. He was sweating all over his body, from his forehead to his armpits. His usage of two Astral ability had severely drained him.

Deploying Astral abilities to that large of a scale have its costs. Fortunately for Igysil, the bees couldn't hold that form for long and they dispersed into their normal size. At the same time, Polius’ leaf storm also dispersed due to the Zenon Bees’ forceful charge.

A swarm of around six-hundreds Zenon Bees flew straight at the village.

“Guardians! Charge!” Polius shouted, seeing the bees closing in.

The Guardians' all roared in response and charged forward with their arm guards in hand. Soon the two groups met, Guardians pulled back their fist and launched a punch with their arm guard. Aiming to bash the bees with their strength.

A total of two-hundred and fifty Guardians were in the skirmish. Only fifty Guardians succeeded with their rush attack. Zenon Bees that were hit by the Guardians’ attack had their bodies ripped apart. Thus, there was now another fifty Zenon Bees corpse on the ground.

The bees’ yellow blood covered the battleground. Their blood filled the battle with the sweet smell of honey. However, the fight was far from over. The bees were swift with their dodges and they counterattacked with vengeance.

The creatures struck the Guardians with their fatal stinger. Majority of the Guardians successfully blocked their attack with the arm guards. Unfortunately, ten had failed to do so and was injected by the bees’ poison.

The unlucky Guardians that were stung, groaned in pain and soon fell down as their body became paralysed. Their future was now uncertain. Rage built up inside of Polius as he witnessed this scene inside the carnage.

“RAMUS EXECTIS!” Polius shouted with all his might. Veins popped on his forehead and throughout his body. He was using up the meagre energy within him.

Tree roots thrusts out of the ground and attempted to pierce the bees. In Polius’ surprise attack, another thirty Zenon Bees died, never to fly again.

Chaos reigned as the battle continued, the Guardians still participated in close up battle. Meanwhile, the Hunters carefully launched their barrage of arrows towards the bees that were high in the sky. They were afraid of hitting a fellow comrade on the ground.

The difference between having the support of the Astral Spirit and without began to show. After firing four rounds of arrows, the Hunters’ energy ran dry. Generating arrows made of Astral energy had taken its toll on them. In their effort, two hundred bees fell from the sky.

Not a moment went by, was blood not shed. In exchange for the life of twenty Guardians, an extra hundred Zenon bees ceased to exist. With Igysil's warriors' combined effort they had decimated a total of four-hundred and five Zenon bees, wiping off half of their enemies. There were now only approximately one-hundred and ninety-five Zenon bees left.

This was when it all went wrong for Igysil. Every single Guardian soon found themselves stuck in their spot, unable to move. They were all shocked as they desperately struggled to back away.

Zenon Bees’ yellow blood contained a special characteristic, they were incredibly sticky. The blood of the brutalised dead bees had covered the battleground and the Guardians’ feet were glued in place.

The battleground had become eerily quiet, Polius’ eyes popped as he realised what had transpired. He ground his teeth in fury as he blamed himself. I should have known their abilities! He thought to himself.

The bees did not launch another attack once the Guardians were trapped. Instead, they flew up to the sky and gathered up. Guardians gulped their saliva in fear, yet their fighting spirit was far from being extinguished. We must live! A thought appeared in their mind. They readied themselves with arm guards connected, forming their shields.

Instead of launching an attack against the Guardians, the bees once again transformed into their behemoth size! However, this time their size was smaller due to only half of them survived. Plus, instead of a yellow energy shaped bee, it was an actual gigantic bee!

The bees were smarter than everyone thought. They flew straight towards Polius and the village while the Guardians were immobile.

“Hunters, Fire!” Polius commanded.

Drawing the last breath of energy within them, they launched a desperate volley of arrows at the gigantic bee. The attack didn't even slow down the bee's advance let alone hurt it. As every second passed, the enormous bee closed its distance and not before long it was right in front of Polius and the Hunters.

The behemoth of a bee stared at Polius with its gigantic round black eyes. It's transparent wings constantly flapped as it was in mid-air. The bee's translucent black body gleamed with power.

The creature finally launched its attack at Polius! It rushed straight at Polius, ready to ram its body against them. There was nothing Polius or the Hunters could do. Their energy was spent, and they could not move.

Many of the Hunters accepted their fate and closed their eyes. Yet Polius did not give up, he stared at the oncoming insect with vehemence.

Just a hairbreadth away from the bee crashing into Polius, a flask hit them and exploded. In a surprise turn of events, a light purple gas ensnared the bee within it. Polius twisted his head around to see the source of the flask and there he was, Theo!

Theo had managed to create the formula in time. Standing around Theo were the Acolytes with their pale face, evidence of their effort.

The Hunters and Guardians were belated by the turn of events. As the gigantic bee breathed in the gas, it slowly fell down from the sky. Its transparent wings flapped slower and slower until it landed into the ground. It had fallen asleep!

Soon, the gigantic bee dispersed  itself into the previous one-hundred and ninety-five Zenon bees. They all lied on the ground, sleeping. The bloodshed had finally ended, the last wisp of battle spirit within the warriors disappeared as they were relaxed.

Hunters collapsed on the ground as they laughed out hysterically. Meanwhile, the Guardians were still stuck in place, but they too laughed in celebration.

Polius spoke, “Theo please gath-”

It was then, a sudden boom of energy burst out of the forest. A singular creature emerged with an ear-splitting buzzing noise. Dread filled the battlefield, Hunters and Guardians alike were speechless.

They were dumbstruck with the mysterious creature's appearance. Its size was large as an adult human, yellow fur grew around its neck, its crystalline body shined with the light ray. The creature’ existence alone breathes supremacy. Everyone was pressured by it, even the weakened Polius who was far away.

The creature was in fact, a Zenon Queen! A mythical creature that ruled the Zenon Bees. While far from reaching the powers of an Exile Monster, it was part of the Ruler Class in the Rune Beasts classification.

This danger had crept close by without Polius being aware. Even with Polius’ ability, he was not able to see the Zenon Queen. It had completely blindsided him, hidden from his vision.

In Polius’ mind, all the puzzle pieces were falling into place. The reason the Zenon Bees targeted them, their peculiar behaviour and their strange abilities. It was all because of the Zenon Queen! Everything made sense to Polius now.

Within seconds of its appearance, it disappeared like a lightning bolt. Suddenly, the Zenon Queen appeared in front of Theo. No one understood what had happened. Polius stared at the creature floating in mid-air. Theo felt his soul being split apart as the creature's pressure pour down onto him.

Just as soon as the Zenon Queen was about to unleash its ability, its body shook. The Ruler Grade creature turned its body around and peered into the forest. Then it released a high-frequency sound that only Zenon Bee could hear, waking them up from their slumber.

Not hesitating for a moment, the Zenon Queen disappeared again from the battleground. This time it took the Zenon Bees with it as they flew away into the sky.

No one had an answer for why the Zenon Queen left but no one wanted it to return. The battle seemingly came to an end like before. However, this time no one celebrated, it was dead quiet. Only the sound of the rustling forest could be heard.

A moment later, a figure exited from the forest. Everyone turned their head in fear that the creature had returned. Yet it was simply Empedocles whose brows were furrowed. He scanned the area with a sweeping glance. As soon as he saw that there was no threat around, his brows relaxed.   

Empedocles hovered his right palm over his left palm and green energy started to amass between his palms. He released the energy towards the Guardians and the leaves on the ground started to fly up surrounding the Guardians and lifting them up from the ground. Releasing them from their entrapment. The leaves carried them and Empedocles back to the village.

“Haha, kiddo you don’t look so good, do you?” Empedocles teased.

Polius was quiet as he had nothing to say.

Empedocles continued, “You can rest now, I will take care of the rest.”

As if Empedocles’ words were the trigger, Polius eyes shut closed and his body went into slumber. It was the rest that his body desperately needed. Yet there were still many questions that plagued Polius before he passed out. What had caused the Zenon Bee to leave?

Far away from the village, two pairs of piercing eyes stared at the village’s direction.

“Your majesty,” a soothing voice appeared. “Why did you assist them? Why did you leave the child of prophecy to those fools? They've misunderstood the situation completely!”

“It’s part of destiny, young one. They survived the beast tide trial; thus, they earned a favour of mine. Now let us depart,” the voice faded away.