LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 66 – Giant Bees (Revised)
Revised Chapter 66
Her face was a mask of despair. Everything had been going so well—she only needed to kill that person, and her ranking would have risen again. After the regional battle, she could have obtained more resources, ascending to the pinnacle of her life.
But now, everything had deviated from her plan. She wasn't even sure if she could survive.
No one is unafraid of death.
"Hey, we're in this together now; no one can escape! Those giant bees are right behind us. If we start fighting among ourselves now, isn't that suicidal?"
"We need to work together to find a way out of this!" The other party smiled sweetly, trying to reason with her.
"Even if I kill you first, it's the same." Her response was cold and hard voice. She brandished her black axe and charged at Big World.
Big World knew that negotiations had broken down. She no longer maintained her smile, sidestepping and kicking towards Athena's abdomen.
Athena jumped back a step, evading Big World's attack. Steadying herself, she swung her black axe again, aiming to cleave her opponent.
Big World knew she was no match for Athena in terms of strength and combat power. She could only use her agility and speed to dodge, leaping swiftly and nimbly, causing Athena's attacks to miss repeatedly.
In one exchange, Athena seized the opportunity to grab Big World's arm and, with a powerful twist, threw her to the ground.
"Ah!" The impact of her fragile spine against the stone-strewn ground left her in excruciating pain.
Big World quickly scrambled to her feet, but by then, the swarm of giant bees had already closed in. They emitted an ear-piercing buzz, announcing the approach of death.
She ran desperately, her heart filled with despair for survival. Despite getting up as quickly as she could, the fall allowed the giant bees to catch up. They produced sharp buzzing sounds, their wings whipping up a gale that nearly suffocated her.
Her back injury made it increasingly difficult to move her legs, and she was soon engulfed by the bees.
Most of the bees stopped and surrounded her, while only a few pursued Athena. Big World lay on the ground, her eyes filled with hatred as she watched Athena flee, a venomous malice making her gaze even more uncomfortable than the most terrifying demon.
"Ah—"
Athena ran through the forest, evading the bees chasing her. Although she couldn't kill her opponent with her own hands, it didn't mean that the monsters couldn't.
From the moment she intended to drag Athena into her scheme, the seeds of hatred were sown between them. Athena's subsequent pursuit and the bees she summoned to trap Athena only caused this seed to grow.
Every choice was inevitable, leading to an unavoidable conclusion.
The purple dot representing Big World vanished from the map, and someone automatically filled her position.
Athena's ranking had already dropped by one, but now, with one more top-ten contender eliminated, she was back in tenth place. Her location was marked on the map, exposing her to everyone.
The more she wanted to hide, the harder it became.
She initially thought the giant bees would give up after catching the intruder and chasing her for a while, returning to their territory. But now it seemed they considered her and Big World as a group, relentlessly pursuing her.
Even though only about twenty bees were chasing her, it was still a significant problem.
She darted through the forest, constantly changing direction, hoping to lose the bees. However, no matter how hard she tried, the giant insects remained on her trail.
Athena stopped, her gaze cold as she looked at the bees behind her. Taking a deep breath, she decided to confront these troublesome creatures head-on.
She retrieved a firebomb from her system backpack and hurled it at the bees. Unfortunately, the shoddy device didn't explode as she had hoped, only emitting a small flame.
The bees were startled by the sudden fire, pausing their chase momentarily. But they quickly regrouped and continued to pursue Athena.
Her veins bulged in frustration. She knew her homemade firebombs couldn't compare to Mu's, but she hadn't expected them to be this poor.
She produced another explosive ball and threw it over, just like last time, still with only a small flame. However, this time, there was also a flame enhancer thrown out together with Athena.
The moment the flame enhancer touched the tiny flame, it seemed to ignite a barrel of gunpowder, exploding thunderously! A raging fire swept over, engulfing all those originally massive bees.
The fire was fierce, and all of this happened in an instant. The bees didn't even have time to react before disappearing into the sea of flames.
Unfortunately, this didn't kill them. They charged out of the fire curtain, facing the raging flames. Surprisingly, they weren't entirely unscathed; their wings bore tiny holes from the flames, and their fur was singed.
While the flames inflicted injuries upon them, they also ignited their ferocity. Despite their injured wings, their speed increased rather than decreased, and their eyes gleamed with a fiery red hue.
Lifting their tails, their sharp and enormous stingers emitted an eerie glow, all aimed directly at Athena.
Just when Athena thought they would charge at her with their stingers, the stingers of these bees began to rotate slowly.
An intense feeling of unease and danger surged in Athena's heart.
"Not good!"
Skill 'Hunter'! She took a deep breath, continuously gathering all her strength to her legs. Muscles in her legs tensed up, her gaze firm and focused, locked onto the front.
Suddenly, she pushed off with all her might, leaving a deep footprint on the ground beneath her feet. In that moment, her legs erupted with unprecedented force, darting forward like an arrow released from a bowstring!
The wind whistled past her ears, her speed unbelievably fast, but the strain on her legs from the skill was considerable.
Her premonition was correct. Unlike normal stingers, the tails of these giant bees first spun and then immediately detached, the stingers spinning as they shot out like a shower of bullets, aiming for her.
If she hadn't reacted in time, if she hadn't skillfully dodged, perhaps she would have been pierced to the ground by those densely packed stingers by now.
The gleaming massive stingers fiercely stabbed into the ground, leaving behind enormous craters.
As these bees lost their attacking weapons, Athena breathed a sigh of relief, but her heart tightened again, for she saw the stingers being retracted back into the bees' tails.
"Damn it!" Even Athena, who usually cared about her image, couldn't help but swear.