-Wolf Territory. Morning. 3RD POV-

A little past the second morning Quarter, the young purple-blue Dragon and the poorly dressed white-haired girl riding on his neck were flying West at about two Kilometers over the Plains North of the Mana Vein Tunnel and approaching a Marshland when they encountered insects falling from the sky. The foot-long creatures didn't seem like much of a threat, but the girl recalled a list of dangerous insects and then cloaked their bodies in a hurry without confirming the threat level. She deemed these precautions necessary to ensure their immediate safety but didn't think it would be enough and urged her partner to flee while expanding a probe. A request which confused him. Was he not a Dragon?

The reality, however, was that an 8-meter long insect, feared even by magicians and Beasts alike, was manipulating thick clouds carried by the eastern air currents as it approached the unsuspecting scaly Beast. The hungry creature noticed that the first insects hadn't made contact with their target and became irritated, for it had practiced this exercise thousands of times throughout its life, but no matter. The rest of the swarm was catching up with the prey, and a larger group was speeding up with wind magic even faster than before already. *Swiiiss~!! Swiiis~!!* The small creatures accelerated towards the location where their target would be less than a hundred meters away, unaware that it wasn't visible anymore.

Below the thick clouds, the Dragon was still expecting an explanation from the human girl while she expected him to fly away from there and the descending insects expected their sharp protrusions to pierce beast Hide again or at least a weak point so that they could serve their monarch once more. A few short moments passed which felt like a long time for Shaila who grew increasingly frustrated until her magic detected the creatures less than ten meters above which made her frantic. It was too late to do anything! However, by this time, Nefiru had decided to humor her and flapped his wings reluctantly. *Fwooh-Whoosh! Fwooh-Whoosh!* He advanced a few meters faster than gliding when several projectiles whistled by his rear. *Shu~Shu~ Shu~!!!* "...!!" The translucent Dragon perked his ears and stopped flapping while feeling the wind pressure of the fourteen creatures missing his tail by a close margin. *Swoosshh~* The Dragon resumed gliding invisible, then glanced back only to see his body distorted and distant purple shades below as the attackers continued downwards to escape magic range before they could fly up again.

"That was too close!" The girl admonished the scaly head while restraining her voice and looked up again.

"It's just some dumb insects, jeesh!"

"Shh!" The rider urged him to be quiet as she extended her probe, worriedly.

Up in the sky, just barely visible at the edge of the mist, hovered another group of insects that lost sight of their target and reported it a second later. "Shriii! Shriii!" The large Beast hiding within the clouds understood their chitter and screeched angrily. "Krriiiiiek!!" But it didn't waste much time and commanded the swarm with ultrasonic sound to spread out within the fog and search for the prey in the western direction.

...

On the shores of the Marshland one-third of the way to the Coast and about six kilometers Northwest from the Dragon's current position, eight wolves struggled to hold down 12-meter long brown Eel in shallow water. They were one of the Packs that made a fairly peaceful living in these part for decades and had ignored the calling howls to defend the border, believing it wasn't too serious. For them, Magical Bird attacks which occurred rarely and drowning when hunting were the biggest concerns, but now, a new threat had migrated into Wolf territory with a swarm genetically designed to hunt stronger prey.

A 4-meter tall blue wolf pinning down the Eel's head sent his magic inside it and commanded the elementals. *Shriiieekk!* The water inside the creature's head started freezing and expanding with bloody ice spikes bursting through the thick hide. "SHAAA--!" The elongated animal shrieked in agony before death brought sweet relief and its body soon became limp. It wasn't a difficult fight since it was a regular animal, herbivore even, but finding them took effort.

""WHOOOO!"" The wolves howled into the air, rejoicing for their kill that would feed them for a while. They pulled it on land as their wet furs drop muddled water and then selected a spot. ""WRUACH! WRUACH!"" The canines began feeding in hierarchical order as the lower ranks watched with drool dripping from their maws from the sidelines. All, unaware of the artificial cloud descending upon them.

The Mid-Rank 5 Water user stopped eating, licked his lips, and turned to another Beast. "Third Dark 4, go tell Sexless to stop searching for Eels and come back to eat some scraps."

"...Yes, Alpha." The black wolf accepted unwillingly and dashed around the swampy area for a few breaths. He stopped on a patch of barren soil at the banks, looked at the water level a meter below, and called into the distance. "HEEEY, FishWolf! Sexless! Furball! Bottom feeder!"

A two and a half meter tall Wolf was completely submerged in the brown waters using wind magic to produce air in the lungs as it searched for prey when the barkings reached it. *Glub! Glub!* Bubbles started rising twenty meters from the swamp shores and a muddy wolf head popped out. *Bwoash!* A canine snout covered in mud rose above the water level and breathed out. "GNRUFF! Koff! Koff!" It looked around and saw the pack member glaring. "Oh, Third Dark 4... I haven't found another Eel yet..."

"We hunted a big one already. Let's go eat what's left..."

"Yes, Third Dark 4." The dirty wolf acknowledged obediently and started floundering to the shore. *Shuwosh! Shuwosh!*

"Grrr... Hurry up! If the pack eats everything again because of you, I'll--I'll eat your legs!"

"EEP!" The canine whimpered and mobilized magic around its body before controlling the water and solidifying the mud at the bottom to advance faster. "I-I'm coming, I'm coming..."

"Gruff! The Alpha shouldn't invite you to eat prey you didn't fight for."

"B-but, Third Dark 4, I-I helped scouting--"

"You don't deserve to eat it!"

"Eep! Y-yes, Third Dark 4 can have my share. I can survive on small game here..."

"Gruff! You are lucky to be the Alpha's--" The grumbling beast was interrupted by four insects impaling him on the back. *Chak! Chak! Chak! Chak!* "HEEEAAAK!!" The black wolf yelped in a terrible pain and jerked his body instinctively to lash out at whatever was attacking him, but the small creatures were unreachable. He tried to shake them off, but the small creatures were latching onto his fur strongly while pumping a substance into his body. "HEEAK! HEEAK!"

The wolf in the water was startled and stopped moving, then called out. "Third Dark 4!! What's wrong?" But there was no answer, there was only wailing, and the suffering pack member had moved out of sight. The fastest option to find out was sending a probe and projecting the image with Light Magic. "Wuoh??!! Wa-wha are those...?!!" It questioned stunned as its jaw hanged and started moving again.

The Darkness user tried to resist the things invading his body, but his Magic was unsuitable to control fluids or attack the creatures, so he could only think of rolling on the ground as a last resort. *Thump! Kruash! Kruash!* "Shriiig!!" The insects shrieked as they were squashed to death, but it was too late for the canine already. "HEEEARGH!" He yelped in agony and dashed away like a mad beast while bleeding from the hole wounds.

"Come back! Let me help you!" The wolf in the swamp called out while reaching the shore and started climbing up the slope to go help, but danger froze it in place.

In front, the injured canine slowed down, then staggered for a few more steps and fell down. *Thomp!* He twitched and mouthed for a moment, then stopped moving. An eerie silence followed for a moment before yelps came from the distance. ""Hyap! Yip! Gwuarff!!"" The eight wolves had just fallen victim to the insect's attacks while they were busy eating. Only the Mid-Rank 5 Water user was able to impede the invasion within his body, and then formed a protective Ice barrier over his fur. *Kriash! Kriash! Kriash!* The small creatures smashed on the ice, sending ice shards and pieces of their shells flying before falling to the ground.

"...M-my Pack!!!" The canine covered in mud and plant life uttered in disbelief and rooted in place by fear. Fear that intensified when it saw a shadow descending from the artificial cloud above. It was a 6-legged insect with spikes all over its green body reaching 6 meters with a near 2-meter long protrusion resembling that of a mosquito from Earth. "Wha--!!? A giant fly? No, it's different..." The Wolf uttered, unmoving and weary. It looked at the pack members falling to the ground and could tell just how dangerous was that creature controlling the smaller ones. Only the Alpha remained now. But what can a Rank 3 Beast with Low Talents and scared of fighting do? The dirty wolf lowered its body back into the water and projected the distant image as close as it could.

The blue wolf glanced at the pack members lying all around and grimaced. They were merely unconscious as if to force him to stay. Despicable Beast! But it was possible to save them. He just needed to defeat the enemy first. "GRRR!" He snarled at the large insect hovering 50 meters above him within a swarm of thousands obscuring the sky, and began creating a dozen water balls around his body. The Queen enveloped a hundred minions with wind magic. *Zuuu~* "KRRiiiiEK!" She screeched, giving the command to accelerate towards the unaffected wolf. *Swiis~!! Swis~!!*

The water user turned the balls into elongated cones pointing upwards, then solidified them into ice. "GRWAWR!" He roared back and launched the projectiles at the large insect. *Whoosh!!! Swiss!!!* The ice spikes passed through the insect wave and pierced into the swarm, killing dozens of insects but losing speed rapidly. ""Shrii--! Shrii--!"" Below, the wolf tried to dodge, but he was too heavy covered in ice, and nearly a dozen half-a meter insects stabbed into the icy shell. *Chrak! Chrak! Chrak!* But he was unfazed, and just froze the creatures solid. ""Shriiiii--!"" Soon after, the ice lances fell along with dead insects.

The wolf realized that attacks like that weren't going to work and that there was no point in moving much if his shield could endure. But, regrettably, the Magical Beast was also outside his magic range and seemed to be controlling the little ones, so it could just send them down until he ran out of mana defending. Accursed abomination! Even Birds have to come down...

However, the Queen didn't want to lose her spawn on a creature that was a Rank lower than her and didn't have many tricks from the exchange, so she issued some orders and then compressed balls of air for each leg before descending. *Zruuuu~!!!* The swarm changed shape from a ball surrounding their queen to a large upside-down bowl with her, visible in the middle, as they continued downwards making a parabolic curve aiming to converge at the Wolf.

Seeing that, the blue wolf was delighted and moved most of his magic into the swamp behind him while creating a thick mist to hide. His Probe detected the target entering magic range which made him eager to strike, but he waited...he needed to land a big one. *Shruash!* The swamp stirred as the magical beast manipulated a large volume of water that would drain what little mana he had left. *Shuuu~!* A meter-wide column of clear water appeared from the muddy swamp and circled the wolf before forming a horizontal loop which picked up speed counterclockwise while hidden in the mist.

The wind user noticed the strange water sounds and launched the compressed balls down. *Whoosh--BOOM!! BOOM!! BOOM!!* The shockwaves of Air explosions shook the Wolf's body violently and cracked the ice shield on his back. "HEEAK--!" But he endured and maintained control of the water. His target was now in range. He couldn't miss this opportunity. However, the Mist had dispersed completely now and the area cleared. When the Queen saw what he was doing, she backtracked immediately and ordered part of the swarm back for cover. But it was too late. The wolf had broken the loop and turned its momentum into a vertical pillar spinning upwards while commanding the elementals to sap the heat energy from the liquid. *Shruuu--BWUASHH!* The icy waters reached the insect underside and froze three of its legs. *Grieeekkk! Crack! Crarak!* "KRiiiiAK!" The retreating beast shrieked in a panic and tried to pull away from the heavy white pillar that started toppling. The blue Wolf prepared to lash out and maul the hateful Beast, but he had forgotten something...

The small wolf hiding in the swamp rejoiced for the victory of the Alpha briefly and was about to rush out when it saw the insects flying horizontally at high speed just over the grass. Nooo... This Beast knew what was going to happen, but there was nothing it could do to help and it didn't want to expose itself to danger. Still, it mustered some courage and tried to warn the Alpha. "...L--lo--LOOK OUUUT!"

"Kriek!?" The Queen struggling to stop the falling pillar noticed the sound and glanced left but just saw an unconscious black wolf in the distance. "Wuoh!!?" The large blue wolf uttered and turned to look to his right searching for the howls. What it saw, were hundreds of insects closing in his position from all sides! His hackles rose once more. Then his gaze lowered. This fight...he had lost it. He turned to the distance and roared just as the creatures reached his body. "RUN--" *Chak! Chak! Chak! Kruash!! Bang! Bang!* The wolf body was impaled everywhere, except for the back, while some insects just crashed and died. "HYAAUUU--!" A miserable wail echoed in the grassy plains, drowned in the buzz of insects hovering over the wolves. His The injuries weren't so deep, but it was enough for tens of insects to pump him full of toxins and soon after, he toppled. *THOOM!* The queen also stopped pulling the ice pillar and landed with it. *THONK!*

"...D-dad... Heuu! Heuuu! Wuu..." The dirty wolf whined with a despairing expression and closed its eyes before retracting the Light magic projecting the distant image. It had just witnessed his whole pack defeated in mere moments, without being able to be of any help. They were still alive, but only death could await them or worse.

*Kruruash! Krish!* The Queen broke the ice and approached the sleeping blue wolf, then lifted its head. *Shuak!* She stabbed the wolf in certain spots and started injecting eggs. The swarm descended on the other pack members and started feeding.

The beast hiding in the water was rooted in place by fear. It was going to die out here, alone, without being able to warn the Tribe. No... No--I won't die! I want to live! I'm a coward who doesn't deserve to live, but--but I want to live! I...I--I'm not sorry... It's just nature--yeah! It's nature! Nature is cruel...and beautiful... The wolf determined selfishly, and crouched before covering its body in mud, then started moving South through the swamp.

...

Up in the sky, the white-haired girl determined that they weren't under siege anymore, and lost some tension after covering a great distance, but kept her vigilance while maintaining the Light distortion field and spoke without making eye contact. "...I think those were Drones of a Mokua Queen aiming for your eyes." She asserted in a low voice as the sound could give away their position to the predator searching for them.

The Dragon realized what would have happened if he had looked up then, and shivered. "...!!" M-my eyes...? I don't want to be blind! "A-are you sure that was intentional?" He wondered curiously as he glanced above, but saw nothing in front.

"I hope not. Did you look into the clouds behind us?"

Heeh~ She's taking this well... Good, good... The Dragon nodded, moved his forelegs forward a little and bent his neck upwards to peer into the dark cloud with his purple vision. He was shocked. There were thousands of purple silhouettes covering the sky for almost a hundred meters radius and a familiar shape in the middle, almost right above them. "Hoooly shhhiet... There's a Giant Mosquito and thousands of those little fuckers everywhere!"

"Uuuuggh! It's worst than I thought. The Qeen must be close to High Rank. She hasn't detected us so far...but she won't give up chasing us unless we make her... What to do...mm..."

"Seriously...? A Magical Mosquito... Gruff!" Nefiru derided and scoffed in contempt.

"Don't underestimate them! The Mokua Queens are Magical insects who pass on knowledge similar to Dragons, and they have an arsenal of living weapons. They can easily overwhelm stronger Magical Beasts."

"What!? Are those little things that effective?"

"Scarily so... Drones are tough and aerodynamic. They speed up with gravity down at their target like arrows and faster than ballistas with Wind magic. Let us pray that this Queen isn't a Wind user... Most of them are."

"Hmm... We'll go with Anime 101 and kill the big one controlling them. Just need a clean shot at the queen--"

"As if it would go that easy! Those Drones release sleeping gases into the air when they die. And if their beaks impale you, they can inject powerful sedatives or parasites that seek your brain. And if you kill parasites with magic, they also release toxins that paralyze your body and affect your brain!"

"WHAT. The. Fuuuuck??!!"

"You get it now? But that's not all! Should you die, they just melt your insides and drink you up like a cold drink in summertime, but if you survive...oh, Nefi, your sanity will not, and then the Queen fills you up with eggs to repopulate her swarm. The larvae eat you alive from the inside while avoiding the organs so you live longer, feed, and defend them..."

"Hoooly fuck... That Mokua thing is vile! Needs a proper name..."

"That's what they call themselves that in our language. And I bet it doesn't mean anything bad. How cynical..."

"Truly fascinating creatures... Let's kill it! And then dissect it... Then eat it..."

"Nuuu! Keep gliding away quietly..."

"We can't let such a dangerous creature roam free here!" Nefiru opposed and looked down. "I don't detect much movement down there... We probably stumbled on its hunting path." He assumed and looked up again. "This thing is invading wolf territory and they don't even know it..."

"I-I understand... But I don't think I'll survive that fight..."

"Ah! Damnn it! We should've made an armor set for you..."

"YEs. WhAt a ShAme..." Boys and their toys~ l can only imagine how uncomfortable that would be... "But I didn't think I would need something like that... I took this trip much too lightly, didn't I?" She spoke regretfully while lowering her gaze and asked worriedly. "W-what should we do now?"

"Hmm... I can hold you under my body and charge at the queen..."

"Nonono--That's suicidal! We'll be safer if you fly higher than the Drones. They can't steer very well at high speeds or fly upwards very fast and they are very slow reuniting with the Queen... We can get away."

"...Those books can be useful, huh?"

"A little..."

"Very well. Let's sneak away from the swarm first." Nefiru announced, looked up at the clouds and noticed that the swarm was following his general direction towards the west. "Whoops! I should've turned earlier. They're still above us. Hold on." He informed the girl, and turned to the front, then lowered the left wing slowly, changed the tail's position and lifted the right wing slightly. *Swoo~Whoooshh...* The wind shook the dragon's body as it changed direction, doing a wide turn towards the South-West.

"What!!?" The girl blurted, paled-faced, then adjusted the Light refracting angle while looking up at the clouds above and conjectured. "That's probably why they didn't found us... I was in a hurry and didn't make a multidirectional distortion field. It requires much too concentration with your huge body..."

"I see... We have to be more careful then." He acknowledged and lifted the right forepaw to his neck. "Get on my paw."

The girl looked at the scaly paw with sharp purple claws opened up, then at the passing hazy clouds below which obscured the landscape features, and shook her head. "Uh-um, I think I'll stay here and shoot them down..."

"Shailaaa... This is no the time to be stubborn. You are an easy target there. Come on--"

"You aren't impervious! We both could die if you get badly hurt up here."

"Quit being unreasonable! Just focus on hiding us and I'll handle the rest somehow..."

"N-no! I-I know I'm your weakness. I know...but I don't want to be useless while you get hurt again." The girl opposed making a frustrated expression as her hands tremble on the handles.

"Shaila... One's worth isn't determined by what we can't do, and covering our weaknesses require preparations, so--"

"I can do this!" She insisted, kicking his neck from both sides.

"Haahh..." This is NOT the time to be arguing... "Alright. But protect yourself over me." He compromised and accumulated magic near her body.

The girl's expression hardened and accepted with a nod. "Understood."

"Now, concentrate! And keep an eye on them. I need to mold some Mana and focus on getting us out of this..."

"I'm on it!" Shaila acknowledged and looked up at the dark clouds still over a hundred meters away. But she could barely distinguish anything, so the girl had to see in light that could penetrate deeper into the clouds. The Light user gathered a layer of Magic over her eyes and reached out to control the infrared wavelengths she barely could at the current Rank, then converted them into visible red light. "Gnnn!" It was a strenuous action to do while multi-tasking, but a few seconds later, she was successful in seeing deep red blurs moving above them. "Wow... So many insects..."

"Hm? Yeah, there's probably around three to four thousands of them."

"They are spreading out ahead of us though. You need to fly 30% faster."

"Roger that." Nefiru approved and then put more strength into his back muscles before pushing down. *Whoosh!* The compressed air below and the suction force above the leathery wings covered in tiny scales stopped his descent until he lifted the tip of the mid-section drawing curved patterns ahead of the frame. *Fwoohh--!* When both wings had risen, forming V-shapes above his body, the dragon pushed down gently as to make the least noise possible as the tail countered the forces and maintained balance. *Fwooh-Whoosh! Fwooh-Whoosh!* He repeated the wing motions in a loop while speeding up and ascending gradually as the camouflage flickered increasingly more.

"Almost there, Nefi. Just another eighty meters..."

"Huff! Huff! Got it..."

Higher up in the sky, the 8-meter long Mosquito-like creature was having trouble locating its prey by air disturbances and became impatient. *Zru~Zruu~Zruu! Zrurururu!* It flew out of the cloud searching desperately in circles for nearly a minute, but there was too much interference, so it decided to try something else. "Krrriiriria! Kriirua!" The Queen ordered the youngest drones, spread within the swarm randomly, to fly towards the ground while seeking anything abnormal in the skies. *Swiss~!! Swiss~!!* Hundreds of foot-long insects descended from the dark cloud at different speeds and with an average distance from each other of a dozen meters, forming a grid covering hundreds of square meters.

Shaila grinned amusedly at the Queen inability to find them, but then noticed the new formation about to sweep the skies, and her face changed. Uh-oh... "Nefi! Nefi!..." She called out in a low voice trying not to alert the creature that could track them with wind magic. After a few breaths flapping, Nefiru glanced back and locked the wings horizontally. *Swoohh~Whiishhh!* Noticing his gaze, the girl looked up and then back down before warning. "Dodge!" The Dragon turned his neck clockwise and looked up, only to see purple shades about to reach him. His eyes widened and cursed. "Oh, shit!" He tilted his body almost 90 degrees clockwise and did a sharp turn to the North. *Swuohh--WHOOSH!* "Gu!" The girl clenched her jaws and clasped her hands, enduring the abrupt maneuver, then turned her head left to follow the Drone's trajectories. *Shuuu~ Shuuu~ Shuuu~* The live projectiles descended at different intervals, but they missed the Dragon by a few feet without knowing he was even there.

The white-haired girl continued observing the insect rain in infrared light as it was easier to perceive them and soon discovered a pattern which she used to guide the Dragon using colored light signals near his eyes. However, controlling three magic processes simultaneously was bound to increase the possibility of mistakes, and the clocking field suffered the most. *Tzzz--!* The camouflaged flickered more on a turn and a Drone descending by the side caught sight of the abnormality. "Shriiiiiii!" The small creature shrieked continuously to alert the rest while following the Dragon.

""...!!!??"" The two turned to look at the noise and took action before the overgrown mosquito alerted the Queen. *Swoosshh~* Nefiru started gliding, then attempting to freeze the noisy creature while Shaila gathered a compact mass of magic in her right palm and stabilized the invisibility field, but he sensed an abnormal amount of Life-force slowing his magic down. "What's up with their Magic resistance?!"

"...The Queen must have extracted Life-force from Magical Beasts and filled them with it." The girl replied, feeling the same and pointed her palm out. "Shut up!" She snapped and released the coherent waves of blue light into an inch wide laser. *Shium!* "Shriii--!" The insect's head was vaporized and fell with a slight smoke trail as other gases are dispersed away by the wind.

"How resourceful, jesh. Making use of something that is literally Waste... And judging by the degradation rate of that Lifeforce density, they fed not long ago..."

"Well, Life-force is just a bother to magicians, but that doesn't mean it's useless..."

And just like that, the Beast and the rider were relaxing far too soon when they had yet to clear off the danger perimeter. Meanwhile, the nearby Drones approached the distorting air and screeched in unison. ""Shriiiiiiii!""

"Da fuck??!" The Dragon cursed and produced two fist-sized water balls that he launched at the pesky creatures. *Swuosh!!* However, they dodged and continued screeching while moving randomly.

"GAH! Those things are intelligent?!!"

"The books didn't mention that!" Shaila yelled back and produced Lasers again. *Pziium! Pechum! Pziium!!* She accurately shot them down and smirked. "They can't dodge Light!"

"Show off..."

"Hihihi~ But Nefi, I keep telling you, comparing Body and Brain size is not a good indicator for intelligence. I had Magical Bird Pets that were much smaller than me and your Brother...who isn't very smart..."

"Ah, yes, the Pets you tortured to death... I wonder what they thought of you."

"Geh! S-shudap! I'm not that broken girl anymore..."

"Well, it's true. There are other factors... Anyway, is there any movement up there, oh terrible Pet owner?" He asked, glancing behind with a grin.

The Light user turned her head and scanned the clouds. "...We're good, oh my perverted pet monster~"

"Okay, enough messing around. Let's get out here." The scaly beast acknowledged and sped up flying to the South.

Unfortunately for the invisible magicians, the Drones had accomplished their mission through sacrifice, and the insect Queen was aware of their location now. "Krriiiakrk! Shririiia..." She issued a series of commands and then used wind magic to guide the Drones inside her magic range to converge at one location. *Zuu~ Zuuu~* The rest of the swarm that was spread out grasped their Queen's intentions and entered her magic range before she speeds them up with Wind Magic.