Chapter 67

Keith, Mariane, and Serilla stepped through the portal and arrived at the forward operating base not far from the hive. Upon arriving, a soldier handed them a folder and assigned them to spot #412. The folder contained a detailed map and all the known information on the types of bees in the hive.

Half an hour later, Keith’s group arrived at their spot, a small hill about a mile from the hive. According to the files in the folder, the operation would begin in two hours, so with time to kill, Keith sneaked up a nearby tree to catch a glimpse of the hive.

What entered his vision left him breathless.

The hive was simply massive. Hexagon-shaped holes covered its entire surface, with bees crawling all over. What amazed Keith the most was how the hive glittered under the sun. It was like a shining orange gem embedded in the ground.

Just then, a bee flew overhead, the buzzing from its wings shaking the treetops and nearly knocking Keith off. He gulped. These weren’t your ordinary, domesticated honey bees. They were massive, bear-sized creatures with deadly claws and stingers longer than a person’s limbs.

[Epic] Worker Bee – Level 550

Health: 200,000/200,000

While Keith was now level 528 and had some skills over level 500, he had no confidence in facing the hive by himself. Worker Bees were merely the most common type of bee belonging to this hive. There were deadlier variants lurking within.

Thankfully, he wouldn’t be fighting alone. According to his Aunt, the military had deployed 200,000 elites for this battle. There were also around a thousand adventurer teams participating, hidden throughout the forest bordering the hive.

At that moment, Mariane climbed up from below and sat on a branch near Keith, followed by Serilla. The three remained hidden beneath the tree’s foliage as they gazed at the hive.

“Wow,” Mariane began, “you can feel the air vibrating even from this far out.”

“Crazy. I wonder how many bees are inside?” Serilla remarked.

Keith’s voice lacked confidence as he shared, “The file said at least a million.”

Mariane looked at her son with concern. “Are you scared?”

“A little,” Keith nodded. “I’ve never fought in a battle at this scale. It makes me feel like things are out of my control.”

Mariane smiled. “The fact you’re aware of that means you have a good sense of danger.”

Serilla waited for a few worker bees to pass overhead before adding, “Stick to the plan. Don’t overthink it.”

Keith fell silent.

He couldn’t help but wonder what would happen if they needed to flee. There were no Rifts in the Grandsky Realm, meaning monsters could chase for as long as they wished. Had the military considered that when planning this operation?

As Keith kept thinking of the worst, the constant vibration in the air abruptly stopped, causing the forest to fall silent. Bewildered, Keith looked up when a strange cry pierced through the air. Following the cry, the vibration returned stronger than ever as Worker Bees flew out of the hive in droves. Their numbers blotted out the sun.

“Uhh, this doesn’t seem normal,” Keith exclaimed, his mouth agape.

Mariane summoned Uncle Ridger and merged with him, her voice turning metallic, “They’ve noticed our presence and decided to attack first. How interesting.”

Shadow tendrils flowed around Serilla’s hands as she nodded, “Yet another reminder we can’t treat the monsters in the Grandsky Realm like the ones in the Innate Dimension.”

Keith felt like crying when he saw his Mom and Aunt’s nonchalant behavior. Why weren’t they running? Was he the crazy one for freaking out?

Mariane laughed after seeing her son’s expression, “Keith, you have a good idea about your combat strength and what you can handle, but you haven’t understood the power a group of people working together can have. Watch closely.”

A few miles from the hive, Yara floated high in the sky, her hands clasped behind her back as she looked down upon the giant hive. She had adopted a hand-off approach since arriving in the Grandsky Realm, so she wasn’t participating in this battle, instead leaving it to Major General Luca and the others.

Yara had gone to great lengths teaching the military leaders about the Grandsky Realm and what to expect over the past few decades, and now it was time for them to turn theory into practice. With that said, she still had Markus and Ska’dur on standby in case things turned dire.

Now that the hive had taken the initiative by unleashing a horde of Worker Bees, Yara observed Major General Luca, the commanding officer of this operation. The hive’s response had clearly taken the short-haired elf off-guard, though her following actions proved her ability to adapt.

“Iron Bear Battalion, take the front and draw their attention. Be prepared for the sky to fall,” Luca ordered, her voice enhanced by a skill.

“Aye, aye!” A bulky dwarf rushed forward, her 1,000 heavily armored warriors following behind her without breaking formation.

Luca continued without pause, “Legions one through fifteen, checkerboard formation! Slow advance! Legions sixteen through twenty follow behind.”

A legion contained ten battalions, with every battalion having 1,000 people consisting of healers and frontliners to support units. Furthermore, each battalion had ten squads of 100, and each squad had ten parties of ten. The chain of command was simple and clear.

While the legions marched forward at a brisk pace, the Iron Bear Battalion reached the hive, yelling and screaming at the top of their lungs as they used their aggro-type skills. The skills easily took effect on the simple-minded Worker Bees, causing them to lose their rationale and fly toward the Iron Bear Battalion with wild abandon.

“Dome up!” the Iron Bear battalion’s commander shouted as hundreds of barriers sprang up around the battalion just as the Worker Bees arrived. Without regard for their well-being, one Worker Bee after another slammed into the assortment of barriers, quickly submerging the Iron Bear Battalion from view as they piled on each other.

When the mountain of Worker Bees towered high and wide, the legions led by Luca came into attack range. At that point, Luca raised her hand and ordered, “Artillery units, begin skyfall!”

All sorts of colorful lights sprang into existence at Luca’s command. Thousands of mages cast Small Meteor while archers fired Explosive Arrows. Altogether, over fifty thousand people cast large area of effect skills.

The arrows arrived first, unleashing a wave of deadly concussive force that tore the Worker Bees to bits. The other skills followed up, dealing devasting damage and culling the Worker Bees even further. Finally, thousands of Small Meteors smashed into the remaining Worker Bees, crushing them completely.

When the fallout cleared, all anyone could see was a massive pile of loot glistening under the sun. Of course, in the middle was the Iron Bear Battalion, their barriers on the verge of collapse.

“Iron Bear Battalion, fall back!” Luca commanded, her eyes scanning the bee hive for any response.

A few moments passed in silence before an enraged cry pierced through the air. Following the cry, the ground trembled as thousands of bees rushed out of the holes covering the hive.

None of them were Worker Bees.

“Prepare for battle!” Luca yelled, her gaze turning sharp.