Chapter 258: The Cloud Bee (1)
Translator: Leo Editor: Frappe
Angele did not say anything but started thinking.
"Is there a way to stay away from them?" Baron wondered.
"No. Cloud Bees will attack anything flying over them and eat anything they find." Hikari shook her head.
The four wizards remained silent after the short discussion, trying to figure out the best way to deal with the bees.
Inside the room, the flame inside the oil lamp was dancing.
"I think the magic matrices on the airships can be activated to do damage." Angele suddenly opened his mouth. "But I’m not sure if it’s a good idea."
"We can test it on the first two Cloud Bees that come to the airship." Reyline nodded slightly.
"How long until we reach the Cloud Bee’s territory?" Angele questioned.
"We’ll be there in half a month."
"Good, let’s get prepared then." Angele stood up. "I’ll return to my room." He pushed the door open and left.
The others stood up as well.
"I wonder how many of us will make it to Omandis," Hikari muttered.
"Good luck everyone." Baron put on his hood and stepped out of the door.
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It was night time.
Angele returned to his own airship.
The deck was empty.
He jumped off the railings and stepped on the deck. Baron followed after him and jumped to the deck as well. The only thing making noise was their footsteps.
"Green, let’s cut the crap. How strong is the defensive matrix on the airship?" Baron asked from behind.
"It’s hard to say. I need to do some testing." Angele turned around. "But don’t raise your expectations. Our enemy is strong," he warned in a serious tone.
"Cloud Bees have high Stamina and resistance. They’re also good fighters. If our plan fails, many of us will die."
Although Angele was confident in his fighting skills, the stories he heard about the bees were still horrifying. He could not promise anything to the crew until he actually fought one.
"Also, there are many magic stones stored on the bottom level of the cabin. The defensive and offensive matrices are set up there as well. If we have a matrix master, the trip will be much easier. We can only fight with what we have right now." Angele sighed.
"We need to make sure the airship is not badly damaged. That’s the priority." Baron added, "You, me, Reyline, and Hikari are the strongest wizards in the team. We need to collect as much information as we can when we encounter the scout bees."
"For sure."
"Alright, I’ll go have some rest." Baron turned around and walked to the stairs.
Angele stood on the deck and waited till Baron left.
*WOO*
A black shadow soared through the sky and landed on Angele’s right shoulder. It was a night sparrow with four wings.
Angele patted its back as he stood beside the railings and looked down.
Some blue light dots were flashing in the dark forest, probably some luminous plants.
The gentle white light from the two crescent moons shined upon the land.
Angele stood by the railings and waited. About half an hour later, a man slowly walked out of the cabin.
It was a man with a serious expression on his face. He was wearing a long black robe that helped him blend into the dark background. His face was pain and his eyes were surrounded by dark circles.
"Are you looking for me?" He walked to Angele. "Finished the discussion?"
"The situation is bad. Perry healed you, right? He said you knew a lot about matrices." Angele leaned forward. "So, the matrices on the airship…"
The man interrupted before Angele could finish.
"Well, nothing I can do about that. You know what the airship is made of, right? Pinewood is hard, light, and elastic. However, its conductivity with energy is bad. I can’t improve the matrices because of that," the man explained. He was the one who had helped Angele ambush Baron during the competition.
"You mean the three airships will be able to handle the damage but it’s impossible to make the offensive matrices stronger?"
"Correct." The man nodded.
"Alright. Thanks for the help."
"Yeah."
The two walked down the staircase together and returned to their own rooms.
Angele sat in the room and thought for a while, but he did not come up with any viable plan.
Half a month passed in a blink of the eyes.
Angele had already communicated with most of the wizards from the three airships.
Hikari was hated by all the wizards on the first airship. Thus, she stayed in her room most of the time. The wizards on her airship also barely talked to each other after the competition.
Only two wizards asked Angele about the situation but that was the only conversation they had.
The situation on Reyline’s airship was different. All the wizards respected him for his power. He also recruited an assistant, a beautiful lady around 20 years old, who was Reyline’s cousin. She wanted to join the discussion between the captains. Angele had no problem with that.
Perry, Nopel, and Coach treated Angele differently after the fight. It seemed like they wanted to become friends with the strongest wizard in the team, but the other wizards just stayed in their room and minded their own business.
Angele was not concerned about the relationship between the wizards. Perry, Nopel, and Coach’s skill level was below the average. He would rather spend more time with Baron and the man in the black robe.
All the functions of the airships were the same as before, but the other wizards would bow to Angele slightly after he had become the owner of the amulet.
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In the endless blue sky, the three black gondolas were hanging down three envelopes, moving forward slowly.
Two white dots were flying around the leading airship.
They looked like flies moving around rotten food.
The wizards gathered on the deck of the leading airship. They were looking at the flying white dots nervously.
Angele stood in the front with a serious look on his face. The captains were standing behind him. No one spoke a word and the atmosphere was heavy.
"The defensive matrices are fully operational. I’ll remove the force barrier now. Stay alert everyone!" Angele suddenly yelled. He held the amulet in right hand and shook it slightly.
A white glint flashed on the surface of the crystal.
The invisible force barriers were deactivated, and three airships were now exposed to the threat.
The pair of Cloud Bees noticed the change and stopped flying around, now rushing straight to the people on the deck.
Angele finally had a clear view of the creature when they approached.
These were two enormous bees, with white-colored bodies and blue spiral patterns covered their abdomen. Each of the bees was about two meters tall and the images of the wizards on deck reflected in their compound eyes.
"Ready!" Angele raised his right hand.
"I’ll do it!" A muscular male wizard from the first airship stepped forward. There was a long iron bow in his hands.
He raised the bow and pulled the bowstring to full, then fired an invisible arrow.
*CHI*
The arrow landed on one of the Cloud Bees accurately. It exploded and turned into a large sticky web, capturing the two bees.
*BOOM*
The Cloud Bees failed to dodge the web and hit the surface of the deck hard, rolling several times on the floor.
Before Angele gave the next order, two wizards had already jumped onto the bees. One of them had a mace, while the other a long crossguard sword.
*CLANK*
Red light and the yellow light flashed in the air. The two wizards were blown away by the impact, smashing against the railings. They struggled for several seconds before they stopped moving.
"Arian, are you alright?" Another wizard rushed to help them. "Oh, god!" he suddenly yelled.
The two Cloud Bees were trying to escape from the web. Angele asked Reyline to get ready for the possible attack and went to check on the two injured wizards.
The air around the two was freezing.
Their bodies were covered by a thick layer of frost. Angele narrowed his eyes and he saw two stingers penetrated their chests.
The half-meter-long stinger broke through the wizard’s force shield easily.
An old light wizard crouched and checked the two wizards’ condition. He then looked at Angele and shook his head slightly.
They were killed in one single strike.
"Their force shields did nothing…The damage is horrifying…" A female wizard’s face turned pale. "And Arian’s Talent skill is much stronger than mine…"
Angele pursed his lips and turned around. He saw that the two Cloud Bees had already escaped the translucent web and were now flying around above the deck.
Reyline and the several other wizards were attacking the bees using electric arrows, but the bees were so fast that they dodged most of the attacks easily. They were still flying in the air even after being hit several times.
Angele noticed that the bees’ bodies were surrounded by a thin light barrier, protecting them from all the electric arrows.
Reyline and Baron were observing the light barrier as well. There were also wizards recording and calculating data of the two Cloud Bees.
Once, the Cloud Bees tried to rush down and Baron and Reyline shot them with stronger electric arrows, yet none of them did any actual damage to those monsters.
Angele asked them to increase the spell damage to over 40 degrees, but they still failed to break through the Cloud Bees’ barriers. The two bees were still trying to charge to the wizards.
Angele expression turned serious as time passed.
He stood by the railings quietly while Zero was analyzing the creature.
Rows of data were being refreshed in his right.
‘Simulation and analysis completed.’
Zero’s mechanical voice echoed in Angele’s ears, and he felt a bit relieved.
‘Worker bee’s data. Results are not final.’
‘Strength, over 11. Agility, over 8. Stamina, over 8. Mentality, over 24. Talent skills: (2) Ice Forcefield: Created by strong mentality, can block any damage lower than 30 degrees, and all Ice damage will be ignored. (2) Damage Reduction: Every time a bee is attacked by physical skills or energy strikes, the damage will be halved. (3) Toxic Stinger: Release the stinger. Damage, unknown. Other skills, unknown.’
‘Mentality over 24…’ Angele finally knew why a significant number of wizards would die on a trip to Omandis. The creature was like a flying Grand Knight with extreme magic resistance and it could even deal elemental damage. The bee could also use ranged attacks if it wanted to.
"Baron! I’m ready!" Angele communicated with Baron and Reyline using energy particles.