Those who went looking for bees found the Three-Headed Dog.Those who went looking for the Three-Headed Dog, however, ran into bees.
Such was fate.
Wendy hurried forward to heal Seemes, and the big man quickly got back on his feet, he'd only taken one sting and hadn't been seriously hurt.
Rhodes offered an apologetic smile. "Sorry about that. This is actually our mission. We didn't expect the bees to show up here too."
Bacchus glanced from the direction of the swarm to the dense cluster of purple Worms behind Rhodes and immediately understood what those strange creatures were for.
"Guess that makes us the unlucky ones," he said, taking a long drink from his gourd. He held it out to Rhodes, who waved it away politely.
"What happened to your arm?" Rhodes asked, noticing that part of Bacchus's gauntlet was cracked, and he was pouring liquor over it.
Bacchus shrugged. "Got stung by one of the big ones. I'll live."
Rhodes raised a brow. "No way. Even you couldn't dodge it?"
He recalled Bacchus's Palm style, famed for its explosive power and lightning-fast movement. If Bacchus went all-out, even Erza's Flight Armor wouldn't touch a single hair on him, and against Heaven's Wheel Armor, he could probably weave through dozens of blades without a scratch.
Could the bee swarm really be that formidable?
Bacchus grimaced. "That one fooled me. It turned into a flower first. I was tracking the Three-Headed Dog, passed by it without thinking, and bam, got stung."
Rhodes blinked. "Wait. Turned into a flower? You mean it wasn't just hiding with some kind of concealment magic?"
Bacchus gave him a look. "Are your eyes that bad? It transformed. Anyone with poor vision might think the flower was still there, but I saw it clearly, it shifted from a flower into a bee."
Rhodes fell silent for a moment. 'So the mages from Phantom Wing didn't just misidentify it...'
Bacchus rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "You mentioned concealment magic, that might also be part of it. Otherwise, there's no way I wouldn't have noticed it at that range."
Rhodes nodded. "Makes sense. I trust your judgment."
Bacchus was an S-Class Mage. His instincts were sharp, if he said so, it was true.
"Wendy, heal Bacchus too," Rhodes said.
"Right away!" Wendy replied, hurrying over.
Meanwhile, Rhodes extended his perception. The two large bees were nearing the edge of his recon field. He sent mental orders to his Crabs to follow them and commanded the worms to search the northern mountain, but avoid disturbing any other plants or animals.
They clicked in acknowledgment, releasing a series of low chirps that rippled through the Void Worm network.
Moments later, the swarm stirred.
Thousands of purple Worms poured out from their burrows, flowing like liquid shadows. They bypassed the small group of humans and surged toward the northern mountain in a single, massive wave.
Everyone except Rhodes immediately tensed. Instinct screamed at them to move, yet none dared. The Worms brushed past without touching anyone, flooding around them like a living tide.
For a long moment, they all stood frozen in place, unmoving pillars among a storm of motion, a surreal, terrifying sight.
When the last Worm disappeared into the distance, the three void grubs kept working, producing twelve new Worms every twelve seconds, each scuttling off to reinforce the main swarm.
Bacchus stared at the horizon, flask in hand. It took him several seconds to find his voice again.
"I'll be honest," he said slowly, "I never want to be your enemy."
The earlier bee swarm had already been bad enough. Thinking about facing a living army like that, he almost questioned whether the Palm magic was the right career choice.
Lucy finally broke the silence. "Mr. Rhodes, what should we do next?" she asked hesitantly. She was clearly in no hurry to go anywhere near those bees again.
"We'll leave that to the Worms for now," Rhodes said. "Let's keep searching for the Three-Headed Dog and sweep the area as we go."He turned to Bacchus. "What about you? Need a break?"
Bacchus glanced at his two subordinates. "Do we?"
"Absolutely not," Seemes declared, thumping his chest to show he was perfectly fine.
Rocker raised his hand, shouting, "WILD~ FOUR!"
Bacchus chuckled. "Then we'll head out too. Though…" He eyed the trail ahead. "I've got a feeling that following you guys might bring bad luck. We'll check the other side of the mountain."
"Yes, Big Brother Bacchus!" his teammates replied in unison.
The trio moved with their usual rough efficiency, setting off in another direction. After a few dozen meters, Bacchus turned and waved back.
"Little sister, thanks!"
"Thank you!" Seemes and Rocker echoed together.
Wendy blinked, flustered, but smiled politely. "Y-you're welcome…"
Watching them go, she tilted her head. "They're kind of loud, but… they seem like good people, right?"
Lucy sighed. "What kind of guild is Quatro Cerberus, anyway?"
"In some ways, it's similar to ours," Rhodes said. "At the very least, it's lively. You should visit sometime."
"I think I'll pass." Lucy grimaced. "I've already had enough injuries from our guild's 'liveliness.'"
Once they officially began the search, Rhodes grew noticeably more cautious.
Even Bacchus, with his agility, had been ambushed. If he could be caught off guard, Wendy and the others were even more at risk. The group moved carefully, inspecting every single daylily they passed.
Rhodes frequently used his crabs to scan the terrain, while his Raptors swooped overhead, scattering feathers charged with detection magic to probe the undergrowth.
But despite their vigilance, danger struck without warning.
A nearby daylily suddenly twisted, its petals folding inward, reshaping into a fist-sized Giant Bee that lunged straight at Lucy.
Sting!
Its needle-like stinger shot for her eye, only to stop short against a thin, golden light barrier that shimmered into existence inches from her face.
Lucy yelped and jumped backward, nearly a meter in one leap.
Rhodes calmly raised a hand and flicked a glowing orb of light.Pang!
The projectile hit the bee dead-on. The creature fell, but before it even touched the ground, its entire body shimmered and vanished into thin air.
Carla frowned. "Did you use some kind of powerful attack spell?"
Rhodes shook his head, frowning. "No. That spell's not nearly as strong as Bacchus's Palm magic. It shouldn't have erased the body completely."
Wendy hesitated. "Now that you mention it… we didn't see the bodies of the bees Bacchus took down earlier, either."
Carla crossed her paws. "And no one else brought that up before."
"Maybe the village chief and Miss Phil thought they were just burned to ashes by fire magic," Lucy mused, rubbing her chin. "But that disappearing effect felt really familiar. It's like..."
Rhodes and Lucy spoke at the same time: "It's like they were summoned by someone."
Indeed, the way the bee vanished wasn't like a Celestial Spirit returning to starlight, nor like a wild monster dissolving into the air after defeat. It had the distinct pulse of an artificial summoning, something between magic construct and spirit binding.
Rhodes felt a strange déjà vu gnawing at him.
Wendy tilted her head. "But if someone summoned the bees, why would they make them attack villagers and Magicians?"
Lucy clenched her fists. "We'll only know once we catch whoever's behind it. But using adorable bees for something like this," she puffed her cheeks, "I won't forgive them!"
Rhodes gave her a long, blank look. "That bee almost stung you in the eye, and you still think it's adorable?"
...
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