Chapter 104: Gray Spine Hornet Swarm

The team continued advancing and exploring.

A single apprentice mage being attacked and injured wouldn’t disrupt the entire mission.

Besides, this was expected.

How can frontier exploration happen without casualties?…

In fact, without new earth veins, the two-kilometer zones on either side of the official road had been swept repeatedly by mages over the years, leaving almost no earth-vein creatures visible.

But now, everything was different.

The earth-vein creatures emerging from the new earth veins didn’t know, like the nearly native ones, that the vicinity of the official road was human territory and should be avoided.

And the deep forest areas far from the official road were mostly occupied by “old earth-vein creatures.”

In comparison, these cleared “transitional zones” had become the unclaimed land in the eyes of the “new earth-vein creatures.”

Thus, they became the ideal landing spots for these “new earth-vein creatures.”

“There!” The lead middle-aged mage’s eyes glowed with spiritual light—he had spotted the earth-vein creature first this time.

The team followed his gesture and looked in that direction.

In the distance, a towering tree stood, estimated to be over ten meters thick, its trunk black as iron, riddled with cracks.

Within the cracks, countless black insects, resembling hornets, clung to the surface.

These black insects lay motionless on the trunk, their color blending perfectly with the bark; without the middle-aged mage’s signal, they would have been nearly impossible to notice.

“Gray Spine Hornets, 0th-tier earth-vein creatures. Their tail stingers can be fired. Individually, they’re not dangerous, but they travel in swarms and are extremely afraid of fire,” the middle-aged mage quickly stated.

“Those who know flame attack spells, raise your hands,” he whispered.

A sparse handful of seven or eight hands rose, including Gao De’s.

Of the twenty-plus apprentice mages, only about one-third had mastered flame attack spells.

“Follow me—we’ll try to eliminate most of these Gray Spine Hornets in the first strike.”

“The rest of you who know area-of-effect spells, prepare. After we strike, launch your second wave immediately to mop up,” the middle-aged mage gave simple battle instructions.

He could only give such simple instructions.

First, they were a hastily assembled team, unfamiliar with each other’s strengths and spells.

Second, even if they tried, they couldn’t coordinate complex battle plans.

Under these conditions, a blunt, straightforward tactic was the most suitable.

Everyone nodded.

Then, at the middle-aged mage’s command, those who knew flame attack spells swiftly activated their spell models.

Gao De took a deep breath, suppressing his excitement—the Gray Spine Hornets were precisely his favorite swarm-type earth-vein creature!

He activated the 【Flame Arrow+】 spell model as well.

Immediately, the air around them filled with a scorching heat.

Everyone unleashed their flame spells.

Several irregular bursts of magical flame wove together into a small sea of fire, roaring toward the Gray Spine Hornets clinging to the trunk.

The most formidable of these was the spell cast by the lead middle-aged mage.

What surprised Gao De slightly was that the middle-aged mage’s flame attack spell was also 【Flame Arrow】, identical to his own.

Of course, in both power and spectacle, it far surpassed his.

“High-tier mages still use low-tier spells, and as their rank increases, so does the spell’s power,”

Gao De’s mind flashed these thoughts.

BOOM! The flame attacks struck one after another; upon hitting solid objects, they triggered minor explosions.

The Gray Spine Hornle swarm was startled by this sudden assault.

They fluttered wildly, but the fire spread too fast, instantly engulfing countless Gray Spine Hornets with a sizzling sound.

The Gray Spine Hornets clearly had no special abilities. Under the flames, they offered little resistance before turning to ash.

Just this first wave had already halved the swarm clinging to the towering tree.

The remaining Gray Spine Hornets, startled, immediately took flight from the trunk.

Even after the first sweep, the leftover swarm was still dense, appearing like several clouds of gray smoke rising from the trunk.

ZZZZZ! These clouds emitted an irritating buzz, crossing the now-dying fire line and surging toward Gao De’s group—as if preparing to retaliate.

But the apprentice mages who hadn’t acted in the first wave and knew area-of-effect spells now unleashed their prepped spells.

Among them was Gao De’s familiar 【Acid Spray】, poison gas attacks, and even one who cast lightning—making Gao De glance over in surprise.

Yet most mages in the team were wild mages, so their methods were extremely limited.

Carefully counting, only six had cast in the second wave.

Meaning, this temporary team—carefully selected from wild mages who knew attack spells—still had half with no area-of-effect spells. Was it because they didn’t want to?

Definitely not. It was simply that they couldn’t learn them.

The spell formulas publicly sold by the Mage Association were all utility spells.

For wild mages, mastering attack spells had always been extremely difficult.

This made Gao De once again lament how harsh the survival conditions were for wild mages under knowledge monopolies.

After the second wave of spells, the approaching clouds of hornets were reduced by another large portion.

Meanwhile, Gao De and the others who knew flame spells had already launched their second round of attacks.

Flames erupted instantly, clearing another wide area, eliminating countless more Gray Spine Hornets.

But after these two rounds of exchange, a small number of Gray Spine Hornets had finally closed in.

SHHHH! The next moment, these hornets raised their tails.

Stingers shot out like raindrops, piercing toward the mages in the team.

Individually, the Gray Spine Hornets were no bigger than a thumb, but their stingers’ power couldn’t be ignored.

At minimum, they could pierce through several layers of clothing—and there were far too many, densely packed.

Gao De’s heart leapt; in his spell star-sea, another spell model flared with mana.

Without any visible motion, a faint gray glow flashed across Gao De’s entire skin.

【Blade Ward+】! PLOP PLOP PLOP! About twenty stingers struck Gao De.

But these stingers, upon hitting his skin, bounced off as if striking supple leather.

Others weren’t so lucky—either they lacked defense spells or reacted too slowly, and all suffered varying degrees of stinger wounds.

Some who reacted especially slowly hadn’t covered their faces in time; their skin now bore tiny puncture wounds, blood oozing out, looking grotesque.

Seeing this, Gao De silently thanked himself for investing his Fierce Bat’s essence point into 【Blade Ward】.

The eliminated casting motion had made his 【Blade Ward+】 cast almost as fast as a thought.

0th-tier earth-vein creatures mostly lacked supernatural power—they were merely tougher beasts.

Under these conditions, 【Blade Ward】, which boosted physical resistance, was far more practical than 【Increase Resistance】, which boosted magical resistance.

Fortunately, after these rounds of cleansing, the Gray Spine Hornets had been greatly reduced; the remaining ones’ stinger volleys hadn’t reached the threshold of qualitative change.

So although many were wounded, most injuries were minor, and no one was in life-threatening danger.

The apprentice mages gritted their teeth, temporarily ignoring the pain and numbness from their wounds, and unleashed more spells to sweep the remaining Gray Spine Hornets.

Acid spray, poison gas, and lightning flared in succession.

After this assault, the swarm could no longer hold together—only a scattered few buzzed away, retreating into the dense forest.

“Gray Spine Hornets lose their threat when they’re not in swarms,” the lead middle-aged mage observed, choosing not to pursue further.

(End of Chapter)