Ball of Nothing

Zero cast haste and a weight-reduction spell so that they didn't weigh as much on the mounts so that they count move faster. In no time, they were within the vicinity that Zero could identify the threats with his minimap.

It was slightly strange seeing so many red dots moving around in swarms. Zero didn't think that there would be so many enemies. In fact, whoever screamed should be dead by now with this many enemies. They were travelling a little further inwards towards Endow Hill on the road towards Smargdas and Truen had a bad feeling about it.

Zero heard the enemies before he could see them. There was no mistaking the low buzzing sound among the din of weapons and spells. The screams could still be heard but there were also shouts that Zero couldn't make out. The one time he heard the familiar buzzing sound was back on Endow Hill when Zero had to steal honey to make pills.

"Truen, these are killer bees!" Zero told his friend. The archer nodded. Although he did not have experience with them, the archer was able to survey the battle quickly to find out what they were.

"Don't get too close," he warned Zero. "Leave it to me. We will assist from a distance."

Zero agreed. He wanted to save those people but he also remembered that it shouldn't be done for free. Adventurers knew the risks when they took on a quest. Their lives were always on the line and Zero shouldn't be the one taking care of people who were willing to put their lives on the line for money. If Zero was going to step up to an occasion and defend someone, it would be the weak who had no power to fight back against threats that they didn't sign up for.

The sand walkers stopped when they got very close to the battle site. Although they still couldn't see the killer bees or adventurers, Zero knew that he would be right next to them if he pushed past this patch of foliage. Truen and Zero left their mounts by a tree and Zero cast a protection spell just in case the killer bees attacked the sand walkers.

The archer climbed a tall tree nearby and Zero followed quickly after him. While Zero was technically a mage, nobody had seen him use any offensive magic during his journey. Truen liked to keep things that way. For now, he asked Zero to scout and send him an image from the minimap so that he could plan his tracing spells to take down the killer bees.

"There are at least a few hundred killer bees," Zero told his friend who nodded.

"Don't worry, it can be done. Just let me have a look at the map. I'm not looking at taking all of them down, we just need to find out which is their commander. Once a commander is taken down, the rest of the bees can be easily dealt with by the adventurers."

"Commander bee?"

Nodding, the wood elf explained how to identify the commander. "Killer bees attack in swarms. While the queen bee is the most dangerous, she doesn't make an appearance very often. The queen is often busy laying eggs in the nest so these commander bees are the ones adventurers usually look out for. They don't look very different from the other killer bees but they possess intelligence that makes them more dangerous."

Zero tried to find the commander that Truen spoke about. They had a good view of the battle but there were simply too many bees moving around. Even on the minimap, it was hard for the doctor to identify the commander.

"What other traits does the commander bee possess? I can't find the bee you're talking about, they're moving so much that it's not possible to tag all of them properly. The adventurers are also red dots on my map."

Truen tried to recall. From the things he heard about insect monsters, the common trait would be the unusual behaviour. "Are any of those bees acting strangely out of the norm?"

Studying the minimap again carefully and observing the movement pattern of the swarm, Zero frowned. Surely there would be a few acting strangely but Zero couldn't tell if that was part of the plan or if those bees were tasked to do a different thing.

"Sorry, Truen. Shifu and Merlin didn't teach me much about warfare. I cannot tell which bees are acting strangely but there are a few bees hidden out of sight that aren't moving."

Readying his bow, the wood elf grinned. "Tell me where they are, we'll take them down one by one. Even if none of them turns out to be the commander bee, it would still be good. Those are scouts."

Happy that he discovered something helpful, Zero pointed out the location of these immobile bees and Truen shot them down swiftly. After twelve bees had been shot down, they waited. The adventurers below looked exhausted and some were injured. Zero wanted to step in but he held back. These people still had mana and recovery potions, they would survive. Besides, now that the scouts were taken down, there should be a change soon.

Truen watched as confusion started to settle among the monsters and waited. The commander bee will soon be separated from the swarm because without the scouts passing information to it, the commander bee can no longer keep the swarm in order.

True to his hypothesis, the killer bees started becoming less coordinated. The bees often bumped into each other and were no longer united with their attacks. Seeing this opportunity, the adventurers below started to attack more furiously The uncoordinated killer bees were no longer a threat to them and Zero cheered silently as the bees fell. He wondered if these adventurers would be kind enough to let him collect their venom and body parts for medicine. Bees were apparently good for curing persistent coughs.

Zero was happy that the adventurers were managing well and relaxed a little. He was zooming in on his minimap when his expression darkened.

"What's wrong?" Truen asked, sensing the change in mood. Zero was thrilled earlier to help the people who were getting attacked by the killer bees but now, he looked like he wished he didn't help them at all.

"They have a captive," Zero said. "A slave."

Truen felt the good mood leave him. He should have listened to his intuition. Now that a slave was involved, he knew that Zero would not let this matter end peacefully.