Chapter 119: Devour Me
Her halberd flared with crimson light, aura spiraling like a vortex. "I have fought demons, beasts, even the damned heavens themselves. But nothing has ever disgusted me as much as your face wiggling your antennas at me. If you come one step closer—"
She slammed her halberd into the ground, splitting the earth.
"I. WILL. EAT. YOU. FOR. BREAKFAST! DO YOU HEAR ME?!"
The Bee Queen... moaned.
[Telepathic Whisper]
"Yes... devour me."
"..."
"..."
Even the system went silent.
Ling Yu snapped.
"OH MY GODDDDD!" Ling Yu screamed, hurling her halberd at the Queen with enough force to split mountains.
The Bee Queen dodged gracefully, laughing like a maiden at her lover’s tantrum, wings shimmering seductively.
The battlefield was chaos.
The Bee Queen, with her shimmering wings buzzing with mocking laughter, danced in the air above Ling Yu’s halberd swings. Each strike carried killing intent sharp enough to cleave the earth, but the monster twisted aside at the last second, letting Ling Yu’s weapon bite into nothing but air and rubble.
Her aura flared with the oppressive heat of her bloodlust.
But the more the Queen dodged, the more irritated she became.
[System Notice]
[Warning: Mental stability decreasing.]
[Status Effect: [Irritation] → [Enraged]
Critical Thought processing is reduced. Attack Power +20%.]
"STOP. MOVING. AROUND! YOU DAMNED MONSTER!" Ling Yu bellowed, her halberd tearing through a column of broken stone as sparks showered around her.
The Bee Queen giggled telepathically, her antennae twitching like she was enjoying a lover’s chase.
[Telepathic Whisper]
"Feisty~ but you’ll tire out eventually. Why resist what is inevitable? You’re already mine."
Ling Yu’s teeth ground so hard they threatened to crack.
She had the experience, from another lifetime, from countless battles and betrayals. She knew exactly how one was supposed to fight something like this: bait the wings, break the flight pattern, collapse its hive aura.
But knowing... wasn’t the same as being able to do it.
Her body trembled. Sweat burned her eyes. Her halberd arm felt heavier with every swing.
Her stats weren’t enough, and her team, even with Xian Yu healing desperately behind her, wasn’t strong enough.
"Ling Yu!" Xian Yu’s voice cracked. His pale face gleamed with sweat, his hands trembling as he held the staff aloft. Green light radiated as he forced yet another regeneration skill through his aching mana channels.
The progress bar of his hidden S-class skill ticked upward, but far too slowly to matter right now.
Behind him, Song and the others tried to hold the encroaching swarm of lesser insectiles at bay, their blades dull, their bodies cut and battered.
Despair coiled its claws around the group.
Ling Yu’s halberd faltered for a second. Her chest heaved, lungs burning, vision narrowing.
For the first time since her regression, a whisper of doubt crossed her mind.
’I’m... not enough yet, not like this.’
The Bee Queen sensed it immediately. She swooped low, compound eyes gleaming with smug desire.
[Telepathic Whisper]
"Yes... despair for me, little warrior. Struggle in my embrace, and I shall make you my sweetest bride."
Ling Yu’s skin crawled. Every fiber of her soul screamed in revulsion. Yet even as bile rose in her throat, she gritted her teeth and raised her weapon again.
"If I’m going down..." Her voice was a growl, blood dripping from her lip. "...I’m dragging you into hell with me."
And then—
The air shifted around them all of a sudden.
The buzzing of the Bee Queen’s wings faltered. The very swarm paused mid-charge, their antennae twitching wildly as though something far greater had entered the field.
Shadows deepened unnaturally. The stench of blood and ichor thinned under a sudden, overwhelming pressure.
Ling Yu froze. Her halberd, raised for yet another futile strike, trembled in her grip.
Her instincts screamed that something unfathomable had arrived.
From the shattered husks of ruined buildings, a man stepped into view.
Clad in black robes that fluttered against a wind that wasn’t there, he seemed to stride across the battlefield without ever touching the bloodstained ground. His face was partially obscured by a dark hood, yet his aura alone was enough to eclipse the chaos of the swarm.
Every step he took bent the battlefield to his presence, as though the world itself made room for him.
His hand rested casually on the hilt of a blade at his waist, yet even sheathed, it radiated an oppressive pressure that silenced everything else.
The Bee Queen hissed, wings thrumming nervously. Her flirtatious aura snapped away instantly, replaced with wary aggression.
For the first time since appearing, the monster looked... afraid.
Ling Yu’s eyes widened.
...Who the hell—?
The black-robed man stopped, his presence blotting out the battlefield. He raised his head slightly, revealing eyes as cold and merciless as a blade honed a thousand years.
In the next instant, he moved.
The world blurred with his slash.
No theatrics or grand clash, in just a single motion, the man drew his blade. A whisper of steel kissed the air.
In the next heartbeat—
The Bee Queen’s shriek split the skies. Her wings tore. Her massive body convulsed as a thin, perfect line of blood blossomed across her thorax.
The Monarch of the swarm, who had mocked, toyed, and disgusted Ling Yu for so long, was bisected from crown to abdomen in a single stroke.
Her body collapsed heavily to the ground, ichor gushing like a river. The swarm screeched in disarray, instantly fracturing without their queen.
The battle... was over.
Ling Yu stood frozen, her halberd trembling in her grip. She blinked once, twice, then glanced from the falling corpse of the Queen to the man in black, who slid his blade back into its sheath as though nothing had happened.
Her chest heaved. The taste of blood lingered on her tongue.
Her pride screamed in protest
’That was supposed to be my kill.’
But her rationality whispered a sharper truth.
’Without him, you’d be dead right now.’
Xian Yu dropped to his knees, his exhausted body trembling as tears welled in his eyes.