NOVPUB"Elarion, you're going to have to help Wyver—he's getting overrun. I don't think he can keep them off much longer."
While Stormwing and Gaia had little trouble with their respective foes, the number of giant bees had swelled past a hundred. Though dozens had already crumbled into dust from the blizzard Wyver unleashed to keep them at bay, the insects were beginning to push through. Their wings vibrated faster, their patterns shifting, and now their tails were acting like spears—fired like javelins from the air.
Even as they perished, they continued the assault.
The stingers weren't mere barbs; they launched with enough force to rival ballista bolts. Several struck Wyver, slamming into his scales hard enough to draw blood despite failing to pierce through completely. A few had cracked his armor-like hide, weakening his aerial control. The frost drake began to falter in the air, drifting lower—becoming a sitting target for the next wave.
Dozens of bee-stingers shimmered midair, aimed like a swarm of missiles.
Elarion moved.
Having dismounted, the Celestial Halo Unicorn galloped forward, horn already glowing with divine light. He charged Gleaming Reckoning, and a radiant beam shot forth—searing through several bees in a single line. The beam cut clean, slicing through their forms like a holy laser, leaving nothing behind but smoke and drifting ash.
Light platforms began forming in the air under his hooves as Elarion ascended toward Wyver's position. He activated Aetherlight Domain, the terrain around him shimmering with pulsing brilliance. The light mana didn't disrupt Wyver's Icy Domain—instead, the two overlapped in rare harmony. Where one froze, the other healed as well as one attacked while the other shielded.
Their combined presence shifted the tide.
Wyver, reinvigorated by the healing pulses, roared and took to the skies once more. His frost breath returned with renewed vigor, and he blasted a path forward, wings flaring wide as he spotted the massive nest looming in the distance.
It was time to strike back.
With a single, elegant dive, the frost drake soared toward the hive. Ice gathered at his maw, and he unleashed a concentrated beam that sealed the entire structure in a tomb of frozen crystal. Bees emerging from the entrance froze midair, shattering before they could fully escape.
The skies above the floor began to clear.
Only a few buzzing stragglers remained—and none lasted long under the combined might of frost and light.
Logan's eyes narrowed as the frozen hive began to crack.
It couldn't hold.
Moments later, the entire structure burst apart—exploding in a spray of ice and chitin as a massive bee emerged, its size rivaling Wyver's. Its wings buzzed with a frequency that shook the air, and behind it surged a fresh swarm—nearly a hundred more of its kind.
"A second wave…? No—a royal guard," Logan muttered.
Elarion, having just finished off the last of the lingering drones, rushed to intercept. Golden shields formed midair as he galloped across summoned platforms, Radiant Aegis overlapping with Wyver's Icy Domain. Each shimmering barrier caught a dozen stingers in flight, reducing them to harmless pings against hardened light.
Logan considered joining in—his hand already rising to summon a spell.
But he hesitated.
They can handle this.
Instead, he observed—watching as Wyver and Elarion worked in tandem once more. This time, the frost drake conjured a wide spread of thick, translucent ice shields while Elarion infused them with divine radiance. The result was a network of glowing barriers—fortified walls of refracted light and frost that glimmered with unnatural resilience.
And then they attacked.
Polar Rift—a colossal icicle, conjured by Wyver, hurtled toward the incoming swarm. At the same moment, Gleaming Reckoning lit Elarion's horn, and the divine energy lanced into the frozen projectile. The light didn't melt the ice. Instead, it magnified—refracted through the crystal structure and exploded outward in a radiant nova that engulfed dozens of bees midflight.
The swarm never reached them.
The combined blast scoured the skies, leaving only a handful of elite guards and the Queen herself hovering in furious defiance. Her carapace glistened like obsidian honeycomb, and her wings were veined with pulsating gold.
She shrieked, enraged—a sound like that of steel being scratched with steel.
Wyver suddenly soared higher, spiraling up as if retreating.
But Logan knew better.
The drake wasn't fleeing—he was positioning.
Elarion, hooves glowing beneath him, readied for a charge. His body lowered, the aura around him flaring like a spear of dawnlight aimed directly at the Queen.
Logan raised his hand, preparing Darkness Arrow just in case he needed to help.
He wasn't about to let either of them get hurt here. The Queen Bee was massive—more than twice Elarion's size—and her mana pulsed with dark-aligned poison, thick enough to taint the air around her.
But Logan only smiled as he watched his two creatures handle their prey.
Turning from the clash above, he shifted his focus to Stormwing.
The thunderbird had already eliminated most of his opponents. Burned husks lay scattered near the river's edge, their bodies smoldering quietly beneath streaks of blackened sky. The elemental avian hovered for a moment, then descended, talons skimming the ground as he claimed the last of his kills.
Logan walked past him without a word.
There was loot building up all around—glimmering fins, glistening scales, bits of chitin and bone. The river shimmered with residual mana from fallen enemies. Without much effort, Logan activated his ring and began collecting the items—metallic fish parts, scales, fins, and magic stones and crystals.
He didn't know what most of it would be good for—but it never hurt to gather everything. Someone back in the capital would figure out how to use it.
With the area around Stormwing clear, Logan made his way toward Gaia and Murk.
Their battlefield was far more foul.
Chunks of plant matter were strewn across the soil, soaked in toxic sludge. The chimeras were nearly all wiped out—Gaia stood tall in the center, roots slowly retreating into the ground, while Murk gurgled proudly, his body twitching from the corrupted mass it had recently consumed.
The stench was... unbearable.
Logan gagged, covering his mouth with a sleeve.
"Ugh… how am I supposed to handle the next floor if this keeps happening…"
He winced as he bent to gather some of the nearby loot, careful not to touch it directly. His storage device blinked a few times before sucking in shards of crystal, poisonous leaves, and tangled vines while leaving behind the sticky remains that weren't part of the items.
Just as he finished sorting the last of it, a deep thud echoed across the floor.
The ground trembled slightly.
He looked up.
The Queen Bee was falling—her wings torn, her abdomen riddled with glowing fractures. She crashed into the forest below in a shower of light and fractured chitin, marking the end of the battle.
A triumphant roar followed.
Wyver, now at level 79, let out a victorious screech that reverberated through the entire chamber. He flapped weakly, blood dripping from wounds along his tail. One wing hung at an odd angle, nearly shredded, and several stingers remained embedded in his scales.
Elarion stood at his side, horn aglow as he mended the worst of the injuries with a soothing wave of Aetherlight Domain.
Logan let out a slow breath.
"Guess that's all for today…"
He approached, eyes scanning the state of his team. They were tired, one of them bloodied, but they were victorious.
"We'll need to get that wing fixed by Kryst," he murmured, patting Wyver's flank. "You did well."
Then, looking at the rest of the group—Stormwing watching silently, Gaia cleaning his limbs with patches of bark, Murk wobbling proudly in place—Logan smirked.
"As for the rest of you—good work. We probably gathered enough from this floor alone to buy armor for all of you."
