“Are you kidding me?
A Knight is a member of the Queen’s guard, an absolute core force of the swarm.
Even if it’s left the hive now, it’s not a monster a Black Iron Rank Priest like me can mess with.”
She shouted at Marlow within her consciousness, trying to use the noise to wake up the Miss Mushroom whose brain seemed to be full of water.
“Don’t worry, Lumina.
Your body isn’t the fragile Priest it used to be.
It’s probably a bit more monstrous than a Warrior or a Tank now.”
“Survival isn’t a problem at all.
We just need to worry about how to kill it before the other bees arrive as reinforcements.”
‘I’m not doing this.’
“Hey, hey!”
The Elf turned to leave.
The control of her body was in her hands; how could she possibly walk into the lion’s den knowing full well the danger?
If she felt Marlow’s previous plan for the bees had a 50% chance of success, the winning chance against the Knight Bee this time was zero.
Even being threatened with growing little mushrooms was better than going to a meaningless death.
‘She’ll probably be furious and use her most serious, terrifying tone to threaten me into going back,’ Lumina thought.
Despite being just a consciousness that couldn’t do anything except bully her weak and cowardly self, Marlow actually dared to challenge such an enemy.
‘Isn’t she afraid of death?
If I die, she won’t be able to escape the same fate since we are in Symbiosis.’
She really was a mushroom beyond understanding.
But the threat she expected didn’t reach her ears.
Instead, there was only a short, urgent warning.
“Watch out!
It’s discovered you.
This is a trap.”
Why would a single individual wander off alone, defying their leader’s will, while the bees were moving in swarms to deal with external enemies?
The only answer was that the leader of the bees had done it on purpose.
The Queen they had yet to meet definitely possessed intelligence.
She might have even guessed that the hidden enemy had a way to track the location of isolated individuals, so she played along and set a bait.
The moment the Knight Bee locked onto its enemy, the humming sound of vibrating wings echoed from the distant forest.
It moved from far to near, slowly closing in like a wide net being spread out.
The sword-wielding Knight also assumed a charging stance, pointing its rapier forward.
Its wings vibrated at a high frequency behind it, launching an extremely fast strike.
The original safe distance was rapidly closed.
The Elf instinctively abandoned her cover and rolled to the side to avoid it, then quickly got up and ran toward another Screaming Wood.
The tree that had hidden her form was pierced through, leaving a hole.
The massive trunk collapsed instantly, kicking up a cloud of grey-black dust.
Behind the rising dust, the Knight Bee was already gathering strength again.
One could imagine that when a whole squad of Knight Bees equipped with Great Pierce charged an enemy, they would become an indestructible spear.
“Summon Treant.”
The short chant ended, and the gemstone on the staff emitted a bright emerald light.
Lumina struck the head of the staff heavily against a Screaming Wood, and the tree rose from the ground as if it had been given life.
[Summoned Creature: Dryad]
HP: 500
STR: 25
DEF: 55
AGI: 5
[Dryad: A special individual summoned through the Summon Treant nature magic spell.]
Glancing at the object’s System Panel, Marlow was surprised that the Elf still had a trump card magic she hadn’t used.
However, after looking at the Elf’s MP consumption, which was over 50%, she understood why this magic was kept as a last resort.
If Marlow hadn’t been supplying mana and providing MP recovery, Lumina wouldn’t have been able to cast many other spells after summoning one Dryad before her mana was drained, leaving her to die.
The key was that this thing was clearly a meat shield.
It was unlikely to change the overall situation of the battle.
It seemed more like a self-protection skill for a Priest without combat power who found herself alone.
But was this really something that could be summoned by a class like a Priest, which was supposedly filled with a holy and bright atmosphere?
It had a twisted, terrifying human face, a wide-open hollow mouth, legs transformed from old roots that looked like tangled tentacles, and hands like a devil’s sharp claws…
“Are you really a Priest?”
Hearing Marlow’s doubt, Lumina, who was busy dodging the Knight’s attacks, spared some attention to explain.
“Of course I’m a Priest!
A real Treant isn’t this… strange!
It must be the change caused by using a Screaming Wood as the material for the spell.
After all, they were already that ugly to begin with.”
The Elf showed her disgust without concealment.
‘If a summoned creature had intelligence and saw its master loathing it so much, it would probably defect immediately.’
She saw the Dryad use its massive body as a wall-shield to block all the Knight Bee’s attacks, isolating it on the other side.
Its HP dropped by 50 points.
It could at least hold out for ten more hits.
As a meat shield alone, its tankiness was quite adequate.
The Elf took the opportunity to attack with Rapid-fire Light Orbs, but the effect was minimal.
They were all blocked by the silver-white outer armor, failing to cause any effective damage.
[Iron Armor LV2: Slightly increases individual defense.]
It was a skill that simply increased defense values.
In terms of performance, it was perfect — simple and crude.
If she wanted to cause effective damage, it was also simple: break this layer of iron armor first, and the opponent’s defense would drop, making the Light Orbs more effective.
Alternatively, she could aim directly at the gaps in the armor, but the bee’s movement speed was very fast, making it difficult for magic to hit the ideal spots.
She still had to engage in close combat.
Relying solely on the Dryad, this sturdy wall-nut, would only delay the time of death.
“Don’t be afraid, Lumina.
Get closer to it,” Marlow commanded.
However, the Elf ignored her.
“My attacks require the opponent to be close to you; otherwise, they’re hard to hit, and I can’t effectively support you.
Once I hit it, the toxin will successfully take it down.”
After all, the range of Spore Spray was limited — short and weak.
She had to be close enough to have a chance of hitting.
But relying on that alone wouldn’t be enough to successfully kill the Knight.
Although Spore Spray was a damage skill, its damage was limited, and its power was even worse than the Elf’s magic Light Orbs.
The real key to victory lay in the Paralysis Toxin LV4 skill she had obtained from the bees.
It could be used in conjunction with Spore Spray, injecting the toxin into the opponent’s body upon impact.
The bees didn’t have a corresponding resistance to their own toxin.
So, taking it from the bees and using it against them was very logical.
But the key was whether the Elf was willing to trust her.
No one could say it was a 100% sure thing, and Marlow couldn’t explain the source of her confidence to Lumina.
‘I obtained their toxin from the bees.
By frantically eating them during this time, I’m stronger at using poison than they are.’
‘It’s quite persuasive, but it’s also enough to make someone avoid her like the plague,’ Lumina thought.
‘When you’re with someone who gets stronger just by eating, who can guarantee they won’t be the next meal?’
Lumina, however, was stunned for a moment.
She had no idea that Miss Mushroom had such powerful means.
But she was the same.
Before this, she had hidden the magic to summon a Treant.
Even if it was an impractical skill, most people had secrets unknown to others.
This was human nature, and Lumina didn’t think too deeply about it.
She decided to trust Miss Marlow once.
The other party wouldn’t go so far as to fabricate a story to trick her into going to her death, right?
The moment she made her choice, the Knight Bee moved as well.
It quickly climbed high into the air, bypassed the Dryad’s attack range, and flew directly toward the Elf Priest at the rear.
Ah, she was wrong.
This fellow wasn’t even qualified as a meat shield.
It was indeed a wall blocking the front, but the enemy could simply go around it to attack the back.
How could there be a frontline without the ability to taunt and keep people in place?
Just look at what you’ve been protecting.