Angele tried to get up but couldn’t due to him being out of strength. The enormous body of the Cloud Bee made him feel as though he was carrying a large rock. Its abdomen was right above his legs and the green sticky fluid was still dripping down the deck.
The green fluid had the texture of a strong glue. The size of the pool in front was becoming larger every second.
*BAM*
Angele heard something hitting the floor ahead.
He struggled and raised his head slightly. Long ears and thin cheeks, it was Baron.
His eyes were wide open, and his right shoulder was pinned to the floor by a black stinger. The man looked like a frozen body, not moving.
Angele crawled on the deck and slowly drew a triangular rune on the floor.
"Anubis Amanda," he chanted the incantation in a light tone.
*CHI*
A translucent energy wave spread around the airship.
The wave covered all the wizards on the deck.
Suddenly, the smell and the sound all disappeared from the deck. The place became deadly silent.
The remaining Cloud Bees flew around right above the airship for a while. Several elementals were still trying to attack the bees, but all the energy strikes were blocked by their barriers.
The wizards were either frozen or killed. The survivors had already left the deck.
The Cloud Bees were not concerned about the spell Angele just cast. They grabbed the dead bodies with legs and started leaving the airships.
Several minutes later, all the dead and frozen wizards were carried away. The only things left on the deck were the corpses of the slain Cloud Bees and several bloodstains.
The Cloud Bees only wanted human flesh. The noise made by their wings was fading away, and finally, they vanished into the sky.
Angele was lucky. His clothes were soaked in the dead Cloud Bee’s bodily fluid, so the other bees ignored him. One bee tried to grab him with its legs. Its enormous head and sharp jaw were right above Angele’s neck. Without the strong metal barrier, his neck would’ve been easily penetrated.
After about half an hour, Angele’s paralyzed body finally started recovering. The frost was melting, and he could feel his limbs again.
The first thing he did was to push the dead Cloud Bee away from his body.
He chopped the white furry foreleg in half and threw it away.
Goosebumps rose upon his skin as he touched the dead bee’s soft abdomen.
Angele stood up and checked the dead Cloud Bee.
His silver longsword pierced through its head and a deep wound was left on its abdomen by his cursed scimitar. That was where the green sticky liquid came from.
The bee’s abdomen was shrinking as its bodily fluid was leaking out of the wound. It still had two black stingers, but it died instantly and failed to use them.
"My guess was right. The bee’s bodily fluid is the antidote to its poison." Angele felt relieved. He held the stinger on his right shoulder tight with the left hand.
*CHI*
He pulled the stinger out and dropped it to the floor.
The stinger left a massive gaping hole in his shoulder. His bone was fractured, and the wound was deep. Good thing was that the frost from the stinger stopped the wound from bleeding.
Angele took out a glass tube that was filled with black liquid. He removed the stopper and poured the liquid onto the blood hole.
Some white smoke rose from the wound.
Angele’s brows furrowed, and cold sweat was dripping down his chin.
The potion removed the frost on his wound and blood started dripping down.
Angele quickly took out some light-yellow dust from a different pouch and applied it to the wound.
His shoulder was surrounded by a green glow after the dust was mixed with the blood.
After about two minutes, a large piece of scab was formed, and it covered the whole blood hole.
‘
I need to have some good rest. I almost fully activated the illusion signet.’ Angele sighed. He was not even sure if the illusion signet would work on those Cloud Bees. The great harpy was terrifying but there were stronger creatures even in the ancient times. He was not sure if the monsters around the mountains were inheritors of the ancient beasts.
Angele raised his head and glanced around.
He was the only one on the deck. Broken weapons and shields were everywhere. There were five Cloud Bees’ corpses beside the railings and the main mast. They were all soaked in the green sticky fluid.
‘If they didn’t come in such a large swarm…’ Angele bit his lips. He held the cursed scimitar tight and started walking around.
"Anyone? Hey!" he shouted.
Angele’s loud voice echoed in the sky.
The chilling wind was blowing over his face. He suddenly detected some movement under one of the dead bees.
"Help…I’m still alive…" It was a male wizard.
Angele ran to the direction of the voice and pushed the Cloud Bee’s corpse away. It was the man in a black robe, whose name Angele had never asked before.
The man’s right leg was pierced by a stinger, but the bodily fluid of the bee already removed the poison for him.
However, the man’s Stamina was much lower than Angele. He looked exhausted, blood was running out of his eyes, mouth, nose, and ears. He was also suffering from a concussion.
"Anyone else?!" Angele yelled again as he helped the man to stand up.
No one responded.
The two walked to the entrance of the cabin and saw two light wizards lying in the hallway but they were not moving.
The one on the left was a female wizard with long black hair. Her left palm was pinned on the floor by a black stinger, and her body was frozen.
The other one was Hikari. The female potion master lay on the floor, but the black stinger missed her neck. She was unconscious as she was still affected by the poison.
"They’re still alive!" Angele helped the man to sit by the staircase and rushed to the deck. He came back after several seconds with a full beaker of green liquid. He started applying the liquid onto the two female wizards’ wounds right away.
The frost disappeared from their body after about half an hour. Angele removed the security rune from the rooms and helped the man in a black robe walk into the room on the left.
"Why’re you still helping us? You’re severely wounded too." The man looked at Angele and shook his head. "If it’s me, I’ll just kill everyone and take all the rare resources they have."
"Do you really think I can make it to the other side alone?" Angele answered in a light tone, "Saving you is saving myself."
The man lay on the bed and took out some healing gel from his pouch.
"Heal yourself, alright?"
"Sure." The man nodded.
"Good, I’ll go check the airships’ condition." Angele scrunched his eyebrows and walked out of the door. The two female wizards were sitting in the hallway. Their faces were still pale, but they already regained the consciousness.
"Thank you for saving us. Where are the others?" Hikari asked when she saw Angele walking to her.
"The Cloud Bees carried them away. They’ll be feasting today." Angele was tired. He checked his wound again.
"There are not many wizards left on the airship."
He turned to the other female wizard.
She opened her mouth, "Master…I’m Morrisa, thank you for helping me…" She stopped for a second and continued, "We heard you yelling during the fight and ran to the cabin right away, but I’m still hit by the stinger. Someone cast a spell that removed the smell and sound, so the bees didn’t come for us…"
Morrisa recalled the fight against the Cloud Bees and Angele could see the fear in her eyes.
"They’re terrifying! None of our spells worked! None of them! How is that even possible?! We’re wizards and they’re stronger than us? How?!" She lowered her head and muttered. The lady’s body was trembling.
Morrisa knew the trip would be dangerous when she agreed to be sent to Omandis but the first monster she met had just killed most of the crew. Only several of the wizards survived the attack. She had lived in the peaceful Nola for too long and she found this kind of reality quite difficult to believe.
Morrisa calmed down after several minutes. "Sorry…I’m just…"
"It’s fine." There was a bitter smile on Hikari’s face. "It felt like a dream…but my wounds are still aching.
"Heal yourselves and have some rest. I still have something to do. The good thing is the airships are still operating like usual and we’re still on the correct route." Angele nodded. "Alright, Reyline is still resting in the room I think. Go check on him after you feel better."
Hikari and Morrisa struggled for a while and returned to their own rooms.
Angele walked to the staircase and returned to the deck. He decided to double-check the dead bees.
He found several more frozen wizards but that was it. The others were all captured or killed by the Cloud Bees.
Angele checked the other two airships as well, but he did not find anyone. The third airship was straying from the right route due to the impact of the battle. He returned to the first airship after modifying the speed and direction of the third airship.