Chương 95: Treasure Trial

Congratulations competitor. You have entered a tier 4 treasure trial - The Hive of the Abominable Queen Bee. Within the queen's hive are hidden four golden bee eggs. If any of these eggs hatch, a new queen will be born and a new hive will emerge in the multiverse. Your challenge, should you choose to accept, is to capture or destroy all four eggs (Tier 4 - 600 points) and then face down the queen herself and remove her hive from the multiverse.

If you kill the queen, you will be awarded one tier two treasure worth 800 points, plus a bonus of 1000 points for completing the trial. You have ten seconds to decide whether to continue entry or abandon this trial. Abandoning will lock you out of all trials for five hours. Do you accept… Y/N Joe clicked Yes. The cloud around him dissolved, and in the blink of an eye, he stood inside the honeycomb of the queen bee's hive. His stomach lurched as the overwhelming smell of honey hit him like a wall.

His nostrils burned, his eyes watered, and for a moment he nearly gagged. It took him close to a minute to get his senses under control. The instant he did, instinct saved him. He ducked as a massive stinger drove toward his head, grazing the air where his skull had been. The deep hum of beating wings filled the chamber as a giant bee swooped at him again. This time, he caught the stinger in one hand, mana surging down his arm.

The Bee exploded in a shower of ichor, its wings twitching one last time before its broken body crumpled to the floor. Joe took a breath, centring himself. The cloying sweetness of honey still pressed against his senses, but now he had reigned it in. Beneath the sticky hum, he caught the distant drone of wings, dozens, maybe hundreds, closing fast. Naturally, he did what he did best. He ran, darting deeper into the honeycomb tunnels in search of the golden eggs.

He wasn't sure how much time had passed, an hour, perhaps, when he felt a different presence. A strong Aura, close, and definitely not a bee. One of the competitors who had followed him into the trial. Joe's lips curved into a smile. He vanished, bursting out of a wall of honeycomb to the left of the Aura. The cloaked figure stood waiting, reacting instantly as a shimmering barrier flared into existence between them. Joe swung Jingu Bang down in a single smooth motion.

At the first touch, the barrier shattered like glass. The staff flowed through, cracking into the figure's arm with a sound that made Joe wince. He spun, his heel slamming into its cowled face, and the figure crumpled, nose crushed and body broken. Joe caught the unconscious figure before it hit the sticky ground and laid it down gently. A notification flashed before his eyes. The opponent is unconscious. Would you like to take all treasures and points?

Joe laughed as he robbed the strange-looking figure of everything. Ten points and a small wooden box, hardly impressive, but points were points. He dashed off, grinning to himself. Maybe running first had been the smarter choice after all. If he let others gather treasures and then picked them off, he might rack up a mountain of points without even hunting for the golden eggs. Still… where was the fun in that? His first real challenge came about thirty minutes later, when he stumbled across one of the queen's eggs.

Unfortunately, he wasn't the only one to find it. A pair of fur-covered competitors arrived at the same moment, and they wasted no time. Flames roared from both, slamming into Joe and hurling him against a wall of honeycomb. A sickening squelch followed as sticky honey splattered everywhere. He swore as the thick sweetness tried to trap him, but his Mana Stream rippled, redirecting the honey and keeping him from being glued in place.

Freeing himself with a burst of strength, he brought Jingu Bang up just in time to block a fire-coated blade swinging for his skull. The staff thrummed as it collided with the weapon, and the sheer force sent the furred attacker skidding backwards. Joe surged forward, flipping through the air before his heel smashed into the side of the furred being. But instead of bone and muscle, his foot passed through an airy mass, throwing off his balance and sending him tumbling into yet another puddle of honey.

"Dammit," he growled, bouncing back to his feet. He squinted at the mound of shifting fur. No limbs, no clear form, just a floating mess. What the hell even was it? With no clear target to hit, he switched tactics, blasting it with mana. The bundle of fur swayed aside, retaliating with another wave of fire. Joe didn't bother dodging. His Mana Stream absorbed the flames and redirected them harmlessly away.

Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted the second furred mass of hair locked in a brawl with the swarm of bees guarding the egg.

"Oh no you don't." Joe clenched his fist. Seeds burst from the ground, sprouting into thick vines that lashed at the furry mass, tangling and swiping as the bees tore into it. The distraction worked, but the second furball leapt on him, tendrils of fur whipping around to pin him down. The strands met a bubbling layer of mana instead, sliding uselessly off him. Joe pulsed outward, sending a shockwave of mana that hurled the fur bundle back with a shriek. This time, as the mess reeled, he saw it…

a shadow, a body hidden within the writhing coat of fur. With a snap of his arm, Joe reached in and seized hold of the form buried inside.

"Gotcha, you sneaky little thing," Joe growled, tightening his grip and preparing to slam the furball down.

"Let go of me, you monster!" a feminine voice cried out. Joe ignored the plea and drove her into the ground with a bone-jarring crunch. The honeycomb beneath them shattered and squelched, sticky sweetness splattering everywhere as she screamed in agony. The second furred ball roared, charging at him in blind fury. Joe didn't even glance at it. He slammed the one in his hands down again, holding her pinned until the [Opponent Unconscious] notification flashed across his vision.

He stripped her of her treasure and points, just ten, before tossing her limp body aside and blasting a surge of mana toward the one still screaming at him. The second furred figure was thrown back, crashing into the swarm of bees rushing in from behind. Joe seized the opening, Space-Jumping directly to the egg. That was a mistake. The instant he appeared, a trap snapped shut around him. Honey solidified like amber, encasing him in a prison that locked every muscle in place.

He gritted his teeth and strained, body creaking under the pressure. His Mana Stream pulsed, intellect-fueled strength wrapping around him in a whirling sash of power. The sticky amber cracked… then shattered in an explosion of shards as he broke free and clutched the egg to his chest. The hive erupted. Every bee in the chamber turned crimson with rage, their wings buzzing with murderous fury as they swarmed him in a storm of stingers.

"Let's go!" Joe roared, unleashing Aura Shout as Jingu Bang whirled in sweeping arcs, each strike pulverizing five bees at once. But no matter how many he killed, more came. A river of bodies poured in without end, and the air turned black with wings. Joe blasted a wide swath clear, scorching a path through the swarm, and bolted for the exit. Hundreds of frenzied bees shrieked in pursuit, abandoning the two fallen furred competitors to their fates. Two exhausting hours later, Joe claimed his third egg.

As his hand closed around it, the air trembled and a new notification burned before his eyes: All four eggs have been collected, the queen rages. She demands the return of her eggs. All trial contestants who do not possess an egg have been removed. Those left, make your way to the queen's chamber and face her wrath. As Joe stepped into the queen's chamber, his eyes locked on the last remaining competitor.

Bas Horo stood on the far side, a golden egg tucked under one massive arm, glaring at him with fire in his gaze. Why did so many people look at him that way? As if he were some monster that had crawled out of their worst nightmares? The hatred was always there, too irrational.

"Hey, Bas!" Joe called, raising a hand in a casual wave.

"You wouldn't be willing to hand over that egg, would you?"

"Are you a fool?" Bas roared, his voice shaking the chamber.

"Not really, I was just trying to distract you," Joe smiled, snapping his fingers as the seeds he planted earlier burst to life. Vines erupted beneath Bas's feet, snaring his legs and rooting him in place as Joe advanced into the chamber. As his foot crossed the threshold, the hive reacted. The entire room lurched violently, tilting sideways. Honeycombs tore loose, and rivers of golden honey cascaded across the walls. Joe rolled through the air, twisting until his feet landed firmly on what was now the new floor.

Bas moved, activating a movement skill to dash forward. The vines clung stubbornly to his legs, so his empowered charge ripped a massive chasm across the chamber wall and floor, honeycomb exploding outward in a spray of molten gold. In the blink of an eye, Bas was before him, a colossal fist arcing toward Joe's chest. Joe raised an arm, absorbing the blow with a grunt as he was blasted back into a wall of honeycomb. Joe's defences flared, holding firm, and he rebounded with a swift push, launching himself forward.

Bas ignored him for a moment, tearing furiously at the vines still wrapped around his legs. Joe seized the seeming lapse in concentration, twisting midair with a spinning kick. But Bas summoned a pillar of hardened honeycomb from the ground to shield himself. Joe's strike smashed into it, cracking the structure but failing to break through, as the beastman finally freed himself. Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"Now, Feormere," Bas bellowed, his voice echoing with bloodlust.

"The bounty is mine!" He lunged, massive hands clamping down on Joe's shoulders. Joe tried to glide away, but the air itself thickened. Bas had manipulated the surrounding mana, slowing his dodge just enough for the grip to land. Big mistake. Joe's Mana Stream surged, purple fire bubbling around his shoulders. It coiled up Bas's arms, searing into his skin with a hiss. Bas roared in pain and disengaged, vanishing in a blur before slamming bodily into a wall.

The chamber lurched again, the ceiling flipping beneath their feet to become the floor. Joe flipped through the air as honey sprayed outward, soaking everything in sticky gold. The thunder of buzzing wings filled the chamber just as he landed in a wet splash. From the wall ahead, the Queen Bee erupted, her massive form tearing through the hive's structure. A tidal wave of boiling honey surged toward both him and Bas.

Joe flung out his hands, mana arcing around him in a protective shell as the molten liquid crashed over him and drained harmlessly away. Across the chamber, Bas ripped himself from the wall and conjured a cocoon of earthen stone, an armoured egg that deflected the wave as it smashed past, and he climbed one of the slanted walls. But the torrent shifted, rushing back again just as the Queen's stinger lunged through Joe's mana and nearly skewered him.

He bent backwards, narrowly avoiding the strike as the wall behind him split open under the weight of honey. The Queen was enraged, and Joe realized why. He had three of her eggs in his ring. Tempting fate, he Space-Jumped beside Bas, dragging the Queen's attention toward them both. She thundered down, but Bas was ready. He slammed a hand to the ground, and a honeycombed golem erupted before them, meeting the Queen head-on with primal fury. Bas tried to seize the moment, his fist streaking toward Joe's chest.

But Joe twisted and countered with a snap kick that cracked against Bas's torso. It felt like striking stone. He glanced down and grimaced. Bas had activated another defensive skill; his chest was coated in a strange alloy of rock and metal that shimmered faintly with mana.

"Dammit, stop doing that!" Joe barked, ducking as a spike burst from the wall behind him. Bas only laughed, a booming sound that shook the honeycomb. His eyes glowed with battle fervour, and Joe's senses screamed a warning. He shifted back just in time as the Queen's stinger slammed into the floor. Now it was chaos, Beastman and Queen both on him at once, two versus one, and his offensive options limited inside the narrow hive tunnels.

Thinking fast, Joe planted seeds, and crops of pumpkins and cucumbers exploded from the floor in tangled vines. Bas blinked, momentarily confused by the absurd sight.

"Bet you've never seen this!" Joe taunted, flicking his wrist as purple mana glittered across the chamber. Bas's eyes widened in alarm. He blurred toward the exit, activating a movement skill in panic. But Joe had baited him perfectly; he Space-Jumped ahead, intercepting Bas's path and seizing his leg mid-dash. The ground rumbled as two massive pumpkins blasted upward, splattering into Bas with a wet crunch and dousing him in rancid-smelling orange pulp.

Bas gagged and staggered to one knee, retching, but even then, two stone pillars burst from the ground, intercepting Joe's strike. Joe's frustration peaked; the guys' defences seemed endless. Scowling, he turned back to face the charging Queen Bee, her stinger poised to pierce him once more. Joe unleashed himself on the Queen Bee, hurling Mana Blasts and Mana Waves like candy scattered across a festival. The chamber grew suffocating, thick with honey and surging mana as the Queen roared her fury.

But no matter how fast she struck, Joe stayed a step ahead. His fists and feet hammered into her armoured body, each blow spilling blood that bled into the golden honey, staining it crimson. With the grace of Flying Falcon, he glided, spun, and struck with surgical precision until the massive bee was driven back, pinned against one corner of the hive. Then Bas reappeared, recovered and raging. Instead of going for Joe, he aimed straight at the Queen, desperate to steal the kill.

Snarling, Joe shifted, deflecting projectiles meant for her while still battering her down. He snapped his fingers, and a wall of vines erupted, cutting the chamber in two and shielding the Queen from Bas's sight. Joe lunged, ready to end it, but the hive itself betrayed them. A deafening crack split the chamber in half, honeycomb rupturing as the floor gave way. The world shook as everything collapsed into the depths below. Joe vanished, reappearing and latching onto one of the Queen's legs.

He clung to her thrashing bulk, forcing streams of mana into her body with sheer force of will. Bas plummeted nearby, face twisted with determination. From his storage, he pulled something absurd, what looked like a rocket launcher wrought from stone… and fired. A massive boulder roared through the air and detonated against the Queen, rocking her enormous body.

"Nooo!" Joe bellowed, unleashing one last Mana Blast toward where he thought her head was. Light and force tore through the chamber, then everything exploded. He was flung head over heels, tumbling into the collapsing hive as darkness swallowed him whole. Congratulations. The Queen has fallen. The Treasure Trial is complete. Joe skidded to a halt on a patch of dirt, suddenly back outside at the base of the mountain. He spun in place, scanning the barren slopes, nothing but rocks, grass, and silence.

No Queen's corpse. No Bas.

"Dammit, what happened?" he exclaimed, glaring up at the sky as if the answer might be written there. A notification flashed across his vision: Tier 4 Treasure Trial - The Hive of the abominable Queen Bee complete. You claimed three Queen Eggs: +1800 points. You cleared the Trial: +1000 points. Joe swore under his breath. The Queen's death hadn't been credited to him; Bas had stolen the final blow. His total sat at 2, 860 points.

Pulling up the leaderboard, he scanned the standings: Feormere - 2860 Bas Horo - 2400 Melvo Kar - 1000 Druss Valoo - 960 Gold D Roger - 950 At least he was first now. But Bas breathing down his neck was a problem. Snapping his map open, he marked a route northeast toward the next mountain. The rest of the first day passed in a blur.

The first three mountains were cleared in short order, and the names at the top of the leaderboard shifted constantly as stronger competitors turned the hunt into open warfare, robbing the weaker without mercy. By nightfall, Joe's progress had stalled at 3, 000 points, enough only to keep him clinging to tenth place. When dawn came, the system announced the appearance of fifty new Treasure Trials across the mountainous forests, from Tier 8 down to Tier 3.

Joe was the first to locate a Tier 3 trial, slipping inside its boundaries just as a mob of ten pursuers, each eager for the bounty on his head, closed in on him.

"Well, ain't this something," Joe muttered, gawking at the giant puzzle wall towering before him. It was covered in hieroglyphic-like carvings that resembled fragments of a poem. The task was simple in theory: decipher the poem and arrange the pieces within two hours to unlock the treasure hidden behind the wall. In practice, it was maddening. This particular trial was cooperative, meaning he wasn't alone. Two competitors stood nearby, exchanging uneasy glances as they watched Joe study the puzzle.

"What do you guys think?" he asked, not taking his eyes off the wall.

"Er…" the female competitor only shrugged, clearly out of her depth.

"Poem is about bird. Bird fly, poem about fly," the second competitor grunted in a gravelly voice.

"A bird?" Joe tilted his head, considering.

"Oh, that might explain this part." He pointed to one of the carvings in the corner: For skies of yonder oceans seek, let flocks a feather nest and sleep.

'Tis but a dream of where they lay, let my keening, open pray. The words blurred in his mind. He wasn't a poet, and he definitely wasn't built for riddles.

"Keening, open pray," the gruff competitor rumbled again.

"Hidden door beside cliff. Second part." He jabbed a finger at what he believed was the starting verse. Joe waved his hands, dragging the panels, shifting the sections so the supposed beginning stood first, followed by the one his partner indicated. They clicked into place with a grinding sound. For a moment, hope flickered, only for nothing to happen.

"There's no light," the female pointed out. A row of unlit torches lined the top of the wall, waiting to flare once the order was correct.

"Drat," Joe sighed.

"Wrong again." Still, he wasn't ready to give up.

"Maybe it should start with one of the verses about birth? That seems logical." He scanned the puzzle, picking out fragments that mentioned beginnings. The wall had nearly a hundred scattered pieces, and after all their efforts, they hadn't slotted even one correctly. A deep gong reverberated across the chamber, followed by the grinding of stone as another group's wall split open. Shouts of triumph echoed from beyond. One of ten Treasures claimed.

"Uuhhh, we speed up. We losing," the gruff-voiced male growled, shoving pieces around in what looked like a random order. Joe stepped back, letting him fiddle while he tried to see the bigger picture, some kind of sequence or pattern they had missed.

"Oh, oh! I can do that! My hands are much faster," the female suddenly shouted, barging the gruff male aside. Her arms blurred, moving at a speed that startled Joe. She rearranged sections in rapid succession, faster than his eyes could track.

"Damn," Joe whispered, impressed despite himself. He quickly shifted focus to the torches overhead. Two suddenly flared to life.

"There! Stop, reset that one… yeah, now the next!" he barked, pointing. The female's arms blurred, her blinding speed resetting the misplaced pieces and moving to another cluster. Another torch lit up, then another. Joe kept calling the signals, she kept shuffling, and together the wall began to glow.

"It's working!" Joe breathed with a giant smile. For ten frantic minutes, they continued like that until the last section locked into place with a resounding click. The wall shuddered, and every torch blazed to life at once. A notification appeared. Congratulations, you can now claim Treasure ten of ten.

"Yes! We did it!" Joe cheered, throwing his hand up.

"High five!" The female blinked at him, then glanced at his hand, then back at him again. Finally, with a tentative grin, she raised her tail and smacked it against his palm.

"Yeah! Good job, team." Joe grinned as the wall split apart with a grinding crack, revealing the treasure chamber beyond. The gruff male started forward, but Joe lifted a hand to stop him.

"Ladies first," he said with a nod toward the female. Her grin turned feral, fangs flashing as she darted through the opening. Joe motioned the gruff male to follow, then stepped inside last. As the tenth team to claim a treasure, you may each take one Tier Three treasure and one Tier Four treasure. Happy hunting. That wasn't a terrible prize, but he couldn't help wondering how many treasures the first five teams had managed to claim.

A glance at the leaderboard showed the top spot sitting at over 8000 points, while he had slipped all the way down to position forty-eight. He shook his head and stepped into the treasure room, selecting two items. His total jumped by 800 and 600 points, respectively, bumping him back up a few spots. A moment later, all three of them were teleported outside as the Trial vanished.

Joe barely had time to orient himself before his Mana Stream flared instinctively, wrapping him in a protective cocoon as twelve attacks detonated against him in a storm of fire. The ground shook beneath the barrage. An ambush had been waiting for him. How they knew exactly where he would appear, he wasn't sure, but he didn't have time to dwell on it. He leapt aside, his foot slamming into an armoured figure and sending it sprawling. Eight competitors surrounded him, closing in with wild abandon.

Joe smiled faintly and shifted into Fated Wings' footwork, weaving through their strikes with effortless grace. Three summoned golems lunged at him, but he shredded through them in seconds, the constructs bursting apart in explosions of mana. Jingu Bang remained untouched in his storage ring. This wasn't a fight that he needed his staff; this was a chance to sharpen his martial skills. To be honest, most of those dogging his every move weren't particularly strong, he thought.

He had already noticed that the names at the top twenty-five spots on the leaderboard were carefully avoiding him. None of them wanted to risk their treasures in a direct confrontation. Five minutes later, Joe stood amid six unconscious bodies and two corpses, steam rising from the scorched earth. He casually stripped the six of their treasures, pocketing the gains before turning away, already heading in search of the next Trial.