Chapter 19- Flight

Today, Simon was exploring and completing his [Mental Map] of the north side of the forest. He discovered a pond filled with hordes of monsters of varying races coming near to drink water. There were even races that he had not seen before like the blue-spotted Bucklion, with a deer head and a lion's body.

He was tempted to lure this horde into his dungeon but he quickly shook his head and discarded the idea.

"Today I'm here to explore and complete my [Mental Map] and not to hunt. I shouldn't get sidetracked."  he mumbled to himself, emphasizing the need to stay focused. "must not get sidetracked."

Although earning DP was important, but so was gathering information about his surroundings. Now that he had set up his dungeon here, the forest had basically become his home. He needed to know everything about it.

Clearing his mind, Simon continued his exploration of the forest and after a couple of hours, he found a grove of towering trees hundreds of meters in height.

What caught his attention was the gigantic honeycombs on top of those tall trees. It's not like Simon had never seen honeycombs in his previous life but the ones before him were humungous. Each of the hexagonal cells could easily allow a full-grown adult to pass through. A sweet scent permeated the air stimulating his appetite

Without thinking much and mostly due to his curiosity, he involuntarily approached closer to the honeycombs.

And at that moment, like a bad omen, the air started to vibrate and high-pitched buzzing noises could be heard coming out of the honeycombs all around.

What came out of those combs could only be called the monster size variation of the bees on Earth. These creatures had four compound eyes and four wings made of keratin. The sound of its buzzing wings generated strong gusts of wind around them.

Analysis displayed their race:- Killer Worker Bee, level:- 87

Simon didn't have the time to pay attention to the result of the Analysis as he immediately turned around and fled.

Why was he fleeing? That was of course because of the large swarms of killer worker bees that came out of the combs and instantly fixed their compound gaze on him.

One did not have to think hard to know what would happen when these monstrosities numbering in the hundreds took to the air.

Space distorted due to the intense flapping of their wings and loud buzzing noises coalesced together creating a terrible symphony.

He looked behind him to see a large patch of what looked like clouds made of hundreds of bees appear behind him painting a dreadful scene.

"%$&*..%$&*..%$&*."

He incessantly cursed in his mind. Individually these bees weren't a threat, but their strength lay in their numbers. Whenever any intruder appeared near their nest, they would swarm them with their absolute numbers.

Many shrivelled corpses were lying around the ground, their life force sucked out by the bees. This time Simon had dug his own grave. 

"%$&*.."

Simon worked his legs to their limits hoping to try to outrun them. But this turned out to be a futile effort because they were flying on their wings and he was running on foot trying to outrun them was foolish.

As he ran, he realized he had unwittingly ventured deep into the forest, with the bees relentlessly pursuing him. However, their chase abruptly ceased after a while, and they retreated to their territory.

Simon felt quite relieved after seeing them retreat. He stopped in his tracks and drew hurried breaths. He didn't know why they stopped chasing him, but he was honestly very thankful for it.

After stabilizing his breathing he scanned his surrounding for a while. The area was eerily silent and not a presence of monsters could be felt till miles. This discovery made him alert and he immediately raised his guard.

"The bees must have retreated for some reason. This place is giving me the creeps, I should get out of here as fast as possible."

When he was just about to retreat, from the corner of his eyes he saw a tall peak thousands of meters in height. Simon finally knew the reason why the bees retreated as if in a hurry