Sting Operation

Clint followed the instructions to look at his inventory, seeing the new purchased grenade launcher inside. He was able to take it out by tapping on it, feeling the weight in his hands. It was very similar to those created by military manufacturers, but had its own flair. He was familiar with the loading system, and inspected it several times.

Whilst it looked like a normal weapon, it had been created out of thin air, and had some kind of extra attachments.

[Uncommon Double Barreled Grenade Launcher]. 2900 Dos.

+4 Strength

35.0 - 40.0 Physical Damage. 15.0 - 30.0 Fire Damage.

A firearm capable of firing grenades in an arc towards the target or location. Features two barrels.

Double Barreled: Fires two grenades at once.

The squad had been given plenty of Dos to explore the inside of the dungeon, so he was able to afford a weapon that was out of reach to those confined within the starting amount. With such a stupidly high price tag, it was no wonder they weren't being mass-bought. The price of was equal to almost two million dollars. He hefted the beast of a weapon onto his shoulder and started to formulate a plan.

The boss needed to die for them to escape, and to do so would require them to either be hiding from it, or be able to dodge it. No one in the shelter was able to dodge the wasp's speed, so something was needed to trap it, long enough that they could pump it full of bullets.

The image of the wasp flying off with the hatch still attached was fresh in Clint's mind and gave him ideas as to how he could keep it preoccupied.

----

Whilst the worlds leading military power was clearing their first dungeon, Dustin was sitting on a couch with his legs up on the arm rest. His mana was still drained from overcasting, leaving him weakened for at least a couple of days. His fingers skillfully danced across the display, finishing his level ups, reading through more of Ymma's diary, and looking through some of the new sales that had made their way to the front page.

Dustin was now level 14, high enough that no other human on the planet could really compare with him in raw attributes.

Pioneer: Dusty

Race: Human

Designation: XQB51

Level: 14

Attributes:

Intelligence 60 [4]

Strength 30

Agility 30 [2]

Wisdom 35 [1]

Charisma 35

Constitution 31 [3]

An intelligence of 60 at such an early stage was a good sign of his progression. His spells would likely disintegrate anything up to the boss monsters once the difficulty was lowered, giving him time to clear the dungeons around him and keep the area safe.

There was less than a month before the patch kicked in, and then an extended period of grinding through dungeons, up to the point of them breaking. Dustin was hoping to form some kind of stronghold against the tide, providing safety within its walls.

To do so, he was going to have to speed up the process by which humans entered the dungeons. If things went the same way as they had done in the past, and the military took control of the dungeons, it would only spell devastation for the under leveled populace that were unaware of the danger they faced.

There was one piece of news that Dustin took a keen interest in. It seemed that a leak had spread from America that they were attempting to conquer a dungeon, unbeknownst to the rest of the world. There were pictures taken of soldiers disappearing as they entered a public bathroom.

This was interesting, as the time frame for progression had already been pushed forward. Dustin could remember a similar case of military operation leaks taking place, only in the time just before the patch. He could only wonder if this was going to effect its implementation.

There was nothing Dustin could do about it but wait. There was still time to find another dungeon. If he wanted to get the Blood Ape Chieftain's heart, he would need clear Eclipse forest before it changed. There was no telling where it might end up, or what item he might have to collect in its place.

He could pass through Eclipse Forest at level 18, though it would be a more comfortable journey at level 20. It wasn't impossible to gain four levels from a single dungeon, provided he could sniff one out. Dustin failed to recall anymore of the missing peoples names. He now had to rely on luck and research to locate further entrances.

Still, it wasn't like he had nothing to go off. He tapped on a contact in his friends list, and sent off a message asking for details. The recipient was none other than James, who he had not contacted since exiting the dungeon.

There had been no breaking news story revealing his identity, so the contract between them still existed, giving Dustin some much needed relief. The next part of the transaction was James' reward for saving them. The longer the ant eggs stayed in his inventory, the less chance they had at hatching.

He didn't have any particular care for the insects, but his conscience was weighing heavily on him each time Lei-Lei looked at him disapprovingly. He could at least agree that it was a waste to let them die, as having ant companions, or whatever he might be able to harvest from them when they hatched, would make up for the secret.

Right now they were just prolonging his recovery, as the blocked mana was making it harder for the mana drain to repair.

------------

The squad of soldiers waited with bated breaths for the droning sound to return. The gigantic wasp seemed to circle the island every couple of hours, followed by the swarming clouds of insects. Clint had one of his men test the new spell that had decimated the bugs last time, proving its effectiveness.

The icy mist that sprayed from his mouth had easily frozen the various insects, sending them plummeting to the ground.

Clint had two of the other soldiers purchase the spell, giving them three men to handle the smaller insects, whilst the rest dealt with the biggest target. Clint and the others had leveled once or twice, and their attributes were put into constitution, giving them a better chance of escaping alive.

A buzzing sound was carried on the wind as Clint put a finger to his lips, quieting the chatting soldiers. Above them, dark clouds started to loom on the horizon, forming a perfect circle around the object hidden in the centre. Clint was hiding beneath one of the intact hatches, holding his trusty new grenade launcher.

The wheat fields swayed peacefully in the wind, unaware of the brewing battle.

One of the soldiers had volunteered to be bait, spending his points on agility to help dodge the sudden missile. When the noise of the insects was right above them, the man stood up, and Clint held his shiny weapon tightly.

The bugs split apart, revealing something yellow and black inside. The man quickly ducked, dodging the giant stinger with more confidence.

"Fire!" Clint shouted, jumping out of the hatch. The wasp was wiggling angry, attempting to free its engorged bottom from the thin hole. A spray of bullets rang out as the other squad members followed Clint's lead, and opened fire on the trapped wasp.

Red blotches covered its yellow fur, riddling the thin skin with small bullet holes.

[Mutant Wasp]

[11,089/13,100]

There was no doubt that the lead being pounded into it was dealing a significant amount of damage, but it paled in comparison to the boss' size and health pool.

Clint didn't hesitate to let loose a couple of grenades, rocketing dust in all directions as the small green explosives blew up. A cloud of smoke rose into the sky, hiding the wasp from view.

The soldiers had been trained well, and kept firing towards the vague shadow of the wasp. The display clearly indicated that the wasp was still alive, but growing more injured by the second.

When the smoke cleared, it had lost a leg, leaving a nasty gash in its place where yellow liquid seeped out, burning the ground where it fell. The wasp had managed to dislodge itself from the ground and was now brimming with anger.

Clint was fortunate enough to dive back down as the wasp exploded forth, hammering its freed stinger into the nearest target. A poor machine-gunner was impaled through abdomen, and venom trickled into his system.

Even the increase in constitution couldn't save him, and his health was rapidly approaching zero. He was dying, but managed to keep firing even as the blood soaked his hands. Clint took a more conservative approach to maintaining fire, only revealing the top half of his body from the hatch in order to escape the lightning fast stinger.

The soldiers were running out of ammunition as they hurried to load a new clip, popping back up like moles to unleash hell on the boss. A missile was launched at the it, but missed by a fraction as it flew up into the air, staring at them menacingly.

Clint had no idea what it had in store, but used the time to keep firing, depleting the store of grenades he had purchased rapidly. As it floated in the air, the wasps stinger begun to vibrate wildly, sending waves of pulsating yellow in a circle around it.

A stream of yellow liquid suddenly shot out from a small hole on its end, hitting a soldier directly in the face. He immediately started to scream as the acidic substance ate away at his skin, melting away the softer parts of his face. Clint grunted in anger and whipped out his pistol, tossing the empty grenade launcher to the side.

They were so close to success, as the wasp was gradually growing weaker, despite the uninhibited bursts of venom that shot out like a fire hose.

[Mutant Wasp]

[2,601/13,100]

It was harder to hit the flying wasp as it maintained a certain distance from them, spraying venom all over the wheat fields whenever a soldier popped into view. Clint cursed his luck as the handgun in his hand was rendered useless by a splash of acid, burning through part of his gloves before he tore them off.

He quickly opened the Dos shop to purchase more grenades as he turned around to pick up his launcher, but found the barrel of it hammering towards his face, knocking him out cold.

The civilian holding it smiled wickedly, and tossed it aside. He gave a quick glance at the patrolling wasp before sneaking over to an unaffected hole.

Anthony was completely calm as he started whispering an unknown language, feeling the shadows around him creeping closer. He was just beneath the hatch that led up, but didn't make any effort to pop it open and jump out until he could feel the wasp hovering above him.

He moved incredibly slowly, whispering all the while. His dirty hands clasped the metal wheel of the hatch and twisted it slowly, ignoring the squeaky sound it made. When he pushed it open and revealed the sunlight above, he was no longer smiling, a blank expression on his face.

His eyes were glassed over by a black sheen, hiding the whites and pupils underneath. His gaze never left the flying wasp as it turned to fire at him.

Before it could shoot another blast, the large shadow underneath it burst upwards, forming a claw shaped hand that sunk its fingers into the wasp. Neither of the wasps wings were strong enough to push against the hand, and it was slowly pulled towards the dirt, pressing it against the ground with force.

Color returned to Anthony's face as he watched the struggling wasp try and free itself from his spell, to no avail. The hand was ethereal, and was unaffected by the wasps physical struggles. The soldiers took no time in doubling their efforts to bring the boss down, firing the last of their clips into its squirming body.

Anthony glared at them, and with the last of his mana, coalesced a ball of shadow energy above the wasp. When it grew to the size of a watermelon, he let it go, watching as it was absorbed into the wasp's head.

With a final screech, the wasp stopped struggling, falling limp under the shimmering hand that strangled it.

[Flitting Fields completed, please choose two rewards.]

- Uncommon Venomous Stinger Spear

- Uncommon Honey Trap

- 1x Harden Potion

- 1x Polymorph Scroll

- Spell: Twisted Advance

The soldiers scrambled to find the unconscious captain as Anthony slinked away with the rewards, intent of sucking all of the experience he could from the dungeon.

Anthony hummed to himself as he waltzed through the field towards the approaching swarms. He calmly tapped on each of the rewards for an explanation of their purpose. He chose the two that worked well together, the spear, and the spell.

It was all his for the taking.

[Uncommon Venomous Stinger Spear]

75/75 Durability

12.0 - 18.0 Physical Damage.

+3 Agility

+2 Charisma

A spear made from the stinger of a mutant wasp. It is covered in a fine sheen of foul liquid.

Venomous: Attacks from this weapon will slow targets action speed by 1%, stacking up to 20%.

[Spell: Twisted Advance]

Weapon Mastery

Advance towards a target, gaining 30% increased movement speed when facing them. Spinning the spear will allow it to drill into target.

Use: 35 Mana.