It took them nearly to evening before they were ready to get going. Rather than start the entire battle at night, the group chose to pull back a little and rest. The evening was spent cultivating, drawing in energy to top up before they headed for the teleportation gate and the wasp bosses.
Split into three groups, the team slowly pulled forward to the edges of the clearing. Yao Jing, Rick, and Jan were with him as one group, Casey and Lam with Mel were another group, and his pair of seniors in the final group. His team was slightly oversized, mostly because they were meant to start the battle. More importantly, Arthur was meant to keep his own attacks contained until the big boss arrived. His Refined Exploding Dart was the most likely to damage, and certainly anger, the damn boss.
Crouched in the brush, just outside of view of the teleportation gate and the hornets waiting for them, Arthur was pulling energy into a Refined Energy Dart. He wasn't going to go with his more damaging attack right now, not with the possibility of angering the other hornets behind them in the nest.
The others were readying themselves, Yao Jing ready to use his spear, Rick with his pistols out and the shotgun loaded and by his side. Jan wasn't ready to start spinning her stone yet, needing enough space to do so.
"How long?" Arthur asked, softly.
"About ten minutes."
"Then it's time," Arthur said. "On three."
He counted them down, Jan stepping aside and beginning the spin of her sling as he started. He stepped forward on the last, pushing through the foliage. The low drone of beating wings sped up, shifted as the wasps noticed him. Arthur didn't give them time to react, releasing the Refined Energy Dart immediately.
He watched it shoot forward, striking the closest wasp on its yellow striped body. It tore through the cylindrical bottom, ripping a hole and causing it to jerk about in pain, twisting its body and leaving its stinger half-attached, blood falling to the ground and spraying the stones.
The other wasps were turning too, only for the bark of pistols firing to interrupt them. One after the other, the bullets entered their bodies, soft-shell bullets piercing through and mushrooming so that the exit was much larger. Using two hands, firing one after the other at the creatures still caught by surprise, Rick had no problem tagging them with the majority of his shots. His targets dropped, leaving five, moments before an exploding fire stone struck.
That creature flew backwards, wings buzzing, flames and shrapnel tearing through the air. It struggled for a moment, one of its wings torn and shredded, licks of flame dancing along its body before darting forward.
Now they were coming for them, so Yao Jing stepped in to strike the first to arrive.
A sudden movement saw the first hornet rise, dodging the spear for the most part, scraping its underside. The man shortened the spear, trying to keep up, but the hornet was faster, darting in close and curling up its body to launch its stinger. Yao Jing flinched, managed to strike it with the haft long enough to avoid the attack before he snarled. “Enough!”
Dropping the weapon, he switched to his preference, hands clenched tight as he threw a series of jabs and crosses at the flying monster, the pair dancing as twisted, colored light formed around Yao Jing’s fists and body.
Then Arthur no longer had time to worry about anyone else. His attention was drawn to the two wasps coming after him, two more than he should have to deal with. He stepped back, dodged the buzzing of the first, while he beat to the side with his spear the injured wasp whose half-attached stinger. The creature flinched, twisting sideways and in pain as skin tore.
By this point, the second wasp had come in, higher than the first. It dropped low, darting forwards. No time to dodge, so Arthur hunched up, taking the attack on his armour, watching it bounce off the side of his arm as stinger met good hardened leather. The creature didn't stop with just one attack though, retreating and striking a second, a third time before Arthur managed to retreat and a spear pushed the monster away as Jan came to save him.
Rick was dealing with his own problems, the now fast-moving remaining wasp not willing to stick around for him to hit it. He had to be careful too, knowing that there were others in the background, emerging from around the clearing. Couldn't afford to shoot downwards, not if he didn't want to risk hitting them. Thankfully, the Tower-enhanced and monsterized wasp or not was not smart enough to plot all that out.
At the same time, the nest was buzzing and bulging. The hardened spit and clay and twigs that made up the nest was stretching, bursting apart as wasps crept outwards, taking to the air. The first to manage its way out caught a glowing blue arrow in the side, tearing through its body and pulling it away. Other attacks landed moments later, a large burst of yellow power catching another creature in the way and sending it tumbling to the ground.
Relieved of his own battle, Arthur struck at the wasp he had been fighting, pushing it back. It retreated high, dodging out of the way of his spear strikes, forcing him to pay attention to not only the creature above and the nest but also the formation of a large, expansive Refined Exploding Energy Dart.
He still remembered his goal, he knew he'd need to unleash it when the time came. Now, if he could just get some time to pay attention...
"Die, die, die!" Jan was chanting, swinging her spear around, trying to get to the damn wasp that had escaped her attention. She jumped a little, only for the creature to dart away and then, as her spear retracted, darted forward. It caught her arm, stinger tearing long furrows as she jerked away, blood welling up and the woman cursing as she struggled to keep grip.
"Got you!" Rick snarled, kicking the monster that landed beside him, one side torn up badly from a shot that managed to land. The body was sent tumbling away and he led its movements with more shots, tearing its body up as it twisted and tumbled aside. The man stepped back, sliding a gun back into its holster as he cried out. "Reloading!"
Arthur grunted, ignoring the fight, ignoring the cry. More attacks were landing from the other side, shadowy tendrils having gripped one wasp as it emerged and were in the process of playing a deadly and cruel game children all took part in in Malaysia. Pulling wings off the body, plucking them to make sure their victim could never fly again.
A twisted, cruel game against a most hated enemy. Wings, delicate and large, tore as they were pulled from the body, the creature falling to the ground, injured. Another, hurt, crawled along the ground, heading for the new groups of attackers. Eric, crouched low, spear aimed.
Waiting.
More creatures emerged. A flash of red, not the yellow and black of the other wasps. A decision reached faster than he could think, Arthur loosed the gathered Refined Exploding Energy Dart as the mini-boss variant made its way out. Not the actual thing, not at all, but the attack still struck and exploded. The maelstrom of energy it released caught another wasp on the way out, threw it against the nest that had its main exit widened further, even as insect bodies were cast aside.
"Bodoh!" Rick shouted, finishing with his reloading. He looked up, aimed at the creature buzzing around Arthur's head. Hesitated. "Shit, they're regenerating!"
Then Arthur looked up, realised the man was right. The one that had its stinger almost torn off was no longer bleeding. Long scar tissue had formed at the edges, its movements no longer as erratic from pain. It sought blood, only to get caught in the side by the fusillade thrown by the gunfighter.
It did nothing for those creatures that weren't entirely dead, many just gravely injured. Some were seeming to come back to life from the dead, though Arthur assumed it was a last-minute effort at regenerating the damage before things came to an end. More wasps poured out of the enlarged main entrance, the red mini-boss coming up as well, injured and its stinger entirely torn off but alive. Alive and angry.
Instead of six that began, now there were at least a dozen on the ground, littered around the clearing, coming in trying to strike one another. A triumphant cry saw another down, Yao Jing’s fist sending shockwaves through the clearing.
Only for a pause in exits, as something larger and nastier tried to emerge.
The final boss. At last.
And no one ready to pick it up.