Jake checked the status of the bees, and he confirmed that they were the same monsters he had fought in the tutorial. However, their level was the half of the Walking Beehive. It seemed like a good chance to gain some coins at an incredibly fast pace, but when three of those bees and he split them in half with a single swing… he didn't get a single coin.
"I suppose they aren't the same as ordinary monsters…" Jake furrowed his eyebrows.
Even if they weren't as strong as the real ones, since they got split in half so easily, they still could work as a target for Jake's Flames of Wrath. After he summoned an arrow made of dark flames, as one would expect, the flames easily killed the monsters. So, Jake dashed toward the main monster…
The walking beehive summoned other bees, but they didn't stop Jake, so when he got close enough, the monster made fired several Poisonous Arrows. Jake dodged to the side with a single leap and then dashed toward the monster once more, but this time the creature fired a gush of wind that forced him to stop. Slowly but surely, the monster was also moving away from Jake.
"It has zero close-combat abilities…" Jake nodded to himself.
Since that was the case, things would be simple. The only problem was how to avoid that gust of wind. Jake wouldn't have any problems finishing the creature when he gets close once that is done. Jake dashed toward the monster again and blocked the arrows when the enemy fired them. At the last moment, he used Sonic Punch to approach much faster than before and then swung down his freezing longsword. Jake felt some resistance since he didn't use any skill, but before the monster could react, he pierced it with his arrow of dark flames.
You obtained 22 coins.
"Wow… a pretty large amount for an easy enemy," Jake nodded to himself in satisfaction.
At first, Jake thought he would gain coins pretty easily, but since he was alone, the monsters were finding him one at a time. He will have to get close to the dungeon to get the real bonus of working alone. However, that won't be easy since the walking beehives could summon many bees…
"It doesn't seem like I can find honey inside it… what a useless beehive," Jake frowned.
Now that Jake thought about it, it would be weird if the monster could do such a thing as store honey inside its body. Nevertheless, perhaps for the sake of time, Jake should only get close enough to finish them off with Flames of Wrath. Otherwise, the mission might take too long now that he has to clear the dungeon by himself.
"The vegetation in this area is also pretty dense, but it can't be compared to the territory of the Anacondas…" Jake said while looking around and noticing that the grass was only knee-deep.
Now that Jake was alone and the monsters of that mission weren't that troublesome, he had the chance to experiment with many things. Still, before doing that, he needed to reach the dungeon and then use the shop.
"The monsters are concentrated in Northeast, so I guess the dungeon must be in that direction…" Jake nodded to himself and then dashed toward it. "Let's focus on speed and make as many of them as possible try to chase me."
Things went exactly as Jake had planned. When he passed by some walking beehives, they weren't fast enough to chase him. So, they send their bees. Even most of them weren't fast enough to reach, but those which did it were blocked by a small wall of dark flames. When the bees passed by those, they burned so easily that even Jake frowned.
"With my current strength, one-on-one fights against monsters of this level are nothing," Jake said.
At some point, Jake stopped since even though he left dozens of monsters several kilometers behind, he still could see them chasing him. At that point in time, he realized that despite their random behavior, the spawned monsters' goal truly was to prevent people from reaching the dungeons. Why? Why does the crystal inside the dungeons also have some sort of barrier? Those were the two of the questions Jake needed answers for…
In the end, Jake was forced to stop because too many monsters were blocking his path, and he could see a mountain a few kilometers ahead. It certainly was the place where he would find the dungeon, so he stopped to face the monsters.
"All right, buff me now… Lana…" Jake said and then face palmed. "For me of all people say such a thing and right at this moment."
Jake lost all his focus after doing something so embarrassing. He got too used to fighting with those three… Nevertheless, he was forced to regain his focus when he saw hundreds of giant bees flying toward him. Swinging his sword around wouldn't solve anything. Even if he uses Cyclone Strike dozens of times, he doubted that he could take down so many bees. So, in the end, Jake decided to improvise with his dark flames.
Jake split the dark flames into three spheres and made them spin around him at fearsome speeds. When the first group of bees got close enough, the spheres touched them and immediately turned the touched parts into ashes. The rest of their bodies fell around Jake, but he didn't bother to check them if they were dead or not. Instead of that, he aimed his sword toward the walking beehives that were approaching.
Those monsters tried to hit Jake with their Poisonous Arrows, but he blocked their attacks with his claw shield. Without wasting time or giving them the chance to fire more projectiles, Jake used Mana Blades to split the monsters in two. While a single attack wasn't enough to kill them, two were. In the blink of an eye, he ran out of mana, but it was fine since during that time, his dark flames decimated hundreds of giant bees… now it was time to for a good old close-ranged combat.