Chapter 73: Burn the Entire Nest!

Before Aria could respond, Ethan gave his order through One Mind, One Legion.

"Solar Ray. Fire at will."

Hundreds of Solar Elementals turned toward the enormous colony.

Their golden-red eyes lit up, and the next moment, countless golden beams tore through the cavern.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The first wave of wasps was wiped out almost instantly. The beams continued, striking the nests and killing everything in their path.

Hundreds of wasps fell from the walls and ceiling.

However, the attack had also alerted the entire colony.

The wasps abandoned their work and rushed toward the intruders. More poured out of the enormous nests, quickly filling the air.

Within seconds, the entire cavern was swarming with wasps. The deafening buzzing drowned out every other sound.

Ethan remained calm.

"Keep firing."

The Solar Elementals continued their assault, killing hundreds more. However, the wasps were coming from too many directions. Even as the front ranks were wiped out, more took their place.

Soon, the swarm reached the Solar Elementals.

The wasps struck their dark stone bodies with their stingers, but the attacks couldn’t penetrate their tough defenses.

The wasps kept pouring in, surrounding the Solar Elementals from every direction. Their bodies were covered in flames, and any wasp that got too close to their heads was burned to ashes.

However, the swarm was simply too dense.

The Solar Elementals continued firing their Solar Rays, but with so many wasps filling the air, it became difficult to distinguish enemies from allies. Some beams even struck other Solar Elementals caught in the swarm.

Aria watched the chaotic scene.

"They’re too many! Your summons can’t even see where they’re firing!"

Ethan immediately understood the problem.

"Solar Flare!"

A burst of intense golden light erupted from the Solar Elementals.

The wasps covering their bodies were blinded and lost their grip, falling to the ground alongside the others caught in the light.

Before they could recover, the surrounding shadows moved.

The Shadow Wraiths rushed through the fallen swarm, cutting down the wasps before they could take flight again.

At the same time, the Solar Elementals resumed firing.

Golden beams swept across the cavern, tearing through the incoming swarm.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Ethan watched the battle through One Mind, One Legion.

The Solar Elementals continued attacking the densest groups of wasps, while the Shadow Wraiths dealt with those that slipped through.

The two legions worked together, preventing the swarm from overwhelming their position.

System notifications flooded Ethan’s vision.

[Killed Level 15 Wasp. EXP + 750.]

[Killed Level 16 Wasp. EXP + 800.]

[Killed Level 17 Wasp. EXP + 850.]

[Killed Level 19 Wasp. EXP + 950.]

...

Aria’s eyes widened.

The notifications were appearing so quickly that she could barely keep track of them.

"Whoa! How many have we killed already?"

"Not enough."

Ethan continued watching the battle.

There were still thousands of wasps in the cavern, and the colony showed no signs of running out.

However, he wasn’t interested in wasting time fighting every single one of them.

His objective was deeper inside.

"Clear a path."

The Solar Elementals immediately concentrated their attacks in one direction.

Golden beams tore through the swarm, clearing a route between the enormous nests. The Shadow Wraiths followed, killing the wasps that attempted to block their advance.

Ethan and Aria moved behind the Solar Elementals.

Whenever the wasps gathered in front of them, the Elementals fired another volley, opening the way.

The battle continued as they advanced through the cavern.

Then, through One Mind, One Legion, Ethan noticed something unusual.

The wasps ahead were retreating.

At first, he thought they were fleeing from the slaughter. However, instead of scattering in different directions, they were gathering around an enormous nest at the far end of the cavern.

Ethan slowed down.

"What’s wrong?" Aria asked.

"Something is ahead."

Through the Shadow Wraith, Ethan focused on the enormous nest.

The structure was several times larger than the others, with thick layers of hardened material covering its surface. Hundreds of wasps surrounded it, and even more were crawling across its entrance.

Ethan immediately recognized what it was.

The Wasp Queen’s Nest.

The Wasp Queen was the boss of this dungeon. Although she was responsible for producing the wasps, her combat power wasn’t particularly impressive.

However, reaching her wouldn’t be easy.

Like other boss monsters, the Wasp Queen had a Waykeeper guarding the passage leading to her nest. Anyone who wanted to challenge the boss would have to defeat the Waykeeper first.

Ethan’s eyes narrowed slightly.

The wasps weren’t simply retreating. They were gathering around their queen’s nest.

It seemed the real challenge was about to begin.

A moment later, a system notification appeared before him.

[You have discovered the Wasp Queen’s Nest.]

Almost all the wasps in the cavern were moving toward the same place. The soldiers crowded around the entrance, forming several layers of protection around the Waykeeper and their queen.

If he attacked them directly, his legions would eventually kill them all. However, with so many wasps gathered in one place, even his Solar Elementals would need some time to clear them out.

And the longer the battle lasted, the more time he would waste.

There was another way.

Thinking of this, Ethan opened his inventory and took out the Mana Reservoir.

Aria stared at the object in his hand.

"Eh? What are you taking that out for?"

"Setting a fire."

"...What?"

Ethan ignored her reaction and checked the Mana Reservoir. With the amount of mana stored inside, it would be enough to activate his Divine Flame.

He turned to Aria.

"Wait here. Don’t move until I come back."

Before she could ask another question, Ethan began walking toward the swarm.

The closer he got, the louder the buzzing became. Thousands of wasps crowded around the enormous nest, their wings beating so densely that the air seemed to vibrate. The Waykeeper stood somewhere beyond the swarm, guarding the entrance to the queen.

Ethan stopped at a suitable distance.

He wasn’t interested in getting caught in the middle of that swarm.

Raising the Mana Reservoir, he activated his divine skill.

"Divine Flame."

The flame appeared before Ethan, burning quietly in the air.

Ethan sent the flame into the middle of the swarm.

The moment it touched the wasps, the fire spread rapidly, consuming everything in its path. Within seconds, hundreds of wasps were engulfed in flames, and the fire showed no signs of stopping.

Ethan didn’t stay to admire the result.

He immediately turned around and hurried back toward Aria.

"Let’s go!"

Aria stared past him at the spreading flames.

"Wait! What did you just do?!"

"There’s no time. Move!"

Ethan grabbed her arm and pulled her away from the nest.

"But the fire..."

"It’s not ordinary fire. We need to leave before this place becomes even more troublesome."

That was all the explanation she got.

Ethan pulled Aria back through the passage, returning to the area where they had first entered the dungeon.

Behind them, the Divine Flame continued spreading through the swarm.

System notifications flooded Ethan’s vision as one wasp after another died in the flames.

[Killed Level 15 Wasp. EXP + 750.]

[Killed Level 15 Wasp. EXP + 750.]

[Killed Level 16 Wasp. EXP + 800.]

...

By the time Ethan and Aria returned to the entrance area, the notifications were still appearing.

Then, two new notifications caught Ethan’s attention.

[Waykeeper defeated! EXP + 950.]

[Obtained: Piercing Stinger.]

[Wasp Queen defeated! EXP + 1,000.]

[Obtained: Wasp Queen’s Egg.]

Ethan paused.

The Divine Flame had burned through the entire swarm, killing both the Waykeeper and the Wasp Queen in the process.

Before he could say anything, another notification appeared.

[Congratulations! You have cleared the Hell Difficulty Wasp Nest!]

An exit portal appeared before them

Ethan stared at the notifications for a moment.

"Uh... Maybe I should have thought of this from the beginning."

He could have saved himself a lot of time if he’d used his Divine Flame skill from the very beginning.

Beside him, Aria was staring at her own system panel.

She had just reached Level 9.

The flood of experience notifications had been so overwhelming that she hadn’t even noticed the dungeon had been cleared until the final notification appeared.

Ethan glanced at her.

"Ready to leave?"

Aria finally looked up, her eyes still fixed on her status panel.

"Wait... I just reached Level 9!"

Aria’s eyes sparkled as she checked her status panel again. She had gained so much experience in such a short time that she could hardly believe it.

For a moment, she completely forgot about the thousands of wasps they’d just faced, along with her fear of bugs.

"Ethan, we should do this more often!"

She turned toward him with an excited smile, as if she hadn’t been complaining about the wasps just a few minutes ago.

Ethan glanced at her.

"Weren’t you the one who said you didn’t like this place?"

"That’s different! Look at how much experience we got!"

Ethan shook his head and turned toward the exit portal.

"Let’s go. We still have other dungeons to clear."