Chapter Thirty-Nine: The Swarm of the Blood God

"Blood God Bees—how could they appear here?"
The handsome inner disciple in the team voiced his confusion. Seeing the grave expressions around him, Chen Qi immediately shifted into his most optimal sword stance, activating the Insight skill granted by his bone chain.

Name: Blood God Bee
Health: 100%
Mana: 40
Strength: 8
Agility: 16
Constitution: 9
Intelligence: 4
Charisma: 2

Note: This creature is bloodthirsty and ferocious, carrying potent venom and preferring to live in swarms. All beasts fear its presence.
Skill 1: Frenzy (Passive Lv.3) – Immune to near-death state, pain perception reduced by 80%; when health drops below 30%, attack speed increases by 39%.
Skill 2: Bloodfury Assault (Active Lv.4) – Burns life force to unleash a chain of 2–5 consecutive attacks, each dealing an extra 15 points of blood damage. (Consumes 30% of maximum health per use)
Skill 3: Blood God Venom (Passive Lv.1) – When the stinger hits an enemy, inflicts 30–75 poison damage over 15 seconds. Can stack up to 5 times, each stack increases base damage by 30%.
Skill 4: Sacrificial Strike (Active Lv.2), ???
……

Scanning quickly over the Blood God Bee’s attributes, Chen Qi barely caught his breath before being stunned by the sheer lethality of its four skills.

What kind of bee was this? It was clearly a weapon of slaughter. Chen Qi suspected that if he were hit by four or more stacks of Blood God Venom, his entire life force would be forfeit.

At that moment, the sensor jade at Chen Qi’s waist began flashing a rapid crimson, signaling the fearsome strength of each Blood God Bee—every single one ranked as a grade seven beast. This gave Chen Qi a direct sense of the threat they faced.

As the shadows drew near, Chen Qi finally saw the Blood God Bees themselves.
There were more than two hundred of them, each about the size of an adult’s fist, with interlaced patterns of red and black across their bodies. A thin layer of scarlet fuzz covered them; their wings were transparent with a faint red sheen, and their abdomens ended in a crimson, almost amethyst, venomous stinger. The effect was both eerie and strangely beautiful.

But what left the deepest impression on Chen Qi were their eyes—utterly devoid of emotion, brimming with bloodlust and indifference, a fusion of machine and barbaric totem.

The wind whipped Chen Qi’s robe as the leading senior sister unleashed her full aura, sending a visible ripple of air surging out. The nearest Blood God Bees staggered in the blast; even the rest of the swarm felt the powerful resistance.

Clearly, the senior sister knew the menace these bees posed and tried to force them to retreat.
Suddenly, from the swarm burst forth a creature several times larger than the others, encircled by a halo of black and red light. In an instant, it linked all the Blood God Bees as one.
Like chains locking ships together, the swarm cast aside all fear, roaring forward like bombers about to unleash their payload.

"Prepare to fight! Beware the stingers!"
The senior sister’s icy shout shattered any illusions Chen Qi’s group might have harbored.

She leapt forward, charging straight at the Blood God Bee leader. At some point, a long sword wreathed in violet mist had appeared in her jade-like hand. With a flash of purple, several Blood God Bees were cleaved apart.

The tide of bees surging forward paused, as if a stone had been dropped into a pond. But then, the swarm split at the wings, the main force sweeping past the senior sister.
The other two inner disciples separated to the left and right, each drawing off a portion of the bees and plunging into battle.

Yet nearly a hundred Blood God Bees remained, encircling the outer disciples, Chen Qi among them—a bloody clash was about to erupt!

Chen Qi and the others formed a tight circle, protecting their backs and flanks. Sun Ruohai stood at his left, the clawed man at his right, and above them a stalactite protruded downward, limiting the number of bees that could attack from above.

Swish, swish, swish—
Several dark shadows darted past, triggering Chen Qi’s danger sense. He reacted swiftly, slashing diagonally at the Blood God Bee lunging at his chest.
Surprisingly, the bee made no effort to dodge, letting his blade bite deep.
Its mangled body snagged on his sword, yet it struggled to crawl toward the hilt, determined to drive its stinger into the one who had slain it.

Chen Qi had no time to spare. He blocked a blow aimed at his thigh, even as a spray of blood shot from his lips, striking a Blood God Bee in midair.
He felt his blade collide with something hard, exhaled sharply, and with both hands forced the bee attacking his lower limb away.

Using that momentum, Chen Qi twisted his head just in time. The bee he’d just struck in the eyes, blinded, thrust its stinger at him and only managed to graze his cheek.
A bizarre pain flared where his skin had been sliced, threatening to spread. Without hesitation, Chen Qi released the hilt with his left hand and tore a large strip of flesh from his own face.

Gritting his teeth against the bottle-cap-sized wound, Chen Qi pressed the bloody flesh to the blade.
The weapon’s bloodthirst effect activated—the sword’s crimson glow deepened.
That piece of flesh, corroded by venom, turned an even brighter red, with a faint purplish hue—a grotesque and unnatural color.

No time to celebrate his quick thinking, Chen Qi gathered all his blood energy around his blade and, moving with all the speed his training had honed, struck repeatedly into the second wave of rushing wind.
He felt his sword battered by several gusts at once; his right hand faltered, unable to redirect the blade in time to block the wind above.

In desperation, Chen Qi unleashed a burst of blood energy, the aura surging upward. Luckily, the Blood God Bee above wasn’t strong and was blasted away.
Suddenly, before he could recover his stance, agony shot through Chen Qi’s left arm: while his right hand swung the blade, his left had dropped and was now under attack!

Feeling the pain spreading, Chen Qi’s gaze hardened. With a decisive sweep, he slashed across his own arm, slicing away another chunk of flesh.
He’d calculated in an instant: the blood loss from cutting his own arm would cost about a quarter of his health, roughly equal to the damage from one stack of Blood God Venom—and sparing himself greater danger from stacks to come.
Three stacks meant grave injury, four meant antidote, five was certain death!

In less than two exchanges, Chen Qi had used two out of his three major active skills, and blood still streamed from two wounds!

Just then, he heard the lead senior sister’s voice, as melodious as a celestial melody:
"Brothers, hold out a little longer! In thirty breaths, I will come to your aid!"

Even as she spoke, her right hand thrust the violet-wreathed sword in quick, precise points, while her left hand showered green light, fusing with the purple—like fireworks bursting all around. Dozens of shattered Blood God Bee corpses lay strewn at her feet.

In the distance, the Blood God Bee leader looked slightly diminished, forming ranks with dozens of bees, binding the senior sister in place with chains of blood energy.

Suddenly, a heartrending scream broke from the sharp-featured outer disciple behind Chen Qi, followed by the shriek of something hurtling through the air.
No time to look back—the next wave of Blood God Bees was upon them!