"Swarm!" Altaïr roared.
Both of them were wearing Disposable Earplugs, so aside from tactical hand signals, shouting was the only way to communicate.
Isis halted her advance, and the two quickly closed in, standing back-to-back to cover each other's rear.
Vespoids particularly liked to circle around to their target's back for ambushes, especially when multiple Vespoids fought as a group, attacks could come from all directions.
A moment of carelessness, getting stung by a stinger coated in paralysis toxin, and in the instant one lost mobility, the remaining Vespoids would swarm over them. Even the most skilled hunter could be taken down.
The sharp, slender Long Sword was well-suited for dealing with swarms of Vespoids. Altaïr swung his blade in continuous slashes, instantly cleaving the two Vespoids that charged first in half.
The Gunlance was not a clumsy weapon either, at least not for Isis.
While swinging her Gunlance to slash at nearby Vespoids, she continuously pulled the trigger, shelling the approaching swarm.
The Shells fired by the Defender Gunlance were of the spread type, similar to shotgun shells from a bowgun. This type of Shell had a short range and dealt very limited damage to large Monsters at medium to long distances.
However, conversely, at close range, spread Shells were quite formidable.
Vespoids hit head-on by the blast within five meters would be blown into a pile of debris, while at slightly longer distances, the scattered shrapnel could still damage the Vespoids' fragile wings.
Isis didn't even need to aim; the spreading Shells blasted apart and injured multiple Vespoids closing in around them.
Yet, the number of Vespoids gathering was even greater.
During the brief moment when Isis reloaded and the suppressive fire was interrupted, more Vespoids swarmed around them. The roar formed by the combined vibrations of countless insect wings was almost deafening.
"Break through! Get to the cliff wall and use it as cover!" Altaïr roared.
Isis, having finished reloading, nodded firmly. After firing several shots to clear some of the Vespoids crowding in front, she raised her great shield and charged forward.
Altaïr followed closely behind, his Long Sword constantly swinging, cutting down the Vespoids that kept trying to close in on them.
Like a Bulldrome charging at full speed, Isis, with her great shield raised, knocked aside one Vespoid after another. By the time they reached the cliff wall, her shield was already smeared with thick green mucus and filthy blood.
"Poison Smoke Bombs! Just throw them on the ground! I'll cover you!" With another roar, Altaïr stepped in front of Isis, swinging his blade with all his might to fend off the converging swarm.
Isis, in turn, set down her weapon as quickly as possible, retrieved several Poison Smoke Bombs from her Item Pouch, and smashed them all onto the ground at their feet.
Dark purple poisonous smoke billowed up, spreading and covering an area of several dozen square meters around them.
Altaïr and Isis had already held their breath in advance, minimizing their inhalation of the poisonous smoke. The swarm gathering and swirling around them, however, knew nothing of guarding against this. The toxic fumes were drawn into their bodies through their breathing pores.
Within seconds, the Vespoids closer to the smoke began showing signs of poisoning, their flight becoming unsteady.
Because the swarm was so densely packed, countless insect wings stirred the air currents, causing the poisonous smoke to rise quickly but also disperse rapidly. Isis continued throwing Poison Smoke Bombs in batches of several at a time until she had used up all the ones she carried.
The toxin was corroding the Vespoids' internal organs and nerves. Just as the Professor had said, these insects had poor metabolic resistance to toxins.
In no time, over half of the Vespoids surrounding them lost the ability to fly, falling to the ground like raindrops one after another. Their wings trembled incessantly, abdomens convulsing, and limbs twitching uncontrollably.
They wouldn't live much longer.
The remaining Vespoids farther away had inhaled less poison smoke but were clearly affected as well. Their flight became sluggish and unsteady, occasionally losing balance and dropping altitude.
With the immediate crisis resolved, Altaïr and Isis quickly took their Antidotes. The burning pain in their respiratory tracts and organs from inhaling the poison smoke finally eased considerably.
Looking at the carpet of Vespoids covering the ground, they felt profoundly relieved. Who could have imagined that after already eliminating fifty or sixty Vespoids, there would still be so many left in this cave?
If not for the Professor preparing numerous Poison Smoke Bombs for them in advance, they might not have survived the dense swarm alone, let alone reached the Vespoid Queen.
"Should we use the remaining Poison Smoke Bombs?" Isis called out loudly.
She had already exhausted her supply, while Altaïr still had plenty left.
"Not yet. These remaining Vespoids aren't much threat anymore. We can handle them without poison. Let's save the bombs for emergencies!"
"Alright!"
Thanks to the massive deployment of Poison Smoke Bombs, the roles of hunter and hunted had instantly reversed. Stepping over the insect corpses covering the ground, Altaïr and Isis began pursuing the surviving Vespoids.
The toxin-affected Vespoids could neither fly fast nor high. Within minutes, the two had cleared most of them out.
The cave gradually grew quiet, with only a few surviving Vespoids on the ground weakly vibrating their wings, emitting faint buzzing sounds.
Looking at the countless insect corpses, both felt a surge of excitement.
Vespoid materials weren't particularly valuable, the carapaces sold for about a hundred z each, wing membranes only a few z per pair. Only the Body Fluid was relatively valuable, fetching several hundred z per portion.
But the sheer quantity made up for it. Excluding those they had chopped or blasted apart, there were over twenty intact Vespoid corpses that had fallen poisoned to the ground.
If they carved and collected all these, then sold them to the Guild's purchasing agent, the income would easily reach five figures, more than their mission reward itself.
Of course, this was just wishful thinking for now. This wasn't the time for leisurely carving materials. The Vespoid Queen hadn't appeared yet, and these corpses weren't going anywhere. They could consider carving after everything was over.
Forcing their eyes away from the ground covered in potential earnings, they covered each other while cleaning and sharpening their weapons. Then they continued descending along the slide path. Given the cave's steep slopes, they had to move as slowly as possible.
No more Vespoids came to attack them, but this didn't bring relief. Instead, it heightened their vigilance.
With so many Vespoids dead, the Queen undoubtedly knew of their presence.
The cessation of attacks likely meant the Queen had realized swarm tactics were ineffective and had recalled the remaining Vespoids to guard her through some means.
According to the Professor's analysis, the Vespoid Queen's nest should be located near the waste discharge outlet.
Under normal circumstances, the slag and scrap metal discarded from above would slide down the chute and exit through the waste outlet. However, given that little to no slag had been discharged into the sand sea over the past few months, it meant the waste outlet was blocked.
As for who blocked it, there seemed to be no need to guess.
Moving cautiously forward for about a hundred meters, Isis, who was leading the way, suddenly halted.
Altaïr quietly approached her side and only then noticed that the steeply descending ground along the chute abruptly leveled off ahead.
Waves of heat washed over them, and the temperature in front was noticeably higher than in the area they had just entered the cave.
Altaïr crouched down, using his portable lantern to illuminate a small section of the so-called "ground." He discovered that the path ahead was completely covered with slag and large chunks of scrap metal, even filling in the original slope.
The slag and scrap metal covering the ground appeared black but still felt scalding to the touch, clearly, the top layer had been dumped just that morning.
It seemed the intense heat in the cave, which made it unbearable to stay without a cold drink, originated from here.
Isis gaped, muttering incessantly, "The ground is completely leveled, how thick must this pile be? How will the Elder and the others clear it later?"
"Is that really your concern?"
"Fair point." Isis promptly dismissed the question from her mind. She raised her lantern, shining it around, and remarked, "Speaking of which, we're almost at the end up ahead, and I don't see anything resembling a Bee Hive."
Altaïr first looked up toward the cave ceiling.
Due to the poor lighting, it was hard to see clearly, but at least he didn't spot any place large enough to house an insect six or seven meters long. However, some motionless Vespoids were perched there.
The distant rock walls were the same.
Hiding, huh, Altaïr murmured to himself as he retrieved a Sonic Bomb from his Item Pouch. Where could it be hiding? Hard to guess.
He pulled the pin from the Sonic Bomb and tossed it onto the vast "level ground" formed by the slag ahead.
"Bzzzz..." A high-frequency noise exploded.
The next second, the ground shook as a massive dark-yellow-shelled shadow emerged from the slag pile, whose depth was impossible to gauge.
Vespoids hidden nearby also left their perches on the rock walls, gathering around.