The Heart of the Wild skill allowed Qi Ping's Animal Companions to gain a significant boost in combat power for a short duration. Its only drawback was the subsequent period of weakness and lethargy, as the skill demanded a massive toll on the companion's vitality. Depending on the duration of the state, the weakness could last from a few hours to several days—something Qi Ping had verified through multiple tests.
Consequently, in standard battles, Qi Ping would not choose to activate Heart of the Wild. But against an enemy like the Bone-Marrow Bees, the Golden Marrow Bees were simply too weak without it.
"Heart of the Wild!"
Under Qi Ping's command, he activated the empowerment for a thousand Golden Marrow Bees simultaneously! Driven by the skill, the aura of the swarm instantly surged by about twenty percent.
As the battle commenced, groups of twenty bees each formed specialized battle arrays and charged forward. Under these formations, regardless of which bee a Bone-Marrow Bee attacked, that Golden Marrow Bee would latch onto the enemy with suicidal tenacity. The other bees in the group would then seize that moment to encircle and slaughter the foe.
Even if some groups had two or three bees attacked simultaneously due to the Bone-Marrow Bees' superior speed, other groups or reserve bees would immediately fill the gaps. One bee would briefly entangle the opponent, while the other nineteen would use their absolute limit of speed to bite at the wings and legs of the Bone-Marrow Bee.
If six weren't enough to hold it down, then sixteen would join!
With the empowerment of Heart of the Wild and the coordination of the battle arrays, the Golden Marrow Bees displayed an extraordinary level of combat discipline. They cooperated seamlessly, madly gnawing and entangling every organ of their enemies.
Under their collective effort, a familiar scene unfolded: clusters of bees began plummeting from the sky!
While the Bone-Marrow Bees excelled in defense, mandibles, and toxic stingers, their raw strength was not enough to easily resist sixteen Golden Marrow Bees at once. However, even after pinning them down, the Golden Marrow Bees' offensive was not smooth. The Bone-Marrow Bees were so well-armored that even their most vulnerable point—their eyes—were difficult to pierce.
Furthermore, a Bone-Marrow Bee needed only a single breath to kill a Golden Marrow Bee. In the blink of an eye, Qi Ping lost over fifty bees!
Yet, such a scene was the perfect killing field for the High-speed Ring-cutter Bee!
Its current objective was to slaughter the Bone-Marrow Bees at the fastest possible speed while protecting itself, thereby saving as many of its kin as possible. Thus, the moment a Bone-Marrow Bee was pinned down, the Ring-cutter struck!
A golden streak, like a phantom, flashed across a Bone-Marrow Bee. Accompanied by a piercing shriek of grinding metal, a Bone-Marrow Bee was severed at its center joint, falling in two pieces from the sky.
Clean and decisive!
The defense that the Golden Marrow Bees struggled to break even with suicidal effort was sliced through in a single second by the Ring-cutter!
The terrifying combat power of the first-generation Ring-cutter was perfectly displayed in this moment. Even before its mutation, its speed and reaction times had been the best in the colony; it had only been denied the mutation potion initially because it appeared somewhat frail. By a twist of fate, its innate gifts allowed it to seize the final portion of the potion, resulting in this variant with an "Ultimate Organ Strengthening."
High-speed! Cutting!
Under Qi Ping's shocked gaze, the Ring-cutter moved through the swarm with lethal efficiency. Like a golden blade of light, it repeatedly flashed past, severing every Bone-Marrow Bee it targeted. Decisive, swift, and without a single wasted movement, every flight path resulted in a halved enemy corpse.
The beauty of battle and slaughter was displayed to its peak by the High-speed Ring-cutter Bee. The First-tier Late-stage Bone-Marrow Bees, despite their formidable defense, were reduced to mere stationary targets for the Ring-cutter to butcher at will.
Realizing they had become targets, the remaining Bone-Marrow Bees struggled frantically, trying to free themselves to deal with the Ring-cutter together. Their combat instincts told them that if they could encircle the Ring-cutter, they would win.
But would the Golden Marrow Bees allow them such a chance? Seeing how powerful their mutated kin had become, they were more than eager to help! This realization further steeled their will to create openings for their companion.
As more Golden Marrow Bees joined in to suppress the remaining enemies, each Bone-Marrow Bee was eventually pinned down by more than twenty bees. With every limb and organ held in a death grip, not a single Bone-Marrow Bee could break free. Even though Golden Marrow Bees were occasionally killed by stingers or mandibles, it did not affect the swarm's collective resolve.
'If just one mutated companion can turn the tide like this, then once hundreds or thousands of them mature, how prosperous will our race become?'
Thus, they had to win this battle! This place had to be defended! This was the blessed land of their race! For it was here they met their leader, Qi Ping, and here they found the hope for continuous strength and evolution.
Under the influence of their surging battle will and the frenzy of Heart of the Wild, every single Bone-Marrow Bee was held fast. The High-speed Ring-cutter Bee utilized these conditions to execute a slaughter of extreme speed. One by one, the Bone-Marrow Bees were sliced in half.
Qi Ping was utterly shaken by the scene. He had never expected the battle to unfold like this. The Ring-cutter's performance was magnificent; it was a natural-born killing machine.
'It seems that in four or five days, when I use the mutation potion again, I should choose drones with more specific traits. Physical strength isn't the only factor for a successful mutation.'
What Qi Ping wanted most now were "Ink-Armor Bees" with superior defense and "Toxic Bees" with extreme lethality. If he could cultivate bees with organ-level strengthening in their mandibles for crushing power, that would be even better. Coordination between different bee species could push their collective combat power to the limit.
The battle did not last much longer. Every Bone-Marrow Bee was eventually sliced in two, dying shortly after being pinned. But even in that short time, nearly three hundred Golden Marrow Bees had been killed—a massive loss!
Qi Ping now had fewer than a thousand Golden Marrow Bees left. In just ten days, his casualties had exceeded five hundred.
'But at least we won. The losses were actually smaller than my worst-case scenario.'
This was a small consolation. After the battle, Qi Ping immediately brought out a batch of high-quality honey. Both the Golden Marrow Bees and the Ring-cutter were either exhausted or severely weakened; they needed high-grade honey to replenish their vitality and shorten their recovery time. After all, who knew if another unexpected accident was lurking around the corner?
"One more day!"
"Starting tomorrow, a batch of High-speed Ring-cutters will mature every day!"
"Within a week, I will use the swarm's mutation to break through to Druid Level 3!"
"By then, whether it's Demon Insects or marauders... all of you shall die!"