Bastion, having caught the girl's attention by voicing his plan, explained further.
"We're going to clear out the surrounding area of creatures because I'm willing to bet that opening the hidden entrance will reveal the Rank 4 resources to everything around us. This means we might get swarmed once we open it. To make sure we can survive, it's best if we take down as many enemies nearby as possible."
"Can't we just dive underground and avoid opening the cavern entirely?" Lilia asked.
"We could, but what if breaking the containment explodes the built-up pressure underground? I don't know what the situation is like down there, but in my experience, dead things tend to explode when sealed in tight spaces due to decomposition."
"Bastion has a point," Seraphina agreed. "It's better to be cautious than to be taken by surprise. We should clear everything out for miles around us just in case."
Lilia sighed but accepted, while Ariel stood bewildered.
"These people are crazy," Ariel muttered to herself.
Ever since she started her life as an adventurer, she had slowly come to realize how exceptional Bastion and the girls were. They had access to technology clearly beyond Rank 2, yet they were able to stay in the kingdom. To top it off, they were filled with exceptional people who were a clear cut above average adventurers who struggled for years just to gain a single level.
Now they were about to sweep the swamp for miles around, gaining who knows how many levels. And they could easily pull it off as well, given how powerful her autocannon was.
With determination and a bit of exhilaration at the chance to participate in this adventure, she asked with a big smile on her face, "What can I do?"
"How about you scout around the perimeter and tell us if there are any nests nearby?" Bastion asked. "Just be extra careful; giant frogs have tongues long enough to catch you mid-air."
"Don't worry, I'll be careful," Ariel said before spreading her wings and taking off.
"What's up with her?" Lilia asked. "She seems a bit too… excited."
"She probably realized how much experience we'll be getting if we take down a basilisk. I don't know where their nests are, but there's a good chance to piss one off given our distance from the tree," Bastion replied.
"Good for her then. So, are we building up a castle and a horn, same as in the goblin dungeon?" Lilia asked.
"No, there are giant alligators, frogs, and basilisks around us. One swipe, and it would be enough to bring down any fortifications we make. We'll have to settle for an open field."
"We'll be surrounded then."
"I'm planning to pull attention a distance from us before heading here. That way, we will contend with a wave rather than being surrounded."
Thus, the group got to work solidifying the ground for a stable battle space while killing anything in their immediate vicinity. Once they were assured of their solid footing and relatively clear surroundings, Bastion mounted his diamond steed, ready to set off.
"Everyone ready?" he asked.
"Yup," Ariel said, her excitement bubbling over.
"Ready," Lilia said with a firm nod.
"Good to go," Seraphina answered.
"Ely?" Bastion asked.
"Ready, Master," Elyra replied, looking off into the distance with suspicion.
"What's wrong?" Bastion asked seriously. "If something is bothering you, it's best to tell us so we can be prepared."
"It's nothing, Master. I thought I saw a face in the shadows in the distance, but it was just a camouflaged frog."
Bastion turned toward the direction Elyra was facing but didn't see anything. His eyesight wasn't as sharp as a Shadow Wolfkin's. Still, if Elyra said it was nothing, then it was probably nothing. She was the most cautious of the group, and if anything slipped by her, they were likely too weak to do anything about it.
"Alright then, here we go," Bastion said as he raced through the swamp a few miles out.
Thanks to Ariel's scouting, Bastion had a few nests to piss off within 10 miles of their location. The first on the list was a nest of centipedes.
Once he was a hundred meters from the boundary of the nest, he unleashed Diamond Rain, the sky glittering as shards of crystal rained down, saturating the area. Then he activated Diamond Shatter, causing the diamonds across the ground to erupt one after another in a glittering cascade of explosions, each blast shaking the swamp and tearing deep furrows into the ground.
The earth rumbled violently from the chain of explosions and continued to shake until the ground suddenly burst open. From the jagged fissures, a writhing swarm of centipedes the size of couches spilled out, mandibles snapping as they surged forward, ready to defend their nest.
He took a deep breath, and shouted with all his might.
"COME GET ME!" he yelled, activating Taunt.
The swarming centipedes froze for a heartbeat, then all at once turned in his direction, their movements a blur of glinting segments and snapping mandibles as they rushed at him at full speed.
Bastion quickly turned and bolted back to their safe area, the swarm hot on his heels. Once he arrived, he quickly took his position behind his autocannon next to Ariel.
"Open fire!" he barked, sending a wisp of mana to fire the weapon.
Side by side, Bastion and Ariel unleashed a storm of bullets, the air tearing with the roar of their autocannons. Mana-charged rounds shredded the swamp around them, cutting down centipedes as the relentless swarm surged forward.
They shrieked and writhed, but the twin streams of gunfire left little room to advance. Each impact sent shards of exoskeleton flying, churning the muddy ground into a storm of debris.
Bastion adjusted his aim with precise movements while Ariel matched his fire, their attacks perfectly synchronized. The combined barrage hammered the centipedes, breaking their momentum and turning the nest into chaos.
Even as more of the swarm poured from the fissures, Bastion and Ariel's firepower proved overwhelming, decimating the creatures before they could reach the pair.
Occasionally, Seraphina would shoot out Magic Missiles, Fire Bolts, and Deathflares at those Bastion and Ariel missed. Lilia would help as well with the occasional Ice Bolt. Elyra, meanwhile, kept a watchful eye on their surroundings to ensure they weren't sneaked up on during the chaos.
In 10 minutes, they managed to finish off the centipede nest in its entirety.
"That was amazing!" Ariel shouted wildly, wings spread out once she finally stopped feeding the autocannon mana. "I can't believe we wiped out thousands of Rank 1s in just a minute!"
"It's been 10 minutes," Lilia corrected. "Are you okay, Ariel?"
"What? I'm fine, never better."
"That's good, because you have a wild look about you."
"Oh, um… hehe," Ariel said, cleaning up her hair, brushing the dust off her leather armor, and preening her feathers.
So far, she had noticed that she became more frenzied the longer the battle lasted while using guns. It was fine when she was alone, but now that there were people with her, she needed to get a handle on herself.
"Should I start collecting the corpses, Master?" Elyra asked.
"Do we still have space in the magic bags?" Bastion asked.
"We are 20% full from all the corpses we've collected so far."
"Hm… go ahead and start collecting then, just in case. Make sure to arrange them by rank so we can dump them if we find better loot."
"Yes, Master."
Bastion then turned to Seraphina who had already started picking on the corpses.
"Anything good?"
"For us? No, but these would fetch a high price back in the kingdom. These exoskeletons and legs would make good Rank 1 armor and spear tips."
"They aren't any better than regular weapons, though, and they can't be reshaped once they break, so I don't know about their popularity."
"It's still better than apprentice-ranked equipment."
"True."
Bastion headed out once Elyra had finished collecting the corpses. He first visited the centipede nest before bombarding it again with Diamond Rain and Diamond Shatter. Once he noted that there were no centipedes left inside, he went to the next location on the list.
It was a nest of salamanders, each the size of a car. He bombarded them with the same combo as before, used Taunt to attract as much attention as possible, and quickly ran back to the group, where they proceeded to rain bullets on them. There were only about a thousand of them at most, and they didn't last long against the bombardment.
Bastion then repeated the same process with a nest of very territorial catfish that would chase after him even on land. Rather than flop around as might be expected, they manipulated the mud to push themselves forward like a tidal wave. Fortunately, Bastion had Pebbles with him to combat their mobility, halting the wave of earth as they approached the kill zone. Next, it was just a matter of shooting giant fish on land, which was quite difficult since they flopped around.
He then proceeded to the final nest before the basilisk nest, a cluster of giant frogs lurking in the murky swamp. Just as Bastion turned to dash back to their spot after using Taunt, a sudden movement caught him off guard.
A long, glistening tongue shot out of the shadows, wrapping around him with lightning speed. Before he could react, it yanked him off his diamond steed with brutal force, pulling him toward the gaping maw of a massive frog. The creature's jaws opened impossibly wide, and in one terrifying motion, it swallowed him whole.
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