In the midst of the fear, panic, and utter helplessness, one redhead roared loudly, her voice louder than the mass hysteria. "Stop running around like headless chickens. Stand firm and fight." Alex shouted at the top of her lungs, taking down three of the fuckers at the same time as she swung her shield and sword around. She blocked and parried the insects left and right while also culling them down by three or four every move. Her epic-grade items were not simply for show. She did not know what level these insects were, but they couldn't hold up against the power of her attacks. Apart from Alex, a few others were also still standing. Not too surprisingly, these were all Crimson Abyss guild members. While the military units that were supposed to be well-trained and cohesive fell apart left and right in front of the unknown formidable enemy, the Crimson Abyss guild members stayed strong. Alex, Rey, Judah, and Lan Deming, who were present in the immediate vicinity of the hive hill, quickly came together and formed a small tight group, watching each other's backs. Alex also pulled Hao Yuze and put him in the center. It only took her a couple of seconds to see that the guy was totally useless when it came to fighting and needed to be protected. As for the other men… a few of the military guys, who still had their firearms, were shooting at the creatures in a blind frenzy. They could not comprehend and wrap their minds around their current situation, and this was all they could do. Alex did not bother killing these idiots when something much bigger was going down at the moment. She also did not bother protecting them. She just ignored them for the time being. This was because she knew something that the others did not know yet. This event, the second wave of the apocalypse, was not supposed to happen right now. Liam had warned her about this, and he had even told her that he would most probably be back before then. However, the way he described things and the timeline was completely different from what was happening at the moment. For starters, they were only supposed to be dealing with random beasts once again. Liam had said that the first wave and the second wave would not have much difference except that the beasts would be slightly stronger in the second wave, all being above Level 10. But these things in front of them… were clearly no ordinary beasts. They were not even insects in a strict sense. They were random bizarre creatures that spilled out of the hive hill non-stop and completely swarmed the region. What was happening? She couldn't understand. The thing was, Liam always had these insights about the future, and he was seldom wrong. Even if he was wrong, it was never by such a huge margin. But now, both his timing and his predictions were wrong. What the hell was this? Moreover, there was another issue that had cropped up. At first, Alex was worried that these insects were too fast for them to control and would wreak havoc by escaping and spreading out in all directions, randomly massacring everyone in sight. At least they were able to somewhat defend against these creatures, but their weaker civilian guild members would be completely helpless. They would end up dead before they even knew what killed them. However, this did not happen. The swarm was still here, and now she was facing an entirely different challenge. From the looks of it, these insects had no intentions of spreading themselves thin. They freaking stayed together and attacked them with vengeance! This meant that the few of them had to deal with the whole swarm on their own? Just how many swarms like this even existed? How many hills had randomly popped out of the earth? Was this the only one in the vicinity, or were there more? Though she had asked everyone to stay calm and think and act properly, it was becoming increasingly difficult even for her to do the same. If she took down two of these suckers, then four more cropped up. They were endless. Every second, the situation was getting worse. The swarm seemed to be becoming denser and denser. More and more insects flew out of the hill, and there was no end in sight. 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦 It was as if they were standing in a giant tornado of these insects. If one hit a bee hive with a bat, one would be swarmed by dozens of bees. Here it was, not dozens. It was hundreds or perhaps thousands, and these were not simple honey bees! They were deadly bizarre creatures that looked as if they were an amalgam of several insects. Was it an ant or a bee or a wasp or a spider or a scorpion, or a mosquito? Nope. None of these. The creature looked like someone had put all of these insects in a blender and created a quick mix, and then enlarged its size to make it a living, breathing, terrifying nightmare. How could something like this even exist? Just how many of these creatures were there? It was their bad luck that they had somehow ended up in such close proximity to the hive hill. So they were facing the full brunt of the attack. "DIVINE SHIELD!" "DIVINE SHIELD!" "DIVINE SHIELD!" Alex repeatedly shouted in desperation as she tried her best to keep their group safe and their attacks in line. However, this was easier said than done. As the golden shield flickered again and again, protecting her and the others around her, nothing she did was enough. Her mana was rapidly running out. If she took out three slashing her sword down and bashing them with her shield, seven more popped up in the same spot, taking their place. The others were also in similar situations, only barely holding on. Rey had run out of arrows a long time ago. He was trying to conjure mana arrows and aiming straight for the insect's triangular head. He was a good shot, but the head was covered by some sort of glistening, reflecting carapace that made it difficult for a person to aim for it. The head was the weak point for many beasts and insects, but in this case, it was a fool's errand to aim for it. In fact, one had a better chance of hitting the insect if the attack was aimed elsewhere. However, Rey did not have many options left. His mana arrow was just not strong enough to get at the other parts of the insect. His close combat skills were also not that good, so even though he was waving around a spear, every time his mana refreshed, he still aimed for the head and set an arrow flying. In the beginning, he was missing a lot, but slowly he began to get the hang of things. Instead of aiming for the head directly, he aimed for the space in between the two pincers, which appeared to be easier to penetrate and a lot less reflective. This required two mana arrows to take down the insect, but it did the job. He was shooting them down one after the other. The only problem was that there was no freaking end in sight! Unlike Rey, Lan Deming was fighting in a more straightforward manner. There was no space for him even to enter stealth. He simply used his daggers to slash at the enemy and take them down as they came. Just like Rey, he also figured out a few weak spots after killing dozens of these bastards, so with every insect he put down, his moves and his attack pattern became more and more fine-tuned. And as for Judah, Rey shared with him the info about the weak point in between the pincers of these bizarre creatures located right under their head. The mage nodded and exploited the same thing without holding back. Just like Rey, he also sent sharp ice spears and fire bursts aimed at the same spot. Unlike Rey, it took him three attacks to get one down, but his speed was faster, so in the end, he was almost taking down the same number of insects. While these four fought intensely, the other person at the center of this small group, Hao Yuze, snapped out of his trance. "I need to do something." He gritted his teeth with determination. Seeing the four people around him fight for their lives, hanging on by skin and teeth, he suddenly felt very useless. He knew that his combat abilities were non-existent, but he did not want to become a burden like this. At least he did not want to die a useless death. His brain whirred as he thought about what they desperately needed at the moment. The biggest challenge they were facing was the number of these insects. If he could do something about this…