The 'beast lord' this time around wasn't a single creature, but a colony. A tree towered twice as high as any other near it, and an absolutely massive hornet's nest hung from an unnaturally thick and straight branch.

Smoke clung heavy to the air, but did little to deter the keyboard-sized insects that flew down to intercept the hive's attackers. Reid watched a burgundy-armored man shoot a cone of fire straight at the nest. It burned parts of the tree the nest was attached to, but the thing itself was unchanged. Reid narrowed his eyes. The nest wasn't even singed.

Lightning arced up from a squad of mages dedicated to the element. It slammed against the insects and slowed them. A few popped under the strain of the intense energy. It worked well, but only impacted a small area of the growing, shifting mass.

Something Reid could only describe as a handheld-grenade launcher let out a slow, repeating 'phump' as the man holding it squeezed the trigger down while retreating. He had punctures in his armor, and a pair of the insects were crawling along his back as he screamed. Another soldier stepped in close and put hands directly on the bugs, then squeezed hard until they crumpled in his palms.

The burgundy-colored Belar goons fought on with a practiced level of violence and coordination. They didn't stray far from a tight formation, and quickly shifted from ranged to close combat to meet the small, incredibly aggressive enemies. The only thing lacking, the only thing that was preventing them from damaging the hive, was their relative weakness. They could kill individual insects, sure. But the hive itself - and what waited inside - were a level that required the entire force to focus on in order to threaten it.

Content in the idea that Belar wasn't going to finish his quest anytime soon, Reid allowed himself to rest and watch the action.

The insects, he realized, were not uniform. Some were green, a similar shade to jalapenos. Others had a deep purple body with a solid black head. The biggest version he'd noticed so far were striped in fuzzy lines of orange and brown. Every insect had a set of capable mandibles, hooked feet that let them latch onto nearby surfaces, and all but the green variants had at least one sharp stinger that they used with enthusiasm. They glowed, right before charging in to strike, and before the attacks themselves. As Reid watched a few of Belar's troops die under the assault over slow minutes, he got an inclination for the creatures' magic. First was speed - not acceleration like the turtle, but a general boost that allowed them to fly forward, zig-zag, and generally move at an increased rate.

The purple variants were better with the application of that magic. They seemed to enjoy lulling the soldiers into a false rhythm, then activating their heightened speed to surprise the enemies mid-fight and take them down.

The orange and brown ones were how Reid really figured out the other magic's purpose. He saw one land on a Belar guard, stab at her with a stinger, and fail to penetrate through a layer of chainmail-esque substance she wore between her burgundy armor and her person. Then, the insect's abdomen glowed, and it stabbed at her again. That time, Reid saw the armor deform before the stinger even reached the material. Reid put the magic as somewhere between a weapon enhancement and sharpness boost. The increased area and intensity of those blows had stumbled more than one Belar guard.

The Belar troops fell every few minutes, and the insects fell by the dozens - but Reid wouldn't say that Belar was winning. Their forces noticeably dwindled while the insects continued to emerge in force from their hive.

A distinguished humanoid with sharp eyes stepped forward, and ordered the rest to focus their attacks not on the hive, but the tree branch. He wore a set of leathers with armor plating sewn in, and an imitation of CCE markings adorned both his breast and shoulders. He motioned his orders out with his dominant hand, which was missing two fingers. His mouth seemed frozen in an unamused line as his eyes swept over his men, the enemy, and the surrounding forest.

Reid made out some of the forces referring to the man as Lieutenant. Belar's troop titles were something of a mystery to him, but he would bet the man before him was the leader of the Company's forces within the tutorial space.

He considered his options.

Option one was to do nothing. The forces could continue wearing each other down, and he would gain more insights into their capabilities until one side or the other went too far and broke the battle, or Reid was discovered. The benefits were obvious, but Reid still struggled with the choice of inaction.

Option two was more... chaotic. He could send shrapnel brocks hurtling into their midst. It would be a great way to test the effect his thrown weapon had on the enemy and would be a great way to gauge their relative toughness and power. Plus... he was still a bit mad at the group for screwing up his plans. He didn't do it, though because-

Option three was to investigate the Belar forces and ensure there were no Vuxarinan prisoners amongst them. If any of them had turned and truly joined Belar's forces, Reid would have no issues treating them like the enemy. But if they were being forced into service, he wasn't interested in killing people still wearing chains. So, option three was a more active version of option one. It also had the bonus of testing his stealth abilities against the detection of Belar's troops.

Option four - smash and go. Run in, target the beasts, get their attention and run away. Upside - Reid thought it would be an excellent way to claim the beast lord kill, and it would cause confusion and havoc among the troops, and pulling it off would be funny. Downside... well, the Lieutenant didn't strike Reid as incapable.

Reid ate some chameleon bites as he mulled things over, and decided option three was his best idea. He was putting the rest of his snack away when the tree let out a pained groan.

The oversized branch bent, and sent fractured pieces of bark as big as a person falling to the ground. Wood struggled against weight, and lost.

The branch and nest both fell free of the main body of the tree. Based on how much damage it had taken before, Reid mostly expected the hive would be fine, but it deformed and crumpled in on itself as it slammed into the ground. The branch it had been attached to did little damage, and rolled off the side.

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Reid's eyes went wide at the nest, still on the ground, as it writhed.

An insect popped itself free of the broken home. Then another. Stingers lashed out to create holes, and a frighteningly large mass of insects took wing. Light dimmed in the area as the mass of beasts circled around the tree that used to hold up their smashed nest.

Belar, for their part, decided that was a good time to pull back. Their forces went from offensive to defensive tactics, and only engaged with beasts that came right up to them. It resulted in a burst of injuries as the things got a sting or two into many of the company's troops, but managed to let them gain distance from the hive without drawing the attention of the main force now swarming above the trees.

Reid watched the men pull back - and realized they hadn't fully invested themselves in attacking. They'd built up a good position for themselves, but seemed to have held their better mages and fighters in reserve. If that was the case... Maybe they'd just been probing the strength of the enemy beasts, and were always going to recede from the fight.

The coordinated, fast retreat left behind fortifications, a few tents, and revealed a sight that made Reid's blood start to boil.

There was an open-air restraint, comprised of a large metal stake driven into the ground. The stake was topped with a single central eyelet in the metal, and long chains looped through the hole and attached to the wrists and ankles of a trio of Vuxarinans. Belar's forces paused near the restrained natives. There were two guards that wore slightly different armor dragging several other prisoners behind them. They tugged at the stake but couldn't lift it from the ground, and made a quick decision to pull back and leave the trio to the slowly gathering swarm.

Reid frowned.

Was this poor planning? Random chance? Or maybe it was a trap, set to goad him into 'saving his people' before they could be sacrificed to the insects. It was just as possible that Belar wanted to see what the bugs did to someone when the swarm really started to get going. Or, they were just legitimately retreating to recover, and would charge back in as soon as they noticed Reid.

He shifted in his spot. A hand touched on Brock, and another touched on requiem.

Reid still had questions rolling through his mind as Belar's forces faded back into the trees, and the swarm started to spread itself out to find a target. They buzzed and massed closer to the chained trio. He continued to question whether he should get himself involved as legs straightened and his feet pressed hard into the dirt. There were warring objections in his mind. He wasn't invested in these people, and he didn't owe them anything. He didn't have some responsibility to save them, or look after them. He wasn't responsible for any of this.

He was here. They were stuck, and they would die if he didn't act.

The simple facts trampled over all of Reid's intent to stay out of things, and crushed any chance that he would be able to sit back and watch.

Muscles pulled dexterous power in as he flew forward.

Rocks and pebbles flew into the air as Reid slid to a stop near the prisoners. He whipped his head around to look for any signs that Belar was about to attack him, but all he saw was something that looked like a camera hanging off of a distant tree branch. Reid still took a precious few seconds to pick a pebble from the ground and hurl it at the camera. It impacted and shattered the device with a large pop.

Part of Reid hoped they hadn't noticed him and would leave him to his own plans. The rest didn't care. They could watch him fight. They could stare at recordings for hours, and he would still find a way to crush them. He would make resistances for any magic they could wield, and he would pummel anyone that tried to take him in melee.

The prisoners shrank away at first, scared and surprised when a stranger covered in bones hurtled into their midst. When they saw Reid and realized he was - or looked to be - Vuxarinan, they leaned forward and tried to get his attention.

The noisiest one was a short, but broad-shouldered, young man. His forearms were noticeably thicker than his biceps, and he shouted simple, clipped bits of information about the materials holding them in place. The second noisiest was a lithe woman Reid imagined would be as tall as him, if she were standing. She shook and grabbed for his leg without ever leaving the ground, and started to shriek when she noticed the insects were closing in on them. The last was a man with sunken cheeks and a near-constant hunch. His messy bit of hair was pulled back in a braid, and odd colored scars dotted his arms. His ears were stretched, like he'd been wearing something close to gauges for a long time. Belar must have confiscated those.

Read hefted requiem into the air and slammed it down into the eyelet. It was a perfect idea, in theory. Instead of the metal-breaking slam he envisioned, Reid's strike only served to mangle the metal and fold pieces of the chains and the eyelet in on themselves while driving the stake further into the ground. It pulled a few of the prisoner's chains taut, and made the man with the braid stagger and fall over.

Reid swore, put requiem down, and gripped the slightly deformed metal with both hands. His blow had weakened it, and he found it relatively easy to pull pieces in opposite directions and sever the metal. He followed that by breaking a few links so the chains weren't entangled with things anymore. The buzzing had grown louder, and Reid prioritized speed. They just needed enough movement to get themselves away from the beasts.

The three of them, now free, only froze for a moment. The woman was the first to act. She glanced at the swarm with wide eyes, looked at the forest Belar had retreated to, and sprinted off towards the direction Reid had come from. The other two each gave a quick 'thanks' before running off themselves. The man with the oversized forearms glanced back at Reid and slowed for a moment. Reid gave him a nod, and he continued off into the trees.

Reid stood in front of the angry, massing swarm of insects. They were close enough now that he could better make out the eyes and the legs of each creature. Purple and green, orange, and now red-colored bodies flitted around with unnatural speed. The group seemed chaotic at first glance, but closer in and watching the bugs, Reid could tell there was coordination. It was equal parts mesmerizing and terrifying.

He wasn't upset with his combat abilities. He greatly enjoyed focusing on power, and real blows, and his style of fighting. But standing in front of the swarming hive, Reid found himself truly wishing for a cone-of-magic style ability. Ice, or fire, or one of a million different things would've kept that tinge of worry from creeping up his spine. Reid didn't do well against high numbers, and that's exactly the fight he'd thrown himself into.

One of the bug's number, a purple-backed insect, flew straight at Reid, then circled him while glowing with magic. It was either an inspection, or preparation for an attack. In either case, Reid was here to kill a beast lord. He swung out and caught the insect with part of Requiem's flanges. The back half of the insect flew out and landed in the grass and dirt. The head and upper body were smushed against Requiem.

Another flew in close, and tried to stab Reid in the arm. He let it activate its magic stinger, and watched the thing slide across the surface of his armor. It left a scratch. He slammed it with a palm and was rewarded with an explosion of bug guts. More flew in close and Reid used his mace like a flyswatter. The beasts popped like firecrackers.

Information clicked into place within Reid's mind. Each creature was different. Levels weren't a perfect encapsulation of danger, and the danger of this beast lord wasn't necessarily the standalone might of each insect, but the fact that there were so many. The same way a level 16 Salamander was wildly more powerful than a level 16 vicipod.

So these creatures were level 49. There were many, and he'd need to both pace himself and stay highly aware of his position to not get overwhelmed by the creatures.

But, they were still just bugs.

Reid spun Requiem, and grinned.

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