The Beebler's thrust showed what this fight was, one to the death. It shot straight for Luke's heart, and the suddenness of it was a surprise. If not for the bo training still fresh in his limbs and hips, things might've taken a turn for the worse. Bringing the staff out of his inventory, Luke managed to get it between him and the monster before it was too late, then shifted his legs and pushed. With one smooth movement, the Beebler's thrust continued past him. If the monster had been on legs, it would have fallen forward, but now it attempted to continue flying straight ahead. Luke was not about to let it, since that meant it would reach the three other Integrated, who were in no state to defend themselves.

  Reaching out, Luke grabbed the monster's thin upper arm, above the spear-like tip, then shuddered. Touching those thick hairs was disgusting. Not waiting for the thing to recover, Luke went to work, plunging Threads of Mana into its mana channels, which were far thinner than a human's. From that, he deduced this creature wasn't one to use spells, and with that came poor control of its mana, from what he'd found. It buzzed and pulled back, trying to break free as Luke cut its monster core free.

  The Beebler's wings fell silent, and Luke took its corpse into his inventory before it fell on top of the wounded.

  "Are you OK?" he asked them.

  One out of three nodded. They all stared. A couple of minutes later, he'd healed all three, then waved goodbye before setting off toward the flare in the distance.

  Ray: "Luke?"

  Luke: "I'm inside. Had to deal with a Beebler and some injured people, but I'm heading your way now."

  Ray: "Quick little assholes. They live in the ground, I think. They're coming out of holes, anyway. Thought we got them all, but guess not."

  Luke: "I'm not seeing very many corpses."

  A few dead Beeblers dotted the ground, and Luke stopped at each one, taking it into his inventory. Why waste a good corpse when you could sell it?

  Ray: "They pull some back down underground. Maybe to eat or something, I don't know."

  Luke walked at a brisk pace, keeping his eyes on the now-descending flare in the distance. Rather than use his eyes to try to make out enemies in the dark, he kept Weaver's Eye active and blanketed the closest area. Finding injuries and illnesses in Integrated was not its only use, he'd found after upgrading it to rank 3. Now, he could sense the mere presence of mana channels, like an evolved sixth sense. Very practical.

  Luke: "How is Curtis?"

  Curtis: "I'm fine."

  Ray: "I'd say he's maybe ten minutes from dying."

  Luke quickened his pace.

  Luke: "Really?"

  Curtis: "No."

  Curtis: "...More like fifteen."

  Luke: "Running."

  Weaver's Eye warned him even before the buzzing sound, like a swarm of flies, reached up through a hole in the ground. It wasn't large, no more than three feet across, but one of the bugs skittered up and took to the air. Rather than attack right away, it hovered up there, out of reach. Annoyed but not deterred, Luke kept running. At this point, his Endurance attribute was high enough that he could keep a good pace for quite a while without tiring himself out. The annoying buzz of insect wings made concentrating while he ran a bit of a challenge, and he soon found out why it didn't charge at him. The Beebler was waiting for friends.

  Beebler Soldier. Level 12.

  Beebler Soldier. Level 11.

  Beebler Soldier. Level 12.

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  Two more joined the first, one scurrying out of another hole in the ground while the other flew in from somewhere off to the right. Bolstered by their numbers, all three dove in perfect unison, thrusting with their lance-like limbs. Weavestep saw Luke clear of that first charge, and the beetles slammed into each other and fell into a heap on the ground, like a pile of angry buzzing. Running wasn't an option, since they'd catch up with ease once they were in the air again. Attacking now was the better option, since they were confused and disoriented.

  First, he brought the length of the staff down onto their small but tough bodies. The carapace of one was cracked, but that was it for damage. Before they were able to fly off and regroup, Luke slammed Needle of Life into the neck of the closest Beebler, severing its spine. The other two rose up, and one thrust forward, skewering Luke's leg.

  "Gah!" Luke grunted, staggering back to heal himself. The pain of healing was difficult to stomach, but he didn't have the time to dull the pain because the pair of Beeblers were on the attack again.

  As he worked Threads of Mana and Needle of Life, stitching the wound closed, Luke swatted into the air, striking a monster with the staff, but didn't have enough leverage to put proper force behind the blow. The other Beebler charged and buried both its arms into Luke's upper back, near the shoulder. Pain flared, and Luke cried out as his right arm fell limp and useless to his side, the staff clattering to the ground.

  Luke gritted his teeth and forced himself to remain standing. He didn't have time for this. Not when his friends needed him. Rather than swat with his left arm, trying to get the Beebler off, Luke used Threads of Mana, extending a thread through the weapon buried in his back. Since it was part of the monster's body, it was full of mana channels. Continuing up through the little bastard's body, Luke found his way to the monster core and yanked it free, not even bothering to cut at the main mana channel first. Once dead, he used another Thread of Mana, this time with Weaver's Grasp, to push the Beebler off his back. It fell to the ground, and Luke gasped again as the thick lances fell, leaving two gaping holes in his back.

  The second Beebler was already charging, and Luke didn't have enough strength to push it back with his staff, since he hadn't been able to heal himself yet. Rather than feel fear, Luke screamed in anger at the buzzing little shithead taking up more time than he had to spare.

  "RAAAAAAH!"

  The scream did little to stop the overgrown bug, but Luke didn't need limbs to deal with this one. Several threads of mana reached out to meet its charge, and he flexed with a growl, forcing the monster to a stop using nothing but his mana. Its large, unexpressive eyes remained a matte black, unmoving, and without emotion. If Luke had startled it, the Beebler showed no sign of that. Holding on despite the creature's flailing, Luke extended a thread and used it to enter its mana channels. It died two seconds later, and he took the corpse and monster core into his inventory without the bug having touched the ground.

  After that, he took the other dead one too and then walked over the one he'd incapacitated. It didn't move, but it wasn't dead. Luke healed the wound in his leg, then raised his foot, set his jaw, and stomped down on its head, cracking it open. No mercy for those who waste precious time. After grabbing the staff off the ground with a thread of mana, he set off running again. The wound in his shoulder, he healed as he ran.

  Twice more, Beeblers interrupted him on the run over to Ray, Curtis, and whoever else were with them. Having gained some knowledge in the way these bugs fought and what to expect of them, Luke killed them without slowing down, catching them mid-charge and dissecting them like frogs in High School, pulling monster cores free with ease, since these monsters didn't have the sense to defend their mana channels.

  By the time Luke made it to the spot below where the signal flare had lit up the sky, it was gone. With the sound and light coming from the gathering of Integrated, finding them proved simple enough. Ray and Curtis stood chatting with a couple of others when Luke walked up.

  "Aren't you supposed to be dying?" Luke asked Curtis, eyeing his health bar. It was low, but not critical.

  Curtis held up an empty health potion vial. "You were too slow. Rick here gave me his last potion."

  Integrated Rick. Leader. Level 13.

  "Hey," Rick said, nodding to Luke.

  Luke extended a hand in greeting, and they shook. "Hey."

  "Can't believe you took twenty minutes to get here!" Ray said, his grin turning into laughter.

  "Beeblers," Luke grumbled.

  "Guess we could have sent a couple of people to come get you," Rick said, scratching the stubble of his chin. "My bad."

  "It's fine," Luke said, turning to Curtis. "Still need healing? Well, I see that you need it, but do you want it?"

  Turned out, Curtis wanted it. So did thirteen other Integrated who were part of the group, and it took Luke almost thirty minutes dealing with it all. After sitting down to go over what had happened with Curtis, Ray, Rick, and a couple of others, Luke got the sense they hadn't been prepared for the boss to appear so soon, and many Integrated were taken by surprise. This meant quite a few were injured before the fight even began.

  The boss was a more humanoid-looking Beebler called a Beebler Patriarch, who spoke English and hurled insults at the Integrated as it fought with bladed weapons, rather than lance-arms. Alongside it, a group of caster-type bugs and support Beeblers made life difficult for the Integrated, who couldn't break through the Patriarch's vicious attacks to reach those behind it. When Ray made an attempt from stealth, they almost killed him for it.

  Luke scolded them for not having a healer with them, then sat back while Rick planned the next attempt. His class used skills to make his plans more likely to succeed, somehow, and could boost those following his orders, which was interesting. He gave Luke one job: make sure no one dies.

  Then it was time for the second attempt.