The Fukaros Familia, starting from DanMachi.

Chapter 207 Deadly Poisonous Bees

Just then, the advancing column suddenly stopped.

What appeared before Fen Yu and the others was a huge wall made up of giant mushroom aggregates, which blocked the only passage in front of them, making it extremely narrow in both width and height.

Countless mushrooms with red and blue spots grow densely, forming a silent wall of plants.

"Wait, what's this?!"

Daphne's expression changed instantly. She recognized the monster's disguise and was about to warn it.

It's too late.

Those mushrooms that form aggregates have eye-like organs emerging from beneath their enormous caps.

The fungi of varying sizes instantly abandoned their mimicry, their bodies turning an ominous blackish-purple in the blink of an eye, and began to wriggle together.

"These are dark poison mushrooms; be careful of their poisonous fumes."

"7

Daphne screamed.

These cunning monsters hide alongside the harmless giant fungi that roam the dungeons, waiting for their prey to walk right into their trap.

As one of the representative monsters of the "Great Tree Labyrinth" alongside insect monsters, fungus monsters are best known for their poison attacks with a huge range of effects.

Their mushroom caps swelled rapidly in an instant.

"Bang! Bang!!"

The next instant, a series of eruptions, like a massive explosion, rang out. The highly toxic spores, far more powerful than those of the upper-level "Purple Moth," transformed into a vast expanse of purple poisonous mist, spraying and spreading towards Fen Yu and the others.

Almost at the same moment Daphne shouted, Fenyu had already made his move.

"Control this fiery wheel!"

Instant flames erupted from his body, engulfing him entirely.

"Gospel!"

The magical combined attack, a sonic barrage wrapped in flames, was unleashed continuously as if it were free, transforming into a raging torrent of fire that instantly engulfed the swarm of poisonous mushrooms in front of him.

The terrifying flames burned everything to ashes, along with the poisonous spores that were about to spread widely.

Surrounded by flames that seemed to be their natural enemy, the fungal monsters swayed their heavy bodies, making silent, painful struggles, and one by one, they were reduced to charred remains deep within the inferno.

The flames even spread to the surrounding giant, innocent fungi that were not monsters.

However, some of the fine purple powder escaped burning, struggling against the flying sparks and stubbornly spreading outwards.

Robin, Cassandra, and the others immediately covered their mouths and noses, backing away to avoid the deadly poisonous smoke.

However, the dungeon clearly doesn't want to let its prey go so easily.

"roar--!"

A giant wild boar broke through the wall of flames and headed straight for Fen Yu and the others. It was a large monster, over two meters tall, fighting wild boar.

With a fierce charge, it broke through the wall of fire, its bristling fur still sparkling, and roared as it charged toward Burning Feather.

Moreover, behind it followed a large group of bear-like beasts and other monsters that had also been alarmed.

Instead of retreating, Fenyu advanced, turning to face the charging wild boar and grabbing its pair of thick, long tusks.

The violent impact was so great that even with the power of the Burning Feather, he was forced to stagger backward, his legs leaving two long scratches on the hard ground.

Just then, Tifa leaped high into the air, twisting her slender waist and concentrating all her strength into her right leg.

Enchanted starlight wrapped around her legs, and a swift kick, accompanied by a deafening roar as it tore through the air, precisely struck the boar's most vulnerable spot—its neck.

"Snap!"

A crisp cracking sound rang out, and the fighting wild boar let out an extremely shrill scream before its massive body collapsed with a crash, raising a cloud of dust.

Daphne seized the opportunity, took a step forward, and precisely plunged her rapier into the boar's neck, spurting out hot blood.

The wild boar's body trembled violently a few times before turning into black ash and dissipating, leaving behind only a pair of huge tusks and a magic stone.

Without even looking, Fen Yu unleashed a sharp sword light with his backhand, severing the head of a bear beast that had charged forward. Then, he turned around and cleaved the second one in two.

Joan of Arc, holding the sacred banner, shielded the robin and Cassandra behind her. The tip of the banner lance cleanly pierced the head of a bear-beast, and then with a powerful kick, sent another bear-beast that tried to approach flying.

At the same time, Feng Jin waved her staff, and gentle gusts of wind rose up, blowing away all the remaining poisonous fog on the battlefield.

Both Fenyu and Jeanne d'Arc possess the highest level of [abnormal resistance], so this bit of poison gas is no different from breathing fresh air to them.

While Robin and the others lack this development ability, they have Violet, whose magic [Flying into Dawn and Dusk] grants them the "After the Rain" status, making them immune to most abnormal statuses.

Therefore, even though they were surrounded by poisonous fog, they were not poisoned.

A sudden encounter was swiftly thwarted thanks to the impeccable coordination of the Fukaros Familia.

"Phew, you really can't be careless in the middle levels; accidents can happen at any time."

After confirming that the last bear-beast had turned to black ash, Joan of Arc let out a soft breath and subconsciously patted her chest.

The righteous aura that rose and fell with the movement, and that looked down upon the entire clan, drew Fenyu's gaze uncontrollably to it.

However, he had only glanced at it once when he keenly sensed a gaze that seemed to be both smiling and not smiling falling on him.

It is a robin.

Burning Feather casually withdrew his gaze and met the robin's eyes.

He raised an eyebrow, and then, as if deliberately provoking, openly turned his gaze back to Joan of Arc's stunning curves, even nodding seriously.

There was no way around it; he'd gone through his rebellious phase, and he absolutely had to watch it today.

Upon seeing this, the robin's face immediately showed a look of both laughter and tears, and it shook its head helplessly.

"Huh, there's a sound."

Just then, Tifa, with her keen senses, suddenly stopped, her ears twitching as she looked into the darkness deep within the passage.

"The sound of flapping wings? No, this is—"

It was a sound that didn't resemble the screams of adventurers, the clash of swords, or the roars of monsters at all.

It wasn't the "whoosh" of birds flapping their wings, but a strange, intense, and rapid sound, as if thousands of objects were being struck at high speed, so dense it made one's scalp tingle.

"It's a deadly wasp! It's a swarming monster! Everyone be careful, Captain!"

Daphne and Cassandra, who had experience with mid-level adventures, reacted the fastest. The strange voice instantly triggered their worst memories, and both of them turned pale.

Daphne looked directly at Fenyu and called out urgently.

The margin for error in melee combat is too low when dealing with small monsters that are numerous and not weak individually.

In the past, when she and the Apollo Familia were conquering the middle levels, if they encountered deadly wasps, they would either rely on the mage's area-of-effect magic bombardment or use an expensive disposable magic sword.

However, the Fukaros Familia clearly doesn't have the money to buy a magic sword, and at this stage, the only mage capable of area-of-effect attacks is Yu.

Moreover, Fen Yu is not a proper mage, but rather a magic swordsman.

Before the words were finished, a huge black shadow appeared like a dark cloud at the end of the line of sight.

Those were countless giant wasps, each the size of an adult human, with hard, black, armor-like shells and sharp, grotesque shapes.

Its face is a giant jaw with pincers, and protruding from the front of its body is a terrifying poison needle.

These are bee-like monsters that only appear from the 22nd floor onwards, and they are powerful "gatekeepers" that prevent Lv.2 and Lv.3 adventurers from entering the lower areas.

Their poison needles, capable of piercing through heavy equipment, can send a Lv.2 adventurer to their doom in one hit. They are notorious for their "one-hit kill" moves. Even if one is lucky enough to escape immediate death, a fatal wound is inevitable.

Its hard shell can deflect most attacks that are not strong enough, making it the ultimate evolution of the "killer ant".

Although this is the nineteenth floor, it is clear that these monsters occasionally "visit" and wander up here.

"Gospel!"

Without the slightest hesitation, Fen Yu activated [Power of Beginning] instantly.

The sound waves tore through the air, spreading out in a huge semi-circle, shattering the air layer by layer wherever they passed.

The swarm of poisonous bees, dark and cloud-like, was struck head-on by the magic. In an instant, dozens of dark figures fell from the sky like dumplings being dropped into a pot.

However, there were simply too many poisonous bees.

The airspace that Fen Yu had just cleared was filled with more poisonous bees from behind in less than a second, gathering into a ball again and emitting a heart-palpitating buzzing sound as they rushed toward them at high speed.

"Walk!"

Fen Yu's expression also changed.

He wasn't afraid of being alone, but for the relatively vulnerable backline units like Robin, Violet, and Cassandra, these poisonous bees posed a huge threat and were not suitable for prolonged battles.

"I'll cover the rear!"

He shouted, signaling everyone to retreat immediately, while he turned to face the swarm of bees and used continuous magical bombardment to block them.

His magic was being consumed at an unprecedented rate, but he didn't even look at it. He pulled out a mental energy recovery potion from his pouch, "clang, clang."

He then poured the contents of the container into his mouth.

The Fukalos clan began their desperate escape.

Fenyu ran behind while casting spells, while Tifa and Daphne cleared the way, instantly eliminating any monsters that spawned along the way.

The swarm of bees pursued relentlessly from behind, their buzzing sound like the death knell of the Grim Reaper.

...