At this point, Darius could only sigh and step in himself. He teleported into the midst of the Master bugs, who quickly chittered and got onto one knee before him.
Surprisingly, or rather not, the bugs were able to speak via telepathy with Darius, which was how they communicated at this stage.
[King, we have failed you.] Jones admitted with shame.
[My King, give us another chance. We shall take down your enemies with ease!] Falcone protested to hide his own shame.
[We are lacking in skill compared to our foes, King. Is there something that can help us learn?] Malone asked solemnly.
Darius smiled. [It's not a shame to lose against stronger and more prepared foes. Rather, it is a shame to fail to admit your defeat and learn from your failures. Do you understand?]
The three Master bugs went silent as they parsed his meaning. After a moment they all replied at the same time: [Yes, King.]
Even though this communication had only taken a second or two since Darius arrived, the Hungao Empire's five Masters did not interrupt. After all, they were happy to get a sudden break, allowing them to rest and analyze ways to take down these insects.
Since they hadn't attacked Darius yet, they could only conclude that this foreign Master must have something to control them. If they could capture him and extract those means for controlling the insects, as well as find out where their Hive Core was, they could become the next masters of this overpowered race!
Liam and Henson had glints in their eyes as they shared a look, whereas the three full orcs were a bit slower in reaching this conclusion. It didn't matter much to the group as they felt they had seen through all the bugs had to offer.
However, Liam and Henson were aware that Darius was a rogue variable that might change things up, so they had to take the initiative and get rid of him quickly. Henson's Spirit Wolf was still around, so he sent it charging towards Darius.
As for Liam, he quick cast a less lethal and simpler spell, Fireball. A mere Intermediate spell for someone of his level was a joke, and he could get it out in under 2 seconds.
Seeing that their 'food' still dared to attack their King, the three Master bugs shrieked in anger, their claws exposed as they pounced forward in rage. Darius didn't stop them as he wanted them to gain the necessary experience.
He couldn't take part personally unless he wanted that sweet yet dealy Exp. That was why he had summoned the bugs in the first place and hadn't kept Xela or Gunner around.
Darius only gave the Bugsy siblings two pieces of advice. [One, use your forces to hamper your enemies. There's no point in keeping them idle. Two, it's better to gang up on one target with your speed than spread out. Choose your foe wisely, don't go for the strongest.]
As for the charging Spirit Wolf and Fireball, Darius simply blinked to another spot, dodging them casually. This shocked Liam and Henson, realizing things would not be simple with a spatial mage here.
With him as their enemy, their chances of escape in case of a bad situation would be greatly diminished if not completely gone!
As for the bugs, they felt enlightened after receiving Darius' guidance. As such, they used the bugcloud to connect and discuss their next target, as well as to command the Adept bugs hovering around to harass the three orcs.
The Adept bugs might not be able to damage the orcs, but that was not the point. With their high Agility that was around the same level as the likes of Shiken and Hatchken, it was easy to maneuver around them while buzzing annoyingly.
In the meantime, the three Master bugs suddenly appeared before Liam, who was shocked and horrified when he found himself surrounded by the trio in the midst of preparing his next spell.
Before he could even cry out for help, a rain of blows came down upon him. Liam only had about 12 points of Agility, while his Endurance was at 68 points thanks to his half-orc heritage.
This meant that under the Supreme System's calculations, each Master bug did 2 points of damage. It couldn't be helped, even with much higher Strength, they did not have any skills equipment, or modifiers to increase their damage output.
Unfortunately for him, Liam's robes offered him high Resistance but not so much in terms of physical Defense because he usually had others protecting him.
As such, it was best to defend against other mages, since defending against magic was hard in Faust.
2 points of damage per strike meant that each bug did almost 700 points of damage per second since they had no obstruction when attacking the 'slow' Liam. Multiply by three, and Liam's 3,060 points of health suddenly fell in the red.
"HELP, SAVE ME!" Liam was barely able to scream out in pain and fear, but only Henson was free enough to help, yet he had completely locked up in horror. His Spirit Wolf was also still rushing over, and he didn't have enough time to cast something that could save Liam.
In the next second, Liam was naturally clawed to death as he simply did not have enough HP to resist the trio.
As soon as they had felt his life come to an end, the three Master bugs rushed towards Henson, who began to retreat frantically, but it was useless against these 'speedster' bugs.
The Master bugs had already ordered their subordinates to feast on the corpse of Liam. They only allowed Amateur bugs to feed, and as they began gnawing at the corpse, many broke through to Journeyman then Adept stage rapidly.
As a mid-stage Master, Liam had plenty of energy in his body, as an orc, his flesh was even richer than that of a human Master. By the time the bugs had completely consumed his corpse, there were 200 new Journeymen bugs, 25 Adept bugs, and 1 new Master bug.
The Bugsy family welcomed in their fourth goon, Bugsy Capone. This new Master bug spent a few seconds orienting to its change while downloading his older three siblings' experiences via the bugcloud.
Soon, it looked over and noticed that on the left, the three fighter orcs were still being harassed and ignorant of what had happened around them.
Henson was already on the ground, seconds away from reuniting with Liam.
