Reincarnated To Evolve My Bee Empire

YOU EXPECTED GODDESS OF BEES AGAIN, BUT IT WAS HER—MALEVOLENCE! A DISTINGUISHED BEEMARINE WHO ENDED IN A VERY UNCOMFORTABLE POSITION.

If there was a bigger source of anger for a Beemarine than to become a prisoner in hands of the Empire's enemies, then Lieutenant (formerly a Sergeant) Malevolence didn't know it.

During the recent fight against the green giants, they were unforgivably slow. An unlucky sweep of a giant net caught Malevolence and seven other bees from her hundred.

Before the Beemarines could cut through the net with their knives, the giants flew in terror—and the shaking of their nets became so strong that the Beemarines became unable to move.

And when the nets slowed down enough that Beemarines could recover, the giants shook them out of the nets and into a prison cell!

It was circular, thirty steps in diameter and forty steps tall—very spacious even for eight prisoners, and entirely barren of anything.

The walls of the prison were made of a transparent material that looked like solidified water. The top was made of thick, dark leather and had several fist-sized holes.

A giant took the Beemarines' prison in its massive hook-like fingers and raised it toward the sky.

"Hold on to something!" Malevolence shouted. The force of the movement sent her squad to the ground, where they could only hold on against inertia.

Then the prison stopped as abruptly as it began moving, and the bees were thrown to another side with yelps and gasps. Malevolence hit the prison wall with her shoulder and winced—even with her thick skin and her bone armor, this hurt.

But now the prison was hanging on the level with the three giants' ugly faces—so high above the forest below, nothing could be seen beyond the mass of red, blue and green.

The screeches of the giants' voices made the Beemarines wince—but finally, they could catch their breath.

"That's it!" Malevolence exclaimed, standing upright. "Beemarines, enough of lying around. We will free ourselves and return to Hive Rich safely—this is what Father would want!"

"Yes, Lieutenant Malevolence!"

"This prison must have weaknesses, and we have our weapons. Let's use them!"

With this, Malevolence flew up and tried to cut the leather covering above with her knife. However, her short claws—a feature she had from being an earlier, less-honed version of a Beemarine—could barely hold on to the surface.

She couldn't get a good enough grip for cutting, so she descended to the ground and raised her hammer instead.

"Strike this wall! If workers' hammers can break iron, we can break this prison into pieces for sure!"

CRACK!

Although the transparent wall material seemed fragile, Malevolence's hammer barely left a scratch on it. Still, the sight of this scratch made the prisoners smile ferociously and raise their own hammers.

CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!

Eight hammers smashed simultaneously near the scratch left by Malevolence. Eight sets of hands raised the hammers again…

"Aaah!"

Suddenly, the giant shook the glass prison, sending the bees inside flying. As the prison shook, the bees crashed chaotically into each other, the walls and their own hammers, adding new bruises to ones they already had.

A short, but painful and humiliating while later, the prison stopped moving. The giants continued talking in their ear-splitting language.

Malevolence stood up and grit her teeth.

"Sisters, is anyone seriously injured?"

"No, Lieutenant!" a chorus of voices replied.

"Then let's continue. We won't suffer this any longer than we are forced to!"

She brought the first blow on the scratch wall—and a moment later, the prison shook again. This time, the Beemarines were more prepared—not all of them even got up from the floor—but new bruises were still added to the total amount.

Malevolence stood up again, rolling her aching shoulder.

"You think you can stop us, monster? We are the Father's first chosen ones! Beemarines, with me!"

This time, they brought their hammers down in unison—and the shaking began immediately after. A handle of her sister's hammer hit Malevolence painfully under the ribs.

She didn't even wince as she stood up. Her blood was too full of anger!

"I see how it is, monster," she seethed at the giant. "But if you think Beemarines ever give up, you are mistaken. Sisters, at my command!"

The Beemarines got to hit the wall three more times. The scratches left on it became deeper and deeper with each strike. Malevolence even saw a small crack appear, and the sight made her smile.

However, she couldn't get up anymore. Her limbs were tired and her body was too bruised, and no amount of anger could defeat her body's weakness. The rest of the Beemarines weren't any better.

"Squad… I order you to rest," Malevolence said tiredly. "But we won't eat while the monsters are watching us with their vile eyes."

"Yes, Lieutenant Malevolence."

The giants stared at the bees through the transparent walls for a while longer. They kept talking, and their speech became louder and less pleasant by the moment.

Malevolence just wanted them to shut up—forever.

But finally, the bees' prison moved again. When it finally stopped, the bees found themselves in total darkness inside of a giant's bag.

It soon began moving again—nausea-inducing flights up and down. At least those had a rhythm which Beemarines could adjust to.

And darkness wasn't a problem when there wasn't much to look at. Malevolence and her squad oriented themselves by touch easily.

"Sisters," Malevolence shouted over the rumbling and crashing of giants' things around them. "The giants won't see us freeing ourselves here. Rest and heal—then we will continue to break free. Bring out your field rations!"

"Yes, Lieutenant!"

Malevolence ate her honey-preserved giant's meat stripes and imagined she was sinking her teeth into the monsters that dared to kidnap her and her sisters.

Why would they do that, Malevolence didn't know and didn't want to. All she knew was that her squad *will* escape eventually, or will die trying. One way or another, they won't let the Empire and their Father down.