Reincarnated To Evolve My Bee Empire

I didn't have time to finish my sentence before my girls already spread around the glass vials in pairs and thirds and struck the glass with their pickaxes. Of course, I joined in too, rushing to the nearest glass vial—one that held Beemarine Excellence.

Although the glass was at least twenty centimeters thick, the imprisoned Beemarines already did some damage on it. The smooth surface was covered in scratches and even had some cracks in the side where the Beemarines hit it earlier.

But the stone hammers, although hard, had nothing on the sharp iron pickaxes. The very first blows left new cracks on the glass surfaces.

Seeing this, the imprisoned bees began hitting the glass from their side with twice the effort. The cracks widened by several centimeters with each blow.

One, two, three, ten… I kept bringing my pickaxe down on Excellence's prison, chipping out glass shards with every other strike.

Some of them flew at me, but my thick skin protected me from harm, like it protected my Beemarines.

I only worried about getting my girls free fast enough.

The noise of our work drowned most sounds from the other room and from the street. At some point, I thought I heard a distant shout from somewhere outside, but the lookout team didn't rush in to warn us, so I just kept working.

Finally, with a loud "CRACK!" my pickaxe sank all the way through the glass.

"This is it! Widen the hole!" I ordered the two nearby Beemarines and pulled the pickaxe out.

Smell and sound flew from the newly made hole.

"Father!" Excellence cried out in a cracking voice. She was trying to appear stoic, but was failing miserably. "Father, you shouldn't have come here for us. It's our job to fight for you, not the other way around."

"Shut up and keep breaking glass, Excellence!" I ordered.

She saluted immediately.

"Yes, Father!"

That was better.

I and my helpers kept smashing around the edges, until an entire section of a glass vial broke with another loud crack, sending glass shards all over. Now there was a hole which Excellence could easily move through, and she did immediately.

"Excellence, we have some food and water to spare for you, but we must free others first. Stay put for now, alright?" I smiled at her and turned away, not waiting for an answer.

Around us, other glass vials were also broken or almost broken. After a quick glance, I saw only one where things were going too slow.

I flew over to Malevolence's glass vial, which only had several cracks.

"What's the problem here? Why is she not free yet?" I asked the Beemarines that swung their pickaxes at the glass.

"Father," Excellence said, landing next to me. "Lieutenant Malevolence was the most determined of us all. For the day and night we've been here, she kept smashing her prison tirelessly! Even when others were too weak to lift their hammers—and she almost succeeded. But then the green giant that captured us and killed Assault-9 noticed her efforts and replaced her prison with another one."

I saw it—now that I looked closely. Not only Malevolence's glass vial was less damaged from her side than all others, it looked different from others.

Its form was slightly different, wider and shorter, and the glass had an almost unnoticeable blueish tint.

'This vial must be made from a stronger glass. I doubt it's outright bulletproof, but it clearly takes pickaxe blows better than the other vials.'

Inside the vial, Malevolence was proving her determination by smashing the glass from her side while ignoring all else. Her face was so thunderous, she must've been imagining how she smashes the head of every human in this world.

"I see, Excellence. Well, this doesn't matter—we will just have to put more effort into this!"

I raised my pickaxe, about to join forces with the Beemarines who were already working on Malevolence's prison, when I heard a loud thud from the distance.

Then more rhythmic thuds followed—footsteps were coming toward us! The human must've heard the breaking glass, or perhaps coincidentally picked this moment to change surroundings.

"Father, that's—" Excellence began, but I cut her off.

"The human who did this all to you. Don't worry, girls, just keep freeing your sisters and move to the exit! Your father got it." I sneered. "One dish of steaming hot revenge, please."

Near one of the almost destroyed glass vials, Destroyer abandoned glass-smashing and dashed to my side.

"Let me cover your back in this fight, Father!"

I hesitated for a moment, but nodded.

"You might have to distract this guy, Destroyer. He will be on alert for bees, so getting an opportunity to sting him might be hard otherwise. Just don't get hurt in the process."

"It's my job to get hurt in your stead, Father." Under my look, she withered a little and added, "But I will try."

At this moment, the door to the other room opened with a thunderous screech of rock on rock and hinges that needed oiling.

The distance of several hundred meters between us let me see the human who stepped from the other side in detail.

He had dark-colored spots in its chitin and short hair with more gray than black in it. A tunic and pants covered most of his body, but they looked thin and weren't tucked into each other, so there were plenty of places to sting.

〔Human〕

〔Name〕: Hemsh Kuch

〔Health〕: 82 / 82

〔Stamina〕: 72 / 72

〔Species〕: Intelligent Human

〔Age〕: 55 y

〔Remaining lifespan〕: 35 y

The jaws that reminded me of a dragonfly's were moving absentmindedly—until the human saw his table.

He shouted something and rushed to it, crossing the massive room in several hundred-meter-long steps. For an old man whose stats were lower than an average human's by much, he was sure a spry one!

I switched my title to the "Titan Slayer" and lunged toward him with Destroyer right behind me.