Reincarnated To Evolve My Bee Empire

WHILE THE GODDESS OF BEES LAUGHED AT NECTUS' SUFFERING, MILITARY ADVISER BLOODHERO PERSONALLY LED AN ARMY AGAINST AN INVADING FORCE.

They hurried as much as they could, knowing how vital every minute could be. To fly faster, Warrior Bees abandoned their usual supplies and weapons, except for the most vital ones.

The distance to Hive Woodcutter was crossed in just an hour and a half, yet even this minuscule time turned out to be too late. Long before the army of several thousand Warriors reached the sub-hive, they saw the columns of smoke in the distance.

"No… They wouldn't dare. Not again!" Bloodhero cursed out loud at the sight. "We must fly even faster!"

They did, and they were still too late.

Hive Woodcutter was built in a cave inside of a large pillar mountain—like all the most secure hives. Some storage buildings were built at the mountain's foundation to store wood for short-term transport before it will be carried to other hives in the Bee Empire.

Although Bloodhero never saw this place in person, she remembered every report about it with clarity given to her by Father's gift of blood.

48 thousand bees lived there, out of which 5 thousand were Warriors patrolling borders or standing guards. There were also 50 ballistas mounted at the hive's entrance.

All this should've been enough to kill or at least drive off a dozen humans. But it wasn't.

Instead, what Bloodhero saw when she and her army reached Hive Woodcutter, was a fire that was burning right inside the hive itself, and two massive stone pillars (torches of the humans, doubtlessly) were sticking out of the hive's entrance.

Bloodhero could only imagine what kind of destruction these torches brought when the humans stuck them inside.

The humans were still here, but already retreating. Bloodhero saw only their backs, all covered in clothing, and the torches most of them still carried.

Meanwhile, all around the hive, thousands of bees were swarming, seemingly with no order. Someone tried to carry the wounded away from the fire, someone brought water to extinguish it, and some even tried to pursue the humans.

Bloodhero herself wanted nothing more, but she knew immediately that it would be futile. They crossed distances too fast! A few of their steps crossed hundreds of meters, and in less than a minute they were about to leave the sight of the hive entirely.

As much as Bloodhero wanted to kill every human, she knew Father wanted her to be smarter. She didn't spend long hours studying from Researchers to act stupid now.

"My soldiers, hear my command! We came here to save our nieces in Hive Woodcutter—so let's save those we still can! Drummer, signal everybody to follow me!"

The signal drummer at her side saluted and beat a rapid march, which was almost drowned by the sounds of bees roaring, "Yes, Adviser!"

With Bloodhero leading the way, the swarm flew the remaining hundreds of meters that separated it from Hive Woodcutter.

Their approach wasn't left unnoticed—many bees paused in what they were doing, and Bloodhero heard shouts.

"Reinforcements!"

"They finally came—we can extinguish the fire now!"

"They came too late! The Queen—"

"Where's the Queen?"

Bloodhero had the same question when she saw several bees flying toward her. From the signs on their identifying pendants, she knew they were the high command of the hive—at least Chiefs, and probably also Advisers of the local Queen. But the Queen herself wasn't in sight.

Bloodhero looked at the dozen of bees gathered around her, but couldn't find a single Warrior or a Commando among them. Or a Physician. Instead, there were mostly bees Father sometimes called "civilians" when separating them from soldiers, and most of them looked like they were at their wits' end.

'Where are the soldiers? Who is going to be one most able to direct the extra hands? These girls can barely fly upright in their panic! Damn, Father's daughters would have never been so spineless!'

Bloodhero's eyes roamed the small crowd until fell on Chief Cleaner. At least Cleaners knew all the nooks and crannies of every place in the hive.

"You, Chief Cleaner! Point my soldiers where their help will be most necessary. Tell this all to Commander Conquest," Bloodhero gestured at a Warrior Bee at her side.

"Y-yes, immediately!"

While the military machine began moving together with the bees, Bloodhero turned her attention to other leaders of Hive Woodcutter.

"Report your status, now!"

The Chief Builder was the one who spoke first, physically shaking.

"The humans attacked us, and it was so swift—we had almost no time to prepare! They ignored the army that went to meet them, just went straight here with their fire pillars and pushed them inside. The hive, the hive, it was—the entire honeycombs were crushed in moments!"

"And what about the army? Where is it?"

"The—our Military Adviser led it right at them, but the humans swung their torches at us and stomped our feet and, and, there were so many dead—she might have died, too. And there were even more dead in the hive!"

"We are still bringing out more bees from the fire, but we don't have enough people to give them first aid! They just d-die on the ground, suf-suffocating," the Chief Nurse said, wrangling her arms and hiccuping. "And, a-and we had to ab-abandon…"

She choked on her own words and another bee, Chief Attendant, spoke instead in the most expressionless voice Bloodhero ever heard.

"We had to abandon all the larvae and pupae. They couldn't be extracted. We tried to save some eggs, at least, but they were likely too damaged to stay alive. And the Queen herself is still inside the hive."

Bloodhero almost forgot to beat her wings.

"What?! She should've been the most protected of all of you!"

If even the Queen Hive-Maker was dead, then this hive was destroyed as thoroughly as it could be.

"I will personally lead the search for her!" Bloodhero declared.

'I don't want to bring Mother-Queen news about the death of one of her daughters and personal students!'