Reincarnated To Evolve My Bee Empire

Bloodhero felt the heat of the roaring fire even before setting foot inside the Hive Woodcutter itself. Only the shouts of bees around drowned out the noise of flames. Huge black clouds of smoke were flying from it toward the sky.

The place looked like one massive furnace. The wax and wood it was built from wouldn't have ignited from a random spark, but the giant torches did the job.

Despite this all, some bees were still leaving the place—only to freeze at the exit because they were too wounded to fly.

Noticing this, Bloodhero immediately gathered herself together. She didn't come to search on her own—she brought five hundred soldiers with her, and they needed her directions!

"First, second, third hundred—help the escaping bees get down!" She ordered. "The rest—after me! If someone can still leave this place, then we can still enter it!"

"Yes, Adviser Bloodhero!"

Inside, Bloodhero regretted her idea. Stepping on the floor was a mistake—it was covered in puddles of hot wax. She regretted not wearing shoes, even just open-toed ones.

"Don't land!" she warned, flying up.

Although the heat bothered Bloodhero less than most of her subordinates, she still felt it singing her skin and body hair. Next to her, other bees were wincing and furling their antennae as the hot wind and smoke hit them.

Although the fire was lighting up the cave, the smoke made it hard to see and impossible to smell. Bloodhero hoped that her Beehounds would be able to help there, but it looked like the bees would have to rely on luck and numbers.

Most of the fire came from the comb in which the torches were stuck in—that place had so much smoke, Bloodhero couldn't see the damages. All around, honeycomb walls were melting and burning at once. Nobody could survive in this place—but at the sides of the cave, there were still buildings that kept their shape.

This gave Bloodhero hope.

"Fourth hundred, take the left! Fifth hundred, take the right! Spread out and help anybody you can find to keep out! I will coordinate you from here."

A part of her wanted Bloodhero to take charge personally, but she knew better. Her administrative role was too important to the Empire to risk herself in the fire.

She could only dream about stinging some humans to death personally, even if her anger burned as bright as Hive Woodcutter.

"Yes, Adviser Bloodhero!" her soldiers saluted, spreading around.

Bloodhero found a wax-free place where she could stand on the heated rock and waited.

More local bees came to the entrance from the outside, seeking orders—Bloodhero looked at their burned, soot-smeared faces, and told them to report to their Chief Nurse. These girls looked like they needed more medical aid than they could give *any* aid to *anyone*.

Then, the first soldiers came from the Hive Woodcutter with more survivors. Not all of them could fly on their own, but Bloodhero found the least-wounded ones and tried to get some information about the hive's state from them.

On the ground below, bees finally started making a proper field hospital. A short while later, more survivors from the burning hive were directed there.

Every time a new bee was brought from the fire, Bloodhero perked up, hoping that this was Queen Hive-Maker, only to end up disappointed.

This continued until she saw a Drone being brought from the fire. The poor dumb creature looked utterly lost and flew anywhere only because he was carried by three Warrior Bees.

"Drone!" Bloodhero asked, almost jumping in agitation. "What are you doing here alone? Where's your Queen?!"

The Drone struggled in the Warriors' grip until they placed him in front of Bloodhero. As soon as they let go of him, he fell to his knees, gasping for air.

"Queen. Queen. She's back there! She wouldn't wake up, wouldn't look at me. Why are you taking me away? Am I too old?"

"Adviser Bloodhero, we found him next to the Queen's corpse. The other Drones were all over the place—they must've tried to escape, but died on their way," a Warrior Bee grimly. "We tried to bring it with her, but the entire area was collapsing. There were only three of us, and we knew there won't be enough time to call reinforcements, so we decided to save him. At least he can go to another Queen."

Bloodhero clenched her fists.

'Why did this idiot have to survive instead of his Queen? He's not worth a hair on her head!' She shook her head furiously, shaking away the thought. 'No, no. Father wouldn't want me to think this way. All bees are equal in his eyes. But how would Mother-Queen react? Damned humans, I will see every one of you dead for this!'

"Why didn't Queen Hive-Maker evacuate in the first wave, anyway?! What was she *thinking*?!"

"I… I think she was trying to evacuate the eggs, Adviser," the Warrior Bee said. "We found her in what looked like the local Nursery. There were combs with… With dead larvae inside. And others, too…"

An uneasy silence fell on the trio.

*Nobody* would be happy to hear this.

"Bring the drone to the rest of the wounded, then keep searching for other survivors. Bring out as many as you can before the hive collapses on your head," Bloodhero ordered. "I'm going to the field hospital, too."

"Yes, Adviser!"

Bloodhero nodded to her subordinates and took flight. As she moved away from the hive, she turned her head to look at it just one more time.

Then she had to pause, turn around fully and look closer.

There was fire on the upper side of the hive cave entrance, faintly visible through the smoke clouds. At first, Bloodhero thought it was coming from the inside of the cave, but the more she looked, the more she was sure.

The mountain itself was burning!

'How is this possible? *Is* this possible? If the entire mountain catches fire… Then we must evacuate people not just from the hive, but from the entire area!'