Chapter 45: Rich Jelly for the Queen (02)

  Screech-!

  The loud wing noise was resonating from outside.

  The hive's walls, softer than the solid stone walls of the ter, absorbed sound well, yet the vibrations pierced through and resonated within.

  It owerful vibration, different from the adorable fluttering of the honeybee girls' wings, shaking as if to rattle the body.

  Screech-!!

  During the loud vibrations, I was cirg my mana circuits, replenishing my lower body's strength while healing the swelling on my right elbow.

  The injury wasn't severe, and trating while cirg the mana circuits reduced the swelling and healed it. After making a temporary fix by adjusting the misaligned bones, I grasped the mana saber in my hand.

  'What's happening outside...'

  Although the beeswax walls of the hive were fluffy enough to be dug through by hand, the wax I had used to block the entrance was only a temporary cover, easily pierced by a finger.

  'Ah...!'

  Looking outside through the hole I made, a cruel se unfolded before my eyes.

  A huge stinger was embedded in the belly of one of the honeybee girls I could see straight ahead.

  Uhe adorable stingers attached to the tails of other honeybee girls I had grabbed, this one was as big as a human's forearm, and though the honeybee girl thrashed her tail trying to resist, her strength was fading.

  Eventually, as the honeybee girl weakened and slumped, several massive s making loud wing arted to carry her body away.

  The body of the honeybee girl... no, the body that used to be a honeybee girl, three bodies in total were identified.

  'These were the honeybee girls who were here just a moment ago...'

  Thanks to the sticky, white liquid trailing from their mouths, I could reize that these were the same honeybee girls who had been with me.

  Likely, the fate of the honeybee girls, perforated with one or two holes ead captured by the s, would be as I had previously anticipated—used as food by the s.

  They were destio be utilized as feed by the s here.

  'But why would a ... attaother ?'

  Peering outside through a narrow, finger-sized hole limited my view, preventing me from fully uanding the situation.

  Especially the owner of the stihat had peed the honeybee girl seemed even more threatening with a hard shell-like tail rather than a fluffy one, appearing nearly twice as big as the honeybee girls.

  'The face of the ... a mask...?'

  the sharp human-like jawline belopeared to be a -shaped face, I realized the creature that had pierced the honeybee girl was the same ohat had kidnapped me.

  I couldn't firm the fader the mask, so I wasn't sure if it was the exact same or just a simir type.

  Screech-!

  With the loud he rge s departed.

  's fighting each other...'

  Giant hors in solid armor, and pared to them, the honeybee girls who looked weaker and more human-like.

  Initially, I thought they were simply bat-type versus caregiving and gathering-type entities, but seeing them kill the honeybee girls so casually made it clear they were entirely different.

  'Are those not soldier s but hors?'

  If they were hors, the situation made sense.

  While honeybees live off the hohey collect from nature, hors attack honeybee hives to steal honey and rvae, even preying on the hohemselves.

  Some species of s kidnap rvae and hoo use as food or y eggs parasitically.

  It seemed that these honeybee girls were under forced cohabitatioo being raided by hors.

  Hum-!

  Amidst the earlier deafening bsts, the cute sound of the honeybee girls' wings fluttered as they began to gnaw away the beeswax blog the entrao the hive.

  Hum...

  "Ah..."

  Whether from injuries sustained during the hortack, blood was trig dowhigh, not deep but unfortunately nig a blood vessel, draining the honeybee girl's plexion to pale.

  Hum... hum...

  Soon, seeing that I was fine and the rva girl o me was unharmed, the honeybee girl smiled.

  Then, as she began to colpse in front of me, her wings tattered and losing strength—

  Click!

  I reached out and caught her.

  'What am I doing...'

  It would have been safer to let the honeybee girl fall.

  Despite the risk of beied due to the st of blood, my arm acted on its own.

  "Damn."

  Yes, logically, I should let go and leave the bleeding honeybee girl to fend for herself, but my heart wouldn't allow it.

  "Grr!"

  The honeybee girl was light enough to be lifted with one hand, and I gripped her thigh wound to stop the bleeding and save her life.

  'How much blood does a honeybee o lose before it's too much?'

  Although I wasn't sure, I pressed ohigh to stop the bleeding and waited.

  The cut was merely a scratch, unlucky enough to hit a vessel, but it was manageable with her natural healing, provided the wound closed up.

  "Phew..."

  The honeybee girl's blood was a bit darker than human's, and thankfully, the bleeding stopped quickly, allowio carry the exhausted honeybee girl deeper into the cave and cradle her.

  The cave was too narrow for us to be apart, so I maximized the space as much as possible.

  'sidering there's no honey ihe hive, these honeybee girls must have been kidnapped by those hors.'

  That's why there were so few honeybee girls.

  Perhaps the rva girl was kidnapped along with the honeybee girls who cared for her, hiding her from the hors' eyes and passing her food.

  'Well, it turns out... we're in the same boat after all.'

  Both of us captured by hors.

  * * *

  Uuuuung...

  Waking up to the vibrations in my arms, I saw a tiny Bee girl looking up at me with big, curious eyes.

  She seemed puzzled about why she was still alive, tilting her head as she looked at me, but as I gradually came to my sehe Bee girl turned her small body around and started to head out of the cave.

  'Going to gather honey?'

  As expected, the Bee was diligent and busy.

  Fortunately, the bleeding ihigh had stopped, and although there were some scars left, it didn't seem to hinder her movement.

  'After all, even Princess Arae... her two legs were broken, but they healed quickly after I helped her escape, so maybe i girls have geive abilities.'

  The Bee girl's stinger, which looked so intimidatierday, now seemed cute pared to the hors' stingers.

  'Besides, if that side is hard and grossly patterhis side is fluffy and squishy.'

  Peeking out to check for hors, the Bee girl firmed that most were resting and then cautiously unfolded her crumpled wings and flew up.

  Eeeeeeeng...

  Along with the cute fluttering sound of her wings, the Bee girl left to collect ho dawn, and I turned my body in the newly freed space to look outside again.

  'It's high.'

  The hive was huge.

  Measuring the height of a single hive hole big enough for a person to enter and the depth down to the floor, even if only 10% of the s were inside...

  It was clear that at least hundreds, realistically thousands of s resided in this rge hive.

  ' I escape?'

  Even if I ran away, the hors would fly after me and quickly catch up.

  If my peers came to support, I wouldn't worry, but it was crucial whether they could find the tray abdu while flying.

  'I activated the tracker in the mana saver as soon as I regained sciousness...'

  Watg the dawn break and the m sun rise, I ducked bato the cave to avoid entering the hors.

  The Honeybee girls had a purpose in keeping me alive and just harvesting, but the hors would definitely have killed the Honeybee girls and taken them away to eat them as a pieeat.

  Eeeeeeeng...

  About four hours ter, I checked outside again when I heard faint wing flutters, and saw the Honeybee girl with the thigh wound with a swollen belly flying towards here.

  'How much did she eat?'

  She had swallowed almost a bucket's worth, makioo heavy to fly properly, stumbling as she flew. Initially, I thought she would feed the rvae, but strangely, she flew to me first.

  Eeeeeeeng...

  As the Honeybee girl staggered in, I reached out my hand to help her nd fortably, and she immediately began to push the honey she had filled her mouth with into mihrough a kiss.

  Gulp. Gulp.

  Having en properly for a while, the sugar from the honey was revitalizing, and the viscosity was just right for easy swallowing si was mixed with the sticky saliva of the Honeybee girl, who was also helping the honey not solidify with her tongue, making it easier for me to eat.

  "Hoo..."

  As the Honeybee girl detached her lips, her face seemed flush for some reason.

  'Well... probably not?'

  Such behavior was merely a feeding habit for the Honeybee girls, not something that would cause arousal as it might in humans.

  Of course, I was aroused.

  Not being impotent, any normal man would get aroused if a naked girl g to him, mixing kisses and tongues.

  Eeeeeeeng...

  The Honeybee girl ged her posture, lifting her behind, and began to offer me the honey flowing from her lower half.

  'St both above and below?'

  Looking at the glistening privates covered in pollen and honey, I wondered if I should e it differently, but since her belly was slightly swollen with honey, I decided to help release it by pg my mouth there.

  'Ihis side tastes better.'

  Ultimate-Harem-fan