Chapter 48: Long Live Her Majesty the Queen (02)

  "......Huh...?"

  Through the dried traces of semen and my chilly body, I realized that the bee girl had left my embrace.

  'Did she go out to gather honey...?'

  Perhaps because I had slept deeply thanks to the bee girl, my head felt slightly groggy and my body felt heavy, as if it would take some time to return to normal dition.

  'My arm feels a bit itchy... huh?'

  As I scratched my forearm, I discovered several tiny needle-like holes there.

  'What are these?'

  The holes in my skin were very small, and when I touched them with my finger, no blood oozed out nor did the wounds open up, so it wasn't a major , but I couldn't feel much sensation when rubbing the area.

  'It's almost like... it's numb...'

  Uhe stinger on my left side which was signifitly rger and had a venom that caused a fever for days, these were very small and the venom was mild.

  'No wonder I slept so well...'

  If I activated my mana circuits, the numbness would quickly dissipate, as the venom only caused enough paralysis to allow my body to rex and sleep deeply.

  Normally, I would wake up from the st of the bee girl's honey, but today, for some reason, I woke up a bit early and regained sciousness as if pinned down by a nightmare, uo move.

  The reason for this was...

  Rustle... Rustle...

  The sound ing from the room, over the wall.

  'Has she awakened?'

  It had been about two days sihe queen bee rva had pupated, and it seemed that was enough time for the queeo emerge.

  Rustle. Rustle.

  The beeswax sealing the entraarted to fall off, revealing the queen bee pupa gradually making its appearance.

  The hard shell ing its body began to crack, and the naked queen bee iarted to unfold its wings.

  Crack...

  Although not yet fully dry, the queen bee quickly dried off and began regaining color as she emerged from the tight hive cave to stretd dry her wings.

  Watg a new queen being bht in front of me was a truly mystical aiful sight, drawing my gaze involuntarily, showing a more developed humanoid form pared to its previous rval state, with a bigger and loail and elegantly unfurling wings than those of the bee girl.

  'Fast'

  I wasn't sure how long it usually takes for is to emerge from pupation and transform, but it appeared that the queen bee in front of me would be ready to fly on her own within about 15 minutes.

  'It's still early dawn, so it seems like the s haven't emerged yet, if it stays like this...'

  However, 15 minutes was far too long to transform in the heart of eerritory.

  Keeeeeeeng-!!

  A painful vibrating noise began to echo as the s started their m patrols.

  Twitch.

  The queen bee also fli the sound of the wings, looking terrified, but she had already emerged from the pupa and her wings, not yet dry, would be ruined if she retreated bato the hole.

  's aren't known for their good vision, so maybe she won't be spotted if lucky...'

  Even with human-like vision, the queen bee, poking her upper body out and drying her wings and head, would be visible, but fortunately, s have poor vision, so they hadn't yet spotted the queen bee.

  'I should help.'

  After being captured by the s and nearly turned into meatballs, the bee girl had saved me, so I felt it was my turn to repay the favor.

  'Just a little longer...'

  Tense, I began activating my mana circuits to wake up my sluggish body and start preparing for battle, but I couldn't recover immediately.

  Although the venom ied by the bee girl was quickly ralized, the problem was that after spending several days ihis tight hive without proper movement, my muscles had stiffened, making it time-ing to switch my mana circuits to bat mode.

  'Has it really been several days without proper exercise?'

  Fortunately, there were no s yet... Slowly activating my mana circuits, I was regaining sciousness and grabbing my mana sword, ready to protect the queen bee from any potential attacks.

  Thump.

  "Uh...?"

  A sharp stinger suddenly pierced through the floor of the hive where I was lying, stabbing my thigh.

  It wasn't a deep wound, but through it, a potent paralyzing venom began to seep in, and I mao prevent further venom from entering by stretg my body, but this venom was inparably strohan the bee girl's.

  Then, a 's armored helmet emerged through the entrance of the hive.

  'How did they get here...'

  The sound I had heard earlier, the sound of the hive being nibbled away, wasn't just the queen bee pupa making spaerge; it was a digging up from below.

  Ssshh...

  Backlit and thus hard to see clearly, I could tell that the looking at me through the entrance was sneering.

  'Mana circuits... maximum output...!'

  The overheating of the mana engine caused a burning pain in my abdomen, but staying defenseless meant being food.

  ch... ch...

  The mana circuits forced my muscles and bones into a, starting to detoxify the venom that should have taken hours, if not days, over several days, by forcibly infusing and activating the liver with mana to purify it hastily.

  "Cough!"

  A burning smell wafted from inside my body, but stopping now meah.

  Creak... Creak...

  The , seeing my dition, thought it had subdued me and ignored me, turning its attention to the queen bee in the adjat room, raising its sharp-cwed hands.

  'No...!'

  In her inplete state, the queen bee would simply be sliced open by the 's strike.

  Even if she was lucky enough to avoid a fatal blow, if her wings or antennae were damaged, the queen bee would be uo escape.

  'Move... Move...!!'

  Although the smell aion of burning flesh rose from the overheating, iurn, I mao strety trembling hand and barely grasp the mana sword, but at that moment, another wave of venom spread through my body, f me to focus all my mana ooxification.

  'Like this......?'

  Could the bee girl's rva, whom the bee girl had painstakingly fed and raised to bee a queen, be captured by a just before being a queen, in such a vain manner?

  It's the natural order for strong s to prey on weaker bee girls...

  'Damn it...!'

  I couldn't accept it.

  Thud-thud-thud!!

  Mana burhrough my spine, iing the venom, but I was still powerless.

  "Run... away..."

  The defenseless queen bee, whose antennae were almost dry but whose wings were only halfway there, trembled with fear and g pitifully to the hive.

  'Move... Move, my body...!'

  Just as the 's sharp cw was about to tear the queen bee apart.

  Buzzzzzzzzz!!

  The buzzing of the 's wings was mere child's py pared to the cute sound of wings that now echoed.

  Poof!

  As the soft hive entrance colpsed, I could see the bee girl, with her crooked antenna, lunging at the .

  "Ah......!"

  The bee girl, who had goside to gather hoo protect her queen, was risking her life to attack the !

  'Dangerous!'

  The bee girl's bat ability was weak.

  She was sile that a human could injure her with just physical strength, small in size, and even her wings were too weak to fly effectively.

  A single could carry a human, but it took 3-4 bee girls to lift me.

  Yet, despite being overwhelmingly overpowered by the , the bee girl was fighting desperately.

  A single ssh of the 's sharp limb or a sting of its tail would be fatal for the bee girl, but skillfully, she mao buy time by ging to the 's back.

  'Just a little... time...!'

  The pain of burning flesh began to subside as the mana circuits started operating.

  Move, move, move.

  My body moved, and I held the mana sword, ready to intervene as the , distracted by the bee girl, raised its wings to strike.

  'Good, now...!'

  At that moment, the bee girl and I made eye tact.

  Just like st time... as she had done before, resigning to her fate, she smiled reassuringly at me, and in that moment, I uood what the bee girl had decided.

  "Don't do it......"

  g!

  The bee girl thrust her stinger into the retively unprotected abdomen of the !

  There was no exoskeleton there, but the noise was as loud as striking steel, and the bee girl's small, thin stinger peed halfway through the 's belly.

  'Did we win...?'

  The , caught off guard by the terattack, doubled over in pain...

  But that was it.

  The bee girl's weak stinger couldn't pee the 's exoskeleton.

  Even though the abdomen was a ot, the stinger only mao pierce slightly, and the bee girl's venom was too weak to paralyze the pared to the 's venom.

  "No......!"

  But with that strike, the 's attention was fully on the bee girl, and in that moment, she gritted her teeth aracted her tail.

  Fwoosh!

  The end of the bee girl's tail was torn off.

  Normally, a bee's sting isn't single-use and be fired multiple times if properly retracted, but forcibly retrag it from a hard surface like this could damage the iines ao death.

  Whirr!

  The bee girl evaded the 's twin hand strikes, bleeding from her tail yet managing to draw the down with her.

  'I must follow...!'

  Just as I finally mao move, clutg the mana sword and p up my legs to dash out of the hive cave, I caught sight of the ongoing situatioween the and the bee girl.

  "Ah......!"

  I saw the bee girl being split in half at the waist by the 's sharp jaws.

  "Aaaaaaaah!!!"

  AnnouA Special Thank You!:

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