Chapter 49: Long Live Her Majesty the Queen (03)

  "Sniff sniff... There's a smell ing from here!"

  The e anthropoids were trag a st, each moving in different dires.

  With the help of Molng and Shuru, trag the st from clothes and undergarments Ban had used, they were relentless in their pursuit.

  Unlike being carried away by the , the military dogs and the magical knight rescue squads had to move on the ground, thus they faced siderable difficulty passing through the spider forest...

  'At first, the spiders were hostile, but did they retreat when Daepped forward?'

  Levin saw the giant spiders retreating in reition of Dane and wondered what had happened, but Daold him to ask Ban for details, without giving away anything himself.

  Thanks to this, they were able to cut straight through the spider forest, but the rescue squad from the magical knight order... and two military dogs had to stop chasing Ban's trail after disc a forest where every creature had been hunted and killed.

  "What oh is happening?"

  Levin, Dane, and Jake, seeing the mountains in the dista as real mountains but as a gigantic , had no choice but to halt their advance.

  "That's like... thousands of..."

  Realizing it wasn't something the three knights and two military dogs could handle, Levin immediately opened a unicator to tact the magical knight order.

  "Requesting le magical bombardment. Coordinates are..."

  "What if Bas caught in it?"

  Dane's cautious question made Levin open his mouth relutly.

  "If that many s e out, who knows what damage they'll do to the capital... then a knight must be sacrificed."

  "Hmm... But if Ban is inside..."

  While Dane was worried, Jake forted him by patting his shoulder.

  "Don't worry. Ban isn't someone who'd die even if you tried to kill him."

  There were still 30 minutes left until the royal magic artillery could perform a rge-scale bombardment.

  * * *

  I knew I was doomed to die the moment the stinger ulled out.

  But still...

  I couldn't just stand by and watch such a se unfold before my eyes.

  Whoosh!

  Sliding at the entrance of the tilted hive, I reduced my speed and nearly rolled down the surface, scraping it as I desded.

  Phut!

  In a situation that required braking midway, I activated the mana sword to slow down, cutting through any s or rvae that emerged due to the disturbance, quickly reag the ground.

  Groan!

  g my teeth against the pain that seemed to crack my ankles, I had to keep movie the excessive operation of the mana circuits causing blood to rise to my throat.

  "No..."

  It was hopeless.

  From the body of the bee girl, now split at the waist, honey and sticky blood were flowing out, ae attempts to cover the wounds as before, it was now impossible to administer first aid sihe spine was pletely severed.

  The impact of falling to the ground had pletely crumpled oenna, and the previously intae had snapped off, leaving only the bent ohat seemed to still sense me as the bee girl's face turowards me.

  "It's okay. Just catch your breath for a moment..."

  Gulp...

  The hohat had filled her throat now leaked out, mixed with copious amounts of red blood, unlike before.

  Although is don't succumb to shock from bleeding like humans, staying like this meant a slow death, and there was visibly no way to recover her now.

  "If you're a worker bee, why didn't you just gather a lot of honey instead of ing then..."

  My hand trembled as I held hers, feeling through the small hand that the bee girl was rapidly dying.

  It wasn't just the faibeat mixed with i characteristics, but the touch of a life's light dimming and dying.

  Whoosh!

  The high heat of the mana sword ly split the hive's wall, igniting embers.

  Thud!

  A heavy nding and the chilling sound of flesh being torn came from behind me.

  Chew, chew...

  The had started to chew on the legs of the bee girl, which it had previously halved.

  Seeing the bee girl's leg in the 's mouth and the scars ohigh, I dropped her hand and gripped the mana sword.

  Vroom-

  Thud! Thump!!

  Simultaneously, numerous s escaped from the hive, stirred by the chaos I had caused, and I was quickly surrounded by them within seds.

  "Ha."

  I had hidden for days to avoid this situation.

  Not attempting escape, using the mana sword, sharing tight spaces where we slept and ate together, all to avoid such a dire situation.

  But... still...

  By staying passive in such circumstances just because I didn't want to be in danger...

  Wouldn't that make me not just unknighthly, but less than human?

  Screeeeech!!

  "Magiight Trainee, Ban."

  Looking at the bee girl hanging above, drying her wings, I forced myself to look away.

  "I'll kill all the s."

  Screech!

  The pierg noise hurt my ears as the s charged.

  Uhe bee girl, the s had arms, legs, and backs made of exoskeletons, and even their faces, potential oints, were protected by armored helmets, leaving no easy targets.

  Even the abdomen, appearing soft, had enough defeo stop the bee girl's stinger from fully peing.

  'So what!'

  My body had stiffened from croug for days.

  Poisoned and f my body to move, my mana was depleted.

  But my mind was w sharply, and I aimed precisely at the joint of the 's tail as I swung the mana sword.

  Whoosh!

  No bodily fluids came out.

  The bde of the mana sword, emitting high heat and pressure, would've cooked any blood that appeared, and it was so hot it caused the s' wings to curl from the heat.

  From every dire, even from above, the s attacked, but as I emitted intense heat with the mana sword, causing burns to my arms, the s couldn't approach, and I charged at any enemy in my path, iing them.

  Roar!

  Whether it was a thick exoskeleton or a human-sized body, nothing remained after being sliced by the mana sword.

  Even if a human would survive with severe burns, the s' bodies, lightweight and with hard shells but extremely vulnerable to heat, were instantly ied upon tact with the mana sword.

  4, 8, 17, 23, 28.

  In a matter of seds, nearly thirty s had swarmed around me and died from bustion, and I ran forward, swinging my sword.

  Crack!

  Screech!!

  But just as my sword was about to slice through a , the hive floor beh me began to tear open.

  "Cough!"

  Unstable footing caused my mana sword strike to narrowly miss the .

  "Damn!"

  Calg to ie all approag s with one final ssh, I had used up all my mana, so wherike missed, I was left mana-drained.

  But already unbanced, I was effectively handing the attack over to the as the heat from the mana sword dissipated and the 's tail pierced my left arm.

  'Before the poison spreads...!'

  I aimed the mana sword heatedly at the 's face, intending to unleash the bde...

  Pssht-!

  But I was out of mana.

  Without enough mana to mahe bde of the mana sword, instead, the mana circuits backfired, causing blood te up my throat, and I iently exposed myself to attack.

  The , seizing the opportunity, opes helmet's mouth to ssh at my neck.

  Thud!

  "Cough...!"

  I trated the remaining mana in my right arm to block the 's jaws from chewing through my neck, but as I pulled out all the stops, the protective mana quickly depleted, leaving deep wounds as flesh and muscle were torn, exposing bone.

  "Grunt...!!"

  Despite its smaller size, the soft body of the bee girl had enough power to split a waist.

  Raising my right arm to protect my neck had spared me from instant decapitation, but it resulted in both arms being injured, rendering them immobile.

  ch...

  The 's jaws tightened like a hook digging into my neck.

  Simultaneously, the raised its tail to stab me in the eye, aiming to kill.

  "Cough!"

  Dug, the 's tail grazed my ear and pierced the hive's wall, and it quickly retracted its tail to aim at my face again.

  'This bastard...!'

  It seemed to be enjoying pying with its prey.

  Looking at the 's jaws that could pierce to the bone and the eyes beyond that mocked me, I spat out my st words.

  "Die."

  Thump!

  I kicked up at the abdomen of the that had e close.

  With my maed, overheated to the point of no longer being able to emit any output, it was difficult to burn this to death with the mana sword, and this had been my target from the start.

  Crack...!

  The bee girl's stinger, half-buried, dug into the 's abdomen, and in pain, the unwittingly opes jaws, releasing me.

  Wham!

  With a spin, I delivered a back kick to the stinger embedded in the abdomen, driving it further in. The small stinger pierced right through the 's abdominal muscles.

  But it was still not enough.

  "Aaaargh!"

  My right arm moved.

  Thwock!!

  That should be enough.

  Enduring the pain of my neck being nearly severed, I gave up ooxifying and packed the st of my mana into the stihe bee girl's stinger received my mana and spiraled, tearing through the 's body and embedding itself in the hive.

  I had returhe favor to the that had split the bee girl's waist.

  Ultimate-Harem-fan