Chapter 100: Honey

HIVE STATS

EGG SPECIALISATION

: UNIT TYPES :

sd

SELF IMPREGNATION

HOST IMPREGNATION

The number 900 stared at me with guilt. Dammit. I'll kill that bitch when I find her. My eyes glanced towards the unit types screen. We're gonna need a lot of units.

New Unit Added

Warden

A combat utility unit. It’s the warden's duty to keep watch over and maintain discipline among captured subjects

Gestating 3 days

Biomass 500

New Unit added.

Bullwark

WARNING XL SIZED UNIT. YOU MAY NOT BE ABLE TO PLACE MANY EGGS INSIDE A SINGULAR HOST

A combat defensive unit. The bullwark is a large unit with tough armour resistant to most physical attacks. And with enough strength to tear down a wall

Gestation 4 days

Biomass 5000

New unit added

Skirmisher.

An offensive combat unit. The skirmisher is a lightly armoured combat unit equipped with chitin sabres. What they lose in armour, they make up with speed, agility and impressive reactions.

Gestation 3 days

Biomass 750

A smile crept across my face. Nice to see the system is more responsive to my needs.

Challenge added.

One True Queen

Eliminate or assimilate the silkwrith queen.

Reward Unique Unit: 30 points and Special unit Lurkrid.

Lurkrid

A combat unit. The lurkrid tunnels underground and waits. Waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike.

Oooh, new challenge, but what's this about assimilating her? Do I absorb her into my body? Do I become part spider? An image of me with 8 legs. Came to mind. Scary stuff.

I swiped the challenge away. Whilst assimilating her is tempting, killing her outright is even more tempting. What to do. What to do. *sigh* I'll just leave it in the air, and besides, I don’t even know what the system means by “Assimilating” her, and before that, I need to rebuild the hive, so let's get to work…..

A few moments later…

My wings fluttered once more as I came in to land just outside the hive. During my flight, I built and set up this clutch of eggs, and I must say it’s not half bad.

Are you sure you want to specialise:

4 x bullwark.

100 x skirmishers

100x warriors

100x Basic combat unit.

200x workers

For 280,000  biomass?

I approved the selection of eggs. Like before, deep, arousing heat wafted from my core. Not nearly as intense as last time, but enough to really excite me.

I took several staggered steps into the hatchery, where I was met by a few nurses.

<Are they ready>

<Yes, mother, all ready to receive your eggs.>

<Hahah, good, I have a lot of pent-up frustration to deal with….>

2 Days later….

<This is always the worst part> I said, lying on the bed

<What is?> Sally asked.

<Waiting for the eggs to finish growing. I just want them now.>

<Mother Nature can't be rushed. Mother. You will have to wait.>

<I know. It's just that there isn't much to do besides train and wait, and I can't do much of the former.>

<And who is responsible for that> Sally joked.

I looked back towards where a very pregnant Sally was lying. What can I say? I couldn’t help myself.

<If you're looking for something to do, see Azzura. Last I checked he was building something in the mushroom farm.>

<He is? Shouldn’t he focus on the repairs of the hive?>

<I don’t know. Why don’t you go check on him and find out, Mother?> she said, like a mother telling off her child. I rolled my eyes and slowly slinked out of bed.

<When did you get so confident?>

She chuckled and said Nothing as she happily rubbed her belly. She's a weird one that one. But I am fond of her. Not like Apollinaris, but weirdly, she feels like a sister to me.

I moved out into the hatchery, where I was met with the lovely moans of several breeding stock. I took a glance to the side. Annoyingly, we are down one woman. Partially my fault, as she didn’t survive giving birth to the bio processor.

<She was tasty if I remember>

I headed out of the hatchery and towards azuura, who wasn’t too far away. I found him in the mushroom farm. Talking to the architects.

<Azuura!>

His head snapped around to see me.

<Mother? Perfect timing. We have something to show you>

<Do you now? What have you built this time?>

<Well, it's..>

<No wait!> I interupted. <Show me instead. I think that will be more fun.>

He nodded and beckoned me to follow him.

<As you know, all the bio processors are now mature and ready to work. However, due to their size, we've had to make a separate space for them.>

I followed him to the rear of the mushroom farm, past the storage room, to where a new tunnel had appeared.

<When did you have time to make this? I thought we were focusing on the repairs.>

<We are. However, this can help us. The average worker spends 30  minutes a day eating raw biomass. If we switch from raw biomass to bio serum, they can get their daily required amount of nutrients in 3 minutes. Allowing for more work to be done.>

Hahaha, quite the slave driver, isn't he…. I hope the workers don’t unionise.

We went through the tunnel into another chamber. As we walked, a sweet smell hit my nose, making my mouth water. Is that what I think it is? We finally burst out of the tunnel, and immediately on my right, there were 5 bio processors. And boy, they are huge. If I had to guess, they were around 14ft tall and 8ft wide. Their heads were huge; however, most of it was just mouths. A mouth filled with sharp mandibles and tough molars to grind up everything it eats. Its body started off like a square, but it tapered to a point as it got to the end, where its “Serum depositer” was.

<Why did it have to be there ….>

<Mother?>

<Nothing. Continue azuura.>

<Of course. Periodically, the bio processors are fed biomass, which they convert into bio serum. If you would follow my mother>

He took me into another tunnel that led to another room. Dim orange light bled into the tunnel. What's in there?

<And here is where we store the bio serum.> I left the tunnel and was immediately met with a wall of pale yellow hexagons. On cue, a worker scurried past me. Orange fluid is flowing out of its mouth. It ran up to an empty pentagon as it stuck its head in. A near-invisible wax film parted, allowing him to empty his mouth before quickly scurrying away. The film quickly closed, stopping anything from flowing out.

<May I?>

He nodded. I walked over to one of the pentagons. And stuck my hand towards it, parting the transparent film.

I  stuck a finger into the orange Honey and took it to my mouth. A sweet taste. Sweeter than the purest cane sugar.

<This is amazing>

+1000 biomass.

+100 Efficient processing bonus

My eyes bulged. So much biomass from such a tiny amount of serum. All I did was dip the tip of my finger in.

<Great work, azuura. I'll leave it all in your hands.>

<Of course.>

I turned around and left. He's working so hard. I should probably do my bit as well.

A few moments later….

<Have you found them?>

The wild bee shook its head. <No Grand Queen.> I looked towards the other insects. The same response.

< You all tried. Go back to your respective Homes. And tell your queens I said thank you >

They instantly flew away. I let out a deep sigh.

<What a waste of time…>

Suddenly, one of the royal flies climbed out of my armour.

<Mother. If you're trying to find the spiders, couldn't you use the underground tunnel they used to invade us?>

<It was an idea. But I thought against it and had it sealed by the workers. We don’t have any defensive force at the moment, so if they attack again, that tunnel could have been used against us. It was too risky.>

<Yes, mother. Why didn’t I think of that?>

I chuckled. And brought him closer. <It was a good idea, don’t feel bad..>

The speed of my wings increased as I took off. Heading back to the hive. What a disappointing waste of time this was. But it beats doing Nothing. My wings beat like a military drummer as I flew closer to the hive. I glanced over to the west; if I remember correctly, there was something there as well. I flew a bit closer. As I did, I felt a wave of uncertainty. Rise from my core. I flew a bit closer. The feeling grew more and more. What is this feeling? Why am I so….

My wings trembled, causing me to drop a few feet in height.

<Dammit! What's wrong with me!?>

I flew deeper into the territory. The feeling intensified as I moved deeper. The feeling was like Nothing I've experienced before.

<just what is this fee- Euaghhhaaaa>

My wings trembled heavily, sending me spiralling towards the ground.

<WHAT IS GOING ON!> I screamed as my wings finally stopped twitching enough for me to stop myself from colliding into the tree tops.

<Damn, that was close>

I slowly descended towards the forest floor, landing on the wet forest floor. I looked around, surveying the area. The feeling in my body had grown exponentially. But I pushed it down as deep as I could.

<focus diva. Survey the area.> I looked and listened. Usually, you see and hear all sorts in this forest. The calls of birds, the rustling of animals moving and hunting. But here was something different: no sound, no signs, just Nothing.

< It's like everything just left.> I kept moving forward deeper into the hive. My instincts are screaming for me to return home. But  I pushed forward. I know it's risky, but I need to know what's here. I'm gonna have to conquer this area at some point. I kept walking forward, scanning the path ahead for any sort of life. I took a sharp right and kept moving. Still no signs of anything. Could my instincts be wro-

<UGhAAAAAAAAAHHHHH> I yelled as I tripped onto the ground.

<What was that….> I said as I looked down to see a tree root prodding out of the ground.

<How did I?.... Its not like me to->

*GRRRGGGHHHHHHH*

My body froze. As the feeling returned several-fold. I tried to move, but my body was paralysed. Just what was here?

*GRRGGGGGHHHHHH*

The growl came again, this time deeper and more aggressive. I need to get outta here! I felt my wings flutter as I tried to fly away. Come on. Let's go, we need to-

“You should really relax”

A deep voice reverberated in front of me. I tilted my head forward as much as I could. But all I could see was the same forest.

“W….w…whho….there…” I barely uttered out.

“That's right. The spell is still active. Isn't it….”

On cue, the forest ahead ruptured and melded and twisted and formed an eye. An eye so large that it dwarfed me. The eye was gold with an obsidian slit. I looked to the side and noticed rows and rows of hard, jet-black scales. As far as the eye could see.

My instincts screamed at me to run, but my body was paralysed with that damn feeling. A feeling I haven't experienced up until now…. Fear.