He silently explored the other parts of the hive, moving one step at a time.
Even though his cloak made him invisible, he didn’t want to take chances or make the wrong movement, all he needed was one mistake and the entire swarm could descend on him.
The first hole he entered was filled with eggs.
The second too.
And then another.
Everywhere he went, eggs.
More than he could count, stuffed into the walls, hanging from the ceilings, piled on the floor.
They glowed faintly, each one glowing with sickly light.
He could see shadows moving inside them — half-formed Dreadhorns with twitching wings and tiny mandibles.
He frowned.
Was the queen breeding endlessly? Is that all she does?
The sheer number was insane. Thousands, maybe tens of thousands.
If they all hatched, even Winter city with hunters would fall.
He pulled vials of resin from his storage and hid them between the clusters.
He pushed them under slime webs, buried them near the bases of the egg piles. When the fire came, this entire chamber would turn into a death trap.
After finishing one chamber, he slipped into another.
This one was worse.
It was the food storage.
Bodies stacked high, like piles of meat in a market.
But this was no butcher’s stall — it was a nightmare.
Animal corpses, monster remains, and human bodies lay mixed together.
Limbs jutted out at odd angles, faces twisted in fear or pain.
The smell of rot made his throat burn.
He spotted a deformed human arm or at least it looked like it, sticking from the pile, pale skin half-covered in slime.
Quietly, he tucked more vials between the corpses.
The slime covering them would keep them hidden until the end.
He left that chamber quickly.
The next one nearly made him stop breathing.
It wasn’t eggs or food this time. It was something far worse.
A massive pit stretched across the floor, bubbling with thick black liquid.
It hissed, steaming, filling the air with poison.
Even standing near the entrance made his skin crawl.
His aura automatically rose around him, shielding his body from the radiation.
This was the source of the venom that dripped down the hive, pooling into the snow outside and deforming the tree.
His eyes narrowed.
What are they planning to use this for? He didn’t know.
But whatever it was, it couldn’t be good.
Nothing good ever came from letting monsters stockpile poison.
He placed paper bombs along the chamber’s walls, careful and precise, then got out quickly.
His lungs ached from the stench.
At last, he reached the final hole.
The front of the chamber was sealed with a thick wall of slime.
He stopped, hand pressed against the surface.
His instincts screamed at him.
This had to be it — the Queen’s lair.
He took a deep breath, gathered aura in his hand, and swept it outward.
The slime tore open with a wet rip, sliding to the sides.
He stepped inside.
The Queen’s chamber was bigger than the others, shaped like a throne hall.
The walls were straighter, built from layered wood, with sheets of mesh hanging down like curtains.
The buzzing here was softer, and slower...
And there she was.
The Queen.
At first glance, she almost looked human.
She wore a ball gown, pale fabric draping elegantly around her.
She sat with her back straight, posture perfect, hands resting in her lap.
For a moment, it was as if he had walked into a royal hall.
But her head was not human.
It was that of a beetle.
Black carapace gleaming in the dim light, mandibles clicking together, eyes faceted like shards of broken glass.
Those eyes fixed on him.
The drones scattered around the room didn’t react.
They hovered silently, blind to his presence thanks to the cloak.
But the Queen... she saw him.
Her mandibles clicked rapidly, sharp and deliberate, like words in a language not meant for humans.
He didn’t respond. His face remained cold.
Instead, he let his fingers twitch.
Vials poured out of his storage ring, clattering to the floor.
They rolled across the wooden surface, some shattering, liquid spreading outward.
The rest leaked slowly, adding to the spreading pool.
The Queen screeched, her voice so loud it made his bones rattle.
The drones reacted instantly.
They shot forward at him, a blur of wings and claws. But their aim was wrong.
They smashed into walls, crashed into the ground, scattering like broken arrows.
None touched him.
Azel almost laughed but bit it back.
He drew his sword instead, the metal ringing faintly in the air.
The Queen screeched again, higher this time.
Pain stabbed through his ears.
He grit his teeth and held firm.
The black liquid spread wider.
Then she moved.
Her wings burst open with a crack. In a blink, she darted forward, faster than anything he had faced before.
Her limbs stretched out like blades, stabbing straight for him.
He was ready.
He braced his stance, his aura blasting outward in a burst of wind.
The liquid spread faster across the floor, covering the chamber like an oil slick.
The smell burned his nose, but he didn’t falter.
The Queen almost slammed against him. Her strike came for his face.
And then the Ever Bracelet lit up.
A wave of crushing gravity exploded outward.
The Queen froze mid-strike, her claw stopping inches from his cheek.
Her body slammed into the floor with a thunderous crack.
Every drone dropped as well, pinned into the ground by invisible force.
They twitched helplessly, wings crumpling.
Even the ones outside the chamber crashed down, their screeches echoing through the hive as they were flattened into the walls and tunnels.
The Queen had called her subjects with that cry and the ones that got close were stopped by the gravity.
Azel’s lips curved into a cruel smile.
At least, even if some stragglers survived, most of them would die here.
His voice was calm when he spoke.
"Boom."
The bombs ignited instantly.
Fire burst from the walls, a violent roar that drowned out every sound. The resin and black liquid caught at once, exploding in waves of crimson flame.
The chamber became an inferno, heat and light consuming everything.
The Queen screamed, her voice rising above the fire, but only for a second.
Then the flames swallowed her.
And outside, the entire tree erupted.
A vile explosion engulfed the hive, fire tearing it apart from the roots to the crown.
Crimson light lit up the snowy forest, as if a second sun had been born.