I spent the next day double-checking everything, giving instructions to my research-industrial complex (MORE STRING!), and kissing goodbye to my beautiful wife.
I really didn't want to go.
If one forgot about the itty-bitty issue of the hornet nest somewhere under our side, I've been showered with congratulations from the system today.
〔Population〕: 25 thousand
〔Development level〕: 2
〔Development points〕: 52 / 100
〔Species〕: Common Honey Bee
> Building materials: 27 units
Primitive Spiked Armor
I was halfway to the next upgrade and our storage supplies were full of materials and food. Why would I *want* to go anywhere instead of watching numbers grow?
Yet, I looked at the busy bees inside the hive one last time and, together with three Commando Bees flew toward the Danger Zone.
I only took three bees with me, because this was *only* a scouting mission, and I sacrificed our combat power for more stealth. We didn't even carry candles: only hammers and small jugs with honey for the road.
As we flew, I saw many Forager and Foremen Bees in the distance, harvesting nectar and pollen from flowers in an organized manner. It was mesmerizing to watch.
Halfway to the Danger Zone, I landed on the ground.
"From now on, we will go on foot—and in camouflage. Let's get that nice, thick coat of body paint."
We took off our bone armor to quickly cover ourselves in dirt, then put it back. It itched terribly, but my Commando Bees showed no signs of discomfort.
Ever since I taught them the importance of silence, they barely spoke at all, becoming cold and unapproachable.
Professional deformation was very real.
With the trees hiding us from the view of aerial predators, and mud hiding us from everybody else, I felt reasonably safe, even far from the hive.
As my team continued toward the Danger Zone, this opinion changed quickly.
Our bright coloring was a defense in itself—a warning to predators that we bees are not to be messed with. But now every third insect we've met watched us with hungry eyes!
So many creatures, a lot of which were bigger than us. But two out of three didn't notice us at all. We stuck to the shadows like real commandos.
But dark and quiet places also weren't empty.
〔Species〕: Pygmy Blue-Tongued Skink
〔Remaining lifespan〕: 6081 d
Sticky Tongue I, Claws I
The beast noticed us at the same time we noticed it.
It was a lizard-shaped creature, as warped as everything in this world. Its mouth ended with a short beak, and its 10-meters-long body was covered in red-and-green feathers that made it blend with the forest much better than one would expect from a thing its size.
'If this is a pygmy skink, how huge is the normal one? Its head alone is as big as I am!'
Then I stopped thinking and shouted, "Run!"
I dashed away from the skink, and the skink charged after me on its short legs. Behind me, I heard gasps of Commando Bees, then buzzing of their wings.
'Oh right, I can fly!'
I pushed myself off the ground just a moment before the skink's beak closed over the place where I just was.
I and my squad safely landed on a fern leaf a dozen meters above. Skink, seeing that its prey disappeared, turned around and crawled back to its ambush spot.
I wiped nervous sweat and some mud from my forehead.
"Phew, this was close…"
"Father, quiet," a Commando Bee whispered to me. "We must be *quiet*. Don't shout."
I slapped a hand over my mouth.
"We remember where this thing lives. Later, we can return with more bees," a Commando Bee whispered and moved her bee-tail, miming stinging someone.
My eyes widened as my daughters all nodded with approval.
'Such drive for revenge! Is this a Commando Bee thing, or just a general bee thing?'
"Anyway… Let's just get going," I whispered.
We continued our journey even more carefully, as I tried to stay below notice of the beasts that hunt from above (especially hornets), but above notice of the beasts that hunt below.
Several other times, we had to get away from 'hunters' who thought we were close enough to try getting us.
Well, they sure *tried*! We were faster every time.
It was noon by the time I saw a broken hammer on the ground, recognizable only by bits of bark on its handle and half-disappeared in the grass. We definitely reached the Danger Zone.
It made me feel melancholic.
"Look out for anything hive-shaped or hornet-shaped," I whispered.
There were no pillar mountains nearby. Where else would have I built a hive if I was a colony of murder hornets?