Reincarnated To Evolve My Bee Empire

Several hours later, the remaining bees of Hive Woodcutter watched as their home was burning in a column of fire and smoke of the size nobody had ever seen before. The dragons and giant beasts that normally lived on tops of pillar mountains either fled already or were crying out in fear from a safe distance.

It would've been an awe-inspiring sight if the fire didn't destroy the home of a thousand bees, the bees themselves, and even their Queen.

The survivors, many of them burned or weak from smoke, stared at the flames somberly. Nobody cried, but everybody born in Hive Woodcutter was looking bereft—like they lost all reasons to live.

Bloodhero watched this, feeling pain and anger in equal measure. She knew that with Father being away, Hive Woodcutter won't be rebuilt—not soon, at least. Out of 48 thousand bees, only 23 thousand survived. Too many were crushed by initial human attack, or died trying to drive humans away, or just suffocated and burned while trying to evacuate others.

These 23 thousand bees will have to join another hive, or become parts of various work camps. But even bees in work camps had a living Queen in existence of which they found comfort!

One day, they will recover—but it won't be today. (But perhaps tomorrow or after-tomorrow, when they will meet and befriend their new hive-sisters.)

At least, by now more help has arrived from other hives, help that these bees actually needed: food, physicians, and other necessities.

By evening, this place was going to become empty. Bees couldn't spend the night out in the open.

'This will make patrolling this area much harder—the border patrols won't have a place to rest in and resupply,' Bloodhero thought grimly, imagining the map of the Empire in her head. 'Was this the humans' plan? Put a hole in our defenses? Maybe I'm paranoid and they are just attacking at random, or because this place is the closest to them, but… Why not Hive Rich?'

Hive Rich had the gold the humans coveted, according to Father. But humans barely showed their hides there.

'I can't underestimate these creatures. The Empire might fall if I do! Either way, Mother-Queen should hear these thoughts. I must return to Hive Supremo.'

***

"I believe you," Mother-Queen Ambrosia said after listening to Bloodhero's speech. She closed her eyes for a moment. "Humans succeeded once, but we can't allow them to do it again. We *can't*, Bloodhero."

Despite the heaviness of her words, Mother-Queen looked like a picture of calm and conviction. Only a twitch of Mother-Queen's hand showed her righteous anger.

"Yes, Mother-Queen!" Bloodhero saluted. "I've already thought about countermeasures. The weapons prepared by Researchina must be spread to garrisons of sub-hives, especially ones that will be most likely attacked. A military camp must be built near the former Hive Woodcutter so that we can keep our borders protected. The border fighters themselves should carry the new weapons, too. But we must be more careful with large fires near pillar mountains, of course…"

The actual discussion of all plans took the rest of the evening and then a part of the next morning.

By then, the dragons finally returned to Hive Supremo, still smelling like the carrion they ate. At least they let riders fly on their backs, and these riders brought more news.

Humans were celebrating their victory (or mourning their dead from earlier) with awful howling that replaced them normal songs. As disgusting as that sounded, it meant they weren't preparing more attacks for now.

According to Explanatory's research, humans had their own "foragers" and "nurses", who were too busy with vital tasks for the colony to wage wars.

In the short time they had, Bloodhero made sure that the Empire became as prepared as possible for future attacks. Now more and more soldiers were armed with candles and pots of tree resin, starting with border patrols.

Bloodhero also tried to predict where humans will attack next. The garrisons there had to be increased, and civilians evacuated beforehand. At least those that could—there was no safe way to transport the growing broods.

Another day later, humans dared to attack again—and this time, the bees were warned about their approach in time by dragon riders.

There were 10 humans again, all in thick clothing and with unlit torches. It was hard to say yet where they would attack exactly, but the most likely target was Hive Hunting Grounds.

"We will return with victory this time. For the Empire!" Bloodhero promised before the gathered army.

"FOR THE EMPIRE!" 15 thousand voices shouted back, and Bloodhero ordered to signal the march.

An hour of flight later, a messenger reached an army, confirming Bloodhero's guess—humans were really noticed approaching Hive Hunting Grounds when they met border patrols.

But like before, the humans just sped up and went right past them, swiping their torches at any bee that tried to follow!

After hearing this part of the report, Bloodhero realized that relying on patrols against humans was a bad idea in the first place. Not when they refused to accept an honest fight!

This time, the reinforcements reached the hive in time. When Bloodhero's army landed near Hive Hunting Grounds, they didn't see humans at all. Only half an hour later, they saw the fist hints of humans in the distance, mostly hidden by pillar mountains.

"We will fly toward them, soldiers!" Bloodhero ordered. "We can't let humans stick their torches into another hive!"

It took them another ten minutes for the army and the humans to get close enough for Bloodhero to see humans clearly.

Although it was her first time seeing a human that close, she heard so many reports about them that she barely felt anything else but anger. They were massive, ugly, and smelled even worse than she imagined. Their clothing covered all but their eyes, but very little of it was made from leather.

Bloodhero looked at the front human and saw a giant eye turn in her direction. Perhaps even directly at her.

She met the alien gaze bravely.

The human glanced behind Bloodhero, to Hive Hunting Grounds, then back at his fellows. They exchanged some words, making Bloodhero wince from the sound of their voices.

And then turned around and began running away!