Reincarnated To Evolve My Bee Empire - Chapter 184

Chapter 184: To the enemy’s territory!
The second ride on the dragons went better than the first.

After I got used to the headwind, the cold air, and the shaking of Scourge’s back under me, I could enjoy the sighs and the flight itself better.

Scourge was flying above the tops of the pillar mountains, and it was the first time I could look at them from this viewpoint. Their protruding side-pillars met each other, and the trees growing there blocked the sight of the ground.

‘It’s just like… a forest on top of a forest made of many small forests!’ I realized.

At this moment, an epiphany struck me—something I probably should’ve realized ages ago.

This world really was some inverted version of Earth—to an extent, at least.

Insects that looked like humans and humans that looked like insects. Lizards with feathers and birds (dragons!) with scales. Other animals also had mixed features, often more insect than animal in shape, while retaining their key features.

And the pillar mountains bees used as shelter were actual trees! Except massive and made of stone.

Then, the forest I was used to calling “forest” was just grass.

Even the storms—they had to have been ordinary rains, at least, from the perspective of someone human-sized. But for bees, each storm was disastrous!

It made me shudder to think about what an *actual* storm would look like, and hope that I never see one.

This all was just mind-boggling.

‘How the hell does this all work? Wait, would that mean that the pillar mountains… actually grow? Or burn?’

There were a lot of questions I’d love to ponder about, but this wasn’t the time or the place.

The rescue operation was my first priority right now.

***

Invincible-13 successfully made Scourge land on a low-hanging “branch” of a pillar mountain near the human village. From here, I could see its simple houses and a hint of a road.

The walls of the houses were made from rock—pillar mountain rock, I assumed—but the roofs were covered by wood piled like straw. Only a few roofs were covered with rock shingles, and not a single building I saw had glass windows. Humans and a few smaller beasts moved around, but too far to see details.

Following Scourge, Disaster and Woe with their teams landed near.

“Everybody except the dragon handlers, dismount!” I declared, being the first one to fly off the Scourge’s back. “Handlers, try to keep the dragons here until we return.”

“Yes, Father!” Invincible-13 and two other “driving” Beemarines said.

“We will do our best, and if the dragons decide to leave, we will try to find you later!” Invincible-13 promised.

I nodded.

“This will be much better than walking on our own feet. Too bad the research camp is still just a project.”

Explanatory and the team tasked with building a camp to study human language left Hive Supremo a few days ago. By my estimate, right now they were just approaching the village’s premises.

If this rescue mission was happening a week later, they could have provided us shelter.

When the rescue teams dismounted, I examined us all again.

Not counting the dragon handlers, there were ten bees in each squad: one Beehound and 8 experienced Beemarines. In my team, one Beemarine was replaced by me.

Despite Destroyer’s unhappiness, most of these Beemarines were field operatives, instead of my bodyguards. Even in my team, although I took Destroyer with me.

She’d have an aneurysm if I didn’t.

For this mission, I commissioned some special equipment, too.

First—camo clothing. It was made from darkened leather, covered most of our bodies, and had leaves sewed onto it for extra camouflage.

It still only gave us the ‘Camouflage I’ trait, but was more durable than rolling in dirt.

I didn’t take my Forever Greatest armor, but I still had the conduction spear and a wire attached to my chest. Other bees had no armor at all—being fast would help us more than the protection the primitive armor provided.

Also, instead of standard weapons—hammers—all of us were wielding iron pickaxes, which were rapidly brought all the way from Hive Rich.

I was ready to break some glass.

“Alright, let me repeat the plan before we start. We go together until we reach the target building. Beehounds will help us locate it without flying above the roofs—it should smell like herbs. Once there, we check if prisoners are inside. Then, teams one and two will go in. Team three will hide at the main entrance and warn us if someone approaches. And remember—this is a stealth mission. Only attack if you see no other option. All clear?”

“Yes, Father!”

I looked my troops over. The dragons were content to just hang around for now; the Beemarines were puffing out their chests and clenching their fists; the Beehounds wouldn’t meet my eyes, but had a determined set in their jaws.

I smiled.

“We can do it. We will return with victory and a grand heroic tale. Are you ready?!”

They all saluted as one—even the Beehounds.

“Yes, Father!”

“Then we take off. Take care, you big byrbs,” I waved to the dragons and was the first one to fly to the ground.

Although the village appeared close, the size of its buildings deceived me. It took the rescue teams half an hour to enter the village proper.

Inside, there were much fewer trees to provide cover, but much more noise to cover our movements, and tons of other shit. Literally shit and literally tons—the stench hit me even before we approached.

“Dammit… Do they just let cattle shit all over the place?” I grumbled, looking at a mountain-like pile of dung in my way. “Oh, but what am I thinking about? Of course I do! Beehounds, can you still lead the way?”

Hound-Solo, my team’s Beehound, nodded and pointed to the side.

That’s where we went, staying in cover and flying only when the noise around hid our buzzing.

The humans didn’t suspect a thing.

Another hour later, Hound-Solo pointed toward a building, which was slightly bigger than others and had a shingle roof. The Beehound nodded meaningfully—but even without her, I could smell the smell of herbs from within.

“This is it, everybody. Moving in.”