Reincarnated To Evolve My Bee Empire

The first two humans who tried to get to the gate control mechanism died very quickly. The next ten—somewhat slower. After this, the rest tried to regroup and even brought torches to attack the bee soldiers in the doors.

They were easily flanked by a detachment of soldiers who flew out of the room through the embrasure window and were killed.

Meanwhile, below, Gresch led his armies over the moat and reached the iron grate gate. His Agent Bee reported to me about his successes while we fought.

Things were going great!

The detachments of the bee army that attacked the cannons fought off both the humans and found shelter from dragons in an unconventional place—inside the cannons themselves after their cannoneers were killed.

I made a note to praise Bloodimina, who came up with this idea, for her ingeniousness after this battle.

Meanwhile, Gresch's forces breached the iron gate. The defenders of the Castle Soneraht, which would've demolished the Naregan soldiers with their cannons and their muskets otherwise, were too distracted to muster proper defense!

Although they still did their best, Naregan soldiers got inside with minimal losses, and furious close quarters fighting started.

Castles like this one were defensible not only while the enemy was outside, but every step of the way. A lot of fighting was going inside the buildings.

This was also where I led the bee soldiers. These rooms were small, dark and dank, so insects and rats thrived there—we were met by hordes of them underneath the feet of Vardish soldiers. But most of these pests weren't brave enough to attack large groups of bees. And inside the buildings, we were protected from dragons and could kill humans until we got tired.

We just had to be careful to not set any furniture on fire by accident.

Blood poured left and right as we cut through insects and humans alongside Naregan soldiers. In this disgusting place, flies and rats went to bite off pieces of dead bodies right after they fell on the ground, often before they even stopped twitching.

It was insane. The local fauna bred so quickly that they were starving for any food to the degree where their hunger became much stronger than their usual fear.

We'd be attacked much more massively by them if we weren't flying above the worst of them like the rats.

Like that, the Naregan and the Bee Empire's armies gradually advanced deeper into the castle, taking room after room and courtyard after courtyard. We suffered losses, but they were minor both in my army and in Gresch.

At the castle's keep, the advancement had to slow down again—the defenders began fighting with even more desperation than before, and the hallways there were purposefully narrow. Our soldiers, both bees and humans, became quite tired after the prolonged fighting, and many people had to take breaks so they could return into the fray.

The fuel for fire-breathing was also running low after all this fighting, and many bees were saving their last reserves and instead fought with only their crossbows and spears. But I was positive that we still had enough fire and stingers to break the last defenses.

The bees flew ahead to kill and distract the defenders of the keep—for us, the hallways here were more than wide enough, and we could always enter through the windows.

At first, the fighting went the same way as it did in the other buildings surrounding the keep: with a lot of shooting of my stinger "gun" and a bit of fire-spitting. While the bee soldiers pressed on the defenders from above, Gresch led his fighters below. Personally, as his Agent reported to me with excitement.

It was risky, but who was I to speak?

I and my soldiers breached yet another hallway when a hint of a scent gave me a pause. I hovered in one place, waving my antennae and trying to understand if I was smelling it right.

A beetle twice of my size darted toward me with murder in its eyes and massive spikes all over its body. Before it could hug me to death, Destroyer darted to block its way with a powerful hammer blow that broke two spikes on the beetle's head and cracked a chitin plate on its forehead.

The mass of the creature still threw Destroyer back, but then three other bodyguards lunged closer and finished the enemy with several spear stabs into open skin between the plates of the beetle's chitin.

"Father, don't stand around like that," a somewhat ruffled Destroyer chided me, returning to hover near my side. To my relief, she only lost a single hit point.

"Uh, thanks, Destroyer. But I paused for a reason…"

I frowned and sent a message to Gresch's Agent. She was a Beehound like all Agent Bees, and her scent was much stronger than mine. I also felt like she was probably closer to its source.

'Agent, do you smell oil?'

'Huh?'

'Just answer—it's important!'

'Of course I do, Father. Humans use oil in a lot of places. They also have a kitchen in this building, and it's on the first floor. They have oil there.'

'No, more oil! Spilled oil that I can smell even here!'

'I… Hm. Yes, I can smell something like that near…'

I cursed under my breath and flew to a more isolated area of the hallway.

"Destroyer, cover me for a moment. Your father needs to think."

"Yes, Father!" she replied without hesitation, despite her earlier comments about my safety.

And I thought, but not my own thoughts—I focused on the thoughts of humans in this building.

It was hard to listen to them all without even seeing them, especially when so many of them were having strong thoughts about being in pain or dying.

But then, I heard it—the thought that I feared to hear!

'We are doomed, we are doomed, we are doomed… At least my body won't fall to these creatures! My soul will be purified by fire. Just a little more oil… and we will all burn!'