Reincarnated To Evolve My Bee Empire

Someone was trying to burn the entire building! Even though its walls were made from solid rock, there was enough furniture and support beams from living stone that *will* burn.

I was sure that this human wasn't acting on the commandant's orders, so if we killed him quickly, the threat would be stopped. Most other humans were desperate, but not to this degree.

'Bloodimina!' I messaged my Grand Commander. She was close enough to me that I could see her, but far enough that shouting would've been very inconvenient, especially with all the surrounding noise. 'Bloodimina, I need a squad of Beehounds to sneak past the fighting to find and kill a dangerous target—the person who spills oil everywhere. Immediately! No, thirty minutes ago!'

'Thirty minutes ago is impossible—' I caught Bloodimina thinking before she caught herself. 'Commando Silentwalk will suit the task. I will ask other squads to give them stinger-tipped bolts for their crossbows.'

This was better than nothing. Beehounds packed much less deadliness than other bees. They couldn't even breathe fire! Which was, in this case, for the best…

'After they find the target, send a few dozen Beemarines after it. A small group might have an easier time avoiding combat with the insects here… And I need that person dead *without* fire. Tell Silentwalk to report directly to me, too.'

'Understood, Father. I will coordinate things.'

'Good! You are never letting your old man down!' I grinned at Bloodimina in the distance and showed her a thumbs up, although I wasn't sure if she saw it.

Then I aimed my stinger at a large beetle that got too close to our army's flank and shot. The fighting didn't stop and wait for me!

Soon enough, Bloodimina reported that the Beehounds set off to their target. In the meantime, I checked out ways of retreat for us in case the fire started, despite my fears.

For bees this was going to be easy—just fly to the nearest window—but Gresch's people went deep inside the castle's keep by now.

'Agent, tell Gresch to watch his back. I don't want him to be cut off! He better stay closer to the exits, the enemy will be forced to retreat toward him anyway,' I messaged.

However, after the first confirmation that the order was received, I got a much more exasperated response.

'Father, this human makes this almost impossible! He has only fighting in his head right now! Ah, he charges into the fray again—he's worse than a Beemarine! He barely hears whatever I tell him… I will keep trying, but—'

'I get it. Then I will try it myself,' I replied, wincing, and switched the target of my telepathic messages. 'Gresch! Hear me and obey! Calm your head!'

I listened carefully to Gresch's thoughts in reply… But he really didn't even notice. Everything I could catch in his head was about cutting down the next enemy and parrying the next blow.

This was bad. Gresch was always the sort of leader who leads by example, unlike more laid-back Farini, and although this boosted his people's morale greatly, right now it meant that he was leading his soldiers to what could be a trap.

So it was a great relief when I heard a report from Silentwalk.

'We found the human you talked about, Father. He was so afraid, bringing him down took only a few bolts.'

I exhaled with relief.

'Excellent. Now we just have to not set this oil on fire by accident.'

The advancement continued, and the resistance of the Vardish soldiers was being steadily brought down, despite us having to be more careful with spitting napalm.

Soon, my army and Gresch's people had almost met—there was a single floor left to clear. It promised to be the hardest, since the enemies retreated toward it and even barricaded the doors, intent on taking as many of us with them as they could.

But barricades meant little against bees.

'We will go past the barricades and make these people retreat right into Gresch's soldiers! One last push, my girls!' I ordered, raising my spear. 'One last push, and we will cleanse this damned cesspool!'

My girls cheered with me, despite their exhaustion and the wounds many of them suffered.

"FOR FATHER!" they shouted. "FOR THE EMPIRE!"

The defenders of the floor have barricaded the windows, too, but they hurried too much to close every crack. I sent the first squads of our soldiers there, while other soldiers did their best to widen these cracks with hammers and brute strength.

But the first soldier was still crawling through the barricades when I heard a dull, loud boom, followed by ominous rumbling. For a moment, the fighting around us paused, as everybody did the same thing I did—tensed and looked around wildly.

What was this? It came from below… I smelled smoke.

'Father, the Commandos that were monitoring other floors of the keep report that there was an explosion of the keep's gunpowder stash–a human dropped a lit lantern near it!' Bloodimina's signaler reported before I could ask. 'It wasn't big enough to bring the building down.'

I relaxed a little. Then…

'They also report that the blast had started a fire.'

'What?!'

'It spreads rapidly—the explosion was close to the spilled oil, and there's more of it around. They have to retreat before the smoke catches them.'

I could smell some of that smoke too. Oil smoke smelled differently from gunpowder smoke.

It smelled like terrible news.

'This is it!' I messaged directly to Bloodimina. 'Grand Commander Bloodimina, order everybody to retreat before we all burn!'

This keep was going to be lost to us, and to be used by Naregan forces, Castle Soneraht will have to be repaired a lot in the future. Not to mention that there had to have been money for soldiers and the commandant in this keep, and now they were going to be lost!

But our lives were more important.

'Gresch, retreat! Retreat immediately before this place burns!' I ordered the human general, too.

But would he listen?