The ring of pearl on bone was nearly deafening. It was an odd, hollow sound unlike anything I had ever heard. The black, clearly magical, bee caught Fogwarth’s pearl blade just in time to stop it from ripping a gash in its thorax. They locked for a moment, the bee barely able to keep back the hammering blow of Fogwarth’s charge strike.

Fogwarth, or Foggy, was a large, chunky humanoid inch worm with a heart of gold, an stomach of steel, and the strength of a mountain. The magic bee, an enemy of Foggy’s kingdom, known as Mothric, was an invader from the neighboring empire of Icaraz. Of course we would run into these assholes now. We only just fought a massive battle against mushroom infested zombie animals, a walking torso with an axe, and a flying skull with laser eyes.

There. We up to speed now? Is that a good enough recap?

“Berry Boys, Go!” I shouted before entering the fray.

Nah, I’m lying. Of course I didn’t say that. What I actually said was more like…

“Oh fuck! Oh no! Ak?! What do we do, Ak?!”

“Fight,” the stone archer said, releasing a great arrow into the pack and loading another before it was even halfway to its target.

The arrow carved a path just as it had before, yet this time the imbued aura of power was different. Flame and frost spiraled across its length like an old school barber’s pole, fire and ice licking each other as if in a war over who rightfully claimed the arrow. The arrow impacted with a harsh thud right to the chest of a bee soldier, exploding in a splash of flame and a burst of frost. The striped carapace was all at once frozen and burning, leather armor falling to the ground in smoldering heaps as the soldier back stepped and tried to free itself of the attack. It dropped the chain to the captured Mothric farmers and children.

I saw it then. The real genius of an unspoken plan. Fogwarth distracting and taking on the clearly higher evolution foe, Ak-Lok targeting the bee carrying the chain, both leaving me a chance to help as best as I could.

Which meant getting to the Mothric civilians that had been chained, maimed, and enslaved by these invaders.

I cursed the stupid mushroom core for its cooldown once again. We nearly a dozen injured and maimed people that needed protection and shelter, and my stupid familiar needed to nap for another ten hours. You know what they say, “get a powerful mushroom house as a familiar and you have to wait on the twelve hour cooldown timer.”

Don’t worry, people say that. It’s a thing.

Without hesitating any further I made my move.

The soldiers had turned their focus on my Companions and, while I feared for them, I had to take the opening they gave me. Circling around the group, staying close to the underbrush, I barreled my berry way forward and stayed out of sight until I was behind them, nearly side by side with the chained group. From this close I could see the stabs and cuts that had been caked in dried blood and dirt, and I shivered at the thought of what these people must have went through fighting back against them.

These were farmers and kids. I was stout compared to everything else around here, but these unevolved inch worm kids were barely the same height as me. Even the children had some defensive wounds visible. Four were various sizes of the same inch worm that Fogwarth had been, though none were even close to his original size. Three of the adults were broad humanoid-moth hybrid with stumpy legs, gangly arms, and fuzzy bodies and heads, complete with antennas and large black eyes. The others were similar, but slender and taller with two sets of thicker arms on either side. These must be more common evolutions since I remembered the guards having a similar look, but equipped with armor instead of bloodied rag.

[Your party has slain an Infantry Wasp - Soldier - Level 9. You are awarded 79 experience points]

“We have to go,” I whispered to the ones who could hear me as the bees engaged Foggy and Ak. “Now, move it!”

Ak had managed two more shots on the first soldier it had struck, and it now laid in a pool of whatever bee blood was with two arrows half the length of itself protruding from its chest. The other three were in pursuit, spears raised and translucent wings taking to the skies. I watched as Ak slid back with graceful poise, then swun up its arm with an outstretched palm facing upward. As if to mirror Ak’s motion, five identical pyramids of ice burst from the ground, emitting cones of flame from the peaks like torches. The blue and orange flames caught two pursuers, causing them to fall back to the dirt road below and roll away to disperse residual flames.

Huh. Must be a new move.

The other pursuing soldier managed to phase through the flames by activating some kind of evasive ability, then lurched forward with the spear tip and nearly kabobed Ak where it stood. Luckily a tossed orb of frost-fire managed to set the bee off course and allowed the Golem some momentary breathing room.

Fogwarth had managed to disengage the caster bee, lunging forward with sweeping strikes of his pearl blade to interrupt whatever the mage bee had been trying to repeatedly cast. Each time a swarm of swamp-colored putrid energy swirled at the top of the staff there had been a perfectly timed sword strike for it to dodge. Foggy stomped the ground to activate his ground spike maneuver, but with a wave of the staff they were halted by an invisible barrier of some kind; starting to wish I had some defensive skills of my own over here.

I put my focus back with the chained group, slowly leading them further up the path a mere foot at a time while keeping my eye on the battle behind us. I wanted to cast my abilities, knowing the debuff would at least give both of my Companions a chance to really do some damage, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. No, I needed to save those in case any enemies tried to follow our retreat.

“The slaves! The slaves are escaping!” A crackling voice echoed through the underbrush, punctuated with the buzzing of wings.

Mother fucker!

I spared a glance back, ushering the people to move faster up the pathway as I circled to the back of the group. One soldier bee had disengaged Ak-Lok and was shredding a path right for us while Ak was busy fending off the other two. Foggy was more than preoccupied as well, locked in what seemed like an eternal back and forth with the mage bee. Shit.

Okay, Barry. It’s one bee. It’s just one bee. You’ve faced down worse enemies than this. Berry in the game! Come on!

I summoned a [Sunflower Beam Cannon] first, thick green stem and near-fluorescent yellow petals bursting from the ground and aiming skyward. The sparking light energy formed at its center and shot forward with an explosion of power, eviscerating the space between the bee soldier and it in a matter of moments. The light pummeled the soldier, setting it veering slightly off course and showing a 23 for damage inflicted hover off of it. I waited for it to crash to the ground, stunned, so I could follow up with the [Entangling Rose-Hips] for even more control and a bit more damage before beating the shit out of it with my black sword. It was the perfect plan.

Until the [Immune] message procked and the bee swerved back on course.

“Oh shit!” I said, falling back with my sword raised defensively. “Bees are immune to stuns?!” I turned and asked the quickly moving captured moths. “When was someone going to tell me bees were immune to stuns!?”

“You foolish blueberry!” The bee screamed, spear trained right on me. “You dare call us bees? You dare insult us, the great wasps of Icaraz? I will drain your juice upon the point of my spear!”

“EEEEEK!” I shrieked. It wasn’t my proudest moment but, like, shit. Have you ever had a human-sized bee trying to stab you with a big metal spear? It’s pretty hard to maintain composure.

I rolled to the side, just barely missing the first thrust as the spear buried itself in the ground nearly a foot deep. I scrambled to my feet, lashing out wildly with the sword with sloppy horizontal slashes. The sweeps of my sword went wide, easily evaded by the bee but managing to keep it away just the same. I really needed this guy to land already. If it would just put its stupid bug feet on the ground I could entangle it and hopefully catch it off guard.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

There was another swing that I thought for sure might actually land, until I suddenly felt a blunt thwack smash into the side of my berry head and send me into the dirt.

I saw a flash of red in my vision as everything momentarily blacked out. It hurt. It hurt like Hell. It was like having a migraine that went from 0-to-60 in a single second. I’d never been hit so hard in my damn life, and I’d lost plenty of fights in my real life. Stars had burst and lit up the night sky of my mind for an instant, and I let out muted curses at the whopping 19 damage I had sustained from the hit. That one strike almost did more than my best ability did.

A flutter of buzzing echoed out in the darkness. It sounded like multiple bees all buzzing around at the same time, and I heard the gentle thud as they landed one by one.

Oh no. Had we lost? Did Foggy and Ak lose? Were they… were they dead? I could barely stomach the thought of losing them with the memory of Ix-Lok so freshly burning in my mind.

“Report…” a deep, groaning voice echoed out.

“We have taken about two-thirds of the countryside and have a soldier stationed at each food storage facility, captain,” the voice of the bee I had battled called out next. “We have engaged the forces of the 7th Heir, and I have personally captured the sentient blueberry.”

“Well done, Agaz…” the deeper voice let out again.

My eyelids cracked open like two rusty garage doors, slowly letting in the fuzzy wash of color that was the world around me. I could see three more of the yellow striped bees, along with one brown pile of mush I couldn’t yet make out; though with my head spinning it could have easily been eight or even twelve figures. Even with the booming throb of pain that rampaged my berry body/head, I still worked through what my next moves could be.

My sunflower was still on cooldown, and my rose-hips might not be up to the task. Even though I had a pretty cool sword I still had to be honest within myself and admit I was total shit with it. In the distance I could hear battle continue, the odd sound of pearl meeting bone was a welcoming song alongside the bowstring crack. My allies were alive, at least for now. I cursed myself again for being so fucking weak. Our team was doomed, and it would be my fault.

Then something above glowed like a brand new sun. My barely returning vision was suddenly overtaken by the onslaught of luminescence that rained down on us. It was beautiful, yet painful, as it seemed to rip a gash into the fabric of the sky itself.

Until it multiplied.

Suddenly I could see it all so clearly. They were glowing, radiant javelins of light that all hung suspended in the air above us, fixed on where the bee soldiers were all standing. I was hypnotized by the array of lights for only a moment longer, then watched in envy and disbelief as they bolted down from their positions, dozens of the glowing spears falling like machine gun burst fire and piercing through the bees like they were piñatas.

The squelch and fry of the bees was loud enough to cut out there screams, and the impact of the glowing spears of energy on the ground kicked up mushroom clouds of dirt and debris that further clouded my vision. For all of that show of force and all of the incredible display of power, I still received 0 notifications or experience from it. It made sense since I didn’t touch those newcomers at all.

However, as I hobbled up to my feet and surveyed the piked bees that were all impaled to the earth with the evaporating glowing javelins I started putting the pieces together from what I knew of this world. No experience gained meant whoever did this wasn’t in my party. And, like the burning sun rising over a foggy mountain ridge, it suddenly dawned on me that I knew exactly where that attack had come from.

Fogwen flew down, dark humanoid body wrapped in gleaming gold-trimmed armor and expansive moth wings, with an even longer, even more radiant spear held in her grasp. She didn’t look at me or at the others, simply keeping her focus on the big bee that was the captain of this new regiment.

I got a better look at the captain now that I was coming out of my daze and all the other bees were very dead. He was massive compared to the yellow-jackets, with a sumo body wrapped in thick brown chiton, which was then wrapped in a thick hide armor, which was also wrapped in the draping of a long green cloak. He had four sets of arms, a sight I was coming more accustomed to by now, with the two looking like big ass crab claws while the other were more humanoid, holding a sword and shield. The huge crab-bee guy turned to meet the descending princess, shield raised and claws ready, giving me a view of the long, ridged tail that snuck out from his cloak and rose over his head with a deathly point at its end.

Ohhh. Okay. A scorpion bee. Not a crab at all then.

“Two Mothric brats!” The scorpion captain guy shouted up to the Princess. “We are in luck this day! The Gods favor Icaraz!”

“Do not be so sure,” Fogwen answered, thrusting the pike forward as the captain raised his shield.

The two met, a scream of metal-on-metal rupture the momentary silence and smashing it to pieces. Sparks rose from the impact, the shield effectively parrying the spear and off-setting its course as the captain swung out with sword and thrust forward its tail. Fogwen landed on the ground, sidestepping the tail while recovering her spear strike with a spin to deflect the sword with the pole end.

It suddenly dawned on me that the very dead bee beside me had struck me with the pole end of his spear earlier. Bastard. It made me curious as to why it didn’t just stab me to death, but I shelved that thought for later.

Fogwen was holding her own far better than my Companions. While those two effectively fought off and matched their foes, Fogwen was facing a clearly larger and more dangerous adversary yet was keeping him at bay with a practiced ease. He lunged forward with his claws, she backstepped while simultaneously sweeping her spear to knock away the sneaky tail strike, then she summoned what I could only describe as a graveyard of shimmering spearheads from the ground beneath him. These energy constructs mostly missed him, however one managed to pierce through one of his four legs and momentarily disable him.

Seeing that she was clearly fine, I turned to my allies and thought of how I could shift the tide a bit.

A good old [Entangling Rose-Hip] did the trick against one of Ak’s attackers. I timed it, waiting for one of the bees to land then casting the ability to halt it in place. Ak took full advantage, pummeling the no-longer-evasive bee with three arrows in rapid succession all while dodging the others attacks. All three great arrows hit, all three chest shots, and the bee slumped over falling into the rose-hip's thorns face first.

[Your party has slain an Infantry Wasp - Soldier - Level 9. You are awarded 98 experience points]

Nice! I got a little boost for actually helping this time. With only one bee left on him Ak was free to go all out. In a matter of seconds the other bee was down, awarding me 66 points for the level 7 kill. The low point values made me miss being swung around in a huge spikey ball to chest the system, but at least I could walk on my own now.

With that done Ak was free to join Foggy, and the two now had the magic bee on its hind legs, fending them off while taking more hits than it could effectively dodge or block. An arrow pierced its abdomen, a pearl sword slash caught it in the shoulder, and it was being pushed back.

Until it slammed it’s bone staff into the ground Gandalf style.

Green gasses of energy burst out from around it on an arc, flinging Foggy and Ak back with its muted boom. Ak was able to roll the landing and get back to its feet, an arrow nocked and swirling with frost-fire energy. Fogwarth took a moment but got to his feet as well, just a bit more sloppily. Unfortunately it was too late, as two tendrils of gassy green rose from the top of her staff and hissed like great snakes.

Oh fuck. They were snakes.

The noxious energy formed the bodies and heads of the constructs in a blink, and the translucent green snakes shot forward with wide jaws and piercing fangs. Ak released its arrow and it struck true, clearly doing some real damage to the bee but not breaking the spell. Both moved back, the snakes gaining on them as the bee mage cackled.

Screw it.

I charged down to them, moving my stubby stem legs as fast as I could manage.

“Die, bee!”

“What?! Bee?!” The bee screamed, right before its back met my black blade.

I pushed forward in a thrust, sharp end meeting thick, dark chiton with a crack as the blade easily slid through the robe and into the exoskeleton. Ichor oozed along the length of the blade, cream green and pungent like festering pus. It was kind of gross, but I put all of my tiny berry weight into driving the sword deeper, costing the obsidian in bee innards asbestos.

As best as I can. Get it?

I was proud of by -36 damage for a brief moment as I twisted the blade, procking a -3 [Bleed] debuff over 4 seconds. Until a different notification popped up in my vision right before I was sent spiraling to the churned earth below.

[Bitch-Slapped: -29 damage]