What would a normal person think of when the word “beehive” was mentioned?
A spherical-shaped object? With hexagonal patterns? Those details would be correct, of course, but there was another detail that not many would notice at first, even if it was obvious.
If it was a natural hive, then there was a good chance of it being off the ground.
Yet, the hive in front of me was firmly stuck on the ground, like a deformed but majestic building. Why would that be the case?
“There are four main entrances,” said Yamabuki. Never before had I heard her being this precise and confident in her words. “The problem is the guard. Look.”
Following her gesture, I turned my head, gritting my teeth as the pain from my sudden movement seeped in.
Damn it, useless body! Keep yourself together!
Even if my vision was failing me, I could still see clearly enough—the signature yellow and black stripes and the javelin-like stinger from the subject in question. I didn’t have that much of a trained eye to see the differences in their roles yet, but I could still tell that this bee was showing much more caution and bloodlust than the others we’d encounter. Truly fitting for a guard.
“We follow the usual,” nodded Akabane, who then turned to his right. “Green?”
“On it,” the green man answered.
Before he could take his step, however, I managed to reach out and grab his shoulder. “Wait. Don’t kill it. We have a negotiation to go through.”
“... You really gotta make my job tougher, eh kid?”
“... Sorry.”
“Nah, I never said I didn’t enjoy it.”
As the words left his mouth, a gust of wind blew in front of me. Before I knew it, a small, but clear snapping sound ensued, and along with it, the Shinbachira guard in front of us had already dropped to the ground, unsure if dead or alive anymore. Within a blink of an eye, Midorikawa had already returned to his original position as well.
“Don’t worry, I only struck its nerves,” the man had already answered my question before I even got the chance to ask. “It should be out for a while, but let’s finish this quickly, just in case.”
“Brace yourself,” immediately, I was lifted into the air and placed on Kurogiri’s back, while Aozaki rushed before us all and ripped off the hexagonal wall that the giant hornet was guarding until now.
Only until now did the notion hit me harder than ever. This was not a regular beehive. All of my previous knowledge in the real world wouldn’t work anymore.
After all, what kind of beehive would have a tunnel leading underground?
Seeing my astonished look, Yamabuki was quick to explain. “Unlike what we normally see about them, Shinbachira is actually an underground species, even if they hunt and feed above ground.”
“But why?”
“We don’t know. There are many things still mysterious in the world we live in, after all.”
“You sound like an expert, Yamabuki-san.” After hearing her conclusion, I couldn’t help but smile a little. It was the exact same thing that a veteran scientist in my world would say.
However, my slight joy had somehow dampened the mood.
“Oh, my… ex-partner was a Shinbachira. Or, well, its larva form, Shinyou, at least.”
I had so many questions for her. But before I could utter any of them, I’d already found myself free-falling into the depths of underground darkness along with the rest of the group.
While Midorikawa and Yamabuki managed to gracefully land with their wings, and Akabane as well as Aozaki could soften their fall with precise grabbing on the dirt walls surrounding us, I had no choice but to suffer the full brunt of the impact with Kurogiri—whose attempt at mimicking a cat only left me close to spilling my guts. Quite literally, even.
“Can you land more properly?” Feeling the metallic taste in my mouth, I complained.
“Then don’t let yourself get stabbed next time.” The only answer I received was a grunt. As I expected, I still couldn’t communicate with him.
The sudden loss of sunlight, along with the vertigo from the freefall had rendered my vision and hearing useless. But even so, I could still navigate this underground labyrinth.
“We head to our left,” both Yamabuki and I said at the same time.
“Since we entered through the rightmost flank of the hive, the center should be westward. And in every Shinbachira hive, the queen is protected at its center,” the girl gave her reason.
“I smelled the honey strongest towards the left too,” I added.
“Then to the left we go,” Akabane’s voice echoed. There was a slight wind coming towards me, likely due to the man in question swinging his hand to lead the way, and the six… well, five of us marched on.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
As the time went by, my hearing started to recover. While the extra echoes did help me more in navigating our paths, the sloppy sound of feet stepping on honey gave me goosebumps every time it occurred. But it was also a good signal—the thicker and more present the honey was, the closer to the center we would be.
It was truly a labyrinth that we’d stepped into. Left turns and right turns were almost too frequent to keep track of, I felt close to throwing up every three or four turns we had. And the drunken-like scent of honey getting thicker with each step didn’t help either. I had long forgotten the pain on my stomach, but at the same time, if I dropped my concentration for just a second, I would have been consumed by its bewitching aroma.
I had to keep myself distracted. And so, I began to talk.
“Yamabuki-san, about the stuff before…”
“Hm?” The girl sounded, puzzled by my question for a second, before realizing what I meant. “Oh, you mean…”
“If it doesn’t bother you… can you share your story?”
“It… wasn’t anything special, really.” Even if she denied it, I could still hear the hint of sadness and regret in her lightly shaking voice. “I’m just like everyone else—when I was an Unborn like you, I just… found my partner somewhere in the woods. We bonded and grew together… And in the end, we did what we had to do. That’s about it.”
“You mean the… Evolution?”
“Yeah.”
“... How did it feel? Undergoing something like that?”
“You just get used to it, I guess,” answered Yamabuki. “That’s what growing up is all about, after all.”
It was not the answer that I was looking for. As I expected, these people were still wary of me, enough for them to not reveal the most important piece of information that I needed to know—what exactly this “Evolution” was. If it was as simple as a coming-of-age ritual, then why would it involve our Omushi partner dying? And why did the Mujin choose to wear their peculiar armors as proof of such growth? Were their armors supposed to signify some kind of mental maturity, that they were worthy enough to utilize the powers within those equipment?
But I couldn’t get the answer I seeked, for the sudden bright light in front of us had interrupted our conversation and returned us to the mission at hand.
”We’re here.”
Before me was a scene that I couldn’t tell if it was beautiful, or repulsive.
The room we stumbled upon was by far the largest in the labyrinth. The source of the unnatural shine illuminating it was of a giant, pulsing…thing in the middle of it all. It was like an egg but with no shell—I could still see a vague, but somehow humanoid figure within it, encased in layers upon layers of amber wax and honey. It seemed to be a woman, judging from the giant dress-like garb on her bottom half, hiding away her legs, but the thick amber made it too difficult to see what her face looked like. The only other detail I could see was her abnormally lean arms, as if the nutrients were sucked right off her body to feed whatever liquid or solid that was trapping her within.
But that wasn’t the only horror show within this room.
Surrounding the egg-shaped prison were countless worms, or considering Yamabuki’s words before, larvae. Each of them was around Akari’s length, but their overgrown bodies looked like they could burst at any moment—in other words, they were likely one step closer to turning into a full-fledged Shinbachira. They had no eyes, but their toothy mouths were chomping non-stop, devouring the dirt comprising the room both for making their nesting ground deeper, as well as to leech off the excessive nutrients from the extra honey dripping outside.
“… I should have known,” I could hear Yamabuki’s shivering voice amidst the haunting scenery. “This hive hasn’t fully developed yet. Its outer structure wasn’t formed properly.”
“What now?” Asked Aozaki.
Akabane took a deep breath, his eyes glanced in my direction for a second.
Immediately, I knew what it meant.
“Akari! Break us free!”
”You idiot!”
Ignoring Kurogiri’s insult, the crimson critter had already followed my order. There was not enough momentum for a big slash, but it wasn’t needed—after all, I just wanted her to surprise my carrier with a gentle cut. From my head, Akari made a cross slash with her scythed-arms, enough to graze Kurogiri’s armor and made the man loosen his hold onto me. At the same time, I took whatever strength left that I had, and pushed them all towards my arms for a big push away from Kurogiri’s back.
The propelling force shoved the man a few steps in front of me, while I managed to land on the ground—shaking and hurt, but free at last. There was no time to think. I just needed to run as fast as I could.
”Yakushi-kun!” I could hear Akabane’s voice echoing behind me. “Green, get him back!… Green?”
”Hold up, Red. He’s up to something with that brain of his. Trust the kid for once.”
Thank you, Midorikawa, I clutched my fist in gratitude. With the speedster out of the way, I could do it.
I could tell in his eyes. Akabane wanted to destroy the amber sphere and kill off whoever was trapped inside it. That egg, no, this room was like a feeding ground. Cut off the source and everything would die alongside it. But amber—the material closest to this condensed beeswax and honey mixture—was known for its preservation. There were examples of “amber fossils” back on Earth, so this would have to be the exception as well. If I could break the person free from the cocoon they were in, then maybe they could hold the key to this situation without having to resort to more innocent lives being lost.
Luckily for me, even with this beaten-up state of mine, there was no resistance coming from the environment. The larvae, grotesque as they were, were harmless for the most part—as long as I was careful enough to not step on them in their meal, or get honey stuck to my feet or clothes, they wouldn’t bother me for their lack of proper senses. And with that out of the way, there was only one thing left to do.
“Crack this egg, Akari!”
”Kuri!”
At that moment, I let the adrenaline take over me. And within that split second, my slip had caused me to lose control over the one thing I was trying to keep down.
[Detecting ‘Player’ in abnormal state. Forcibly opening the battle menu.]
Akari’s slash broke the egg in half, sending its amber exterior crumbling down the floor. But whoever was inside of it, I was completely off the mark.
Their arms weren’t lean due to malnutrition; they were already that way. The arm that came dangling out first was a slick black, with a sharpened point in the wrist area reminiscent of the Mujin’s armor. Yet, the hand was exposed, and it was a bright, bloody red. What looked to be the shoulders of a large dress was in fact more armor in an amber gold color, similar to the substance holding the one inside. But the most important feature, the one that I couldn’t see from before, was the face.
It was not the face of a human. While the head was the same shape, it lacked any facial features except a pair of white, pupil-less eyes, and in the middle of the forehead, a large crimson gem was embedded within.
As the final straw that broke the camel’s back, the buzzing system in my head echoed, as if to laugh at my face for all of the effort I had made.
[Opposing species: Shinjoura.]