Creature: Purplevein Bee (Arthropod)

Mutation: Grade- 1

Soulslot Consumption: 2 units

Evolution Potential: Grade- 1

Affinity: Water (limited to foragers and queens)

Danger Rating: Ordinary in the mutant class

Origin: Endemic

Mutation details: These bees excrete a special sort of purple fluid that eventually transforms into a deadly poison within 4-7 months. This poison causes internal bleeding when consumed or injected into blood vessels. When attacked, a part of the foragers go collect the poison from the hive in their stomachs and use their stings to shoot it out, spraying their enemy. The poison, when shot out in this manner, can turn into icicles that will be able to penetrate unprotected human skin. Several such lacerations may lead to death.

"Fuck!" Mir cursed.

"So powerful!" Reno sounded cowed.

"Tsk, among grade- 1 mutants, these bees are one of the hardest creatures to deal with. I avoided them the last time. But now..." Murray grinned manically.

"Wait, wait, wait! Why are you not avoiding them this time? We're not gonna be any help to you!" Mir hissed angrily.

"Because the info in the software isn't complete, idiot! Do you think the authorities would spell out every avenue, every opportunity hidden in the sacred grounds just because they've conquered it? No, they want the explorers to do that job themselves! If the explorers can't do that, the authority will be the ones to make a profit! Read the info again. Notice something in there they have 'forgotten' to mention?"

Both Mir and Reno were dumbfounded. There was a hidden rule like that, too?

Hastily, they went through the data several times, hoping to find a clue about what Murray was talking about.

"Uh...I think I found one. They didn't mention whether the Queen bee is special in any way," Reno said hesitantly. "Usually in mutant ecosystems, the ruling class of creatures has something extra, something more special than ordinary mutants under its command. More often than not, it tends to be a mutant ability, or higher wisdom, or even a higher level of the same mutation."

Mir nodded in agreement. This had been taught in their mutant biology course. Reno, the ever-studious guy, was bound to notice it before him.

Murray looked pretty impressed too, but only for a brief second.

"Good answer. You're right, they didn't mention the most dangerous element in the hive, the queen herself. From the info I've procured so far, the queen bees of these species can reach rank- 2 for a short while, right before their death. This transition is done through the mating ritual. Once she lays the eggs to ensure her legacy, she can choose to rank up if she has the potential and the opportunity. A queen only lives for about a year. So you can treat the last month of her lifetime as the most dangerous period. A rank-2 queen bee can not only use the ability described in the database far more powerfully than her workers, she can also manipulate the size and shape of her sting, forming ice barriers, foot-long ice spears, volleys of ice arrows, and the most problematic, the purple poison gas."

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"Good Lord!" Reno's voice sounded almost tearful. Mir felt him. He was getting cold feet too.

"But that's not the answer I wanted. There is an even more crucial detail that's been left out. Think!"

Mir had a guess ready, because he understood Murray's line of thinking better than Reno. He replied saying, "Is it the part about the posion's maturation? They said the fluid becomes poisonous within 4-7 months. But they didn't say what its properties are before that period. The only adjective they've used for it is 'special'. A key characteristic of bees is collecting honey, which is their reserve of food for harsher days. But the database doesn't mention anything about it either. If the Purplevein Bees collect poison, what happens to the honey?"

Murray began to chuckle, which eventually changed into an audible laugh. Mir had to elbow him to quiet down.

"Little bro, you're pretty good at this, I'll give you that. Yes, the Purplevein Bees collect the poisonous fluid, but not directly. There are two types of liquids stored inside each hive of Purplevein Bees; their poisonous secretion, and their collected honey. The honey that they collect eventually turns too poisonous for humans due to being regularly mixed with their saliva. But the Bees can consume it just fine. And the best way to use this crucial information is to attack the hive, see if its queen is young, and if so, obliterate the bees. If we're lucky, not all the honey inside would turn out to be poisonous. They're constantly collecting tiny drops of it. Some parts would be edible."

"...You could just buy honey from shops, Murray," Mir said, not quite sure why Murray seemed hellbent on attacking the hive. Did he get stung the last time he was here? Was this an act of vengeance?

But Reno seemed to have figured the answer out. In an excited whisper, he said, "The edible honey can increase your Extent of Infection, can't it? In that case, any explorer would want to get some!"

Suddenly, Mir realized Murray's motives. But before he could say anything, Murray took out his shield from his backpack and handed Mir a pile of rocks from the ground.

"Hit the hive and run towards the stream. Wear your full-body jackets first."

Reno looked hesitant when Murray gave him the same mission, except he was to run in the opposite direction, towards the ruins of the building they had seen earlier.

"Many of the bees will chase after you. I'll use that opportunity to tease out the Queen. If it's grade- 2...well, you better pray I survive."

The gravity of the situation was beginning to set in both of their minds. This was just a hive of grade- 1 bees, yet neither of them could do anything but run. Even if they had the permission to fight back, they didn't have the capability. They could only pray that there wasn't too much reserve of Purplevein Poison inside the hive.

Quickly, all three of them wore their jackets and hid their backpacks in a secure position, far away from the hive. They could obviously not run properly with those attachments dragging their speed down.

"Hang on, Mir, your zipper's still not fully closed. You don't want a bee to get in there, bro," Murray said while stopping Mir. Coming behind him, Murray tugged the zipper down a bit and slipped something familiar inside before he zipped it back up.

Mir understood the second layer of Murray's plan. If anybody was watching them right now, aside from Reno, they'd know that their backpacks were here, available to be ransacked.

Would they take the bait and come to look for the diary?

Or would they guess that one of the two brothers would keep the diary with him?

Casually fastening his belt around the diary, Mir walked around the area where the hive was, maintaining a good distance with it so that he could run towards the stream easily. Now the hive was surrounded from three directions by their team.

Reno was the first to throw a rock. It missed by a wide margin. Mir successfully copied him.

It took them several attempts before Mir managed to eventually land the first hit.

Bzzzz.....hmmmm....bzzzz

The reaction was immediate. Most bees were capable of seeing in the dark. So it didn't take them long to locate their assailants.

Mir chose to run as soon as the first spray of ice-cold liquid hit the plastic cover his face was protected by. The jacket had some tiny holes around his mouth to let in air. He didn't want any poisonous icicles to hit those exposed areas.

On the opposite side, Reno was running for his life too. Both of them were being chased by hundreds of bees. In the darkness of night, it looked as if there were huge flying monsters on their tail.

It took Mir about a minute to reach the bank of the stream. The back of his jacket felt incredibly cold, completely covered by Purplevein poison by now. He was lucky that the material of the jacket was durable, matching its high price. Several of the poisonous icicles had pricked his back with enough power to penetrate open skin. The rubbery and slippery surface of the jacket had barely managed to stop them from punching a hole through it. The diary fastened to his back might have stopped some too, Mir wasn't sure.

Slapping a palm over the small holes around the plastic cover protecting his mouth, Mir dived into the water with a deep intake of air, feeling his lungs burning.

Bees would not chase a target into water, but they would wait till their target ran out of air and broke out of the surface. They'd hound the target endlessly that way, playing a game of patience.

But when their hive is attacked by another person, how long would their patience last?

Not long, Mir hoped sincerely.