"Why am I here again?” Sam asked grumpily as she stepped over a root while huffing loudly.

Considering all Users were enhanced and she had managed to survive so far, she was in pretty bad shape. Well that might be unfair, Mathew and himself set a pretty brisk pace across what could reasonably be described as an obstacle course. They were both high level Hunters after all, arguably designed to navigate mutated forests like this one.

Roots and rocks that they seemed to have been dragged to the surface littered their path. Many sprouting new growths themselves. New branches desperately sprouted from anywhere light reached the forest floor, which weren't many. The Inoculation seemed to have adapted nicely to Earth's plant life. It was actually fairly picturesque and calming, if unnaturally quiet. Not so much as a cricket chirped that Derrick could hear.

“You're here so that neither Mathew nor myself have to carry too much gear,” Derick answered her question as he blazed a trail. “You're a pack mule.”

Derrick wasn't about to go on a nature hike with just what he could carry himself. He was bringing enough ammo, food and water for a few days. As well as the dozen sensors required for the mission. Plus, he and Mathew needed to be unencumbered in case of an attack.

At least the chances of that seemed to be small. The Rebel Instrument scavengers that had attacked them couldn't navigate the dense forest they were moving through. The Inoculation had worked magic on the surrounding trees, growing and toughening them. Derrick had to occasionally carve a path through the woods with his Esthisium axes.

They had left a three sensors and a hub around the road where the collision took place. Both as a precaution against ambush and because it was the only place they had a confirmed sighting of their prey. After that, absent a field of giant flowers to stake out, they had waited for another sighting. While they didn't see one, Mathew had heard one, so they headed out in that direction.

Mathew was the key here, his enhanced ears could hear the insect's droning flight noises from literally miles away. Especially considering the unnatural silence of the inoculated landscape.

He didn't blame Sam for being on edge. He was too, though he liked to think he was hiding it well. He had not expected how dark these woods would be. The thick foliage overhead blocked out most of the sun, creating pockets of darkness that were unnerving. Despite the Hunter Role, he was city born and raised after all. Even his recent missions in the countryside had been in much sparser forests than this. Normal trees growing in areas where humans had thinned them out.

“No, why the hell am I the one carrying your stuff into the jungle. Why am I here? I'm not one of your flunkies.”

“It's not a jungle,” Mathew replied sagely. “It is just a temperate deciduous forest but mutated by the Inoculation. These were normal native hardwoods growing in a temperate region.”

“Because, despite your association with people who tried to murder us, we don't wish you harm. That said we're not willing to let you run off just yet. Being here with us is a lot safer than going with Breakneck to clear out the Rebel Instruments. Even if you hide in the washroom the entire time,” Derrick said.

“How is hunting monster hornets in an alien forest safer?” the pale young woman asked, her eyes darting from shadow to shadow. “At least there's walls and an army in the other group. They know what they’re doing. That Meg lady isn't stupid enough to wander off with a small group. What if there's animals out here?”

“Not hornets, bees and not an alien forest either. And we shoot any animals that attack,” Mathew said drily. “With our guns. It’s a proven effective method of dealing with attacking animals.”

“Look,” Derrick said. “This is actually what Red Works does. Small groups that operate stealthily to complete missions. We're actually good at it. We deal with things a lot scarier than bees of unusual size. I brought you because you don't even have access to manna, and therefore can't reveal our position to the things that can sense that. If insects bother you, use your auril on them. Dealing with living things is what auril is for. I can knock a swarm of bees out of the air with a pulse, they aren't much of a threat to us. They can't even pierce our armor. I had it tested. ”

Technically, if they attacked a joint they might be able to sting them and a sting would be almost certain death. He wasn't going to admit that aloud though.

“You're walking into the unknown like idiots ad dragging me with you,” Sam said. “I don't have any reason to believe you’re competent.”

And now he was tired of this. Why did he think it was a good idea to drag a sixteen year old girl through the woods with him? He'd been hoping to get more information about Dewport from her but all she wanted to do was complain. He stopped their march and looked directly at their helpful guest.

“Look. It's just some bees,” Derrick said with a smile and a pulse of auril. “It's not horrors from beyond time and space. It's not world consuming fungus perfected by an eternity and limitless natural resources. It's just some bigger than average bees in some bigger than average trees. You are a User, a Fighter even. This is what Fighters do, you can't whine your way out of it. I'm going to be perfectly honest and just tell you that if you can't face bees of unusual size, you're useless and going to die.”

Mathew looked a bit uncomfortable with his speech but didn't disagree.

“This is an easy mission,” The older man agreed. “Almost a walk in the park. Do your part, earn the rewards from the System and use them to survive. It's probably safer than whatever sketchy things your friends from Dewport were up too.”

Sam gave them a look and opened her mouth to speak. Derrick could tell that she wasn't agreeing with them though. So he hit her with a hammer of auril.

It was an ability called Auril Roar. Basically it was a pulse of auril that affected the minds of people nearby, smashing your emotions into them. In this case, annoyance. It was what he'd made from studying the shadier abilities of auril he'd studied.

Most of the auril pulse was stopped by her own auril style. That didn't matter though, the technique was much more subtle than the name implied. The fluid dense weaves of auril energy that could affect the human mind twisted their way through her defences and the girl flinched.

“Let’s talk about something else please,” Mathew said and moved to take the lead.

“Like what?” the teenager asked reluctantly.

“Like, what's with your makeup?” Derrick answered. The teenager had heavy black eye-shadow in the goth style. It should be smeared by now too, suggesting it was something from the System. Who had bothered to design superior goth makeup? He didn't think it was her.

Sam let out a sigh before answering.

“It means something in Dewport. It's a badge of pride and respect for the burned. From when the air was full of smoke and ash from the bodies we were burning,” she said. “

“Huh,” Derrick said. That was heavier than he thought a makeup related question would be.

“So, most people wear makeup there?” Mathew asked. “Even the men?”

“No,” Sam said with a frown. “Black and grey is the important part. Ugghh, I don't want to explain this but here you go. With the Captain taking charge, there's two kinds of Users in Dewport. Those that are obviously military, and those who obviously aren't.”

“Counterculture,” Mathew mused.

“Different factions?” Derrick asked as scrambled up a small hillside. Maybe the Dewport's hero wasn't as in charge as she'd suggested earlier. Once he was at the top of the hill, he reached back down and pulled Sam up.

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“The Captain is in charge, and that's a good thing. He saved the city,” Sam refuted with a shrug. “People do what he wants, but some of us don't see ourselves as his soldiers. There's enough idiots saluting every time he walks by. The posers. I suppose everyone in West Hills dresses as brightly as your people?”

“Well, they don't wear grey,” Mathew said. “Not unless they want to get shot.”

“What? Why?” She responded carefully, as disbelieving.

“People who turn grey usually start talking about 'seeing' and begin growing an exoskeleton,” Derrick answered. “You really never heard of the Grey Legion? The army of armored zombies with guns?”

“Not to mention the dogs,” Mathew said with a sigh. “That part always makes me hits me right in the gut. Only dog's I've seen recently have been trying to maim me so I can be turned.”

Derrick nodded. Ya, he did miss dogs. He really hoped there were still dogs somewhere. He doubted there would be any in Dewport. The Spore Tyrants weren't any kinder to animals than they were people. Probably didn't bother to learn the difference.

Mildly interesting stuff he'd learned. How ignorant the inhabitants of Dewport were of the wider world and the funny fact that Dewport had painted itself black while the User residents of West Hills had gone the opposite direction. He supposed grunge was a more classical post apocalypse look. He'd be impressed if they went full grunge and had mohawks though. He preferred his own colorful look, it was less about mopey introspection and more an open challenge to the Scourges.

He wondered if he could use that colourful optimism to lure people to his side in Dewport. Probably not, those type of people had probably been lured to the Captain's army already.

“I'm hearing more targets up ahead now,” Mathew, announced interrupting his thoughts. “At least three sources of buzzing, probably more.”

Damn, he was lucky to have hired Mathew. Without him, not only would Stacy, who really worked for Teslaforce, be Red Work's only other Hunter, but he would have had to wander around these dark and dense woods blind and deaf.

“Lead the way,” Derrick said. Even if it wasn't a nest, anyplace their targets gathered would be worth dropping a sensor hub on. Hopefully that would be all the mission required. It wasn't like they weren't busy. It had already been an hour, so according to Meg's estimates the other group should be heading back to where they'd split up soon.

Assuming they weren't caught up in another fight with the Rebel Instruments.

It took them ten more minutes of walking across broken terrain before Derrick heard anything and another ten before he saw what they'd marched all this way for.

It was...

“Congratulations, you found a hole in the ground full of bees. Good for you,” Sam said, a note of obvious disgust in her voice. She fell on her ass as soon as she was finished talking, landing on a fallen tree.

That about described it, yes. In the side of a sunny hill, a dozen soccer ball sized holes were home to the insects they had been sent to investigate. Every once in awhile, a furry yellow bug would crawl out and fly off after soaking in the sun for a few seconds. They apparently didn't care about the nearby humans at all. The three Users were all within fifty feet of the bustling hive and the bees could not have cared less. They were acting just like normal bees did.

Probably not a bio-weapon to destroy humanity then.

Interestingly, he noticed they seemed to avoid the flying above the treetops. The few that did head that way landed on the trees and climbed up. Almost like they were avoiding a bird's eye view. If these bees were designed to be stealthy, their designer had done a good job. Derrick got the feeling that whatever entity was behind this, Hollow Majesty or not, was very different than Noble Virulence.

Looking around, there didn't seem to be anything special about the area. It was just more of the Inoculation altered woodlands that stretched for hundreds of kilometres in every direction.

“We. We found a hole in the ground full of bees,” Derrick said. “Now, get out the sensor hubs and spread them around the area. They have a range of about two hundred feet each.”

“What are you going to do?” Mathew asked. Derrick smiled at him. Despite the other man's clam tone, Derrick got the impression Mathew believed that he was going to do something stupid. Did he really think he was going to challenge the bees to a fight or something?

“I'm going to examine the area with auril,” Derrick said. Already he knew the hive extended far below the surface. It was a lot bigger than you'd think from looking at the outside. He wanted a better count of their numbers while he was here.

Maybe there was even something marketable here? They were upgraded honey bees, maybe their honey had healing powers or something. Stranger things had happened to him today.

Mathew nodded and took the pack from Sam's back. Derrick found a comfortable looking rock to sit on, ignoring the droning noise from the busy bees. Each one sounded like a toy plane.

Instead of doing what he'd said he would, he found himself just watching the bees fly back and forth. He didn't really learn anything but it was oddly fascinating.

“Found some giant flowers to match the bees,” Mathew said, returning from his task.

“Where?”

“All around us,” Mathew said with a smile and rapped his hand against a thick vine that disappeared into the tree tops. “

“Huh,” Derrick responded. “See if you can get a sample without killing one. Shouldn't need more than a couple slivers of wood.”

“Why without hurting anything,” Mathew asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Why take the risk?” Derrick responded. “Maybe the bees are protective of their flowers.”

Why had he said that. It was probably because of how normal the scene was. Sure they were giant mutant bees, but they were still just bees, doing bee things. Derrick had never much liked bugs, but neither had he shared the revulsion most people seemed to have for them.

Despite apparently being a hazard to motorcyclists, the fuzzy winged insects seemed mostly harmless. If they left him alone, he was more than glad to return the favour.

“Sure, why not.” Mathew said and wandered away.

Enough procrastinating. He sent out a weak pulse first. Standard procedure for him when he was investigating the unseen. Weak pulses were harder to detect.

Thanks to his training, even a weak pulse let him 'see' a good hundred feet below the surface. He detected a good dozen bees crawling beneath the earth. Interestingly, he was pretty sure that didn't reveal the whole hive, he detected no eggs and there were living insects on the edge of his range. Which he was pretty sure wasn't standard procedure for bees. Why did they dig so deep? A defensive strategy, were they hunkering down?

He waited a minute and unleashed his strongest pulse. Sending auril as deep below the Earth as he could. At the edge of his range, something blazed with life.

He felt something become aware of him. No, two somethings.

His eyes shot open. Yes, that was auril held within what was unmistakably the shapes honey bees. Not just bees either, he'd detected traces of auril in some kind of root-like...

Sitting on a rock in the middle of the woods, Derrick began to laugh. It exploded out of him, he couldn't help it. It was hilarious.

Beneath this normal looking hill was a Spore Tyrant. A network of fungal tendrils that spread beneath the ground.

His eyes shot around the clearing he was sitting in. Yes, that explained the dead trees covered in moss. The Inoculation had battled and overwhelmed a small Spore Tyrant node here. Like the many node's Derrick himself had defeated. That was what it had been designed to do. He was willing to bet the area was still seeded with deadly spores. They just weren't a threat to the Users in the clearing. Each of them not only had System granted resistance but auril's natural protective powers.

The node itself wasn't a threat either. It was too busy being used as a nest for hungry insects.

It was as funny as it was terrifying. This was a tiny Dungeon. One built and maintained by bees. That had to be the purpose of the enhanced insects, why they didn't bother humans. There job was to hunt down Spore Tyrant nodes, the guiding brains that made that Scourge so dangerous.

It couldn't have been easy for them, nodes were not undefended. They must have died in droves. Yet, here they were, clearly the victor, living inside their beaten foe..

The fascinated Hunter turned his attention to the sources of auril that weren't nodes. Three fist sized lifeforms, two of which were even now making their way to the surface. No doubt coming to deal with what they perceived as a threat to their nest.

They were deep below the surface though and the path up seemed to wind about.

“Get a hundred feet back from me,” Derrick told his allies, who were staring at him uncertainly.

Mathew nodded, and pushed Sam away. A second later, he stopped and turned back to Derrick.

“What's going on?” he asked.

“I poked the hornet's nest with auril,” Derrick replied. “They felt it and are coming to take a look. And yes, I know they’re not hornets.”

Mathew didn't move. Concern was written on his face.

“It should be fine,” Derrick said. “There's just two heading up and they're not particularly threatening.

“Sure,” Mathew said. “Assuming they don't have a way to sick their friends on you. Which they will, because they are bees.”

Derrick shrugged with an obvious lack of concern.

“That’s not what they’re for,” he said with rock solid certainty. “Give me some space.”

A soon as his allies had made some distance, two furious shapes exited the hive at high speeds, filling the air with an angry buzzing. Derrick watched them buzz about madly. Their frantic flight disturbing their nearby hive mates and driving them into a mild frenzy of action.

Curiously, they didn’t seem to actually know what they were angry about. They were just flying around the clearing.

Derrick let out a weak pulse of auril and one of them zeroed in on him. It lt landed on a tree by his head and lt out an angry buzz, clearly looking in his direction with its compound eyes.

Derrick, relaxed but with an axe in his hand, let out another pulse. This one, a weak auril roar that transmitted his forced calm.

Mid leap, the fuzzy insect stopped. It pawed at it’s own antennae as the other auril endowed insect landed next to it. Both of them were looking at him now, mandibles clicking and antennae waving.

Fascinated, Derrick reached out and touched one’s head. Exuding calm through his auril. He wasn’t attacked. There was no reaction at all. Eyes the size of marbles just stared at him.

Probing the little creature with auril, Derrick was taken aback. It’s auril was simple but deep. Fascinated, the Hunter bypassed its defences and made contact with something else.

His Quantum Awareness screamed to life. Something was there, something was looking out of its eyes.

Instantly, tiny wings blurred into action and its tiny legs grabbed at him. Its abdomen curled as it drove its stinger at him.