Bunet patrolled the skies above the kingdom of necrotic smog. She, within her hornet doom sphere surrounded by an undead hornet swarm, went from village to village and from wall to wall. Being sure that the grass pixies were remaining compliant and that no new threat had emerged to threaten her hive or her king of the hive. So far in her patrol there were no new threats, and the grass pixies made no move to rebel against their new ruler.

Though to be fair, Bunet knew it would be impossible for them to do so. As they had just lost a major battle and would need time to recover. Not to mention the fact that with all the new territory that they had gained, her forces and those of her fellow commanders were far greater than they had been before. So it would take quite a while before the grass pixie clans could muster up a force equal to their previous armies, much less one to match the maluch expanded armies of the kingdom of necrotic smog.

Bunet had come to this logical conclusion, though that didn't mean she liked it. As she wanted the grass pixies to rebel sooner rather than later. So she could wipe them all out. This wasn't due to a desire to see their rave exterminated, though she hadn't become their biggest fan. No, the reason she wanted an excuse to wipe them out early was that she didn't trust them. As she had been the victim of grass pixie magic far too many times for her liking.

So while she knew it was true that the grass pixies couldn't raise an army in rebellion any time soon. She also knew that they could probably figure out a way to cast some spell that would have far more devastating effects than any army the grass pixie clans could raise. So she wanted them gone before they could cast any spells, but sadly her ruler's orders had been clear: she was not to touch the new grass pixie citizens unless they rebelled against them.

So that was why Burnet found herself staring at the wide screen within the command chamber of the Hornet Doom Sphere. Her insect eyes constantly scanned the wax screen that showed her the grass pixie villages she passed over, looking for any excuse that she could use to remove the threat she saw the grass pixies as. As she was doing that, an undead hornet came to her, flying fast through the halls of the hornet doom sphere until the undead hornet reached her in the command chamber.

The undead hornets did not speak; they used their necrotic nature as undead to pass messages that were a combination of intent and emotions, the same as they would have using pheromones if they were alive. As such, it took a moment for Bunet to get the message the undead hornet was passing to her, as its message was jumbled from its need to pass it along quickly and the shock of whatever it was trying to say.

Though once she untangled the message made of necrotic energy from the undead hornet, she found herself being filled with rage. "Those damn bzzz grass pixies bzzz!" Bunet said the message she had gotten was that the outermost wall of the kingdom had been breached. As some kind of magical grass pixie swordsman, he had cut through everything he saw and was now making his way deeper into the realm.

The bastard had chosen the perfect time to do such a thing. Bunet thought to herself as she knew that their ruler, Maxwell the Great, was currently out of action. As he was busy in a holy ceremony, all his focus was taken up by his task. Which is why Bunet had to be told about the breach by an undead hornet. Usually they would have their Maxwell using his great and expansive necrotic senses to tell them if there were any intruders, but with his focus elsewhere, that wasn't the case.

This meant that the vast majority of the kingdom was unaware of this invasion. As that was what it was, despite it only being a single grass pixie, the powerful magical grass blade they wielded made them worth an army in and of themselves. So Burnet, seeing the inherent danger, sent two of her undead hornets out with info on this new threat. One went to Horter, the other the Miserable Rage Catapult, to tell them of this threat.

Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

Bunet then gave the order herself to go after this threat to the realm. "My undead hornets bzzz. We attack bzzz the enemy bzzz! Bunet roared, her voice echoing through the hornet doom sphere and through her necrotic connection to her nearby undead hornet swarm. The undead hornets that made up her swarm roared back in approval with the intense buzzing of their wings and the scraping of their mandibles together.

So with the order given, the hornet doom sphere and the undead hornet swarm under Bunet's command made their way towards the enemy. Soon enough they found him slaughtering the undead grass elementals who gave their lives to try and stop his advance but failed to even slow him down. Now with the enemy in sight, they made their move, Bunet bringing the hornet doom sphere above the grass pixie swordsman.

Once she was in firing position, causing the hornet doom sphere's shadow to cover the grass pixie swordsman, Bundt let loose the hornet doom sphere barrage. She had the hornet doom sphere let loose a regular be barrage of undead stingers with the barrage fired. Bunet watched the grass pixie swordsman through her wax monitor, hoping to catch the moment of his demise.

Sadly to Bunet's shock, this was not the case, and instead of being pierced by hundreds of hornet stingers, the grass pixie swordsman dodged them. He somehow managed to weave around the stingers as they fell upon him, much to Bunet's surprise. Seeing the regular undead hornet stingers being dodged, she decided to use the special ones. As with so much new land now being a part of the kingdom of necrotic smog, there was far more necrotic smog in the air for her to use to make special stingers for the hornet doom sphere.

"Let's see how you handle this." Bunet had a look of viscous excitement coming across her undead hornet face. She then launched waves of javelin stingers and rage smog stingers as well as sad necrotic stingers. The different effects of the stinger make themselves apparent as the javelin stingers shoot down with far faster speed and force than regular hornet stingers. Well, the two varieties of smog stingers gave off auras of rage or sadness as they fell.

Despite the special effect of these special stingers being launched by the hornet doom sphere in the hundreds. It turned out to not be enough, as not only did the special stingers not hit their target, but the grass pixie swordsman was actually using the constant barrage as steps as he began to climb upwards using the barrage. Seeing the danger, Bunet canceled the attack and had her undead hornet swarm attack the swordsman while he was in the air, figuring he would be vulnerable.

Sadly, her hopes were dashed as he was not vulnerable, somehow dodging as he flipped this way and that while maintaining himself in the air. He used her undead hornets as footstools as he kept gaining altitude while splicing her swarm apart. Bunet tried to tip the scales in her favor by taking far more direct control of the swarm in order to coordinate their attacks more effectively. While Bunet was able to coordinate thousands of undead hornets, having them in one to attack the skybound grass pixie swordsman from every angle.

She was able to slow him down with this method but not stop or defeat him, and soon enough the last of her swarm was cut apart. So the swordsman took one last leap on the last of her undead hornets, making a leap for the hornet doom sphere while cutting the undead hornet he was standing on at the same time.

Bunet saw the swordsman and saw as well that he would close in on her in moments. So in defiance she brought the hornet doom sphere closer, firing everything while trying to slam the swordsman back towards the earth. Bunet failed as the swordsman swung his sword once more and, with seemingly next to no effort, caused the hornet doom sphere to be severed in half.

The swordsman fell towards the earth, and upon reaching it, he took a pose with his sword held high before he made his way forward once more. While behind the hero, the severed hornet doom sphere fell into the mass of bodies that was once Bunet's undead hornet swarm. With this victory, the hero was ever closer to bringing an end to Maxwell and his kingdom.