I dashed to the side, and the lizard slapped its own forehead instead of . Its dumbness was proved yet again! It was so dumb, I could barely feel any thoughts from it, despite being so close—just a mindless desire to kill.
The beast let out a squeal and forgot to beat its wings for a mont; its body lurched down, together with everyone clinging to it.
I grit my teeth, holding tighter on the creature's thick feathers, and stabbed my spear into its eye, releasing my electrical charge at the sa ti.
It went from the organ in my chest to the golden cables attached to it and my armor. Then they went to the spear and its golden tip, creating a couple of sparks on their way, and finally, into the lizard's soft eyeball.
All in an instant.
〔Critical hit! You deal 47 damage!〕
〔The skink dies!〕
The sll of burned at hit at the sa ti as the lizard convulsed and stopped flapping its wings. I let go of it, flying on my own.
"That's the least you deserve!" I shouted at the creature's falling corpse and wished there was sothing to kick in the air.
A second later, the skink landed with a loud thump on the ground below, crushing a couple of trees and scaring off several insects.
"Father, are you unhard?" Destroyer asked, flying up to with the other two bodyguards.
They were still watching the skink and the surroundings, as if expecting more sneak attacks. Which was unlikely, but it was better to be safe than sorry.
"Yes, and that beast is thoroughly dead," I gestured at the skink. "It was way too small to survive an electrical shock to the eye."
As I spoke, the rest of the surviving Beemarines flew toward , looking ready to fight. I t them with new orders.
"The imdiate threat has passed, but you all must stay on high alert. Tell your sisters about the beast you just faced—it's likely the only one around, but you can never be sure. I will fly to the nearest hive and call for soone to help you carry the eggs away from here by air—they are small enough that it's possible."
***
The nearest hive was within a few minutes of flight at my full speed. Its Queen, upon hearing my order, imdiately sent several hundred Workers with nets for carrying large items over air.
After that, I went to Hive Supremo to give more orders. A couple months before, I'd have to wait until an Attendant called a bee I needed to the Council Chamber or to my Royal Chamber (whichever I preferred at the ti), then wait.
But now, I just sat down and imagined the bee I needed to reach.
'Bloodhero, this is Nectus speaking. I need you to co to the Royal Chamber. And while you fly, I might as well explain what this is about. Listen…'
In the fifteen minutes that it took for Bloodhero to get to the Royal Chamber, I had ti to get myself a drink, give a greeting kiss to Ambrosia, tell her I was perfectly alright, and also transfer the sa explanations in her thoughts, too.
"Father!" Bloodhero exclaid, bursting through the Royal Chamber's door. Her hair was sticking chaotically from under her bone helt, and she looked frazzled. "Father, please! Please… repeat all this. I was so busy, I only gathered that you wanted to see from the ssages you sent!"
"Oh." I looked around in mortification, then scratched my cheek. "Sorry, I didn't even think about this… I didn't interrupt anything too badly?"
Bloodhero shrugged a leaf off her shoulder.
"I was inspecting the training of new troops and showing so techniques of dodging in flight. Your ssage ca to just when I was doing a backflip." Her face soured. "I fell."
I winced.
"A lot of people must've seen it, Bloodhero. Isn't that right?" Ambrosia rcilessly voiced the thought I didn't want to.
Bloodhero's expression was so hard it could cut glass.
"Yes, Mother-Queen. It proves that my own training wasn't enough. I should be able to do backflips and other air maneuvers, no matter the distraction."
"They will forget about it soon enough, I'm sure," I tried to pacify Bloodhero with a smile.
"A lot of them have perfect mory. They can't forget even if they wanted to, Necty," Ambrosia said nonchalantly. "But Bloodhero, this just shows that not only you—everybody should learn to fight despite possible telepathic ssages. Our army will rely on it more for communication in the future. It's too useful to not to."
She looked at , raising her brows and smiling.
"You didn't have the points for it yet, but giving orders telepathically is much more efficient than using drum signals."
Bloodhero's eyes lit up, and she nodded.
I nodded, too, then waved my hand.
"Either way, this isn't why I called you here, Bloodhero. As I tried to ssage you, I was attacked by a venom-immune beast, which should have *not* been venom-immune. And…"
I briefly explained to her what happened, then went to the orders.
"I need Beehounds to scout the area around this burrow with a fine comb! It's a figure of speech, by the way. I need them to look into every burrow and pile of shit if necessary, but find every nest where the evolved skink's mates could have laid eggs. If the Beehounds find eggs that look like skink's, I want one of them to be brought here for an inspection, and the rest destroyed. And of course, if there are more evolved skinks, I want to know. You will know that they are evolved—they are the only feathered lizards with wings I've seen so far."
"Should we kill them, Father?"
"It will be too hard. No, just track them—I will kill them myself, if there are any."
"Understood." Bloodhero saluted. "I will start the arrangents imdiately! The recruit training can wait."
Now, I could only wait as well. This lone skink, as angry as it made , wasn't dangerous for the Bee Empire as a whole.
But how many of them will the Beehounds find?
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