I spun in mid-air and slipped through my attacker's limbs, barely avoiding the oncoming attack from the wasp queen. But too many evasive manoeuvres had strained my injured wasp and its wound had expanded so much it was currently bleeding out.

«Focus on getting out of the air first.» Sensei urged.

Get out of the air? How?

With the queen keeping up its relentless attacks, I was forced to push my wasp to move even faster, while evading the limbs that came from every direction. I zig-zagged along with a burst of speed, hoping to outrun the queen's attacks but all of a sudden, my sight was filled with the shadow of a looming claw.

Eeeek!!

It was too fast for me to react and I was pierced by the tip of a claw, before getting dragged around and thrown into the pile of corpses. I felt an excruciating pain as my wasp's body coursed with venom that melted its insides and I knew there was no hope of my wasp rising again.

With no choice, I released it from our connection and escaped in my snake form by activating [Stealth]. The wasp lay there unable to move as its body eroded from all the wounds.

But the gigantic wasp was still coming after me so I burrowed into the pile of corpses to escape its notice. The queen, seeming intent on destroying the corpse, continued stabbing repeatedly until my former host was completely crushed under the queen's massive claw, and soon its life blinked out of existence.

But the queen was not satisfied and continued to search through the corpse pile as though it knew I was there.

The queen's formidable strength made me once again realize the insignificance of my puny existence and I lowered my presence as much as possible while noiselessly slithering through the bodies, away from the queen's position.

But soon, there was another disturbance as the two wasps that were chasing me finally caught up and burst into the chamber, coming face to face with the queen.

Although the two wasps immediately fell down and bowed, the enraged queen snatched one from the air with her mandibles and tore the other wasp apart in a wondrous spray of blood.

I was frightened by the scene and also thrilled - because I knew I was successful in hiding from the queen. That's why it projected its anger on those two poor wasps.

But more importantly, not far from my current position was the flower-like mushrooms I saw while evading the queen's attacks.

I was unsure if they were the same mushrooms I was looking for but their resemblance to Sairon's Bell was uncanny - as were the conditions they needed to grow. I had to find out since they were so close.

«Don't even think about it.» Sensei read my thoughts and tried to talk me down.

«That is too risky. You'll get yourself killed.»

But after being made to feel helpless again and again under overwhelming odds, I refused to cower anymore. If I didn't dare to take such risks at this time, there was no way I could leave the Hive alive.

"I will be fine." I replied offhandedly as I observed the distance between me and the mushrooms.

And while the queen was occupied, I burrowed under the corpse pile and made my way towards the mushrooms. Perhaps because the queen was distracted by the two wasps, or my [Stealth] was that effective, I managed to safely reach the mangled corpse.

Growing from the same stem were two florets identical in everything else but their colour, the poisonous bright yellow one and the antidote I needed which was the barely visible dark one.

They looked like the same mushrooms I saw back in the forest but I appraised them nonetheless to be safe.

--------------

[Sairon's Bell]

[Specie: Ostium Nervorum]

--------------

The yellow one read, and for the dark one.

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[Sichilde's Paramour]

[Specie: Funus Amanita]

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Seeing the appraisal result made me grin and I quickly ate the dark one without any delay, setting off a series of system dings.

--------------

[You ate [Sichilde's Paramour], nullifying the status effect of [Sairon's Bell]]

〚Skill『Detox LV1』has been acquired〛

[Quest - Increase Your Poison Resistance. Complete!]

[Quest Reward 50XP has been issued!]

〚『Poison Resistance LV1』has been acquired〛

--------------

I was happy to finally be cured of my poison, evading an impending death. It felt as if a burden had been lifted off of me and I was so relieved.

However, not faraway, the fearsome wasp queen eating the corpses of the two wasps that just flew in and I heaved a depressed sigh.

I'm very close to death still...

But as I looked at the system notifications, I grew curious of the new skill I gained.

[Poison Resistance] was a given due to the nature of the quest, but what exactly was [Detox]?

It seemed to be the result of eating Sairon's bell or maybe the effect of its antidote.

Either way it looked like a useful skill to have.

Poking my head out from the pile of corpses, I looked around the queen's chambers to figure out a way to escape unnoticed. When I noticed the queen did not turn her attention to me, I grinned. It seemed [Stealth] was still infallible to certain creatures.

Ever since I encountered the scary wasp, I had begun to doubt the effectiveness of not just [Stealth] but all of my skills, due to its terrifying might. It made me feel weak and powerless in a way that not even the queen was able to.

Granted, the queen was further away from me than it had been, but still.

I shook off my thoughts and soon spotted an opening up in the purple walls of the wide cavern. It was sizable enough for a creature of the queen's size to fit through and I knew it was the exit.

Unfortunately, there was no way to reach it without alerting the queen who was having her precious meal right beside it. It seemed my only option was to wait until the queen moved elsewhere.

But at that moment I picked up some vibrations in the air, followed by the crunch of bone as a squadron of hunting wasps entered the chamber to bow at the foot of the giant wasp queen.

This time they were not attacked which made me wonder if they had some superiority compared to the others. They came in carrying the mangled corpse of a carrier wasp and the body of a host creature, which they laid at the foot of the queen.

They seemed to be communicating with her and the queen stopped eating to observe the bodies, only to let out an enraged screech that visibly shook the chamber at something one of the wasps said.

The remaining wasps flew back in fright, and I too retreated further into the corpses because I recognised that mangled carrier wasp - it was the one I left behind in the Hive Core.

Before I could wrap my head around what it was doing here, I felt a shiver down my spine as yet another dangerous presence entered the chamber.

It was a wasp whose formerly glistening armour was now covered in blood. Like a vision of terror the scary wasp that decimated my forces flew over to the wasp queen, exuding an aura full of threat that filled the chamber and made my heart sink.

I shrank away and more than ever I wished to disappear from there at that instant. It was the culmination of all my nightmares and bad decisions appearing at once to slap me in the face.

And as if mocking me, I heard the system ding.

〚Skill Aptitude Increase: 『Stealth LV 4』has become『Stealth LV 5』〛

As the scary wasp descended from the tunnel entrance, I held my breath to eliminate any sound and stayed completely still. Even with [Stealth] active I didn't feel safe.

I was hidden well, but I had a feeling that this wasp's detection was much better than the queen's, so I did everything to erase all the traces of my presence.

With [Silence] working alongside [Stealth], all traces of warmth vanished. My body appeared a shade darker than before, as though a film of intangible substance had spread over my scales, blending them further into the shadows.

〚Skill Aptitude Increase: 『Silence LV 4』has become『Silence LV 5』〛

And it seemed like my efforts were not wasted.

The scary wasp simply bowed before the queen in an isolated spot, the bloodstains on its armour like coarse rust staining its former bright lustre. The scary wasp looked like it had taken a beating and I hoped it was hurt bad.

Although, I was unsure how the hive fared after the battle, it meant some part of my plan had worked.

However I noticed that even when the other wasps rose up, it continued to kneel and I found the situation rather odd.

The wasp queen did not excuse him to get up and instead, threw the half eaten corpses of the wasps that chased me at his feet.

I seemed to recall those wasps being a part of his squadron.