Kyrad and the first hunters dashed through the plague of bees, approaching the felled tree not more than two hundred meters away. The cyborg insects kept flying towards them, but were incinerated long before they had the opportunity to sting the hunters. Despite the millions that had died to Mage’s attack, the swarm hadn’t thinned in the slightest.

Jakal yelled back to the two, “Just because our potions can protect us from the runts doesn’t mean there aren’t things inside the hive that can harm us. Stay on your guard as we approach!”

“Understood!” the other hunters yelled.

They approached the tree, and the hive quickly became apparent. Although the colossal tree had taken a blast of ungodly proportions, felling it in one strike, the enormous hive was entirely undamaged despite falling a few hundred feet to the ground. They called it a hive, but it was simply a huge titanium shell filled with small holes for bees to pour out from. Or, at least that’s what they thought.

Jakal chuckled maniacally as it came into clear view. “This is where my knowledge ends, boys! Once we walk in, we’re in unknown territory.”

“What if there’s something in there just as strong as the plaguebringer?” Ethir wondered.

“Well, you don’t need to come in,” was Jakal’s answer.

Ethir nodded and grimaced, but stayed by his fellow hunter’s side.

Mage prepared a medium blast as the plaguebringer laid on the ground, rattled by the attack she’d hit to protect her allies. She wouldn’t miss this, assuming it gave her the chance to charge. Though, from her previous attacks, she knew one hit wouldn’t be enough to kill.

Four smaller, human-sized bees emerged from the creature’s empty stinger and shot their own stingers at Mage. In retaliation, she released her blast, hoping to take all of them down at once, including their attacks.

Before the dust cleared, she dodged out of the way as one of them tried to ram its stinger into her, shrouded in the smoke and moving far quicker than the behemoth. She ducked and swerved from two more of the small bees as the dust settled, then shot a small bolt at the plaguebringer as it charged at her, using the recoil to avoid it. The two smaller bees and the plaguebringer began assaulting her with great vindictiveness, giving her no room to breathe. Her only respite was that her attack had chipped one of the behemoth’s wings, leaving it far less moble, while she had vaporized one of the smaller bees, leaving only two remaining.

She didn’t have time to think straight, as her foes left no room for thought, only raw instinct, and grit.

“I see one over there!” Kyrad pointed out a larger opening in the hive, big enough for a human to walk through. The ground shook as Mage released a massive attack in the distance.

“Then let’s get to Point B!” Jakal said.

“Sir, I don’t think we use that terminology.” Ethir pointed out. “We usually say ‘Sting Bee’, not Point B.”

“Keep making dumb puns like that, and I’ll make sure we start calling you stung bee.” Jakal retorted.

Kyrad made it into the tunnel first, the others following. “Dispensing bee repellent!” He poured a white flask onto the ground in the entrance, and all the clear liquid inside turned into white gas as it hit the titanium below it, dispersing the aggressive bees. He then ran down the passage as he threw the empty flask to the side.

The tunnel led to a massive, lopsided establishment, where both ordinary and plague bees were strewn about, aimlessly flying, laying, or crawling. The wall they came from was littered with holes for bees to fly through, while bolted to the wall on their right(which was just the floor, since the hive was on its side) was an assembly belt. On it, there were several machines pouring various questionable green liquids intended for the belt onto the ‘ground’ below. It appeared that the assembly line continued down its own tunnel, where normal bees stuck in clumps of beeswax fell out of, then slowly unstuck themselves from. The most out-of-place thing inside was a young bee a meter across floundering on the ground, unable to fly.

Ethir’s face scrunched up in disgust. “What a mess. You know, I used to like bees beefore they murdered my whole family.” His burning aura turned the huge bee to a cinder, but he still stomped on it furiously as its dead body twitched in death.”

“I know the beeling,” Kyrad punned, trying not to slow down.

“I swear, nobody I know actually-” He breathed in harshly. “-cares if they die,” Jakal said hoarsely.

Ethir shrugged. “You evidently care a little too much, sir. You’re the oldest person in the city!”

“And I’m only a damn fifty-eight-year-old! Is something not wrong with that!?”

Kyrad chuckled, “I beelive that there i-Oof!” He was elbowed in the stomach by the ‘old man.’

“Stop making puns and get moving!”

Kyrad lagged behind a little, stumbling to catch up. “Its a little hard to...when I get the breath knocked out of me!

Not long after, the walls became papery, colored a dull yellow, signaling they had made it to the real hive. The titanium that kept the hive safe seemed to be an artificial shell, while the beeswax and wood walls around them were the true, original hive.

They ran through the hexagonal hall, and as they got closer and closer to the core, the walls began to show a sickly green color, some type of liquid plague oozing from the ground and walls. They weren’t sure what exactly it was, but the First Hunters avoided touching it.

Jakal looked behind them, then yelled in surprise, “Oh by the profaned flame! sidestep!”

The other two hunters weren’t sure what he meant, but still leaped to the side with him as a massive green creature blasted through the hall, skidding on the ground in front of them as it came to a stop.

Ethir let loose an arrow, which the creature dodged in a blur. The red arrow exploded against the wall behind it.

“Formation, NOW!” Jakal yelled.

It passively watched as Kyrad and Jakal took their positions in front of Ethir, his bow strung.

Both it and the hunters observed each other, though the creature looked almost identical to the plaguebringer. “Oh, it isn’t a radioactive cyborg plague bee,” Jakal said.

Ethir lowered an eyebrow. “It isn’t?”

“No, that would be a jet-powered radioactive cyborg plague bee.” He motioned to the turbines strapped to its back, keeping it aloft.

“Ahh, I can see the confusion.”

The bee shot a stinger towards the group, but Ethir burnt it to a crisp with a fire arrow that didn’t explode.

Jakal shot his gun at it, a mass of firey pellets exploding from it towards the creature in. It dodged all but one flare, despite their bullet-like speed. One got stuck in its pollen coat and began burning its fur, though it seemed unfazed.

The bee hovered in place, its expression unidentifiable.

There was a silence as the First Hunters fidgeted with their guns and magic daggers, the only constant sound being the sound of a supersonic turbine revving on the creature’s back.

The creature intelligently chose not to fight them. If any were anywhere near as strong as the woman it had been deployed as reconnaissance against, it had to be careful. Though, the creature doubted that was the case. Either way, it was all that stood between them and the queen, so it couldn’t afford to be too aggressive.

“So...it thinks it’s smart,” Jakal said, not letting down his guard.

“If it were, it would know we weren’t a threat in the slightest. Hey, I don’t know how long we plan to wait, so could you all give me some room?” Ethir asked.

Kyrad backed away without thinking, but Jakal just laughed, “That thing will slaughter you if you give it the opportunity. Are you being dumb on purpose, Ethir?”

“Well, eeexcuse me, but I don’t like it when I’m cramped up for minutes.” Ethir pulled another red arrow from his quiver but didn’t string it.

Kyrad sighed. “This thing doesn’t even care that its on fire. It may be just as strong as the plaguebringer...accounting for the size difference, that is.”

Jakal growled. “It rushed at us faster than I could sneeze, so you might be right.”

“How do you think we kill it?”

“Maybe it hates repellent?” Jakal threw a flask at it, soaking it with bee repellent as it shattered against its titanium exoskeleton. It was entirely unfazed. “Worth a try. What about your shurikens? The Rot Blades.”

“Even if I could hit, it wouldn’t do anything, not without killing it.”

“Well, I guess we’re just screwed-” something clattered to the floor. “What?” Jakal looked behind him, only to see Ethir walk past. He had let go of both his quiver and bow and walked towards the bee, his arms spread wide.

He was instantly skewered as the bee stabbed him in the chest, then pulled itself out and aimed towards Jakal-

Ethir grasped a red arrow he had stowed in the waist of his trouser, then raised it against the bee. Before even it could react or shoot its stinger towards Jakal, he jammed it into its burnt-away pollen coat. The arrowhead flickered, then exploded, insect and human entrails splattering across the hall.

Jakal wiped some questionable gore from his shirt and stared at the corpses with a stony expression. After a few moments of keeping the facade up, he looked away, grimacing sadly. “You people really have lost the will to live.”

Kyrad looked down on his friend.

Another hunter dead, sacrificing himself for the few he knew.

He sighed, then slowly leaned down and collected his bow and quiver, setting the former on top of what was left of Ethir’s body, while strapping the quiver on his back. “Make sure we bury him with his bow. That’s what he wanted.”

“What, he had it in his will?” Jakal asked ruefully.

“Do you want to know what I have in mine?”

Jakal clicked his tongue, then kept walking. “Damned youngsters,” he said regretfully.

Kyrad shrugged, lethargic. “He died protecting everyone. That’s what matters.”

“Yeah, I guess that’s all that matters, huh?”