Almost One and a half week has passed since we arrived here, my job here was done and the problem was solved but I was still waiting for Gram to arrive. He said he'd be heading straight here, I could've just gone back to the city after I did my job but won't Gram be shocked? so I plan to wait for his arrival and report the good news to him, I also asked Rawl not to tell Gram that I came here more than a week earlier, I lied that to him that I left the city about a month ago.

It was honestly boring, after the attacks of the Ogres, nothing else came so Cynthia and I spent the morning drinking tea and her teaching me how to write letters while I head back to the ship in the afternoon to sleep with Alissa.

And finally the next day, Gram arrived riding a horse along with Brunhilde, Rawl greeted them and reported everything that happened

"Oh, good thing that Zeno took care of the issue" Gram smiled as he drank the tea

We were currently in a high-class guest room in Rawl's mansion.

"Yes, we are very thankful for him, without him, this city would've already been razed to the ground even if we survived the incident with those stomach worms" Rawl spoke out as he brought out a bag full of gold coins along with a western double-edged sword, the sword sheath was riddled with intricate designs.

I received the bag of coin and placed it beside my chair, well I can give it to Cynthia but I can't have her carry such a heavy bag of coins.

"Still though, Zeno came much earlier if I remember correctly, how did you come here?" Brunhilde asked

"Oh about that, we used specially trained horses" I hope Brunhilde buys it.

Brunhilde looks at me and takes a minute to think, she was about to say something but she stopped herself.

"Well, I want to rest for a bit since we haven't had much of a rest due to our travels. Zeno, since we're here, why don't we move on to the north?" Gram tried inviting me

I need to choose... what to do? I can go back to the guild but what do I do there? the bug problem there is as good as gone with the queen dead if I go up north, there's a chance for me to discover another Hive.

"Which reminds me General Gram, I may be overstepping my boundaries a bit but what happened to the northern cities, please tell me the truth" Rawl looked at Gram straight in the eyes

"*sigh* I don't intend to keep it a secret but I've been ordered to keep quiet about it, all you need to know is that you all have to arm yourselves or better yet, just evacuate" Gram honestly replied before turning to me and asking "Now you know that something's up, will you still be coming?"

"Of course I'm coming, Cynthia, you have a choice, I can take you back to the guild before heading north with Gram" I asked Cynthia, I really want her to stay and accompany me but I don't want to her get hurt or worse... die

"I'll follow you anywhere, even to hell" Cynthia replied with conviction

"Then it's decided... I really am thankful that you decided to come" Gram thanked me

"Don't worry about it" I waved my hands

We discussed a few more things before leaving Rawl's mansion

'Alissa, we're continuing up north, we think there might be a hive there that needs extermination' I spoke to Alissa through my radio

'Okay but take Guardian Five with you, I'm heading off to space, I'm done with our little project!' Alissa happily replied

'That's great! how long will you be gone?' I asked

'About 2 days, by the way, thanks Zeno, if it wasn't for that material discussion you had, I wouldn't have been able to finish our project this fast

After learning the minerals available, Alissa quickly asked me to buy tons of Steel that were used in the construction of our project

'Will you be leaving immediately?'

'Yeah, I can't really wait to send this baby up in its orbit. I've already sent Guardian Five your way, he's carrying Cynthia's Nexus Armor and your Guns, is DK fully charged?'

'Yeah, I got enough juice to last me a month'

'Alright then, see you later, Dr. Alissa, out' She cut the transmission

Come back safe

I prayed underneath my breath

'Lilith, can you scan Five's location?'

'Yes, Five is close, just in front of you'

Moments later, I saw a Guardian Five arrive, Five was wearing a long robe with its face hidden by the hood

Cynthia received the Nexus armor which was neatly packed in a briefcase while I received my M4 and desert eagle.

We headed back home and just enjoyed a good rest, we will be leaving early tomorrow so after having dinner, Cynthia and I went to bed in our own separate rooms, Guardian Five was given guard duty.

The next morning, Cynthia, Fives, and I left the city together with Gram and Brunhilde

"I've already sent a letter back to your guild about this, the King has personally hired you to join me on this quest" Gram smiled as he pat my back

We were all riding a carriage, Gram is the coachman and I accompany him. Brunhilde and Cynthia are inside the carriage while Guardian Five is sitting at the back

Our next destination is Blaz city, a large city that has almost 200,000 people living in it. The city itself is under siege and we were given the task to help them, the King has sent a limited number of reinforcements because there were more cities other than Blaz that was under attack.

Looks like they're now starting their advance, I need to get this mission done in just a few days so I can move on to the next Hive...

We finally arrived at Blaz city, the city walls were 60 feet high and made out of stone the inside of the city was in shambles, almost all of the houses had a hole in it. The houses had walls of stone and a roof made out of wood, they were almost 3-story high. Wherever I look around, I can always see blood.

I saw a corpse nearby so I jumped down from the carriage and studied it, the body was so dried up that it looks like a mummy. It might look old but this body is still fresh, I checked for any puncture wounds and I saw one up on this guys head. His internal organs and all of his blood were sucked out through his head... the size of the hole was as large as a tennis ball.

'Lilith, do you think this is a bee?' I asked Lilith

'Yes, this is the work of a Giant bee, only they suck out the internal organs and blood'

'Then basing from the old records, their Hive should be found in a mountain' I looked around and spotted a huge mountain

'Yes but we can't be sure'

'Yeah, I know, we need to check if that mountain has a large cliff'

"What do you think?" Gram asked me

"Bees, Blood Bees, they suck out everything inside a human and just leave the body behind. The blood and internal organs harvested will be turned into Blood Honey which is their main source of food" I explained

"So they're large Bees?" Brunhilde came out of the carriage and asked

"Yes, as large as a fully grown pig and instead of yellow-black stripes, they have red-black stripes" I described to them the appearance of a blood bee

"Aerial battle huh... I'm no good with bows" Brunhilde shook her head

"You don't have to be good with bows, as long as we can drag them to the ground, we can kill them" I spoke out

"How do we do that?" Gram asked

"Easy, just create black smoke when they attack, they'll start flying closer to the ground because they want to escape the black smoke and when that time comes, we kill them" I explained

"Welcome General Gram, Knight commander Brunhilde... and... Blade Knight!" A guard respectfully approached us

The guard was a bit smaller than me, his armor was covered in blood, his helmet has cracks here and there.

"Thank you for defending this city" Gram patted the young soldier's shoulders

"These words are wasted on me General, there are more soldiers who are more deserving of your praise"

"Don't belittle yourself young lad, you've survived this long so you too deserve this"

"Thank you"

"Then what were about to say?"

"Ah, the City lord has heard of your arrival and has asked you to come as soon as possible"

"That'll have to wait" I inturrupted them

"What is it?" Gram asked

"They're coming! tell the men to burn anything as long is it's not a live person!" I told the young soldier before heading in the direction of attack

Everyone else followed, It was midday and the scorching sun is taking their toll on the wounded and weary soldiers who were still working and defending the city. I climbed the north-west wall and looked over the horizon, I soon saw, almost 100 bees making their way here... They're a bit far so we have a few minutes to create a defense no... it won't make it... some sacrifices have to be made in order to kill the attackers. I don't like the sound of it but it's better than letting the bees live and 'Harvesting' more people

I ran back down and told everyone about the issue

"Gram, we need to place wood and more burnable material at every corner of city, I also need to know where is the most populated area" I spoke to Gram

Gram and I approached a nearby guard, according to him, the area with most population is the city hall, there's a large underground basement there in case of an attack. There's enough food there to keep 1000 full for an entire month, Gram stayed behind and told the city guards about my request

Brunhilde, Cynthia, Guardian Five, and I headed for the city center where the city hall was located. The Blood Bees look at the world differently than most bugs, they look at everything like that of a thermal vision

We need to defend the city hall until Gram and the others finish my request