When the Guards reached the nest entrance, they realized something. The bird was too big for the hole.

The Workers had made it smaller to avoid discovery, so it could be expanded fairly easy again. But that would take time. Time spent on the outside was always risky. Now they had a huge corpse right outside of their nest that might attract unwanted attention. They had to do some quick brainstorming.

The first idea was to simply cut the corpse into smaller pieces, but they soon realized just how foolish that idea actually was. Cutting through the feathers was next to impossible for them, not to mention how angry the Emperor would be if they did that to his kill.

The second idea was to ask the Emperor for help, since he obviously could bite through the, impossibly tough, feather armor. But once again, the Emperor might get angry for them even thinking about cutting his kill to pieces. Even worse, was that the Emperor had done something the army had tried to do for a long time, and their pride would not allow asking him for more help. Their mission was to transport him and his kill safely back inside the nest. Obviously, the Guard that suggested that idea got executed on the spot.

While eating their newly acquired snack, they tried to think up a third idea, but came up empty. For some reason, the Guard's ability to think outside the box had suddenly diminished a great deal, and the Guard Captain was forced to call for workers to immediately expand the entrance.

After about twenty minutes of frantic digging, they could finally squeeze the bird inside. Thankfully, the inside tunnels were larger, and it could be moved easily once they got inside.

They proudly presented it to the Queen, who was very surprised when she saw them coming.

Guard Captain's POV

Th- this is extremely heavy. Still have no idea how he brought down such a big creature alone.

A black bird floated across the ground, moving in a snake-like pattern. This was not by choice, but because the Guards could not fully control the weight and wobbled back and forth.

Ah, I can see the nest. Finally, we are home. Hmm, what is going on?

The black bird kept bouncing against the small hole in the ground.

You must be joking… It won't fit! What to do? Expanding the hole will take too long and every second outside is a huge risk. Thankfully we, ur… I mean, the Emperor killed the biggest threat. The bird had his nest right above ours, always watching us. He knew he could eat his fill every time we came out. No, there must be another way!

The Guard Captain sent the command for 'Figure out a way to bring it inside' to his men. He himself waited and rested a bit. He already felt immense hunger from all this exertion and being so close to such a delicious meal made the hunger a lot worse. He could also hear the ferocious eating that went on inside the body, taunting his stomach even more.

One of the Guards came up to the resting Guard Captain, talking in the very basic pheromone language the lower class used. “Simple. Cut. Corpse. Pieces.” However, being able to speak at all, meant that this Guard was one of the more intelligent members of the lower class, currently in the Swarm.

Hmm, a good idea, but the Emperor might not like it. But we have no choice for now.

The Guard Captain gave the command for 'Carefully cut it to pieces'. He went up to one of the feather himself, and bit down. His result was slightly better than the rest, but not enough to break the feathers.

Argh! Break! Damn, useless. Can’t cut through the feathers. Maybe that is for the best. The Emperor would most likely be upset.

Since their Captain, with twice their strength, gave up, the other Guards followed his example and went back to the brainstorming. Their hearts filled up with even more respect for the Emperor, after trying to bite through those feathers. The Emperor made a nice and clean cut, removing the head with seemingly little effort.

One of the Guards walked over to the Guard Captain and said: “Ask. Emperor. Help. Cutting.”

You want to ask our saviour for help? After he has already done so much? We are the ones that's supposed to serve the Emperor, you fool. How can we be so useless that we can’t even bring him home? Where is your honor as a mighty Guard of the Swarm? Such weakness cannot be tolerated!

A flash of anger appeared in his eyes and he snapped once with his mandibles. The severed head of the honorless Guard flew away from the body. The Guard Captain chopped up the Guard's body into smaller pieces and handed a piece to every Guard at the scene.

The other Guards were very confused about what just happened. Why did their kind, trusting and caring Captain just kill one of their own? They had lived and fought together their entire lives. Survived countless battles and defended the colony over and over again.

“Eat up or join him. Weakness won’t be tolerated anymore. The strong feed on the weak. That is the law. That is the Swarm. Before I have finished my meal, I want an answer to our problems.” The Guard Captain said. He picked up the severed head of the Guard and bit down, resulting in a satisfying crunch.

The other Guards quickly bit down into their former comrade's still warm body, while thinking about what to do. However, their minds drew a blank. For some reason, they could not focus on any coherent thoughts.

Ah, what have I done?! The stress of constant failures is getting to me… but leading with fear is not the way to go. However, what done is done. And most importantly, I was really hungry…

Looks like the men are too shocked to come up with anything now. No choice but to expand the entrance now. We have already wasted around five minutes doing nothing.

“Get the workers up here now! This has the highest priority!” The Guard Captain commanded the Guards.

The Guards all rushed down the hole, trying to quickly get away from their, in their eyes, crazy Captain.

The Workers they brought quickly got to work, and the Guards did not just stand idle either. They helped moving the bigger things.

Looks like it’s big enough now. The Guard Captain thought to himself.

“Get ready men! Half of you inside to pull, the other half with me to push!” The Guard Captain shouted out his command, and the Guards and Workers obeyed. After a fierce struggle, they finally managed to push the bird inside the nest. To safety at last.

Phew, finally. Now, let’s quickly go and see the Queen. She must be worried.

The Guard Captain led the party down to the Queen's chamber. When they got near, he let go off the bird and moved up ahead. Thanks to the Workers sharing the burden, it was much easier to carry it now.

"My Queen! We have returned successfully."

"Ye-Yes, I can see that. What is that you are carrying? And how did it fit through the hole? Where is the Emperor?"

"This thing is the bird! Yes, that one! The one that always hunted us whenever we went outside! The Emperor himself slayed it! It didn’t fit through the hole so we expanded it. The Emperor is currently eating inside the body."

"He slayed it alone? How is that even possible? I send him with you to gather some plants, to see the world, and he does something like this… I can’t thank Qudall enough for his choice of soul. Bring him out, I want to talk with him."

The Guard Captain crawled inside the bird to find the Emperor. The insides were surprisingly spacious. No, perhaps it did not used to be this much room.

Hmm... He is not moving?! Oh, he is just sleeping.

The Guard Captain breathed out in relief. He almost had a heart attack there. He crawled out again and reported to the Queen.

"My Queen, he seems to be sleeping. After such a fierce battle, I did not dare to wake him up. Who is this 'Qudall', by the way?"

"Qudall? Um, no need to concern yourself with such things. Very well, let him sleep. Carry the body to his sleeping quarters. The room should be big enough to fit the body."

"My Queen, my men are hungry and exhausted after having worked hard all day. They even carried this huge body for so long. May I ask for some of your Helpers to help carry it. Since the Emperor is technically still in the larva stage, there should be no problems right?"

"...Very well. Take a dozen or so. Hmm, feels like I have forgotten something, but not sure what. Probably just inside my head."

The Queen cut the mind connection to the Guard Captain. She closed her eyes and went back to focus on her favorite activity: Increasing the numbers of the Swarm. The fact it was her only activity was purely by coincidence.

The Guard Captain left the Queen alone and went towards the large group of Helpers behind her, waiting for the new larvae to plop out. He commanded thirty of them to follow him.

“Carry this one back to his room!” The Guard Captain commanded the Helpers.

The Helpers looked at each other with a hint of fear in their eyes, but they would follow their orders. They always did.

“Don’t be like that, we will help, of course.” The Guard Captain gave a wink to his men. After his outburst back at the entrance, he thought he would do something nice for them.

The Guards helped out to lift the bird up, so the Helpers could get under. The Guards covered the sides, while the Helpers walked in the middle. Together, they slowly walked towards their destination, the Royal Sleeping Quarters. Every few seconds, the Guards would rotate who took breaks and who helped lifting. They couldn’t all pretend to lift, or the Helpers would be crushed in seconds.

When they reached their destination, the Guards all looked at each other. Since they were such a tight-knit unit, a look was all it took for them to understand what was going to happen. All Guards let go at the same time, leaving the massive body's weight, literally on the Helpers shoulders. The body landed with a crunch a few seconds later.

Heh, thanks for the help. The Guard Captain thought.

“Let’s go back to our barrack for now.” And with that command, the Guard Captain left the body of the bird, with thirty dead Helpers under it, and a sleeping Emperor inside. They all returned to their barrack for some quality sleep. Well, after they stopped by the Feeders to get something to eat.