Chapter 238. Kill the Bee (1) (2/2)
“Why do you say that?”
“Its head and its wings were different from a queen bee’s They actually looked like they were a typical worker bee And even though queen bees are stronger than other bees… There isn’t that big of a difference It’s uards”
That meant that the queen bee was elsewhere, probably on the tenth floor… Milphage looked up at the ceiling and started to run up the stairs
“D-don’t go by yourself!” Kiora squawked and followed him up The ninth floor resembled a laboratory
“hh!”
The Players eaker stomachs threw up It was filled with the corpses of s and ani their noses There were also strange mutants that looked like they had been the result of crossbreeding, and they hung on hooks fros in a butchery
“They er with this” While trapped, the bees had tried to force thee nudged each of the hanging mutants None of them moved Actually, they were so misshapen that it was hard to picture that they were once alive “Perhaps the only successful subject they had made was the one earlier…” It was also likely that the o It must have started to cannibalize the others as soon as it was born, as it had to be ridden with hunger
“Joel!” Kiora yelled “Its body! It looked like Joel’s! It had scars near the heart!”
“Joel froe asked
“Yeah He was killed yesterday during reconnaissance and was dragged away That’s the guy”
“” He had no idea how the bees had been able to use such advanced techniques This place had been closed off for hundreds of years, and it was too strange to judge it using coo to the tenth floor”
With that, Milphage hurried up the stairs Kiora rushed to follow, but she was met with his back as he stared blankly
“Boss, what’s wrong?”
“” Milphage stayed silent All he could do was stare in horror “Hey, former beekeeper”
“Y-yes! You called h the crowd froe held up his thick finger and pointed “How should I take this?”
“That’s…” Seo Jae-Gil’s eyes widened as he followed Milphage’s finger The walls had all been broken down, e roo as a boulder It had a queen bee’s wings and thorax
“N-no…”
Most importantly, she was dead The wall behind her was splattered with green sap-like blood, and her body was riddled with holes It had definitely not been a natural death
“She was obviously killed, but it doesn’t look like this was the work of a Player,” Milphage said Based on the state of her body and the sap, she didn’t die yesterday or two days ago She had definitely died at least a couple of weeks ago
Seo Jae-Gil gulped “If she wasn’t killed by a Player, this would be the doing of a worker bee”
“A worker bee? They can kill queens?”
“Yes” Seo Jae-Gil nodded “If they judge that the queen bee cannot carry out her duties anymore, the worker bees will launch a coup d’etat and kill her”
“What? I don’t understand” Milphage’s eyebrows furrowed “Didn’t you say so yourself? You said that when a queen bee dies, the colony will lose its hierarchy and that they turn on each other”
“Typically, yes But… It’s different if the worker bees themselves decided to launch a coup d’etat”
“How so?”
“We call this 'supersedure' When the queen bee dies, the colony will instinctively realize that they have lost their leader The routine of their life falls apart”
“So what do they do?”
“The older of the worker bees will coether and make a decision” They would choose a new queen based on a vote Of course, she would only be a nominal queen and wouldn’t be able to carry out all the duties of a queen bee The colony would still be able to function, but only drones would be born The colony would inevitably collapse[1]
“I’m sorry I should have realized thatthat the proportions of the colony were off” Seo Jae-Gil bit his lip, looking ashamed
“Hey, don’t just brood by yourself and tell ed
“They invade other colonies,” he said, sounding nervous “They find another hive, kill the queen, absorb the worker bees, and put thee finally understood why a crack had appeared in Blackfield “Those da to enslave humans to survive?” His face contorted “So, hoe find the fake queen?”
“Worker bees who become queens typically work like the others There is no method to find a fake queen in a horde of worker bees”
“What?”
“Of course, they would still be usually bigger than other worker bees…” He trailed off Though there was still daylight outside the , a heavy shadow had begun to cover the sky as thousands of bees flew around the Magic Tower “To be honest, I don’t think it’ll be possible to find the queen ae sla we can do?”
Everyone was silent They had been too focused on the end goal that they had just realized that they had been going in the wrong direction Now, they weren’t sure what to do
“First…” Milphage quickly pulled hiether He had already acted like an idiot earlier, and once was enough “We’ll -Hyun We’ll think about e should do next after we kill the ht, then I’ll tell everyone to start heading down…”
“There’s no need for that”
Milphage’s biceps swelled, and he punched the ground
Crash!+ </eo down
“That rascal, he looked pretty cool earlier” Milphage sniffled, looking satisfied He jumped down the hole he had created
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1 For reference, all worker bees are female but infertile Drones are male, and they cannot work or create honey ☜