Re: Tales of the Rune-Tech Sage

Chapter 822: The Hive II

CH822 The Hive II

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Aside from having to endure a bumpy ride across the now-rugged terrain, there was actually little evidence of Berserk Beasts being present—nor any indication that the land had been under their influence for decades.

It was clean—unnaturally so.

Fortunately, Alex’s mana carriage had been modelled after the utility vehicles from his previous life, right down to the suspension.

So, although the ride was rough in places, the carriage managed to traverse most of the terrain and arrive at their destination—

An enormous mountain—or perhaps several mountains fused into one—located about ten kilometres from the makeshift fort that served as the unofficial border.

Even without Zora’s directions, Alex could have found the location himself.

Upon arriving within two kilometres of the mountain, he felt his connection to the Nest Queen and her hive network restore itself.

As a result, he immediately knew exactly where the Nest Queen was.

In addition, her drones were already hard at work, hunting, clearing, and transporting the carcasses of Berserk Beasts back into the mountain.

The Nest Queen had retained the insect-bee template for her drones.

In fact, the large worker drones hauling back carcasses appeared to be modelled after vulture bees, which Alex found rather fitting, considering the hive would primarily expand by feeding on the remains of other creatures.

From the sheer scale of the activity taking place around the mountain nest’s entrance, Alex quickly deduced that the Nest Queen was most likely responsible for the lack of Berserk Beasts in the surrounding border region.

Though there was still a possibility that many of the Berserk Beasts had retreated deeper inland after being driven back by the Tribulation Lightning.

Zora looked on with wide eyes, and frankly more than a little disturbed, as she watched the massive, two-metre-tall drones moving in and out of the mountain cave entrance, most of them carrying carcasses inside.

As they observed the remarkable sight, two drones suddenly flew over towards them.

These two drones were distinct from the others.

For one, their forms leaned noticeably towards a humanoid morphology, though they were still unmistakably insectoid.

As the drones flew over, Sergeant Lopota—Alex’s driver and head guard—immediately stepped in front of them to shield his liege and mistress.

“Stand down, Sergeant. They’re friendly,” Alex instructed.

“Huh…?” The poor sergeant was caught off guard.

The next thing he saw was the pair of strange humanoid insectoids landing before Alex and dropping to one knee, bowing as though swearing fealty to him.

Alex looked over the two drones, running his hands over their bodies as he examined them curiously.

Click~

One of the drone’s mouthparts clicked together as though saying something.

Strangely, Alex understood it and gave a nod.

“They’re inviting me to come with them. Do you want to accompany me or stay here?” Alex asked.

“They’re the drones of your Nest Queen that you spoke about? Fascinating.”

Zora curiously examined the two drones before adding, “I’ll come along.”

Alex nodded.

He then turned to Sergeant Lopota.

“Stay here, Sergeant,” Alex instructed.

“Yes, sir.”

The sergeant nodded seriously.

From their actions and his mistress’s words, it was obvious these strange insectoids had something to do with his liege.

As a knight and a loyal retainer, he knew better than to pry into his lord’s secrets, so he made no attempt to ask questions.

Thus, Alex and Zora followed the two humanoid insectoid drones towards the mountain cave entrance.

The entrance was far larger than it had appeared from a distance.

‘This reminds me of the massive blast doors at the TS nuclear bunker facility I was taken to evaluate shortly before my transmigration to this world,’ Alex mused.

‘It would be interesting to recreate such a door and facility here…’

However, his gaze shifted to the constant stream of drones moving in and out of the entrance, and he shook his head.

‘Maybe not the door.’

To both Alex’s and Zora’s surprise, the cave’s interior was remarkably smooth.

It became increasingly apparent that this was not a natural cave, but one excavated by the Nest Queen and her drones.

They walked through a vast network of tunnels, exactly as one would expect from an insect colony, only on an enormously larger scale.

Although the tunnel network initially appeared chaotic, Alex, being connected to the hive network and possessing the highest authority within it, could clearly perceive the order hidden beneath the apparent disorder.

Essentially, the tunnels were divided into three rings.

The outer ring consisted of the food production areas.

The drones returning from outside with Berserk Beast carcasses brought them here, where they either fed upon them themselves or handed them over to more specialised drones.

Both types produced a thick, viscous fluid that gradually coalesced into golden, sponge-like spheres of varying sizes.

Since the drones largely followed a bee-inspired template, Alex mentally likened the substance to carrion honey—a unique variant of honey produced by vulture bees that fed on carcasses.

Once these sponge-like balls of carrion honey had been produced, they were collected by waiting worker drones.

These workers resembled ants more than bees as they carried the golden food spheres deeper into the hive.

Most of the carrion honey was transported to a storage chamber, where the spheres were carefully stockpiled.

As they passed by, Alex and Zora watched several worker ant drones arrive from the inner rings, consume a single honey sphere, and immediately return to their duties.

Other worker ants carried sizeable portions of the carrion honey further into the tunnels towards the next ring—the inner ring.

The inner ring served primarily as the incubation area for the drones.

The walls of its cavernous chambers were lined with enormous insectoid cocoons and incubation pods.

For the most part, obvious signs of life and growth could be seen within the translucent chambers.

The worker ant drones appeared to assess the development of each cocoon before pressing portions of the carrion honey against its surface, seemingly replenishing the energy required for the occupant’s growth.

As they were about to move deeper into the cave, Alex and Zora saw several larger, more robust humanoid worker ants emerge from further within the subterranean network.

They carefully—almost reverently—carried grey, oval-shaped eggs about the size of a hen’s egg, placing them into specially dug chambers in the ground and within the walls of the incubation caverns.

The other worker ant drones then enveloped each grey egg with successive layers of golden carrion honey until a complete golden cocoon had formed around it, initiating the incubation process.

***