Reincarnated To Evolve My Bee Empire-Chapter 217: Between a rock and a hard place
As expected, humans tried to repeat their success soon enough. The Bee Empire was more prepared this time, and over the next five days, the next several attacks were repelled—although, with heavier losses than before.
Humans kept mixing up their tactics, using more and more elaborate feints, splitting their forces only to unite them unexpectedly, and overall using their superior speed to the best of their ability. Sometimes they rode their four-legged beasts, "horses", although not anywhere where bees could attack them, to be even faster.
But Bloodhero kept up with them by turning existing work camps into war camps and setting her own feints and ambushes.
No more humans were killed in the last days, only wounded. The humans blinded earlier showed signs of recovery, to everybody's anger.
Fire was an effective weapon against humans, but even with the available workforce of the Bee Empire, there was a limit on how fast every soldier could be given "fire pots". Often, armies had to give them only to a small part of their soldiers and just try scaring humans off with pure numbers and threatening displays.
Despite this, as Ambrosia read over stacks of wax tables with reports, she felt cautiously optimistic.
By her estimate, the forces of the Bee Empire would hold on for a few more days without problems, in which Bloodimina's marching army would finally reach the human village.
Suddenly, Chief Attendant Helping-Hands poked her head into the room.
"Mother-Queen, I apologize for the distraction, but Oracle Undecided wants to talk with you, and you told us to give her messages first priority."
Ambrosia almost dropped the wax tablet in her hand.
'Did she or her sisters find something about Nectus?' Ambrosia wondered.
In the last week, two more bees joined the Oracler. Undecided and her sisters also spent a lot of time listening in to Council sessions or reading reports given to them—they claimed it was necessary for them to understand the situation better.
Something about their future "dream" selves also getting their information from said reports.
Ambrosia just told the Attendants to make copies for the Oracles. Although it was hard to tell with these bees, Ambrosia hoped it meant their predictions would become clearer.
"Let her in immediately."
"Of course, Mother-Queen."
Soon, the young Oracle Bee entered the room. She was twitching in agitation and began rambling before Ambrosia even opened her mouth.
"Mother, Oracles saw a terrible dream. Thanks to the help of my sisters in deciphering the possibilities, we finally understood the key event there! I mean, the most probable event in the series of dreams—that's how we call these things. This means that we are *almost* sure this will happen!"
"Undecided, you must calm down," Ambrosia said sternly, but gently. "Tell me—*what* will happen?"
"Ah. Right… In two days—or more, or less—humans will unleash a terrible attack. Instead of splitting their forces, they will walk right to Hive Supremo! There will be no stopping them—they will go right where our defenses are the weakest. There will be twenty of them, all with fires and shouts. Twenty! They will wear leathers or clothes so soaked they won't burn, and their eyes will be protected with nets."
Ambrosia squashed her disappointment over the bad news and focused on the problem.
"So their equipment will be prepared even for our latest weaponry… Then we must rearrange our defenses. Can you draw the route they took in your prediction?"
Undecided shook her head.
"No, that's not how it goes, Mother. No matter which way we arrange it, they take the weaker route. Just telling you this twists the dreams into a hundred more ways, and I don't think any of them are better than what we have! Humans *will* attack Hive Supremo, and they *must*!"
Ambrosia glared.
"They *must*? This is nonsense! Hive Supremo is the logistical and industrial heart of the Bee Empire. 250 thousand bees live here! Although humans stand almost no chance of destroying this place, we can't give them even a shadow of a chance!"
Undecided shook her head even more vigorously. She sounded almost desperate when she spoke—more convinced in her words than Ambrosia ever heard her to be.
"Please, Mother, trust me! We can't stop their advance without worse things happening. The dreams—they spiral after this. Into fire and darkness… If humans think they have no chance, they will set the entire forest on fire just to kill us! The trees, the pillar mountains—we will all burn! They won't care if they might burn, too."
Ambrosia gasped, rising in her seat.
"Are they *that* mad? No… Why am I even asking? They are mad creatures with worms in their heads instead of the think-stuff." She sat back, feeling bone-weary all out of a sudden.
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'And Nectus claimed to have been a human himself. I can almost see the similarities.'
"You believe me, Mother?" Undecided asked, wringing her hands shyly.
"Yes, I do."
Ambrosia forced herself to smile at the bee, then stood up and approached to pat her head. Undecided smiled back, looking like a mountain fell from her shoulder.
"I'm so glad. The Oracler will keep trying to see the rest of the dreams, but things are so much more blurry afterward."
Ambrosia nodded.
"The Empire Council must know about this. Go to the Council Chambers, and tell the Attendants to gather everybody, please. I will join you soon."
"Of course, Mother."
Undecided smiled once more and left the room.
Alone, Ambrosia reached out to the nearest wall, sinking her claws into the soft wax. If only humans were so easy to destroy…
'With each fight, they prepare themselves better. Just a few days… Just a few days and we will bring this war to *them*. But how can we defend ourselves in the meantime?'
This question played in Ambrosia's head on repeat while she flew to the Council Chamber.
After a long conversation with her Advisers, one thing became obvious.
No new research was going to save them this time—not with the timeline given by Undecided.
They had to protect Hive Supremo by other means, and even total numerical superiority could be not enough this time.
