Chapter 37: Melissa Mellifera

"..." After managing to recover from her wounds, Nio decided to leave the empire — not because she already wanted to leave, but because fighting against her natural enemy wasn’t something that was in her plans.

So she changed her clothes and returned to her palace to increase the security of everything and try to resolve some problems with people possibly finding her palace, since it wouldn’t be impossible for it to be found.

Normally, this would be the most favorable situation for her to plan how to defeat Typhon, but unfortunately for Nio, as soon as she arrived at her palace she came face-to-face with a problem: Azalea arguing with someone.

The one arguing with Azalea is a girl with long, dark red hair almost the color of blood, a relatively weak physique, and medium-sized breasts. She’s dressed in a cute maid outfit.

However, red replaces the normally black colors, and black replaces the normally white ones. Behind her, there’s a long, completely black tail with a stinger, and she’s wearing a mask that resembles a cute face with exaggeratedly large and shiny eyes.

Her real face beneath the mask is actually entirely yellowish with golden fur covering everything, and eyes with multiple segments like those of a bee.

’Melissa Mellifera... Second Floor Apostle... I had completely forgotten that this sick girl wouldn’t stay trapped in the Hive Floor forever...’ Nio grows uncomfortable, knowing the Lore she created for Melissa.

Melissa commands the second floor, which is like a great bee hive, with walls coated in a layer of viscous honey — but the honey has a black coloration and a pungent, almost unpleasant sweet smell — while the entire floor is covered in this honey with drops falling from the ceiling and a complex system of paths leading to the center of the floor.

But what makes Nio most uncomfortable isn’t Melissa’s "bizarre" appearance — it’s the fact that she’s an [Evolved Infected], a hive-type monster. She could also be called a "Swarm Queen," but the real name is something else because she isn’t merely a swarm queen.

Rather, she’s a type of monster that captures its prey and turns them into honey. All the honey on the second floor is made using meat and living or rotting things. There’s also the fact that the Infected creates its offspring by infecting other living beings and using them as egg incubators — that’s where the name [Infected] comes from, because they’re literally born from infecting other beings in a complex parasitism.

It’s a grotesque and brutal process where, in the end, the infected is devoured alive by the larvae that will become Melissa’s servants, in a process strangely similar to that of bees, with only general differences. Just imagining the things she put into this girl’s Lore makes Nio nauseous, wanting to take a step away from the "bee" girl.

"What are you two doing?" Nio calls their attention, trying not to think too much about the aberration she created — a monster with the sole desire of turning the world into her hive.

"N-N-Nio!!" Melissa is startled. Despite being a cruel and terrible sadist with her prey, she is terrified and in dread of Nio. She quickly throws herself at Nio’s feet, bowing before her.

"I-I’m so sorry for showing you such a scene!! I-I was merely in disagreement with that plant woman!! S-She won’t let me hunt... I-I need to go out, I need prey and I have no one..." A light buzzing joined with a hiss escapes from Melissa, making Nio’s wings try to open aggressively, but she manages to restrain the movement.

’...’ In the game, obviously Melissa would never need anyone — it was a game, and her Lore obviously didn’t function — but now she needs living prey to lay her eggs, and corpses to create the honey she uses as food for herself and her brood.

"Why do you need to go out? Can’t you use the fish from the rivers in the palace or the animals from the farm? This island is quite self-sustaining, and as far as I know, you just need meat and living things, not something specific."

"...I-It’s just that, Nio... a-animals and fish aren’t that good... the taste is inferior compared to humanoid races, just as the honey produced from animal bodies is less sweet and with a weaker, more inconsistent texture... and they don’t let out sweet screams or beg for their lives..."

"Not only a worse taste, a worse reaction displeases me. How can I feel good about putting my children into something that doesn’t beg for death? Seeing the expressions of despair and pure suffering is a good indicator of my hatchlings’ strength — after all, a good hatchling devours its prey skillfully, making it suffer greatly while it writhes beneath its skin..."

’Sick... I didn’t need that description... now I can’t stop imagining it...’ Melissa’s problem isn’t a lack of prey — it’s the lack of reaction her instincts crave. An animal may shriek in pain, but it doesn’t plead and beg for mercy while the larvae devour its body.

"No, you’re not going out."

’I can’t let this aberration leave here right now. If she goes out, she’ll start hunting and creating those things nonstop, trying to contaminate the world. And worse, if she leaves her offspring with her honey, it could create a new [Evolved Infected] — which would mean having two of her competing for the world.’

"B-But why, Nio? I-I need this..." Melissa’s eyes behind the mask grow dangerous. Her loyalty is largely fear — she’s one of the least loyal NPCs, driven solely by the desire to contaminate everything that exists — and with her desires denied, her stinger contracts as if wanting to sting the person denying her what she needs.

"..." Nio takes a deep breath, remembering the Lore she’s now a hostage to. She needs to show that she’s on top, so she steps on Melissa’s face, pushing her against the floor.

"Did I allow you to speak to me in that tone? And who do you think you’re showing that tail to so aggressively? Have you lost your mind completely? You’re not going out. I don’t need to justify myself to an insect like you, but since I’m feeling charitable, let me make this clear."

"This world will be mine!!! I’m going to take this world for myself. If I ever notice that your filthy paws have started to dirty the world I’ve decided to claim for myself, I will put you through an eternal torment worse than death." Although Nio speaks seriously about dominating the world,

it’s more about having an extra shield against Typhon. However, Nio’s plan goes slightly wrong, because Azalea, who hears this, immediately starts spreading the news among everyone in the palace using magic. She spreads that Nio is going to take over this world.

Nio, still oblivious to this fact, pushes Melissa away with her leg as she cowers on the floor, her tail trembling more weakly and hiding between her legs.

"I-I’m so sorry, Nio... I-I was p-presumptuous." Melissa’s voice came out choppy, like a distortion, like thousands of bees buzzing when she momentarily lost focus.

"I-I won’t try anything... w-would it just be possible to get s-some living things th-that can beg for mercy?"

’...Even though she’s afraid of me and her loyalty works based on that, if I don’t give her at least the bare minimum to appease her, she’ll try to escape... if she escapes, I won’t be able to find her, and she’ll start contaminating the world. I need to keep her here, but also keep her at least satisfied...’

"Talk to Azalea about it. She’ll help you get what you need... Now tell me, why are you here on the eighth floor? What were you doing before this fight?" Nio asks Melissa, hoping it isn’t bad news, considering the second floor apostle has come up to the eighth floor.

"I-I have some news that my children discovered, a-and I was going to speak with you, b-but I was intercepted by that plant woman who said you weren’t here... th-that’s when we started arguing after she provoked me..."