Chapter 34

As the bees got closer and Nicole prepared to make her move, unexpectedly all three of them shot something white at her. Not expecting it, the girl had no time to shield herself.

"Ah, fuck!" The thick, hot liquid fell on her arms and made her almost lose the spear. Looks like some kind of wax.

The white mass started cooling rapidly, hardening and forming a shell around her elbows and forearms in mere seconds. Nicole needed some time to crack and break it using her strength, but the bees used that time to attack again, now aiming at her legs. With her arms freed and before her legs got completely glued, Nicole managed to pierce another insect.

Two more left, and then this giant one.

With her legs in the wax, it was harder to move or even stand still, the once-hot material quickly turned cold and greatly restricted her movement.

"Shit, come here, fuckers!" Nicole shouted as she tried to reach the remaining ones flying just out of her range. Focused on them, she didn’t notice two violet shots aimed at her, suddenly hitting her in the back. "Ah!" The force of impact was enough to knock her down, but as she fell, Nicole managed to turn around. She saw two small streams of violet liquid flowing out of the big bee, slowly forming two orbs in the air above its head.

While she fell and tried to break the hardened wax around her legs, the bees around her tried to glue her to the ground, ignoring Mignon’s attempts to draw their attention away. Yet the longer she struggled to free herself, the more layers of wax she got covered in. Additionally, she had to watch out for the purple shots coming from the big bee.

Shit, a little longer and they’ll just bury me in this wax like a tomb. And my back still hurts after getting hit with whatever this violet thing is. I have to think of something, and quickly.

Meanwhile, Mignon, tired of being ignored, rushed forward holding a thick and long stick. Swinging it in the air, he bonked one bee on the head, finally making them notice him. The attacked insect started chasing Mignon, while the other continued ensuring Nicole’s escape attempts were futile.

Mignon tried fighting the bee but was no match for it. As he tried to hit it again, the bee simply caught the stick in its mandibles and easily snapped it in half. Mignon tried to punch the insect but got struck by the stinger. "Mignon!" Nicole shouted, watching as her pet was mercilessly stung again and again. "You flying bastard!"

By that time, almost completely covered in wax, Nicole tensed her whole body, trying to destroy the hardened mass. The effort and exhaustion made her vision blur and darken for a second, but during that moment she saw her inner storage, and her eye landed on the leftovers of Bonewolf bones. In that instant, most of her body—except for her head—turned into pale white bone. As her vision cleared, Nicole felt the wax losing its grip, and soon she broke free of her cage.

Quickly getting rid of the bee that stayed to wax her further, Nicole sprinted toward Mignon, her spear piercing the bee at full speed. With its corpse still on the pole of her weapon, she turned around to face the last, biggest insect. For some time already, it hadn’t fired its violet shots, instead gathering orbs around itself.

Nicole glanced at Mignon, lying on the grass but still conscious and alive. "Stay there, I’ll take care of the last one."

She spun her spear in hand, sending the bee impaled on it flying somewhere into the forest, and ran at the monster. As she got closer, the giant bee started shooting rapidly, forcing Nicole to run in zigzags and change direction suddenly to evade the blows. Some still hit her, yet strangely, the pain and impact were far weaker than before.

When Nicole was around ten meters from her target, the small bees covering the tree entrance hole rose into the air and rushed at her. "Out of my way!" Nicole slashed left and right, the cloud of bees surrounding her blocking her view. They had no stingers and couldn’t harm her, instead just bumping into her to slow her down. She decided to ignore them, but when Nicole reached the spot where the big one had been, she didn’t find it.

"Ugh, so annoying!" The bee cloud was so dense that she just slashed around, every move making many insects drop dead. It felt like minutes, Nicole’s arms threatened to fall off. Then, at some point, the small creatures stopped and flew away, forming a square wall not far from her. What are they doing?

Suddenly, violet orbs rose up and shot from above the wall, aimed right where she stood. Nicole reacted immediately, jumping to the side. Really?! This piece of shit is hiding behind its own soldiers and bombarding me from safety?! I knew bees were smart, but not to the point of having war tactics like that!

Pushing away her irritation, Nicole tightened her grip on her spear. Hm, it started forming the orbs higher than the wall. And this trail coming out of its body to form the bullets can help me estimate where it is. If I try to approach, the bees will just surround me again, and I’m not sure I can last much longer. Well—it’s now or never.

After dodging the next few shots, Nicole spun her weapon in the air to build an electric charge and then threw it where the main bee was supposed to be, the spear’s tip crackled with lightning as it flew. It passed through the living barrier of bees like it was nothing, small chains of blue lightning spread around the closest ones, making them fall to the ground. But the spear kept going, and the juicy sound of an exoskeleton smashing told Nicole that her plan had succeeded. A second later, the awful smell of burned meat and fur filled the air.

The bee wall froze, and all the monsters turned away from Nicole to look at the dead body of their queen. After a moment, they started flying around in chaos, ignoring the approaching human. Nicole stood over the giant bee, her spear piercing its whole body and sticking in a tree behind it.

"Ew. Up close it looks pretty ugly. And you guys served such a bitch? I’m taking this back." She pulled her weapon out. "I never liked the term Queen bee."

Leaving them behind, Nicole walked to where she’d left Mignon. He was sitting nearby, leaning against a tree. "Hey, you better?" He responded with a bark that turned into a whimper. Upon closer inspection, Nicole didn’t find anything serious—only bruises and shallow wounds from the stingers. "Well, not perfect, but not scary." She petted and scratched his head. "Thanks for the help."

After that, she stood up with a groan. She looked at herself—her skin replaced by white bones forming sleek armor with sharp edges, especially on her knuckles and fingernails. "Cool, natural brass knuckles... I noticed it earlier, but had no time to think about it. It seems I somehow managed to activate this thing again." Nicole sighed, tired after the battle. "Alright, I’ll test this all out later. Now, let’s see if I won any honey or anything interesting."

She slowly approached the hole in the big tree, gathering pieces of wax on the ground as she passed. The bees that guarded the hole earlier were still flying around aimlessly. Nicole looked inside the tree bark and saw a big, dark hole going down. To light it up, she swung her spear downward, blue lightning slightly glowing in the darkness. Her eye widened when she saw what was hidden there. "Wow, that’s actually big."

Below ground level was a large, round chamber. The walls formed one giant beehive, white hexagonal wax cells were filled with light-blue liquid. The question is, how am I supposed to get it without getting stuck underground?

After some thought, Nicole’s tired mind came up with an idea—to use her ability and slowly make a tunnel down. She estimated where the hive wall was and started absorbing the ground, pushing it out of her other hand so it wouldn’t fill her storage. It took a while, but at one point the earth fell away under her hand, and Nicole could reach the hive. She lightly touched the blue liquid—it was thick, smelled sweet and similar to the violet flowers she’d seen earlier. Fuck, I have to test it.

Hesitantly, Nicole licked her finger with the liquid and smiled. "Yep, that’s totally honey. Strange aftertaste, but not a bad one." After that, she started absorbing all the honey and wax she could reach, and soon her storage was full. Strangely, both wax and honey were grouped together, floating as a mixed mass. Additionally, she called Mignon and gave him some of the treat to test his reaction, and her pet eagerly ate it. If Mignon’s fine with it, I'm sure it’s harmless.

With nothing else to do, Nicole and Mignon started their way back to the small cabin by the river. They returned by night, moonlight guiding their way through the tropical forest, and it didn’t take them long to get there. Nicole’s body wanted to eat and sleep, but her mind was excited about checking out her new form, so after dinner she went to the river.

Nicole quickly undressed and, using the water surface like a mirror, admired herself. On her neck, her skin seamlessly turned into a hard bone structure. Her torso and abs looked as if carved from marble—sharp and angular. Her bare, nippleless chest, as well as her crotch and globes of ass, were the only spherical, non-edgy parts of her now, yet still hardened like plate armor and perfectly outlining her natural forms. She checked—this form had no openings, just sleek bone instead. She saw herself as powerful and strong in this state, though here and there were darkened spots, two especially large ones on her back where she was hit by the violet liquid.

As I touch myself, I can barely feel the touch, but it’s still there. At first, I thought my body just covered itself in bone, but now I think it actually became the material, that would explain it. I’ll need more tests later. But most importantly, I have to make sure I can go back and forth between forms. I just need to remember how I did it.

Nicole closed her eye, concentrating. I tensed my whole body at once and saw the bones in storage... should I now try to relax? And as soon as she did, Nicole felt something changing. Opening her eye, she was back to her former, skin-covered self.

"Great. I seem to have grasped it." She smirked—then her eye widened, and she almost fell into the water. "Agh!" Her whole body was pierced by pain from within, and the wounds on her back began to burn. Gasping for air, Nicole fell on all fours on the grass. "AAAaagggtthhhhchh!!!" She clenched her teeth as the pain peaked and then slowly subsided, only her back still slightly aching. "Hah... hah... hah..." It lasted only mere seconds, but for Nicole, time seemed to blur. Feeling slightly better, she rolled onto her back, panting and looking up at the moon. What the fuck was that...?