The Battle For Honey.

Taking another deep breath, I surveyed the faces of everyone in the cave.

They were fighting with everything they had, but the expressions on the villagers’ faces betrayed a hidden, undeniable fear and anxiety. Naturally, this variance leaked straight into their movements—missing their arrows, blundering their spell timings, and nearly allowing their tortoise-shell defenses to be pushed inward.

In stark contrast, Mia was loudly cheering Yoru and the others on in her usual casual tone, flawlessly dropping a sequence of <Fire Bullet> spells onto the hornets with pinpoint accuracy. The Chief and his wife were calmly encouraging the youth alliance, whose stamina pools were actively draining under the heavy pressure, running dedicated recovery loops with <Light Heal> to refresh their systems. Heimo was roaring with anger while swinging his iron halberd like an absolute extension of his arm, and not a single one of Ethan-san’s arrows missed its target parameters.

And looking right by my side, Paula was simply smiling.

Right. With such a comprehensively magnificent group of allies on the field, hitting a failure threshold is a mathematical impossibility.

Yoru, Kuu, Sue, Loo, Gob-chi, and Yo were all performing flawlessly as usual, too.

Alright, let’s initiate the definitive clear phase.

Based on current telemetry, this specific area boss was an absolute text-book stall build engineered exclusively for ultra-long-term engagements. However, the frontlines had stabilized into a perfect equilibrium, meaning our unit wasn’t bound to blunder into a fatal crisis anytime soon. During our sandbox testing phase, the Great-Eyed Moths outside had managed to drag out their culling war for over thirty minutes before hitting absolute deletion, so we were far from a threshold where we needed to frantically panic about our escape logistics.

“First, let’s dump the tension out of everyone’s systems. Yo, execute your array.”

“Kee-hee-hee-hee!”

His signature high-pitched snicker echoed through the vault, and a shimmering blanket of luminescent fairy scales showered over the surface volunteers. In a single heartbeat, the erratic, frantic rolling of the villagers’ eyes hit absolute stabilization, and their tightly locked jaws softened into relaxed grins.

“What’s with the dumb smirks, you lot?! Did your systems finally realize this campaign is actually getting fun?!”

Heimo barked, sounding entirely enraged—though his inner data revealed he had been passionately enjoying the thrill of this high-intensity combat loop from the very start. Faced with the blacksmith’s comprehensively tsundere attitude, the villagers let out a soft chorus of chuckles. Every ounce of unnecessary tension had officially evaporated from our lines.

“Next, let’s run a granular analysis. Ethan-san.”

“Yes, Nino-sama. How can I serve your vector?”

“Meticulously track the exact split second the reinforcement adds materialize. Check if the environment vents any specific visual or acoustic warning indicators right before they spawn.”

“Understood. I shall run a dedicated audit on those coordinates.”

“Ah, Heimo, you’re tracking that parameter too.”

“Hey! Don’t just tack my assignment on like a secondary sub-objective, brat!”

Perfect. Keeping Heimo’s anger metrics slightly elevated always optimizes his processing efficiency, I calculated.

“Hey, hey, Sensei~! What about my directives?!” Mia chirped, jumping up and down.

“Mia… let’s see. I need you to assume tactical command of those two mages over there.”

The two senior matrons from the tailoring contingent were highly capable casters, but because their profiles suffered from an absolute lack of live practical combat data, their spell discharge sequences were running a single frame behind optimal timing. Their internal processing loops were clearly hitting a bottleneck trying to quickly designate the highest-priority target on a chaotic field.

In comparison, Mia’s targeting arrays featured absolute zero hesitation. Her capability to drop high-powered payloads exactly where the frontline required them every single time was truly elite.

“Eh?! Are you sure my stats can handle an administrative role like that?!”

“Easily. All you need to do is point your finger straight at the target you want deleted.”

“Ah~! If that’s the only requirement, leave it entirely to my profile~!”

Even while we were hammering out our organizational lines, the hornet adds were continuously spawning from the cells and accelerating toward our perimeter. However, the combat metrics of our platoon had undergone a total evolution.

The synchronized twang of matching bowstrings vibrated through the cavern like a beautifully layered acoustic wave, and the massive volley of arrows loosed simultaneously systematically transformed the incoming hornets into literal pincushions in a single frame. The four human archers had comprehensively locked down their psychological equilibrium.

“Target flagged! Launching payload~!” Mia barked.

“Right behind you!”

“Orders logged!”

The voices of the three female casters merged into a unified chant, and the hornets caught within their concentrated fire barrage were incinerated into falling cinders one after another. Yep, their offensive loops were flawlessly dialed in.

“Come on! Keep ’em coming, you overgrown bugs!”

“Stupid pests! If you think your pathetic stingers can pierce this carapace, go ahead and try it!”

The boisterous, high-morale war cries of the youth alliance echoed through the space as they masterfully checked and parried the hornets swarming from all four quadrants. Suddenly, the Chief vaulted past the shield threshold, his sword drawn as he sliced clean through three hornets in a dazzling sequence of consecutive slashes.

“Do not calculate that the senior demographic will lag behind the youth alliance just yet!”

Wow… dropping the classic, textbook veteran warrior quote like that is an absolute cheat code, I thought, thoroughly impressed.

Right as I was processing the visual, Ethan-san drifted back to my coordinates, giving a series of focused nods.

“Nino-sama, my scanning arrays have successfully mapped the algorithm.”

“Eh? Already?”

“I locked down the tracking data too, brat!” Heimo bellowed.

“Incredible velocity… Both of your observation stats are truly off the charts.”

“Stop vocalizing such embarrassing praise! Don’t inflate my ego like that, damn it!” Heimo roared, his nose turning bright crimson as he aggressively stomped his feet on the dirt. Seeing his adorable bear-cub reaction, another wave of laughter rippled through our platoon.

“Let’s audit Ethan-san’s data stream first.”

“Yes, My Lord. Regarding the hornet deployment loop, their spawn locations are strictly restricted to fixed, predetermined cells on the wall facade.”

The system strictly rotated through three distinct cellular layout configurations to generate the adds, cycling through those exact coordinates repeatedly. Mapping out that entire architectural sequence in such a compressed timeframe was an exceptionally high-caliber feat of observation.

“Next, Heimo’s data.”

“My turn?! Alright, lock your sensory arrays onto my coordinates and listen up!”

The moment the words left his lips, the bear-eared smith aggressively ground his teeth together, venting a sharp clack-clack. Scanning our faces with an immensely smug expression, he followed it up by rattling his jaws in a prolonged, rapid clack-clack-clack-clack.

“Well?! Did your basic brains calculate the variance?!”

“How could anyone possibly decipher that?!” I shot back.

“Tch! What a bunch of low-stat casuals!”

According to Heimo’s acoustic breakdown, the initial short jaw-clack was the explicit vocal trigger the Queen Hornet vented to command her minions to spawn, while the extended rattle was the absolute warning indicator preceding her wide-area toxic mist dispersal loop. While the two sound profiles registered as completely identical frequencies to my ordinary human ears, the hyper-optimized auditory organs of the beast-kin race could flawlessly isolate the variance.

“Magnificent work, both of you! Excellent, we officially possess the mandatory data loops to engineer an absolute clear. First phase: we systematically spawn-camp the adds.”

The execution strategy was perfectly simple. Since we had pre-calculated the exact coordinates of their spawn nodes, our artillery units simply needed to anchor their targeting vectors onto those apertures and unleash their payloads the exact fraction of a second the hornets attempted to slide out.

Under Yo’s tactical coordination, the fairies took flight simultaneously. On Ethan-san’s mark, they zipped straight to the designated cell coordinates, aggressively illuminating their wings to vent a high-volume visual guide. Immediately following the beacon, a ruthless barrage of arrows and fireballs slammed squarely into the cells. The fresh hornets were completely liquidated before they could even expand their wings to vent a single hum.

“Whoa… our operational stress parameters just dropped to absolute zero!”

“Yeah! This farming loop is completely safe!”

Confronted by the lethal intersection of Ethan-san’s tracking metrics and our fairy reconnaissance network, the boss’s infinite reinforcement mechanic was effortlessly rendered entirely non-serving.

With that bottleneck archived, it was time to launch our offensive against the primary alpha model.

On that front, Heimo had already anchored his focus to her coordinates, using his high-volume voice to constantly broadcast real-time telemetry straight to Yoru and Kuu, warning them whether a <Toxic Mist> or a <Queen’s Nectar> loop was initializing. Armed with this predictive data stream, the two kids unlocked a massive chunk of operational breathing room to optimize their evasion vectors.

However, while our frontline maintenance had turned into an effortless exercise, the baseline parameters of the Queen Hornet remained completely unaffected.

“Our primary obstacle is still that premium white nectar…” I muttered, my brow furrowing.

Even though the Queen presented a colossal, unmissable physical target, no matter how many high-tier damage ticks the kids carved into her chassis, her automated self-healing loop would instantaneously overwrite the penalty. While launching Kuu’s full <Flap-Volt> combo array stood a non-zero probability of securing an absolute instant-kill, if her health pool managed to survive the burst by even a single hit point, she would guaranteed deploy her specialized nectar to reset her status back to absolute maximum. If that worst-case scenario triggered, our unit would be entirely drained of mana, losing our definitive lethal asset and forcing us into a catastrophic tactical disadvantage.

“And navigating a standard magic attack up to the attendant cells from these coordinates is a non-viable trajectory,” I realized, analyzing the geometry of the room.

Unlike the basic adds, the three specialized worker hornets handling the nectar logistics were permanently stationed at high-altitude coordinates right behind the Queen’s rear flank. Standard spell ranges couldn’t reach that elevation, and attempting to map an archery vector from the floor was blocked because the Queen’s colossal body mass physically obstructed our line of sight. Furthermore, the residual toxic mist functioned as a high-density smokescreen, throwing our targeting arrays into absolute failure.

“We urgently need a tactical asset to neutralize that wide-area toxic mist layer… Hmm, I suppose I have no choice but to command Yoru to push her parameters to the absolute maximum limit…”

“Whoa! What on earth is this sticky junk?!”

An abrupt yell hijacked my focus. Turning my scanning arrays toward the wall perimeter, I spotted one of the young men from the youth alliance staring at his weapon in absolute panic. Coated thickly across the tip of his iron halberd was a dense, viscous yellow fluid.

Since our spawn-camping strategy had completely freed up the shield vanguard, a few select warriors had decided to participate in a localized game of whack-a-mole against the wall cells, but it appeared his weapon had accidentally punched through a hidden storage node instead of a spawn cell.

The exact fraction of a second the rich, sweet aroma wafted across my coordinates, a spectacular secondary strategy instantly flashed through my brain loops.

“Haul that payload over and let Yoru lick it off your weapon immediately!”

“E-Eh?! Yes, sir! Order logged!”

Scooping up a massive chunk of the raw honey overflowing from the wall cavity, the young warrior sprinted straight toward Yoru, who was actively executing high-velocity hops right within the Queen’s melee perimeter. In a single microsecond, the little beast-girl’s nose twitched rapidly as she caught the scent profile, her eyes snapping wide open as she whipped her neck around. Completely ignoring the terrifying alpha threat hovering right before her frame, she rocketed straight to the coordinates of the villager.

“H-Here you go…” the young man stammered, holding out the honey.

“Immense gratitude~!”

Venting her mandatory polite manners, Yoru unceremoniously buried her entire face straight into the youth’s hand. Licking the payload clean with absolute, rapid devotion, her eyelids suddenly flew completely wide as she let out a high-volume screech.

“SWEETS~!!”

Blindsided by her older sister’s sudden ecstatic scream, Kuu abandoned her airborne dogfight loops and executed a steep dive-bomb, plunging straight onto the villager’s palm to monopolize the remaining trace of honey without a single millisecond of hesitation.

“K-Kyuuuu-uuuuu~!!”

“TOP-TIER EXQUISITE~!!”

The two little entities launched into a frantic celebration that completely defied the security parameters of an active boss encounter. Given that their distraction presented an immediate hazard, I hastily cranked my voice to override their loops.

“Hey! Focus up, you two little freaks!”

My warning cutting through their trance, the two kids slowly turned their necks to lock their eyes onto my coordinates, their gazes radiating an intense, terrifying hunger. Good grief… their psychological obsession with confectionery truly transcends all logic, I sighed internally.

“The exact split second that alpha hornet hits absolute deletion, I will permanently grant you unlimited, all-you-can-eat clearance to harvest that entire honey wall!”

“MINDBLOWING~!!”

“Kyuu~!!”

“Furthermore, that boss model contains the absolute highest-grade Premium Queen’s Nectar inside its chassis! So stop sandbagging and unleash your absolute true power!!”

Answering my directive with a sharp, heavy nod, Yoru dropped both hands to the earth, anchoring her frame into a low, four-legged prowl. A truly terrifying volume of raw, menacing intent crystallized within her crimson eyes as she glared at the giant insect hovering in the airspace.

Simultaneously, an astonishing biological transition manifested across Kuu’s frame right beside her.

With a sequence of sharp, heavy bone-cracking sounds, the tips of her delicate avian limbs underwent a massive structural expansion. Within a few short seconds, the little bird-girl’s feet were entirely replaced by a set of colossal, razor-sharp raptor talons.

“W-What on earth is that transformation matrix?! Is Kuu-chi’s system going to be okay?!” Mia shrieked, her panic spiking.

“What the hell did that little freak just activate?! Did she digest an illegal status-boosting anomaly or something?!” Heimo yelled.

Her system had undeniably digested a unique asset—though it wasn’t a forbidden drug; the resource she had consumed was strictly the meat of a vicious Unique Monster. It was highly anticipated that the high-tier structural data of the Great Terror-Bird’s legs—which her profile had absorbed upon devouring “The Ravenous Dread-Beak”—had successfully manifested in reality the exact fraction of a second her motivation parameters hit absolute maximization.

Though, to state the unvarnished visual reality, the layout looked as if she had strapped on a pair of comprehensively oversized boots, rendering her overall aesthetic exceptionally unbalanced and goofy.

However, within the next dynamic split second, Kuu kicked off the earth, her velocity parameters rocketing her frame into the absolute upper atmosphere of the vault.

Before our astonished eyes, the little bird-girl executed a high-velocity wall-kick, transforming her body into a literal missile that slammed squarely into the Queen Hornet’s chassis. Absorbing a kinetic payload that completely bypassed our tracking resolution, the colossal area boss violently shuddered for the absolute first time in the entire engagement.

“Whoa-waah! What kind of stat spike did Kuu-chi just undergo?! Her damage metrics are insane?!” Mia yelled.

“So that is the concrete yield when their profiles hit absolute serious parameters… Sugar dependency is a terrifying variable to calculate…” I muttered, a cold sweat breaking across my skin.

Meanwhile, Yoru’s combat synchronization verified complete. The lovely, innocent light that usually danced within her eyes was thoroughly replaced by a deep, absolute crimson, venting an impossible volume of raw, dense magical energy across the field.

— Active Ability: !

The unique ocular array harvested from the Great Terror-Bird manifested flawlessly, ruthlessly transforming whatever coordinate it targeted into solid stone.

Following a brief, single-frame delay, the entirety of the Queen Hornet’s lower abdominal quadrant was blanketed in a dull, ash-gray stone coating, emitting a series of sharp, fracturing crack-crack sounds as its cells calcified.

Perfect. With her abdomen entirely petrified, her toxic mist dispersal array is permanently locked down.

“Now is our absolute window! Unleash every single offensive loop and crush her lines!!”

Screaming the tactical directive, I threw a rapid look across my trusted vanguard. We flatly lacked the administrative allowance to blunder at this critical juncture. Catching the exact intent of my command, the core members of my unit flashed matching nods of absolute certainty from their respective quadrants.

“Orders logged! Launching absolute maximum payload~!”

“Consider it done! Go to hell, you oversized pest,aaaaah!!”

“Now is the exact hour where my blade shall radiate its ultimate luster!”

Their tracking sensors verifying an absolute clear path to victory, Mia, Heimo, and the Chief launched their synchronized offensive arrays alongside a massive battle cry.

Completely incapable of maintaining her altitude due to the massive weight matrix of her petrified lower half, the Queen Hornet plummeted toward the lower coordinates, where her chassis was ruthlessly mauled by a rapid succession of flying fireballs, heavy halberd cleaves, and iron sword slashes. Simultaneously, a dense, continuous volley of spells and arrows loosed by the surface volunteers and goblin archers blanketed her frame in a relentless follow-up barrage.

Furthermore, zipping across the three-dimensional vectors of the airspace with dizzying velocity, Kuu systematically drove a sequence of heavy, crushing aerial kicks straight into the boss’s vital points.

Her entire frame reduced to a network of catastrophic structural wounds as biological fluid erupted from her chassis, the Queen Hornet ground her mandibles in absolute desperation, venting a final, frantic command to summon her nectar attendants.

The three specialized worker hornets, their legs heavily coated in the white white nectar, launched a dive from the upper tiers—

Only to have their wings cleanly pierced by a pair of high-velocity arrows, sending them crashing heavily onto the dirt floor below.

The units who had flawlessly intercepted and neutralized the two worker hornets were none other than Ethan-san and Gob-chi. Utilizing the hexagonal cell structures as makeshift footholds, they had manually scaled the sheer walls to establish an elevated sniper nest, quietly waiting for the exact fraction of a second the attendants exposed their profiles to pull their triggers.

As for the absolute final nectar attendant, a black leather lash whipped through the air, drawing a graceful arc that masterfully intercepted its tracking loop.

<Charm> seamlessly transitioning into <Subjugation>.

Pivoting its frame on a single frame to fly straight toward the coordinates of its new mistress, the worker hornet abandoned its hive entirely, driving the Queen to grind her mandibles together with an even more frantic, chaotic frequency.

Right into that absolute defensive vacuum, Kuu extended her arms to their maximum boundary.

A vibrant, violet radiance completely enveloped her miniature build, illuminating the upper airspace with exceptional brilliance as it vibrated loops through the atmosphere. Her internal mana pools pushed to their absolute safety limits, she loosed her definitive, high-tier feather blizzard array across the zone.

— Combo Array: & !

Shot clean through by a raging, unmitigated storm of high-voltage lightning, the Queen Hornet vented thick clouds of black smoke from every single joint of her chassis, her massive frame rocking violently from side to side as her systems suffered absolute operational failure.

And then, she crashed heavily onto the earth.

The colossal magical beast slamming into the soil with a thunderous, echoing thud, our entire platoon completely froze our respiratory functions, keeping our eyes locked onto the remains to verify deletion. Deployed within that heavy, tense atmosphere, Yoru slowly pushed her frame back into a standing position and initiated a brisk, toddling run toward the carcass. Refusing to lag behind her sister’s vector, Kuu frantically flapped her wings, accelerating along an identical path to reach the exact same objective.

The coordinates the two little entities had targeted was strictly the specialized nectar hornet Paula had just integrated into our roster under her taming matrix.

Latching their bodies tightly onto the front legs of the hovering insect, the two kids simultaneously vacuumed a massive mouthful of the targeted white nectar straight into their mouths—

Only to instantly freeze, their eyelids snapping wide in absolute shock before they collapsed flat on their backs, rolling around on the dirt in pure agony.

“B-BITTER~!!”

“Kyuuuuuu-uuuuu~!!”

While the two beast-girls were frantically thrashing across the dirt floor to clean their palates, the heavy iron portcullis guarding the rear exit began slowly and smoothly grinding upward into the ceiling.

As a massive, thunderous cheer erupted from the surface volunteers and goblins to celebrate our complete victory, a thoroughly exhausted, deadpan murmur escaped my lips.

“Ah, right. Now that I calculate the real-world data, despite being universally designated under the nomenclature of ‘Royal Jelly,’ that premium queen’s compound actually tastes comprehensively bitter and awful to human tastebuds.”