Chapter 129

〈 Episode 129 〉 Facing Karma

“Ugh, aagh…”

Even without arms and legs, the feeling of hunger was no different. Asha squirmed as her stomach tightened. At her insistence, the Tentacle strand had stopped probing her throat, but constantly milking her left Asha hungry again quickly.

[Hey, can I get some food?]

“Hgu-oot?!”

She was horrified as the Tentacle strand suddenly dug into her throat.

[No, don’t shove it in so hard, just gently!]

“Hoo…”

As Nutrient fluid flowed from the strand inserted into her mouth as before, Asha sucked on the liquid like a baby. A comfortable smile spread across her face as she quickly felt full.

‘Did you call Lucy?’

[I haven’t found her yet. I’ll contact you as soon as I do.]

‘Okay.’

[Wait, something…]

“Hwoo?”

Thump-!

“Eek?! What is it!”

Asha was startled and looked up at the ceiling as the cavern suddenly shook. The vibrations that started from above gradually intensified, and soon the ceiling collapsed.

“Kyaa!”

Asha squeezed her eyes shut in terror at the sight of the massive rocks falling from above. But when nothing happened even after some time had passed, she cautiously opened her eyes and saw the boulders floating in the air, slowly splitting apart around her.

“W-What is this…”

“Mama!!”

“Lucy!”

Lucia was the one who had broken through the ground and entered. In her fully grown form and fully prepared for battle, Lucia gritted her teeth at the sight of Asha, who was only a torso and was being held by the Mind entity. The Mind entity, for its part, was flustered to see Lucia.

[Mental binding is not working. There is interference from another.]

“Papa! I’m going to kill you right now!”

Asha hurriedly stopped Lucia, who looked ready to throw a punch at any moment.

“Lucy, stop!”

“Mama! Why are you protecting Papa when he made you look like this! Papa has to die! Mama, have you completely crossed over?”

Asha hesitated at her daughter’s first outburst, meeting Lucia’s resentful gaze as if asking why she was stopping her, but she hurriedly defended the Mind entity.

“I’m okay, Lucy! If things get bad, I can just die and be resurrected!”

“Don’t say things like that!”

“Lu, Lucy…”

Asha forgot what she was going to say, as Lucia was shouting at her for the first time ever. Lucia teared up.

“Don’t, don’t say things like dying so easily… I, I feel like I’m going to die if Mama gets hurt even a little bit, so why does Mama treat her own body so carelessly? Why, why does Mama always!”

“Lucy, come here.”

Lucia, who had been shouting, slowly approached Asha at her words. At Asha’s gesture, Lucia, who had been crying, carefully hugged Asha. Freed from the Mind entity, Asha closed her eyes in Lucia’s arms.

“I’m sorry, Lucy. I won’t say things like that again. Were you upset that I said I would die?”

“Yeah…”

“Thank you for coming all the way here. You wanted to keep helping Mama, right?”

“Yeah… I couldn’t stand the thought of Mama being in pain here…”

Lucia, who had been full of resentment and emitting destructive Mana when she first entered the Mind entity’s headquarters, gradually calmed down as she listened to Asha’s words. Seeing that her daughter seemed capable of conversation, Asha cautiously began to explain the whole story.

“What happened was…”

Lucia looked confused after hearing Asha’s story.

“So, I shouldn’t kill Papa?”

“U-Uh, yeah. That’s right.”

Lucia’s words about killing the Mind entity every time were full of sincerity, which made Asha flustered. It seemed that Lucia had accumulated even more destructive impulses in her heart while they were apart.

‘Ugh… I thought I paid attention to her education… sob.’

“I couldn’t just listen to Papa and be sure, so I was going to call Lucy anyway. Do you want to go check it out together?”

“Yeah!”

Lucia was immediately in a good mood at Asha’s request. Asha, who had been lost in their own world, noticed a presence behind Lucia. She was captivated by the figure, who was unlike anyone else.

“Hey, who is that? Is she a friend?”

“My sister! She came to find Mama!”

“O-Oh?! I, I’m…”

Asha’s eyes spun at the unexpected news of another child. But she herself had been through so much that she couldn’t say anything. The figure approached Asha, who was in a panic, and bowed her head.

“It’s an honor to meet you, Queen Bee. I am Sunbang Bung, the Queen Bee’s child.”

“U-Uh? Sunbang Bung? That Bee?”

“Yes. I was conceived in the Queen Bee’s Womb and born.”

Asha stared at the figure calling herself Sunbang Bung with astonished eyes. In her memory, Sunbang Bung was just a large Bee, never looking like a human as she did now.

She had insect wings and antennae instead of ears above her hair, but otherwise she looked no different from a human. Her calmly lowered eyes contained intelligence.

“O-Oh, really Sunbang Bung, is that you?”

“Yes, I have undergone many changes on my way here, but I have finally reached my current form, which is closer to the Queen Bee.”

“U-Ugh…”

‘I named her too carelessly! I’m sorry! Sob…’

Asha felt a surge of guilt at the sight of Sunbang Bung cherishing the name she had given her so casually back then. Moreover, seeing that she had come all the way here after being almost abandoned when she left the jungle for the waiting room, Asha couldn’t lift her head out of guilt.

“T-That name, Sunbang Bung, is it okay? Does it feel awkward?”

“How dare I be dissatisfied with the name that the Queen Bee gave me herself.”

‘Hwaaa!’

Asha wanted to beat up her past self for giving her such a carefree name. It became difficult to even suggest changing the name, so she groaned and then had a good idea.

“Ah! That’s right! You look so different from how you looked back then. I was going to give you a new name, what do you think?”

“It would be an honor if the Queen Bee would give me a new name.”

Asha felt embarrassed and sorry for Sunbang Bung, who was so polite. Sunbang Bung’s attitude was like boundless devotion. Overwhelmed by her attitude, Asha began to carefully consider her memories, unlike when she had casually given her a name in the past.

“What name would be good…”

In fact, it seemed like any name would be fine as long as it wasn’t Sunbang Bung, but Asha fell into contemplation, burdened by guilt. Lucia simply stared at her as she frowned and pondered.

“Anet, let’s make it Anet.”

When Asha said the name after much deliberation, Sunbang Bung’s eyes, which had been consistently calm, widened. Anet, who was slightly surprised, bowed deeply.

“As the Queen Bee wishes, from now on my name is Anet.”

Sunbang Bung had gained a new name, Anet. Asha was now looking at her Status Window.

[Anet]

Strength: 27

Agility: 63

Durability: 43

Stamina: 33

Mana: 89

Skills: Crowd Control LV.29, Mental Manipulation LV.16, Combat LV.14, High-Speed Movement LV.17, Mana Utilization LV.25

“This is…”

When Asha last parted ways with Anet, she had focused her stats on Agility. The absolute value of the stats was enormous, but Anet’s main skills were completely different from before.

“Anet, melee combat isn’t your specialty?”

“Yes, as you have noticed. In our group, I have developed to control other Bees and destroy the minds of hostile or uncooperative individuals.”

“Hmm…”

Anet’s skills were more brutal than she had thought. Asha redistributed a significant portion of Agility, among the adjustable stats, to Mana and Stamina.

[Anet]

Strength: 27

Agility: 38

Durability: 43

Stamina: 40

Mana: 102

Skills: Crowd Control LV.29, Mental Manipulation LV.16, Combat LV.14, High-Speed Movement LV.17, Mana Utilization LV.25

Subtracting 25 from Agility did not mean that the other stats would increase exactly one-to-one. The higher the stats, the more significant the perceived amount. As Asha finished redistributing, a blue spark flew around Anet with a crackling sound.

“This is…”

“I thought you could only do simple combat before, so I set your abilities to physical combat. How is it, does it seem okay?”

“It’s… good. It has become possible to bring a much wider range under my control.”

Asha was sweating profusely at Anet’s gaze, which was filled with even more reverence than before.

‘It’s overwhelming!’

She hadn’t really done anything for her, but she was just clinging to her, which made her feel even more sorry and burdened.

Asha suddenly wondered what had happened to the Bees she had left behind.

“So, what are the other Bees doing? Can you tell me what it’s like there these days?”

Anet’s expression, which had been expressionless, burned with enthusiasm at Asha’s question.

“The Queen Bee is taking an interest in us… May I explain how we have changed in the meantime?”

“Oh? U-Uh…”

Anet began to enthusiastically explain what had happened in the south after Asha left…

After Asha disappeared, a civil war broke out between the individuals she had given birth to and the individuals that had existed from the beginning. The result of the Asha faction versus the non-Asha faction civil war was a landslide victory for the former. The existing individuals had been largely eliminated in the race war with the Mantis, and the combat power of the individuals Asha had given birth to was far superior.

After the civil war between the Bees ended, the Bees exterminated all other races except those that coexisted or did not overlap in territory. The Bees, who had thus gained control of all areas of the south, continued to evolve and were currently engaged in a conflict with the Elves.

“U-Ugh…”

In some ways, the kingdom was not the problem. She felt like she had been hit in the head with a sledgehammer when she heard that the southern ecosystem had been completely destroyed by the 90 days she had been captured.

“So, are all the Bees left now descendants of the Bees I gave birth to?”

“Yes, thanks to the Queen Bee’s grace, the Drones no longer die during mating. Unfortunately, the individuals who have become new Queen Bees have not been able to produce as many superior individuals as the Queen Bee. So, we have decided that the existing Queen Bees will focus on controlling the Bees instead of producing Eggs.”

“So, you’ve divided the labor? Then who lays the Eggs?”

The Bees’ changes, like the development of modern industry, were quite interesting to Asha.

“After improving some of our traits, we bring in other races and use them as new mothers.”

“Pfft!”

Asha coughed at the unexpected news. Dumbfounded, she asked Anet.

“W-What? Who are you bringing in to use?”

“The individuals produced by the Elves are not numerous, but they are quite excellent. Specialized individuals like me subdue their minds and make them lay Eggs. When we first capture them, they only produce about 5 Eggs a day, but once they get used to it, they can produce more than 20.”

‘Division of labor and outsourcing!’

It was also a black company that didn’t give its subcontractors any pay or breaks. It was truly heartless outsourcing.

“I-Is that okay?”

“Of course.”

Asha felt hostility towards the Elf race, but she wasn’t close to them. But the current situation was a completely different matter. It wasn’t exactly her fault, but it was certain that this mess had happened because of Asha’s influence.

“U-Umm… What should I do about this?”

“Mama, what are we going to see?”

“Ah, that’s right!”

Come to think of it, the Elves weren’t the problem right now. Asha herself was an incomplete person without arms and legs, so who was she to worry about?

“Anet, I’m sorry. I have a problem to solve first… I’ll go to the Nest next time when this is over. Okay?”

“Of course.”

Anet immediately agreed as if it were natural. Lucia, who had been watching the two with an anxious expression, brightened. She had met her Mama again after a disastrous reunion, but she was immediately attached to Asha as her sister monopolized her attention.

“Mama, let’s go!”

“Okay. Let’s go check it out.”

[The Ascension Site must never be destroyed.]

“A-Alright, I got it!”

Leaving behind the persistently nagging Mind entity, Asha, Lucia, and Anet headed to the Ascension Site.