Reincarnated To Evolve My Bee Empire

WHAT NECTUS DIDN'T KNOW, MALEVOLENCE SAW WITH HER OWN EYES.

The circumstances of their imprisonment weren't helping Beemarines heal faster. Even with their incredible regeneration, it took them a day to continue escape attempts, and even that wasn't at full strength.

By then, the bees were a miserable sight. They couldn't escape even their own waste except by putting it in the same jars they store their food in…

Food that was over quickly. And the giants didn't think about feeding their prisoners, or even giving them water.

Weakened by this, Malevolence and her squad barely made any progress in breaking the wall in the time they had before their prison was brought to light again.

After this, things just got worse. There was more ear-splitting shouting, more waving of the prison around, and finally, they were brought to their next capturer.

This was the only time Malevolence saw inside a giant's building. In fact, she was one of the first bees to ever do so!

But she didn't pay any attention to the building she was brought to, or the faint smells of herbs coming from the holes in the prison's ceiling.

Instead, Malevolence was calculating her squad's energy and opportunities for escape.

Then their new capturer shook the transparent prison vigorously, and Malevolence could only curse him, silently and aloud.

By the time the prison stopped shaking, the Beemarines were lying on the floor, grunting in pain and counting their limbs. Nobody had the strength to move when the prison's ceiling suddenly moved, opening the way out.

Malevolence still tried. Although her bones and muscles were aching, she pushed herself upright.

Freedom was so close…

Then, from the ceiling came a pair of massive iron beams, each the width of Malevolence's shoulders in the narrowest place. They closed upon Malevolence, catching her in a painful and tight grip.

"Die! Die and let me go, cursed creature!" Malevolence shouted. Her bone armor was cracking under pressure, and her own bones were straining, too.

"Lieutenant!" Other Beemarines tried to get after Malevolence, but the prison's ceiling swiftly moved back, keeping them inside and away from their leader.

The giant silently used the iron beams to move Malevolence around while being at a safe distance from her stinger and hammer. Which she would sooner die than drop, especially in these circumstances.

First, the giant dipped Malevolence in a pool of water. She emerged from it coughing and almost choking—and was immediately shoved to another, much smaller transparent prison.

This container was only five steps in width and two bees' height. The giant put it on a flat piece of stone that resembled a table if you looked at it from far enough away to see it entirely.

Other things the giant used were also standing there, alongside many items Malevolence didn't understand. They weren't so far away—but were still hopelessly out of reach.

Now Malevolence was slightly cleaner than before and much more alone.

Clenching her teeth, she raised her hammer and smashed the wall of her new prison, making a slight scratch. This time, nobody came to shake her—the giant was too busy with Malevolence's squad.

One by one, the giant water-dipped every Beemarine and put them into separate prisons. Like Malevolence, they all did their best to break out, which the giant ignored.

This inaction made Malevolence's mood rise.

"Your inattention is your weakness. We will break free yet!" Malevolence shouted, although she knew her sisters couldn't hear her. She couldn't hear them, either—the prisons' walls swallowed their voices.

Then, the giant moved away from the prisons entirely, and walked behind one of the mountain-like walls of his building.

"This is even better. Beemarines, this is our best time to fight!" Malevolence shouted.

Although her squad didn't hear her, they followed her example and began hitting the prisons with their own hammers.

It was harder to deal with any damage on her own and while being weakened by hunger and thirst, but Malevolence tried. She must've spent half an hour on this, when the giant returned.

She felt the shaking of her prison's walls from his footsteps beforehand, and although Malevolent wanted nothing but to keep breaking walls, she was tired.

And she wasn't *stupid*. She knew it would, perhaps, make more sense to break out while their captives didn't see it. Malevolent was just too angry to stop earlier; but now, her body was betraying her.

Even without orders, her squad followed her example and stopped for a rest. All of them watched with tired and grim anger as the giant moved around.

All of them tensed when the giant lifted one of the prisons, and all of them were shocked when he poured a few jars worth of water in it.

Water! Drinkable water!

After giving it to the first prisoner, the giant moved to the next one. Four people later, it was Malevolence's turn. She drank water without worry—even if the giant tried to poison them, Beemarines were immune to it.

Water quickly made Malevolence feel much better. She began to make plans about what to do *after* breaking the transparent prisons, when she realized something.

The giant gave water to all the bees except *one*. The last in the row of prisons—Assault-9.

Now Assault-9 was snarling at the giant, who moved away again.

When he returned, he had several items with him.

First was a flat stone slab sixty steps wide he put in front of the prisons.

Second was the pair of the metal beams—giant tongs, as Malevolence realized on a better look.

The last item was a bee-sized spear made fully of gleaming metal, which the giant held between the sides of two massive fingers.

The sight of the spear made Malevolence tense immediately. After all, there could be only one reason someone had a weapon—to use it.

"You don't have the right to do this, creature," Malevolence grit out.

Abandoning her earlier plans, she smashed her prison with a hammer again.

The giant ignored it.

He opened Assault-9's prison, swiftly caught her with the tongs, and pressed her thrashing body to the stone slab. The spear gleamed in the giant's other hand.

"Assault-9!" Malevolence shouted.