Chapter 278
Chapter 278
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 278
Chapter Title: Rift: Ceres's Grudge #5
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I quickly summed up my situation.
A dungeon had appeared at the city entrance, rumored to possibly house a named monster. I'd come to subjugate it, only to find it was like a massive greenhouse buzzing with all sorts of flowers and giant insects.
Inside was a giant honeycomb ruled by a honey water nymph named Doris, who had her bees kidnap me and demand I return the stolen item.
It sounded utterly ridiculous, but unfortunately, this was my harsh reality.
"Hurry up and hand over what you stole, thief!"
Uuuung— buuuz—.
The more Doris shouted imperiously from her queenly perch on the chair, the more threatening the wingbeats grew from the bees hovering protectively around her.
They didn't seem intent on attacking me just yet. At least this honey water nymph wanted to talk.
I asked,
"So, a black-haired man stole some treasure of yours?"
"Don't play dumb when you already know! You're definitely the thief who made off with Lady Ceres's precious treasure!"
I figured humans were like that to some extent.
People of other races all looked kinda similar—faces all blurry, hard to distinguish.
In that sense, this honey water nymph had clearly mistaken me for someone else.
To these people with their refined, chiseled features, Samaritans' vague faces probably blended together.
With that in mind, I calmly tried to clear up the misunderstanding.
"I just got here today. I don't even know what this treasure you're talking about is."
"Lies! Black hair! Black eyes! Tall! Man! It was exactly you!"
Uuuung—.
The more I tried to explain, the more furious the honey water nymph seemed, practically foaming at the mouth. The rising buzz of wings shared her rage.
Should I just fight and take her down?
The nymph might be manageable, but those bees around her were pretty tough.
Earlier, even stomping and punching them with my gauntlet hadn't scratched their sturdy exoskeletons.
So, as a last chance, I spoke evenly.
"Take a good look at my face again. Was it really me?"
"—Hm."
The honey water nymph Doris promptly stood from her seat.
She clacked toward me on her heels, peering right into my face.
We were nose-to-nose close, which flustered me a bit, but Doris stared piercingly into my eyes, oblivious.
"Pitch-black eyes, no doubt about it! It's you! Hurry, give it back! Because of you, I can't even leave this place!"
How could showing my face make things worse?
"Thief!"
"What thief? I didn't steal anything."
"This pumpkin tiara is reacting to you! Don't even think about lying! If you're going to keep pretending, I, Doris, have my ways!"
Clap—.
Doris clapped toward the air, and a swarm of bees buzzed in from outside. Looked like it was time to fight for real.
I was steeling myself when the giant honeybees dropped something at my feet with a thunk, then waggled their abdomens indifferently and flew off.
"What the hell is this?"
It was a wooden bottle, carved by hand, quite antique-looking.
About the size of a soda can? Something thick and sticky filled it to the brim.
What is it?
As I puzzled over it in my grip, the honey water nymph Doris spoke.
"That's the Vasilisk bee honey I aged so carefully! It's so precious I didn't even give any to Lady Ceres, but I'll give it to you! So please, just give it back...."
Doris burst into sobs. The honeybees buzzing around clustered comfortingly around the little nymph, nuzzling her.
Wing-wing.
What the— bees.
I was utterly flustered. Her sudden tears made me feel like the real villain who'd done something awful. Like I needed to return whatever I'd stolen right now.
"Hey, what exactly did you lose? Tell me, and I might help you find it."
"All the ones who said that never came back! Theseus said he'd help, then sealed me away and ran!"
"Yeah?"
"Yeah! So I've been stuck in this flower field for years, waiting for the culprit who knows when he'll show...."
Got it.
This honey water nymph had apparently been trapped alone in here for about thirty years. That explained her awkward way of talking.
So how do I close this rift? Do I have to take her down? As I pondered, the now tearless nymph Doris declared,
"But culprits always return to the scene! This rift is a giant beehive trap for you, thief! Now honey water nymph Doris is free!"
Aha.
I felt like I'd grasped the purpose of this dungeon—the rift called Autumn's Entrance. It was a trap to catch the thief.
"So, man! Hand over my one and only treasure, Kore!"
"Kore?"
I'd heard that name somewhere. What was it? Where? As I racked my brain,
"You lot! Attack that man!"
Unable to hold back her anger any longer, the honey water nymph ordered her bee friends to attack me.
Buuuung—.
Enraged bees charged. Even as honeybees, head-sized ones packed a punch. I tensed to fight them off.
Wing-wing.
Wing-wingya-wing.
Surprisingly, the honeybees didn't attack. Instead, they rubbed against me affectionately. It looked like grooming, the way bees bond.
"What the— bees."
Did I have honey on me or something?
"You, you lot, what are you doing? Hurry, attack that thief!"
Doris, their friend, seemed just as baffled.
She scolded the bees defying her orders and cozying up to me, but they ignored her, even brushing dust and petals off my body.
I couldn't talk to honeybees like I could to Hassan, but I knew they held no hostility toward me.
Smart bees, they knew something.
They must've sensed I'd split them from honey/bee if they came at me. Clever bunch.
"To tame the ferocious Vasilisk honeybees! Only a honey water nymph or my friend Kore could do that!"
Boom, gu-gu-boom—.
Then the bizarre cabin-like hive shook like an earthquake. Doris and I both lost balance and hit the floor.
Buuuung—.
Taking that as a cue, the furious bees scattered from the entrance in all directions.
Hassan, you okay?
I'll get you out soon!
Hippolyte and Antiope were attacking the hive from outside. But I'd just been on the verge of a breakthrough, and now things were going south.
Staying here might mean getting crushed under the collapsing hive.
I scooped up the unconscious little Samarian Kirri from my belt and stood.
There was the honey water nymph Doris, now huddled on the floor screaming.
"Kore! Kore was friends with me and my bees! But the black-haired man stole her! I saw it! Now he's stealing my bees too! Give them back!"
Rumble, ruuumble—.
Amid the shaking that threatened to uproot the wooden structure, Doris's shrill cries filled the air. Kore seemed to be a person's name.
Come to think of it, wasn't Ceres's daughter called Kore?
I'd thought the stolen thing was candy or something childish. A person?
"Hey! You gonna keep lying there like that!?"
"Uuuuh, uuuuh—. M-my hive I worked so hard on is collapsing—."
"What the hell, bee."
Did all nymphs have this airheaded side? No wonder they lost to invasive kappa in survival competitions.
For a moment, the trembling nymph on the floor struck me as paranoid.
Maybe that's why leaving her quaking in fear while escaping felt guilty.
"—Bee."
So I tucked Doris under one arm and the little Samarian Kirri under the other, then leaped with all my might toward the hive entrance.
My body sliced through the air—whoosh—and behind me, the hive I'd just vacated crashed down in ruins.
"Sis, why'd you smash it? Hassan's inside!"
"Ah, misjudged my strength. I really hate holding back like with booze—."
Oof, shit.
Dozens of meters up, I floated weightless in the air. Landing like this would shatter a leg for sure.
As I panicked,
Buuuung—.
Wings buzzed loudly from somewhere, grabbing my back.
Wing-wingya-wing.
Bees crying weirdly clutched me, acting like a parachute.
I'd always seen bees as pests, but damn, they had their uses.
Wing.
With their fluffy fur and plump bodies, they even looked kinda cute. Honestly, better than that spider pup.
Plop.
Thanks to the bees, I landed safely in the flower field. Spotting me, Hippolyte and Antiope sheathed their weapons and approached slowly.
"Hassan, you okay? Seeing you dragged off by bees sobered me up instantly. And now you're back with more bees."
Hippolyte tentatively extended a hand to the bees buzzing around her. They settled on her arm, forgetting their earlier ferocity.
"Interesting."
Antiope had one head-sized honeybee on each hand, chuckling.
"Wow, sis, check these out. Vasilisk honeybees! Ferocious things you can't even cut without aura. Why are they so docile? Hey, Hassan, what's going on?"
"No clue. Bee, someone explain."
I stood, brushing off my pants and butt. Hippolyte frowned, spotting the two under me.
"That kid after all. And who's next to her?"
"Honey water nymph, apparently."
"Honey water nymph? Why's a nymph in there?"
So I explained to Hippolyte everything that had happened.
This place was a trap to recover Ceres's beloved daughter Kore. A black-haired man had stolen her, and the nymph had been sealed here searching—that's what I got.
Hippolyte listened arms crossed, humming thoughtfully.
"Kore. So Kore was kidnapped. The girl Ceres doted on, snatched away. No wonder Goddess Ceres is furious."
She grabbed the wobbly nymph, fresh from the nasty drop.
"Hey, nymph. Is what I heard true? Kore's really gone?"
"Y-yes! That's right! I saw it with my own two eyes! I couldn't stop it, so Goddess Ceres punished me like this...."
"Hm, I see. So, Kore was picking flowers with nymphs when a black-haired man kidnapped her—something like that?"
"Exactly!"
"Sis, that's not the point right now. This'll be easy. Look at that on her head. Dungeon core, right? Smash it, and the rift collapses."
Antiope pointed at the tiara on the honey water nymph Doris's head. Hippolyte nodded in agreement.
"Indeed, looks like it."
"Anyway, wrapped up easy. Good thing the bees are chill. Individually fine, but as a swarm, they're silver-rank monsters. Need aura to handle."
The buzzing swarm around us was silver-rank for subjugation.
Yeah, with their aura-proof shells, a serious fight would've been a pain.
"Enough already."
Wing-wing.
As I shoved away the clingy honeybees, Hippolyte reached out and snatched the tiara from Doris's head.
She crushed it with brute force.
Crack.
"M-my tiara!"
Doris wailed in anguish, but caught by powerhouse Amazons, she was helpless.
Now I saw: the nymph herself was harmless. The bees she controlled made the dungeon dangerous.
Ruuuumble—.
With the tiara shattered, the space quaked like an earthquake.
"Anyway, rift's done. Ended anticlimactically. But we got key info. Worth it."
"Hmm, feels like we barely did anything. Body's all stiff now."
Sparks crackled from Antiope's hand. She seemed dissatisfied at not using her strength. More aggressive than her sister, made sense.
But Hippolyte shrugged it off.
"Learning why gentle Goddess Ceres raged is a big win. Might even mend ties between Hypnos's gods and the surface. Good for humanity."