Black Cat Chapter 113: Killer Bees

Support the translator on

　After leaving the rest stop on the border between Viscount Lagart’s territory and the Marquis of Escalante’s territory, we changed the order of our carriage so that our carriage was in the lead.

　Shortly after we started running, Shure instructed Haig to slow down.

　He had experienced a killer bee attack once, but it seemed that Haig’s desire to get to the city of Nacote as quickly as possible was still causing the carriage to speed up.

“Haig, it’s safer to slow down…” (Shure)

“No, it’s better to get out of here as soon as possible.” (Haig)

“We don’t know where Killer Bee is coming from. If we don’t stop him soon, Nyango won’t be able to protect us in time.” (Shure)

“Eh, that’s bad.” (Haig)

　Haig slowed down the carriage, but even though it was December, sweat was still beading on his forehead.

　As usual, Shure is still keeping a wary eye ahead with a dazed look on her face, and I’m also checking the distance from the back, ready to let them know if anything happens.

　Especially, if there is a danger ahead and we have to stop, I will raise a fire pillar to warn those following me and slow down.

　Otherwise, there is a danger of being rear-ended because the distance between the carriage and the following carriage is shorter than usual.

“It’s so quiet, isn’t it…?” (Haig)

“Yes, it’s too quiet, so make sure you’re ready to stop at any moment, Haig.” (Shure)

“Understood…” (Haig)

　There are no villages or houses along the road, so it is usually quiet, but today it seems especially quiet,

　One reason is that there are no carriages passing by.

　Usually, carriages do not form caravans, but they come one after another at a certain distance, but today we have not passed any caravans yet.

　Were we late to leave Nacote, or were they attacked on the way? If possible, I would like it to be the former.

“Stop Haig, Nyango signal!” (Shure)

　After climbing the gentle slope, Shure gave a sharp command when the field of vision opened up.

　Haig pulled hard on the reins and applied the brakes, and I raised a pillar of fire toward the sky.

　About 300 meters down the road, the caravan ahead of us was being attacked by killer bees.

　The scale of the attack was not comparable to the previous one, and there were so many Killer Bees that the caravan’s wagon was obscured by the swarm.

　If the carriages did not stop, it would be impossible to build a barrier using void attribute so as to prevent the Killer Bees from entering the area.

　The carriage of the Furniture Workshop Diaco is large, with four horses and a wagon in addition to the cabin, and because of its weight, it would not stop immediately.

　Before the carriage came to a complete stop, a swarm noticed us and came toward us, switching targets.

“[Burner]!” (Nyango)

　To buy time for the carriage to stop, we fired an oversized burner, about 10 meters in diameter, at the group of Killer Bees.

　The head of the swarm plunged into the suddenly appearing mass of flames and fell into flames as it plunged into the fire magic circle.

　The back of the swarm hurriedly changed direction to avoid the flames, but the speed of the approaching swarm dropped dramatically.

“[Wall]!” (Nyango)

　Just after the carriages finally came to a halt and were completely covered by the half-cylindrical wall, the swarm of killer bees came crashing into the wall.

　The inside of the wall was engraved with anti-magic and anti-physical engraving, but the outside was made smooth.

　The Killer Bees could only perch on a portion of the ceiling because there was no foothold.

　Even so, the sun is blocked by the Killer Bees that fly around trying to feed on us, so much so that it becomes dim.

　The following carriages were lighter than the Furniture Workshop Diaco’s carriages, so they stopped at a distance behind us.

　Already, it seemed that the decision had been made to abandon the horses, and the coachman had taken refuge in the cabin.

　The guards, who can use fire magic, seem to have begun attacking with magic from inside the cabin.

　However, although they are unleashing magic on a fairly large scale, Killer Bees show no sign of leaving.

　I also created a fire magic circle and combined it with a wind magic circle to try to dispose of the Killer Bees, but they were more agile than I had expected, and although I was able to drop some of them, the rest evaded my attempts.

“Damn, they’re moving too fast.” (Nyango)

“Calm down, Nyango. First, prioritize maintaining the wall, and use the extra strength to attack.” (Shure)

　I was about to fire [Burner] in rapid succession, but Shure stopped me, and I was able to regain my composure.

　The number of Killer Bees has increased even more, probably because they moved from the caravan that was attacked earlier, making it difficult to see the surroundings.

“Nyango. If the Killer Bees are running away, you should catch them then and burn them.” (Shure)

“Ah, I see, I see, there was that trick… [Cage].” (Nyango)

　I was able to capture a large number of Killer Bees in an instant by creating a cage with void magic in an area where Killer Bees were likely to be concentrated.

“Now, [Burner]!” (Nyango)

　The Killer Bees trapped in the cage were burned to a crisp with a [Burner] from below.

　The Killer Bees around the cage quickly avoided the fire, but the ones trapped in the cage had no way to escape and fell prey to the flames.

　After about 10 seconds of [Burner], the Killer Bees lost the ability to move, as their wings, legs, and compound eyes were burned off.

　The rest of the process was a repetition, more like an extermination rather than a

Subjugation.

　The guards of the caravan are also using fire magic to keep the Killer Bees away from their surroundings.

　The horses had already fallen prey to the poisonous needles and were being dismantled by the Killer Bees.

　With their prey in hand, the killer bees flew away, and my cage-and-burner strategy has also reduced their numbers considerably, so the number flying around them is visibly decreasing.

　I was beginning to think I was going to be able to make it through this.

“Uwaaaaa, help me!” (Voice)

“Shit, shit, don’t come in!” (Voice)

　I heard a scream from the wagon at the rear of the caravan.

　I turned around with Shure and saw that the cabin had been eaten through, but I could only see the edge because there were two covered wagons between us.

“[Burner]!” (Nyango)

　I tried to drive them away with the burner, being careful not to set the wagons ablaze, but the killer bees were beginning to gather around the wagon.

　Perhaps they had killed the individual that had entered through the cabin with a sword or knife.

　The body fluids of killer bees are said to contain an odor that enrages their companions, and burning them rather than hurting them is said to be the best way to kill them without enraging them.

“[Cage]… [Burner]… [Cage]… [Burner]!” (Nyango)

　Surround the area near the wagon being attacked with a [Cage] and burn the captured Killer Bees.

　The smell of their companions being burned is said to reduce the Killer Bees ‘ range, as opposed to their bodily fluids.

　Killer Bees began to retreat from around the attacked wagons, and the attack seemed to be over as they saw their companions trapped in the multiple [Cage] and burned crisp.

　The adventurer got out of the other carriage, which had not been attacked, and after checking the surroundings, the others came out of their cabins.

“Nyango, you can remove the barrier.” (Shure)

“Understood… I dispelled it.” (Nyango)

　I stayed in the coachman’s seat while Shure went to check on the status of the other carriages.

　I also used my detection particles to scout, but the horse that was pulling the wagons was no longer in sight.

　And the carriage passengers that had been attacked were not eaten, but it seemed that everyone in the cabin had fallen prey to the poisonous needles.

“Nyango, here they come again!” (Haig)

“Huh? Shure! Come back! Everyone else, hurry up!” (Nyango)

　In the direction where Haig was pointing, I saw a black mass, though not as black as before.

　Shure came back with the people in the other carriage.

　The cabin of the other carriage had been gnawed on, and it was at its limit.

　When everyone had reached the carriage of Diaco’s furniture workshop, I created a [Wall] once more.

“[Wall]! And [Cage]!” (Nyango)

　It seems that about 90% of the Killer Bees were trapped in the large [Cage] before they came close and separated.

“[Burner]!” (Nyango)

　A lot of Killer Bees run away from the flames, but the trapped ones were burned to cinders.

　After 30 seconds of careful burning, the cage was released, the black mass fell apart, and the swarm of Killer Bees disappeared.

　Killer Bees that came close to the carriage were also caught in a [Cage] and burned to death with [Burner].

　This time the attack took about 20 minutes to wipe them out.

　About ten minutes after the Killer Bee’s wings sound had disappeared, before the [Wall] was dispelled.

　The people in the other wagons were to return only to retrieve their valuables and ride together again in the wagons of the Furniture Workshop Diaco.

　The covered wagon was loaded with flour and carpets, but it seems that they gave up and left it behind.

　It would be a considerable amount of money, but they said it was not worth their lives.

　The caravan wagons that had been attacked earlier had been wiped out by the killer bees.

　All three cabins had been eaten through, and all that remained inside were the carcasses of killer bees, with no people or horse carcasses to be found.

“Woah, shouldn’t this road be closed?” (Nyango)

“Maybe if it weren’t for Nyango we would have been wiped out too.” (Shure)

　Shure had never heard of Killer Bees eating through a cabin.

“There are so many killer bees.” (Nyango)

“Maybe several hives have gathered together…” (Shure)

　Killer Bees sometimes join different hives when they lose their queens.

　When they build a new hive, they need a lot of worker bees, so they accept them without attacking them.

“But Nyango has killed off quite a few of them, so maybe the damage down the road won’t be as bad as before…” (Shure)

“I hope so, but it would be a pity for the bereaved families if not even a corpse is left behind.” (Nyango)

　On the way, we met a group of fully armed knights, so the people who rode with us in our wagon decided to tell them what happened and asked them to collect as much of their luggage as possible.

　After fighting off the monsters, we made it to the city of Nacote without incident, except for Haig being repeatedly warned by Shure that he was going too fast. [T/N: Run Haig, run!]

T/N: If you like the series rate, review it, and add it to your reading list on Novel Updates. You can also donate through Paypal or Ko-fi or subscribe to Lazy Translations. Thank you!

Support the translator on lazytranslations.com