## Chapter 321 – Bumblebee Mayhem
After a round of swordplay, slaughtering all the wicked villains, I felt a refreshing exhilaration, like I could fly to the heavens.
“Invigorating.”
Even if weaklings formed an army and charged at me, they couldn’t tarnish the name of this Heavenly Demon. Though my whole body was drenched in the aggressively splattered hornet fluids, the thrill of victory was sweet.
Through this battle, I grew once more.
Instantly reacting to and parrying the sharp attacks of the hornets flying in mercilessly from three directions had undoubtedly become my experience, melting into my skills.
I overflowed with confidence that if the opponent was weaker than me, I could win unilaterally, even if they attacked in large numbers.
I should definitely get Karin to evaluate my skills next time.
—Twitch, twitch.
The killer hornets were massacred as they had done to others. The surroundings were a complete mess, littered with the pieces of chopped-up hornets. I finished off the ones still breathing by cutting off their heads, appeasing the spirits of the victims.
May they rest in peace in paradise.
“Blackie’s skills have improved a lot,” Winnia said, impressed, after watching my prowess. Receiving praise from her, who was usually stingy with compliments, made me feel proud and my shoulders lift involuntarily.
“Right?”
“You used to be a total noob.”
“What are you talking about? I’ve always been strong.”
I was strong enough back then too.
Would I have survived in this other world for no reason?
The tenacity I had forged like steel to survive in a world rampant with violence, without any foundation, and the machoism to yield when I had to, were the source and foundation of my strength.
“Bullshit.”
“I’m serious. I was able to endure your abuse because I was strong.”
“Blackie, if you were strong back then, then I might as well not have boobs.”
Oh, come on.
“Ah, damn it.”
Anyway, I am strong.
The skills honed through fierce battles have steadily accumulated, allowing me to enter the ranks of true powerhouses.
If I had encountered these hornet bastards before, I would have died like the adventurers over there, but now I can single-handedly crush them.
Of course, it was also a big help that Claudia and Winnia were firmly guarding my back, so I wasn’t distracted and could unleash my full potential.
“Hehe, Katt. That was truly amazing. Even if you searched the entire world, you would rarely find a warrior who grows as quickly as Katt.”
“Ah, of course.”
Claudia also seemed quite pleased to witness my power. She looked at me with affectionate eyes and said,
“Seeing Katt grow day by day really… gives me a great sense of accomplishment. It’s more exciting and joyful than cutting off the breath of a strong enemy, to the point where I can’t think of anything else.”
Wait, more joyful than what?
“At the same time, I feel like I’m raising Katt. Hehe, saying it like this makes it feel like Katt is my son? Is this the heart of a mama?”
Claudia smiled brightly with a flushed face and declared herself my mama.
“C, Claudia Mamaaaaaat!!!!!!”
“Kyaaat!”
“Raise meeeeeee!!!!!”
I acted like a spoiled child to Claudia for a while. She accepted all my childish antics with overflowing maternal love, stroking my back.
“No, you bastard. Blackie, I’ll be your mama too, you know?”
“There is only one mama in this world.”
“You called me Winnia Mama last time. At the Magic Tower.”
“Then let’s have two.”
“Blackie, are you going to keep saying ridiculous things?”
Anyway, I cleaned up the surroundings.
—Whish.
A cool breeze blew.
It was truly a valuable victory. The inhuman fantasy that momentarily surged, the independence of Congo… had long since scattered and disappeared like the spring mist. My mentality cracked, and I went crazy again.
Coming to my senses, I looked around at the nest.
Except for a few remaining soldiers, almost none of the killer hornets were left.
Fortunately, the people held captive in the nest were still screaming. Well, it’s not exactly fortunate, but anyway, it meant they were alive.
—Ughhhhh!
—Aaaaaah!!!
—Stop it!!!! Stooooop!!!
They even seemed healthy, judging by how loud they were.
Nevertheless, the sight of all sorts of corpses and living people mixed together was quite gruesome… The massacre in Congo…!
“But this is nothing.”
I felt that no matter how cruel and barren this other world was, it couldn’t compare to that of Earth.
Civilian massacres… Witch hunts… World wars… Human experimentation… Colonial rule… The sins of humanity that were terrifying to even imagine and filled me with rage.
It was the people living on Earth, not this other world, who were barbaric.
I had such far-fetched thoughts as I tore off the wings of a dead hornet and wiped the fluids off my blade.
—Buzz!
Hornets carrying chunks of meat returned from afar.
Imagining the shock the guy would receive when he witnessed the truth, not knowing that his friends had been completely screwed over a long time ago, made me feel good again.
“Anyway, let’s go. It seems like we can just kill all the remaining hornets and destroy the nest.”
So we moved towards the nest.
A few hornets charged at us, but they were no match for me, who had already slaughtered dozens and become a hornet slayer. I lightly slashed them and stood in front of the nest.
—P, people!
—Please save us! Please save us!
—It hurts too muuuuuch!!
The victims, with only their heads sticking out, begged us to save them. When I killed a few more hornets in front of them, a thunderous roar erupted.
“I, Saint Kim Katt, will save you all.”
I examined the shape of the nest.
The nest was shaped somewhat ambiguously, so if I made a mistake, I might fall off while destroying it. If that happened, the people held captive in the hive would kiss the ground and burst.
What would be the best way to do this…?
“Katt. I’ll do this.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah. Shall I use my strength for the first time in a while?”
—Whoosh!
Claudia instantly stepped on a tree and leaped onto the nest. She reached that height in such a short time. Truly amazing leg strength.
She moved around as if measuring something for a moment, then suddenly raised her drawn sword.
And—
—Swoosh!
As the blade fell like a guillotine, the nest shook with a loud bang! In addition, the screams of the people erupted.
A single strike.
With a single strike, Claudia vertically cut the junction between the nest and the giant tree. Despite the fact that the small sword could never have done that, the wide area was cut at once.
It was an incredible power.
The nest, which had been shaking for a while, fell safely.
Claudia lightly jumped down and landed.
“What unbelievable power.”
I greeted her with my mouth wide open.
“Hoo, it’s been a while since I used that technique, so I’m glad it worked out well.”
Claudia said that, put her sword back into its sheath, and leaned against me, whispering that she was tired because she had consumed so much mana at once.
Then I guess I’ll do the rest.
I sat her down and approached the fallen hive.
“S, save me! Please!”
“Uwooooooo!!”
Well, what else is there to do?
First, I drew my sword to save the living people. The people currently trapped in the hive were firmly fixed with something like a membrane below their necks.
As I stabbed the sword into the hive and cut the membrane, a person gushed out with some kind of gruesome liquid.
“Ugh…”
“Are you alright?”
“Thank you…! Thank you so much! I thought I was really going to die after being kidnapped by those guys! Thank you so much for saving me!”
I pulled out a knife and handed it to him, as he repeatedly expressed his gratitude.
“What is this…?”
“Can you move?”
“Of course.”
“Then please use that to save the others. Just cut the membrane like I just did.”
“Ah, I understand.”
There’s no need for me to do everything.
When I asked, the old man who received the knife tore the membrane in the next cell. They also expressed their gratitude and poured out. I instructed the newly escaped people to rescue others as well.
Everyone had come back to life from the brink of death, so they listened well.
As soon as they got out of the hive, they picked up branches or whatever and rescued other victims.
The heartwarming sight warmed one corner of my heart.
“Uhaaaak!”
“Kyaaaaak!”
—However.
The hive didn’t only contain survivors.
Occasionally, corpses came out, and gruesome corpses with their lower bodies completely melted also popped out. People screamed at the sight.
—Squeak! Squeaaaaak!!
There were even cells containing giant larvae.
“Larvaaaaa!!!”
But at least it was better when only larvae came out. There were also cells with larvae and people together.
…I didn’t want to mention what happened to that person.
Of course, the larvae were brutally lynched by the angry survivors and died in a miserable state. Still, all the work continued smoothly.
“Winnia. Then let’s start collecting the core.”
“Okay. Blackie, come here.”
I moved with Winnia to the back of the fallen nest.
The core of the nest is nothing special. The foundation that is right inside this tail end, that is, the pillar, is the core.
“I’ll grill it first, then Blackie, you cut it off with your sword. Got it?”
“Trust me.”
—Fwoosh!
Winnia immediately ejected flames. The fiercely ejected flames completely burned the tail end of the nest like a dragon’s breath.
Judging that it was seasoned enough, she stopped ejecting flames and patted my butt with her palm.
“Now, let’s start, Blackie.”
“Okay.”
—Thwack!
I stabbed the sword in and carefully cut it out. It took a little longer because it was a more difficult and delicate task than I thought.
—Thud.
Finally, I succeeded in extracting the core.
The size was almost as big as my torso, and it was so heavy that it would be quite difficult to carry it normally.
“This is too big? Should we make a carrying frame or something?”
“There’s a carrying frame over there.”
Winnia pointed behind me.
“What carrying frame?”
What she pointed to were the people who had been rescued and were sitting on the floor resting.
I wondered what kind of carrying frame was there, but when I thought about it, I was quickly able to recall one thing.
What Winnia was talking about was a human carrying frame.
“We saved them, so we should use them. Tell them to carry it to the city.”
“What a great idea!”
Then we should get them to carry this.
With that decided, I walked around the nest with her and collected the scattered equipment. There were a lot of dropped items and backpacks because there were so many victims.
It seemed like it would be a pretty good income to collect all of that.
After finishing the looting, I shouted loudly.
“Alright! Everyone! Let’s go back to the city now!”
“Oh, oh! Finally! Finally!!”
“Mommyyyyy!!”
“Uwoaaaaaa!!”
Then the moved people answered, half-sobbing.
They all looked like they had come back to life from the brink of death.
I said to them again.
“Come over here and hold this!”
There are several sacks and backpacks now.
One sack contains the core of the nest. And a sack full of hornet venom sacs. In addition to that, there are a total of six pieces of luggage, including three sacks filled with equipment and three backpacks containing other miscellaneous items.
I decided to have them each carry one of these.
“Please carry this to the city.”
He looked like a middle-aged man with sunken bones, and he made a questionable expression as soon as I started talking.
“Are you… asking me to carry this? All the way to the city?”
Then what the fuck else would I be asking?
“Yes.”
Feeling slightly displeased by his appearance, I answered while suppressing my rising murderous intent. Could this bastard be pissed off that I saved him, but now I’m asking him to carry luggage?
I felt like my scabbard would burst into flames if he refused.
“Ah, I understand.”
“Thank you. And the next person, please hold this!”
Fortunately, they didn’t refuse to carry the luggage, so there was no unnecessary murder.
It ended well, so it should end well.
In fact, people’s minds change when they go to the bathroom and when they come out, and a shitty expression momentarily flashed across their faces when I tried to entrust them with the luggage.
Whether they were saved or not, they didn’t want to carry luggage.
Well, that’s natural for a human being, so I can just let it go.
As long as they don’t actually refuse.
Originally, human beings are ungrateful bastards. But you’ll die if you show it, and you just have to endure it depending on the situation and environment.
Finally, I got the knife back and lined up all the people. It seemed like they were taking turns carrying the heavy luggage on their own.
As expected, good things happen when you do good things.
I was able to return comfortably without any luggage.
“Claudia. Winnia. Let’s go back now.”
Anyway, it’s time to go back now.
“Ugh, I’m tired. Katt. You know what happens when we get back, right?”
“Hehehe. Our Blackie is just getting started.”
“Oh, damn it.”
And so, we made our way through the jungle with the rescued people.
The nest of killer hornets… Although we fought hard and destroyed one nest, this was just one of many nests, and there would be many more of these cruel scenes.
But it can’t be helped.
Our work is done.
The rest will be taken care of by other adventurers or soldiers.
Although they are quite skilled, this is a problem that even the three of us can solve. Then, if the lord’s soldiers push forward, they will somehow be able to solve it.
All problems end the moment the soldiers start moving in earnest.
And so we headed to the city.
Perhaps the nest we destroyed belonged to the ones who claimed this area as their territory, because we couldn’t see any more hornets.
