abcnovels
Chapter 159: Giant Bee Form, Humanoid Beeman Form
Chapter 159: Giant Bee Form, Humanoid Beeman Form
"Easy there. I only want information. If you cooperate, things can stay... painless," he said, keeping his tone steady.
"Now, tell me—who commands this place? And why did you attack me?"
For a moment, the Beeman froze, its large compound eyes narrowing, processing the words.
But then, its mandibles twitched, and a sinister, clicking laugh began to rise from its chest.
"Hahaha... You've entered Hive Queen Zhara's domain," it sneered, as its every word echoed through the entire space. "All who step foot within our lands are trespassers... are intruders... and intruders are hunted."
Without warning, the Beeman's body began to convulse, muscles straining and expanding.
Its humanoid features melted away, transforming into a massive, two-and-a-half-meter bee with dark black and yellow stripes that seemed to harden, taking on an armored sheen.
Its Mandibles clicked menacingly as its limbs bulked up, its arms morphing into sharp, stinger-like appendages.
Ram noticed the Beeman's physique spiking in power, surging from its initial twenty points to a terrifying 60 points.
To his dismay, the other Beeman beside it began to change as well, following the same transformation.
"Hive Loyalty... It's this racial trait," he thought, watching as they took on a mindless, monstrous form, each muscle tensed, their eyes alight with mindless fury bound to their queen's will.
"Intruders are hunted," one of the creatures buzzed, its voice stripped of anything remotely humanoid, replaced with a primal, insectoid resonance.
The words echoed as though the queen herself were speaking through them.
Ram's eyes narrowed, but he was not worried. Although their new forms were imposing, with hardened exoskeletons and stingers like brutal spears, he felt no fear.
They were already inside his personal space, and here, he held control over everything inside this space.
With a single thought, he commanded the space to press down, and an invisible weight like a mountain pinned the transformed Beemen to the ground.
Suddenly being violently pressed to the ground, they buzzed and struggled, wings vibrating violently as they tried to fight the crushing force.
Their resistance was futile. Ram raised his hand, and two massive wooden spears formed in the air beside him, their ends razor-sharp.
Ram stepped forward reaching his hand to rub one of the bee's head, feeling its hard but smooth surface, he spoke.
"Well then, you may die in peace," he waved his hand, sending the spears flying straight at the Beemen, piercing their carapaces in one swift, decisive motion.
Soon the buzzing stopped, replaced by a hollow silence as the bodies of the Hive Queen's guards lay lifeless on the ground.
"So, Hive Queen Zhara..." he thought.
"There should be some information about this Queen Zhara... in the data shared by the Alliance." Although these Hive Guards didn't devolve much information, knowing this name was already enough for him, he could directly check about it through the alliance records.
He quickly opened his Lord's Panel and moved to the Alliance interface to check for more details. There he found some details on Hive Queen Zhara, not much, but it's still useful.
As he guessed before, she was an Alien Lord, with Tier 6 strength. Looking at these short details, he was completely stunned and denied his thoughts of returning back immediately for revenge.
He was still Tier 3, Tier 6 was still very far from him, and being able to escape was already considered lucky.
As Ram observed the details, a strange glow caught his eye.
From the still bodies of the fallen Beemen, two shimmering, ethereal lights emerged, each one shaped like a spectral bee.
The soul forms hovered for a moment, then drifted toward the Sylvan Soul Tree at the center of his space, drawn like moths to a flame.
When they touched the tree, they were absorbed instantly, leaving a faint pulse of energy rippling through the bark and leaves.
Almost immediately, a surge of knowledge washed over Ram's mind, followed by a holographic prompt.
[
Sylvan Soul Tree successfully absorbed two souls and is prepared for Sylvan Spirit Rebirth. You may convert these souls into wood spirits.
]
[
Access options?
]
Ram's eyebrows lifted with interest; he focused his eyes on the new options.
[Sylvan Spirit Rebirth Options]
[ 1. Giant Bee Form
; Life Energy Cost: 130 points; Spiritual Power Cost: 70 points.
]
[ Description:
Pure insect form with minor intelligence, suitable for defense and simple commands.
]
[ 2. Humanoid Beeman Form
; Life Energy Cost: 270 points; Spiritual Power Cost: 320 points.
]
[ Description:
Humanoid form, retaining all racial characteristics and skills of the Beeman species before death, suitable for complex commands and advanced combat roles.
]
Ram took in both options thoughtfully, the first option presented was a Giant Bee, straightforward and relatively less demanding in terms of spiritual power and life energy.
"A giant bee might be decent, but… they are limited in intelligence and skills," he pondered as he moved his focus to the second option. "A humanoid Beeman."
This form required a significantly larger investment of spiritual power and life energy, but it offered the preservation of the Beemen's racial characteristics, including their skills and loyalty—a feature he could likely redirect it towards himself.
From then on, they will be loyal to him and won't be affected by their previous queen. Ram smirked, weighing the options.
An intelligent, skilled wood spirit with combat instincts and a natural affinity for hive tactics would not only be useful but a formidable asset, he took a deep breath, centering his mind.
"For two souls, they need a total of 540 points of Life energy and 640 points of spiritual energy." While thinking he looked at his own attribute panel, with more than two thousand reserve Life energy and more than three thousand Spiritual power to use.
He finally selected the second option for both the souls to the humanoid transformation.
Instantly, his life energy and spiritual power began draining steadily from his attribute panel, as the Sylvan Soul Tree absorbed the resources, surging with energy that enveloped the spectral forms in a soft, green aura.
The translucent figures started to solidify, their shapes condensing into form and mass.
He watched with full concentration, as this was his first time witnessing the entire Soul conversion. The Process was smooth and very fast, before his eyes, the ghostly outlines of the Beemen transformed with remarkable speed, each detail sharpening itself from inside out.
And from the look of it, it's an organic body similar to before, not a wood creature he expected.
Muscular arms took shape, covered in the iconic striped chitin that glistened with an almost metallic sheen.
Their compound eyes gleamed with intensity, radiating the instincts of a soldier, the aura around them slowly faded, and the transformation finalized with a resonant hum, like the low buzz of wings at rest.
One of the newly reborn Beemen tilted its head, looking at him with a curious, almost reverent expression, its movements smooth were smooth as before.
The other copied its companion's stance, and Ram sensed an instinctive loyalty flowing through the bond—an unshakable connection, much like the loyalty of his other wood spirits and pets.
Yet he quickly noticed something lacking. "Sadly, they don't seem to retain any memories from before," he muttered, a note of regret tinged with curiosity.
Despite this, he was already very satisfied, even though they lost their memories, they seemed to still have some basic common sense, unlike the other whiteboard wood spirits like Thorny and others, which he needed to train them, knowing this also brought a grin on his face.
Ram focused his Spiritual Eye on one of the reborn Beemen, keen to see what had changed. As the details unfolded in his mind, he noted a series of new attributes and upgrades:
[ Name:
Hive Guard
]
[ Race:
Wood Spirit (Beeman Variant)
]
[ Level:
Silver-Tier (100%)
]
[ Quality:
Elite
]
[ Physique:
54
]
[ Spirit:
14.5
]
[ Racial Characteristics:
[Hive Loyalty (Wood Spirit)]:
Cannot disobey the orders of Sylvan Lord. When in proximity to other wood spirits, all allied units gain a 10% boost in agility and resilience.
[Natural Regenerative Armor]:
Hive Guards' thick, bio-striped exoskeleton is capable of regenerating over time, hardening further when subjected to consistent damage, and now exhibits properties similar to enchanted wood, reducing physical damage received by 15%.
[Swarm Call (Wood Spirit link)]:
Allows the Beeman to merge its life energy momentarily with nearby wood spirits, sharing power and defenses, amplifying its own attributes by 20% for every additional hive member within a hundred meters, up to a maximum of 150%.
[Wood Spirit Body (Low)]:
Increase the maximum health by 150% and recovery speed by 20%.
]
[ Skills:
[Sonic Strike]:
The Hive Guard's wings can produce a high-frequency soundwave, temporarily disrupting an enemy's senses and concentration when in close range,
[Enhanced Vital Stinger]:
Equipped with a retractable stinger, capable of piercing dense material with a force equivalent to a top Silver-Tier attack, can use its own life energy to regenerate more stingers.
[Venom Infusion]:
Their stingers can channel venom directly from their tail glands, imbuing their attacks with a corrosive, paralyzing effect that targets enemy stamina and agility for a short duration.]