Chapter 545: Deathtrap
The man screamed from pain as he was pulled down and dropped his rifle. The screams distracted people nearby, and one of them went as far as letting go of his own rifle to try saving the grabbed man.
Malevolence, who was controlling both human squads and the bee swarm, noticed this all immediately—the screams made it hard not to, even when she had thousands of things vying for her attention.
Such a show of incompetence—letting go of his weapon—was like a hornet sting to her heart!
‘GET BACK YOUR WEAPON, SOLDIER!’ She screamed telepathically at the man, and then added to all those around him, ‘Hold your line, worms! Hold it!’
They jolted, remembering their discipline and that there were enemies constantly pushing on them. The grabbed man’s screams ended when he was pulled fully into the wave of crocodile-beasts and torn into pieces by their mandibles and claws.
The soldier without a rifle, pale and shaking, picked it up and scrambled away before he could be grabbed himself; other humans moved in to reinforce this position, while a thousand of bees opened fire there to give humans a breather.
All of this didn’t save another soldier from becoming so distracted with the gruesome death of his comrade that he missed a crocodile that got too close.
He also screamed when mandibles grabbed his leg.
Malevolence sent more bee forces into the area, but emboldened by fresh blood, the crocodiles began pushing forward more actively; at the same time, the humans moved closer and closer to panicking. Even Agents couldn’t keep their morale up when their fearful thoughts began drowning out everything else.
Thankfully, the narrowness of the chokepoint allowed Malevolence to have many back rows of the defence line. Some of them were shooting at crocodile-beasts over the shoulders of their comrades, while others were just resting and preparing to move in place of the tired soldiers in front.
Malevolence gave an order to rotate these back-line forces in front, at the same time moving some humans from nearby defence points to the threatened location.
It gave the position a momentary relief. The soldiers who didn’t see with their own eyes how their comrades were torn apart by beasts fought with more bravery and with fresh energy.
But the crocodiles seemingly knew no exhaustion, and now that they smelled fresh blood of prey, they didn’t slow down. One of them rushed forward on two bayonets, spearing its neck, wounding itself even more just to reach its jaws to a human.
And succeeded, pulling down another soldier. Now fear spread over the line of humans again, making their hands weaker and letting more and more crocodiles succeed in their attacks.
Not only were single humans pulled down now, but entire groups were as well. Losses were going on dozens!
There were still people to replace those who had died. The line was holding, but barely. Worse, this was seen by other defence points, and their morale was lowering, too.
And the most vulnerable position was the one defended by Wildmen. They had no loyalty to the cause, and their leader was thinking more about profit and his own hide than about anything else. Even right now, as he was stabbing crocodile-beasts with his spear, he was thinking about his band’s chance if they ran away at this very moment and let others cover their retreat.
Malevolence knew this for sure because Agent Eloquence warned her.
“You must do something, Grand Commander, or Wildmen will really run away!” she added. “They don’t listen to us Agents. It’s a failure, I know, but—”
Malevolence could only scowl at this, which made Eloquence’s shoulders drop more.
She looked thoroughly despondent now. Of course—she had no one to blame for the failure but herself, and what was worse for a bee than a blow to her professional pride?
If Malevolence was at her place, she’d look—or at least feel—similarly.
But Malevolence was NOT going to fail.
Her eyes focused on Ramwill, who was—for now—barking orders in Vardish language and fighting the ferocious crocodile-beasts.
There were definitely fewer of them than there were before. Most of them had to climb over the piles of bodies of their own kin to get to the enemy; some stopped to take a bite.
Wildmen couldn’t see that well from their position, and even a few dozen crocodiles could kill them all.
Malevolence focused her mind on Ramwill and sent him a telepathic message in which she poured all her determination. It was so crisp and clear that it could’ve pierced an evolved murder hornet’s chitin carapace.
‘Ramwill the human. If your people retreat now, I will personally come and sting out your eyes while my sisters peel out your pathetic thin chitin. You could escape the beasts, but not the bees!’
The man visibly jolted. His jaws opened and closed with a loud snap; then he began stabbing the crocodiles with twice the energy. Even when one of his people slipped and got pulled away, Ramwill shouted something that forced others to ignore this death and keep fighting.
When Malevolence originally positioned her people, she believed that the humans that have been with the bees for longer would be more dependable. They were truly devoted to bees, and they had some military training.
But clearly, experience—and correct motivation—mattered more.
“It’s working, Grand Commander! You scared him to death like only a Beemarine could!” Eloquence chirped excitedly. “He didn’t even think to doubt your words the way you sent them!”
Malevolence nodded in satisfaction; then her thoughts were already on the next task.
The battle continued, but the crisis was averted.
Soon, the number of crocodile-beasts lowered even more. At this point, even they noticed that there were more of them dead than alive, and their survival instincts overpowered their feeding frenzy.
The humans noticed it too, and with bees’ support, fought with renewed energy and morale.
First, the beasts attacked more slowly, and after some more shooting, fled entirely into the water, leaving Malevolence and her people to count their losses and their gains.