Meanwhile, the enormous and bloated queen bee was also watching Ed, but her compound eyes were so numerous that it was impossible to find a focal point.
The man and the monster stared at each other for two seconds, then Ed suddenly laughed:
"You knew I was coming, didn't you?"
As he spoke, he stopped looking at the giant queen bee in front of him and instead took out a larva the size of an adult's arm from a hexagonal prism space beneath his feet.
Ed could even see the underdeveloped, dot-like eyes at one end of the larva.
He held the larva in one hand and waved the other hand in front of its eyes:
Am I right?
"Ah?"
Before the queen bee could reply, Seraphina exclaimed in surprise.
She had previously been smug about her heroic act of infiltrating the enemy's lair, but Ed's words made it seem as if the two of them had willingly walked into each other's trap.
Its golden eyes narrowed sharply, and a whooshing sound came from the dragon's long neck. Its breath, poised to strike, was already aimed at the queen bee's large stomach not far away.
Ed felt the air around him getting warmer, and the beeswax floor beneath his feet was starting to melt.
He quickly stopped him:
"Don't attack yet, it's not hostile."
Seraphina's gaze swept over Ed, the forceful sound in her throat lessening slightly, and Ed continued:
"Besides, killing it won't make a difference; it's not the queen bee we're talking to."
"Not the queen bee?"
Seraphina seemed to have heard some terrible news; she swallowed hard and asked in return:
"Who was that we were talking to?"
Ed looked at the innocent-looking bee larva in his arms and poked its head:
" Hive."
The dragon has once again entered alert mode, and is now even more cautious than before.
If the enemy's core is the Queen Bee, then Seraphina is confident that after unleashing a breath attack, she can take advantage of the leaderless situation and retreat calmly with Ed.
But if we say the enemy is Hive...
She remembered the orange-yellow skyline she had seen, and the enormous nest that was almost the size of a human city...
Dragons are powerful and arrogant, but that doesn't mean they're all fools. The moment Seraphina heard about the Hive, she entered her highest level of combat readiness.
"Don't rush, let me talk to this person first."
Ed knew this was no time to concern himself with Little Green's opinion, so he reached out and plucked a leaf from the branch of the half-crown sapling above his eye socket, then stuffed it in front of the larva's mouth in his arms.
The larva wriggled forward twice, then bit the leaf in one gulp, swallowing it whole with its unique insect mouthparts.
Ed quickly sensed a new guest entering his local area network. After setting the other party's permissions Ed began to communicate with them mentally.
What is your name?
"I am the [ Hive Will ], that is my name. In human parlance, you can call me the Hive or the Swarm."
With direct spiritual communication, the other person's words were no longer as hesitant as before, and their thinking became very agile.
Before Ed could ask any further questions, the will, dispersed like gas, conveyed a new message, feeling like a self-introduction:
"The nest is my skeleton, the swarm is my flesh and blood. What they see is what I see, what they think is what I think, where they are is where I am! Special humans, welcome to the Sea of Flowers, I am the sole lord of this place."
"From the moment I saw that magical wood carving, I knew you would come here sooner or later."
Wow, that's pretty classy.
Ed thought to himself, "What is this? The sacred F2A connects us?"
However, he still followed up by asking:
"Then let my clone lose control of its pheromones..."
"That's only a small part of my abilities."
"Then I must thank you for your leniency."
Ed continued to press:
What do you think makes me special?
The Hive Will replied:
"I can't see clearly, I can't grasp it, but I can smell it. Your power is connected to plants. If you can truly bloom—not like that wooden carving—I think I will have the chance to glimpse your true form. I look forward to that day."
Oh, are you talking about the World Tree?
No wonder they were so friendly to me; they were hoping the World Tree would bloom...
Does the World Tree really bloom? And even if it does, are there bees coming to collect nectar?
Ed's mind wandered, but in another world's story, Black Dragon was grooming its feet beneath the World Tree, eagles circled above it, and a squirrel was busy with something in the middle; its branches even extended to nine worlds...
From this perspective, having a couple more bees doesn't seem like a big deal.
"I see."
"Now, it's my turn to ask a question."
The Hive Will said:
How did you discover my existence?
Ed replied with a smile:
"The swarm of Swarm stopped halfway through the chase, which must have been on your orders. There weren't any larvae in the breached wall, so you must have had them removed long ago. What I'm most certain of is the wall that automatically retracts when it's not wide enough—rather than believing that a swarm of bees created a retractable gate, I'd rather believe that the Hive itself is a living entity."
"You're right. The queen bee is merely my agent. When I don't project my consciousness, the entire Swarm operates according to a predetermined logic."
So that's how it is. It seems that the way the Hive Consciousness operates is quite similar to the way I and Little Green are combined. It can run simple programs in a multi-threaded manner, and it can also put computing power into important places.
A brief silence fell over the mental space, then the Hive Consciousness spoke first after a few seconds:
"Is the Territory Secret Pact a test?"
Ed countered:
"The larva that met my gaze, was it a temporary vessel through which your consciousness was concentrated at that moment?"
Neither side directly addressed the question, but silence was also an answer. Hive knew that Ed was testing its strength, and Ed knew that Hive had noticed its unusual nature.
After a round of dodging and weaving, the topic returned to normal, Ed said seriously:
Is the cooperation we discussed before still valid?
"Of course, I was really looking forward to the scenery beyond the Sea of Flowers, but the order and rules in those places were just too terrible..."
"Then it's a deal. Once the forest corridor connects my territory with the Sea of Flowers, your Swarm will have more room to grow."
Sensing the other person's agreement, Ed continued to ask:
"I can sense your goodwill. Would you be interested in joining us to restore order to this world?"
"No."