''Think, Sora. Think,'' The fox said in my mind.
Think about what? I was on the ground watching Xander, Ian, and Casey. I was hungry and they were food. A female, two male. I didn't like the female, I was wanting males. The brunette one, especially. Need to find a way to separate Xander from the others. An inner voice was telling me that they wouldn't like what I'm going to do. But that didn't matter right now.
The important thing now was that I felt my body was losing heat. I had to rewarm my body before it's too late. I had got to find a body to share its heat, its life with me before I die... again.
''Do you remember now?'' The fox asked.
I took a deep breath and tried to get rid of dizziness, ''I died. Made a deal for a succubus core and I need to drink someone else's life to stay alive now. I used the energy I had stored to sing a high-level anthem and now I need to be fed as soon as possible.''
''Good girl, you have a strong mind. Now, listen to me. If you are fed with someone in this situation, it isn't possible for your prey to come out alive. See?'' The fox said.
I nodded as watching Xander walking towards me. I hold the hand he outstretched to help me and the warmth of his skin burned my hand. ''Hell, you are freezing. What's the problem?''
''I'm...'' I said, but my voice was too weak for Xander to hear, ''I used my all mana and stamina,'' I said finally. Xander took a blue liquid from his bag and handed it to me.
''Drink,'' the fox said. ''It saves us a few hours. But soon you need to be fed.'' With Xander's help, I got up but couldn't stand on my own, so I leaned on him. I drank the blue liquid and his warmth as he held me.
It was a nice feeling being in his arms, it was warm and safe. However, I wasn't able to drink his heat more than a few drops. ''Because now he's not lustful for you, or anyone else right now. His mind is stronger than you can easily play.''
So I have to play with his body, not his mind to create lust I thought. I moved my hips to press his groin and felt his body temperature rose and his heartbeats quickened. If he was too tall I wouldn't be able to do this, but thankfully he was only a little taller than me. I drank a big sip from his growing desire.
''Don't,'' The fox said.
''But why? I'm hungry,'' I said.
The fox sighed in my mind, ''I warned you, didn't I? Well, firstly we're in a demonic bee hive supposed to be a low-level dungeon but somehow, it has intermediate demonic beasts. Secondly, if you start to do it right now you won't be able to stop until you dry the man out and I don't think the duo will let you kill him. Ian and Casey, teammates, remember?''
I looked at Xander with sad eyes, ''I don't want him to die... but I want to drink his life.''
The fox gave a laugh in my mind, ''That's not how life works. Now, let the man go before Casey find a way to kill you with her gaze.''
I turned and looked at Casey, watching us with her frowned eyebrows. ''What's wrong with her? Did she suddenly decide that she's actually into him?''
''Humans desire more and more things they can't have. I think it is a bug in you or something.''
Ian stood up, ''I'm okay now. We can go,'' He said.
''We weren't waiting for you. It seems like our dear healer was wrong when she said she didn't need potions,'' Casey said.
I stopped leaning on Xander and instantly missed his warmth, ''If I knew there were going to be intermediate tier beasts, I would have prepared better. You said there will only be low-level demonic bees,'' I said.
She gritted her teeth, ''A few of them must have evolved. To be exact, seven bees had evolved into the intermediate tier. A quest triggered when I killed one of them,'' she said.
''Does it says how many low-level warriors are left?'' Ian asked.
Casey nodded, ''The quest will be completed after killing 27 low-level beasts and 4 intermediate beasts in the hive. I don't think it's referring to worker bees, so the quest should be to kill warrior bees,'' She said.
''Well, are we going on or will we go back and find the antidote for intermediate demonic bees?'' Xander asked.
Casey looked at me, ''If Sora has learned to walk again, we can continue. Seems like intermediate bees are doing nothing but a suicide attack, all we have to do is dodge their first attack. Still, if we can't, we have a healer luckily. Can you handle it, Sora?''
''Yes,'' I said. ''I'll.'' While Casey and Xander led the way, Ian got behind us and we set off. Before long, we encountered a few demonic bees, but they were yellow in color, meaning they were low level.
''Like hell you will! Didn't you listen to what I said? Do you want to lose yourself again and jump on someone?'' The fox said.
''How could I retreat after being challenged like that? I will not let her point me as the reason why we came back without completing the quest, even though she's the wrong one about hive's level,'' I said to the fox. ''I feel better now. I'm not gonna jump on someone.''
It wasn't uncommon for demonic creatures to evolve, although it doesn't happen often. Still, it was interesting that 7 of them evolved at once. A special event must have occurred that caused the hive to level up. However, we couldn't go back now because of only 4 red bees.
We were caught off guard the first time, but now there was no way they could catch us off guard. Although I don't like her personality, Casey was a skilled warrior, plus Xander and Ian were not bad either. It wasn't the bees that worried me, it was what would happen if I didn't feed in a few hours.
''You should have said that we should go back instead of getting into a pissing contest with Casey just because you're too arrogant to say you aren't in a good condition,'' The fox said.
''What would that do? My options would still be the same, Casey, Ian, or Xander. There is no way we can go back to town in a few hours, and there are no other people here but us,'' I said.
''At least you wouldn't be in a hive with thousands of demonic bees!''
''They don't attack us anyway. A few more warrior bees, and we'll finally get that damn pollen. I can't believe I have to try so hard to be only level 2. Will I have to complete a quest each leveling up?'' I asked the fox.
''I don't know. I only carry some memories of the nine-tailed fox and she didn't have to. She was receiving a level-up quest once in every ten levels. But she is a noble member of the clan, with a natural succubus core. She was born with the core, she didn't make a deal for it unlike you,'' the fox said.
''Ah,'' I said as I watched Ian killing a yellow bee. Now we had 1 yellow and 4 red bees to kill, according to Casey's quest. ''You mean, can succubus have children?''
The fox nodded, ''Lust demon births are rare, you can have sex every day for a hundred years and only get pregnant once. Actually, this is why lust demons can share their cores with a deal. In order to wouldn't become extinct,'' It said.
We turned a corner, there were no demonic bees. But there was a stone door-like structure at the end of the path. Queen's chamber? Maybe. ''Oh... oh! Will I no longer have periods?'' I asked. If it was so, this was the best news I've heard since I died.
''Once a year, for a week. Forget it now, I have an idea of how to feed without completely drying someone's life energy,'' It said.
''Beware!'' Casey shouted, ''Those are red!'' Three red bees with their stings out were flying towards us. Casey, Ian, and Xander dodged each one. We don't even need to make an attack. Bees dropping their needles couldn't survive for more than a few seconds.
Casey approached the stone door, ''Are you ready? One yellow and one red bee, then we're done.'' We all nodded.
''How can I feed again without drying someone's energy completely?'' I asked.
''It is easy! You have to feed on two people at the same time, so you can gather enough energy without having to kill one,'' The fox said.
''...'' I was speechless. Casey opened the stone door. There was just one, giant yellow bee, with a crown sign between her antennas. Then, I saw another bee rising into the air. It was red, giant, and had an identical crown sign with the other one.
''Fuck, this is a red queen! It can make a call for all the worker bees to turn into berserk to protect the queen!'' Someone said. I didn't know who was speaking, because I was too busy listening to the message the red queen was telepathically sending to other bees.
At that moment, I did not realize that there was no difference in the thoughts and feelings of the creatures with low intelligence, so I was looking at their minds while looking at their hearts. Sure, it didn't take me long to figure it out.
''Come... come... come... protect me... come... protect me...'' It was thinking.
The red queen was calling for worker bees to protect their queen, and we were in a hive full of thousands. Ah, fuck.