The tunnel was a gradually ascending flight of steps. Under normal circumstances, the well water only concealed its entrance, while the majority of it remained above the waterline - at least that was usually the case.

  Presumably affected by the flooding of the lake, the water level that should only have reached the base of the steps had now submerged the dry surface of the underground sanctuary, leaving every part covered by over ten centimeters of stagnant water. Yvette noticed that some wooden objects in the sanctuary, like candelabra stands, showed signs of swelling where submerged. If they had been constantly exposed to water, there should have been visible decay and moss growth.

  But clearly something had changed here. Some candelabra had toppled over, and she occasionally saw empty human garments floating in the water. As she moved forward, her ankles frequently brushed against faint, indistinct silky threads while wading through the water.

  The sensation was like fishing a tangled clump of hair from a bathtub, giving an unpleasant feeling of clammy dampness.

  The few remaining candle stands provided only faint illumination. Yvette used supernatural abilities to concentrate the ambient light into her pupils, and immediately everything previously blurred in shadow became crystal clear.

  This should have been an underground structure resembling a chapel, with a small pulpit in the center and two orderly rows of pews facing it. Now the furniture lay in disarray, chair legs entangled with the silk threads she had noticed earlier. The further she advanced, the denser these threads became, some even swaying like reeds by a lakeside, drifting with sluggish underwater currents.

  Initially reluctant to step on these bizarre threads, she walked across the fallen furniture instead. But soon she reached the chapel's end, where the water became shallower though the silky threads grew even thicker. Walking there felt like treading on slippery seaweed after the tide receded.

  Beyond this point, the space retained more natural cavern features. While the outer chapel had had its stalactites and stalagmites smoothed to create a broad hall for sermons, here the builders had preserved these natural limestone formations, carving totems into them and tying religious artifacts made from birds and other materials to them.

  Yvette spotted one relatively intact and newer effigy - a bee-like insect crafted from unidentified avian down, glued with gelatin onto a piece of citrine.

  "The symbol of the Bee God?" Behind it stood a small altar-like platform bearing withered flowers, fruits, and sheaves of grain.

  Near the altar, Yvette noticed the broken framework of a wicker object, where the silk threads were most concentrated. Pale, plump insects were emerging from the thread clusters, attempting to climb up a nearby stalactite.

  "Upwards?"

  Following their movement, she raised her gaze.

  The dense stalactite formations overhead had hidden their secret from her initial view. Directly above her, two naked women embraced amid the hanging limestone formations. Their pressed-together limbs had begun merging like conjoined twins, as if frozen in this posture for millennia. Were it not for occasional muscle tremors, Yvette might have mistaken them for sculptures.

  One woman was unmistakably the yellow-clad woman Yvette had encountered at the club, while the other bore enough resemblance to be her missing sister.

  The muscle tremors... this detail created the illusion of life, but Yvette immediately knew better. Their fixed, dilated pupils indicated at least brain death.

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  And furthermore...

  As Yvette's gaze traveled downward, she discovered something even more astonishing.

  A bee - a newly emerged, shop-window-sized beige bee - crouched beneath them among the ceiling stalactites. Though bee-like in form, it bore the soft fur of lepidoptera. Its entire body - the multi-jointed legs extending from its plump abdomen, even its wings...

  It must have wings, though not fully extended yet.

  Like butterflies emerging from cocoons - bodies first, then their crumpled wings - this giant bee followed the same process, only its cocoon was exceptionally peculiar: the two embracing women. Their conjoined forms had split open at the back like a worn scabbard partially sheathing a sword, containing the bee's not-yet-unfurled wings.

  Yvette recalled how gutted fish would still thrash as if alive. Was this human-shaped husk behaving similarly?

  Observing the giant bee lurking silently in shadow, Yvette had to admit it was both terrifying and beautiful - its luxurious, dense fur resembling the ermine robes of a coronated monarch.

  But no matter how magnificent, abominations must be destroyed, especially when they're disgusting human-eating insects.

  Her hand reached for the gun behind her. As if sensing her murderous intent, the bee's fur began undulating, and in the next instant Yvette saw countless dark pores appear across its body.

  Beneath that fur lay a porous structure like volcanic rock!

  Trouble arrived immediately. From each pore emerged smaller guard-bee creatures. Though more biologically plausible than their queen (merely palm-sized compared to a man's hand), they bore little resemblance - where the queen was fuzzy and rotund, these sported slender, waspish waists and smooth carapaces gleaming with metallic coldness. Their wingbeats produced sharp clicks like wooden rods striking together.

  What a remarkable relationship - the queen was their mother, their sovereign, and their hive itself.

  More bees kept emerging from the queen's body, their glittering compound eyes radiating soulless menace. Yvette felt danger's electric tingle race up her spine, but she seized every second to empty her gun at the queen's head.

  The swarm wouldn't permit this. Some veered midair to intercept the bullets. After slaughtering a dozen of the queen's offspring, the spent bullets fell with dead bees.

  Unlike the sharp "clang" of bullets, the dead bees made duller impacts when hitting stone - like discarded bones.

  Eliminated bees were but raindrops in a thunderstorm compared to those still emerging. Without hesitation, Yvette turned and fled.

  The natural cavern-turned-sanctuary presented countless obstacles: stalagmites, uneven ground, standing water, tangled threads, toppled furniture—all slowing her escape just enough that when wingbeats drew near, she had to momentarily turn and fend off pursuers with her sword.

  The guard bees' exoskeletons proved astonishingly hard - parrying felt like clashing steel. Some kept attacking fiercely even after losing half their heads - their dragonfly-like abdomens brandishing finger-length stingers clearly capable of easily dispatching rabbits or jackals. Being cornered in those confined spaces would be disastrous.

  Fighting retreating, Yvette finally reached the entrance where descending stairs were now submerged. Without pause, she took a deep breath and plunged in. Though no swimmer, she pushed along remembered walls until resurfacing in the well, then hauled herself up the rope.

  Glancing back in relief - the insects hadn't followed. Luckily, while larval forms thrived in water, the adults apparently avoided it.

  Drenched despite being in a dream, Yvette wrung water from her hair and felt something unexpected near her shoulder blade.

  That segmented, smooth texture...

  Frowning, she plucked it free - half a guard bee's abdomen, its stinger like a thick black cactus spine still embedded in her flesh.

  Battle debris must have landed on her. Who knew the things remained lethal postmortem?

  Biting her tongue confirmed normal sensation—sharp pain, no abnormalities. But surely that monstrous sting should hurt worse...

  This couldn't be the dream's doing.

  Using a mirror in an empty room, Yvette inspected the wound—just a pore-sized puncture, no bleeding, slight swelling. Stranger still, cauterizing it with hot steel produced only muffled pain like touching through frosted glass.

  Only when flesh charred did real pain arrive, sweat pouring as she gritted through it.

  "That should do..."

  But that place was too dangerous for solo confrontation with those ferocious insects.

  Unless...

  She remembered the enclosed space and ever-present water.

  Perhaps there was another, safer solution to eradicate that monstrosity and its brood.