The Bee Dungeon

Chapter 22: First Minor Purification

Minor purification attempt in 4 minutes 23 seconds...

Belissar had to remind himself to breathe once again. He had his arms crossed and he was tapping his foot. He kept taking deep breaths and tapped the torch he held against his arm.

He was currently standing in the Apiary just in front of the door to the Flower Meadow. A roaring fire crackled in the campfire pit next to him. But his attention was on the gate at the far end of the Flower Meadow, where soldier bees hovered in the air. They were gathered into small squads and spread out across the sky, waiting for the purification to begin.

He heaved a sigh. Niobee had convinced him to let the Flower Meadow bees take first stab at the monster. And he needed them to, if he thought about it. He had chosen the soldier bees for this exact reason, so what was the point in keeping them from danger? Plus...he needed to know what they could do. If even the soldier bees couldn’t defeat a shade, then he’d need to rethink a lot of his decisions and his defenses. As a result, Belissar wouldn’t get involved right away this time. He’d remain in the Apiary while the fight raged. If the bees couldn’t take down the shade themselves, then they’d lure it into one of the prepped fire pits near the end of the Flower Meadow. Belissar could then light his torch and rush out to set the pit ablaze.

Around him buzzed the workers from the Apiary hives...along with some newcomers. Monster bee soldiers hovered around him, but not from the Flower Meadow hives. Belissar had gone ahead and added a pair of monster bee soldier spawners to the Apiary. None of the Apiary hives had developed enough to spawn monster bee soldiers on their own...and none of them were able to do so in the time before the purification. Since the Flower Meadow hives were focusing on the soldiers, Belissar needed the Apiary hives’ help to prep the fire pits with extra wax. Belissar also noticed the Apiary hives loaning honey to the Flower Meadow hives, perhaps allowing them to focus even more heavily on the soldiers. All of which meant the Apiary queens had not had the leeway to raise soldiers.

As such, Belissar had figured he should spawn some soldiers to cover the Apiary as well. If, gods forbid, the Flower Meadow hives fell and couldn’t lure the shade into one of the Pit Traps, Belissar didn’t want to leave the Apiary hives with only workers for defense.

With that, all the preparations Belissar could make in the time allotted were complete. They had prepped as many fire pits as possible, they had spawned more monster bee soldiers, and Belissar had even seen them training for the battle. Belissar himself held his torch and his axe.

But Belissar couldn’t help but worry. He didn’t want to see any of his bees hurt, after all. And if the bees didn’t defeat the shade immediately, it would have the opportunity to rampage across the Flower Meadow until they could lure it into a pit. At worst, it might destroy one or even all of the hives in the Flower Meadow before it fell into one of the traps. Losing the queens there would be a heavy blow.

But the bees were resolved to do this, and Belissar needed them to if he was to be an effective Tower Lord. So, he did his best to calm himself and stand at the ready.

But the timer counted down regardless and soon, the moment was upon them.

Minor purification attempt commencing.

This time was a bit different from before. The Tower’s mana still heated up, but not to the burning extent of the initial purification. The Tower gate didn’t' swing open this time either. Instead...Belissar felt a chill down his spine as something cold crept through the Tower’s mana. It inched out of the core and made its way towards the gate. Once there, it coalesced. Tendrils of the Hunger began to form and gather together. Once again, a shade of the Hunger formed and let out a roar.

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Minor purification begun. Remaining hostiles: 1

Belissar...then tilted his head. He knew he was looking at it from far away with his “Tower sight” as he had started to call it but...the shade seemed smaller than before.

But he had no time to question it, for the bees had already begun their attack. A squad of four soldiers had started diving the moment the shade took shape. It had barely finished its roar when they slammed into it. Two dagger-like stingers pierced into the shade’s side, and it let out another roar. Two of the soldiers overshot their target and missed, and then all four flew up and away. The shade snapped its jaws at them, but they had left its range and escaped unharmed.

A second squad struck from behind even as the shade bit at the first. These four had adjusted their aim and all four stingers hit the shade’s back. It roared again and its tail whipped around, but again the bees had flown out of the way of its counter.

The shade had apparently had enough at this point, and it took a deep breath. Most of the bees scattered as they practiced but the third squad had begun its dive and struggled to pull up as the shade unleashed a cloud of black mist from its mouth. One of the soldier bees was caught by the mist...and to Belissar’s surprise did not drop to the ground. However, she shook about in the air and slowed to a crawl, so she couldn’t evade when the shade’s tail pierced through her torso. The bee went limp and stopped moving.

The bees renewed their assault, another squad stinging the shade’s flanks even as their sister fell. The bees were finding their rhythm now and stung the shade again and again. The shade’s tail and jaws missed time after time and the bees were careful to avoid the shade’s breath now. A misty, black ooze dripped from various spots on the shade, which wasn’t moving as quickly as it had at the start.

Belissar blinked. The shade...hadn’t even advanced from the doorway, and yet the soldier bees had it on the ropes. Of every outcome he had thought about and planned for...this one came as a surprise.

“We’re...winning?”

Niobee flew about him rapidly in response.

“Yes!”

Belissar started to grin at that but then something changed. The bees had the shade surrounded at this point...but a cornered beast was the most dangerous. The shade once again took a deep breath and the bees backed away once again. But the shade didn’t let out the black mist this time. Instead, it took off running as fast as it could once the bees fell back, and so broke free of the cloud of bees around it.

And again, of all the outcomes the soldier bees trained for, they had not anticipated the shade might run from them. They were caught off guard and rushed to chase after it.

And that was what it was waiting for.

The shade then spun around and unleashed its black breath. Several squads of bees flew straight into it before they could evade, and then the shade was upon them. The beast pounced into their midst and assaulted the stunned squad. Its claws took one of the wings off a bee, sending her falling to the ground. Its tail pierced through another two while its jaws clamped down on yet another. An entire squad fell in an instant.

The other bees in the air retaliated, rushing in to sting the shade’s sides. But the shade mostly ignored them, whipping its tail around while it focused on the stunned bees ahead. The soldier bees’ careful rotation had broken with the sudden change in situation and the plight of their sisters, and so a group of them had all rushed in at once. The tail then caught them and knocked them away, leaving them spinning about in the air from the force of the strike.

But, the shade was not at its best. It had not crushed the bee in its jaws yet, though she lacked the strength to break free. Her chitin armor had saved her life, but it had begun to crack under the shade’s grip, and its fangs had pierced through in places. She was bleeding heavily and could barely wiggle about at this point. There was no chance of escape.

However, escape was not her plan.

Her abdomen was still free as the monster had bit her torso, and it stretched up. Her stinger extended out...and then the soldier’s abdomen began to glow. Even as her chitin cracked and shattered, she swung her stinger forward, shredding her torso on the shade’s fangs as she curled her body around.

The stinger thrust up into the shade’s head from the bottom, a flash of light shining from the monstrosity’s mouth as the soldier bee poured all of her remaining strength into a Death Blow.

The shade wobbled and staggered about, before it fell to the ground. The soldier bees set upon, stinging it repeatedly, but it responded to them no longer. A few moments after it fell, the shade’s body collapsed into a dissipating cloud of black mist.

Back in the Apiary, Belissar just stared at the sight.

“We...won?”

All hostiles defeated. Purification successful.

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