The Bee Dungeon

The salamander burst into the Flower Meadow. It growled as it saw the bee army flying in the air above it but the bees were already in motion. A squad of sprayers had already moved into position and launched their spray.

The salamander moved as well. It swung its tail up over its body. There was a hissing noise, like steam from the spout of a kettle, and then the spines on its tail shot out from its body.

Belissar’s eyes widened.

The sprayers got off their own attack but did not expect to be countered at the same time. And the spines flew much faster than the breath attacks of previous shades. The entire sprayer squad was showered in spines and fell from the sky.

“No! Get out of range!”

The bees reacted even before Belissar shouted, taking further distance and beginning random evasive maneuvers. The salamander’s tail spines regrew quickly and it launched another attack up at the bees, forcing them away. A second squad of sprayers moved in to attack once it did but its spines regrew before they reached their own range. They were forced to break off the attack and evade.

The karnuq prepared to bar the shade’s path as the bees pulled back but the shade didn’t attempt to make a run for it. Instead, it continued growling and flinging spines at the bees up above. Apparently, this one intended to fight.

The queens in the Bee Barracks danced to one another about the situation.

“Send soldiers?”

“Bumblebees?”

“Too big and not fast enough, will get hit.”

“Lancers?”

“Can try!”

With that, the queens relayed the command and the lancers prepared to dive. Once they had begun, the bee army opened up paths in the sky for them to pass through.

But the shade noticed and flung spines towards the change in the formation. One lancer took a spine to the abdomen, which managed to pierce through her chitin and knock her out of her dive. The others took evasive action, which pulled them off course. The dive had failed.

The queens’ dance turned frantic until one of them came up with another idea.

The sprayers made another run. As expected, the shade turned and attacked them, driving them away. But a second sprayer squad attacked at the same time from the other direction. The toxic spray hit the shade’s tail. It hissed and spun around, but the second squad had already pulled back. With an effective tactic established, the bee army began its assault in earnest. Sprayer squads rotated in and out in groups, at least two squads moving to attack simultaneously with each run.

The karnuq moved to join in as the queens relayed the situation to Metsaitti. They stopped at a distance from the shade and the karnuq archers took aim. At Metsaitti’s command, they loosed a volley of arrows. Most of the arrows were deflected by the wall of spines on the shade’s back, but one or two found their mark. The shade roared as toxic sprays and arrows pummeled it from all sides.

And yet, Belissar frowned.

“Be careful everyone, it will probably do something else…”

Even as he spoke, the shade curled up, pulling in its legs and wrapping its tail around its body so that spines poked out in every direction. It took a deep breath and began to puff up. Belissar’s eyes widened. ṙ₳Ꞑộ𐌱Εṥ

“Look out!”

Karnuq hunters with shields rushed in front of the archers and the bees began taking more distance at Belissar’s cry. A moment later, spines burst out from the shade in every direction. A handful of bees were hit, but the spines spread out the further they travelled so the bees were able to evade the worst of it.

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The karnuq were not so lucky. Unable to take more distance, they were hit by a heavy concentration of spines. The shields prevented any hits to the face or vitals…but did not cover the entire body of a large karnuq. Many hunters cried out as spines lodged into their arms and legs. Metsaitti had the uninjured hunters and the archers grab those that fell to the ground and pull them away.

Belissar clenched his teeth together. The bees attempted a counterattack while the shade lacked spines, but with the distance they had taken the shade regrew its defenses before they arrived in range. This wasn’t working. They had gotten some hits in but this shade was bigger than the usual. It would take some time before the sprays impacted its ability to fight. And while the bees had mostly dodged the mass spine attack, it hadn’t been perfect. A few bees would likely be hit every time it happened. And worse, the karnuq were now largely out of the fight, with many of their frontline warriors injured.

They needed a way to hit harder and faster. And fortunately, they had the means to do so.

Before Belissar himself could say anything, Beero and her battlecaster squad had moved up to the front formations of the bee army. A squad of sprayers began their attack run to try and draw the shade’s attention, while the battlecasters began their dance.

But the shade paused its attack the moment Beero and the others began dancing. It whirled to face the growing mana concentration in the air and redirected its attack towards them. It took some toxins from the sprayers as a result, but the battlecasters were forced to break off their dance and evade.

They tried several more times, including multiple sprayer squads in the attack, but each time the shade prioritized the battlecasters. The sprayers just weren’t enough of a threat to pull the shade’s attention. And there was only one squad of battlecasters.

The queens, however, came up with a solution, albeit a risky one. The uninjured lancers had reset their position back in the sky and were waiting the order to dive again. The queen in command gave it and they began their attack. The bee army once again opened up a path for them. The shade turned to face it.

At the same time, Beero’s squad flew forward and began their dance once again. The shade hesitated for a moment as it felt the mana gathering behind it. It tried to curl up and prepare an omni-directional attack once more…

And then a digging soldier burrowed beneath it stung her stinger up into the shade’s unprotected belly. The shade roared, jumped up, and thrashed about before remembering the approaching threats. It quickly lobbed its tail spines at the lancers and forced them to break off, before spinning around, puffing up a bit, and firing off its body spines as quickly as it could.

It had not had as much time to breath and lacked some spines on its tail, so the spines were neither as fast or numerous as before. Still, Beero and her battlecasters were not that far away, so the attack was still enough to threaten them. The cast would fail once more.

If not for the bumblebees, that was.

Three bumblebee soldiers, including the one that had carried Beero around before, dropped from the sky and hovered just in front of Beero and her casters. Spines dug into their chitin, but did not pass through their big bodies. No spine managed to reach Beero or the casters.

And so they completed their dance and a stinger of lightning struck down on the shade. It screeched as lightning coursed through its body, sending it writhing across the ground.

The rest of the bees did not miss that chance. The digging soldier squad immediately popped from the ground and began stinging the shade from beneath. Soldiers swarmed over it from above and began to sting its smooth body before its spines regrew. One of the lancers had pulled up out of the dive and regained a bit of height, so she resumed her dive from her current position.

She couldn’t build up all that much speed, and so couldn’t sting with a full-force dive. But the salamander was nowhere near as tough as a turtle shade, without its spines its hide couldn’t resist even point-blank stings from a soldier.

It had no chance against a half-height dive from a lancer. And she drove her stinger right down on top of its head.

The shade fell to the ground, and moved no further as it faded away.

Expansion successful.

Reward: Floor limit increased to 5. Receive one perk choice, and two random reward choices.

Belissar exhaled his breath. They managed to take it down in the end.

But then he surveyed the field and frowned. The karnuq were performing first aid on their wounded hunters, quickly wrapping bandages around bleeding wounds as the shade’s spines faded into mist. An entire squad of sprayers lay on the ground, what few still survived now with tattered wings. More sprayers and soldiers fell scattered across the ground, while three bumblebee soldiers and one of the lancers waited in pain for the medicinal bees to arrive.

And this was only the first of what would have to be many expansions. Belissar closed his eyes, took another deep breath, and then began running towards the front, stirring up his mana to produce medicinal honey. Such thoughts could wait. For now, there were many wounded to tend to…

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