The Bee Dungeon

Belissar grimaced as he arrived at the scene. The Second of the Sixth’s medicinal workers were swarming over the field, injecting healing compounds with their stingers, feeding healing honey to the wounded, and patching over bleeding injuries with wax and propolis. But…hers was but one hive, and there were many wounded to tend to.

The karnuq and the bumblebees presented a particular problem, in that they were much, much larger than the usual bees, and had each taken many wounds. They were, therefore, taking a lot of medicinal workers to tend. Even the Second of the Sixth’s hive was stretched thin.

Belissar did what he could, making medicinal honey with his magic to help feed the wounded, but he was just one man. He could only feed one wounded at a time even though he could make enough honey for more.

And in the meantime, he could see wounded bees across the ground, slowly moving tattered wings as they waited their turn.

He clenched his jaw. If only he could help them. If only he had a better way of getting them the honey. Even as a human many times the size of a bee, he was a drop in the bucket compared to a hive.

As he thought, his mana stirred, feeling as if a swarm of bees flew and crawled within his veins. The mana swarm rushed towards his hands where he was trying to make some more honey, another honeycomb pattern forming out of mana in the air above his palm.

But this time, honey did not drip out of the combs. He felt the mana swarm surge from his body into the comb. Belissar tilted his head as he observed the comb. For a moment, he clenched his jaw tighter. And now, of all times, his spell was failing. He could not even contribute what little he should be capable of.

But then he paused. One of the cells on the honeycomb pattern began to bulge. Belissar’s eyes opened wide.

A translucent bee made of blueish-green mana crawled out of the honeycomb pattern. She spread her wings and flew off with a buzz, landing by the nearest wounded bee. She dripped a small pool of medicinal honey by the bee’s mouth, then flew to its injury and stung a thin medicinal stinger in. She turned back into glowing light that flowed into the injury.

And she wasn’t alone. One by one, more translucent mana bees crawled out of Belissar’s spell. Slowly, he made a slight smile and nodded.

“Please, heal them all.”

The spell-bees reacted immediately, flying off to wounded bees and karnuq alike. Belissar kept up the flow of mana as long as he could, until his head pounded and his vision spun. He was vaguely aware of Niobee landing on his back and channeling more mana into him, and he channeled that mana towards the spell as well.

The last thing he remembered was swaying as Juosiutik and Metsaitti ran towards him.

Belissar slowly came to, finding himself lying among the flowers. Chief Rohsuak and Metsaitti were looking down at him with concern, while he could feel many, many bees crawling all over him, including Niobee and the Second of the Sixth.

“King! You’re awake!”

“Ah, yes. What happened?”

Belissar tried to lean up but a winced as a piercing pain shot through his head. Metsaitti held his back, supporting him until the pain faded. Chief Rohsuak let out a sigh.

“You overdrew your mana with your new spell, Tower Keeper. An autonomous spell that seeks out multiple targets is quite demanding.”

She shook her head.

“Well, I’m living proof that overdrawing your mana won’t kill you, but I wouldn’t recommend doing it often. It is not a pleasant experience.”

Belissar frowned as he held his head.

“No, it’s not.”

Then his eyes shot open and began to quiver.

“Wait, then what about the wounded?!”

Metsaitti held him back from jumping up. Chief Rohsuak gave him a smile.

“All tended to. Thanks to you, all the wounded were stabilized until the healers and medicinal bees could get to them. We have suffered no further losses today.”

Belissar exhaled his breath and laid back against the flowers. If all the wounded had made it, then it was worth whatever pain he was feeling now. He smiled slightly as he felt the Second of the Sixth’s hive poured over him, while Niobee kept frantically dancing on top of him. He reached up to brush her.

“I’m ok. Um, just need a minute to rest?”

Chief Rohsuak nodded at that.

“A day I would say, but yes. Do not use your mana for the rest of it.”

Belissar nodded and slowly stood up, wincing slightly. Every inch of his body ached, not enough to prevent him from moving but complaining whenever he did.

“Got it, I’ll rest once we’re done here.”

Chief Rohsuak held her tongue as Belissar walked over to the nearest fallen bee, gathering her in his arms. She turned to Metsaitti and nodded. They, too, began to gather the fallen, with the rest of the uninjured karnuq joining them one by one.

Belissar led the bees and karnuq in a memorial for the fallen, and then the Apiary bees supplied honey trays for the victory celebration. This time, the karnuq contributed as well. Smoked wyvern and wolf-mole meat joined with plentiful fruits, berries, mushrooms, and cave potatoes into an impressive spread, made all the better by the overflowing mana honey to spread and dip across it all. Belissar watched the karnuq sing and dance with the bees flying all around them and smiled. He looked forward to the day he had enough mead to share with them.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

They decided, however, to take it easy for the night, so Belissar retired as the celebrations wore on. It was not until the morning, after greeting the new Third of the Ninth and getting her settled, that Belissar gathered the queens, Chief Rohsuak, and Metsaitti by the Memorial.

They had fought the battle, honored those who sacrificed to achieve it, and then celebrated the victory. Now…now it was finally time to see the fruits of their labors. Belissar brought up the messages from the Tower he had been too fatigued to review last night…

Expansion successful.

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

Please select a reward:

- Uncommon Room Choice (At least one uncommon or better option)

- Rare Monster Choice (At least one rare or better option)

- Rare Room Feature Choice (At least one rare or better option)

Please select a reward:

- Uncommon Room Feature Choice (At least one uncommon or better option)

- Uncommon Room Choice (At least one uncommon or better option)

- +150 max mana

Belissar glanced around at the bees and karnuq alike.

“Does anyone have any ideas or preferences on which choices we should take?”

Neither bee nor karnuq spoke up at this stage and Belissar nodded. He had already decided what to do, if no one had any objections. The Tower had plenty of flowers and mushrooms the bees were just starting to forage from, and the gardeners had their work cut out for them ensuring all those plants were cross-pollinated and their seeds spread. So, Belissar felt that this time he wanted more rooms and more bees. The choices lined up nicely for that.

Rare Monster Choice selected.

Please select a monster:

- Lumber Bee (Rarity: Uncommon, Type: Bee, Nature)

- Monster Bee Honeypot (Rarity: Uncommon, Type: Bee)

- Monster Bee Dancer (Rarity: Rare, Type: Bee)

As usual, Belissar began to read the options aloud for the others.

Lumber Bee

Vitality: Average

Strength: Average

Speed: Average

Magic: Minimal

Defense: Below Average+

Resistance: Minor

Special: Minimal

Notable Skills: Poison Sting, Wood Cut

Spawner Upkeep: 20

Description: A monster carpenter bee evolution. The Lumber Bee’s larger size allows it to not only bore into trees, but to bite through branches or small trunks entirely. Its sharp and powerful mandibles can also bite through living things that stray too close to the nest. May evolve from monster carpenter bees if available, females may lay monster carpenter bee eggs.

The carpenter bees had returned, and with a vengeance. These bees were on par with the bumblebee soldiers in sheer size, possibly bigger. They had thick mandibles with sharp edges to hack and saw through entire tree trunks, which would make them incredibly useful both in and outside of battle. And that part at the end…it seemed like Belissar might get access to the original monster carpenter bees if he selected the lumber bees as well?

It was a solid option all around. Though, to his knowledge carpenter bees only gathered in small groups if anything, and the option lacked the brood mother or brood offspring skill. They probably couldn’t form hives like the other bees could, and likewise his existing hives wouldn’t be able to raise lumber bees themselves.

A point worth considering compared to the next option.

Monster Bee Honeypot

Vitality: Below Average

Strength: Minimal

Speed: Minor

Magic: Below Average

Defense: Minimal

Resistance: Minimal

Special: Below Average

Notable Skills: Processing, Storage, Brood Offspring

Description: A monster bee worker variant specialized in honey production and storage. It trades its stinger for a specialized abdomen that can hold and process an impressive amount of honey at once, or wax and propolis as required. Note that its unwieldy shape and lack of a stinger make it unsuited for foraging or battle, and it thus can only be raised by prosperous monster bee hives. They will, however, improve both the quantity and quality of honey, wax, and propolis produced by their hive as all of their mana and body are committed to their singular task.

At first, Belissar wasn’t sure about this one. Between the results of the latest purification and the strength of the Tower Lords he would have to face one day, Belissar would really have preferred a more combat-oriented option this time. These monster bee honeypots were anything but.

Still, he shouldn’t discount the impact of more and better honey. Honey was ultimately the limiting factor in the soldier bee army’s size, as well as the number of evolved bees they could raise. Didn’t the battlecaster description specifically state that it would cost a hive more resources to raise? Not to mention that more honey could help more karnuq receive blessings as well, allowing him to raise his own Tower Guard. If better quality honey also improved mana content, then that might also mean they could raise new types of bees more easily with new honey types. The First of the Fifth had informed him that they had to reach a certain level of mana density for a given honey type before they could raise or evolve a queen with it.

So, honeypot bees wouldn’t add any new options to his Tower in and of themselves, but they would improve and speed up all of the efforts his bees were currently undertaking. And that made them a powerful choice.

But would they be more powerful than the last option?

Monster Bee Dancer

Vitality: Minimal

Strength: Minimal

Speed: Average

Magic: Below Average

Defense: Minimal+

Resistance: Minor

Special: Average

Notable Skills: Poison Sting, Death Blow, Brood Offspring, Hive Dance

Evolves From: Monster Bee Communer, Monster Bee Worker

Description: Monster bees, by nature of the quantity of magical creatures gathered in one area, produce an ambient mana that links them together. Communers can tap into this mana to expand this link. Monster bee dancers take this a step further, adjusting the mana itself to affect the rest of the hive in turn. Their dances resound through the hive’s mana, boosting the other bees in various ways depending on the dance. While they are not incapable of combat, they are not specialized in it and are most effective when kept from harm.

In addition to evolving from existing communers, new monster bee workers may be raised as dancers, though this requires notably more resources from the hive.

This one was…interesting. Belissar wasn’t entirely sure what to make of that description at first. Apparently the dancers could affect the mana of the hive…and strengthen the other bees?

At that moment, he glanced over at Niobee. She, apparently, could move the Tower’s mana around by dancing, redirecting it to help other bees with their tasks…or even him and the karnuq. Perhaps the monster bee dancers would do something like that? Would they make all the bees better at their various jobs? Would they be able to help other bees evolve like Niobee had with Beero? Would they be able to help the karnuq as well, as with Metsaitti?

If so, that could be a powerful option indeed.

Which meant that now, Belissar had to choose which of these options his Tower needed most…

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