The Bee Dungeon

Belissar informed Tarwantrad’s monster that he was planning an expansion purification. Tarwantrad sent word asking him to be careful and informing him that she would prepare her forces to intervene if he needed assistance. Belissar thanked her and promised to let her know if he needed help.

Soon after, Belissar stood by the wall of shortcuts in the Orchard. He held a spear made from wyvern bone and fangs while he wore leather and fur that had been trimmed down to fit him. Well, if he intended to join the fight he planned to do so with his spell-bees, but Chief Rohsuak had insisted he be no less armed and armored than any of their hunters. Belissar had seen no reason to refuse.

Chief Rohsuak stood beside him with an emergency supply of mana honeycomb. Metsaitti and the karnuq hunters stood there as well, ready to deploy wherever they were needed. A handful of the top hunters had jars of deathcap poison to tip their weapons in.

The digging bee soldiers and burning bee soldiers were waiting in the Dirt Tunnels and Lava Field respectively. Most of the remaining soldier bee army assembled in their usual formations in the battle meadow, but one formation now waited in the trees of the battle Fairy Grove, accompanied by chromatic workers.

All the defenders were ready, all preparations had been made. It was time to begin.

Attempt expansion purification? Estimated purification strength: small+

Belissar took a deep breath.

“Here we go.”

Once again the Hunger assaulted the Tower and once again the Tower pushed it back. Belissar ignored the battle of chill and warmth raging through his mana and focused his tower senses on the entrance. Scout workers from the Fourth of the Seventh’s hive also waited there as well, taking advantage of the shortcuts to give the bees their own glimpse of the enemy.

This time, he heard a high-pitched snarl instead of the usual growls. The shade was shorter than usual, coming up to about his waist. At first he thought it was a kind of wolf-shade but its ears and snout were sharper, reminding him more of a fox the closer he looked. The shade had three glowing red eyes, two in the normal spots and one in the center of its forehead. It had eight legs arranged in four pairs, each tipped with vicious claws, and its whole body was wrapped in a coat of black flames instead of fur. It had two tails made of fire, the flickering flames making a shape similar to a fox’s bushy tail.

Instead of the usual roar, it made a low growl and crouched down against the growl. The scout bees took a look and then hastily retreated through the shortcut.

And then it took off.

The shade wasn’t quite as fast as the cat shades had been but it was closer than not, racing through the Dirt Tunnels. It came upon the first Pit Trap and leapt over it without slowing down. The Sticky Honey Trap Belissar set up to prevent that very outcome triggered, but the fox’s flames surged and burned it a path straight through the viscous spray.

Belissar frowned.

“It’s fast and covered in fire. It’s like…a combination of the cat shades and the salamander. Doesn’t have any spikes though, maybe it’s going to try and run right through?”

Bees and karnuq both saluted as Belissar relayed as much information as he could about the shade. The shade approached the next Pit Trap, with a squad of digging soldiers hiding in the ground right before it. They attempted to thrust their stingers up from the dirt and hopefully cause the shade to stumble into the pit.

They missed. The shade didn’t have to slow down to jump over the pits and was gone by the time the bees broke the surface.

Another squad tried again at the next pit, stabbing earlier than normal as they felt the ground heat up. They managed a sting on one of the fox’s paws but received burned abdomens for their efforts. The fox growled as it rushed past and began concentrating its fire on its feet.

The fox shook the stung paw before resuming running, but with the rest of its feet didn’t slow down by a noticeable amount. It hadn’t stumbled enough to fall into the pit.

Belissar furrowed his brow.

“Fourth of the Fifth, pull back your soldiers. Have them wait by the entrance.”

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If the shade wouldn’t fall into the pits, it wasn’t worth injuring all the digging soldiers just to deal a sting here or there. Not in the middle Dirt Tunnels, where most of the other bees couldn’t follow up.

However, Belissar had defenders who could.

He turned to Metsaitti who was already saluting. The karnuq hunters rushed into a shortcut leading them to entrance of the Dirt Tunnels and set up their formation, with Metsaitti at the helm. To Belissar’s surprise, Chief Rohsuak went with them, munching on the mana honey. She gave him a wink before she stepped through the door.

“Let me know when it’s close.”

Belissar just nodded. He wasn’t sure what she was planning to do, given that this was a fast-moving fire shade, but he figured she knew. He began stirring up his mana as he waited by the shortcut, just in case.

Digging bees flew in and out of the short cuts to join the karnuq and quickly dug into the tunnel ahead of them. The karnuq set up a wall of metal shields and bone spears, now tipped in deadly poison. Chief Rohsuak waited at the rear, her mana heating up but not igniting just yet. The soldier bee army sent some help as well, the archers and one of Beero’s battlecaster squads joined the karnuq’s formation, hovering overhead.

The shade rushed through the Dirt Tunnels, though it had to explore each twist and turn before it found the way forward, giving the defenders time to set up. Pit Traps opened up and Sticky Honey Traps shot their sprays but nothing caught the fast and burning fox. Beeswax candles filled the tunnels with maddening smoke, but if the fox was affected it didn’t show it.

But the Dirt Tunnels were not endless and with no effective means of harming the fox, soon it approached the end.

“Here it comes! It’s in the last tunnel before the corner ahead of you!”

Chief Rohsuak nodded as Belissar called out. Her mana flared and burst into flames all around her. A ball of fire appeared between her hands once more, this one burning with warm red and yellow light.

“Oh God of Fire, let the heat of your hearth warm our hearts and keep chill and hunger at bay. Let the light of your fire guard the night and ward off all who stalk in the dark.”

Belissar blinked as Chief Rohsuak let the fireball fly, long before the shade approached the corner and came into view. He jumped when the fireball landed in the middle of the karnuq’s own formation. But before he could exclaim, he watched the fire spread out and wrap around each of the karnuq warriors, seeming not to burn them given their lack of reaction. The fire even extended up to wrap around the archers and battlecasters hovering overhead. They buzzed at first but calmed down immediately, seeming no worse for wear despite being coated in flames.

Belissar was still staring and blinking when the fox shade rounded the corner and came into view. It growled at the sight of the karnuq ahead but did not slow down. Its flames flowed into its tails which puffed up as it ran, and soon it swung them forward. Two balls of black flame roared down the tunnel and slammed into the karnuq shieldwall.

It did nothing. The red and yellow flames flared up as their black counterparts collided into them and warred against one another, but the karnuq warriors within were completely unharmed.

The shade growled against and its tails puffed up once more. This time, they twisted together until they appeared as one giant tail of flame before swinging forward to lob a mighty fireball. The tunnels seemed to dim even further as the pure black flames consumed the very lights of the candles in their path.

The red and yellow flames flared up as the fireball crashed into them, exploding into a curtain of black that covered the entire tunnel. Chief Rohsuak’s flames rose to meet them, burning as bright as they could. The air roared as light and dark infernos warred against one another.

Then suddenly, the light went out. Chief Rohsuak’s flames burned out and vanished, coating the defenders no longer.

But they had done their job and the black flames petered out as well, leaving nothing but a few scorch marks on the shields of the karnuq. And now, the shade was in range.

The archers, karnuq and bee both, immediately opened fire. Arrows and stingers filled the tunnels, leaving no room to dodge. The shade growled and tried to coat itself in black flames, but the physical projectiles were not so easily burned as liquid sprays. The shade yelped as arrows and stingers lodged into its body.

And its relentless rush had come to a halt, the arrows killing its momentum. Metsaitti did not miss that chance. Bee wings of fire appeared on his back and beat jets of flame behind him, pushing him forward as he thrust his spear. The shade, slowed to a halt and unable to dodge, unleashed a small cone of flame from its mouth. Metsaitti’s burning bee wings swung forward and wrapped around him in response.

The shade had used much of its flame already, so Metsaitti burst through the cone only slightly singed, and thrust his spear right into the shade’s head. The burning fox collapsed to the ground.

Belissar was still staring and blinking as the shade dispersed.

All hostiles defeated. Expansion successful.

Reward: Floor limit increased to 6. Receive one perk choice, and two random reward choices.

“That…was easy?”

Belissar’s Tower once again glowed as bright as the sun and sent out yet another wave of purifying light. The Hunger screeched and burned but could do nothing against the tide of divine power crashing against it. Some tendrils of the Hunger began to move away from the burning light as it surged forward, piling up the Hunger at the edge of the purifying wave and slowing its momentum as the density of corruption grew, until the purifying wave had spent its strength and Tower and Hunger came to an equilibrium once more.

The piled-up Hunger then fell and spread now that it was no longer under pressure. And since it could not spread back in the direction of the Tower, it surged out, a ripple in the Hunger forming a little wave of its own.

A ripple that grew a bit larger and wave that traveled a bit further each time the Tower’s purification zone grew…

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