The Bee Dungeon

Metsaitti tensed as the boar charged towards him. He leapt to the side at the last moment once more and then grabbed onto his spear. He tried to pull it out but was instead pulled along by the boar and couldn’t get good leverage before an approaching tree forced him to let go once more.

Meanwhile, Chief Rohsuak shouted at the other hunters, taking command and ordering them to stop attacking. The problem was that only Metsaitti was fast and experienced enough to consistently dodge the shade’s charges. However, without his weapon it would be hard for him to keep its attention if someone else was harming it.

Still, Metsaitti could not exactly fight unarmed forever. Chief Rohsuak, therefore, began to stir up her mana. Should she miss, she would no longer be capable of contributing to the fight…and may cause another big problem on top of it, but at this point she had little choice. Someone needed to give Metsaitti a chance to get his weapon back and no one else was capable of the task.

Chief Rohsuak herself was not certain she’d be able to escape the boar’s attention afterwards, but protecting the clan was her duty as chief. She’d just have to trust that Metsaitti would take advantage of the distraction and give her a chance to escape.

But then they heard it. A slight buzzing noise that grew louder with every second. One of the hunters pointed up in the sky.

“Look!”

Chief Rohsuak took a second to glance up and her eyes widened. A massive, yellow and black cloud was rushing towards them. One that she very much recognized.

The bee army approached.

“The Sacred Den Master…has come to help us?”

The hunters around her looked nervous but she raised her hands and calmed them down. The bees soared overhead and then dove down towards the boar just as it was charging towards Metsaitti once more. A squad of soldier bees slammed into its side, their stingers piercing deep. The boar roared in pain and turned to face the new threat, but that group of soldiers had already flown away. A few moments later, another squad stung the shade from the other side. It snarled and spun around to swing its tusks in the other direction, but hit nothing.

The karnuq were left staring at the scene before them. Metsaitti was hanging around nearby, waiting as he watched the bees dive from above. Then, when a squad dove in from the opposite side, he sprinted forward. He grabbed hold of his spear right as the bees stung the shade’s other side and then pulled as the shade spun away towards the bees. Finally, he was able to remove his spear from the shade’s hide and quickly fell back. The rest of the hunters turned to Chief Rohsuak as they watched the bees fly circles around the shade.

“Um, should we help them?”

Chief Rohsuak lightly shook her head.

“Only if you are confident you won’t hit any of our friends. But stay vigilant. That monster could very well charge this way in a rage, we are not out of this yet.”

The karnuq gripped their weapons and refocused on the fight.

Belissar rushed through the forest, ignoring the branches scraping at his arms and legs. He was watching the soldier bee army through his Tower sight and so saw them arrive at the karnuq’s camp, exhaling as he saw the camp itself was not yet under attack. He then saw them fly ahead to the actual battlefield. Metsaitti and Chief Rohsuak were there, both unharmed for now, though Metsaitti was facing the shade alone…and unarmed.

“Take it down but be careful, we don’t know what it can do!”

Belissar’s words traveled through his mana and he saw the queen in charge of the army dance her salute. The soldier bee army organized into their formations and a moment later the squads began their attack runs. Fortunately, the shade did not appear any faster than the wolf-shades and couldn’t fly like the bird-shades so the soldier bees were able to attack it without incident.

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But Belissar didn’t dare hope that would remain the case, given how every shade thus far had surprised him. So, he kept running until he, too, arrived at the edge of the battlefield. He paused for a moment as he saw the true size of the boar with his own eyes, but then shook his head and shouted.

“Chief Rohsuak!”

Chief Rohsuak turned towards him, her eyes widening before she gave him a smile.

“Sacred Den Master, thank you for coming to our assistance.”

Belissar nodded and then got right into it.

“Can you tell me what that shade can do? Any special or magical attacks?”

Just then he saw the boar take a deep breath, causing him to hold his own. The bees scattered as they trained to do, then the boar roared and charged in the direction of the closest bees. Belissar felt the ground shake under the massive shade’s hooves. His bees, however, were not intimidated, and simply flew out of the way as the shade barreled into the trees.

Chief Rohsuak frowned and rubbed her chin.

“I am not sure. We have not seen it use anything but its body to attack. Its body is, as you can see, very powerful and equally tough. I do not know if it possesses any more surprises but I do believe that its focus is on brute strength.”

Belissar turned back to watch the battle. On the one hand, the shade was far less agile than the wolf-shades and lacked the whip-like tail, so his bees were having an even easier time dodging the normal. On the hand, this was the largest shade they had ever dealt with. His soldier bees almost looked like regular bees in comparison. If he focused in close, he could see their stingers only barely piercing its hide.

He frowned. On the one hand, if the shade couldn’t effectively attack back then his bees could handle it. On the other hand, it seemed like their attacks weren’t doing a lot either. And with the shade’s sheer bulk, they could keep it surrounded but they couldn’t keep it from moving if it wanted to.

“If there are no special attacks, I think we can take it down eventually, but it looks like it’s going to take a while. Did you have a plan to deal with it?”

Chief Rohsuak nodded.

“I have enough mana for one big fire attack, but only one. And with the forest surrounding us, I can’t afford to miss. If you can get it to stop or at least slow down without your bees in the way, then I should be able to finish it off.”

Belissar nodded and then relayed as much to the queen in charge, telling her to focus on slowing the shade down. She saluted and began to dance, sending her commands to the rest of the army.

Three squads approached the shade, one from the front and two from behind. The squad in front consisted of sprayers and unleashed their toxins right into the shade’s face, while the other two squads took advantage of the distraction to sting its hind legs. The shade roared and smashed through several trees once again, but the sprayers had never lowered into its range in the first place.

The bees repeated this tactic over and over until the shade wised up and began kicking with its back legs before it charged. The bees managed to dodge the relatively short and thin legs, however, and changed their approach. They began to randomize their assault, sometimes diving from the sides, sometimes behind, and sometimes even from the front. But, with every attack, they made sure the boar charged away from Belissar, moving deeper into the forest.

The shade left a trail of destruction in the forest, but it displayed no means of attacking aerial foes. Belissar held his breath every time the shade paused or took a breath, but ultimately it did nothing but kick and charge. Still, the monster’s bulk was a defense in and of itself and for a long time, Belissar thought the bees’ attacks weren’t actually doing anything.

But, eventually, the shade began to slow down. Its charges were less frequent and ended earlier, while it was breathing heavily and even beginning to sway a bit. Its eyes were swollen shut from all the poison that had been sprayed on them while the bees were intensifying their attack. Belissar turned to Chief Rohsuak.

“It’s starting to slow down now.”

Chief Rohsuak nodded.

“Let’s approach, but let’s stay vigilant. A cornered beast is the most dangerous. Metsaitti, you’re with me. The rest of you stay here.”

With that, Chief Rohsuak, Metsaitti, and Belissar followed the trail of destruction until they caught up with the boar. It was just finishing another charge, crashing into a tree. Rather than flattening it, it merely left a massive dent that caused the tree to bend and creak.

Chief Rohsuak nodded and stirred up her mana.

“That’ll do. Can you have your bees clear the area around and above the shade?”

Belissar nodded and relayed as much. A moment later, the bees took some distance, and specifically moved so that no bee was hovering directly above the monster. Chief Rohsuak held her arms out with her palms facing together. A ball of fire formed between them, growing brighter and hotter until Belissar couldn’t look at it directly. Then, Chief Rohsuak thrust her hands forward and the ball shot straight towards the boar.

The shade was still catching its breath and so didn’t notice the attack approaching until it was too late. It was only just beginning to move when the ball crashed into its side.

And then a pillar of fire shot into the air, engulfing the shade. They heard it roar and squeal but the venom of countless bee stings had taken its toll. The shade rolled a bit on the ground but then fell still.

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