The Bee Dungeon

Belissar may have been incredibly distracted during the purification. Fortunately, the bees handled it entirely on their own, so there were no issues. Belissar fidgeted about during the victory celebration, not helped by the energizing effects of sweet mana honey in the slightest. And then, finally, when the celebrations calmed down, he turned to Niobee.

“Niobee, can you gather the queens? We have another choice to make.”

“Ok!”

It took but a moment for the queens to rush to his side. Belissar could no longer contain his grin.

“We have a new monster choice to make, and I’d like you all the check the options with me.”

The queens burst out into celebratory dances at that. Belissar’s grin grew as wide as it could go as he finally opened up the choice he had waited on.

Please select a monster* (*One or more choices upgraded due to Blessing of Bees):

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

- Monster Carpenter Bee (Rarity: Common, Type: Bee, Nature)

Belissar immediately proceeded to read out the descriptions for the queens.

Monster Bee Burster

Vitality: Minimal

Strength: Minimal

Speed: Average

Magic: Minor

Defense: Minimal

Resistance: Minimal

Special: Below Average

Notable Skills: Death Burst, Brood Offspring

Evolves From: Monster Bee Soldier, Monster Bee Sprayer

Description: This monster bee sprayer variant’s venom has grown so caustic and volatile that it cannot be contained. The monster bee burster holds its venom ingredients in separate glands, only to be mixed at the moment of attack. Once it does so, it soon explodes, subjecting its surroundings to a powerful blast that showers the area in toxins. ŕäŊÒ𐌱ƐȘ

Belissar immediately frowned. A monster bee that was designed to die, that, in fact, couldn’t do much of anything without sacrificing itself. It did seem quite powerful…but Belissar still didn’t like the idea. Maybe he could resign himself to losing bees that were born to die. It might even be a good idea, as he could subsequently use those bees for situations where death was certain anyways. But, he’d still rather avoid bee death than embrace it. He’d take the option if he felt the Tower needed it, but he was definitely checking the other options first.

The queens, likewise, were largely silent. He was grateful for that, as he probably would feel compelled to choose this option if the bees themselves wanted it.

The second option was a repeat: the monster carpenter bees he had seen earlier on. He hadn’t consulted his bees at the time, however, so he still read out the details for them.

Monster Carpenter Bee

Vitality: Minimal+

Strength: Minimal+

Speed: Average

Magic: Minimal

Defense: Minimal

Resistance: Minimal

Special: Minimal

Notable Skills: Poison Sting, Wood Cut

Spawner Upkeep: 1

Description: A carpenter bee that has accumulated enough Nature mana to become something more. Sharp mandibles meant for boring into wood allow for painful, if small, bites.

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They made even more sense now than they did the first time. Belissar now had the Orchard, which was full of trees and could grow wood tree resource nodes. Carpenter bees would have plenty of space to grow and plenty of work they could help with. Belissar may have just finished building beehouses for all his current queens, but he figured there’d be more to come. The soldiers had helped immensely just by lifting the wood and moving it around, so Belissar could only imagine how quickly the task would go if he had bees that could help him cut and process the wood as well. Not to mention, the karnuq would be probably be building homes of their own before long. Carpenter bees could very much help with that.

On the other hand, though, carpenter bees didn’t help much when it came to purifications. Likewise, they weren’t a brood offspring, and so wouldn’t interact much with the existing hives. They would be an addition to the Tower that would only be involved with woodworking. The only use for that in the immediate future would be to help the karnuq…who were fully capable of woodworking on their own. In fact, the karnuq themselves could now help Belissar with tasks like woodworking, should he need additional assistance. So, was it worth committing a monster choice to that?

Belissar supposed that would depend on the third and final option.

Monster Bumblebee Queen

Vitality: Minimal+

Strength: Minimal+

Speed: Below Average

Magic: Minimal

Defense: Minimal+

Resistance: Minimal

Special: Above Average

Notable Skills: Poison Sting, Brood Mother

Description: A bumblebee queen that has accumulated enough mana to become something more. Mostly similar to her mundane cousins, but more aggressive, and has slightly magical venom. This one is a queen, and capable of building a hive of monster bumblebees. Compared to monster bees, monster bumblebees are tougher, stronger, and have the potential to grow significantly larger. On the other hand, they are slower, not as numerous, don’t produce as much honey, and don’t coordinate as closely with one another.

Belissar hummed and rubbed his chin. The third queen choice he had seen, this one an entirely different species. So, still not related to the monster bee queens…but that had the Brood Mother skill. Would they be able to raise other bee types like soldiers or sprayers, then? Sadly, the Tower did not tell him one way or another.

At first glance, they didn’t seem all that different from monster bees, especially compared to the previous bloodsucking bees. But one line in particular stood out to Belissar. The potential to grow significantly larger…he had already seen how helpful soldier bees could be just on account of their size. Could monster bumblebees grow larger than that? And how much larger? Would they grow as big as the small remnant shades? The minor purification wolf-shades? As large as a human? As big as the giant boar shade? At the moment, Belissar had no idea. But if it were on the larger end…then Belissar could definitely see a place for such a hive. A bee with bulk could be a very helpful addition indeed.

However, all that was guesses and hopes. It could be the case that the potential to grow large was when compared to normal bees, and not very large at all in the grand scheme of things. There was also the chance that the monster bumblebee queens were considered different from the others even with the Brood Mother skill, and then none of the previous monster choices would apply to them. Belissar might end up having to commit more monster choices to them before they would become useful in that case. And, as a separate species, they’d definitely be starting from scratch. They’d have to raise new hives, and would need to share the flowers used by the existing bees. There was a risk that it wouldn’t be worth the effort.

Belissar looked around at each of his queens.

“So, what do you think?”

This time, the queens stood still, hovering in the air. It seemed that they did not have as strong an opinion as last time, if the lack of immediate dancing was any indicator. Niobee flew over to the Second First of the First and they brushed antennae. She did the same with the First of the Fifth and the Fourth of the Seventh before flying back over to Belissar.

“Bees say whatever King chooses. Don’t know about new bees, but trust King.”

Belissar frowned at first, but then he nodded. At the end of the day, he was the dungeon master. It was his responsibility to make a choice, and to make the best choice for the Tower as a whole. He consulted with the bees to see if they had any needs or wants, to see if they would catch something that he missed. If they didn’t have a strong opinion or didn’t see any issues he missed, then it was ultimately up to him to decide on his own.

It also made sense, in this case. The only Brood Offspring option this time was the monster bee burster, and Belissar guessed the bees could tell he was not enthusiastic about that one. They, at least, were not as excited about that one as they were about communers, or even the monster bee bladers. The other two options were different species from the usual monster bees and so represented potential competition. If the bees had an opinion on those, it probably wouldn’t be a favorable one.

So, what, then, should Belissar choose? The monster bee bursters that would guarantee him watching bees die? Or one of monster carpenter bees and monster bumblebee queens both of which were of uncertain benefit and that would compete with his current queens for resources?

This choice might just be the hardest monster choice he had faced yet.

Belissar ended up glancing towards the Shrine of Bees, wondering what she would think…

But then, his eyes widened as he realized one, simple fact. His patron was the God of Bees. Without qualifiers. Not of honeybees, not of monster bees, but of bees, as a whole. As a beekeeper, honeybees were the only ones he considered most of the time, but he had acknowledged just yesterday as he designed the Bee Apartment that not all of his concerns as a beekeeper were relevant now.

So…could he build a Tower worthy of the God of Bees if he only stuck to a single type? As such, Belissar made his choice.

Monster Bumblebee Queens are now available.

His Tower would, therefore, be a Tower for all bees. His current queens might be reluctant to welcome new competition, but Belissar would make sure there were enough flowers that they could all forage to their hearts’ content. He would hope that these new bumblebees grew into something that would make surrendering some flowers worthwhile even to the other bees. As queens of a species stated to grow large, he had great hopes in their potential.

Belissar turned back to look at his queens.

“I’m going to go with Monster Bumblebee queens. But, I promise to make sure there’s enough flowers for everyone. So, treat them nice, ok?”

One by one, the queens saluted him. Belissar just hoped it would go well.

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