The Bee Dungeon

The day was growing late, so Belissar and his friends wrapped up their conversation, with a promise to explore the Compact tomorrow should nothing else come up.

The time soon approached for the next purification and for this one, Belissar decided to try something new. His conversation with the God of Light and his desire to do something for the gods reminded him that he did have some missions waiting. Many of these were still in progress…but there was one Belissar could attempt right away.

So, instead of the usual monster bee army, karnuq hunters, or fair folk warriors, several big lumber bees made their way to the shortcut wall, ready to fight on his orders. The evolved monster carpenter bees hadn’t seen any combat yet, but they were big and strong. Their bodies had grown to match the bumblebee soldiers in size, their mandibles were thicker and sharper than even a butcher bee’s, and they were strong enough to lift heavy pieces of wood, so Belissar figured they could handle one of the minor purification shades.

If not, the bee army was on standby to intervene. Belissar stood in front of the lumber bees, they honestly looked like bumblebee soldiers save for their big mandibles and shinier, less fuzzy abdomens. He walked up to one and rubbed his head. It turned out lumber bees could be either male or female.

“Are you ready?”

The lumber bee buzzed his wings, creating a low thrum and a vibration that passed up into Belissar’s arm. Belissar patted his head.

“Ok then, here we go!”

Belissar triggered the minor purification, then sent his Tower sight to the Tower’s entrance.

The Hunger coalesced up in the air, signaling it would be one of the flying shades. Belissar tilted his head, he guessed it would be a bird shade this time? Could minor purifications even produce bird shades? Belissar couldn’t remember the last time one had…

But it turned out he was wrong. The Hunger split into several small concentrations, then the shades began to take shape. Belissar’s eyes widened, he had forgotten that the Hunger had these shades available.

Remaining hostiles: 5.

Wings of Hunger buzzed in the air. Stingers dripped corruption from their tips. Countless red lights made a mockery of compound eyes.

A squad of wasp-shades entered the Tower, each about the size of a soldier bee.

But before Belissar could react, a gust of wind blew around him. The lumber bees beat their big wings, blowing the air around as they slowly lifted off the ground. They angled forward and began to fly, picking up speed as they flew towards the shortcut. A flying wall of chitin and fuzz passed Belissar as the lumber bees went to war.

The wasp shades were just starting to fly as the lumber bees appeared in the entrance cavern of the Dirt Tunnels. The wasps buzzed and flew straight towards the lumber bees, extending their stingers. The big bees had little room to maneuver in the cramped corridors of the Dirt Tunnels, they could not escape the wasps’ dives.

They didn’t need to. The male lumber bees charged forward, flying directly at the shades. Their big wings disrupted the air ahead of them, spinning the wasps out of their dives. The male lumber bees crashed headlong into them, knocking the wasps around. One wasp managed to grab onto a lumber bee’s shoulder and thrust its stinger forward…only to bounce off the big bee’s chitin.

The lumber bee knocked the shade with his wings, pushing forward, then grabbed the shade with its mandibles. The jaws that could fell trees crushed the wasp in an instant.

While the male lumber bees had charged directly, the female lumber bees flew and climbed around the edges of the room. The remaining shades spun in the air, trying to stabilize themselves after being knocked forward by the males. The females didn’t give them the chance, jumping on them with mandibles clacking and stingers swinging. A big stinger tore right through a shade, ripping a hole in its torso. Another shade’s wings were shredded by sharp mandibles, it fell to the floor and was soon crushed.

The final two shades began evasion maneuvers, flying around the big bees. The lumber bees scrambled after them, but the smaller wasps proved elusive, so the fight soon devolved into a tangle of chitin, fuzz, and buzzing. Lumber bees charged towards wasps, only to crash into each other when the wasps changed directions.

Still, the big bees were in no danger. The wasps bit and stung but the lumber bees’ chitin held firm, so Belissar left it to them. One lumber bee, after crashing into another, managed to see a wasp diving towards him. He turned slightly, angling his wing to smack the wasp as it approached. The wasp fell to the floor and skidded back, only to be impaled by female’s stinger.

The final wasp had managed to crawl on the male’s back. It bit uselessly at his chitin for a bit before it gave up…and then started to approach his wings. It reached out with its jaws, ready to bite the thinner material…

Only for a female lumber bee to snap it up in her jaws, picking it off the male’s back. She crushed in half, then started grooming the male. He buzzed in response.

Minor Purification completed! Please select a reward:

- +50 DP

- +10 Max Mana

- Monster Bee Honeypot Defense Boost (Minimal)

Mission: Defeat a purification using Bee-type monsters that do not have any Brood skills completed!

Reward: One uncommon Bee-type monster choice.

Belissar quickly selected the mana and grinned. He walked over to the Orchard’s shrine and bowed his head to the God of Bees’ statue.

“Thank you again for everything, God of Bees! I hope this pleases you!”

The statue lit up briefly and Belissar heard the faint sound of buzzing…and then received a dance from Velebee.

“Hive-Builder Belissar, Queen of All Bees says Belissar best dungeon-master!”

***

At the victory banquet…which at this point was just becoming dinner, since the Tower cleared purifications every day…Belissar praised the lumber bees. He rubbed their fuzz and fed them lots of honey, both honey from the hive of hives and honey he created with his own spells. The lumber bees buzzed, releasing lots of happy pheromones.

Belissar hadn’t really known what to do with them before. He knew how to take care of honey bees and that knowledge helped him take care of other bees with hives and queens, like the bumblebees, the stingless bees, and the butcher and bloodsucking bees. But the carpenter and lumber bees were different, they didn’t form hives and they each sort of did their own thing. The females each made an individual nest, laid a few eggs inside, and then left them to grow on their own, though they did seem to work together to guard the nests. They had no honey for him to gather and he couldn’t check on their brood without disturbing their nests, so he left them alone for the most part. The rest of the time, the carpenters and lumber bees spread out as they wanted, each feeding themselves and sleeping out on flowers on their own.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

But they were still his bees in the end. They visited flowers, they built their nests, and when push came to shove they defended the Tower with no less enthusiasm than any other bee. The males had charged right into the fray, as heedless to danger as any soldier bee, while the females worked along side them and fought together like a monster bee squad would.

Belissar was quite happy to have them in his Tower. And that brought him to his newest reward.

Please select a monster:

- Monster Giant Resin Bee (Rarity: Uncommon, Type: Bee, Nature)

- Poison-Eater Bee (Rarity: Uncommon, Type: Bee, Poison)

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

Belissar had seen two of them before, but he reviewed all of their descriptions anyways. It had been a while since he had seen them, after all.

Monster Giant Resin Bee

Vitality: Average

Strength: Average

Speed: Below Average

Magic: Minimal

Defense: Average

Resistance: Minor

Special: Minimal

Notable Skills: Poison Sting, Resin Ball, Bite

Spawner Upkeep: 20 (10 with Blessing of Bees)

Description: A giant resin bee, the largest of mundane bees, that has gathered enough mana to become something more. Its size, already impressive for bees, has been unlocked by mana to unknown heights. When threatened, the resin balls it gathers for its nest may be thrown.

Note that it nests in burrows and tunnels bored into trees but is not capable of boring on its own. May require a wood-boring species to nest and reproduce, as well as trees large enough to match its size.

The giant resin bees. Monsters of bees with massive, beetle-like jaws that were the size of soldier bees when they hatched and only grew from there. Belissar had declined them last time because he couldn’t support them: they couldn’t make their own nests and needed other creatures to bore into wood on their behalf, as well as trees big enough to house the big bees.

But now…Belissar had the carpenter and lumber bees, who could make them nests with ease. And the gardener bees had just discussed planting great trees with the green elves, they’d soon be planting some in one of the Fairy Groves. It may take a while for said trees to grow, but once they did they’d be more than big enough for a giant resin bee nest.

So, Belissar would be able to support these bees, in time. And having some big bees as strong as any human before considering all of his Tower’s perks and blessings? Who had even higher base strength than the Firstborn, the chivalric monster bee queen herself, at least before her oath came into play?

Perhaps Belissar could have bees that were individually as strong as a Tower Guard. Perhaps the next time he had to fight with a Tower Lord, he would have bees that could battle directly…and clear the way for the others…especially if these giant resin bees had evolutions of their own. Carpenter bees eventually became lumber bees, after all…

Still, the bumblebees were already growing bigger and Belissar was also curious to re-evaluate the other repeat, so he opened that one up too.

Monster Reed Bee

Vitality: Minimal+

Strength: Minimal+

Speed: Average+

Magic: Minimal+

Defense: Minimal+

Resistance: Minimal+

Special: Above Average

Notable Skills: Poison Sting, Adaptive Nesting, Brood Coordination

Spawner Upkeep: 15 (8 with Blessing of Bees)

Description: A reed bee that has accumulated enough mana to become something more. More individually capable than monster bees, they can act independently, form small communal nests, or gather into eusocial hives as environmental resources permit. Forming burrows in plants, preferably fern trees, they raise their young in one communal chamber where the larvae compete for food. The strongest of the young are therefore more capable and likely to evolve than their siblings as they grow, though at the expense of the weaker.

Individual monster reed bees are generally more capable than their monster bee counterparts, though they do not produce honey or wax. While as a casteless species they cannot raised evolved monster bee types, adult reed bees may evolve into available bee types as suits the individual.

This one was curious. They weren’t a brood species and couldn’t raise Brood Offspring type evolutions, but apparently they could individual evolve into those types. Belissar reconsidered the species and what they might offer to his Tower…

The idea he came upon was evolution. The reed bee larvae competed for food and apparently the winners would be more likely to evolve. Perhaps the reed bees would be better at discovering new evolutions, then, like how the Fourth of the Seventh, the First of the Fifth, and the Firstborn all evolved on their own?

Though, since the reeds bees weren’t a brood species, there was the risk that the hive of hives couldn’t actually use the evolutions they discovered. Still, it might worth considering.

Then, there was the new option Belissar hadn’t seen before.

Poison-Eater Bee

Vitality: Minimal

Strength: Minimal

Speed: Average

Magic: Minimal

Defense: Minimal

Resistance: Minor

Special: Above Average

Notable Skills: Deadly Poison Sting, Poison Resistance, Poison Absorption

Spawner Upkeep: 15 (8 with Blessing of Bees)

Description: A death camus bee that has accumulated enough mana to become something more. The poison-eater bee not only tolerates the deadliest of poisons, it feeds upon them, foraging from flowers that would kill other pollinators with toxins both mundane and magical. The bee can break down any toxin it encounters and absorb it for nourishment and to enhance its own Poison mana, making its sting even deadlier with each toxin it consumes. The bee can even heal itself through this process, though it rarely survives damage on account of its low vitality.

So, a non-brood version of toxic monster bees? Though, the poison-eating part was unique. The Acid Lake had recently revealed that there were poisons that would affect his monster bees, having a bee that could just eat those poisons might be helpful. In fact, Belissar started to wonder about the breath attack the wolf-shades had always used…would that Hunger-mist count as a poison? Could these bees protect others from direct attacks by the Hunger itself?

These bees seemed to have a lot of potential, not least of all because each of them could make their stings incredibly deadly. It would be like having an entire species of assassins!

Belissar now considered the choices. The hive of hives left the decision to him, seeing as these were all non-brood bees, so for once it was Belissar’s choice alone. He considered each bee in turn, and how they would fit into his Tower and the hive of hives.

Poison-Eater Bees had obvious potential, but the hive of hives already had toxic bees. The toxic bees couldn’t outright eat poison…yet, that was. Perhaps they could evolve to do so? And even if they couldn’t, the hive of hives also had antidote bees to counteract poisons.

The Giant Resin Bees were big and powerful and would go along well with the great trees once they grew. On the other hand, the bumblebees were already growing bigger and stronger and the great trees would likely take a long time to grow. There was also the resin aspect to them, apparently they could gather and throw resin. That was, at least, something none of his bees did at the moment…

Finally, the Monster Reed Bees were a gamble. Maybe they’d provide a bunch of new evolutions for his Tower, or maybe their evolutions would only help themselves. Belissar wouldn’t know until they started growing and evolving.

Belissar considered them all and made his choice.

Monster Giant Resin Bee spawner now available!

Belissar’s choice came down to the hive of hives, different bees all working together. The monster reed bees were apparently good at evolving because they competed with each other, something that might not happen if the hive of hives gave each of them plenty of honey. The poison-eater bees might compete with the toxic bees for plants and eat the poisons the toxic bees liked, so it might just be better to see if the toxic bees could evolve similar abilities.

The giant resin bees, on the other hand? They couldn’t even function without cooperation, they needed his carpenter and lumber bees to make nests for them. They were a type of bee that would most easily slot into the hive of hives because they would already be relying on other bees. They would benefit most from his Tower and his bees.

Besides, even if the bumblebees could grow as big as them, more big bees certainly wouldn’t hurt. Bee-hemoths had to come from somewhere and these bees apparently evolved from the biggest mundane bee species. Maybe they’d have a big future ahead of them…

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