The Bee Dungeon

Warning! Corruption levels surging! Special purification required!

Belissar suppressed a shiver as his Tower opened to the Hunger once more. The oily fog began condensing once more, this time on the ground. Belissar prepared himself for a new shade to step forth…

Only, it didn’t. No leg stepped out of the Hunger’s mass. No wings beat the air. No claws dug into the ground. The shade did not move out of the Hunger at all, only when the oily fog receded back into the Tower’s gates could Belissar see the shade’s form.

It was…a big mushroom. Belissar tilted his head…until the Tower itself spoke up.

Warning! Persistent corruption detected! Fairy Grove (Floor One, Room One) is being corrupted!

Remaining corrupting forms: 1

Belissar’s eyes widened. He saw roots of the Hunger slowly creeping out from the mushroom’s stalk, causing the plants of the Fairy Grove to wilt. He quickly focused on the Tower’s message.

“Persistent corruption?!”

Persistent Corruption: The corruption will attempt to fully corrupt its current room, rather than advancing towards the core. A fully corrupted room will have all features disabled, cannot be removed or edited, will continuously produce corrupted forms to assault the rest of the dungeon, and may cause core corruption to accumulate if left for long. A fully corrupted room must be purified by either defeating all corrupting forms within it or else can be purged by the core. Purging by the core will result in significant core corruption that must be purified and all purged rooms will remain unusable and unalterable while core corruption persists. If an entire floor is corrupted, it may be lost during a purge by the core.

Belissar frowned. That seemed…very bad.

“Tower Keeper? What is happening?”

Duke Turuhave’s question shook Belissar out of his thoughts.

“Right. So, this purification is going to be different…”

Belissar explained the situation to his defenders and had the First of the Fifth’s First Daughter relay it to Tarwantrad and Wardmaster Varilold. Belissar asked the wardmaster if he should still wait before attempting to clear the purification, as doing so would allow the Hunger the chance to fully corrupt a room.

Tarwantrad’s flower spoke in his mind again.

“The Ward Tender is concerned, but says continue if you can. It will be a good test, if it does not threaten your garden as a whole.”

Belissar took a deep breath and considered the situation.

“Very well, we’ll wait then. I guess if worst comes to worst, we’ll do the core purging thing and deal with the core corruption later.”

It had been a long time since Belissar had handled core corruption, but he had unfortunately experienced it before, so he knew it could be dealt with. Back then, he could even chose the amount of corruption to purify at once and so manage how strong the purifications would be. He could handle it safely if he had to…though it would prevent daily or expansion purifications until cleared, if he remembered correctly.

So, Belissar did not respond to the purification and merely watched as it spread through the Fairy Grove. Flowers and shrubs wilted as the black roots spread across the ground. The trees were not so easily killed, but the black roots began crawling up their trunks. The bark turned black, the trees groaned as their trunks weakened. Eventually, the tree trunks snapped and the trees fell to the ground, where they were consumed by black roots. New mushrooms began to rise in their place…

Remaining corruptive forms: 7

Belissar grimaced but still did not react. The Fairy Grove itself, however, was not so patient. Mana began surging through the fairy circles as the first trees fell. An entire section of the forest began to turn brown and brittle, as if all the moisture was being sucked out of it. Then, the fairy circle closest to the Tower’s entrance flashed red and sent sparks all over.

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Fire burst across the room, the trees lighting up as if they were made of mana honey. A wall of flames separated the Hunger from the rest of the room. The black roots stopped as fire licked at their tips.

And yet, the Hunger itself did not catch fire. The flames burned hot but burned through their fuel quickly as a result. Worse still…they did not stop the corruption. Belissar watched as black roots began to tunnel down into the dirt and spread underneath the flames, continuing their creeping march forward.

Eventually, they reached the first fairy circle. The mana of the circle churned as black roots crossed the line of mushrooms marking the circle’s borders. Mana burst and lashed at the roots…but that only made them grow faster and larger. Soon, the roots wrapped around the swirling nexus of mana itself…and the very light began to darken.

The mushrooms of the circle turned black. The mana turned dark and oily and lost cohesion, becoming more misty. The rainbow colors of the mana blended together into ugly browns and blacks, with only an oily rainbow undertone remaining of the formerly vibrant colors.

The mass then solidified and formed itself into a much larger mushroom shade…one that began spreading roots far more quickly than before. The roots no longer spread out evenly in all direction, but speared into the forest…heading straight for the other fairy circles in the room.

The corruption accelerated dramatically as it hit fairy circle after fairy circle, forming more giant mushroom shades that rapidly corrupted their surroundings. It was not long before the Hunger approached the circle containing the nexus door. Belissar furrowed his brow.

“Tell Wardmaster Varilold the Hunger’s about to hit the door.”

The First of the Fifth’s First Daughter danced a salute. Meanwhile, a single warden Wardmaster Varilold had left behind activated wards around the nexus door, ones designed to observe the nexus door’s fate. Belissar watched as well as the Hunger’s roots crept into the fairy circle…

As with the other circles, the mana shuddered, causing the leaves of the nexus door to fly up and spin. The Hunger wrapped around the mana, eager to consume it like it had the others. The leaves of the nexus door began to darken along with the mana. Soon, corrupted leaves began to spin, like they were about to open a nexus door…

Then there was a flash of light and the corrupted leaves fell back into the mass of Hunger below. The fairy circle was fully corrupted and another giant mushroom shade formed, but the nexus door did not. Belissar took a deep breath and turned to First of the Fifth’s First Daughter.

“The door is fully corrupted. Anything on Tarwantrad’s side?”

Belissar waited a few minutes after the First Daughter relayed the message, then Tarwantrad’s monster replied.

“There has been no response in the Flower Tender’s garden. The Rot has not spread.”

Belissar exhaled his breath. So far, so good…were it not for the sight of the Fairy Grove dying before his eyes.

It did not take long for the Hunger to reach the last remaining fairy circles. The Fairy Grove fought back, but its mana weakened with each circle lost, while the Hunger gained strength. Soon, the last circle was corrupted. From there, the Hunger quickly spread from the giant mushrooms, covering the rest of the room.

Until the forest was gone, the ground replaced with a sea of Hunger and the trees replaced with mushrooms shades. Then…Belissar’s Tower sight cut off, no longer able to look into the room.

Warning! Fairy Grove (Floor One Room One) has been fully corrupted! All features disabled, room editing disabled! Purifications may occur at will until all corrupted rooms are purged. Core corruption may accumulate until all corrupted rooms are purged.

Hall of Purifying Light detected. Hall of Purifying Light may be used to counteract accumulating core corruption, but will be unusable while doing so. Enable core defense by Hall of Purifying Light?

Belissar held off on that for now, instead contacting his allies through the First Daughter.

“It’s done, the room is fully corrupted.”

Tarwantrad’s monster responded quickly.

“The Ward Tender says the Rot still has not spread. The Flower Tender will soon face Rot of her own. The Ward Tender says wait for Flower Tender’s Rot.”

Belissar nodded and then turned to his allies.

“We just need to hold while Tarwantrad starts her purification. The good news is the shade isn’t trying to leave the room, so we won’t need to stall it.”

Belissar’s expression then turned dark.

“The bad news is…it corrupted an entire room. And apparently it can keep making shades to attack us until we deal with it. We had better get ready to defend the rest of the Tower, I don’t think it will be a good idea to let it reach any other rooms.”

Duke Turuhave inclined his head.

“The Silver Host is at your command, Tower Keeper. Give the word and we will barricade the corrupted room. We will not let a single shade pass.”

The First Daughter was not to be outdone, dancing her own salute.

“Fourth of the Fifth’s hive ready, can hide in Dirt Tunnels and ambush enemies.”

Belissar nodded at them both.

“Do it, but be careful. I don’t know what to expect here…”

He turned his eyes towards the battle Dirt Tunnels, towards the entrance that led to the former Fairy Grove. The entrance had turned black and oily, Belissar could not see past it. The Fairy Grove had truly been corrupted, now only the Hunger knew what it was doing within…

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