The Bee Dungeon

Chapter 47: Broken not Bee-ten

Belissar gasped as his mind caught up to the scene before him. The shade was soaring across the Flower Meadow, flying at about the height of the trees as it raced towards the Apiary door. And the flying shade, of course, ignored every single Pit Trap and Sticky Honey Trap Belissar had placed. Not a single one of his preparations would slow the shade down in the slightest.

The soldier bees raced after it. The air buzzed as they beat their wings as fast as they could go. But the sheer size difference between the wings of the bees and the shade meant they couldn’t match its top speed. Now that it had gotten out ahead of them, they wouldn’t catch it.

Belissar’s mind went blank and his expression slowly twisted as he realized that there was nothing to stop the shade from reaching the end of the Flower Meadow. It could tear the Flower Meadow hives to shreds before their soldiers arrived to defend them. It could continue on straight into the Apiary and attack him, or the beehouses behind him. It could even keep going...and fly straight into the core room.

Niobee frantically danced commands in the air while Belissar was stunned, and the soldier bees from the Apiary spawners began to assemble. But the soldier bee spawners capped out at fifteen each and there were only two of them. The small force of thirty soldiers seemed paltry in comparison to the shade heading towards them.

But Belissar couldn’t think of anything else to do. He wasn’t even sure if he should do anything, or if he should run and tell the bees to hide. Maybe the shade would target the core and some of them could survive.

Either way, he was too late. The shade was fast approaching the entrance to the Apiary and did not divert its course. It would fly into the Apiary, and into Belissar, within moments. Niobee was frantically dancing in front of him, but he didn’t notice. There was nothing and no one between him and its snapping beak.

Save one.

The little head of a soldier bee popped up above one of the Memorial pillars, the one closest to the Apiary entrance. One single soldier bee with a missing wing climbed to the top of the pillar. The wounded soldier watched carefully as the shade approached, tensing her legs. She waited for her moment...

And then she leapt off the pillar. She beat her single wing as she glided through the air, willing herself to go even a little bit faster. Hoping that she had timed her single chance correctly...

She was on a direct collision course with the shade’s back, so she spun about as best she could and extended her stinger forward, filling it with her mana.

The shade screeched as the stinger plunged into its back. Since it had not seen any bees flying overhead, it had not anticipated being attacked from above. As a result, it dipped down, an instinctual motion to move away from the sudden assault.

And as a result of that, it just came into range of the Sticky Honey Trap Belissar had placed on the ground by the Apiary entrance. A plume of honey erupted into the air as the trap triggered and bathed the shade as it flew by. The shade found its wings coated in sticky, damp, and thick honey.

It quickly lost lift and crashed into the ground.

The wounded soldier continued to sting the shade...and she wasn’t alone. The Firstborn leapt into action, leading her workers into battle. She arrived and dealt a sting of her own to the shade’s back. She may not have had the strength of the soldiers, but the large queen had quite the reserve of mana she could push into her attacks. A cloud of worker bees swarmed over the shade, making up for their tiny size with raw numbers as they dealt a thousand stings at once.

The shade shook as it tried to escape, but the sticky honey held its wings to the ground and the bees on its back were out of range of both its beak and its claws. So, instead, it took a deep breath...

The Firstborn’s antenna twitched as she felt the gathering mana. She quickly flew off the shade’s back and her workers followed.

A surge of black lightning coated the shade and began to burn at the honey. Thanks to the Firstborn’s quick actions, all the bees managed to escape the attack...save for one. The wounded soldier convulsed as she was covered in black lightning.

“NO!”

A shout filled the Flower Meadow. Before he even knew it, Belissar had rushed out of the Apiary with his axe held high. He brought it down and struck the shade’s head. The shade screeched as its head slammed into the ground. The lightning stopped surging and began to fade.

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“King!”

Niobee flew after him and straight towards the shade. Her abdomen glowed bright with mana and the shade screeched again as she stung it. The Apiary soldier bees came after and landed on the shade, dealing stings of their own. With the lightning gone, the Firsborn and her workers resumed their attack as well, and they were soon joined by the other queens and workers of the Flower Meadow.

Shortly afterwards, the fastest of the Flower Meadow soldiers began to catch up and join in. Belissar struck the shade’s head over and over with his axe.

“Don’t! Touch! My! Bees!”

Over and over the axe fell. The shade struggled at first, but the sheer number of bee stings had taken their toll. The shade was unable to retaliate. Soon, it was unable to move at all and its head fell against the ground as Belissar continued to strike it.

He didn’t stop until the shade burst into a cloud of black mist and his axe dug into the ground.

All hostiles defeated. Purification...

Belissar ignored the message, as well as the growing heat of the Tower’s mana as he rushed forward. He knelt the ground and slowly picked up the fallen soldier bee. Her chitin was charred, her legs, antenna, and remaining wing twitching now and then. Bits of black lightning danced across her on occasion, causing Belissar’s hands to go numb, but he ignored that as well. She was still alive, if barely. Belissar quickly turned his head towards Niobee.

“Get some healing honey, quick!”

Niobee flew off towards the Apiary as the queens of the Flower Meadow rushed to check their honey stockpiles. Belissar gritted his teeth as he held the soldier bee. His mind raced as he tried to think of a way to help her.

“Don’t die on me!”

Her antenna twitched faintly at his words. He felt her mana stir. She had more than the average soldier bee, but it was quickly fading. He narrowed his eyes.

He stirred up his own mana.

“Come e on!”

He took one of his hands and moved it away from the bee, trying to condense his mana above it. He didn’t want a blast of mana to hit her if she failed. But if he could just condense his mana externally, then maybe he could give her some of his own. He didn’t know if that would actually help, but he felt he had to do something.

The mana burst into light and Belissar snarled.

“Come on, work already!”

He willed with all his heart for his mana to obey his command. And as he did, the nearby Shrine of Bees began to glow. Belissar didn’t notice as both he and the soldier bee took on a similar glow.

“YES!”

The mana released from his body but did not explode beyond its control. Instead of a burst of white light, It condensed into a small ball of yellow light above of his hand...and began to stretch out into lines. It formed hexagonal patterns reminiscent of honeycomb which flashed. Then...the yellow light began to condense further into a ball, becoming more and more solid...until soon it became a shimmering yellow liquid.

It became honey.

Belissar had no idea what was happening and he didn’t care. He brought the ball of floating, glowing honey to the soldier bee’s face. She slowly extended her probiscis and began to drink...

The wounded soldier had been satisfied. Despite her injuries, she had been able to join the battle. She had been able to strike a blow against the invader and ensure victory for the hive. For a soldier bee, there was no greater joy than that. Though she would perish, she would gladly join the sisters of her former squad who went before her. She was no longer ashamed to have endured, to have spent the resources of the hive on a soldier who couldn't fight.

Until she heard the words of the King.

“Don’t die on me!”

For her, that was enough. The command of the King was absolute, for her above all. She only lived to this day by the will of the King. Her life was his to end.

And so, she fought back. She stirred up her mana and tried to purge the enemy’s attack from her battered body. But it wouldn’t be enough. She would fail the King’s final command to her.

Until suddenly, she was bathed in the warmth of the King’s mana. A ball of honey appeared before her, brighter, sweeter, and more beautiful than any she had ever seen. She began reaching out before stopping herself. She wanted it, more than anything, but was she truly permitted such a thing? She, a mere crippled soldier?

But the King’s mana filled her with warmth. As well as another’s...

She reached out and began to drink. Warm mana flowed through her body and began to burn. Heat scorched her as the mana attempted to heal her wounds. She trembled as the black lightning resisted, surging through her once again.

So, she began to beat her remaining wing and moved her body, rubbing her legs and hairs together as best she could. She filled them with mana as the movements began to create the tiny-lightnings that the workers used to help gather pollen. The tiny-lightnings began to carry her mana, and the mana granted to her from the honey as it joined with the black lightning surging across her chitin.

Soon, the lightning began to change color. Black lightning became black and yellow lightning as she warred with it for control. But the black lightning’s source was long gone, while she was filled with more and more mana every moment. Soon, she was coated in golden lightning only. She moved about it, searching for a place to put it so that it would stop harming her body and the King.

And she found one. An empty void that her mana and her mind wanted filled.

The yellow lightning condensed and gathered together along her back, and then extended out before looping around. It formed a long curve that grew wider the further it got. Smaller bolts zig-zagged across the interior.

A wing formed of yellow lightning now extended from her back.

And then the remaining mana within her flowed to her wounds, which began to heal...