The Bee Dungeon

Chapter 359 - Bee-hold the Might of the Hive of Hives!

“She did...what?”

Wardmaster Varilold was aghast at what both Belissar and the communer bees reported to her. Belissar himself had to look over the Fairy Grove a second time.

There was a big scar in the middle of the forest where the trees had been flattened, if not obliterated outright, though shoots were already pushing back up through the soil. Fortunately, the Fairy Grove trees had packed closely together to shield Belissar’s allies from the explosion, a few silver elf groups that were particularly close were a bit stunned but none were worse for wear.

On the other hand, the Fairy Grove had opened up direct, open paths to the Tower Guards, packing in the trees along the path to redirect the blast in their directions. Tower Guards who had gotten separated from the main group and wandered close to the vine wall were knocked over and groaning. The main group at the room’s entrance was far enough away that most of them remained standing...but the blast also happened to push a lot of the poisonous pollen towards them. The pollen now hung in a dense cloud around the entrance.

The bees, flying up in the open air, were blown around a bit but none were close enough to be harmed by the blast. As such, they recovered first and used the moment to complete their encirclement of the wounded Tower Guard.

Everyone else in the room was busy staring in shock in the direction of the blast. Tarwantrad shrank on herself and spoke to the air.

“...sorry Belissar. I, uh, didn’t realize how big that explosion would be. I...didn’t hurt any of the bees, did I?”

Belissar confirmed that she hadn’t, much to her relief. Wardmaster Varilold was not so reassured, though, and was holding her head.

“...I suppose this is on me. I should have expected as much from the girl who opened a nexus door on her own.”

Belissar tilted his head.

“No one on our side was hurt, though?”

Wardmaster Varilold sighed.

“Thankfully...but I doubt the wards escaped intact.”

Belissar looked closely at the damaged area and, indeed, some of the wards were damaged by the explosion. The mana flowing towards Tarwantrad slowed considerably as the ward network lost contact with several of the fairy circles. However, Belissar noted mushrooms spontaneously beginning to grow in the damaged area...along the same lines as the wards. He turned to Wardmaster Varilold and smiled.

“It looks like the room itself is trying to regrow them, so maybe not. But either way...I think it was helpful. It hurt the Tower Guards a lot worse than us.”

Belissar turned his attention once more to the two stronger guards who had been at the center of the explosion. They had been flung back towards the front of the room, well away from the bee army and their beleaguered companion. Their dragon coats were gone and while they were still alive, their armor was scorched and blood dripped from some of the gaps. Belissar wasn’t sure how badly hurt they were...but both of them were now limping back into their camp at the start. They were not attempting to save their companion any longer.

The fourth guard, the one who had gone after the silver elves, was also returning to the entrance. The bee army was now free to deal with the encircled Tower Guard as they pleased. Belissar narrowed his eyes and took a deep breath.

“She bought us a chance...so let’s finish this.”

Chief Rohsuak arrived in the interim and joined the Third of the Sixth to grant fire coats to the bees, so the army was ready to resume the attack. The hive of hives also brought up Beero and her battlecasters, they started the attack by launching lightning stingers at the guard.

It appeared that at this point, he could no longer dodge or defend himself. The guard stiffened as lightning coursed through his body. When he regained control, he retaliated with a dragon breath in the battlecasters’ direction...but the breath was much weaker than it had been at first. Beero and her battlecasters easily withdrew in time.

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Seeing this, the hive of hives began a more aggressive attack. The Firstborn’s brave monster bee knights, now coated in Chief Rohsuak’s flames, dove straight towards the guard. He engulfed them in dragon breath and this time, they did not evade.

All of them survived and were still able to fight.

Now confident in their survival, the monster bee knights hung around the guard, just out of reach of his claws. They surrounded him and began their attack, aiming for the spot on his back where the assassin bee had stung. Every time he turned to face his attack, they would fly away...and the monster bee knight now behind him would begin a new attack. Their stings were deflected by his armor, he was still moving too much for them to hit that small gap in his armor.

But every time a stinger was deflected, it left a small amount of mana behind in the general vicinity of the Tower Guard’s back. Mana that joined with the mana left by the Firstborn, and the monster bee assassin, and every archer and sprayer whose attacks had hid that area. And the Tower Guard, still fighting the assassin’s venom and poisonous pollen attacking him from within, was moving slower and slower as time went on.

All while several squads of lancer bees positioned themselves far overhead, with the Fourth of the Seventh flying with them...

Back in his command tent outside of the Tower, Starami bent over and clutched his head. He watched as one of his most elite Tower Guards struggled to escape from mere bees, almost none of which had proven capable of even denting his armor. He watched as the two he sent to relieve their foolish companion now stumbled back to their main force in the room, now battling both their wounds and the poisonous pollen choking the entire room. He looked at all the rest of the Tower Guards he had sent into the room, not as powerful as the true elites but still veteran warriors in their own right.

The ones who had ventured into the forest were quickly silenced by the fey, helpless and cut off from any support. The ones maintaining the perimeter around the entrance were still coughing and hacking in the poisonous cloud around them, some had started to fall to their knees. The drakes and wyverns were doing better on account of their size and natural resilience...but every time they had tried to venture out into the forest they had been caught by either the fey or the wretched trees themselves.

Starami’s mind raced as the bee swarm continued to attack his lone guard. The bees attacked him with lightning magic, of all things. The guard could normally ward off a spell of that magnitude with ease...but he currently had to turn most of his mana and his blessing to empower his regeneration and fend off the deadly toxin now coursing through his veins. He could do nothing but endure the spell head-on.

At this rate...Starami had sent him reinforcements for a reason but they had failed to reach him and now needed to heal themselves. The vanguard that had gone with the man were all dead now, caught in the canopy and killed by the fey. The rest of the Tower Guard and the monsters were in no shape to venture into the forest, they’d have a hard enough time just surviving the pollen as it was.

He only had one of the five elite Tower Guards who could still move and fight well. But...would that lone guard be able to fight through the entire fey-infested forest with enough strength to break through the bee swarm overhead? When the fey could apparently turn the entire room against him?

The answer...was clear, but Starami did not want to accept it. To do so would be to admit that one of his strongest guards, one of the most powerful forces he possessed...would be brought down by a single pixie and a bunch of bees.

But as Starami agonized, the bees pressed their advantage. Over and over they stung the guard’s back, trying and failing to break through his armor. And yet, though they could not land a single decent blow upon him, they used their numbers to their advantage, swarming such that they always struck him from behind. The guard couldn’t retaliate and with most of his mana focused on healing, could not aggressively pursue them. One of his most vaunted warriors...was failing to claim the lives of even a single bee now. Even his dragon breath was no longer sufficient, as someone had applied a surprisingly powerful fire protection to the bees. Perhaps Rippotis had left one of his soldiers?

Then, the bees struck again with their lightning magic and the guard was temporarily immobilized. The guard felt a gust of wind blowing down from above and a powerful impact to his back.

And then, somehow, the mere stinger of a bee monster less than half the size of a human broke through dragonscale armor and pierced into the guard's body.

Starami hung his head. The decision...was now made for him. He gave his command to the last guard who could still move.

“Fall back to the entrance and protect the others until they recover.”

The guard in questioned stiffened. He clenched his teeth, understanding well the implication of the order, but he obeyed. He turned...and began flying back to the entrance.

Starami let out an anguished shout. He rose to his feet, grabbed his throne, and threw it with all his might, tearing a hole right through his command tent.

This subjugation was going...poorly.