Chapter 38: Weak-sauce Weakness

The moment Jellybee walked over to the tree, I Soul Strolled away to Spinemess and Rinafen’s room. I knocked against the rocky unfinished wall next to their doorway. “Sorry to interrupt, Spinemess, but I could use a hand or four. I hate to ask, but you’re the only one I can ask this of.”

Within the darkness of the mushroom grotto den, a dark figure covered in foliage sat cross-legged upon a pillow of moss.

“What is it?” Spinemess asked in that mature, feminine voice. It was tinged with worry, like a mother woken up in the middle of the night by a child. They stood up quickly. The branches of their hair brushed against the compacted dirt ceiling. They practically blended in with the dangling roots.

“It’s nothing bad. Promise. But it’s a secret.” I put a finger to my lips and nodded to the room next door. “Meet me upstairs.”

I Soul Strolled next to my Core. Spinemess joined me after a couple minutes. Their face was unreadable with that wooden mask. I motioned them to come over to the hearth. They strode forward, as quiet as a tree. It was a testament to how much this existence as a Dungeon had changed me. In another time and place I would have ran in sheer terror from seeing a scary swamp monster clamber out of a basement, then tower over me.

“What is it?” Spinemess repeated.

I pointed to the Neverwatch Pot. “I need you to dump this concoction into that.” I pointed to the washing tub that Jellybee had set aside. “Then take it downstairs to the unused room. Try not to let Jellybee or Jimbo-no see you.”

There was a sharp sound of branches snapping from outside, immediately followed by a short yell, a padded thud, and then a quiet groan.

Spinemess bent low to look outside the open door to the backyard. “Is that… Jellybee? Climbing Rinafen’s old oak tree?”

For the briefest of moments, I saw a bluish figure emerge from the green and white tangle of their body, like mist rising off a jungle. Unlike what I might expect from bad special effects in movies with spirit possession, she did not look like she was straining to break free and full of rage at this mortal imprisonment. She looked merely curious, a full bodied woman with not a hint of decomposition. Then lickity split, her soul was shunted back into the Spinemess’s form. Blink and you’d miss it.

“This ain’t about him.”

“He looks like he’s in trouble though.” They winced. “It looks like he’s being attacked by bees.”

“He’s fine. He’s a big boy and can handle himself. Now, hurry. We don’t have much time before Queenie wins.”

Spinemess cocked their head at that, but obliged without another word. Utilizing all four hands, the dryad Minion carefully tipped the Neverwatch Pot into the tub. The frothy broth waterfall sparkled as it fell.

“This is … gold?” Spinemess whispered. “Isn’t it?”

I smirked. My eyes all a-twinkle. “Take it downstairs to the spare room. There’s a hidden entrance behind a wall of roots. Set it down anywhere inside there. I’ll meet you back in your room after I help Jellybee out.”

As soon as they went down the stairs, I took my time Strolling out to the yard. While it would be technically faster to ‘teleport’ by canceling my Soul Stroll, then reactivating it anywhere in the Dungeon, I wasn’t exactly in a hurry. I had a hunch from my discussion with Bonny that I had to actually Stroll around with my Soul in order to level the ability faster. If I was to build up these Skill muscles, I had to stop taking the escalators everywhere. As they say, if you’re in no rush, take the stairs. I got a very quick confirmation of this theory:

I was, however, kind of envious of Tiptap’s ability to create clones. I could have certainly used another avatar at this moment. I could multitask well enough as a Dungeon Core, but my ability to talk was limited to my avatar. And my new Mana Sweeping ability wouldn’t gain any additional benefits unless I used it near my avatar.

Which I figured was as good enough time as any to test out.

I walked all the way up to the base of the tree. Up above, Jellybee's upper body was stuck in the hollow oak. His legs dangled and kicked wildly.

For my next test, I activated Mana Sweeping into the dead bark and brushed aside enough matter for Jellybee to have a few footholds.

The response was almost immediate. Mana smoke lifted from the tree, then drifted on the wind towards my Core.

Jellybee’s hive queen was putting up quite the fight. I was confident that given enough time she would win. Whether she was a monster or not, I perceived a stark difference in levels between her and the other potential royal suitors. That didn’t mean she was entirely safe though. If the majority of the worker drones suddenly stopped spectating and decided that they viewed her as a threat there was nothing I or Jellybee could do to save her in time. She couldn’t fight a whole hive. The boy was quite attached to ‘Queenie' and I would’ve hated to see this particular specimen cross the rainbow bridge after surviving being burned alive.

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Time for another test. I was going to find an answer to a question that had bothered me for a while.

Did Dungeon Cores really need so many defenses if they could kill living creatures on their own?

I reached my consciousness deep within the tree and into the honey trap arena. I felt around, carefully avoiding any of the worker drones and honeycomb infrastructure, purely focusing my attention on Queenie's competitors.

The only time I had actively tried to get close to another living individual was with Bonny, using Leyline Stitching to view what she wore. That had admittedly gone poorly, but the thought of trying to Mana Dust her or another human into oblivion had never crossed my mind. Not just because Dusting was a fairly slow process, but also because that was straight up murder. I would never be an actual murderer if I could avoid it.

However, I was not above using self defense to protect those around me. Nor was I above exterminating pests. Especially if doing so would let me institute a new monarchy. Before I showed up the hive had almost killed their own oak tree home with their industrious burrowing, along with almost killing the oak tree spirit, Rinafen.

These bees needed to chill.

For the first time, I had the specific intent of killing another living being by turning them into pure Mana. I locked my focus onto a buzzing queen guard that was tussling with Queenie, then activated Mana Sweeping.

The feisty bugger dodged it.

Thinking that was a lucky fluke, I tried once more.

And once again, the bee guard launched away as soon as began to touch her. I couldn’t keep up. Her flight speed was too fast, even within the cramped confines of the hive. The rate at which I Mana Swept inanimate objects had been greatly improved, yet still felt glacial. I felt like I was trying to lasso the bee with only a sewing needle and thread.

I changed targets. This time a seemingly defenseless wounded competitor. Queenie had torn through this guard’s wings and limbs with her mandibles, so it sat quietly as other workers tended to it. I changed up my approach, moving very slowly and quietly. It reminded me of the days I would creep up on an annoying fly on a window, flyswatter inching forward until it was in the perfect position. All I needed to do was bring the smack down.

The other worker drones, as if sensing the threat, reacted with hostility. They vibrated their wings intensely, their mandibles sparked with a yellow glow, and then they converged upon my Leylines I had laced through the beehive. It took a moment for them to work their way through, but eventually they collectively sheared through the Lines.

My connection was cut short.

What? What just happened?

I couldn’t see inside the arena anymore.

Hold your horses! I’ll be back in a jiffy.

I lifted my consciousness to a bird’s eye view of my Dungeon, searching for another test subject. There. A little beetle. Perched on a branch at the top of the oak tree, happily munching on a leaf.

Sorry, buddy, but I need to give you a little nip in the butt. For science.

I gently and quietly approached, then attempted to activate Mana Sweep on it. In response, it flapped its wings in surprise, scuttled forward out of reach, then turned to face against the spot where my focus still resided. It postured defensively, mandibles snapping and feet stomping.

Seriously? Animals in this world have evolved against me?

Get out of town!

That was another question answered. If even the smallest animals were that in tune with the Mana of the world, surely that explained why Dungeons needed so many defenses. We had a weak-sauce weakness! If we couldn’t kill a creature the size of a fly with all our concentration, what hope would we have of going solo against something larger? We would have no chance against a real monster or human with real intent upon killing us. Enemies would have to be immobilized completely before they could be absorbed into Mana.

Suddenly the idea of surrounding my Core with a spiked pit trap seemed much more appealing.

At first, I had simply taken advantage of the situation to distract Jellybee. I had been confident in my ability to handle the problem alone, with or without him. Now I wasn’t so sure.

I wouldn’t give up that easily! I could still be a decent distraction!

I Leyline Stitched back into the hive, then tried to Sweep away the rest of the competition. They moved about quickly, each time dodging out of the way without issue. If I somehow managed to land my focus on any stationary wounded bugs, the rest of them would snip away at the Leyline with their scissor mandibles.

Throughout this battle of attrition, I remained in my avatar form next to the tree. During which I had to keep a close eye on my Mana Capacity level. Since I hadn’t succeeded in Sweeping away any mass besides the bark from earlier, my Mana quickly dwindled. Deactivating Soul Stroll would stabilize my Mana, but at the cost of being back to pre-upgrade levels of efficiency. Which certainly wouldn’t help our cause.

My efforts weren’t in vain. The System recognized my efforts and rewarded them accordingly:

The whole time Jellybee had been vainly trying to dig in through the hive, not managing to accomplish much besides making for a mighty fine distraction for the other worker drones.

Our combined efforts managed to pay off over time. The heat was taken off Jellybee’s queen. She took advantage of our distractions to dominate the competition, literally tearing through them in a brutal fashion.

It was like taking part in a nature documentary. It made me kind of sick.

My Core instincts loved it.

I personally knew better than to keep kicking a hornet nest, so to speak. I was no beekeeper. Feeling secure in Queenie’s victory, I left Jellybee to figure out the rest, then Strolled away to the Dungeon’s basement.