Minor purification attempt commencing.
The cooldown had come to an end and Belissar began another minor purification. A shade formed once more at the gate...and was immediately assaulted by soldier bee squads. They flew in continuous waves this time and did not attempt to lead the monster towards the Pit Trap.
That was intentional. They already knew the Pit Trap would work against a single shade like this. But the bees needed to be prepared for the case when it wouldn’t work. So, Belissar instructed them to fight this shade on their own. He already knew they could take one down, but the battle they did so had resulted in casualties. He was hoping that they could manage a minor shade without sacrifice.
The bees flew in waves as they had trained to do. Belissar held his breath each time they approached but the bees were excellent at diverting the shade’s attention. Each squad flew off immediately after stinging once and so escaped counterattack. The shade then stopped trying to chase the squads that had attacked and looked to the ones on approach, but they broke off the attack before coming into range. They then began attacking with multiple squads at a time, such that whichever squad was targeted could simply breakoff while the others struck.
The shade brought out its lethal breath, and the bees immediately scattered. Not a bee was caught in the black cloud. The shade took another deep breath and then took off running as in the first minor purification, taking advantage of the bees backing away. But the bees further away lowered to the ground, forming another layer of encirclement while the others regrouped and soon their attacks began anew.
It took the bees longer without dealing a Deathblow to the shade’s head, but eventually the shade collapsed under their assault. The Pit Trap wasn’t needed, and not a single bee fell.
All hostiles defeated. Purification successful.
Minor Purification completed! Please select a reward:
- +50 DP
- +10 Max Mana
- Monster Bee Queen Resistance Boost (Minimal)
Belissar nodded in approval. It seemed his bees had learned the tricks a minor shade could pull and could take it down as a matter of course.
+10 Max Mana selected!
Belissar was slightly tempted by the perk but held to his original plans. He wouldn’t turn down a particularly helpful boost, but otherwise the sooner he could attempt an expansion the better. In this case, the boost was for the queens, who did not participate in fighting outside of the gravest of circumstances, so Belissar figured they could live without it if all went well.
And if the queens were participating in the fight, then he probably had bigger problems than a minimal stat boost would solve.
Fortunately, Belissar didn’t need to hold a funeral at the memorial this time, so he was about to go about his business. But then, he paused, rubbing his chin and humming. Then he nodded to himself, and walked over to the storage jars in the room. He gathered as much honeycomb as he could carry, and then walked out towards the Flower Meadow.
He laid out the honeycomb trays in front of the memorial, placing one at the entrance of the memorial beehouse, and one in the Shrine of Bees’ wax chest. He was about to ask Niobee to gather the bees, but they had all come to watch him at this point. He turned to them and smiled.
“You girls won a great victory today, and nobody died this time. I think that’s worth celebrating, so why don’t we have a party? Here, come and eat as much as you want.”
Belissar figured it wouldn’t be good if he only conducted funerals, so he decided he would assist in the celebrations this time. The bees froze...and then began to fly around rapidly. The Flower Meadow queens flew before him and began to salute repeatedly. Belissar just waved his hand.
“Go on, this is the result of your hard work. You’ve earned it.”
The queens and their soldiers saluted and again, and then slowly made their way to the honeycomb. One by one...they began to drink...until soon all the bees were drinking and dancing. Belissar smiled and nodded.
The celebrations went on for longer than normal...
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
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The next day, Belissar sighed as he walked towards the gate. He, unfortunately, had determined something he could do to increase his options while he waited to expand his mana. Something he had known he could do for a while now.
Something he, perhaps, hadn’t thought of because he’d really prefer not to.
And that was talking to the bear people.
Belissar brought with him a couple of trays of honeycomb, a single mana flower, and a couple of poison flowers. He realized if he asked them to trade, he might be able to get some new plants or something. If nothing else, he could also use new tools to expand his own crafts.
The only problem was...Belissar didn’t really want to talk to them, to be honest. The last time he had was really awkward, and he had never been the one proposing barters before. It used to be the other villagers would stop by and dictate the terms to him, after which he would inevitably comply.
So...his heart began to race subconsciously as he thought of approaching the bear people himself. But, well, they had been unbelievably nice so far. And, more importantly, expanding his options through trade could improve the odds in favor of his bees. And that was worth overcoming any amount of fear or awkwardness he may have felt.
Besides, it was a bit easier to work up the courage for a conversation when he had an army of soldier bees hovering around him. He hadn’t asked them to do that this time, but they naturally gathered around him when he walked towards the front.
And now...he waited. And waited. And waited, his heart beating faster with each minute. He tried to distract himself but his beating heart distracted him from his distracting so it didn’t work.
But, finally, the gates of the Tower opened, and Metsaitti led his group in. They paused as they took in the sight before them, then Metsaitti inclined his head.
“Hello, Sacred Den Master. Thank you for allowing us in your abode. How may we help you today?”
He motioned at the others and they inclined their heads as well. Belissar wanted to run but instead he cleared his throat.
“Um...I have some stuff. Do you want any? Err...as a trade, you see.”
Belissar tried not to wince. Metsaitti’s eyes widened and then he nodded.
“We would be honored, Sacred Den Master. We are not carrying any goods with us at this moment but I will relay your offer to the chief and we will put together something. Is there anything in particular you wanted?”
Belissar started to shake his head before remembering what he was supposed to be doing.
“Yes, actually. Um, plants, especially flowers. Tools if you have them.”
He glanced at Metsaitti’s spear.
“Weapons would be nice too...”
Metsaitti nodded.
“Understood. I will relay your desires to the chief. Was there anything else you wanted?”
Belissar shook his head.
“No...that should be it...”
Metsaitti nodded and the motioned to the others, who turned around.
“Understood. Thank you for the generous offer, Sacred Den Master.”
“Um, you’re welcome.”
With that, the bear people left. Belissar resisted the urge to fall and lay on the ground, taking a deep breath instead.
Yeah, that was still very awkward. But at least it seemed to have gone well. The bear people were still polite and agreed to trade with him, once they had gathered some stuff...
Belissar’s eyes went wide as he realized something terrible...
If they were leaving and coming back...then wouldn’t he have to talk to them again today?
Belissar groaned.
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To distract himself...err, to continue the development of his Tower, Belissar returned to his work from the day before. Now that they had figured out a way for soldier bees to lift a torch, he and his assistant soldiers worked to refine it. They tried wrapping the cord around in different ways, or tying it to different parts of the torch, or making loops to wrap around different parts of the soldiers’ bodies. In the end, they settled on tying four ropes, two at the front of the torch and two at the end, which would be carried by four soldier bees. They stuck with just having the soldier bees pass their legs through loops at the end of the ropes, as any other method made it more difficult for the soldier bees to drop the torch.
At this point, they moved to test the process in its entirety. Belissar worked on starting a fire as four soldier bees from the Apiary stood on the ground next to a torch. Once the fire got going, he gave them a nod. The soldiers stuck their legs through the loops and rose into the air with the torch. They then flew over the fire and lowered the torch down into it until the tip caught flame.
They flew with the burning torch towards a nearby pit, the flames flickering occasionally as they sped through the air. They dropped their ropes and so the torch towards the pit.
The torch missed and bounced on the ground next to the pit, before teetering over the edge and falling in. The kindling at the bottom slowly caught fire until a blaze was going at the bottom of the pit.
Belissar nodded at the bees.
“Well, looks like it basically worked. How was it, anyone get burned?”
The bees gave a dance indicating all was well. Belissar nodded to himself.
They had succeeded, then. A torch could be lit and carried by the bees. It would remain ablaze while they traveled, and so could still light the Pit Traps when they arrived. The delivery could use some work but Belissar had no doubt the bees would practice that to perfection. The point was, now that the torches could be carried safely through the air, it wouldn’t matter if there were multiple shades or not. They could light up any pit that a shade fell into, regardless of who or what was still around the edge.
Belissar grinned...only to remember what he was distracting himself from. And right as a group of the bear people arrived back at the Tower.