Chapter 383: Legendar-Bee |
Belissar held a small banquet for his Tower that night. He had a larger one planned for later with his allies, but he felt his Tower defenders also deserved one of their own. Bees, karnuq, spiderkin, and the two sworn humans enjoyed the bounty of the Tower together, with karnuq hunters telling tales of their individual exploits. Belissar didn’t recall seeing a hunter taking down a squad of Tower Guards by himself, but to be fair there had been a lot going on in that last battle.
Afterwards, Belissar gathered with his council. The hive of hives was informed of the important decisions they would make tonight, so every queen now hovered around him. Chief Rohsuak, the First Spiderkin Queen, Sehfitis, Hirkolos were all present, along with Nenavann, Tarwantrad, Finnakynne, Urubran, Tamosmed, and even Hesfalle and Lomedys. Captain Karpakynne joined in too, even Wardmaster Varilold found time to stop by. It seemed word had spread and everyone was interested in the legendary bee choice. In fact, all the Circle masters were interested in any legendary choice period, it seemed many of them did not have a legendary monster of their own yet.
So this night, Belissar decided to tackle the biggest choice first.
“Ok, I’m checking the legendary bee choice now.”
Tarwantrad cheered, soon joined by the other humanoids. The bees began zipping around in the excitement.
Please select a monster:
- Monster Bee Immortal (Rarity: Legendary, Type: Bee, Recovery)
- Bee-hemoth (Rarity: Legendary: Type: Bee, Gargantuan, Environment)
- Thriae Warrior (Rarity: Legendary, Type: Bee, Time)
Monster Bee Immortal
Vitality: Variable
Strength: Variable
Speed: Variable
Magic: Variable
Defense: Variable
Resistance: Variable
Special: Legendary
Notable Skills: Hive’s Resurrection, Hive’s Regeneration, Brood Offspring. Other skills depend on original evolution.
Spawner Upkeep: N/A
Evolves From: Brood Offspring Bee-type monsters
Description: A brood offspring that has received a covenant from their hive. Empowered by the mana of the hive, the monster bee immortal regenerates from even the most grievous of wounds and can use the hive’s mana to wield sacrificial skills without dying. And should one ever fall, they will be reborn anew within their hive. This power draws from the ambient mana of the hive, should the mana of the hive run dry it will draw first from the stores of mana-imbued honey and then directly from the bees of the hive.
Only a hive with sufficiently vast and powerful mana can form monster bee immortals. Monster bee immortals retain the form and skills of their previous evolution and may continue to evolve along their previous lineage. While any brood offspring Bee-type monster can be made into an immortal, a hive normally only grants the covenant to the most powerful of its bees due to the risks of excessively frequent resurrections. Queens, as the heart of their hive’s mana, cannot be made into immortals by this method.
Belissar’s eyes were now sparkling as he started to bounce.
“The bees can become immortal? They’ll never die again?!”
Nenavann chuckled.
“It would seem so. Before you pick it, though, I would advise you to at least check the others. Immortality normally comes with caveats, the mana of the hive seems to be the limit here. You likely won’t be able to apply it to all of your bees. And since it is an evolution that only works on existing bees, you should note that you will not truly be receiving a new monster with this one. Legendary monsters are few and far between.”
Belissar tried to nod to signify he understood but…he could make the bees immortal. He could make it so at least some of his bees would never die ever again! It was hard for him to imagine anything he would want more than that.
But this was a legendary choice, so Belissar was at least going to check all of the options.
Bee-hemoth
Vitality: Legendary
Strength: Epic
Speed: Below Average
Magic: Good
Defense: Epic
Resistance: Epic
Special: Excellent
Notable Skills: Poison Sting, Mobile Bee Environment, Gargantuan Resilience
Spawner Upkeep: 10000 (5000 with Blessing of Bees)
Evolves From: Bee-type monsters capable of endless growth
Description: A bee that covers the sky and pollinates world trees. Taller than a forest, wider than a field, its legs dwarf the largest trunks and its wings can push through cyclones. It carries entire meadows and forests on its back, feeding countless plants and smaller bee species that all provide it with nutrition and mana. When bound to a dungeon, a room may be applied to this environment and room features and monster spawners may be placed on the bee-hemoth’s body.
Few other creatures can threaten such a gargantuan, particularly not one capable of flight. If ever one did, its stinger will likely crush the offender before they drown in its venom, if its wings did not blow them far away. It moves slowly as all gargantuans do, but is fast compared to its peers and its sheer bulk ensures it covers ground quickly regardless. While it is not magically inclined, its sheer size and the environment it carries grants it a vast store of mana.
Larger or combined rooms are necessary to fit a gargantuan within a dungeon. An incredibly vast quantity of either mana or food is necessary to support one. Raising or evolving one from an existing bee takes even more, no single hive can achieve it under normal circumstances.
Belissar beheld a bee several miles long and wide, carrying a forest filled with flowers and bees on its back. While his heart still longed for immortal bees, Belissar had to admit this one was impressive. A bee like this would have dwarfed even Starami’s true dragon, it probably could have ended the last battle by just stepping on the Tower Lord! It also had the strongest stats Belissar had ever seen, even the true dragon hatchling was nothing in comparison.
Belissar had to admit that immortality would probably be unnecessary for a bee like this. What could even bring it down? What could overcome its legendary vitality? What could pierce the mountain-like walls of chitin covering its body? If Belissar ever raised a bee like this, he could probably throw it alone at all of his problems and watch it crush them.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
The main problem was…its mana cost was as gargantuan as its body.
“T-Ten thousand mana?!”
All of the other dungeon masters save Nenavann winced. Urubran sighed.
“Yeah, there’s a reason none of us except Nenavann have one of these…”
Nenavann nodded.
“You are getting a legendary monster long before your Tower is ready for one. This will likely be a choice for the future, rather than something you can use now.”
Belissar nodded meekly before realizing the second issue.
“Wait, larger or combined rooms? What does that mean?”
Tarwantrad blinked.
“Oh, right, sorry. That’s another thing I forgot you probably never learned. You can combine rooms, Belissar. If you make an entrance between two rooms as big as the wall between them, you merge them into each other. The dungeon still counts them as two rooms and you have to work out any mana or type clashes between them, but you can use it to make bigger and more diverse rooms. That’s how I made the flower nursery in my dungeon.”
Belissar’s mouth made an o. So that was how Tarwantrad did it, he thought she just had some special room for that. He hadn’t actually tried making the entrances between rooms larger before, so it never came up.
But that would be an experiment for later, for he still had a third legendary choice to review. And he had no idea what to expect from this one from its name alone, so he had to admit he was curious to see what it was…
Thriae Warrior
Vitality: Above Average
Strength: Good
Speed: Epic
Magic: Good
Defense: Above Average
Resistance: Above Average
Special: Legendary
Notable Skills: Precognitive Reflexes, Lesser Divination, Time-Accelerating Wings, Bee Affinity, Martial Prowess, Gruesome Fate Sting
Spawner Upkeep: 5000 (2500 with Blessing of Bees)
Evolves From: Thriae Child
Description: A mythical species with the upper bodies of humans and the lower bodies of bees and an affinity for time. A Thriae Warrior hones these abilities for battle, using her future sight to react to events before they happen. Combined with wings that push time to boost her speed, she is nearly impossible to hit. For offense, she is naturally gifted in the use of humanoid weapons, while the venom from her stinger causes her foe to witness prophecies of their demise. A Thriae Warrior does retain her species’ propensity for prophecy and divination, but these abilities are weakened given her focus on the near-future.
A Thriae Warrior is also a guardian of bees and will fight harder when there are bees to protect. She is naturally gifted in Bee-type magic and skills and all of her abilities will be empowered when she fights alongside bees. If she is especially attuned with the bees, she may use her precognition to warn them of incoming harm.
Like all Thriae, a Thriae Warrior requires bees in her vicinity and a generous supply of honey in her diet or she will become angry. While an angry Thriae Warrior will not harm the dungeon master directly, the dungeon binding will not prevent her from using her future sight to the master’s detriment if she so chooses.
Belissar checked the preview the Tower gave him as normal. He beheld a bee woman, with a human's torso down to her waist and a bee's abdomen from there. She had two human arms on her torso and four bee legs from her waist, along with two pairs of bee wings on the back of her shoulders. She was clad in gold and black chitin armor, holding a spear and shield made of chitin as well. She had a mane of golden hair around her neck like a fur coat, matching the golden hair coming down the back of her chitin helmet. Her skin was tanned with a yellow tint to it, while her eyes were pure black orbs, more like a bee’s. Belissar found himself drawn into them, it felt like the Thriae was looking off into the distance.
Then the Thriae Warrior blinked…and turned her head to look directly at Belissar. Belissar froze. A few of the preview images had moved before, but never had one ever acknowledged him watching them. He wondered if this was just a coincidence…but then the Thriae Warrior knocked her spear arm against her chest, said something, and bowed down.
Belissar had no idea how to respond, least of all because he couldn’t actually hear the Thriae talk and still wasn’t sure if she was directing her actions at him. That shouldn’t be possible from a preview, she didn’t actually exist yet…as far as Belissar knew. But when Belissar did not respond, the Thriae Warrior glanced up. She blinked again, then rose to her feet and began to dance. The Tower didn’t translate her dance through the preview…but Belissar had seen that exact dance enough times to know exactly what it meant.
She was dancing a salute dance, finishing it off with a “King is best king!” for good measure. Belissar’s jaw dropped and he couldn’t help but ask.
“Can you…can you see me? Can you hear me?”
The Thriae Warrior nodded her head and repeated her salute, this time just dancing part of the dance.
“King.”
Belissar’s mouth opened and closed repeatedly as he struggled to react. He eventually settled on the idea that this preview was somehow more real…and if that was the case…
“I should pick you then, right?”
The Thriae Warrior looked away from Belissar, staring off into the distance. Lights appeared within her pure black eyes, growing larger and more colorful with each moment. The Thriae Warrior frowned, then narrowed her eyes and furrowed her brow as her eyes became flashing rainbows. Belissar thought he could barely make out images within them, but each time he thought he saw something other colors would crash into it and wipe it away.
The Thriae kept up…whatever she was doing for a few minutes, her brow furrowing more and more. Finally, the lights cut off and the Thriae seemed to gasp, though Belissar still couldn’t hear anything from the image. She panted for breath for a moment before she stood up straight, shook her head, and then started another bee dance.
“Not yet.”
Belissar nodded at her.
“Ok, thank you. Hopefully I’ll get another chance and see you then.”
Belissar was about to ask her about the other choices, but at that point the preview image started to waver. The Thriae Warrior smiled and danced another salute, then the preview image vanished entirely. Belissar tried to bring it back up, but the Thriae Warrior in the new preview image didn’t look at him, move, or react in any way, just like all other preview images Belissar had seen.
He dropped the image to find everyone staring at him. Tarwantrad broke the silence.
“Belissar…are you ok? What happened?”
Belissar gulped.
“This is going to sound crazy but…the Thriae Warrior in the preview image talked to me. Well, I couldn’t actually hear her, but she could apparently hear me and used bee dances to respond.”
All of the fair folk turned to Nenavann and Wardmaster Varilold. Tamosmed grunted.
“Is that even possible?”
Nenavann rubbed his chin.
“This is a species with an affinity for time and divination, correct? The previews are ultimately created by the dungeons, by the power of the gods. We might even call them a form of prophecy, an insight into a potential future you could choose. That being the case, if one of these Thriae used their abilities to reach into the past…it very well may be possible that their divination connected to the image you were shown.”
Everyone fell into silence as they processed that. Finnakynne was the first to come out of it and turn to Belissar.
“Well, Beely…what did she say?”
That much, Belissar could answer.
“She said not to pick her yet.”
Nenavann thought for a moment before shaking his head and giving a helpless shrug.
“Divination is always tricky and we can’t be certain of her intentions, I can’t advise you on whether or not you should trust her.”
Belissar hummed and crossed his arms.
“If she used divination, then she exists, right? Doesn’t that mean I’ll get her at some point?”
Wardmaster Varilold interjected.
“Possibly, but she could also be a Thriae that exists outside of your Tower. She could be reassuring you you’ll get the choice again, but she could also be trying to keep you away from it so you don’t spawn competition for her. We can't know, it's always risky to make assumptions about the unknowns in a divination vision.”
Belissar frowned.
“Were there Thriae before? This one used the same dances as my bees and called me King, so it sounded like she’s from my Tower…”
Wardmaster Varilold and Nenavann glanced at each other before Nenavann answered.
“In all my travels and knowledge, I had not heard of them before now. But the fair folk were not all-knowing, not even before the Hunger took so much of the world from us. I cannot say whether they existed before now or not…”
Belissar furrowed his brow…but then decided there was no reason for him to figure it out right this second. After all, he hadn’t asked the bees yet.
He glanced around at the queens and smiled.
“What do you all think?”
Finnakynne smirked.
“Beely, I think you already know what they’re going to say.
The bees had already conversed amongst themselves through the hivelink, in fact, and the First of the Fifth’s First Daughter was ready to give their consensus.
“All amazing, incredible! But first one makes bees not die. If bees don’t die, King won’t be sad!”
Belissar blinked before warmth flooded his chest.
“I see…honestly, I also think that’s the best choice. We can’t really afford either of the others yet, I don’t know if we can afford this one, but maybe it might help us earlier. Even if not, it could still help if we get another legendary choice later. And it’ll really help the bees fight. Unless any of you think otherwise?”
Belissar turned back to the Circle masters. They glanced amongst themselves for a moment until Tarwantrad shook her head.
“Honestly, Belissar? Most of us haven’t had the chance to get a legendary choice yet. You should choose what you think is best, you’re in the lead on this one.”
Belissar glanced to Nenavann, the one exception in the group. Nenavann gave him a smile.
“I tend to agree. A legendary choice is something that might define your Tower in the end, the culmination of your efforts, something you might build the rest of your Tower around from this point onward. This is not a choice anyone else should make for you.”
Belissar glanced towards Chief Rohsuak and the humans, but they all smiled and shook their heads. The First Spiderkin Queen was happily dancing around with the bees. Finally, Belissar turned towards Velebee.
“Queen of All Bees says Hive-Builder Belissar best dungeon master! Whatever Hive-Builder Belissar chooses!”
Belissar smiled and then committed to his choice.
Monster Bee Immortal now available!