Chapter 386: The Cost of Victor-Bee |
Six hours into the evening, the Tower was ready for another minor purification. Digging and blinding soldier bees gathered into a dim Hall of Purifying Light, lit only by the soft light of the moon. The hall wasn’t ready after its full power attack earlier in the day, so it would be up to the bees to handle this purification.
The soldier bees were more than eager. Since Belissar hadn’t used the Digging Tunnels against Starami, neither of their hives had a chance to shine. The digging soldiers, in particular, were also eager to fight after the remarkable achievements of their sister, the digging assassin. A squad of them hovered right over the entrance of the Tower, ready to sting whatever came through it.
“Ok, here we go.”
At King’s command, a shade began to form into the shape of a wolf. The squad wasted no time and dove down, striking before the shade was ready to respond.
Their stingers pierced clean through the shade’s head and neck. The soldier bees suddenly crashed into the floor. They scrambled to get back on their feet and back into the air, stunned for a moment by the sudden collision. They zipped away, worried that they would be attacked for their miscalculation.
“Great job, everyone!”
…only to find that the wolf-shade had vanished. A single squad had destroyed the shade and completed the purification in a single dive. The soldier bees glanced at each other before starting an aerial happy dance, zipping around in excited “Amazing, incredible!” loops. Unbeknownst to themselves, the bees had grown stronger than ever before…
***
Belissar blinked as he watched a single squad of soldier bees destroy the minor purification shade. Apparently, the combination of the stronger Blessing of Bees and the Keeper of the Sacred Bees perk had a greater impact than he had expected. His bees could already defeat minor shades with no problem, but now a single squad could wipe out a minor purification in an instant.
Afterwards, Belissar gave out some honey to the night defenders, then went back to sleep. The next morning, he awoke to pleasant news:
A monster has evolved.
Monster Bee Giantkiller now available!
Belissar sent his Tower sight forward to find the former digging monster bee assassin emerging from her cell. She wasn’t much larger, in fact, she still looked much the same as before. The only difference was that her chitin was a bit shinier and sharper, almost scale-like in appearance, while her stinger had curved and thickened slightly, almost looking more like a little claw. Belissar focused on her to review the changes…
Dragonslayer Digging Monster Bee Giantkiller
Vitality: Minor
Strength: Average
Speed: Average+
Magic: Average
Defense: Minor
Resistance: Minor
Special: Excellent
Notable Skills: Piercing Poison Sting, Consuming Venom, Concentrate Poison, Enchant Poison, Analyze Weakness, Stealth, Death Blow, Dig, Brood Offspring, Draconic Stinger, Draconic Venom, Draconic Aura
Evolves From: Monster Bee Assassin
Description: A monster bee assassin that specializes in killing exceptionally large or exceptionally tough foes. Her venom does not merely attack the body: it feeds upon both body and mana to grow in quantity and toxicity. When injected into a foe with either great mass or powerful mana, it will rapidly spread and grow beyond all resistance or regeneration. If not dealt with immediately, it will quickly doom its victims. The giantkiller bee further concentrates her venom and imbues it with her mana to deliver the most toxic sting she can to prevent easy curing. As these effects rely on the strength of the target, the giantkiller’s sting is not much more effective than an assassin’s against weaker targets, attacking those may be a waste of her venom.
To assist in her task, the monster bee giantkiller has stronger muscles and a longer, tougher stinger to pierce deep into large, resilient targets. This can be used for physical attacks against smaller foes but a giantkiller is not much more resilient than an assassin and should be kept out of direct danger. To this end, the giantkiller’s stronger mana can be used to dampen a target’s senses, making it harder to detect the bee’s approach.
This one is a digging monster bee, able to dig into the ground for ambushes and to sense targets through vibrations and mana.
This individual has been recognized as a dragon slayer by a true dragon. Draconic mana sharpens her stinger, helping her pierce through the toughest of defenses, while draconic mana empowers her venom, causing it to counteract regeneration and healing. She may also use draconic mana to intimidate and terrify lesser beings, especially weaker dragonkin, though doing so may draw the attention of greater beings.
Belissar grinned. It seemed the next time the former assassin needed to kill a true dragon, it would not take her days of continuous stinging to bring it down. Monster bee assassins had already been deadly enough to cause trouble for Starami’s elites, Belissar could only imagine how deadly the new giantkiller would be now that she had evolved.
The dragon part was a bit of a surprise, but it seemed to make the new giantkiller even better at her job, so Belissar was pleased. He might have even thanked the true dragon, had it survived. Thanks to its help, his Tower now had a powerful new defender.
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Belissar quickly congratulated the new giantkiller, then ran a morning purification. A small cat-shade tried to race past his defenders, but the new Blessing of Bees and Keeper of the Sacred Bees perk also improved his bees’ speed. The soldiers were able to cut it off and bring it down as easily as the wolf-shade.
With that, Belissar moved onto the big business of the day: a memorial service for everyone who died during the battle with Starami.
Belissar brought all of his bees and allies to the room with the Memorial. Monster bees of every shape, size, and color hovered up in the sky. Ranks of karnuq, sigmaka, and fair folk warriors stood at the ready. And, off to the side at a polite distance, a group of the surviving Tower Guards stood at attention.
Yesterday, Belissar had Auschias and several other former Tower Guard captains go through Starami’s dead, identifying the corpses as best they could. Once they had done that, Belissar asked them to invite anyone among the captives who knew one of the deceased to join the Memorial. While Belissar couldn’t bring all of the Tower Guards here, he at least wanted to bring the ones who had lost friends.
In front of the Memorial, the allies had gathered the corpses of the dead bees, dead humans, and even some of the dead dragonkin corpses. The fair folk and beastkin managed to avoid any deaths, but some wounded silver elves and sigmaka stood up in front, along with the crippled bees that would soon join the hive of the fallen.
Belissar addressed the wounded first.
“Thank you all for fighting for our homes and for your sacrifices.”
Belissar handed each of the silver elves and sigmaka a tray full of mana honey, along with a promise that the healing bees would continue to help them recover. The crippled bees he picked up and personally carried to the hive of the fallen near the Memorial, where Beero was waiting to welcome them.
Then, Belissar walked over to the gathered bee corpses. He did not fight the moisture building in his eyes at the sight of them.
“Thank you, all of you, who died to protect us. Me, the Tower, every hive and every living thing in it will survive thanks to your sacrifice.”
Belissar gently picked up the corpses, carrying them and placing them inside the Memorial beehouse. Each time he placed on in, new numbers appeared on the pillars and bee carvings began to glow. As with the memorial he held for the karnuq, glowing, ephemeral bees flew out of the beehouse and landed on its roof, watching him as he continued his work.
In the end, over a hundred bees had lost their lives over the course of the battle. Over fifty perished fighting Starami’s elites for the first time, when one of them had managed to unleash dragonfire on the bee army. Many swimming bees died distracting the Tower Guards while Frelis saved the venomous slime rose from their fire. Still more bees had died in the final battle when they broke into the dragon coats of Starami’s remaining elites, entering into the confined space to sting the Tower Guards directly. Even with the miracle lighthouse saving many of those who were mortally wounded, the bees weren’t able to dodge well within the dragon coats. Many fell before the elite Tower Guards were killed.
For those whose bodies could not be recovered, Belissar instead made an offering of honeycomb, the honey they might have eaten had they lived. Not until over a hundred ephemeral bees watched him from the beehouse did he stop, not until every last fallen bee was accounted for.
After that, he turned to the corpses of the Tower Guards.
“As for you, you all may have been our enemies, but you fought and died believing you were fighting for humanity and the gods. We could not spare you in life, but I hope that you will find peace in death. We will offer you what mercy we can.”
Belissar motioned to Auschias and he brought up several Tower Guards with him, Beroura, Germistis, Fulepou, and Soltiotis if Belissar remembered correctly. Belissar brought Hirkolos with him and together, the seven humans began to take the human corpses and bury them underneath the Memorial, just in front of the memorial beehouse.
As they buried the first corpse, Sehfitis read out the name of the dead for the gathered Tower Guards. Then, the ground began to shake. A new pillar rose out of the ground around the Memorial, a bit further away from it than the pillars with the names of bees and karnuq. The name of the fallen Tower Guard appeared on it…along with Ruckanos and all those who had followed him.
The ground then seemed to swallow the buried corpse and a new ephemeral bee appeared to fly up to the Memorial Beehouse. The ground then opened itself back up of its own accord, now empty. The Tower Guards were a bit shaken by this, but Belissar and Hirkolos continued the work. It seemed they’d be able to bury all of the Tower Guards right in front of the Memorial Beehouse.
And so they worked, burying each body, recording its name upon the new pillar, and gathering a new ephemeral bee, until each of the Tower Guard bodies they managed to cover were dealt with. Last went Starami himself, along with the elites he called his claw. Belissar frowned at them but shook his head and decided to just bury them with the rest.
“The gods will decide your fate now.”
After that, Belissar turned to Hesfalle and nodded to her. Hesfalle stood by the corpses of the dragonkin and opened her book. Purple light appeared in the corpses’ eyeholes as they began to rise and turn towards her.
“Proud and mighty dragonkin, know that your deaths were not in vain and your power will not go to waste. The strong who laid you low shall consume your flesh, drink your blood, shape your bones into their claws, and grow more powerful than ever. This I promise you: we will use every last piece of your might to defend our dungeons and to strike a blow against the true enemy of the world, just as you were born to do. In death, you will achieve the purpose denied to you in life.”
The dragonkin corpses all let out a powerful roar that shook the field, then fell to the ground, the lights fading from their eyes. Ephemeral bees rose from some of their corpses and flew over to join the rest. Hesfalle turned back to Belissar and nodded.
“They are satisfied now.”
Belissar then handed it over to Sehfitis, who walked up to the Memorial.
“We commit your souls to the God of Death, may you find the bounty of your life within the Hall of Judgement.”
Once Sehfitis had spoken, Niobee took off from Belissar’s head and led the bees in their memorial dance. The sky filled with colorful waves of chitin as the entire hive of hives followed along.
The ephemeral bees then took off from the Memorial beehouse. The ones from the bees zipped around Belissar, dancing one last “King is best king!” before going to find their queens. The ones from the Tower Guards flew over to the survivors that they knew, and then flew out of the Tower entirely. The ones from the dragonkin simply hovered in the air, content to watch from above.
After a bit, all of the ephemeral bees returned to the memorial beehouse. The ones that had left the Tower came zipping back in at incredible speed. Once all of them had gathered, they began to fly up into the sky as a pillar of light formed around them.
And then they were gone.
Belissar kept looking up at the sky for a moment after. He had cried, but he found his heart did not ache as it had in the past. He knew those bees were going to the God of Bees now. And, now that he was connected to the hive of hives, he could truly understand what they felt.
What the bees felt most, more than sadness or loss, was pride. The bees that had fallen had achieved the purpose of all monster bees: to protect their hive. They even felt joy to have been a part of the victory that was greater than even their own lives.
So, this time, Belissar was able to sincerely smile, even after a memorial, as he turned to address everyone gathered.
“Let’s celebrate their lives, and the victory they achieved.”
Everyone broke apart to move over towards the nexus door room, where Belissar and his allies had prepared a victory banquet. In the end, despite the losses, Belissar could call this nothing but an amazing victory. They had defeated a Tower Lord centuries old, the man who had ruled Belissar for most of his life.
They had lost much, gained much, and still had more challenges to come. But, for the rest of this day, they’d simply celebrate what they had won. Another day for his bees and his friends to live in his Tower.