BD - Chapter 231 - Collaborative Bee-cisions

A small turtle shade crawled through the Dirt Tunnels and, for once, did not get stuck in the very first Pit Trap. Not through any merit of its own, however, but because Belissar had moved the Pit Traps out the way today. As the shade lumbered through the empty tunnels, a small patch of dirt began to stir. A moment later, a small bee, just a bit smaller than a soldier, launched from the ground abdomen first. Her stinger jabbed into the turtle’s behind, right where its tail connected to the rest of its body. The turtle growled and swung its tail about, but the bee had already dove back down into the dirt.

The turtle swung about for a bit, but no further attacks came, so it eventually continued on its course. But as it meandered on, it began to slow down, even further than normal. It growled and began to thrash about, its thorns swaying about. It had no opponents to lash out against, however, so it did nothing but swish through the air and mix the dirt.

Soon, even its thrashing began to slow. It collapsed onto the dirt and moved no further, fading away a minute later.

All hostiles defeated.

Purification successful.

Belissar smiled. The Fourth of the Fifth had worked hard and the first digging monster bee assassins were now ready. Their first battle had proven everything Belissar had hoped. One single sting brought down a small turtle shade without risking any bees or karnuq save for the quick attack by one assassin. The shade had been defeated in the first room even without any traps whatsoever. Belissar turned to the Fourth of the Fifth waiting beside him.

“Great work! It’s perfect, this is really going to help our defenses.”

The Fourth of the Fifth broke out into a happy, barely coherent “King is best king!” dance.

***

The Tower’s defenders celebrated the victory as usual, with Hirkolos now joining in. He had been hesitant as always, but since he had participated in a purification at this point he caved when Belissar insisted. The celebration’s fare had expanded as well, roasted rabbit now joined the usual honeycomb, fruits, roots, and mushrooms, along with the seasoning herbs the Fourth of the Seventh had previously obtained from the larger ruins. Belissar’s eyes lit up as he bit into the meat. Meat had always been a rare treat for him, so to have access to a steady supply of it was truly a blessing. A sentiment the cheering karnuq seemed to share…along with the butcher bees and their new soldiers.

Fully satiated, Belissar, the queens, and his advisors came together afterwards with a smile. Tarwantrad wasn’t present today, but Belissar had convinced Hirkolos to join as the human representative.

Belissar first updated the bees on the proposed plan for the sigmaka challengers and asked if they would willing to cooperate. He planned to build a few empty beehouses where the sigmaka could leave the honeydew and pick up a reward of honeycomb in exchange. He did, however, need a few bees to keep watch and to take the honeydew to the actual hives afterwards, as well as to donate the occasional mana honeycomb as a special reward.

The bees had no problem with this and sung his praises for arranging a honeydew supply.

After that, it was time to address the rewards of the day, both from the daily purification and the God of Bees’ mission. He started with the daily purification rewards since those were the easiest. Most of the time, he always just took the mana…

Please select a reward:

- +100 DP

- +20 Max Mana

- Rest Zone

Belissar had nearly selected the mana out of habit when he saw the last option and paused. To refresh his memory and inform everyone who hadn’t been there the first time he saw it, he read out the feature’s description.

Rest Zone

Type: Recovery, Zone

Mana Upkeep: 5

Description: A safe zone where challengers can rest. Remnants won’t pass into the zones, and zones provide slight healing, as well as slightly boosted stamina and mana recovery.

Belissar smiled. It was fortunate timing…or so he would say if rest zones hadn’t popped up several times ever since they swapped to small strength daily purifications. They were a common option, after all.

“Let’s go with rest zones this time to set up the places the sigmaka can drop off their honeydew.”

Neither bee, karnuq, nor human had any objection to that so Belissar confirmed the choice.

Rest Zone now available.

With everything falling into place for the sigmaka plan, Belissar was already feeling good. So he had a good feeling now that it was time to open the reward from the God of Bees.

Please select a perk:

- Emergency Spawning (Rarity: Rare)

- Assault Captains (Rarity: Rare)

- Bee Swarm Barrage (Rarity: Rare)

Belissar gaped for a second. He had not just one but three rare perks to choose from. He had a feeling this could be a tough decision. Fortunately, he didn’t have to make it alone, so he began reading out the descriptions. He especially looked at all the bee queens.

“These are going to affect you all the most, so please share your opinions.”

Emergency Spawning

- Adds the Emergency Spawning ability to all monster with the brood mother skill.

- Allows the brood mother to rapidly spawn more offspring. Offspring spawned in this manner will rapidly develop to a functional life stage. Number and type of offspring spawned as well as magnitude of growth acceleration may be adjusted. Mana from the brood mother or the dungeon may be substituted for the resources normally required for said offspring and their growth.

- Minimum cooldown of one day that will grow with the number, size, and complexity of offspring as well as the magnitude of growth acceleration. Using mana in place of resources for the spawning will also increase cooldown. Brood mother will not be able to spawn offspring in the normal manner and will have reduced mana regeneration for the duration of the cooldown.

- Offspring may suffer from reduced size, limited lifespan, or other developmental issues if growth acceleration is too extreme.

The bees immediately began dancing among themselves in accordance with Belissar’s request. The First of the Second danced a summary.

“So…can lay more eggs when need? Make more bees in emergency?”

The Firstborn danced a confirmation.

“Could help if need more soldiers for battle?”

The First of the Second didn’t join her dance, though.

“But…queens lead now? Can’t lay more eggs if not in hive? And can’t train new soldiers?”

The Firstborn stopped dancing at that.

“Is good point.”

She turned to the First of the Fifth.

“What does First of the Fifth think?”

The First of the Fifth flicked her antennae, letting her mana speak for her rather than dance with her large body.

“Could help in emergency, but don’t need if plan well.”

She then glanced at her First Daughter.

“Well…do make mistakes sometimes, so maybe helpful? Daughter?”

The First of the Fifth’s First Daughter took a moment to think even as the other queens turned to look at her. Her dance started slow but gradually picked up speed.

“Fourth of the Seventh already storing eggs. If need more, can evolve more nomadic queens. Think should hear others first.”

With that, the bees turned back to Belissar. The karnuq and human hung back and remained quiet, but Belissar didn’t press for their opinions this time. This choice was about the bees.

Assault Captains

- Monster bee captains gain a major boost to all stats

- Monster bee captains provide a minor boost to all stats for nearby or commanded bees when in close proximity to hostiles. Stat boost temporarily grows if captains attack hostiles. Stat boost grows further for bees attacking the same target as the captain. All boosts removed if the captain leaves the hostile’s proximity.

- All boosts to stats and coordination persist for a temporary duration after a monster bee captain’s death. Boosts are improved further for bees attacking a hostile that has killed a captain.

- Perk applies to some compatible monster bee captain evolutions.

The Firstborn immediately perked up as Belissar read out this one. She waited only for a quick nod by Belissar before she began dancing.

“Amazing, incredible! Captains become better soldiers and make other soldiers better. Makes whole army stronger.”

The First of the Second hesitated a bit before replying.

“But…then captains have to fight? Risk evolved bees?”

The First of the Fifth looked at her First Daughter, who then interjected.

“Queen mother’s evolution lets make new kind of honey, will help bees evolve. Both queens and children, so might be able to help raise more if need. Almost done evolving queen mother’s hive, so will be ready to share soon.”

The Firstborn immediately turned to the First of the Fifth and began dancing.

“Amazing, incredible! First of the Fifth makes best honey!”

Belissar could tell by the twitch in the First of the Fifth’s antennae and legs that she was resisting a happy dance, even as the bees turned to him for the last option.

Bee Swarm Barrage

- Upon attacking an enemy, Bee-type monsters may leave pheromones and mana that guide further attacks by other Bee-type monsters, creatures, constructs, and features against the same location. All Bee-type attacks will move faster and strike more accurately when targeting the affected location.

- The mana left by repeated attacks gradually degrades the target’s defenses in the affected area. For attacks that contain venom or other harmful substances, some of those substances will enhance this effect. The effect grows with the amount of mana left in the area.

 The Firstborn, and indeed all of the battle meadow queens, once again grew antsy by the time Belissar finished reading. Indeed, Belissar couldn’t help but look over the perk once more himself, even as the Firstborn started to dance.

“If soldiers hit same spot…will hit harder?”

The First of the Second danced a confirmation this time.

“Says will make defenses weaker. Maybe can sting even if can resist first stings?”

The First Butcher began dancing, to Belissar’s slight surprise.

“Is good for butchers! If make meat weaker, then can bite into and get inside!”

The Fourth of the Fifth also danced from her place on the ground.

“Don’t forget have assassins now! Can tell bees where to sting, then bees can keep stinging with perk!”

The Firstborn began matching her dance.

“And new captains help coordinate, send more squads to spot. Maybe will help lancers hit? Or…magic stings?”

The Firstborn turned to Beero and the other queens all looked at the battlecaster. Beero stumbled a bit but managed to start a dance.

“…i-if perk leaves mana, should? Ah, if drone helps, can! Drone good at seeing mana!”

All the battle meadow queens began a confirmation dance at that. The Firstborn began a question dance and soon a ripple moved through the queens as they all gave their reply. The Firstborn then turned to Belissar.

“Like last one…if King thinks is ok?”

Belissar smiled at her and nodded.

“You are the ones who will need to use it. Your plan sounds great to me, so I agree we should go with that.”

The Firstborn trembled before breaking out into a “King best king!” dance that all the other queens soon joined in. Belissar spared only a brief glance to the karnuq and Hirkolos to confirm they had no objections to raise before confirming the choice.

Bee Swarm Barrage selected.

After all, the bees had made their choice, so Belissar couldn’t be happier with it.

Author’s Note:

Publishing Announcement: E-Book and audiobook preorders for The Bee-ginning are now live! Paperback preorder has also been available since the original announcement! As a reminder, the Bee Dungeon's first official published books release on March 11th!

Now back to the story!

Bee choice best choice! Bee perk best perk! And as a side benefit, Belissar barely had to think about it!

Sure beats Belissar’s choice, which was made for non-bees. We should just let the bees make all the choices, huh?

Anyways!

Will the rest zones benefit the hive of hives? Will Belissar let his bees make best choices from now on? Will the Bee Swarm Barrage defeat the hive of hives future foes? Tune in next time, to find out!