Chapter 130: An Unexpected Bee-cision

Chapter 130: An Unexpected Bee-cision

With two days before the next talks, Belissar turned his attention to other endeavors. Mainly, he had enough DP to purchase another room as he had planned, which could also provide either additional resources to trade or additional defenses if the talks fell through. He planned to make the purchase tonight, as usual right after the purification and celebrations where all the queens would be gathered. So, all that was left was to handle the day’s purification.

But as the soldier bee army waited and Belissar began the purification, it seemed the Hunger had other ideas in store. Once again, it took the form of a salamander...and only two of the lancers were fully healed. Belissar sucked in his breath...until he looked at the salamander shade more closely. This one was noticeably smaller...and not completely covered in black flames. In fact, it only had one small black flame covering the tip of its tail.

He supposed it was a level lower purification than the original, but he decided to wait and watch it brave the Dirt Tunnels before he relaxed. The salamander shade crawled its way through, climbing the walls whenever it encountered a Pit Trap. And then...it reached a wall-mounted Sticky Honey Trap.

The shade was doused by the honey. It spun and spat out a breath of black flames, but didn’t manage to hit before it was coated in honey. Small flames danced across its body, but failed to burn away the viscous coating.

It was then that Belissar released his breath and relaxed his shoulders. Indeed, the shade was weaker than its larger brethren. Most importantly, its flames did not form the same kind of shield and left it vulnerable to the honey traps. And that meant that it would be vulnerable to the bees as well.

It took the increasingly disoriented shade a while to make it through the Dirt Tunnels, as it was both weighed down and increasingly intoxicated by the maddening honey stuck to its body. Finally, it arrived out in the battle meadow...and was promptly attacked from all sides by sprayers. As Belissar had hoped, its flames were not hot enough nor spread wide enough to burn away all the poison before the toxic sprays struck home. It was not long before the shade was weak enough for the soldier bees to attack as well, at which point its resistance died quickly.

Small Purification completed! Please select a reward:

- +100 DP

- +20 Max Mana

- Arrow Trap

The arrow trap was tempting but tonight Belissar needed the mana. If all went well, he’d soon have a lot to spend it on. A quick celebration later and Belissar gathered with Niobee, the queens, and Chief Rohsuak.

Extra room choice purchased. One room choice now available.

Please select a room:

- Farm (Rarity: Common, Type: Resource, Settlement)

- Stone Labyrinth (Rarity: Common, Type: Labyrinth, Settlement)

- Fairy Grove (Rarity: Rare, Type: Nature, Magic, Field)

Well, Belissar practically knew what he wanted to pick just from the rarities alone but for good measure he went through the options. Farm was a repeat and quite straightforward. A simple farmhouse, plus a bunch of fields in which crop plants would grow. Though, simple and common did not necessarily mean undesirable. So far, Belissar had been limited to his resource plant nodes, which were fairly small in the grand scheme of things. He had no doubt the karnuq might appreciate a larger source of food. And depending on what kind of plants they could cultivate there, a Farm might prove quite useful for his bees as well. Rows upon rows of flowering plants could feed many a hive.

Stone Labyrinth

“What do you all think?”

The First of the Fifth was the one to dance first this time.

“Last room...new flowers?”

Belissar smiled a bit. He thought the First of the Fifth might catch that as he did.

“I’m not sure, but I think so.”

The rest of his bees mostly handed the decision back to him. None of them mentioned the stone labyrinth, for why would they? A few were interested in the Farm after he explained what it would be like, but the First of the Fifth seemed more interested in new flowers than the mass flowers a Farm might offer. And so, Belissar turned to Chief Rohsuak. He rubbed his chin for a second.

“So...um, I’m guessing you’ve been quiet here because you want me to make choices on my own? I would like to hear if there’s anything you think I should consider. Especially if you’ve heard of fairy circles before, I’ve, um, only heard children’s stories and the description here isn’t very detailed.”

Chief Rohsuak gave him an amused smile and shook her head.

“You think too much of me, Sacred Den Master. I may have some experience leading my people, but I know little about the inner workings of a Sacred Den, so do not hold my opinion above your own. You defended this Sacred Den before we arrived at it, after all.”

She then rubbed her chin.

“That said...my encounters with fairy circles were fortunately rare. All that I know is that they are not to be trifled with lightly, and so I ensured that my people did not do so. While it is not guaranteed to go badly by any means, we could not afford the risk."

She frowned and her face turned dark.

"The other thing I can say is...the power of the fairy circles has not stopped the Hunger’s march. So, in that regard, perhaps they are not superior to the power of a Sacred Den, though magic is often not so simple.”

Belissar slowly nodded along. It sounded like the karnuq and the Tower Lords shared a similar view of the fairy circles. But the thought that whatever power the fairy circles possessed still could not stop the Hunger was a sobering one. A reminder of why the gods themselves had to intervene...

And that calmed whatever fears Belissar had in his heart.

Fairy Grove is now available.

Whatever threat the unpredictable Fairy Grove may pose paled in comparison to the threat he knew the Hunger posed. And so, he decided to hope that those unpredictable powers would assist him and his bees against whatever dangers the future may hold...