The Bee Dungeon

Belissar watched as the venomous slime rose dunked its roots and vines into trays of honey. Frelis reported that the flower monster would grow stronger if it could absorb additional toxins to mix into its own, so the hive of hives brought out every honey with a potentially detrimental effect they had. Toxic honey, maddening honey, sedative honey, even the elemental types like burning honey, though the slime rose didn’t seem to like that one. After drinking them up, the slime rose began wiggling its vines about. Frelis danced in response.
“Flower ready!”
Belissar nodded.
“Good, let’s get ready then…”
The flower monster…now more of a small bush of tangled vines…was too large for a single gardener like Frelis to carry on her own. So, one of the bumblebee soldiers came to assist, wrapping her legs around the bush. The slime rose wrapped its roots around the bumblebee’s legs at Frelis’s direction and off they all flew.
Belissar and Frelis had previously discussed the purification with the slime rose and the hive of hives. Belissar had also reviewed the slime rose’s information from the Tower…
Ultimately, they decided to hold this purification in the battle Bog. Since the slime rose could regenerate with access to fluids, having it fight in the water-logged bog would dramatically increase its resilience to harm, while the swamp would hopefully slow down any shade enough for the slime rose to catch it. In addition, the battle bog had the vaporous hemlock and their toxic mist, an additional Flower feature that could contribute to the battle while still fulfilling the mission.
The bumblebee brought the slime rose to its designated position at the front of the Bog, along the most direct route through the room. Within the room, the soldier bee army and the karnuq gathered. This time, they set their formations up further back and to the sides, intending on deterring the shade from trying to go around the slime rose…while also remaining in range to help if the rose found itself outmatched.
The slime rose rooted itself into the muddy ground, burying some of its thorny vines into the mud and the swampy water around it. The Royal Pixie Guard then moved in to add their contribution, using illusions to ensure the monster looked no different from a normal rose, even adding a few other fake roses here and there. Frelis stayed with the rose, hiding within the petals of its flower. She danced a salute.
“Flower ready!”
As her dance also sent mana through the hive of hives, the soldier bee army replied. Frelis’s queen mother, the First of the Fourth, was commanding today for the best possible coordination with Frelis.
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“Bee army ready!”
Metsaitti then saluted as a communer informed him of what was going on.
“The karnuq are ready.”
Belissar check in with the Royal Pixie Guard and Captain Karpakynne saluted.
“The Royal Pixie Guard, at your service, Tower Keeper!”
Everything was prepared…and, well, this was a minor purification, so Belissar didn’t hesitate this time.
“Ok everyone, let’s begin!”
Frelis could barely contain herself, vibrating as she tried not to break out into a happy dance. This was it! She was participating in a battle! She was fulfilling her queen mother’s greatest desire and personally protecting the hive of hives and the King! The moment she had worked so hard for was finally here!
The slime rose responded to the mana wafting off her and wiggled about. Frelis managed to calm herself and the flower down, it was important they remained still until the enemy got in range.
They did not have to wait long. Frelis felt a chill as an invader arrived once more. She had always felt it during purifications, but rarely as powerful as this. The only other time she felt it this strongly was the purification where a bird shade made it all the way to the end of the Flower Meadow, where the flower meadow queens kept their hives.
That time it had been the King, Beero, and the Firstborn…and her workers…that had stopped the enemy. Now, it was Frelis and her flower’s turn.
Frelis focused her mana on her queen mother, who provided her with the view from the rest of the hive and the wider hive of hives. She could see the shade from above. It growled at the bees and karnuq, but they were too far away for it to attack. It looked around until it noticed the seemingly empty path straight down the middle of the room. It growled once more and then began sprinting towards the gap in the Tower’s defenders.
And straight towards the flower. Frelis shared her mana with the flower so it could watch the shade as the hive of hives did. The flower didn’t have eyes like bees, so Frelis wasn’t sure if it saw or not, but the hive of hives could still tell it when the shade was approaching.
Once the shade set a paw in range, Frelis released her attack pheromones. The mud and water erupted as the slime rose whipped thorn-tipped vines. The vines…missed, both Frelis and the slime rose misjudging the speed of the shade compared to the flower. Fortunately, the vines were long and the shade ran right into their midsection, giving the slime rose a chance to whip the ends back around and wrap up the shade, stabbing it with countless thorns in the process.
The shade growled and bit back, biting with its fangs and ripping with its claws. Frelis buzzed her wings as she felt the rose’s vines tear through their mana connection. Her flower! The flower she had personally raised, the one who got the Queen of All Flower’s attention and allowed Frelis to fight! Frelis was about to take off with stinger extended when the flower’s mana rushed over her…not frantic, but calm and soothing. Frelis took a closer look with her mana and determined the slime rose itself was not harmed. Indeed, the rose was absorbing water and muck from the swamp all around and its vines were regrowing faster than the shade could tear them.
Frelis calmed down and remembered her role. She gave herself to the instincts the Queen of All Flowers had gifted her and fed her mana into the flower’s. The powerful Nature mana she now possessed flowed towards the rose’s injuries, allowing it to heal even faster than before. Indeed, the slime rose was now healing so much faster than the shade was damaging it that it began to grow new vines with the excess water and mana, using these to tangle up the shade’s legs and claws. The shade struggled with all its strength, but the rose flooded its vines with the water of the Bog while Frelis used her mana to reinforce the vines themselves. They not only matched the shade, they overpowered it!
The shade then took a deep breath…but Frelis was, first and foremost, a bee of the Flower Meadow and the Bee Barracks. She may have been a worker and a gardener, but through her queen and her hive she had witnessed nearly every purification the Tower had ever faced. She knew exactly what this shade intended to do…and therefore so did the slime rose. Frelis flared her mana to give the slime rose as much as it needed, the slime rose quickly grew a new vine that wrapped around the shade’s head and pulled it up. The breath attack the shade released launched harmlessly into the sky, away from the rose.
At that point, the shade began to weaken, the toxins flowing through each and every thorn taking their toll. The sedatives sapped the shade’s strength, the maddening toxins clouded its reactions, all while the more deadly toxins attacked it directly. Soon, the shade could no longer fight back.
Soon, it dispersed entirely. Frelis crawled out of the flower and stared at the fading mist, feeling the chill of the invader replaced with the warmth of the King’s realm. Something in her core vibrated…she felt the Queen of All Flowers’ mana pass through the King’s realm.
A moment later, Frelis burst out into the most exuberant happy dance she had ever performed! They had done it! She had joined the fight alongside her flower and they had come out victorious! She had fulfilled her queen mother’s purpose, the King’s hopes, and even the Queen of All Flowers’ quest!
Her slime rose wiggled happily alongside her. She zipped down into its flower and began dancing around, sharing her celebration with the partner who made it all possible.
“Amazing! Incredible! Flower best flower!”
The slime rose’s wiggling intensified as bee and flower danced together.