The Bee Dungeon
Author: Icalos
Chapter 324 - Leave Bee-ciding to Bees
Belissar wasted no further time opening up the rewards.
Belissar grinned at the selection of rares before him, all of which sounded like new soldiers for the monster bee hives. The bees perked up and began to buzz louder as they waited for him to begin reading the descriptions.
Belissar was a bit confused by this one. It seemed to be an evolution of a monster bee grappler, a type of bee he didn’t have. Belissar decided first to listen in to the hive of hives and see if they knew anything about that line of bees.
“Bruiser, grappler, what that?”
…it seemed they didn’t know any more than he did, at least at first. But then, he felt the First Stingless Queen gingerly spreading her mana and pheromones.
“Sounds like stingless worker? When fight other hive, tackle other workers and crash into ground to kill.”
A wave of realization and then agreement passed through the hive of hives as the monster bee queens considered that. Belissar tended to agree as well, the preview the Tower gave him showed a big bee with heavy chitin and long, thick legs that could easily wrap around a target. Its legs were tipped with hooks and claws as well, and it had a big set of piercing mandibles on its face as well.
“I think she’s right, the monster definitely looks like it could do that.”
That was…an interesting tactic for a bee, in Belissar’s opinion. But as he thought about it, it would make sense for the stingless bees since, well, they didn’t have stingers to fight with. As for this bee…a big, tough bee that could grapple with the enemy did sound quite useful for the bee army, though it would certainly put itself in harms way in the process.
Speaking of which, the monster bee knight, a repeat option, was also a bigger, tougher bee that could handle more danger than the soldiers or lancers could. The bruiser was even tougher than the knight, but its stinger was noticeably smaller, no bigger than a soldier’s, so it certainly wouldn’t be as good at stinging.
And that left the final option.
At first, the glaiver looked like a larger lancer, but with one very obvious difference. The glaiver’s stinger was a big, curved claw, like the blade of a sword or a scythe, pointed down so the bee could swing it along its normal stinging motion. The bee had additional claws on its front two legs, though these were significantly smaller. Other than that, its wings were big and powerful and seemed more flexible than the lancer’s. Its chitin, though as thick as a lancer’s in absolute terms, seemed thinner in comparison to the bee’s larger size, making this bee the lightest of the options by far.
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Belissar turned his attention to the hive of hives rather than analyzing the options himself. All three options were brood offspring this time, so he felt this was a decision the hive of hives should make for themselves.
And indeed, the queens were zipping about as they danced with one another, particularly the battle meadow queens.
“Knights, powerful, but Firstborn can already make?”
“Can, but queens need evolve into chivalric if they want to make too.”
“Bruisers…tough, strong?”
“Are, but stingers small. Can grab enemy but can’t sting, need other bees to sting?”
“First Stingless Queen says tackle flying enemy and make stop flying, hurt when hit ground. But…bee that does gets hurt too.”
“Bruisers get hurt less because tough?”
“Glaivers get hurt less?”
“But sound like dive like lancer? How different?”
“Stinger different, somehow, but not sure…”
Belissar frowned. He wasn’t sure precisely how to convey the preview he saw to the bees. But a moment later, he blinked, smiled, and then lightly smacked his head. He
have a way to show the bees!”
He reached out his mana to the hive of hives, causing all the bees to cease dancing at once. He didn’t say anything, but instead brought up the previews of the new options once more, trying to imagine those pictures flowing to the hive link.
A moment later, the Fourth of the Seventh burst out dancing.
“Amazing, incredible! Can see new bees! King is best king!”
Belissar smiled as all the bees joined the Fourth of the Seventh in the same dance.
“Just so you all can see what you’re choosing. Please, continue your dances.”
With that, he fell silent. It took a bit for the bees to stop the “amazing, incredible!” dance and get back to the discussion, but once they did things moved quickly.
“Oh, is like butcher mandibles! Good for biting!”
“So glaiver fly by enemy and bite?”
“King said bite
flying. Can keep flying so can do more than once.”
“If can…then amazing, incredible! Can bite and dodge at same time!”
The battle meadow queens all buzzed and vibrated at that before bursting out into rapid dance.
“Amazing, incredible! Good for squad attack!”
The excited dance quickly spread through the hive of hives. Belissar smiled.
“It sounds like you’ve decided?”
The First of the Fifth’s First Daughter gave the reply.
“Yes! Battle meadow queens think glaiver best to dive with squads. Knights, bruisers tough but Firstborn can already raise.”
Belissar nodded.
“Got it, we’ll go with that then. Should we check the perks first, though, before making the final decision?”
“Ok!”
Assault Captains was one they had seen before…and one that had the battle meadow queens dancing once more. Apparently, they had grown far more excited about captains recently, so a perk that made captains better at fighting now greatly appealed to them.
Still, there were two more perks to check and Belissar was eager to read the next one’s description…if only because he had
idea what it could be from the name alone.
Belissar tilted his head.
“Constructs…so, golems?”
He glanced over at Tamosmed, who nodded.
“Yes. You’ve experienced making a golem’s core, right? It sounds like this perk will let your bees skip that step by moving the golem directly.”
Belissar’s eyes widened.
“That sounds amazing. That was the hardest part…”
Tamosmed furrowed his brow.
“Yes…and no. It’s true it lets them skip the hardest part when making a golem…but you then need bees to act as the core for every single golem they make. Making a core make take more time and effort, but the bees could make as many as they want.”
Belissar frowned.
“So, does that mean it’s worse?”
Tamosmed shook his head again.
“It’s something different entirely, rather than better or worse. This kind of perk isn’t great for mass-producing golems…but rather, for making a few stronger golems. Golems are normally limited to simple directions, but if an intelligent species is controlling one directly they can do anything they can think of. And then there’s the part about the golem being affected by the bees’ perks and enhancements…I imagine that would result in a significant boost in performance in your Tower.”
Belissar’s face scrunched up as he tried to imagine what all that meant. Tamosmed sighed and rubbed his chin.
“Maybe think of it like this: it’s less like your bees making a golem and more like your bees wearing a golem like a set of enchanted armor. Also, I’ve just been using golems as an example you’re familiar with…but know that this perk applies to other constructs as well. Living armors, floatings swords, I think even certain kinds of necromancy and plant animation can count as constructs, though you’d best ask Hesfalle or Tarwantrad about that. You can think of this perk as opening up a whole new set of tools that your bees will be able to use.”
Belissar’s eyes widened. That…certainly sounded appealing. Perhaps more appealing than the next perk, if the name was any indication…
Unfortunately, Belissar’s guess was accurate. This perk could turn all of his bees into berserkers. It certainly made them powerful…but all the downsides that applied to monster bee berserkers would apply to all of his bees. If monster bee berserkers didn’t fit into the army before, changing the entire army into berserkers definitely didn’t fit now.
“Ok, I think the last one doesn’t work well with the bee army right now, so let’s consider the first two.”
The bee army queens and then the wider hive of hives decided fairly quickly. Assault Captains would be a big boon to their army, especially now that the bee army queens were planning to have captains lead the individual squads. The captains would boost their squads whenever they dove together with their soldiers and for any bees that subsequently attacked the same target. The First of the Second pointed out that would combine well with the Bee Swarm Barrage effect, making the bees ever more powerful the more they attacked a single foe.
But the bees didn’t really know the full potential of Bee Core Animation. Belissar couldn’t say he did either, but Tamosmed’s explanation certainly made it sound powerful. He decided to ask the expert once more.
“So, this Bee Core Animation…what sort of tools would it give the bees?”
Tamosmed shrugged.
“Whatever tools we can think of to build. To be honest, though, it’s a skill you can learn manually, most of the black elf construct crafters learn it during their apprenticeships. You don’t
to take a perk for it, you’ll just have to have each bee you want to learn it spend some time studying and practicing instead. The part that’s unique to the perk would be about Bee-type perks applying to the constructs, but your beeswax golems are already a Bee-type monster so it’d only apply to other kinds of constructs you might add to your dungeon later. I can help you build some if you want.”
Belissar nodded and made his choice. The bees had made theirs and he did not have a good enough reason to oppose them.
“Ok, let’s go with glaivers and Assault Captains, then?”
The bees burst out into “Amazing, incredible, King is best king!” dances. Belissar smiled, now assured of the choice. He never felt wrong making his bees happy.
Belissar grinned at the selection of rares before him, all of which sounded like new soldiers for the monster bee hives. The bees perked up and began to buzz louder as they waited for him to begin reading the descriptions.
Belissar was a bit confused by this one. It seemed to be an evolution of a monster bee grappler, a type of bee he didn’t have. Belissar decided first to listen in to the hive of hives and see if they knew anything about that line of bees.
“Bruiser, grappler, what that?”
…it seemed they didn’t know any more than he did, at least at first. But then, he felt the First Stingless Queen gingerly spreading her mana and pheromones.
“Sounds like stingless worker? When fight other hive, tackle other workers and crash into ground to kill.”
A wave of realization and then agreement passed through the hive of hives as the monster bee queens considered that. Belissar tended to agree as well, the preview the Tower gave him showed a big bee with heavy chitin and long, thick legs that could easily wrap around a target. Its legs were tipped with hooks and claws as well, and it had a big set of piercing mandibles on its face as well.
“I think she’s right, the monster definitely looks like it could do that.”
That was…an interesting tactic for a bee, in Belissar’s opinion. But as he thought about it, it would make sense for the stingless bees since, well, they didn’t have stingers to fight with. As for this bee…a big, tough bee that could grapple with the enemy did sound quite useful for the bee army, though it would certainly put itself in harms way in the process.
Speaking of which, the monster bee knight, a repeat option, was also a bigger, tougher bee that could handle more danger than the soldiers or lancers could. The bruiser was even tougher than the knight, but its stinger was noticeably smaller, no bigger than a soldier’s, so it certainly wouldn’t be as good at stinging.
And that left the final option.
At first, the glaiver looked like a larger lancer, but with one very obvious difference. The glaiver’s stinger was a big, curved claw, like the blade of a sword or a scythe, pointed down so the bee could swing it along its normal stinging motion. The bee had additional claws on its front two legs, though these were significantly smaller. Other than that, its wings were big and powerful and seemed more flexible than the lancer’s. Its chitin, though as thick as a lancer’s in absolute terms, seemed thinner in comparison to the bee’s larger size, making this bee the lightest of the options by far.
Stolen content warning: this content belongs on NovelBin. Report any occurrences.
Belissar turned his attention to the hive of hives rather than analyzing the options himself. All three options were brood offspring this time, so he felt this was a decision the hive of hives should make for themselves.
And indeed, the queens were zipping about as they danced with one another, particularly the battle meadow queens.
“Knights, powerful, but Firstborn can already make?”
“Can, but queens need evolve into chivalric if they want to make too.”
“Bruisers…tough, strong?”
“Are, but stingers small. Can grab enemy but can’t sting, need other bees to sting?”
“First Stingless Queen says tackle flying enemy and make stop flying, hurt when hit ground. But…bee that does gets hurt too.”
“Bruisers get hurt less because tough?”
“Glaivers get hurt less?”
“But sound like dive like lancer? How different?”
“Stinger different, somehow, but not sure…”
Belissar frowned. He wasn’t sure precisely how to convey the preview he saw to the bees. But a moment later, he blinked, smiled, and then lightly smacked his head. He
have a way to show the bees!”
He reached out his mana to the hive of hives, causing all the bees to cease dancing at once. He didn’t say anything, but instead brought up the previews of the new options once more, trying to imagine those pictures flowing to the hive link.
A moment later, the Fourth of the Seventh burst out dancing.
“Amazing, incredible! Can see new bees! King is best king!”
Belissar smiled as all the bees joined the Fourth of the Seventh in the same dance.
“Just so you all can see what you’re choosing. Please, continue your dances.”
With that, he fell silent. It took a bit for the bees to stop the “amazing, incredible!” dance and get back to the discussion, but once they did things moved quickly.
“Oh, is like butcher mandibles! Good for biting!”
“So glaiver fly by enemy and bite?”
“King said bite
flying. Can keep flying so can do more than once.”
“If can…then amazing, incredible! Can bite and dodge at same time!”
The battle meadow queens all buzzed and vibrated at that before bursting out into rapid dance.
“Amazing, incredible! Good for squad attack!”
The excited dance quickly spread through the hive of hives. Belissar smiled.
“It sounds like you’ve decided?”
The First of the Fifth’s First Daughter gave the reply.
“Yes! Battle meadow queens think glaiver best to dive with squads. Knights, bruisers tough but Firstborn can already raise.”
Belissar nodded.
“Got it, we’ll go with that then. Should we check the perks first, though, before making the final decision?”
“Ok!”
Assault Captains was one they had seen before…and one that had the battle meadow queens dancing once more. Apparently, they had grown far more excited about captains recently, so a perk that made captains better at fighting now greatly appealed to them.
Still, there were two more perks to check and Belissar was eager to read the next one’s description…if only because he had
idea what it could be from the name alone.
Belissar tilted his head.
“Constructs…so, golems?”
He glanced over at Tamosmed, who nodded.
“Yes. You’ve experienced making a golem’s core, right? It sounds like this perk will let your bees skip that step by moving the golem directly.”
Belissar’s eyes widened.
“That sounds amazing. That was the hardest part…”
Tamosmed furrowed his brow.
“Yes…and no. It’s true it lets them skip the hardest part when making a golem…but you then need bees to act as the core for every single golem they make. Making a core make take more time and effort, but the bees could make as many as they want.”
Belissar frowned.
“So, does that mean it’s worse?”
Tamosmed shook his head again.
“It’s something different entirely, rather than better or worse. This kind of perk isn’t great for mass-producing golems…but rather, for making a few stronger golems. Golems are normally limited to simple directions, but if an intelligent species is controlling one directly they can do anything they can think of. And then there’s the part about the golem being affected by the bees’ perks and enhancements…I imagine that would result in a significant boost in performance in your Tower.”
Belissar’s face scrunched up as he tried to imagine what all that meant. Tamosmed sighed and rubbed his chin.
“Maybe think of it like this: it’s less like your bees making a golem and more like your bees wearing a golem like a set of enchanted armor. Also, I’ve just been using golems as an example you’re familiar with…but know that this perk applies to other constructs as well. Living armors, floatings swords, I think even certain kinds of necromancy and plant animation can count as constructs, though you’d best ask Hesfalle or Tarwantrad about that. You can think of this perk as opening up a whole new set of tools that your bees will be able to use.”
Belissar’s eyes widened. That…certainly sounded appealing. Perhaps more appealing than the next perk, if the name was any indication…
Unfortunately, Belissar’s guess was accurate. This perk could turn all of his bees into berserkers. It certainly made them powerful…but all the downsides that applied to monster bee berserkers would apply to all of his bees. If monster bee berserkers didn’t fit into the army before, changing the entire army into berserkers definitely didn’t fit now.
“Ok, I think the last one doesn’t work well with the bee army right now, so let’s consider the first two.”
The bee army queens and then the wider hive of hives decided fairly quickly. Assault Captains would be a big boon to their army, especially now that the bee army queens were planning to have captains lead the individual squads. The captains would boost their squads whenever they dove together with their soldiers and for any bees that subsequently attacked the same target. The First of the Second pointed out that would combine well with the Bee Swarm Barrage effect, making the bees ever more powerful the more they attacked a single foe.
But the bees didn’t really know the full potential of Bee Core Animation. Belissar couldn’t say he did either, but Tamosmed’s explanation certainly made it sound powerful. He decided to ask the expert once more.
“So, this Bee Core Animation…what sort of tools would it give the bees?”
Tamosmed shrugged.
“Whatever tools we can think of to build. To be honest, though, it’s a skill you can learn manually, most of the black elf construct crafters learn it during their apprenticeships. You don’t
to take a perk for it, you’ll just have to have each bee you want to learn it spend some time studying and practicing instead. The part that’s unique to the perk would be about Bee-type perks applying to the constructs, but your beeswax golems are already a Bee-type monster so it’d only apply to other kinds of constructs you might add to your dungeon later. I can help you build some if you want.”
Belissar nodded and made his choice. The bees had made theirs and he did not have a good enough reason to oppose them.
“Ok, let’s go with glaivers and Assault Captains, then?”
The bees burst out into “Amazing, incredible, King is best king!” dances. Belissar smiled, now assured of the choice. He never felt wrong making his bees happy.