The Bee Dungeon
Author: Icalos
Chapter 352 - Bee-venge of the Dead
Starami’s forces changed their deployment from before. The scout bees reported that all the tunnels were tightly packed in the same area this time, all heading towards the open fields between the Tower and the fortress the fair folk renovated.
When they hit the surface, another kobolds and drakes poured out and joined together to form one large horde. The Tower Guard deployed as well this time, leading the monsters as they set up a perimeter.
A light fog settled into the area as they work, obscuring their sight. Then…they began to hear bestial groans. The Tower Guard stepped back and sent the kobolds and drakes ahead of them, then gathered into a shield wall behind them.
And just in the nick of time, not a moment later a Ground drake charged out of the fog and crashed into Starami’s monsters with a roar. It tore kobolds apart with its claws and battered them down with its tail. A nearby drake of their own jumped on the attacker, but the attacking drake ignored the fangs sinking into its side and began to tear into their drake in turn. The Tower Guards watched in horror as the attacker sank its fangs into the neck of their drake, ignoring the huge chunk of flesh now missing from its own side.
And then it got worse.
The Tower Guards saw purple light gleaming from the eyes of the attacker…and then saw the same light start to gleam in the eyes of the drake and the kobolds it had slain. The attacking drake nudged the drake it had killed…and the fallen drake then began to rise once more.
“Necromancer!”
The Tower Guard’s shout was nearly drowned out as the roars of drakes and hissing of kobolds filled the fog…followed by a woman’s cackles that they could somehow hear above the din. More undead drakes and kobolds joined the initial attacker and tore through Starami’s monsters. And each time a monster fell…it soon rose to join the ranks of the attackers.
The Tower Guards were not so easily felled, though. They stood together and fought as one, covering for one another as they cut down any kobold that approached. They stepped aside and opened gaps in their lines as the drakes charged into them, then cut into the sides of the lumbering beasts. Those with stronger blessings among them even unleashed breath attacks, small dragonbreaths of their own.
Then, shadows fell over them. They turned up and found claws appearing out of the mist above. One of the Tower Guards cried out, the claws grabbed him and pulled him up out of the mist.
It was then they learned that wyverns had joined the fallen as well.
“Stand together! First line shields forward, all others shields up! Someone get an Air mage to clear this fog!”
A Tower Guard captain attempted to maintain their discipline, but arrows shot towards him from the fog, forcing him to duck behind his shield. And as he turned in that direction, he didn’t notice red mist shimmering behind him.
A blood red blade drove straight through his chest.
“AHAHAHAHAHA!”
A laughing figure in red armor pulled blood right out of the captain’s wound, turning it into spears and flinging them into the surrounding Tower Guards. Under assault from all sides, above, and even from within their own formation, the Tower Guards’ discipline began to break.
A barely orderly retreat was all they could manage.
Back down in his tunnel, Starami frowned. He knew the fey would know mystic arts forbidden among the Conclave, that was precisely what he was hoping to gain from them, after all. But a necromancer and what appeared to be a blood elf, the most vicious of beings that once tormented humanity for sport? All the darkest tales of the fey were rapidly proving themselves true.
And yet…the gods remained displeased with
, who was battling against such evils.
The gods’ aside, he had a more practical problem now as well. With a necromancer present, he could no longer rely on numbers to overwhelm the fey. Sending more of the kobolds and the lesser dragonkin would only feed into their undead army.
No, his only choice now…would be to commit his more powerful assets, ones that could push through with raw individual might. To send them in now just to try and reach the surface, when he hadn’t even reached the Tower, much less learned how the fey had deployed their defenses…was incredibly risky. He was growing increasingly pessimistic about the situation, there was every chance he might spend his strength far too early to achieve victory.
But…what choice did he have? There was nothing but condemnation and disgrace waiting for him back in the Conclave and the gods would give him no aid. If he could not triumph over the fey…then he was finished as a Tower Lord, no matter what else occurred.
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So, Starami decided it was time to commit.
Hesfalle cackled as her book’s pages turned rapidly, new pictures and words flashing into existence with each turn. Her eyes shone bright with a deep purple glow while her skin grew even paler than normal.
“Yes, that’s it! Go, children of death! Wreak your vengeance upon those who took you for naught! Let death come and judge them for their crimes! Then free your brothers and sisters from their torment! AHAHAHAHAHA!”
Lomedys appeared behind her in a burst of red mist, blood splattered on his sword and armor. He chuckled and patted Hesfalle’s shoulder.
“Come now, mistress of death. I am as pleased with the bloodletting as you, but don’t forget the plan. We’re not supposed to chase them down underground, right? Most of the blood master’s army can’t help us down there when the red sun rises and we will need your children to defend his domain.”
“Ah, yes, mister new blood elf over there is right. We should go now, according to our little friends.”
The fog shimmered and Vice-Captain Mahgare of the Royal Pixie Guard appeared, along with a blinding bee communer. The blinding bee was buzzing at maximum speed and volume.
“Need go! Hive of hives says big mana coming! Need leave!”
Hesfalle spread her arms and cackled again.
“Let them come! All shall face death in the end, no matter how great or small!”
Lomedys was about to respond when a huge wave of mana passed over them, silencing the group. One of the tunnels their enemies used exploded, throwing a plume of dirt above the fog. A mighty roar drowned out all other sound and forced the fair folk to cover their ears, then a powerful gust of wind blew across the ground, instantly scattering the fog.
Up in the sky, flying in the light of the moon, was a dragon. One like General Rippotis’ own mount. It took a deep breath and then swept bright fire across the ground, incinerating an entire formation of undead kobolds.
Vice-Captain Mahgare and Lomedys stared at it for a moment, then turned to face each other. The vice-captain of the Royal Pixie Guard smiled.
“Time to go.”
And then he spun around and flew away as fast as he could, his assigned communer right along with him. Lomedys nodded and picked Hesfalle up, threw her over his shoulder, and then started running. Hesfalle’s eyes widened and then she reached her hand back towards the battlefield.
“No! I won’t leave them!”
Lomedys kept running.
“Sorry, Hesfalle, but that’s a dragon.”
Hesfalle twisted and turned.
“Put me down! This is how they all died! I won’t put them through that again, not alone!”
Lomedys’ face fell but he kept his grip firm.
“It’s not the same, because you’ll honor them, won’t you? Who will remember them if you die here?”
Just then, Hesfalle locked eyes with the first Ground drake she raised. The drake bared its fangs, then turned up towards the dragon overhead and roared with all its might. The dragon narrowed its eyes at the challenge and turned to swoop down upon the drake. It casually grabbed the drake with its front feet and shredded it with its claws.
Not before the drake bit one of its toes with all its strength, though, leaving its maw stuck on the dragon’s foot even as the rest of its body was torn away. The dragon ignored it, not even bothering to shake the last bit of corpse away.
The other undead saw this…and then their eyes began to shine bright. One by one, drakes and kobolds began to roar and shout at the dragon with all their might. Undead wyverns beat their tattered wings and charged the dragon even as it unleashed its breath upon them. Burning wyvern bodies crashed into the dragon with whatever force they had left.
Hesfalle began to tear up, but she forced herself to keep watching.
“…thank you all. I will never forget you!”
Vice-Captain Mahgare fell back to fly beside the two dungeon masters.
“If it makes you feel better, they aren’t going to die…again…in vain. We prepared for a dragon, remember? The Captain has a plan bee!”
As the dragon set the field ablaze and tore through the undead, a single green elf ranger ran from the fair folk’s fortress, keeping low while holding his cloak around him. A few companions joined him, flying down by his feet as quietly as they could. When he arrived at the edge of the battle, he crouched down and strung his bow. Then, he took out a special arrow. He frowned as he looked down at his companions.
“Are you sure about this?”
Captain Karpakynne, now the size of a worker bee, made a huge grin.
“Obviously! Finally,
, that conniving canary Henilett is too busy to keep track of me, and Her Majesty told me to do whatever’s necessary to defend Tower Keeper Belissar and his home. So,
, it’s my turn to make the plan, and my turn to fly into the jaws of death! Come, my brave companions! Ride with me into the night and let us stop the burners of hives with our very bodies!”
Two bees hovered beside her, the first digging monster bee assassin and the first monster bee trapper. Both of them danced salutes.
“Ok! But King says don’t die if don’t have to, so won’t fly into jaws.”
The monster bee trapper then placed a wad of sticky web to the tip of the ranger’s arrow, then tied a rope to the back of it connected to a soldier bee-sized net. The digging assassin then clung to the net while the tiny Captain Karpakynne rode on her back.
“Now, shoot us! Shoot us at the enemy! Shoot us into glory!”
The ranger sighed, but knocked the arrow to his bow, then focused and turned his gaze up. He tracked the dragon as it swooped low across the battlefield, spreading fire across the kobolds once more.
“There.”
The ranger stirred up his mana and drew his bow as the dragon flew in their direction, letting the arrow loose as the dragon finished unleashing its breath. The arrow pulled the net with the bee along as it soared into the sky. Captain Karpakynne laughed with all her might as she clung to the bee clinging to the web.
The arrow did not strike the dragon but instead struck the remains of an undead Ground drake’s maw, still clinging to one of the dragon’s toes. It imbedded itself into the corpse’s flesh…and so remained in place even as the dragon turned and continued to fly, unaware that anything had occurred…
In the end, none of the undead could contend with Starami’s dragon any better than their living counterparts could General Rippotis and Raklasi, so the horde was cleared without issue. Starami was deeply concerned that they hadn’t found the necromancer…but none of the corpses rose again. In fact, the fey declined to contest the dragon at all, the field appeared clear once the undead were dealt with.
Starami would remain wary of later ambush, but it appeared the fey feared the power of a true dragon after all. And the way was now clear to their Tower. Starami’s gambit had paid off…
When they hit the surface, another kobolds and drakes poured out and joined together to form one large horde. The Tower Guard deployed as well this time, leading the monsters as they set up a perimeter.
A light fog settled into the area as they work, obscuring their sight. Then…they began to hear bestial groans. The Tower Guard stepped back and sent the kobolds and drakes ahead of them, then gathered into a shield wall behind them.
And just in the nick of time, not a moment later a Ground drake charged out of the fog and crashed into Starami’s monsters with a roar. It tore kobolds apart with its claws and battered them down with its tail. A nearby drake of their own jumped on the attacker, but the attacking drake ignored the fangs sinking into its side and began to tear into their drake in turn. The Tower Guards watched in horror as the attacker sank its fangs into the neck of their drake, ignoring the huge chunk of flesh now missing from its own side.
And then it got worse.
The Tower Guards saw purple light gleaming from the eyes of the attacker…and then saw the same light start to gleam in the eyes of the drake and the kobolds it had slain. The attacking drake nudged the drake it had killed…and the fallen drake then began to rise once more.
“Necromancer!”
The Tower Guard’s shout was nearly drowned out as the roars of drakes and hissing of kobolds filled the fog…followed by a woman’s cackles that they could somehow hear above the din. More undead drakes and kobolds joined the initial attacker and tore through Starami’s monsters. And each time a monster fell…it soon rose to join the ranks of the attackers.
The Tower Guards were not so easily felled, though. They stood together and fought as one, covering for one another as they cut down any kobold that approached. They stepped aside and opened gaps in their lines as the drakes charged into them, then cut into the sides of the lumbering beasts. Those with stronger blessings among them even unleashed breath attacks, small dragonbreaths of their own.
Then, shadows fell over them. They turned up and found claws appearing out of the mist above. One of the Tower Guards cried out, the claws grabbed him and pulled him up out of the mist.
It was then they learned that wyverns had joined the fallen as well.
“Stand together! First line shields forward, all others shields up! Someone get an Air mage to clear this fog!”
A Tower Guard captain attempted to maintain their discipline, but arrows shot towards him from the fog, forcing him to duck behind his shield. And as he turned in that direction, he didn’t notice red mist shimmering behind him.
A blood red blade drove straight through his chest.
“AHAHAHAHAHA!”
A laughing figure in red armor pulled blood right out of the captain’s wound, turning it into spears and flinging them into the surrounding Tower Guards. Under assault from all sides, above, and even from within their own formation, the Tower Guards’ discipline began to break.
A barely orderly retreat was all they could manage.
Back down in his tunnel, Starami frowned. He knew the fey would know mystic arts forbidden among the Conclave, that was precisely what he was hoping to gain from them, after all. But a necromancer and what appeared to be a blood elf, the most vicious of beings that once tormented humanity for sport? All the darkest tales of the fey were rapidly proving themselves true.
And yet…the gods remained displeased with
, who was battling against such evils.
The gods’ aside, he had a more practical problem now as well. With a necromancer present, he could no longer rely on numbers to overwhelm the fey. Sending more of the kobolds and the lesser dragonkin would only feed into their undead army.
No, his only choice now…would be to commit his more powerful assets, ones that could push through with raw individual might. To send them in now just to try and reach the surface, when he hadn’t even reached the Tower, much less learned how the fey had deployed their defenses…was incredibly risky. He was growing increasingly pessimistic about the situation, there was every chance he might spend his strength far too early to achieve victory.
But…what choice did he have? There was nothing but condemnation and disgrace waiting for him back in the Conclave and the gods would give him no aid. If he could not triumph over the fey…then he was finished as a Tower Lord, no matter what else occurred.
If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.
So, Starami decided it was time to commit.
Hesfalle cackled as her book’s pages turned rapidly, new pictures and words flashing into existence with each turn. Her eyes shone bright with a deep purple glow while her skin grew even paler than normal.
“Yes, that’s it! Go, children of death! Wreak your vengeance upon those who took you for naught! Let death come and judge them for their crimes! Then free your brothers and sisters from their torment! AHAHAHAHAHA!”
Lomedys appeared behind her in a burst of red mist, blood splattered on his sword and armor. He chuckled and patted Hesfalle’s shoulder.
“Come now, mistress of death. I am as pleased with the bloodletting as you, but don’t forget the plan. We’re not supposed to chase them down underground, right? Most of the blood master’s army can’t help us down there when the red sun rises and we will need your children to defend his domain.”
“Ah, yes, mister new blood elf over there is right. We should go now, according to our little friends.”
The fog shimmered and Vice-Captain Mahgare of the Royal Pixie Guard appeared, along with a blinding bee communer. The blinding bee was buzzing at maximum speed and volume.
“Need go! Hive of hives says big mana coming! Need leave!”
Hesfalle spread her arms and cackled again.
“Let them come! All shall face death in the end, no matter how great or small!”
Lomedys was about to respond when a huge wave of mana passed over them, silencing the group. One of the tunnels their enemies used exploded, throwing a plume of dirt above the fog. A mighty roar drowned out all other sound and forced the fair folk to cover their ears, then a powerful gust of wind blew across the ground, instantly scattering the fog.
Up in the sky, flying in the light of the moon, was a dragon. One like General Rippotis’ own mount. It took a deep breath and then swept bright fire across the ground, incinerating an entire formation of undead kobolds.
Vice-Captain Mahgare and Lomedys stared at it for a moment, then turned to face each other. The vice-captain of the Royal Pixie Guard smiled.
“Time to go.”
And then he spun around and flew away as fast as he could, his assigned communer right along with him. Lomedys nodded and picked Hesfalle up, threw her over his shoulder, and then started running. Hesfalle’s eyes widened and then she reached her hand back towards the battlefield.
“No! I won’t leave them!”
Lomedys kept running.
“Sorry, Hesfalle, but that’s a dragon.”
Hesfalle twisted and turned.
“Put me down! This is how they all died! I won’t put them through that again, not alone!”
Lomedys’ face fell but he kept his grip firm.
“It’s not the same, because you’ll honor them, won’t you? Who will remember them if you die here?”
Just then, Hesfalle locked eyes with the first Ground drake she raised. The drake bared its fangs, then turned up towards the dragon overhead and roared with all its might. The dragon narrowed its eyes at the challenge and turned to swoop down upon the drake. It casually grabbed the drake with its front feet and shredded it with its claws.
Not before the drake bit one of its toes with all its strength, though, leaving its maw stuck on the dragon’s foot even as the rest of its body was torn away. The dragon ignored it, not even bothering to shake the last bit of corpse away.
The other undead saw this…and then their eyes began to shine bright. One by one, drakes and kobolds began to roar and shout at the dragon with all their might. Undead wyverns beat their tattered wings and charged the dragon even as it unleashed its breath upon them. Burning wyvern bodies crashed into the dragon with whatever force they had left.
Hesfalle began to tear up, but she forced herself to keep watching.
“…thank you all. I will never forget you!”
Vice-Captain Mahgare fell back to fly beside the two dungeon masters.
“If it makes you feel better, they aren’t going to die…again…in vain. We prepared for a dragon, remember? The Captain has a plan bee!”
As the dragon set the field ablaze and tore through the undead, a single green elf ranger ran from the fair folk’s fortress, keeping low while holding his cloak around him. A few companions joined him, flying down by his feet as quietly as they could. When he arrived at the edge of the battle, he crouched down and strung his bow. Then, he took out a special arrow. He frowned as he looked down at his companions.
“Are you sure about this?”
Captain Karpakynne, now the size of a worker bee, made a huge grin.
“Obviously! Finally,
, that conniving canary Henilett is too busy to keep track of me, and Her Majesty told me to do whatever’s necessary to defend Tower Keeper Belissar and his home. So,
, it’s my turn to make the plan, and my turn to fly into the jaws of death! Come, my brave companions! Ride with me into the night and let us stop the burners of hives with our very bodies!”
Two bees hovered beside her, the first digging monster bee assassin and the first monster bee trapper. Both of them danced salutes.
“Ok! But King says don’t die if don’t have to, so won’t fly into jaws.”
The monster bee trapper then placed a wad of sticky web to the tip of the ranger’s arrow, then tied a rope to the back of it connected to a soldier bee-sized net. The digging assassin then clung to the net while the tiny Captain Karpakynne rode on her back.
“Now, shoot us! Shoot us at the enemy! Shoot us into glory!”
The ranger sighed, but knocked the arrow to his bow, then focused and turned his gaze up. He tracked the dragon as it swooped low across the battlefield, spreading fire across the kobolds once more.
“There.”
The ranger stirred up his mana and drew his bow as the dragon flew in their direction, letting the arrow loose as the dragon finished unleashing its breath. The arrow pulled the net with the bee along as it soared into the sky. Captain Karpakynne laughed with all her might as she clung to the bee clinging to the web.
The arrow did not strike the dragon but instead struck the remains of an undead Ground drake’s maw, still clinging to one of the dragon’s toes. It imbedded itself into the corpse’s flesh…and so remained in place even as the dragon turned and continued to fly, unaware that anything had occurred…
In the end, none of the undead could contend with Starami’s dragon any better than their living counterparts could General Rippotis and Raklasi, so the horde was cleared without issue. Starami was deeply concerned that they hadn’t found the necromancer…but none of the corpses rose again. In fact, the fey declined to contest the dragon at all, the field appeared clear once the undead were dealt with.
Starami would remain wary of later ambush, but it appeared the fey feared the power of a true dragon after all. And the way was now clear to their Tower. Starami’s gambit had paid off…