The Bee Dungeon
Chapter 37: Reme-Bee-rance

Belissar took a deep breath and forced down his feelings. He forced himself to smile as he turned around to look up at the soldier bee army hovering in the air.

“Great work. Thanks everyone.”

The air buzzed as the soldier bees all danced a salute, while Belissar shook his head. Truth be told, this was an excellent outcome. The purification had been completed, the shades had been defeated, and they had only lost a single squad of soldier bees. He had feared the worst when the shades managed to escape the Pit Trap, so to take them down with fewer losses than even the initial minor purification was a great victory.

Belissar, though, couldn’t help the pain in his chest as he thought of the soldier bee looking up at him. After all, it was he who decided to conduct this purification now, instead of waiting for the corruption to recede over time, and he who decided a stronger purification would be manageable. He was tempted to blame himself for the losses.

But he did not. He forced himself not to.

And the reason for that was the same memory of that soldier bee looking up at him. The loss...the sacrifice...that was a choice that she had made, that they all had made. They had sacrificed themselves to keep the shades down and achieve this victory. Belissar felt that he should celebrate what they had achieved more than he should mourn their loss. And, therefore, he could not permit himself to wallow in guilt.

Instead, he would honor their sacrifice, and make use of the rewards of their victory. And just like that, the words of said reward appeared before his eyes.

Unprompted, for he did not plan to consider it until after the funeral...

Minor+ Purification completed! Please select a reward:

- +15 Max Mana

- Bee Memorial Room Feature

Belissar froze as he stared at the golden and glowing words at the bottom of the list. All his plans and the expansion of his mana went out the window, for he knew what he needed to do.

Bee Memorial Room Feature selected!

Bee Memorial Room Featureis now available!

Compatible bee memorial detected, upgrade?

Belissar confirmed all that as he walked towards the Shrine of Bees at the end of the Flower Meadow. He felt the mana of the Tower flow and saw bright light surrounding the little planks he had stuck in the ground.

When it faded, the little planks were gone. In their place was a large beehouse, shaped like one of his but carved from the same material as the Shrine of Bees’ statue was. Surrounding it were tall pillars of solid wax adorned with bees. The numbers and symbols he had carved into the planks had transferred onto the pillars, with more as well. Belissar stepped up to the pillar and placed his hand on it. Though it was made of wax, it felt as solid as stone.

He also saw markings he had not made. He walked over and looked over them.

Queen 1 – Dynasty 1 – Spawner 1, and her hive of 1018 workers.

Queen 2 – Dynasty 1 – Spawner 1, and her hive of 564 workers.

Queen 3 - Dynasty 1 - Spawner 1, and her hive of 186 workers.

Belissar’s eyes widened, and then he bowed his head as the tears formed.

“Thank you all, for trying to defend me. I’m sorry you had to die because of me. I promise I’ll do better, and won’t let your deaths go to waste.”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

A short while later, the bees finished their victory dances, and gathered by the memorial once more. Belissar had the bees help him gather the ashes at the bottom of the Pit Trap, and placed them within the beehouse at the center of the memorial. Belissar’s eyes widened as the bee carvings in the wax began to move and dance. Perhaps it was a written word, but for the bees themselves?

Belissar nodded towards the soldier bee army.

“Thank you, for your courage and for defending our home.”

They danced their salute and then Belissar turned to the monument, bowing his head.

“And thank you, for your sacrifice.”

Numbers and symbols began to carve themselves into the monument as he spoke, signifying each of the bees that had died that day. The beehouse began to glow with soft, golden light...and the Shrine of Bees next to it began to light up as well. Niobee lead the bees in the slow song from the first funeral, the bees all danced and buzzed slowly in the light.

A tear dropped from Belissar’s eye, but his chest felt lighter. The bees were going to die. If he embarked upon this plan to grow as quickly as possible, they would even die specifically at his command. But now, he knew they would not be forgotten.

And so, he would do all in his power to ensure their sacrifices did not go to waste.

Now that the core was no longer corrupted, Belissar checked if he could initiate a purification...

Please wait 24 hours between purifications.

Remaining cooldown: 21 hours and 49 minutes...

He nodded. So, it wasn’t as if he could face continuous purifications. Maybe one a day at most. But that suited Belissar just fine. He wasn’t in the mood for another purification just yet in any case.

He sat back in a chair in the farmhouse as the sun set, with Niobee drinking from a honeycomb he placed on the table. He reviewed the results of the day.

Multiple shades had caught him off-guard. To be fair, while every purification before now had been one shade, it wasn’t like there was a rule that they had to come alone. But the fact was Belissar simply hadn’t thought about the possibility. And, equally as concerning if not more, the shades had proven they could escape from the Pit Traps. All in all, it had been a miracle and a testament to the soldier bees that this purification had ended with only the loss of a single squad.

So, Belissar thought about what he could do...

Multiple shades and the ability to escape from Pit Traps could be dealt with by the bees. Belissar imagined they would begin training for multiple opponents from now on. If the bees could deal with one of the shades, or even just separate them from each other, then it wouldn’t be a problem. The question is...what would they do about three? Or four? Or ten? Or a hundred?

The other, and perhaps larger, problem, was that Belissar couldn’t pull off his fire pit idea under these circumstances. If there were multiple shades, the ones that didn’t fall into a Pit Trap could hang around its edges and prevent him from approaching. Likewise, if the shades could escape, then it was dangerous for Belissar to approach even if all the shades had fallen into one. He would need to think of alternative methods to light up the pits if he wanted to keep relying on this method.

And...he felt that he should consider the case where he couldn’t rely on that method. If, for one reason or another, he just couldn’t kill a shade with the fire pit, then they would have to be defeated directly by the bees. A method that, as of now, would likely require sacrifice on the bees’ part. Which would likely be inevitable if the shades got stronger or more numerous, but Belissar did want to put as many of the odds in their favor as he could.

So...how could he make the Pit Traps more reliable? And what could he do to ensure the bees would have the best chance?

In the end, it came back to growing stronger, and getting more options to work with. Which he had...

Bee Memorial

Type: Bee, Special

Mana Upkeep: 3

Description: A memorial commemorating those who gave their lives in defense of the hives. Grants all bee-type monsters a small chance to remain active for a short while after a mortal blow. Medium boost to the effect of all sacrificial-type skills. May have additional effects under the right conditions.

Belissar frowned. He hadn’t been considering benefits when he chose the memorial, so it was a pleasant surprise to replace it had such effects. At least, until Belissar thought about what exact effects it had. It made his bees notably more powerful...but only when they were going to die. It would reward sacrifice in particular.

Perhaps...that was the point. If he was interpreting the golden glowing letters correctly...the God of Bees herself had sent this choice to him. Maybe she was reminding him that to be a bee is to embrace sacrifice?

But even so, Belissar wanted to keep sacrifice as the last resort, not the first. So, the memorial’s effects made his Tower and his bees stronger, but they would not enable the bees to handle issues without casualties, so it was not something Belissar wanted to rely on. He would have to do his best to work without the memorial’s effects, and leave it as a fallback for if, and likely when, he made mistakes.

So, he would continue on with the purifications as soon as the cooldown was ready. And in the meantime, he’d brainstorm what he could do with what he had to reduce the sacrifice by even a little bit more...