The Bee Dungeon
Chapter 285: Bee Bogged Down!

Belissar did his best not to grimace. They had already lost two bees with several more injured, some grievously, and the main battle had not yet started. And yet, the Third of the Fourth did not seem disturbed, she even seemed proud and happy as she returned to the Orchard to join him and the queens. Belissar forced a smile onto his face as she approached.

“Good job, Third of the Fourth.”

The queen broke out into a happy dance, lifting Belissar’s mood just a bit. He would need that boost to face what was to come.

Remaining hostiles: 11,934. Remaining waves: 2.

The various ward and pixie-empowered traps in the Dirt Tunnels and the volcano and bees in the Lava Field had taken their toll, but there were still over ten thousand ant shades approaching the bog. It would be up to the Tower’s defenders to stop them…no matter the cost.

“Here they come!”

Belissar called out as the shades reached the Lava Field’s exit. Captain Karpakynne nodded and lifted her hand high above her head. A ball of light appeared and shot up into the sky. Members of the Royal Pixie Guard at the front of the room giggled and flew over the small patches of mist where Belissar had placed the vaporous hemlock. The pixies spread their arms and wings, causing sparkling dust to fall over the mist clouds. The water of the swamp beneath began to bubble and soon the mist clouds started growing larger, until the entire front quarter of the room was covered in toxic fog.

The ant shade army then marched through the Bog’s entrance. The ants were light enough that they didn’t sink into the water or mud, but they also couldn’t crawl on it well, so they tried to stick to solid ground as best they could. They got about halfway through the fog before the first ants started reacting to the poison. The toxins in the mist may have been diluted, but they still built up quickly within the small bodies of the shades. Soon, like in the Dirt Tunnels before, the entire swarm was thrashing about and searching for the source.

But they were not in a contained tunnel anymore. They were forced to spread out over the bog and either following winding paths of sparse solid ground or else try to form bridges across pools of water. Thrashing ants near death tried to climb over each other and forced their fellows into the mud, which clung and grabbed at any shade that broke its surface. The wardens had also placed exploding wards in that area as well, making the solid ground no less dangerous than the water. And, most of all, the ants were not alone this time.

Sparks of light and mana burst through the fog at different points, accompanied by the giggling of pixies. Each time one did, any ant shade that noticed charged towards it, honing in on any powerful source of mana as a potential threat. The pixies giggled and flew over the fog, guiding the swarm further away from the vaporous hemlock. Occasionally they would throw a mana burst back over the swarm, causing the ants in front to double back and pile up on the ones behind. The swarm was soon milling around in chaos.

The bees joined them as well: All available archers and sprayers hovered up and over the fog and bombarded the shades below with stingers and toxic sprays. The sprayers were up beyond their normal effective range…but with so many shades even a dispersed spray would still hit and add just a bit more poison to the toxic fog. Meanwhile, the Third of the Third directed the constructions squads and the bumblebees in carrying stakes and rocks, then dropped them from above. Muuraqi the karnuq mason had come up with that idea, the Third of the Third was gratified to see her hive’s latest efforts had battle applications after all.

And this time, Belissar got to participate personally. He used his Tower sight to see through the fog and guide the bees’ aim, relaying the location of the shades through the communer networks. He may not have been fighting directly, but he was gratified to take an active hand in the bees’ fight.

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However, eventually the weight of numbers showed. The ants had started lobbing flame globs around from the moment they noticed the poison. Most of these landed harmlessly in the bog, extinguished by mud or vanishing in a little puff of steam when they hit water. Eventually, though, some started to hit the vaporous hemlock, eventually enough to burn the plants down. There was a final burst of toxic mist, but then the hemlock was no more. It took some time to clear up but the fog slowly grew less toxic.

And so began the second phase of the battle. The pixies kept up their magic, keeping the fog in place even without the hemlock. And now that the mist was no longer toxic, the bees and battle wardens moved in. Blinding and digging bees used their mana navigation meant for the dark to guide the other bees through the fog, allowing soldier bees to dive down on shades they couldn’t see. Swimming bees stung the ant bridges from underneath the water’s surface, while slime bees engulfed the shades and pulled them underwater. And overhead, the archers, sprayers, and construction teams never ceased their barrage.

The battle wardens entered the fray as well, allowing Belissar his first glimpse of the fair folk in direct combat. They seemed to have no trouble navigating the fog, striking their foes with enchanted blades and bows in precise strikes. They also took advantage of the mist, waving their hands to condense the mist around them into floating streams of water. They used these to form new wards on the spot. Spouts of water burst into the sky, sending ant shades flying helpless for the bees to sting midair. A whirlpool formed where Belissar had placed a Pit Trap under the mud, pulling a group of shades down into its depths. The mist condensed into spears of water and ice while the mud formed into stone spikes that all thrust into the swarm.

The Royal Pixie Guard refrained from joining the battle directly, to Captain Karpakynne’s annoyance. Instead, they spread their magic across the fog, causing it to feel denser in places. Not only was it much harder to see through those places, but sounds also didn’t seem to travel from one side to the other and a powerful stench filled the air. As a result, the swarm was not reacting as a whole when different groups came under attack. The bees and the wardens suffered far fewer counterattacks than the Third of the Fourth’s burning bees had.

The shades were countering, of course, and with the sheer number of fire globs thrown around some did hit their targets. But since the ants couldn’t see the defenders coming and couldn’t tell when their swarm mates were under attack, far fewer globs hit any single defender. The battle wardens had wards enchanted into their armor, creating barriers that shrugged off what few globs hit them. Some of the bees had the pixies’ bee armor as well, while the Fire Resistant Bees perk did its job for those who did not. Even bees that were knocked out of the sky by globs to the wings were not set upon by as many ants as in the Lava Field and could be rescued by the swimming and slime bees in the water. There were some injuries, but no bee had fallen yet.

Belissar held his breath and waited for the shades to pull out new attacks…but they never did. The shade swarm’s response to these tactics was to push forward through weight of bodies, the ants just didn’t seem to have any attacks beyond their fire globs and their mandibles. The fog did thin somewhat in the early part of the room, where the Hunger’s corruption covered the swamp…but the pixies brought more mist over from the uncorrupted portion to restore it. The fog spread across the whole room so the ambushes could continue across its entire length. The shades ultimately had no choice but to continue crawling forward. With no change in the Hunger’s approach, the bee army and the fair folk felt no need to change theirs. The ants in the front were halted by the attacks. The ants behind continued marching on and joined the others ahead…but anytime the ants piled up enough to push through the bee attacks the wardens would cast their spells and eliminate the big groups. The swarm’s advance ground to a halt even as their numbers fell rapidly.

As the swarm thinned out, Wardmaster Varilold and Captain Karpakynne took a group of wardens and pixies and marched to the far end of the bog. There, they cooperated to cast a huge magic circle that formed a big wave of water and mud. The swimming bees resurfaced and took to the skies while the slime bees dove down into one of the Pit Traps, and then the wave surged across the room. The remaining ant shades were caught up in it and drowned.

Belissar blinked. They…had won? Just like that? Without even that big fire resistance spell Chief Rohsuak and the Third of the Sixth were planning?

Remaining hostiles: 0. Wave 1 completed.

Belissar slowly began to smile, but the Tower’s messages weren’t finished.

Wave 2 commencing.