Chapter 419 - Hunger vs Zom-Bees

Belissar and his council watched as the First of the Fifth’s First Daughter danced the hive of hives’ report, then duly considered the situation. Chief Rohsuak crossed her arms.

“So, some sort of poison fog?”

Belissar did his best not to frown.

“It seems that way. The living reanimating bees died…but the zom-bees seem fine. They’re still flying through the room now, the mushrooms don’t seem to react to them.”

Duke Turuhave made a helpless smile.

“Once again the Silver Host find itself incapable of matching little bees. Well then, I suppose your undead bees will clear the room?”

Belissar furrowed his brow.

“Not exactly…”

Belissar looked to the First Daughter and she danced further details.

“Zom-bees tried stinging, but didn’t hurt enemies. Not many zom-bees yet.”

Duke Turuhave tilted his head.

“The bees in questions are necromancers, surely they can raise more?”

Belissar did not hold back his frown this time.

“I don’t want to take bee bodies from the Memorial, if they’re even still there. The reanimating bees can become zom-bees…but they do die in the process. The zom-bees are also not as good at making honey, so we can’t let the Second Third of the First’s entire hive reanimate. She does have some soldiers…or maybe the golems could help? We only have a few, but they aren’t living either…”

The First Daughter jumped in with a dance.

“King! Second of the Sixth has antidote bees, can heal poison!”

Chief Rohsuak nodded.

“That could also be an option. The bees in question were the smallest, perhaps larger warriors could endure for a time. If so, we could jump in, launch some attacks, then retreat and receive healing.”

And the First Daughter still had more dances in store.

“Also, King, Second Third of First and First Butcher say have lots of dead meats if need dead things.”

Belissar’s eyes widened.

“Ah…that’s right, the reanimating bees are supposed to be able to reanimate things other than themselves. Maybe a rabbit or deer corpse could bite the mushrooms?”

Chief Rohsuak nodded…and smirked.

“It’s worth a try. Also, Tower Keeper, if the issue is that the zom-bees can’t hurt the mushrooms with stingers…a few larger ones could always carry Juosiutik’s bombs.”

Belissar blinked…then began to smile.

“Well, it seems like we have a lot of options then. I’d say…let’s see if the Second Third of the First can reanimate some rabbits or deers first. If that doesn’t work, we’ll try having zom-bees or golems carry bombs. We’ll save the antidote bee idea for emergencies.”

Chief Rohsuak gave Belissar a smile and a salute.

“By your will, Tower Keeper.”

The First Daughter, meanwhile, had finished her salute dance and was already relaying his decision to the hive of hives. Duke Turuhave straightened up and gave Belissar a nod.

“The Silver Host will guard the entrance and give you as much time as you need to figure it out.”

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With the plan of action settled, there was nothing left but to get to work.

The Second Third of the First froze as the First Daughter relayed King’s orders. King wanted her to…bring cutes into her hive?

For a brief, shameful moment she questioned King’s wisdom. How could cutes ever join a hive? They were a great scourge, a plague that would wipe the land clean of flowers and starve entire hives.

But she quickly chastised herself. King’s thoughts were beyond her own, King saw things that no queen could. And, now that she thought about it, this was not the first scourge King had brought into the hive of hives. The karnuq resembled hive devourers, the spiderkin natural hunters of bees. Nice one and old one used to be hive burners, and King had even befriended entire hives of hive burners. Even the very concept of the hive of hives fit this pattern, rival hives and rival species of bees did not compete for flowers, but under King’s guidance joined together and created a greater hive than any could build alone.

So, if King said that cutes would now join the hive of hives, who was she to defy him? Perhaps even the cutes could contribute under King’s guidance. Not to mention…the current scourge they now faced was even worse than the cutes, wiping out an entire forest in less than a day. It would be just for such a foe to be felled by a fellow scourge.

With that in mind, the Second Third of the First led her hive home, save for the zom-bees that continued to scout the fallen room. Along the way, she considered how exactly she would fulfill King’s orders.

And, lo and behold, the moment she considered it, her instincts whispered to her and she immediately knew what to do. It was as if her new body had been eagerly waiting for this moment, while the hive mana itself began to surge and pulse.

So, she got to work. She had managed to evolve some of her soldiers into reanimating bees, they would be the crux of the effort. They took to the field, hunting down the cutes as they had done so many times before. The soldiers that had not yet evolved supported them, redirecting and containing cutes, but letting the evolved soldiers give the sting. The Second Third of the First flew with them, supervising the effort personally.

The reanimating soldiers’ stings had become even deadlier, the first cute stung died quickly and even starting decaying before it perished. The Second Third of the First flew down to the fallen cute and tapped it with her antennae, observing it with all of her senses.

And, as her instincts had hinted, there was something more to her soldiers’ stings. Their mana remained within the body, lingering and clinging to the flesh and bones…in much the same way it had in the workers that had become zom-bees. The mana resonated with her as well, it reached for her when she extended her own mana towards it.

As if it wanted to rejoin the hive.

The Second Third of the First gave the mana what it wanted and touched it with her own. The mana linked with her hive mana on contact, joining together as if they had never been apart.

Then, the cute’s body twitched. The cute jerked and shuddered, then rose to its feet. The Second Third of the First buzzed and took some distance…then paused.

The cute turned to her and watched…waited. Waited…for her orders.

She could feel the mana within the cute linked to her hive. She could see through the cute’s eyes, hear through its ears. She gave the cute an order to move and it moved. A cute…had truly joined her hive.

And her hive mana settled, while her instincts filled her with satisfaction. As if this were something she was supposed to do all along, ever since she had evolved. She had taken an enemy of the hive…and made it her own.

She turned towards the nearest shortcut, focusing her attention back upon the greater enemy. Now, she would use an enemy of her hive to bring down another. Now…the invader would know the evil of the cutes.

She spun around and ordered her soldiers to find another. She looked into her instincts and found ways her workers could help, ordering them to search the cutes previously slain to see if any mana lingered in their bodies.

She was originally a queen of the Flower meadow, a battle queen who had helped raise the bee army. Now, it was time for her to raise another.

It didn’t take the Second Third of the First long to reanimate some rabbits, so before the day ended Belissar gathered back with his council and his allies. The Second Third of the First was sending a group of five undead rabbits into the corrupted Fairy Grove, to see if they could damage the mushroom shades.

The rabbits shambled through the entrance, accompanied by zom-bees. They tried to hop, but lacked coordination, so they often tripped over themselves or failed to land properly. Still, they made their way forward as best they could and entered the corrupted room.

Fortunately, Belissar could watch them like any of the Second Third of the First’s workers, so he could observe directly what would happen. The rabbits made their way into the Hunger mist surrounding the mushrooms…and nothing happened. Like the zom-bees, the mist didn’t seem to affect them at all.

The rabbits thus approached the nearest mushroom shade without pause. The shade towered over them like a tree would a human, but the undead were without fear. The rabbits hopped, stumbled, and fell their way to the mushroom’s stalk, then bore their big front teeth.

The zombie rabbits bit into the shade…and a puff of mist burst out of the stalk, engulfing the rabbits. They ignored it and started gnawing through the stalk. They could bite through it…but its size meant it would take them some time.

But the undead were relentless and, eventually, the rabbits gnawed through the stalk. The mushroom’s cap fell over and it burst into more mist. Belissar checked the hostiles remaining…and confirmed it had gone down by one.

He smiled.

“It looks like we have our strategy.”