Chapter 424 - Explosive Bee-calibration

Fortunately, the zom-bees had indeed been at a safe distance. Belissar and the Second Third of the First relayed what the zom-bees saw to the others. Juosiutik frowned as she heard their report.

“The entire sled is gone, along with the rabbits? That’s strange, the fire pot shouldn’t have been powerful enough to do that. And you said the pot didn’t fall over or anything? If there was a leak, it should’ve cracked and then sprayed burning honey…”

Belissar didn’t have any answers. Neither did anyone else and, unfortunately, the sled hadn’t gotten close enough to any of the mushrooms to do any damage. Ultimately, they decided to just try it again…with Juosiutik triple checking the fire pot for cracks.

Once again, they sent a sled pulled by undead rabbits into the room. And, once again, the sled exploded once it entered the mist around the mushrooms.

Juosiutik scowled as Belissar relayed the results.

“Something is going on here and I don’t think it’s the fire pots…”

Chief Rohsuak rubbed her chin.

“Second Third of the First, you mentioned the fire radish glowed briefly before the explosion?”

The Second Third of the First danced a confirmation.

“Did.”

Chief Rohsuak narrowed her eyes.

“I see. In that case…I think it’s a trap. A trap that was probably meant for me.”

She glanced at Juosiutik. The younger karnuq’s eyes widened.

“Ah, you think the mist reacts violently to Fire mana?”

Chief Rohsuak crossed her arms.

“It would be strange if the shades didn’t have some sort of countermeasure to fire.”

Belissar nodded.

“Right, the Fairy Grove tried to use fire when the mushrooms were first spreading. It slowed them down, but the Hunger went underneath.”

Chief Rohsuak hummed to herself.

“The mushrooms don’t use fire and apparently had to tunnel under fire, so aren’t proof against it either. That is strange given how often we use fire against them. But…if, instead of being proof against fire, they have a violent means of counterattacking against it and we had not noticed and proceeded to try and burn out the room with Fire magic…it could have gone poorly.”

Belissar blanched as he imagined Chief Rohsuak using a big Fire attack and making a bunch of the mist explode all at once. It might’ve been like what Tarwantrad did to Starami’s elites with the wall of volatile orchids…only it would have been Chief Rohsuak and anyone with her caught in the middle of it.

“Then…what do we do?”

Chief Rohsuak shrugged.

“First, we need to test if that’s really what’s going on. It’s just a theory, it’s entirely possible I’m wrong. Let’s make sure before we discuss countermeasures.”

The group discussed how to test the theory, preferably as safely as possible. Since there was a small area at the entrance of the room that was clear of mist, they decided to have a fully-blessed karnuq archer step into the room, launch an arrow with a sliver of fire radish attached to it, and then retreat.

One of Tyhgak and Noiggakuq’s teammates volunteered for the job, accompanied by antidote bees in case he inhaled any mist. He stepped in, stood just at the doorway, drew his bow, then let loose and jumped back at the same time, taking the antidote bees with him.

The arrow shot into the mist…and then exploded. A section of the mist reacted much as it had to the sleds. Notably, the explosion did not set off the rest of the mist, leaving the mushrooms safe.

They then repeated the exercise, but with a small piece of mana honeycomb. The arrow flew into the mist…and nothing happened. The arrow landed amidst the mushrooms without incident.

Belissar crossed his arms as he reported the results.

“Ok, so, no Fire mana. Then…what do we do?”

Juosiutik, however, started to grin.

“We use a different kind of bomb.”

Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work!

Belissar stared at her, but her grin only grew.

“Belissar, you saw me working on the combusting orchid bombs, right? They might catch fire…but they don’t have Fire mana. It’s not fire that makes them explode, it’s a reaction to water. So…maybe they won’t trigger the mist.”

Belissar considered that for a moment, but the alchemy was beyond him so he decided to trust Juosiutik’s judgement. There was, however, one issue he could identify himself.

“I thought those bombs weren’t ready? You needed to learn wards to trigger them?”

Juosiutik’s smile started to feel dangerous.

“I need a better method to trigger them reliably…but if we’re using undead to carry them anyways, there’s more options. We can just have a rabbit hold something wet and drop it inside the pot.”

Belissar…supposed there was no reason why they couldn’t do that. The undead rabbits weren’t surviving either way.

At that point, Duke Turuhave spoke.

“Tower Keeper, if it’s explosives without Fire mana that you need, the Silver Host has some stockpiles available. We…generally are not fond of such things, but we’ve been taught that no weapon can be left aside against the Hunger. Exploding wards, necrotic Death mana bombs, burning Light bombs, a whole selection of Flower-based concoctions from Lord Aratodel…we’ve any number of options we could offer.”

Belissar nodded along. It seemed that the bomb plan still had many more chances before they would need a new one.

“Ok, let’s try them.”

He did avert his gaze from Juosiutik’s ever-widening grin as he said that, though.

***

The group decided to try some of the Silver Host’s weapons first because their explosives had reliable trigger methods. The Compact apparently had developed a trigger ward that could even be adjusted so that the explosive would detonate after some time, so the rabbits wouldn’t need to trigger the bomb themselves. The rabbits also wouldn’t need stay by the bomb when it exploded, a third rabbit could simply push the bomb off the sled and then they could all retreat. While it was fine to lose the undead, they did still take mana and effort for the Second Third of the First to raise, so it was better not to waste them.

Thus why they were not trying Juosiutik’s new bomb first.

And so off they sent a bomb, an explosive glowing sphere that didn’t rely on Fire mana just to see if it would trigger the mist. The rabbits pulled their sled into the room and hopped into the mist, the sled bumping along after them. The mist contacted the bomb…and nothing happened.

The rabbits pulled the sled up to a mushroom, then a third rabbit pushed the bomb off the sled. The rabbits hopped away as Belissar waited for the bomb to trigger.

The sphere’s glow began to intensify…then it burst.

The mist did not trigger, even after the sphere exploded. The explosion blew right through a mushroom’s stalk and the whole thing fell over. It vanished into mist as it hit the ground…and the corrupting forms counter went down by one.

Belissar grinned as he watched through the zom-bees’ eyes.

“It worked.”

The Second Third of the First danced, Juosiutik cackled, while Chief Rohsuak and Duke Turuhave both chuckled. From then on, the work began in earnest.

The Second Third of the First began raising as many undead rabbits as she could. The karnuq brought every small sled they had and started making more. The Silver Host brought out every non-Fire mana explosive they had, while Juosiutik and her bee and spiderkin assistants started preparing more combusting orchid bombs in case the Silver Host ran out.

All the while, each undead rabbit sled that was ready began hauling bombs into the corrupted Fairy Grove and leaving them by mushrooms. Searing Light burned through stalks, Death mana caused mushrooms to rapidly decay, a torrent of Water simply smashed through and knocked the mushrooms over. Poison bombs were hit or miss, apparently the mushrooms had some resistance to poison, but some of the more deadly toxins and ones specifically aimed at mushrooms managed to work.

Eventually, the Hunger fought back. Another group of shades appeared, lightning birds that dove down on the rabbits and destroyed a sled. But the Second Third of the First just pulled back her sleds and the birds eventually attempted to assault the rest of the Tower. The Silver Host’s archers brought them down the moment they left the corrupted room, then the Tower’s own assault resumed.

With explosions dyed every color of the rainbow and just as many effects, the rabbit sleds blew their way through the mushrooms. By the time the sun had set, they were starting to approach one of former fairy circles…where a giant mushroom shade now towered over the room. The mist grew thicker the closer they got to it and the zom-bees began buzzing. Belissar frowned.

“Is something the matter?”

The Second Third of the First buzzed.

“Workers feel weird, say don’t like. Making them want attack.”

Belissar’s frown deepened.

“Let’s be careful, then.”

The Second Third of the First danced a salute and kept the zom-bees back as a rabbit sled moved towards the big mushroom, carrying one of the bigger bombs the Silver Host had available. The big, brightly glowing sphere was so big it took four rabbits and a larger sled to pull it. But as they approached, the mist began to stir. Larger chunks of mist began dropping from the cap of the big mushroom, falling like dark bits of snow until they landed on the rabbits and…

Nothing happened.

The rabbits kept hopping along with clumps of mist landing on them until they reached the big stalk. There were two rabbits on the sled this time and they pushed against the sphere…and it didn’t move. The Second Third of the First ordered them to tackle the sphere instead, leaping and pushing their bodies against it…when they didn’t stumble and miss, that was. It took a while, but the rabbits eventually managed to push the bomb of the sled and next to the giant mushroom stalk.

The Second Third of the First then ordered the rabbits to flee and the zom-bees to take further distance…

Then the room lit up, a bright light cutting through the dark mist covering the room.

Unfortunately, the rabbits took too long to push the bomb off the sled and weren’t entirely out of its range. They were flung through the air by the explosion, sled and all, though they weren’t destroyed outright. One of them flew past one of the zom-bees hovering in the air and a clump of the denser mist fell off its fur, landing on the zom-bee.

The mist then came alive and tried to break into the zom-bees chitin. The zom-bee buzzed and began thrusting her abdomen, trying to sting. Unfortunately, the mist clump was on her back and she couldn’t reach it, so she could do nothing as the mist formed itself into what looked like roots, cracked open a hole in her chitin and wormed its way inside her body…

Where it contacted her mana and began to shrivel immediately, before dying and fading away.

Though that did nothing to relieve Belissar’s sheer horror.