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BD - Chapter 312 - Quickly Bee-veloping Battlefields
🕑 Added 2025-08-26 20:05:01 +0000 UTCBelissar was running low on available mana at that point, so he finished up his adjustments to the Tower for the day, at least until he could consult with Frelis on a venomous slime rose spawner.
At that point, Henilett stopped by and informed Belissar that the signatories were planning to meet once more the next day…which he was one of now, and thus was requested to attend. She did inform him that signatories were allowed to send a trusted representative in their stead, Queen Vanieskon often sent Henilett for that very purpose, but Belissar decided to go himself. Chief Rohsuak would be his normal choice for diplomacy, but Belissar would rather have her focus on training the spiderkin and the Third of the Sixth. Besides her, the other karnuq weren’t as experienced in diplomacy as their chief, the spiderkin were too young, neither Hirkolos nor Sehfitis were comfortable around the fair folk yet, and Belissar definitely didn’t want to drag a bee queen away from her hive.
Besides, they would be discussing opening relations between the Compact and the sigmaka, which would be to Belissar’s benefit, so it would be good of him to attend.
At that stage, they were approaching the cooldown for the minor purifications again. Belissar initially was going to skip this one to avoid endangering the sigmaka challengers…but the ease with which the Tower defeated the minor purifications before had him reconsider. The first Dirt Tunnels’ traps could defeat the minor purifications shades all on their own, if Belissar deployed the bee army at the entrance they could probably complete the purification without any risk to the sigmaka further within. Belissar moved his Tower sight to check on the sigmaka and see where they were at the moment.
He tilted his head. All of the sigmaka challengers were gathered together, but not at the entrance. They were all standing around the entrance to the candle tunnel, with an intoxicated squad being treated. Belissar grimaced…he had somewhat forgotten that the adjustments he made to the room’s traps would become obstacles for the sigmaka as well. He supposed he was just lucky they stopped at the candle trap and not the wall trap that would lock them in.
He considered removing the trap for now, but before he decided a squad of sigmaka tightened masks around their mouths and began running down the tunnel. When they were approaching the first candle, the part where the smoke started to concentrate, they thrust their hands forward and unleashed the clouds of noxious mist he had seen them use against the spiderkin. They continued doing so as they sprinted down the tunnel, filling it full of their own gaseous mix alongside the maddening smoke…
Eventually, they made it to the end. They ripped off their masks and started gagging and dry heaving…but they were conscious and only a bit light on their feet. The squad each drank a potion of some sort, then turned and waved to the others. The other sigmaka challengers began following suit and soon, all of them were across. None had any trouble save a group who unfortunately spawned remnants halfway through and had to stop and fight, but they made it through as well, if stumbling about by the end of it.
Belissar was surprised at how well the sigmaka handled the trap…and it caused him to consider the traps once again. He may have been using maddening honey instead of the deadly toxic honey he used during the expansion, but it still turned out the sigmaka dealt with the danger far more easily than the ant shades had. And then…the sigmaka communicated their success with each other, such that every group of challengers in the Tower today was able to handle the trap. That, perhaps, hinted at how the Tower Guard might deal with it as well.
As a result…Belissar did not remove the wall trap as he originally intended. Instead, he just asked for digging and medicinal bees to wait on standby in case the sigmaka needed a rescue. He also sent word to the bees waiting at the end of the Dirt Tunnels to increase the rewards for any sigmaka challengers that reached them. He was curious to see if and how the sigmaka would approach the next trap…
In any case, Belissar had confirmed there were no sigmaka by the entrance and that it would be relatively safe to conduct a minor purification. Since they were still in the Dirt Tunnels, though, Belissar did not want to risk relying on traps, lest a shade from the purification make it to their location. So, Belissar asked the bee army if they’d be willing to deploy forces to face a minor purification directly.
“Yes! Will! King is best king!”
They were most definitely willing.
***
The First of the Second watched as her fellow queens of the soldier bee army gathered together. The First of the Fifth’s First Daughter’s hive link was amazing and incredible, allowing all queens to contact each other whenever they wanted, but the soldier bee army had learned that sometimes it was best to handle a task in person. Having a queen command the army personally had improved its efficiency even despite communers allowing them to do it from afar, after all. Thus did the queens gather in response to the King’s command, not wanting to give it anything less than their all.
The Firstborn, of course, volunteered.
“Can go and fight, make sure sigmaka not hurt.”
The other queens danced their agreement…except for the First of the Second. The Firstborn appeared to notice her hesitation and turned towards her.
“First of the Second? Have other idea?”
The First of the Second hadn’t sorted out her own thoughts yet, but she knew something held her back. She tried dancing it out to both sort and convey her thoughts at the same time.
“Firstborn handling feels…inefficient.”
The Firstborn’s antennae twitched and her wings briefly buzzed. The First of the Second did slightly regret the choice of dance, she knew the Firstborn was…sensitive about inefficiency after the First of the Fifth tore her apart for the state of her worker organization in the past. Not that any other queen of the Flower Meadow had been any better, even the First of the Second who had tried to keep her hive running well had to scramble to reorganize after learning just how bad a job they had done compared to the Apiary queens. But none had endured the First of the Fifth’s full displeasure as the Firstborn had, an experience she was not soon to forget. Indeed, the Firstborn now closed in on her.
“Inefficient? How? How fix?”
The First of the Second knew that now that she had danced it, she had to explain what she meant. The Firstborn would not rest until the inefficiency was eliminated. There was a reason she had sent a communer to watch the First of the Fifth’s example from that day onward.
The First of the Second took a moment to think. Why exactly did it feel inefficient for the Firstborn to handle this purification? She certainly would be the most effective at it…
The First of the Second’s antennae twitched and she started to dance a new line of thought…
“Inefficient…because know Firstborn can handle. Firstborn powerful, can beat much bigger enemy than invader from minor purification.”
The First of the Fourth brushed her antennae.
“Yes? Why inefficient? Good that Firstborn can win?”
The First of the Second knew that was correct, so she tried to dance it out a bit more.
“But…have bees that don’t know if can handle. Like captains. Supposed to lead army but haven’t because queens leading army. Already know Firstborn can win and invader will be small…so can let captains try? Have Firstborn nearby incase can’t but see if other bees can? Like…First of the Fifth always tries make new honey from new flowers, so can find out which new flowers good for honey. Let’s workers and other queens make honey from flowers already tried.”
The Firstborn began to mirror her dance. A wave rippled across the other queens as they joined in, signaling their understanding and agreement. The Firstborn replied on their behalf.
“So…battles like new flowers for First of the Fifth. This battle minor, so can try new tactic since already know can win. Be like First of the Fifth or Fourth of the Seventh and figure out new ways to do job. That why inefficient for me to win, since won’t be different from old battles?”
The First of the Second began to spin around rapidly. That was it! That was what felt inefficient to her!
“Exactly! Bee army grew when Firstborn tried leading army directly! Bee army grew when Firstborn tried fighting directly! All new things! So, try something new this time too?”
The Firstborn immediately joined her in the rapid dash.
“Amazing! Incredible! First of Second’s idea best idea! Great job for realizing, telling us!”
Soon, all the queens of the soldier bee army were dancing in celebration and praise for the First of the Second. Indeed, they had been at a loss on how to make use of captains besides having they fly with the army and passively strengthen the bees around them, so they latched onto the First of the Second’s idea. They quickly rearranged the army’s formation, putting what captain’s they had in charge of a formation of digging and blinding bee soldiers to send to the Dirt Tunnels. The Firstborn and her monster bee knights would follow but would not issue commands or interfere unless a bee’s life was in danger.
And so, the entire soldier bee army watched in anticipation and trepidation, waiting to see if the army could function with captains instead of queens leading the battle…
Author’s Note:
Captains! They finally get a chance to fight! Because, ah, we totally haven’t gotten distracted since they were unlocked. That’s definitely not a thing that ever happens. Firstborn will definitely not curse herself for another inefficiency if it turns out she was underutilizing them all along.
Just, ah, maybe don’t mention it to the First of the Fifth.
Anyways!
Can the sigmaka overcome the new dangers of the Tower? Will the monster bee captains prove themselves in battle? Will the Firstborn suffer yet another inefficiency in her hive? Tune in next time, to find out!
Comments
Althion
I can't help but think of the bees spinning in place like an excited dog when they do their "Amazing, incredible!" dance
Fernando Oliveira
Thanks for the chapter, loved it. Great to see the queen discussing strategy and how to improve. 1st of 2nd is correct in that sending the firstborn would be inefficient. They have to test new things with the minor purifications. Good to see the compact is gonna meet soon about the sigmaka. Definitely need to make some form of diplomatic deals between them before they expand into belissar's lands.
