icalos
patreon
BD - Chapter 308 - Waters Bee-low
🕑 Added 2025-08-19 20:05:01 +0000 UTCAll hostiles defeated. Purification successful.
Mission: Defeat a purification using primarily Flower-type monsters and features completed!
Reward: Rare Flower-type monster choice.
Belissar grinned…and laughed a bit at himself. The venomous slime flower, with Frelis’s support, had overwhelmingly dominated the minor purification’s small wolf shade. He supposed he worried a bit too much, he could have completed the God of Flowers’ mission as soon as he had received it. But he had completed it in the end, and now he had two rare choices to consider tonight. The venomous slime rose had certainly proved its value today, more monster flowers would add another layer to his Tower’s defenses.
Fortunately, Tarwantrad returned to his Tower along with Nenavann during the victory celebration as she was curious which rare Water room he would pick. She was, of course, ecstatic to find out Belissar had completed the God of Flowers’ mission and was more than happy to offer advice on a rare flower monster. Finnakynne was always present along whenever the bumblebees were, while Tamosmed had joined with the karnuq.
And so, as the celebration wound down, Belissar gathered his council and his fair folk advisors once more. Since they had done a minor purification, the rewards weren’t particularly special, so Belissar just took some more max mana and went straight into the god’s rewards.
Please select a room:
- Abyssal Trench (Rarity: Rare, Type: Water, Dark, Field)
- Cleansing Seagrass Meadow (Rarity: Rare, Type: Water, Nature, Recovery, Field)
- Freezing Sea (Rarity: Uncommon, Type: Water, Cold, Field)
Nenavann’s eyes lit up. Belissar, perhaps surprisingly, had an opinion just from the names and types, but withheld his own judgement until he learned the details.
Abyssal Trench
- Type: Water, Dark, Field
- Innate Features: Extreme pressure, Lightless
- Mana Upkeep: 50
- Description: At the bottom of the ocean lie great trenches, the deepest places of the world. These trenches are so deep that the light of the sun cannot penetrate to their depths, creating a completely lightless world. Additionally, the sheer amount of water above creates an extreme amount of pressure that will crush anything unprepared to resist it. These factors create an environment completely hostile to any lifeforms not specifically adapted to survive within it…and that is before the influence of mana. The sheer power of Water and Dark mana in such a place gives a frightening advantage to anyone or anything capable of harnessing it, but will overwhelm all who are unprepared for the depths.
Belissar turned to Nenavann with a questioning look. Nenavann made a helpless smile.
“As I would guess you’re thinking…no, Abyssal Trenches are not known as good environments for bees. No light means no flowers and as far as I’m aware, bees are not prepared for deep ocean pressure.”
Finnakynne tilted her head.
“What if Beely crossed his swimming and gravity bees?”
Nenavann started to shake his head, then stopped, then tilted his head, then furrowed his brow and began rubbing his chin.
“That’s…huh. There are invertebrates that survive at those depths…I expected the bees from the surface wouldn’t be able to adapt to that leap in pressure, but if they can counteract it with gravitational fields…”
Tarwantrad shook her head, though she had an amused smile.
“There’s still the issue that no flower blooms there…though…we haven’t tried cross-pollinating one...have we? I mean, I have flowers that don’t need the light…and Belissar already has one too, those shadow vines…”
Finnakynne grinned.
“What about the butcher bees?”
Nenavann blinked.
“If a bee didn’t require flowering plants to survive, had a means to counteract the pressure, could operate in the dark, and could survive in a fully aquatic environment…then…I don’t see any reason it couldn’t exist there?”
Nenavann and Tarwantrad both began muttering to themselves for a bit before Nenavann shook his head and refocused.
“In any case, the point still stands that it is not a natural environment for bees, so it would take a good amount of work to raise a bee that could even exist in such a room, much less make its home there. On the other hand, the same applies to anything else trying to move through your dungeon, so such a room would become a difficult barrier for most invaders to overcome.”
Belissar nodded along. That was roughly what he was thinking from the description, it sounded like an unpleasant place to be. Not great for his bees…but not great for his enemies, either.
“What if I put a mana storm there?”
Nenavann’s eyes widened and he stared off into space for a bit.
“Such places, when they once existed in the world, belonged only to the hardiest and most courageous of creatures. I cannot say, not even the aquatic fair folk dared to brave such places, so not even the House of Lore holds any knowledge of them. All I can say is…I would not want to invade a tower protected by such a defense, even if the room were empty of other monsters and hazards.”
Belissar made a small smile as he imagined a Tower Lord and his guards being stopped by a single room and feature combination, without his bees having to risk themselves at all. That…was certainly worth considering.
Depending, of course, on what the other choices were like.
Cleansing Seagrass Meadow
- Type: Water, Nature, Recovery, Field
- Innate Features: Cleansing Seagrass, Dampening Field
- Mana Upkeep: 50
- Description: A seagrass meadow that has absorbed enough mana to become something more. Mana suffuses the grass and supercharges their natural ability to cleanse impurities and toxins from the water. The water, though still salty, contains healing and purifying effects. This, combined with the abundant, mana-filled seagrass, creates a perfect sanctuary for all manner of aquatic life. Aquatic monsters will thus thrive in such a place.
Additionally, the seagrass’s ability to sap energy from waves now also applies to mana. Any spells or external mana constructs with harmful effects will rapidly lose potency as they pass over the cleansing seagrass. This effect is counteracted for Recovery mana by the effects of the healing water, and does not effect spells or mana-constructs that work with the seagrass, especially if Nature-attributed.
Belissar smiled.
“That sounds much better for bees, right?”
Tarwantrad returned his smile.
“Yes, I actually have one of these. Seagrass can make flowers too and you already have swimming bees.”
Belissar turned to the First of the Fifth’s First Daughter. He could now perceive the queens rapidly exchanging mana dances through her hive link, so he knew they were as clueless as he about the Abyssal Trench…but that this option generated far more discussion.
“What does the hive of hives think?”
With the hive-link, the First Daughter was able to reply in record time.
“Sea flowers good for swimming bees! First of the Sixth interested in special water and flowers. Army queens ask if means Beero and hive of fallen can’t fight in?”
Belissar glanced over at Nenavann and Tarwantrad for the answer. Nenavann motioned to Tarwantrad, so she was the one to respond.
“Depends. They’ve only used Fire and Lightning spells so far, right? Those wouldn’t work very well, the dampening effect even applies to the air above the water with cleansing seagrass below. Water spells actually work even worse, since base seagrass already dampens water movements. But Nature spells, on the other hand, are even more powerful than usual. Maybe they could try to learn some from Frelis?”
Frelis buzzed her wings at the sudden address.
“Me? Teach of hive of fallen how cast spells? But…not member of hive of fallen? Can’t cast spell?”
Tarwantrad smiled.
“You are blessed by the God of Flowers, you have an innate ability to manipulate Nature mana and cast Flower type spells. If you taught the battlecasters to work with Nature mana, they could subsequently apply it to their spells.”
Beero suddenly perked up and flew over to Frelis and soon, the two bees were dancing frantically with one another. Belissar smiled, it seemed just discussing this room would already help his bees grow, only further improving his opinion of the option. There, however, was one key piece of information that might prevent him from choosing it. He glanced over at Tarwantrad and found her already nodding at him with a grin.
“I could help you set one of these up…in time. You would need a body of saltwater to grow the seagrass in first. But once you do…you already have Recovery type flowers and bees, as well as bees that could dive down to cross-pollinate the seagrass, so it shouldn’t be difficult.”
Belissar smiled back at her.
“Thanks Tarwantrad, really. You always help me out.”
Tarwantrad shook her head.
“It’s the least I can do, at least since the wardmaster isn’t letting me help you fight anymore…”
And so, Belissar put this option aside for now and checked the last one.
Freezing Sea
- Type: Water, Cold, Field
- Innate Features: Drifting Ice
- Mana Upkeep: 20
- Description: A place so cold the very sea starts to freeze. Freezing wind and freezing cold water threaten anything used to warmer climates. Ice floes freeze, melt, and flow across the sea, creating slippery and unsteady paths that can crack, break, melt, or collide at any point, all while the cold temperatures sap strength. Aquatic monsters and monsters adapted to operate on ice can take advantage of the unstable environment to wreak havoc.
Belissar rubbed his chin.
“So…what are ice floes?”
Nenavann patiently answered.
“Chunks of ice floating in the sea, large enough for a person to stand on.”
Belissar nodded.
“I see…so an intruder that can’t fly has to try and cross those over a freezing sea?”
Nenavann motioned downward.
“Or swim underneath as the ice only freezes on the surface, though that carries its own dangers.”
Belissar turned to the First of the Fifth.
“What does the hive of hives think?”
The First of the Fifth danced rapidly.
“King! Queen mother says would be good for cold flowers, maybe can evolve cold bees with!”
Belissar smiled at her.
“Ah, that’s a good point. The room with the cold flowers hasn’t changed just yet, has it?”
The room may not have been great for bees at first glance, but the only reason the bees hadn’t evolved a cold mana bee was that there was no room in the tower cold enough for one to thrive in. He had a room full of cold mana flowers in universal pots to try and change that, but this room would solve that problem without any further wait.
And the room would be good for defense as well. The difficulty of crossing drifting chunks of ice wouldn’t matter to the flying bees, who could try to make an invader fall into the water.
On the other hand, this was an uncommon option in a rare reward choice, which felt like a bit of a waste. It didn’t seem as tough an obstacle as the Abyssal Trench, nor as good for the bees as the Cleansing Seagrass Meadow. And then, there was one other question to answer. Belissar turned to Nenavann.
“Is it possible to make one of these rooms? Maybe if I put a bunch of cold flowers in a sea?”
Nenavann made an amused smile.
“It takes a bit more cold than that to freeze a sea and you would need a sea room to start with, but yes, it is possible to do so.”
Belissar rubbed his chin.
“And how about the Abyssal Trench?”
Nenavann raised an eyebrow and chuckled.
“That one would be much more difficult, if possible at all. You would, at minimum, need to fill a mountain-high room completely with water to even attempt it.”
Belissar nodded and smiled. His choice was now clear.
“Let’s check the God of Flowers’ reward before confirming the choice…but unless there’s a monster that changes things, I think we go with the Abyssal Trench and then try to make the others ourselves. Anyone have any objections?”
Rather than objections, the bees just called him best King, so Belissar chuckled and moved on to the next choice…
Author’s Note:
…I’ve searched and I’ve searched but…and be forewarned this news is not for the faint of heart…I must report the horrific news that I have failed to find any reports of bees living in the deep ocean trenches. Science has failed us, they must not be looking hard enough! We have bees living in the death zone of volcanos for bees-ness sake, surely the bees can handle some crushing pressure and extreme darkness!
…well, I guess there are no flowers down there, so it must be a silly place the bees haven’t bothered to go to…and that’s the room King chose. Well, bumble helper does seem to have a plan, but the other non-bees don’t seem to trust her for some reason. Could King be making a mistake? Is…is that possible?! Could that bee?!
Anyways!
Is King making a horrible mistake? Is there a place too silly even for bees? Should King trust in bumble helper’s plan? Tune in next time, to find out!
Comments
William Clark
Can you imagine the WTF moment when that dragon tries to invade the tower only to nearly die in a room one abyssal trench+mana storm combo, and he's like "What the hell did that have to do with Bees!"
Lisa
They’ve said multiple times that the Hunger will always adapt and no one feature can ever stop it. Besides, that would be too boring. I look forward to seeing how it gets around the Abyssal Trench!
BelligerentGnu
As much as the thought of a bee - abyssal trench is objectively the right choice. Add mana storm, plop down as room 1, never worry about invasion again.
