The Bee Dungeon

PONon-Bee 375.2 - Ten Thousand Leagues Under the Bees

Ansari the Sea Dragon cursed.

“Hunger take it all, there’s a water spirit here! My lord, we need to move!”

Starami frowned. Unfortunately, he had to agree. His true dragon and his elites could likely handle an elemental spirit under normal circumstances...but this was a water spirit in a deep sea room with a mana storm. That was a challenge even General Rippotis wouldn’t take lightly.

“Push through, as fast as we can!”

The spirit’s giggling grew louder. Starami felt a rush of water around his dragon coat...the spirit was stirring up its mana externally, attracting the volatile mana of the storm towards itself. Extremely high pressure water and opaque spheres of darkness all began to swirl towards a single point in the distance...but a creature consisting of pure Water-mana would suffer no harm from such an environment.

The same could not be said for Starami and his forces. Ansari picked up the pace, Starami and his elites did their best to stay in his wake. The weaker Tower Guards struggled...one fell behind and was promptly swept into the currents pulling towards the water spirit. She and her passengers did not last long.

Then the water spirit unleashed its mana. Dark mana rolled over the entire formation in a massive wave, instantly cutting off Starami’s senses. The darkness was not content to stay passive this time, unseen fangs began to nip at Starami’s dragon cloak. They did nothing against his spell-scales, but he started to feel a faint weariness, the Dark mana assaulting his mind as well. Starami was able to purge its influence...but he could feel several of the weaker Tower Guards fighting to remain awake.

Next came the water mana, torrents of high pressure areas crashed against Starami’s defenses, coming from multiple angles all at once. The volatile mana had also changed the nature of the water in the streams, one stream was filled with bubbles of caustic acid that attempted to corrode his scales, another with boiling hot water that started to heat the area around him. Starami was forced to expend more mana reinforcing his cloak, all while the water tried to worm its way between him and his neighboring elites.

“It’s got me!”

Starami scowled as Kulgono the Icefang shouted in his mind.

“Get a hold of yourself, Kulgono. You of all my elites should not be troubled by water!”

Kulgono was not relieved.

“It sent its mana through my ice cloak! It’s taking control of the water inside the formation!”

Starami rumbled.

“Ansari! Mana behind, now! Take control of everything in the formation!”

“My lord...in a mana storm?”

“Just do it! Now!”

Ansari complied and sent a wave of his own Water mana behind, washing over the formation. Starami tried to push back the Dark with another Light breath. More torrents of Water mana crashed down on both Starami and Ansari as they actively used their mana, but their cloaks were powerful enough that they were not destroyed.

The area lit up just long enough for Starami to see tendrils of Dark mana and a vortex of water pull Kulgono out of the formation. Several of the weaker Tower Guards were sucked out with him until Ansari’s mana passed over them and relieved some of the pressure. Starami could see an area of the sea freeze over as Kulgono began fighting back...and causing the Water and Dark mana to surge towards him.

Starami ran a quick calculation in his head. His blood ran cold.

“...tighten the formation, seal the gap, and then press on.”

Ansari’s reply came back soft.

“...my lord?”

But Starami had no time for hesitation.

“Do it, unless you wish to face that Water spirit yourself.”

None of his elites replied...but they tightened closer together, sealing up the gap left by Kulgono and the Tower Guards swept out with him. Ansari pushed ahead, pulling them along his wake.

They could feel the temperature of the water drop as Kulgono unleashed his full might...but there was a reason Starami elected not to fight amidst a mana storm. A bolt of pure arcane energy lit up the sea, bits of ice formed into frozen fish that then swam over to nip at Starami’s cloak, the rocky seafloor beneath them erupted and showed them with sharp debris...and that was all on the edges of growing mana concentration. They felt a rumble through the water as one of Kulgono’s spells overloaded.

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“I can’t break free, my mana isn’t listening to me!”

He wouldn’t. Starami knew it...Kulgono was doomed the moment he began fighting back. Every spell he cast, every frost breath he unleashed would only pull more and more volatile mana towards him, making it harder and harder for him to control his mana.

And all the while, the water spirit’s laughter grew louder and louder...

It wasn’t long before the sounds stopped. Kulgono let out one final cry...and then disappeared from Starami’s perception.

The only silver lining was that Ansari located a stream of high pressure water flowing away from the battle and led the formation into it. It put even more strain on their already battered dragon cloaks...but it carried them away from Kulgono and the water spirit and to the end of the room. Fortunately, Ansari was able to locate the exit, they wasted no time exiting the room as soon as possible.

Starami now found himself not in the forest his elites had fought in before, but in a rocky field cut by rivers of lava. The fey had adjusted their defenses considerably since his last assault...

Ansari scowled and spat out a blast of water.

“Hunger take them! Where in the Hunger’s stomach did they get a water spirit like that?! They didn’t have anything in the water last time!”

Starami silently agreed...if the fey had an elemental spirit capable of fighting in the mana storm, then why hadn’t they deployed it to begin with? Had the fey truly held back so much? Or had the rogue Tower only just acquired it? He could not understand how a Tower this size could afford such a monster outside of its primary domain...but it no longer mattered if he understood the Tower or not, nor how powerful the fey truly were. Starami scanned their present room as he spoke.

“The fey must know we are holding nothing back, so neither are they.”

Another of his elites frowned.

“My lord...what should we do?”

Starami stepped forward.

“We press on and we fight with all we have. We no longer have any other path.”

Neither retreat nor reinforcement was an option anymore, not with the water spirit lurking in the room behind him. The fey were devious indeed, they had now trapped him inside their Tower. There was no way left but forward.

And Starami had not been able to bring most of his army, only so many people could fit in the Hall of Purification at a time. The plan had been for him, his elites, and his Water guards to make a few quick round trips to get the bulk of the army through...but that was no longer possible. They had started with but a thousand guards crammed into their dragon cloaks, made less by the stronger drakes and wyverns Starami wanted to bring. Now, they were even fewer, having lost several of the Water guards and all their passengers...not to mention all of those within Kulgono’s cloak.

He was down to several hundred guards and monsters, with no way to bring over the thousands left on the other side. And he had lost yet another of Starami’s Claw, they were now down to three. He himself had burnt much of his mana enduring the spirit and the storm and he hadn’t even recovered from the assault on the fort yet. His raw anger began to chill as he realized the gravity of his present situation. If the fey had any more water rooms like that one, where the spirit could ambush them again...

But he pushed that thought away. Like he had told his troops, there was no way back now. His only options were victory or death. His forces were few, but the troops around him were his most loyal, most experienced, and most powerful. He still had his true dragon and he was still here himself with enough mana left to fight. If any force he could muster could break through the Tower, it was this one.

The water spirit would be a problem, but only in an underwater mana storm. A true dragon or a Tower Guard on par with one could fight it anywhere else. If, hopefully, the fey did not possess another such Water room with a mana storm, then he still had a chance. Even if the Tower Lord moved that one forward to block their path...then it would at least clear the way for Starami to bring the rest of his army forward. What they would do after that would remain to be determined, Starami could not afford to sacrifice more of his Claws just to pass through another room...but he would have to address that if it occurred. At present, there was no way but forward, the next time they faced the spirit they would simply have to fight it, wherever they were. Starami would just have to hope that between him, his remaining Claws, and his true dragon they would have the combined power to confront it directly...

So, Starami and his forces pressed on. His dragon and what few wyvern riders he brought in the first wave took to the skies to scout the room, but they found no defenders. The heat and lava itself wasn't an issue for most of Starami's army, most dragons and dragon-blessed even found it comfortable. Those who did not, like Ansari, could easily block out the heat with a dragon coat. The only dangers they found were some flowers spewing toxic fumes and a small volcano in the distance, barely even a hill.

The flowers could simply be avoided, but the volcano tossed out flaming boulders on occasion.

But dragon coats, dragon barriers, and Dragon mana coated attacks could repel those without much trouble. Starami, his Claw, and his true dragon could all smack a boulder away with their bare hands, while the flames did no more damage to them than the lava. Without any defenders or especially troublesome traps to divert attention, the boulders weren't a problem.

As such, Starami's army made its way to the end of the lava field without issue, only a minor casualty here or there when a guard underestimated the boulders, but nothing that would deplete the army's strength. Still, no one liked having boulders falling towards them, so after a scout confirmed the next room wasn't instantly deadly, Starami made his way through.

He found himself stepping in mud. He was now in a swamp obscured by fog all around. He focused his senses, he could detect some mana signatures out in the mist. This room would have a fight after all.

Starami waited for his army to form up, this time keeping his true dragon on the surface since it wouldn't be able to see through. And once they were prepared, Starami wasted no time beginning the march. The battle was about to begin...

But as Starami moved to march into the fog, he heard a splash and then mud splattered all over him...from behind. Starami turned around...and could not stop his eyes from widening.

His true dragon had just collapsed.