Chapter 156: Chapter 156

Belissar was just admiring the bees working for a bit when suddenly he jumped.

A challenger has been fully blessed.

He rushed his Tower sight down to the second floor. There, he found Muuraqi kneeling before the Shrine of Bees, as wide-eyed as he was. And there, just like that, a third karnuq had been blessed. Belissar smiled.

At this point, he was extremely happy with his choice to trust the karnuq. They had significantly expanded his plant and mushroom options as they shared their resources. They had helped him build a fireproof beehouse out of stone he would have struggled to gather, much less process and transport. And, certainly not least of all, Chief Rohsuak had handled a purification that gave his bee army trouble.

Maybe it wasn’t so bad having some people around after all.

Putting that aside, however, Belissar did need to consider his defenses, and what he could do to improve them. After double checking what he had, he moved the new Gravilion flower patch to just in front of a Pit Trap by the Flower Meadow entrance. The descriptions said they could randomly make things heavier, so he figured that would make it harder for a shade to jump across a pit, or climb out of it once it fell down. That or it would make them lighter and help them soar across it, but Belissar hoped it would be the helpful option.

Beyond that…Belissar wasn’t sure. He couldn’t imagine the options he had at present working against another turtle shade. Some thorny roses didn’t seem like they would bother a shade that could resist full-speed dive stings by the soldier bees. Though, there was no guarantee the Hunger would try another turtle shade.

There was one option, though. A side effect of Chief Rohsuak setting the Flower Meadow on fire was confirmation that the fire breaks he made actually worked. So didn’t that mean that they could intentionally set the Flower Meadow on fire without putting the Bee Barracks at risk? That’d certainly be on option to take down a shade…assuming the next shade was still vulnerable to fire.

The First of the Fifth’s First Daughter kept her eyes fixed on the cells as the brood tenders pulled off the wax cap, helping the young queens inside step outside. The First Daughter then stepped forward to brush her own daughter’s antennae.

Her daughter, the First of the Second Generation of the First of the Fifth, shook her body, beat her wings, and then began a salute dance.

“Go now, but once your mating flight is finished, come back, ok?”

Her daughter’s antennae twitched about at random.

“Look, this hive is bigger than one colony. We are part of a hive of hives, and you’ll be too. We’ll all build one big hive together. I’ll help you.”

Her daughter gave a rapid salute, and then set off. The First of the Fifth’s First Daughter then repeated this for each of her daughters before sending them off. Her drones as well, though she didn’t tell them to come back. Drones never survived the depleting of their mana, after all.

A short while later, and a whole squad of queens returned…with mana signatures now a blend of her own and the Fourth of the Seventh’s. She couldn’t help but start a happy dance at that before calming herself, for she had something to take care of.

Not the queens, though. Workers were already directing the new queens to vacant sections of the hive she and the Fourth of the Seventh’s communer had already prepared ahead of time. They would find plenty of space and honey to raise their initial brood, without needing to forage their own nectar. The First Daughter had been gifted honey by her queen mother, so she saw no reason to do differently here. Especially when these queens belonged to the Fourth of the Seventh as well as her…

But no, the queens were all well taken care of. The First Daughter had another task. She found the Fourth of the Seventh’s communer. The communer gave her a salute, and then they both moved to find the Fourth of the Seventh.

Who happened to be with the new queens anyways, telling them stories about the King as it were. The First Daughter let her finish before approaching her.

The First Daughter confirmed.

“Yes, have an offer for you.”

She took a moment and adjusted her stance before continuing her dance.

“Does Fourth of the Seventh want to go scout?”

The Fourth of the Seventh, for once, did not move.

“Now that our hive has more queens, including your daughters, will have plenty of workers. Should be fine now if Fourth of the Seventh doesn’t lay everyday. So, if Fourth of the Seventh wants to scout, can now. I’ll take care of our daughters and hive.”

The Fourth of the Seventh trembled.

She turned and glanced at her communer, who danced a confirmation.

“First of the Fifth’s First Daughter and I discussed, won’t be a problem! Want queen to do what queen wants to do. Besides, King asked to go scout, set up mini-hives outside for scouts to rest at. Like queen said, need to help however we can. Queen should help scout. Just take soldiers with, ok?”