Chapter 181: Chapter 181

For most of the rest of the day, Belissar watched the Third of the Sixth’s hive acclimate to their new home, checking if there was anything he might adjust to help them. The burning bees were flying faster than ever before, the air shimmering around their wings, and drinking deeply from the glowing fire mana flowers.

Eventually, though it was time for the next daily purification. Belissar thought about giving the bees a break…but the soldier bee army started forming up at the regular time without any prompting, along with the karnuq contingent. Only the lancers had been involved in the last fight, so the rest of the army was still ready to go. In fact, even the two more lightly wounded lancers had recovered enough to join the formation. Belissar nodded his head and brought up the purification message. In the spirit of trusting his bees more, he would acknowledge their willingness to fight. Besides, they had long proved capable of handling minor+ purifications without any…

Please select a purification strength:

- Minor (Cooldown: 12 hours)

- Minor+ (Cooldown: 16 hours)

- Small (Cooldown: 24 hours)

Belissar’s mind came to halt. Right, he had forgotten since it didn’t happen last time, but the first expansion purification unlocked larger daily purifications. Apparently this last one had as well. Belissar could now choose small purifications for the daily fights, while the cooldown on the other two minor purification strengths had dropped as well. He could even do two minor purifications a day if he so chose.

Which meant he now had a choice to make. Have his bees face a small purification, which up to this point were the big expansion fights, or stick with what they knew? Previously he would have just gone with the minor+ to be safe, but since he was trying to put aside his own fears and trust the bees, he felt he should at least consider the big one.

Small purifications. So far, that had been the bird-shade and the two cat-shades. He…wasn’t sure about the turtle shade, since that had been an emergency purification so he hadn’t chosen a specific strength for it, but he figured to be safe he’d included that as well. The good news was that, as far as he could tell, no new shades appeared in the daily purifications so far. He wasn’t entirely sure if that was because they were daily purifications or because they had been minor and minor+, though, but if it was the former case then he could at least count on seeing something he had seen before.

The queen and the karnuq both saluted once more. Belissar then made one last change before triggering the purification. He took the Lava Field from its position between the first floor Dirt Tunnels and the Flower Meadow and moved it behind the Flower Meadow. He couldn’t help it. The Third of the Sixth had just set up her hive there today. And while most shades had made a beeline straight for the room exit, he didn’t want to risk the Third of the Sixth on them changing strategy, at least not until her hive was better prepared to fight. If a turtle shade showed up that needed fire to deal with, he’d move it back, otherwise he’d let the proven defenses do their thing. R̃𝙖ꞐȎ𝔟Ɛ𝘚

With that, he triggered the purification and the Hunger began to coalesce. Soon, a screech from a massive beak pierced the air of the Dirt Tunnels. The bird shade had returned once more. Belissar couldn’t help but gulp. He knew his bees had figured out how to deal with bird shades…but all of the ones they handled easily had been smaller. They were now facing the full-size, full-power bird shade for the first time since the expansion purification when it had first appeared.

But his Tower had brought one down before, so he trusted them to bring it down again. He just hoped there wouldn’t be as many casualties this time.

The bird shade fully emerged and let out another screech. It extended and beat its wings, kicking up gusts of dirt as it launched into the air…and promptly landed. The entrance room of the Dirt Tunnels was wide enough for it to spread its wings…but apparently the first tunnel was not. It could just about spread its wings but it would have had very little room to flap them or maneuver about…so it landed, folded its wings, and began walking. Belissar blinked…and even giggled a bit. The bird shade, so terrifying when soaring through the skies, was far less intimidating while hobbling on the ground. In fact, it had gone from one of the fastest shades to one of the slowest, only faster than the turtle shade.

So, while it could still use its wings to hop and glide over the Pit Traps, it had no means of evading the first wall-mounted Sticky Honey Trap. The shade screeched and unleashed its black lightning attack…but there was nothing to zap and it was still left drenched in thick maddening honey. The shade’s pace slowed to an absolute crawl as the honey weighed it down and stuck to the ground every time it lowered its feet…and as time went on the shade began to sway as the toxins began to take effect.

And then it encountered the next Pit Trap.

It leapt and extended its wings out once again…only to plummet into the trap as its drenched and stuck wings couldn’t provide sufficient lift. Whereupon it was sprayed yet again by the Sticky Honey Trap inside the pit.

Belissar could only stare and blink repeatedly at this turn of events. He had chosen the Dirt Tunnels largely for the effect it would have on the bird shade, but he hadn’t expected this. Even the smaller bird shades from the minor+ purifications did better than this!

But well, he could only be happy that no bees would be hurt today. He grabbed a torch, used a bit of flame radish and mana honey to light it, and then made his way into the Dirt Tunnels, escorted by soldier bees and karnuq alike. They came to the pit in question to find black lightning surging up from it on occasion. Belissar frowned…before remembering he was holding a torch in his hand already. It had been so long since they had swapped over to bee-carried flame radish slivers that it had slipped his mind.

So, he tossed the torch into the pit from a safe distance.

All hostiles defeated. Purification successful.

And in the end, the bird shade that once soared past his defenses was purified without a fuss. Belissar couldn’t help but flush a bit at how much he had worried about it…and at the sight of the soldier bees swaying in the air, facing no fight at all after he told them there’d be a tough one.

In the end though, a victory was a victory, and a victory without sacrifice the best of all. Belissar and the Apiary queens still brought out the honey for a celebration. And then, once it was over, it was time for Belissar to consider the rewards.

Small Purification completed! Please select a reward:

- Bee-type Vitality Boost (Minor)