Chapter 245: Chapter 245

Belissar grimaced as he arrived at the scene. The Second of the Sixth’s medicinal workers were swarming over the field, injecting healing compounds with their stingers, feeding healing honey to the wounded, and patching over bleeding injuries with wax and propolis. But…hers was but one hive, and there were many wounded to tend to.

The karnuq and the bumblebees presented a particular problem, in that they were much, much larger than the usual bees, and had each taken many wounds. They were, therefore, taking a lot of medicinal workers to tend. Even the Second of the Sixth’s hive was stretched thin.

Belissar did what he could, making medicinal honey with his magic to help feed the wounded, but he was just one man. He could only feed one wounded at a time even though he could make enough honey for more.

And in the meantime, he could see wounded bees across the ground, slowly moving tattered wings as they waited their turn.

He clenched his jaw. If only he could help them. If only he had a better way of getting them the honey. Even as a human many times the size of a bee, he was a drop in the bucket compared to a hive.

As he thought, his mana stirred, feeling as if a swarm of bees flew and crawled within his veins. The mana swarm rushed towards his hands where he was trying to make some more honey, another honeycomb pattern forming out of mana in the air above his palm.

But this time, honey did not drip out of the combs. He felt the mana swarm surge from his body into the comb. Belissar tilted his head as he observed the comb. For a moment, he clenched his jaw tighter. And now, of all times, his spell was failing. He could not even contribute what little he should be capable of.

But then he paused. One of the cells on the honeycomb pattern began to bulge. Belissar’s eyes opened wide.

A translucent bee made of blueish-green mana crawled out of the honeycomb pattern. She spread her wings and flew off with a buzz, landing by the nearest wounded bee. She dripped a small pool of medicinal honey by the bee’s mouth, then flew to its injury and stung a thin medicinal stinger in. She turned back into glowing light that flowed into the injury.

Please select a monster:

- Lumber Bee (Rarity: Uncommon, Type: Bee, Nature)

- Monster Bee Honeypot (Rarity: Uncommon, Type: Bee)

- Monster Bee Dancer (Rarity: Rare, Type: Bee)

As usual, Belissar began to read the options aloud for the others.

Defense: Below Average+

Notable Skills: Poison Sting, Wood Cut

Description: A monster carpenter bee evolution. The Lumber Bee’s larger size allows it to not only bore into trees, but to bite through branches or small trunks entirely. Its sharp and powerful mandibles can also bite through living things that stray too close to the nest. May evolve from monster carpenter bees if available, females may lay monster carpenter bee eggs.

The carpenter bees had returned, and with a vengeance. These bees were on par with the bumblebee soldiers in sheer size, possibly bigger. They had thick mandibles with sharp edges to hack and saw through entire tree trunks, which would make them incredibly useful both in and outside of battle. And that part at the end…it seemed like Belissar might get access to the original monster carpenter bees if he selected the lumber bees as well?

It was a solid option all around. Though, to his knowledge carpenter bees only gathered in small groups if anything, and the option lacked the brood mother or brood offspring skill. They probably couldn’t form hives like the other bees could, and likewise his existing hives wouldn’t be able to raise lumber bees themselves.

A point worth considering compared to the next option.

Vitality: Below Average

Special: Below Average

Notable Skills: Processing, Storage, Brood Offspring

Description: A monster bee worker variant specialized in honey production and storage. It trades its stinger for a specialized abdomen that can hold and process an impressive amount of honey at once, or wax and propolis as required. Note that its unwieldy shape and lack of a stinger make it unsuited for foraging or battle, and it thus can only be raised by prosperous monster bee hives. They will, however, improve both the quantity and quality of honey, wax, and propolis produced by their hive as all of their mana and body are committed to their singular task.

At first, Belissar wasn’t sure about this one. Between the results of the latest purification and the strength of the Tower Lords he would have to face one day, Belissar would really have preferred a more combat-oriented option this time. These monster bee honeypots were anything but.

Still, he shouldn’t discount the impact of more and better honey. Honey was ultimately the limiting factor in the soldier bee army’s size, as well as the number of evolved bees they could raise. Didn’t the battlecaster description specifically state that it would cost a hive more resources to raise? Not to mention that more honey could help more karnuq receive blessings as well, allowing him to raise his own Tower Guard. If better quality honey also improved mana content, then that might also mean they could raise new types of bees more easily with new honey types. The First of the Fifth had informed him that they had to reach a certain level of mana density for a given honey type before they could raise or evolve a queen with it.

So, honeypot bees wouldn’t add any new options to his Tower in and of themselves, but they would improve and speed up all of the efforts his bees were currently undertaking. And that made them a powerful choice.

But would they be more powerful than the last option?

Notable Skills: Poison Sting, Death Blow, Brood Offspring, Hive Dance

Evolves From: Monster Bee Communer, Monster Bee Worker

Description: Monster bees, by nature of the quantity of magical creatures gathered in one area, produce an ambient mana that links them together. Communers can tap into this mana to expand this link. Monster bee dancers take this a step further, adjusting the mana itself to affect the rest of the hive in turn. Their dances resound through the hive’s mana, boosting the other bees in various ways depending on the dance. While they are not incapable of combat, they are not specialized in it and are most effective when kept from harm.