Chapter 48: Chapter 48
Minor purification attempt commencing.
The cooldown had come to an end and Belissar began another minor purification. A shade formed once more at the gate...and was immediately assaulted by soldier bee squads. They flew in continuous waves this time and did not attempt to lead the monster towards the Pit Trap.
That was intentional. They already knew the Pit Trap would work against a single shade . But the bees needed to be prepared for the case when it wouldn’t work. So, Belissar instructed them to fight this shade on their own. He already knew they could take one down, but the battle they did so had resulted in casualties. He was hoping that they could manage a minor shade without sacrifice.
The bees flew in waves as they had trained to do. Belissar held his breath each time they approached but the bees were excellent at diverting the shade’s attention. Each squad flew off immediately after stinging once and so escaped counterattack. The shade then stopped trying to chase the squads that had attacked and looked to the ones on approach, but they broke off the attack before coming into range. They then began attacking with multiple squads at a time, such that whichever squad was targeted could simply breakoff while the others struck.
The shade brought out its lethal breath, and the bees immediately scattered. Not a bee was caught in the black cloud. The shade took another deep breath and then took off running as in the first minor purification, taking advantage of the bees backing away. But the bees further away lowered to the ground, forming another layer of encirclement while the others regrouped and soon their attacks began anew.
It took the bees longer without dealing a Deathblow to the shade’s head, but eventually the shade collapsed under their assault. The Pit Trap wasn’t needed, and not a single bee fell.
All hostiles defeated. Purification successful.
Minor Purification completed! Please select a reward:
“Hello, Sacred Den Master. Thank you for allowing us in your abode. How may we help you today?”
He motioned at the others and they inclined their heads as well. Belissar wanted to run but instead he cleared his throat.
“Um...I have some stuff. Do you want any? Err...as a trade, you see.”
Belissar tried not to wince. Metsaitti’s eyes widened and then he nodded.
“We would be honored, Sacred Den Master. We are not carrying any goods with us at this moment but I will relay your offer to the chief and we will put together something. Is there anything in particular you wanted?”
Belissar started to shake his head before remembering what he was supposed to be doing.
“Yes, actually. Um, plants, especially flowers. Tools if you have them.”
He glanced at Metsaitti’s spear.
“Weapons would be nice too...”
“Understood. I will relay your desires to the chief. Was there anything else you wanted?”
Belissar shook his head.
“No...that should be it...”
Metsaitti nodded and the motioned to the others, who turned around.
“Understood. Thank you for the generous offer, Sacred Den Master.”
“Um, you’re welcome.”
With that, the bear people left. Belissar resisted the urge to fall and lay on the ground, taking a deep breath instead.
Yeah, that was still very awkward. But at least it seemed to have gone well. The bear people were still polite and agreed to trade with him, once they had gathered some stuff...
Belissar’s eyes went wide as he realized something terrible...
If they were leaving and coming back...then wouldn’t he have to talk to them again today?
To distract himself...err, to continue the development of his Tower, Belissar returned to his work from the day before. Now that they had figured out a way for soldier bees to lift a torch, he and his assistant soldiers worked to refine it. They tried wrapping the cord around in different ways, or tying it to different parts of the torch, or making loops to wrap around different parts of the soldiers’ bodies. In the end, they settled on tying four ropes, two at the front of the torch and two at the end, which would be carried by four soldier bees. They stuck with just having the soldier bees pass their legs through loops at the end of the ropes, as any other method made it more difficult for the soldier bees to drop the torch.
At this point, they moved to test the process in its entirety. Belissar worked on starting a fire as four soldier bees from the Apiary stood on the ground next to a torch. Once the fire got going, he gave them a nod. The soldiers stuck their legs through the loops and rose into the air with the torch. They then flew over the fire and lowered the torch down into it until the tip caught flame.
They flew with the burning torch towards a nearby pit, the flames flickering occasionally as they sped through the air. They dropped their ropes and so the torch towards the pit.
The torch missed and bounced on the ground next to the pit, before teetering over the edge and falling in. The kindling at the bottom slowly caught fire until a blaze was going at the bottom of the pit.