Chapter 428 - Bee-claiming the Tower

With the catkin shade down, the Hunger had no surprises left. Chief Rohsuak was then able to bombard the remaining mushrooms from range, stripping away their mist through mass Fire spells until the shades themselves were left exposed. These turned out to have no innate resistance to fire on their own, so before long Chief Rohsuak had set the entire grove ablaze. The last giant mushroom wavered and then started to topple as its entire cap burned.

Remaining corrupting forms: 0

Special purification completed!

Reward: +1 room slot.

Room Fairy Grove (1F1R) reclaimed! Room purification commencing.

The last of the Hunger receded and the Tower’s entrance finally reappeared. Light began to glow along the edges of the barren room, then rolled over the room in a big wave. Flower shoots and tree saplings broke through the ground in the light’s wake, while the mana of the room began to move. It was slow and light, like a faint breeze, but Belissar could see it start to swirl around the former fairy circles. It seemed the Fairy Grove would recover soon enough.

Belissar checked to make sure none of the bees or karnuq were injured before giving his attention to the next set of messages…

Mission: Expose the nexus door connection to the God of Flowers’ dungeon to the corruption completed!

Reward: Dungeon Gate room feature (1 free application), +100 max mana.

Additional reward granted for: Facing and defeating an unexpected purification from a larger dungeon.

Reward: One epic Bee-type monster choice, one epic Flower-type room feature choice.

Belissar smiled, he’d have to thank the God of Light. The special purification had some frights…but at the end of the day, they had cleared it with minimal losses. Their only casualties were undead rabbits, a few reanimating workers turning into zom-bees, and one zom-bee who lost her back half.

Belissar check in on that last one. The Second Third of the First was fussing over her, but the zom-bee herself didn’t seem particularly bothered. The Second Third of the First’s antennae started to glow…and then the zom-bee began slowly regrowing. Belissar’s smile grew…perhaps they took even less losses than he had first thought.

With that in mind, the rewards were quite generous compared to the price paid, in Belissar’s opinion. The one problem was that the nexus door had not reappeared yet. The fairy circles themselves hadn’t recovered yet, but the fair folk had also always said the door couldn’t be reopened once closed. Something about it opening to somewhere else if they tried.

Fortunately, the rewards included something Belissar figured was the solution.

Dungeon Gate

Mana Upkeep: 100

Description: A gateway through space that can link two or more dungeons, utilizing the dungeon’s power to protect the path from corruption. Note that it can only connect to other dungeons and requires both a gate on the other side and permission from the other dungeon to connect. Will automatically disable itself if exposed to corruption.

Belissar smiled. The gate was a bit expensive compared to a fairy circle that came with the Fairy Grove…but he could apparently place a gate for free.

“Niobee, could you let Duke Turuhave and Finnakynne know I’m going to place a new dungeon gate feature? It should reconnect us to Tarwantrad as long as she has one too.”

“Ok!”

Duke Turuhave and the Silver Host marched into the room shortly after. All of them stared at him in anticipation, so Belissar decided not to keep them waiting and brought up the feature, placing it on the wall of the Fairy Grove ahead of them. Light burned bright as the new feature took shape.

It appeared as a big gateway, much like the Tower’s main entrance, only covered in patterns that looked like wards to Belissar. The gate itself seemed to be formed of beeswax, with carvings of Belissar’s patron gods along its frame. The God of Flowers and God of Trees grew up one of the sides with the God of Light shining down on them, while the Gods of Fire, Water, and Air competed with their respective mediums on the other. The God of Bees had a place all to herself on top of the gate, with many bees tending to honeycomb and wax pots all around her.

The carvings and the ward patterns lit up. No sooner had they finished when Belissar received a new message.

Tarwantrad, Master of Dungeon of Flowers F1S29402G, requests a connection with room: 1F1R Fairy Grove. Permit?

Belissar smiled and accepted. As soon as he did, the gate shone bright and its doors flung open. Something shot out of the dungeon and straight into Belissar, knocking him to the ground.

“BELISSAR! ARE YOU OK?!”

Tarwantrad clung to him, tears streaming down her face. Before he could say anything, she rushed to her feet, pulled him up to his, and began looking all over him.

A torrent of water burst through the gate next. Nenavann rode upon the wave, his eyes glowing blue as his mana stormed around him, his undine dancing in the water beneath him. Fully armored wardens marched behind him, holding glowing spellforms at the ready. Nenavann glanced around, then smiled. He let the glow of his eyes fade and gathered up the water into a floating sphere.

“It seems all is well. We feared the worst when Tarwantrad said one of her purifications attacked your dungeon and then she lost contact with you.”

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Tarwantrad hung her head.

“I’m so sorry, Belissar! I would never have let that shade near the door if I knew it would go through!”

She then choked up, but closed her eyes tight for a moment and forced her words out.

“Belissar…tell me…how many bees did it kill? How many died because of the shade that was meant for me?”

Belissar, however, shook his head.

“None.”

Tarwantrad’s head whipped up and her eyes shot open.

“None?!”

Belissar smiled.

“None. The Silver Host took care of it, the bees only had to help a little.”

Tarwantrad blinked, then collapsed to her knees.

“Oh thank the gods.”

Duke Turuhave gave a salute.

“Worry not, Dungeon Master Tarwantrad. The Silver Host fulfilled its duty, and learned a great deal. We have much to discuss now. Dungeon Master Nenavann, is the wardmaster on the other side?”

“I’m right here.”

In the meantime, the wardens secured the area, then Wardmaster Varilold came through the gate herself. She glanced around and made a relieved smile.

“I’m overjoyed to see you both again and unharmed, Tower Keeper Belissar, Duke Turuhave.”

Belissar grinned.

“I am too, wardmaster.”

Wardmaster Varilold smiled a moment more before her expression turned serious.

“Now then, as much as I’m sure you want to rest and catch up, we need to discuss what happened. I need to know right away if the danger has fully passed…”

At that moment, a light shone down from above. Wardmaster Varilold glanced up.

“…I suppose we’re getting an full explanation, then.”

Down from the heavens descended the God of Light herself, accompanied by another woman. A woman who, as she got closer, appeared to be formed entirely out of flowers. Said woman beamed and waved with all her might as she caught sight of Belissar and Tarwantrad.

The two women hovered in front of Belissar and just above the ground, the God of Light giving him a warm smile.

“Permission for myself and the God of Flowers to incarnate in your Tower, Tower Keeper Belissar?”

Belissar gave permission, of course, and the two gods alighted on the ground. Roots immediately spread from the God of Flowers’ feet, digging into the ground, and all nearby bees began drifting towards her. Tarwantrad had frozen solid, staring at her patron god in the flesh. The god herself gave him a bright smile.

“Hi Belissar! Nice to finally meet you! Great choice on that feature, by the way, you’re going to grow so many flowers now! And Tarwantrad! Hi! My new favorite dungeon master, excellent work lately! I knew you were the right one to send to the Bee Dungeon!”

Tarwantrad choked and began to babble incoherently, but the God of Light intervened.

“Now then, I’m sure you’re all wondering what exactly occurred. I do apologize, Belissar, the danger proved to be greater than I had anticipated. But that is why this test was necessary, I am pleased you all were able to overcome it.”

The God of Flowers turned towards the God of Light. She was still smiling, but the expression seemed much less warm now.

“And it will never happen again, right?”

The God of Light raised an eyebrow.

“I cannot promise that, God of Flowers. I will do what is necessary to defend this world and sometimes that will require the dungeon masters to take risks. I will not, however, ask Belissar or Tarwantrad to take such a risk lightly or without good cause. I do believe the benefits will be worthwhile.”

The God of Flowers crossed her arms and mumbled.

“Necessary or not, use your own dungeon masters next time, you have plenty of them.”

The God of Light shook her head.

“Belissar and Tarwantrad were the only two masters with a working connection and the only two that could perform this test. If it had been possible for my masters to do it in their place, they would have.”

She then turned her attention back to Belissar and company.

“Now then, allow me to explain what happened.”

Wardmaster Varilold nodded.

“Please.”

The God of Light motioned towards Belissar.

“When Belissar’s room was corrupted, all of the Fairy Grove’s features were disabled, as dungeons are designed to do in such circumstances. As such, the Hunger was not able to travel through from Belissar’s dungeon to Tarwantrad’s…but, unfortunately, the connection was not fully secure.”

Wardmaster Varilold frowned.

“So, it’s because Tarwantrad made her nexus herself?”

Tarwantrad’s face twisted in a grimace. The God of Light spared her a glance…but then nodded.

“Since it was not a dungeon feature, her dungeon could not disable it. The Hunger fully corrupted that nexus. I had predicted that with Belissar’s side disabled, the nexus door would close and the Hunger would not have been able to use it…but something occurred that I did not expect. Since the nexus door was connected to a dungeon feature on Belissar’s side, his dungeon attempted to maintain the connection, in order to restore the room back to its original state post-purification. As a result, with a fully corrupted room on one side and a fully corrupted nexus on the other, the Hunger was able to force open the connection, at least in one direction.”

Tarwantrad wrapped her arms around herself.

“I’m so sorry…”

But the God of Flowers stepped forward and placed a hand on Tarwantrad’s shoulder.

“It is not your fault, Tarwantrad. You would never have let a shade anywhere near that door, had the God of Light not made you do so.”

The God of Light raised an eyebrow but nodded.

“Indeed, you should not blame yourself, Dungeon Master of Flowers. It was unforeseen interactions such as these that we were searching for. Fortunately, you and your allies took adequate precautions.”

She gave a nod to Duke Turuhave and Wardmaster Varilold. The wardmaster rubbed her chin.

“So…I presume that interaction has been addressed?”

The God of Light nodded.

“I’ve formalized the connection into a dungeon feature, fully integrated with the dungeons themselves. Both sides will now fully disable themselves if corrupted. Connections will now only be established when the gates are in use, so there will be no risk of the Hunger exploiting an enduring link. And should a dungeon fall completely, the gates will destroy themselves. I thank you both, Tower Keeper Belissar and Dungeon Master Tarwantrad, as well as everyone who assisted them. Thanks to all of your efforts, I now have the confidence to permit direct links between dungeons, since I now know a cascade of dungeon failures can be prevented. Hopefully this will be a powerful new tool for dungeon masters to work together.”

The God of Light looked off into the distance.

“Especially now, when the dungeon masters tear each other apart. Every bastion of cooperation that remains must be strengthened.”

The God of Flowers again smiled at the God of Light, though it did not reach her eyes.

“Yes. Cooperation. We should do things together and help each other’s masters and not send them into danger.”

The God of Light…continued focusing off into the distance rather than responding…

At the Tower of the late Starami, Tower Guards went about their day. Some continued training or building up fortifications, but most were currently lazing about, feasting on the great stockpiles of food and drink Lord Starami had once gathered from the masses. In the end, the emergency purification had been handled. It should be a long time before the next one and all of the monsters would have respawned by then, so the Tower Guards started to relax. It seemed that, with the monsters help, they would be able to keep the Tower safe until the gods deigned to choose a master. Many of them were even starting to enjoy their new life, with no Starami or his Claw bossing them around or telling them to clean up a true dragon’s waste.

In fact, with Starami gone, the rest of the Conclave seemed to have forgotten about them, so they weren’t even affected by the civil war supposedly going on. In that regard, they might have been more fortunate than any other Tower Guard. Rather than being commanded to kill each other. They just had to handle the occasional ongoing purification and deal with an emergency one once very few months, which wouldn’t be too difficult with all of the monsters Starami spawned, and then they could kick back and relax for the rest of the time.

Yes, all was going well…until they received a message from the Tower.

Warning! Corruption levels surging! Emergency purification required!