The Bee Dungeon

The stingless queen shook herself and gently, ever so gently, beat her wings. The past few days had been…trying, for her and her swarm. Once she had stopped panicking over the vast swarms of giant monsters and armies larger than she could comprehend all around her, the new flower tender’s mana had hit her like a soldier bee tackle. Her mind was flooded with new instincts and new kinds of bees she never could have imagined. Apparently, soldier bees were only the very start of what was possible. Combined with her sheer fear of the local bees, she found herself barely able to think.

It went beyond the mental as well. Her body grew faster, tougher, and stronger as she acclimated to her new home’s mana…and that went for all her children as well. Every time they tried to fly, they zipped up and crashed into the roof of their new home. Every time they tried to communicate with mana they sent out a blaring flash of mana that disoriented its recipients. Her entire hive was all but incapacitated as they tried to adapt to their new bodies.

And so, only now did she regain enough control over her mind and body to take stock of her situation. Which left her all the more confused as her new queen overlord came to visit her in person. She was about to beg for mercy as her honey stocks were surely empty…only for the overlord’s workers to come and start dropping off honey for her. So that was why her hive hadn’t starved over the past few days…

“First Stingless Queen ok? Can talk now?”

The stingless queen turned to face her overlord. Her antennae twitched about as she tried to comprehend what her overlord had said. First Stingless Queen? What did that mean?

“Think…ok now. Queen is…giving honey?”

Her overlord danced a confirmation, leaving her even more confused.

“Hive of hives shares honey, gives to queens who need. Saw First Stingless Queen’s hive struggling, so gave.”

She turned to glance at her hive filled with honey.

“Isn’t much, even Firstborn’s hive can give this much if need.”

The answer left the stingless queen ever more confused.

“…sorry, don’t understand. Why queen overlord giving honey? What is sprayer? Why bees moving faster now? Why queen overlord hasn’t killed yet?”

Her queen overlord landed in front of her and began to brush her antennae. She flinched back at first, but paused as she felt pheromones and mana of a sort she had never encountered. It felt…good? Like being surrounded by her workers and full of honey.

“Know hive of hives is confusing, is very different. Will explain, will take care of. Come with, will show you.”

The stingless queen couldn’t think well enough to refuse, so she just followed her queen overlord. But…given that her queen overlord was giving her honey instead of killing her for not producing anything…she was starting to think that hive of hives thing, whatever it was, might not be so bad…

Meanwhile in another realm, the stingless queen of queens, mightiest queen in all the Flower Tender’s lands, stared as the newcomer’s sickly sweet, mana imbued honey once again filled her stockpiles.

Ok, something was wrong.

The newcomer had delivered a whole hive’s daily production as tribute every single day for an entire week straight. The queen of queens would have suspected the newcomer was robbing her other subject hives…but the newcomer’s honey was qualitatively different from any of theirs. It was thicker, far more sugary, and imbued with more mana than she had thought possible. Unless the newcomer was reprocessing stolen honey, there was no doubt this was her hive’s product. In fact, even if she was reprocessing stolen honey, it would not change the now unmistakable conclusion.

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The newcomer’s honey production capacity must be far greater than expected…and far greater than had been reported to her. Her entire hive would have starved to death otherwise given the sheer amount of tribute she was giving up each day. The queen of queens even had to acknowledge the possibility that the newcomer’s tribute might only represent a fraction of what she was producing, rather than a majority.

She had no idea how those numbers were possible, especially for a newly split swarm, but there was no other conclusion she could make. She could only hope that the newcomer’s new species was highly specialized in honey production, because otherwise the scale of the newcomer’s hive would be…greatly concerning. But there was one thing she did know…

She needed her own scouts to see what was going on with this new hive. And to determine if the subjects she had sent had truly betrayed her.

She gave orders to her workers to arrange scouts and then commanded that the army be mustered. The Flower Tender had told her she could not commit violence against the newcomer, but this was an emergency. Surely suppression necessary for survival would be permitted. And regardless, her own subjects had clearly betrayed her by failing to report the newcomer’s capabilities. Whatever happened with the newcomer, she would remind the rest just who she was.

And thanks to the newcomer’s mana rich honey tribute, she had expanded her army even further. No amount of honey production could stop the sheer number of soldiers she could bring to bear. She would punish the traitor, bring the newcomer in line, and revise the daily tribute based on the newcomer’s apparent capabilities.

She would then use the newcomer’s honey to expand her army even further and thus secure her reign forevermore. For no hive could stand against the queen of queens…

The stingless queen who had scouted the newcomer spun about buzzing her wings. She had been a fool. Of course, the domineering queen would notice something was wrong with the newcomer’s tribute. And so, of course the domineering queen would then start questioning her reports, or lack thereof. And now, the domineering queen was coming not for the newcomer…but for her.

The newcomer’s honey had been incredible and allowed the stingless queen to raise soldiers in secret…but she still had barely a dozen ready. The domineering queen had an army of a hundred, which was now headed her way. Her life would soon be over.

She thought about reaching out to the newcomer but what was the point? Sure, the newcomer might have said she would help against the domineering queen…but the stingless queen knew that the newcomer would only do so if it’d benefit her. She hadn’t done a thing to make herself useful to the newcomer, despite all the honey donations given to her. Forget helping her, the newcomer would probably consider it a favor if her hive was destroyed. If she couldn’t at least defend her own hive, then why would the newcomer bother with her any longer?

No, she had not thought out her plan well after all. She had likely doomed herself the moment she didn’t accurately report the very first newcomers. She had been greedy, and now she would pay the price like so many other queens before her. No one defied the queen of queens and got away with it.

Her workers and soldiers scrambled around her, asking for instructions. She gathered them and led them to the entrance of the hive. She told the workers to disperse and make for the newcomer’s hive. Maybe, if they submitted themselves and proved useful, the newcomer would absorb them into her hive. As for herself and the soldiers…they would try to buy time. At this point, that was all they could do.

Her workers refused, however, and gathered around her along with the soldiers. They buzzed their wings and clacked their mandibles, hovering protectively around her. Her antennae drooped. She could not even save the least of her own children. But at the same time…she could not help but admit she was glad they stayed around her.

“Ok…hive prepare to fight.”

Her hive gathered as one, a paltry swarm barely humming in the wind compared to the dark cloud buzzing in the distance. There would be no escape for them…but at the very least they’d make the domineering queen bleed. They’d claim one worker and one soldier for each of their own lives. She gathered her mana and then let it spread across her hive, letting each of her children know of her resolve. She gave them her final command and then buzzed her own wings, warming up to fight as they would.

The cloud drew closer. She could start to make out the shapes of a hundred soldier bees, the veterans of countless hive conquests, followed by countless workers. And at their head…the domineering queen flew herself.

The stingless queen buzzed her wings and extended her stinger. The domineering queen must have been truly angry at her to come in person. But…perhaps this was an opportunity? If only she could strike at the tyrant herself…then perhaps she would consider the death of her hive a worthy price to pay…

The buzzing grew louder and the wind picked up. The beating of thousands of wings combined into a gust that…was blowing from behind?

The stingless queen paused. That couldn’t be right. It definitely couldn’t be from the domineering queen’s army…because that army had halted their approach for some reason. The stingless queen turned around to try and figure out what was happening…and froze solid.

There, hovering behind and above her hive…was the newcomer. And an army of soldier bees a hundred strong, led by those gigantic soldiers she had never reported. The newcomer saw her and started dancing.

“Hi! Heard stingless queen in trouble! Need help?”

The stingless queen’s mind went blank. The newcomer…had actually come to help?