The wolfkin man cried out as a pillar of fire burned right past his face. He fell to the ground, clutching the area by his left eye. He had escaped death as the pillar had not struck him directly, but it had come close enough to burn the left side of his face.
“You incompetent mongrel! After all this time, you can’t even find a single bee?!”
The man gritted his teeth as he pulled himself to face forward and bow. Tears formed in his eyes from the pain but he had no choice but to pull himself together. The Inferno Empress was already displeased enough, she would not hold back with the next fire spell forming in her hand.
“M-My apologies, my empress. We found none in your purified land, and bees are rare in the Underway…”
Another blast of fire surged over his head, scorching his back and his tail.
“I don’t want to hear excuses! If you cannot complete this simple task then perhaps you are of no use to me…you and your people both! Leave, and do not return until you have acquired some bees!”
This time the Inferno Empress took her leave not with a veil of smoke but with a wall of roaring flames. The man slowly rose to his feet, resisting the urge to clutch at his burned face once more. He had no time, not even for pain.
His face and shoulders fell as he shuffled out of the dungeon under the glare of the guards. He and the tribe’s hunters had already scoured both the surface and the nearby Underway and found no bees in their vicinity. It was to be expected, it was a roll of the dice which species might survive in any given purified area.
The captain was drenched with sweat, and not from the exertion of the dig.
“Right away, my lord.”
Lord Starami held back a sigh. First, the last Tower encountered turned out to be ruled by the subhumans. A human Tower Lord could be convinced to swear loyalty to the Conclave, if they knew what was good for them. A subhuman one had to dealt with. Killing a Tower Lord was possible, but always a troublesome affair. One never knew how many times their patron god would be willing to intervene, or even revive them, and there was a good chance that patron would withdraw their blessing from the Tower once the deed was done. The patron god would then need to be appeased lest they express their wrath upon the rest of the Conclave and any followers they had there, while the Tower in question would need to be rebuilt from the ground up since its features and blessings would no longer match if the original patron could not be convinced to return.
There were some Tower Lords who were willing to merely subjugate subhumans, but Lord Starami’s position was not good enough to endure any hint of further reprove, so he had no choice but to waste further resources exterminating the Tower Lord outright. He was only lucky said subhuman hadn’t followed his own patron.
And now he had to deal with the Hunger. Unfortunately, Ruckanos’s report had proven accurate. There was a large, unbroken sea of the Hunger across the surface between him and the target, just barely within the limits of a one-way flight by a wyvern. And that meant that he had no choice but to dig underneath. The path was far too long to sustain an army capable of assaulting Towers via wyverns alone, they needed either a closer base or a ground path. And since there were no closer bases, their only choice was to dig their own route and hope that the Hunger wouldn’t seep down into it before they reached their target and made their assault. If they were lucky, perhaps they might break into an Underway path or even find a subterranean Tower…but Starami no longer trusted in his luck.
But he would not be deterred. At the end of this path was the means by which he could resolve his humiliation…as well as to pay back the one who had caused all this. And so, his army pressed on, watching the ground drakes dig away at the dirt…
Meanwhile, the God of Bees was dancing before the God of Fire.
“Fire dungeon masters…not completing mission? Only one so far?”
The God of Fire crossed his arms and hummed.
“I’m a bit embarrassed to admit it but…they’re having a bit of trouble. Rippotis is on his way but…the others are having trouble finding bees in the first place. Urubran was really lucky he could get help from Flower’s master. Um, sorry to ask this but…any chance you can add some bees to their purified zones?”
The God of Bees buzzed her wings.
“Can’t. No authority.”
The God of Fire frowned.
“Really? I know he’s only one of the five I promised but Urubran should be earning you authority now? And Belissar is still doing well, right? Surely you have more authority to work with now…”
The God of Bees looked up at him before dancing again.
“Had to spend on missions.”
The God of Fire’s eye flames shrunk a bit as he recalled which missions the God of Bees had recently assigned Belissar…and why. He rubbed the back of his head.