Everyone in the Tower spent the next days training with the pixies and wardens or else preparing for the expansion purification. Soon enough, the day was upon them. The bee army and karnuq assembled in the Orchard, at which point Belissar ran into the first hurdle of the day.
The spiderkin all came rushing out of the Orchard, waving around nets and wooden spears. The First Spiderkin Queen ran up to him with a grin.
“King! Ready to fight! Ready to kill King’s enemies!”
Belissar was taken aback for a moment. He had not even considered the spiderkin as part of the army for this purification. So, once he gathered himself, he shook his head.
“Not this time. You’re not ready yet.”
The First Spiderkin Queen halted, then frowned and waved her spear around.
But Belissar did not yield, no matter how elegant her argument.
“No, you all just hatched. You’re not even fully grown yet, right, and this fight is going to be tough.”
“Now now, our Tower Keeper has spoken. You will all listen to his commands, right?”
The spiderkin turned to face her. The First Spiderkin Queen grimaced.
“Will listen to King, but want to fight. Want to help.”
Chief Rohsuak smiled and knelt down so she could speak face to face with the First Spiderkin Queen.
“You will. But only after you have been trained like all of our warriors have been. In fact, if it pleases the Tower Keeper, perhaps I could begin training you after this?”
She looked at Belissar and all the spiderkin followed her. Belissar hesitated…but withered under the expectant gazes of the spiderkin. Well, he trusted Chief Rohsuak to take care of them, so he realized there was no issue and nodded.
“Yes, please take care of them.”
The spiderkin cheered and Chief Rohsuak chuckled. With the first hurdle addressed, Belissar returned his attention to the gathering army. The wardens and pixies had both arrived and were making their final preparations. Belissar tilted his head as he walked over to Captain Karpakynne, though.
“I thought you were going to ride the bees?”
Captain Karpakynne gave a massive, drawn-out sigh.
“Look, tower keeper, sir. This is embarrassing to admit, but my girls and boys don’t know the pointy end of lance or which way a saddle goes. It’ll take more than a couple of days before they’re even close to a match for the weakest squire of Hive and Stinger. If I let them ride today, we’d probably just get in your bees’ way.”
She heaved an even bigger sigh before glowering at the air.
“I was going to, but Henilett that craven canary went and told Her Majesty and now I’ve been ordered not to ride in alone. So, until my little band of chittering imbeciles can manage to stab anything but themselves, I’m stuck on the boring job too.”
Belissar wasn’t sure how to respond to that. At this point, Wardmaster Varilold joined the conversation with a chuckle.
“Not to worry, Tower Keeper. The Royal Pixie Guard may not be as experienced with blades as Captain Karpakynne would like, but you’ll find that’s because they don’t need any.”
Belissar nodded, even as Captain Karpakynne sighed yet again and began muttering to herself.
“So…are we all ready then?”
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Wardmaster Varilold saluted and Captain Karpakynne ceased muttering to join her.
“We’ll follow your lead, Tower Keeper.”
Belissar turned the question to his own defenders. A gust of wind blew around him as the bee army danced a salute as one. The karnuq saluted and banged their spears on their shields. Hirkolos saluted from on top of his wyvern. Even Princess Finnakynne nodded from on top of a bumblebee soldier’s back. The leaders of the different forces all gathered around him, with a ward formation on the ground nearby the wardens had prepared and a table with a map of the Tower they could use to plan their reactions.
Belissar smiled at the sight of the army before him.
Attempt expansion purification? Estimated purification strength: below average.
Belissar paused for just a moment. It had been a while…but the purification strength had finally gone up again. He hesitated…but quickly recalled he was not alone.
“It looks like the purification will be stronger this time, everyone. Princess Finnakynne, do you think we’re ready for a below average purification?”
Finnakynne thought to herself for a moment before smiling and shrugging.
“Beely, the wardens or royal guard alone could probably handle something like that.”
Wardmaster Varilold shook her head, though with a smile.
“We haven’t completed a full ward setup, Princess Finnakynne, and this dungeon operates differently from those of the Circle. Still, she is not wrong that we have the force necessary to address surprises, Tower Keeper.”
Belissar slowly nodded to himself. The bee army was more powerful than ever before, the karnuq had full squads of blessed hunters at this point, and he had reinforcements from the Compact. If Princess Finnakynne, a fellow dungeon master, and Wardmaster Varilold, defender of the fair folk, said as much, then there was no reason to delay.
“Ok then, here we go. Everyone stay on your guard…”
At his words, Wardmaster Varilold reached down and poured a water pouch onto the ward formation drawn on the ground. The formation glowed and the water rose into the air, flattening out until it had become a thin disk. The water shimmered and then the Tower’s gates appeared within them, allowing everyone present to watch the entrance. Belissar then started the expansion.
Expansion purification attempt commencing.
The wardmaster and pixie captain stared intently as the gates flung open in the image. Wardmaster Varilold pulled out a small book and quill and began writing. Captain Karpakynne made a pixie-sized quill fly and write on its own in a pixie-sized book.
Meanwhile, the Hunger began to coalesce…and coalesce…and coalesce…and coalesce. Belissar’s eyes widened as shades began to march out of the Hunger’s mass…and didn’t stop. The shades this time…were twelve-legged ants, each about the size of a mouse. The Hunger had sent a swarm of its own.
Expansion purification begun. Wave 1 begun. Remaining hostiles: 17,280. Remaining waves: 2.
Worst of all, as Tarwantrad had warned him the Hunger was using waves this time. They had over seventeen thousand shades to deal with…and then would have to face a second wave. But that wouldn’t matter if they could stop this first one.
The Tower’s defenders immediately burst into action at Wardmaster Varilold’s shout to her own wardens. Belissar snapped out of his surprise and shouted his own message across the tower.
“It’s a big swarm of ants! And there’s another wave afterwards, so be careful!”
The queens began dancing among themselves in response. The First of the Second danced to the Fourth of the Fifth.
“Should pull digging soldiers back, will get overwhelmed if try to fight alone.”
The Fourth of the Fifth danced a confirmation and stepped right into a question.
“How about sprayers?”
The Firstborn gave the verdict.
“Is dangerous…but can try. Take shining bees to flash if need to get away.”
The queens in question began giving orders through their communers, then the rest of the queens started discussing and rearranging the formation of the bee army proper. Meanwhile, Chief Rohsuak, Captain Karpakynne, and Wardmaster Varilold all gave quick orders to their subordinates then returned to Belissar once the preparations had begun. Wardmaster Varilold spoke up right away.
“Tower Keeper, have you dealt with a swarm before?”
Belissar shook his head.
“It’s normally one or two big shades.”
Wardmaster Varilold crossed her arms.
“I see, would you like some advice?”
Belissar nodded immediately.
The wardmaster immediately turned to the map of the Tower they had set up and started motioning.
“I’d recommend placing the Lava Field after the tunnels, the mini-volcano will be most effective when they’re still bunched up from the last tunnel. It’ll also break them up so they’ll enter the Fairy Grove piecemeal if they make it that far. My wardens and the Royal Pixie Guard can wear them down there.”
Belissar tilted his head.
“What about the karnuq, couldn’t they try to stop them at the tunnel?”
Chief Rohsuak shook her head.
“If we knew fire would work, maybe, but every shade we’ve seen recently has been fire-resistant. I don’t have the mana to burn through a fire-resistant swarm this size, so we’d risk getting overwhelmed trying to hold our ground.”
Wardmaster Varilold’s face turned grim.
“Not to mention, we will need reserves for a second wave. It’s best not to play all of our cards until we have to.”
Belissar nodded at that and then the defenders got work rearranging their defenses. Belissar immediately moved the rooms as suggested. The Third of the Sixth and Third of the Fourth deployed their hives to the Lava Field while the fair folk moved into the Fairy Grove.
In the meantime, the swarm of ants marched through the Dirt Tunnels. They ignored the first Pit Trap, easily able to climb along the walls and roof of the tunnel.
The first Sticky Honey Trap was harder to ignore. The trap launched over the pit, covering some ants on the other side of it in viscous honey. The small ants were fully engulfed by the honey and completely trapped…but the swarm marched on. The ants caught were barely a drop in the bucket.
And so, the first below average purification began.