《Down the Deep Blue Hole》Volume 1 Chapter 14: Beeeeez
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Oh my gods please no. Anything but that. Why, just why? Why do these things always happen to me? I relax for second and this sh*t happens? Hello? Kami-sama? Anybody home? Cause you about to get a HUGE complaint! Brace for impact! Prepare for retreat! Use all availible resources and arm the traps! We will not allow anyone to die again! In the name of fried pork cutlets! If I do not keep my word, may I never touch a pork cutlet again! Not that I can ever eat a pork cutlet in this current form anyways *sniff*. But that's not the point, you get my meaning! Pweep pweep! All aboard! We are off!
The Dungeon wishes to converse with you. Do you wish to accept the enemy Envoy Request? [Y/N]
Eh? Whah? No battle? No bloodthirsty monsters craving for flesh? No swarms upon swarms of enemy monsters aiming for my core? Ehhhhhh...... No, wait. This could all be a ploy, a trick for me to lower my guard. I cannot be careless. All dungeons are simply battle crazed simpletons who would resort to any form of dishonourable deceit to kill the enemy dungeon. They are all unfriendly, all of them, all of them....
The Envoy Request will expire in [10 mins]. Upon expiring, the conditions of the Envoy will no longer be valid.
Eh? Conditions? What conditions? I demand an explanation! Hello? Give me a bloody guide on th-
Dungeon Envoy: The other alternative to having a Dungeon Battle when two or more Dungeons meet. And Envoy Request will be given if a Dungeon requests for an Envoy{this can be denied} or all Dungeons do not show aggresive behaviour{this can be denied}. An Envoy Request can be denied, which leads directly to a default Dungeon Battle (deathmatch). During the Envoy, dungeons may not perform actions that may directly or indirectly cause harm or distress to the other party and their inhabitants during or after the Envoy. The Envoy must consist of monsters or creatures intelligent enough to understand the most basic of thought, with at least 3 members being so. The Envoy Request has a default expiration time of 1 hour which can be altered if given as a direct request by a dungeon. Upon expiration, all conditions attatched to the Envoy will be voided. The Envoy Request will not be entertained if a Dungeon has challenged the other party to a Dungeon Battle. However, if there are 3 or more Dungeons, the parties who did not put forth the challenge may still hold an Envoy on their own. An Envoy may still result in a Dungeon Battle, but the conditions can be altered with mutual agreement.
I......I see. I kinda forgot about the guide huh..... Long time no see, I guess. You bring back quite some sour memories alright. So, first of all, we should accept this Envoy thingy. No Dungeon Battle sounds gooood. Lets accept this bad boy right away!
You have accepted the Envoy Request. Please select your Envoy Party members(minimum of three required). The Envoy will be held at the connecting tunnel of both Dungeons.
Right, let's see. If they required intelligent creatures, we might have to send our Queen here. There has to be three creatures, which I have. I am just reluctant, just in case. Bah! We'll tear our hairs out at this rate. They said no harm intended, an Envoy Request was sent voluntarily, no harm can be done, we're all set! I pick my [Queen], her [Consort], my [Parasigot], my seeded [Larvack], one of my [Largots] and three more [Militarvae] just to be sure. I mean, it's common to bring bodyguards to diplomatic events isn't it. Team Nuntius(temp) is a go!
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So lah dee dah dah we all started to head towards the connecting tunnel and this message popped up.
[Dungeon Possesion]: The possesion of a dungeon monster or creature. The dungeon master may posses one of his or her monsters or creatures and control it at will. To posses beings of higher intelligence, even the dungeon's inhabitants, requires full willing consent of the party. A forced possesion is possible. Due to the special circumstances, you have been temporarily granted this skill to carry out your Envoy with greater ease. Use the skill well, Dungeon Master.
Soooooo, apparently we need to- Ooohhhhh, I get it. We dungeon masters being like all ghosty and stuff means that we can't exactly communicate with each other, so this is a measure against that. Still, I wonder how would we communicate with monsters alone. Not that it's not nice and all to get to be inside of something physical again but how do we communicate still. Pheromones? Squeaks? Bah, I'll just go with the flow and figure it out on the way.
Let me see... If I posses my Queen, it means that she will be at the front, exposed and stuff and also tell the dungeon who exactly is my most important larva. If I use the parasite it will be exactly the same thing, ditto for the larvack. I doubt that any of the other monsters actually have enough intelligence to..... never mind. Hmmmm, how should I do this....... Oh, oh, I got it! I can posses the parasite, get it to be as small as possible and camouflage of the largot, thus it would appear as if it is the largot and not the parasite that I am possesing. Set! Let's go, in three, two, one, possesion.
And I must say, this is rather disorientating. Imagine a gian toilet bowl that has a looooong and swirly pipe at the end which eventually connects to the parasite. Now I am inside the giant toilet bowl's bowl part, you know, the one where the poop go when you take a dump. So, possesion is pretty much like flushing the entire toilet bowl, and I go whhhhheeeeee and I end up inside the parasite. This field of view is garbage. It is so small, so short and blurry as crap. No wait, hold on, eeeehhhhhmm, switch this on, switch that on, much better. Parasite's sense of smell and hearing is by far the better option that its sight. So, lets shrink down, match the colour of the largot, slowly, slowly, perfect. We ready to go boys!
And so, our little Envoy party, tentatively named Team Nuntius, headed to the connecting tunnels
----(3rd Person POV)----
It was indeed a sight to behold, the larvae of all different kinds wriggling and squirming to the tunnel. After a bit of jostling and other larva shenanigans, they eventually got to the connecting tunnel of the two dungeons. The change in the dungeon's compositions became quite visible. From the semi-white limestone to it changed into a darker shade of limestone, with splashes of siltstone, with a lot more pores in the rock. The tunnel was a little small, slightly slanting upwards (towards the other dungeon), and seeing that the other party has yet to arrive, the dungeon master got his seeded larvack to expand the tunnel a little. Slowly, a rich buzzing sound filled the air.
You know those movies with giant insects, where their wings seem to beat in slow motion, leaving afterimages behind and whatnot, landing with a loud *thump* and slowly folding in their wings and shaking a little? The bees entrance was something similar. The first bees landed before hastily clearing away. Then, she came.
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The Queen Bee, flightless and abnormally large, her abdomen bloated to an unimaginable size. Carried by four strong bees, she was set down before she began to inch her way towards the larva. Seeing this, the ever curteous(or so he believes) dungeon master went foward instead so as to not trouble the Queen as much. After settling down and finding their most comfortable positions, the Envoy began.
The Envoy is now underway. All conditions of the Envoy Request are still valid. You may now discuss whatever terms you wish. To aid in the conversation, [Dungeon Possesion] has been granted to both Dungeons temporarily. Some examples of possible topics would be: (specific conditions for a Dungeon Battle), (items for trading), (exchange of labour), (exchange of knowledge). The Envoy can break down, by which the most recent conditions of the Dungeon Battle will be taken as finalized and be implemeted. Current relationship status with Dungeon: {Neutral (0)}
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"Eerrm, hello I guess.... Salutation!"
"My greetings to you, young dungeon. May I ask what brings you to my domain?" Oh gods, hearing a voice come from a freaking bee not even moving her mandibles is creepy~. Well, either way, this dungeon is one I do NOT want as an enemy. In fact, I would love to have... him? Her? As my ally. I did see some relationship status thing so I'm guessing there is some sort of like "friendly" or "trusted" status like those NPC relationship status in RPGs that I used to play. Oh, I have to answer the question!
"Ah, you see.... I was kind of expanding my dungeon then I kind of hit yours. I mean, I didn't know there were so many dungeons in such a tiny area man!"
"It is understandable. Young dungeons can simply appear in the blink of an eye at random, some take a little longer. I have lost count of the times a young one broke through my home. I gave them a chance for a more peaceful solution, of course, but most of them denied. Expanding your domain is, also, an instinct of a dungeon. I must say, you are rather intelligent for a dungeon of your age. You even have a common [Victor] achievement, that is rather impressive."
Errr, help? Wait what? Are my achievements all visible? Oh my god then all those-
"No need to worry, only some are visible. You need to learn to suppress your audible thoughts, I can hear every word you are thinking you know?"
"Wait... then the part about the relationship thing...."
"Yes, I heard that too. I would like to have a peaceful relation as well. It gets rather boring after years of being stuck in stone. I wish for a friend to whom I can converse with, and share my discoveries and creations. I am sure you wish for that too, a dungeon with too much sentience can be a bad thing after all. If only this area was accessible to those dungeon companions....."
"Hold up! Pause! Did you just say Dungeon Companions? Like, let me guess, Dungeon Fairies or Imps or Shades or-"
"Please slow down! To answer your question, I have no idea. I only know about the existence of such beings and I am not sure how either. If you wish to, we can exchange information on this regard."
"Ohhhhh, I completely forgot! We can trade stuff, okay let's see. I have an [Ant's Tome of knowledge], I have a bunch of [Manaleaves] and [Manaberries] and I have-"
"Slow down! I feel like I'm trying to count the number of times a bee beats its wings in a second. Which is 600 per second by the way. I have a couple of [Honeycaps], [Honey Grade H], [Beeswax Grade G] that I am willing to spare. Are you alright if we meet up after we have collected our items?"
"No problemo! Oh, and one more question. How in the world are we talking if our monsters do not open their mouths?"
"You misudnderstand, it is not the monsters who are speaking, it is us. We are communicating using the [Language of the Dungeon], which for some strange can only be used when we are in a physical body. Hence the reason for the need of possesion."
"Oh, thank you very much. I, um, am going to grab my stuff now. I'll see you in 10 minutes I guess?"
Envoy Interval: You and the other Dungeon have agreed for an interval during the Envoy. You have {10 mins} to collect your items you wish to present for [Trading]. Time left: {10 mins}
Righty, let's get this sorted out. What are some of the things that have value in my dungeon? Hmmm, manaleaves are one, the berries as well.... I don't thi- No, wait a minute. They are bees, so I think any form of pollen or nectar would be valuable right? Okay, I got everything I need, lets head back.
-(a few moments later)-
"HOW DID YOU GET THAT FLOWER?!?!?!"
Ow, my ears. My imaginary hair and ears are literally flapping from the force of that guy's shouting. Like, seriously, it's just a flower.
"It is not just a flower, my friend. It my home, my food, my lifeline. You have no idea how hard I have endured without a meal of proper honey for my Queen. Honeycaps just don't cut it. Furthermore, the quality...... just perfect. The finest you can find for miles around. The scent, the sweet, sweet nectar and the firm yet powdery pollen grains, this whets my appetite. I need to have this, tell me, how did you manage to acquire this."
"I used soil and water, simple as that. "
"You are lying. You cannot be otherwise. The quality of such a product is not able to be produced by mere soil and water. Tell me now, how did you do it."
If you are not going to believe it just say it buddy. Not like I did anything else. Meh I'll just say it's a trade secret and be done with it. "Trade secret. Bweh(sticking his toungue out)" Oh oops, he/she looks so agitated. I did not anger him/her by chance did I? Ummm, it's just a prank bro, no need to get mad.
"I need to have this. If I cannot get the method to procure it, you will procure it for me. I will give anything in return. Name your price. Anything within reason is fair game. "
Oh, what? Errrr, okay? "Can I know all of the items you have? No, scratch that. It's alright, you know, I can just give you some of the flowers for fre-"
"You misunderstand. I meant an eternal supply, and in return for that I will give you anything you wish in return. Name your price."
"Oh. Alright, I have one thing that I want. I need you to comply with this request willingly and wholeheartedly. Swear that you will not break this agreement."
"I swear that as long as it is within my means, in the name of the Dungeon God, I will hold true to your conditions."
"Be my friend."
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...........................*awkward*
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"Errrrr, is that not alright?"
"No... it is a very one sided agreement isn't it?"
"Is being a friend with me so hard? I wonder what is wrong, do I smell? Let me prep some deo-"
"It is unfair for you, you realize that? An endless supply of a premium food source that is extremely hard to come by and you are giving it to me at the mere condition of friendship?"
"Pfft! Mere friendship, you say. Mark the words of the greates-I mean, humble dungeon! Friendship is magic! Repeat after me! Friendship is magic! With friendship, you can overcome any obstacles, any troubles! When you are down, your friends will cheer you up! When you are in trouble, your friend will help you! Friends are awesome, okay?"
"It is still too good of a deal. I need to give somethi-"
"Think of it as an investment with our still shaky friendship, okay? We just met, think of it as a gift. In time to come, we can rely on each other without the need for any of that trading garbage. We can simply give and take as we like. This is what friends are for, yeah? To help each other. And if you need good food for your Queen, I will be happy to provide! So, it's a deal?"
"In the name of the Creator, the Father of all Dungeons, the first Dungeon Master, I swear that for the rest of eternity, I will be a true friend to this Dungeon. Hear my pledge, Dungeon God, for if at any time he requires my assistance, I shall be there to aid him. From now till the end of time, we shall remain as 'Friends'."
You have made a "Friend"! Relationship status with Dungeon has been set to "Friendly". Reputation points [+6000], you need [4000] more reputation to set relationship status to "Trusted". As a friend, you may not engage in activities or perform actions that will harm your friend in any way. Help your friend or complete their requests to earn reputation points to improve your relationship. Current benefits: {Dungeons will send aid if one party is caught in a Dungeon Battle}, {Dungeons will provide food if one is experiencing a shortage}, {knowledge can be freely exchanged up to "uncommon" rarity}, {goods can be freely exchanged up to "common" rarity} Achievement Get! [Friendship is Magic]: Make your first Dungeon Friend. You start off as "Friendly" for your relationship status. Reward: [+6000] reputation points!
Yahooooooo! Totally worth! Best friends foooorever! Okay first of all, let's get the plants shifted over closer to this area. Oh! Let's expand this middle portion too, create a shared area! That sounds cool! But that achievement though.... what a rip-off...
"By the way, are you a he or a she? I'm a he, by the way."
"She." ... ... *blush*blush*
------(Bee Dungeon POV)-----
(slight flashback to when she was discovered by him)
*Sigh* Another silly dungeon who could not control their instincts. Why are they all so stuipid. Can't we just all get along? I'm just trying to live a nice, civilised life and here you all are so eager to break it. You want to go? Those young ones, they are all the same. The usual, let me send an Envoy Request, they'll reject it anyways but just in case.
I am born as an intelligent Dungeon. I posses far more intelligence compared to other dungeons. How? Simple, I just do. It's in my instinct, which are far more refined and superior compared to the other primitive dungeons. Those silly ones who just keep on coming and coming non-stop! Argh, take a break, will you? It's already bad enough that somehow plants can't grow in my dungeon. They just can't take root. They have no water and the hard rock prevents their roots from, haaaah. I had to stick with fungi. I worked overtime to find a way for my bees to be proficient enough to make honey from the crappiest of raw materials, then I blew literally all my animus to somehow get the fungi to evolve into Honeycaps, little yellow mushrooms that grow on decaying matter. Which is, of course, the useless drones. I only have one hive and I have no intention of starting another, so those guys can just die for all I care. Only the females will remain. The royal jelly made from the honeycaps were horrible, so much that I only fed my Queen enough of it so that she would remain as Queen. The rest of the time, she fed of the honey made from the juices of the honeycap mixed with some of its spored. Its bad, but not as bad as the royal jelly.
And who would have thought, the dungeon who broke into my domain actually accepted my Envoy Request. As per the conditions, I cannot harm it in any way, but I can still scout it out. Let's go all out, just in case it still has a thought of battle in mind. I'll show it my huge Queen, that'll give it second thoughts, I hope.
So, I decided to bring a couple of my worker bees and four soldier bees to carry my Queen. In the connecting tunnel, the other dungeon was already there. Why was the tunnel so freaking small? Oh, it was expanding it for me? How nice, not that that will ever help you. If you are useless, I'll just kill you.
Then, I had met him. Sophisticated and far more wise than I am. Yet, just like a child, so full of questions. His thoughts exploding out of his possesed monster, a barrage of emotions and flood of thoughts when I even touched the surface of his mind. Always wandering, always thinking. I posses a unique ability of being able to read a little about the information regarding a dungeon, including all of the above. I saw it, an achievement on a Dungeon Battle, the first battle at that. You see, normally, when dungeons of this calibre fight each other, it only results in an inferior quality of battle where simpletons just throw their monsters at each other and take it to a match of brute force. That won't even merit an achievement. To acquire an inferior achievement, the dungeon must show some form of technique and stratergy in its battle. Which for a lowly and inferior being is already pretty impressive. Then, to get the common one, it has to win a battle that is against something waaay stronger that them, use more complicated stratergies. Then there is the fact that it says [Victor] and not [Winner]. He had won a complete victory. That was impossible. For a mere young dungeon against a far older one is already tantamount to suicide and he had a complete victory? Not the fact that it was the enemy that was dumb but him that was the reason for the victory? That was unfathomable, and yet, there he stood.
My degree of respect and desire for him rose again, after he brought me that flower. It was like a bonding gift, when two dungeons get together to create a new dungeon, each sacrificing half of their core. Usually, gifts were exchanged when such a promise to bond was made. Flowers were nice but his, oh, was perfect. I was enraptured, hypnotised, charmed by that scent. I could already feel the quality oozing from it. Oh, the nectar hidden in the depths of the flower, so sweet, so tangy. I could taste the smell, it was just too good. I need to know how to get this. Then, I can debate on whether to keep this guy alive. If he was greedy, like any other dungeon, he will die a sad death. So much potential, wasted.
But he did not betray my expectations. He had not asked for anything other than friendship. I vowed in the name of our creator, when the vow broken would cause our very fibre of our being to be unmade. Then we established the tiniest of connection. I felt it then. He would be a dungeon that I should and would never fight. The power he posses, the knowledge that he has, the care and concern he has for his dungeon monsters and creatures. He desired partnership, happy now that he had achieved one. He was smart, creative, and completely random. He was like a counterpart to me, who liked to be serious and fixated, carefree and free-flowing. I had learned that he was he and he learned that I was she. Ah, I wonder how our child would look like.......
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"Alrighty, everything is done. Anything else you want? He-Hey, are you listening? Don't space out on me oi!"
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