The gate to the hunting ground was located in an off-center and strongly guarded barracks. It formed a yellow circle in the air and the princesses' sixth sense felt no threat, but rather a form of calm. Even Xorpha broke out of her sullen demeanor into a dreamy one.

Passing through this circle floating in the air was a strange experience. From the moment the princess touched the weird material, she felt herself pushed forward, as if sucked in entirely. However, it was only a feeling and she had to move forward to get through the door. As her face sank into the rippling material, she felt like she was sticking her head into some kind of giant jelly. The feeling of being pushed forward grew stronger and for a brief moment she found herself in the middle of an endless ocean of yellow... Then, suddenly, she was on the other side, her head spinning a little because of the sudden change of environment.

Once through the door, Xorpha changed her mind and closed her eyes with a painful pout. Visually, it didn't change much because they were half closed all the time. Xicackna supposed that even as she grew up this princess would never be able to open her other six eyes.

"Too much light!" moaned the sleepy girl.

Sure enough, they were now outside, in a magnificent light. The landscape was made up of forests and meadows with magical colors oscillating between summer and autumn. The brown of Xicackna, the green of Xilofane and the red[1] of Xafara blended pleasantly into the landscape but the midnight blue of Xorpha's carapace contrasted strongly, accentuating her uneasiness. With a displeased pout, she activated her camouflage and took on the color of the grass she was crawling on.

Several workers and soldiers dedicated to hunting were busy, carrying the carcasses of strange animals through the portal or organizing for a new expedition. The arrival of the princesses was discreetly noticed, but they did not disturb them. However, it was certain that they would be constantly followed by scouts, ready to intervene at the slightest real danger.

"On the hunt!" Xafara exclaimed happily. "What do you think we'll find as prey first? Oh! I know! What if we had a competition? The first one to eliminate a prey wins!"

"Okay," Xorpha murmured, "then I forfeit."

"Go ahead, Xafara," said Xilofane with a mischievous smile before whispering, "she will get lost and it will serve her right...

"We'd better stay together," replied Xicackna, "even if the places are relatively safe, it can always happen that prey turns out to be dangerous..."

The barbarian pouted at her sisters' reactions, but she quickly found a solution that restored her good mood:

"Okay, we stay in groups, but the competition will be the first to spot the prey!"

With the exception of the eldest, the others approved the course of action and immediately began to search the surroundings. Spreading the branches with their arms and the bushes with their secondary legs, frolicking through the green or yellowing grass, they had a field day.

Suddenly, a small brown creature, disturbed by their activities, jumped out of a thicket and began running in a zigzag fashion at high speed. Small in size, the beast was covered in fur and had pointed ears, longer than its head. Screaming with joy and surprise, the princesses jumped on both sides to block the path.

Although unknown, the monster seemed harmless but it was fast. To its cost, it learned that princesses could be nearly as fast[2] when they were motivated.

“He's there!” “Be careful, he’s going that way!” “Hey! You almost ran into me!”

Xafara, Xilofane and Xicackna threw themselves from one side to the other, intercepting the unknown creature in its attempts to escape. Although slightly faster than the Zcarbbs, the beast found no escape. One princess shoved another and, while they were arguing, the “Level 1/4 Hare” as the system named and rated the monster, found its door to salvation. To the displeased cries of the princesses, it jumped into the air towards a bush which was no longer protected.

A sharp paw suddenly appeared in the air and pierced the beast right through. Observing in disgust the creature impaled on her appendage, Xorpha lay down again in the grass as its shell took on the color of her surroundings. She gave her sisters a small smirk.

"You just had to wait for the right moment. It seems I won."

For a moment stunned, the sisters reacted:

"I didn't know you could move that fast..."

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

"I didn't know she could move!"

"The game was whoever saw first won! You refused when I suggested who was the first to hunt, so we're sticking with the one who saw first!"

The argument then turned to who actually saw the beast first as Xorpha fell asleep. Although arguing vehemently, Xicackna felt… joyful. For the first time since the Disaster, she relaxed. She was sure the same was true for the others, even Xorpha.

Xicackna stretched, taking the time to savor the gentle breeze that caressed her face and the sun on her shell. It had been so long since she had seen the surface. Although it was that of a foreign world, or perhaps a copy of a part of this world, like the Dungeon, she felt good there.

“When I become a queen,” she thought, “I will build a secondary palace on the surface, just above my hive... I will plant fields and orchards there; I will leave some reserves of hunting. Maybe I could introduce a few animals like this hare, and I could watch my children chase them..."

"Wow! What is that?"

Snapping back to reality, the princess turned to Xafara, who had screamed. A beast, huge like a classic soldier, had just appeared, seeming even taller on its long, slender legs. Four legs. The creature had hairy skin and a mane extending from its strange neck. Surprised by the presence of the Zcarbbs, it let out a shrill howl and galloped away from them.

Of course, the princesses rushed after it. However, much faster, the creature began to outdistance them across the long grassy plain. Furious, the Zcarbbs began to spit streams of acid to reach their target. The result was surprising: barely touched, the beast began to utter atrocious cries and become even more panicked until its legs got tangled.

The three princesses who had pursued it began to surround the dying animal, without daring to approach its strange legs ending in a sort of solid box practically divided in two by a slit. A blow from this appendage would likely prove painful, and the creature flailed desperately in its slow demise.

"Xicackna?" Xafara asked. "What is the name of this monster?"

The analyst felt a shiver as she saw what the system called "hooves" moving: it reminded her of the very first monstrous invaders she had seen during the Disaster. The main difference was that the neck and head of this creature were replaced by a torso with hands and a smaller head among monsters.

"A… A level 1 horse… That’s what the System calls this alien creature."

The horse's agony was cut short by a jet of Xilofane acid which hit the beast in the head, provoking a howl of protest from Xafara:

"Hey! I was observing! You did this just to take all the XP for yourself!"

"How can you bear the disharmonious cries of agony of this beast? And then, I don’t see what observing one’s death can teach us."

"Still, you steal the XP! I only received two XP for participation, and one for stored experience!"

"And I only received five in normal XP and the same in stock. The difference is not huge: we are not going to fight for that. I'll let you kill the next beasts if you do it quietly and quickly!"

"He Ho!" Xicackna then protested. "I also want XP: I don't have much opportunity to earn it!"

While protesting, she calculated that she would need to personally finish off at least seventy-nine level 1 creatures to finally reach the next level. Lower-level creatures didn't seem to give XP. If there were no higher-level creatures, it would probably take her weeks of hunting to succeed. But at least she was progressing, slowly but faster than before.

And indeed, after two weeks of hunting, the only monster above level 1 was a “Level 2 Bull”: a massive and aggressive creature with sharp horns. It was the only beast that managed to hurt the princesses and they only owed their salvation to their strong chitin. Scouts then appeared from the bushes and the princesses, upset at being defeated by an animal of lower level, forbade them from intervening during the confrontation.

Xicackna then learned that the level did not make all the difference, at least for creatures of the same status in the level classification (i.e., here, “F”). Combat technique was also important. However, Vigor, Level and numbers remained decisive advantages that brought the four princesses to victory, with Xafara savagely finishing off the monster using knives improvised from tree branches.

Although the princesses had rarely encountered other hunters, their close presence remained visible, particularly to Xicackna and her “Observation” skill. Scouts kept watch in case of unforeseen danger and workers took the prey they collected to the hive. Finally, a messenger arrived telling them that it was time to return to their usual duties.

"Finally!" Xorpha exclaimed happily. "It's not too soon."

"Don’t say that," Xicackna replied, "I’m sure you had fun too."

"Oh? What game do you want to talk about? “Drop the prey on Xorpha”, “Use Xorpha as a pillow”, “Make noise while Xorpha sleeps”?"

"It was music!" Xilofane protested.

But while protesting, she giggled, contaminated by that of Xafara who had lost all seriousness. Xicackna herself smiled and barely held back laughter, also remembering all the games of the past weeks. It was true that they had often made Xorpha the target of their jests, but fortunately she had a good character. Even if she complained openly, Xicackna had often observed her smiling discreetly after being the butt of jokes, or even before when she detected the beginnings of it.

This vacation period of responsibility had been very refreshing and had strengthened the friendly relations between the princesses while increasing their XP gains. These three objectives were certainly what the Queen had planned. This period of calm would serve as a happy memory to help them hang on in the hard times to come and the bonds formed as well as the combat habits developed would allow them to cooperate more easily on future battlefields.

Because, Xicackna were not deluding herself: if the queen called them back now, it was because the offensive was about to begin. If successful, this first foothold in the world of monsters would only be the beginning of a long conflict to free their people from the Dungeon and secure locations for new hives. It would be a long time before she experienced another period of rest.

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[1] « roux » in French, like a redhead’s color, more orange that a deep red

[2] to block its path: not to move at the same speed.