After that day, life became hard for Xicackna. Every time a blue door moved in the area, she had to run to it and wait for many hours until it moved again. There had been other monster incursions in various parts of the city, always in secondary areas. However, they could not neglect protecting the other strategic points under this pretext and the majority of the army therefore remained in the center.
Between two running, the princess analyzed the evolution of the situation. The issue of obtaining experience points had been resolved. In fact, the three guards had told her that they had each obtained 20 “XP” after defeating the pitiful invaders. Killing monsters therefore earned experience.
Yet it seemed too easy. Xicackna couldn't help but think about how easily the monsters had been eliminated: their power was nothing like those of the Disaster. They looked like simple workers... Yes: that was it! These creatures were workers. Probably scouts from large armies waiting behind the gates to come and slaughter them! Fortunately, these blue portals seemed one way and they were unable to report to their superiors.
However, this meant that it was dangerous to stay near the portals as they risked spewing out a flood of monstrous soldiers at any moment. She therefore tried to station her guards as close as possible to the gate and asked the workers to move away from it. But, the doors frequently changing place, this organization proved harmful to that of work. So, she ended up ordering the soldiers to place themselves in ambush every time they saw a portal (the shadow could be enough, since the monsters seemed not to see in the dark) while the workers would continue their work without worrying about the risk.
After several days at this pace, the princess got into the habit of sleeping in ambush and having meals brought to her there. A servant remained nearby to wake her in case of portal activity.
It was thus, while she slept peacefully, that the invasion continued.
Startled awake by the servant, she peeked out between the stalagmites that hid her. This time, the portal had not changed position: it vomited out a group of monsters armed to the teeth with unknown objects. If the workers earlier were dressed in variegated fabrics, the newcomers wore identical clothes in a sort of very mottled green. They had none of the disorganization of the previous arrivals: they moved with the caution of warriors in unknown territory.
Xicackna relayed the alert then focused on war maneuvers. She jumped when the monsters' magic weapons spat fire and thunder at the workers present. The noise was terrible, accompanied by that of spongy explosions as the repeated blows of this firepower pierced the chitin of the unfortunate workers.
Without losing her common sense this time, the princess ordered the workers to flee and the soldiers to maintain their positions, moving if necessary to remain hidden behind the stalagmites. The darkness was no longer a sufficient hiding place as each of the enemy's weapons projected a beam of light in front of it.
In the chaos of the fight, her order was not heard by a few soldiers who rushed forward. Immediately, around a dozen weapons were aimed at them and they trembled under the assaults of monstrous magic. But they were Zcarbbs and they advanced as much as they could.
When the four soldiers collapsed, they were able to carry one of the monsters to death. It must have been someone important to them, because she saw them extract its torn remains from the mouth of the heroic fighter who had finished it off. While some stood guard around, the others brought the body to the door. After seeing the futility of trying to cross it again, they seemed to be discussing among themselves with complex grunts.
According to their hand movements, Xicackna assumed that they were debating whether it was better to leave the remains alone or keep a few guards for them. After a moment, often spent pointing stupidly at the air for no apparent reason, they decided to move forward together, leaving the corpse here.
Immobile, Xicackna observed the enemy advance through the eyes of a few small workers who had remained hidden nearby. The eleven enemies were advancing slowly and all the time wasted discussing beforehand had been their first mistake: as they reached the first corridor allowing them to leave the place, several soldiers burst out. Reinforcements had arrived!
Although the first soldiers died quickly, they had the merit of monopolizing the enemy's attention. The princess then ordered her troops to attack, briefly annoyed by the "Command" skill icon that appeared in her field of vision.
Between each soldier they felled, the monsters performed a curious maneuver with their weapons: they tore off a part which they threw away and, quickly, added a new one taken from the pockets of their belts. During these moments, they were particularly vulnerable. So, when the soldiers in ambush appeared in their rear, many were unable to return fire.
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Caught in a pincer movement, the monsters were massacred to the last one.
Dungeon invasion defeated
Quest successful
Combat XP: 6
Participation XP: 10
Current experience: 708
Experience stored: 2008
Experience needed for next level: 292
So, giving orders allowed you to gain part of the experience gained by the group? The princess sighed: it was not at this rate that she would gain a level.
Her victory against the invaders, however small, allowed Xicackna to return to the palace to present the trophies collected. It was a nice change after so many days of running through the tunnels.
Several other princesses and even princes or simple soldiers with a class were also present, also bringing monster remains. The invasions of recent days had varied in difficulty, with the enemy attacking in waves of one to twelve creatures. If the first attacks were carried out by workers, the last ones were almost systematically composed of a complete assault group of these abominable warriors. None had been announced in recent days.
The room buzzed with conversations presenting each other's theories. The soldiers themselves, despite their inferior intelligence and lack of initiative, participated by detailing their observations of enemy combat techniques.
The trophies consisted of the strange material that made up the monsters' arsenal as well as the multiple shredded pieces of meat that were the only remaining traces of the enemy. In fact, Xicackna was the only one to bring back an almost intact body and she was highly congratulated.
She accepted the compliments with a little embarrassment because this intact body had not been obtained thanks to her: on the contrary it was the monster killed by the soldiers who, not having listened to her orders, had sacrificed themselves at the start of the fight.
Two mature princesses divided the loot between them in order to study how to use it. First it was Xana-Eloba, with her Engineer class, who monopolized all the weapons and strange objects. She was so excited at the prospect of studying unknown tools that she took herself some of the loot and transported it personally to her laboratory.
The intact body and the pieces were monopolized by Xevo-Micha who always had an important role in managing the hive's supplies.
Once the trophies disappeared, the conversations resumed. They hardly learned anything new, but a flock of princesses who had not been able to participate in the operations gradually infiltrated the room to marvel at all these new stories. Here they admired an effective combat strategy. There, peoples gave advice for next time, or discreetly showed strange devices from elsewhere which had not been handed over with the rest of the trophies.
Xicackna watched with envy as one of her sisters activated and deactivated a curious square producing light, under the amazed gazes of those around her. She had already seen this type of device in the hands of the first invaders: the workers. At that moment, she hadn't thought about taking one of these magical items for herself. As she had no role in this first confrontation, she had not been able to go to the palace to present them because Xyry-Yria had sent one of the victorious guards there.
Suddenly, Xevo-Micha burst into the room, all excited.
"Look what I found! Look!"
She held between her claws, still bloody from her research, a tiny grayish crystal.
"It’s called an “F-rank mana stone” by the System! You find one in each of the monsters! When one of my servants ate one, it gained ten experience points at once!"
She gave the stone to a younger princess to pass from hand to hand, then began to wriggle in place, moving her abdomen in all directions. She was in such a state that she seemed to have become an immature princess again. Her eyes shining with enthusiasm, she resumed her announcements, pointing at the System windows to punctuate her speech, forgetting that she was the only one to see them.
"And that's not all! That's not all! I also won a class! And a level! And with the level, I had 50 additional life points and a skill! And I'm level 30 now!"
"What is youw cwass?" asked one of the little ones, overcome by her excitement.
"Well…"
Xevo-Micha gestured towards the door she had entered through. A servant waiting there received her message and opened the doors. Immediately, several other servants entered, pushing pots on wheels from which a pleasant aroma escaped.
"I received the “chef” class! Apparently, it improves my cooking skills. I got this while testing the edibility of monsters... I obtained the S-rank class skills “Invigorating Cooking” and “Mana Stone Working”! And I have the joy and honor to offer you the first monster stew!"
Spectators squealed with joy as they received steaming bowls of this new food. Greedily, the little princesses and princes devoured their pittance before surrounding the pots, bowls outstretched, to ask for more. The mature nobles barely restrained themselves from doing the same, while the soldiers ate slowly and calmly, as if wondering if they were really entitled to such a fine meal.
In the confusion, a little princess took the opportunity to try to gluttonously devour the mana stone, which brought loud, indignant cries from her companions. They had the satisfaction of seeing her spit it out shortly after and start whining:
"Whoa! It is too hawd! I am in pain!"
With an indulgent smile, Xevo-Micha took the small stone and cleaned it of the acidic saliva that covered it.
"Yes, we princesses have more delicate jaws than those of soldiers and workers. I started looking into the possibility of grinding these stones into powder to make them ingestible... Or we can try to increase our strength characteristics."
"I don’t think we can reawly eat that!" replied the little princess. "It’s way too hawd."
The cook sighed and she gave the stone to a nearby soldier, ordering it to eat. It did so without hesitation and stuffed it between its mandibles, directly into its mouth. There were rocky crunches as the stone was crushed, then the soldier spoke:
"That’s right: 10 XP."