(POV Sylvia - Some time later)

A new strong consciousness joins the swarm. It has yet to fully develop, but it is now already far above the regular drones. The new consciousness can access the knowledge stored in the swarm and is therefore informed about everything. However, there is a difference between just being informed and being able to do something productive with that information. With time the Hive Commander will be able to process more and more information and in the course of this he will also develop his own personality.

The production of the warriors is going as planned and the time of our departure is getting closer. The swarm continues to grow and with it the Hive Complex that houses it. A new exit has been added, which is significantly wider, allowing the Hive Commander to reach the surface. The new primary entrance has been heavily secured, small holes along the walls and ceiling allow attacks from cover, while a Spore Cannon has been morphed at the end of the passage where it merges into the primary cavity.

With the new security measures in place, the Hive Complex is well defended and can successfully hold its own against smaller predators, which become aware of its position. The number of warriors continues to increase and Karina has also prepared well in the interim. In the meantime, my hunters have recovered her sword, which she lost in the fight against the big lizard. However, the sword is chipped and slightly bent. It is a miracle that it is not broken. I therefore plan to protect Karina well and keep her away from the front in battle.

A few days later, the time has finally come and we set off. Until then I worked on my three magic talents (Telepathy, Fire Spark and Kinetic Blast). My focus has been on my telepathic dispositions. I have discovered how to reproduce, in a relatively controlled way, the psychic shockwave that I have unintentionally triggered once in the past. I have named this new ability Psychic Scream. However, this comes with the disadvantages of consuming a lot of mana, hitting swarm allies as well and temporarily weakening control over my Sylv Swarm.

I position myself along with Karina in the middle of the formation, directly behind the Hive Commander. The Hive complex is put back into a dormant state by me. It is an extremely good base of operations, which I intend to put back into use one day. While this Hive Complex prepares for a longer hibernation, I seal the entrances and leave only small vents here and there. To be safe, I also leave some simple instructions in case something should enter the Hive Complex and awaken the Sylv inside in the process. For my expedition back home, I take a few hunter and worker drones to take care of the logistical needs of my war swarm.

(POV Karina)

Finally, the time has come and we set off. Sylvia accompanies me to the center of the formation of insect-like Sylv. Towering in front of me is the Hive Commander, which is significantly larger than I am. The huge monster looks at me again with that hostile, hungry and disapproving look. A cold shiver runs down my spine and I involuntarily take a step back, whereupon Sylvia gives me a worried look. She speaks to me encouragingly, "He won't hurt you, I promise," then she grabs my hand and the hive commander averts his gaze from me.

(POV Sylvia)

I send an order to my Hive Commander via the swarm consciousness to avert his gaze from Karina and devote himself to the task ahead. Since he joined the swarm, he seems to dislike Karina. He sees her as a potential danger to the swarm, as a factor of insecurity. However, my will is above everything and so the Hive Commander must bow to my wish and accept Karina. That doesn't change his opinion, but he would not dare to go against me. Normally Karina doesn't let anything scare her, but the Hive Commander is a justifiable exception.

With a mental command from me, my war swarm starts moving. We make good progress at first, but then the first problematic situation looms. The search hunter drones, which serve as scouts for us make a disturbing discovery.

(POV Karina)

We are making better progress than I expected. I suspect that the strength of our escort is scaring off the normal predators here in the forest. Just as I consider that we might make it out of the forest without a confrontation, the escort stops and Sylvia uses her optical camouflage to blend in with the colors of the forest around us. I can clearly make out the tension in the air and give Sylvia a questioning look, to which she replies, "Several armed people ahead of us. They are small humanoids, but not humans. They have also spotted us and are moving directly toward our position. I think you have the best chances for a peaceful negotiation. If this fails, my war swarm will intervene."

I agree with Sylvia's suggestion and start moving toward the front of the escort. The Hive Commander moves into position behind me and ducks down to look smaller. While the Brawler-type Hive Warriors move into position in the front row, with the Roach-type Hive Warriors directly behind for ranged support. Sylvia and the Venator type Hive warriors climb the trees nearby and camouflage themselves in them. We are ready in case of a confrontation.

Only a few seconds later I can make out the first figures and immediately know that there will be no negotiations: "They are Goblins, you can't negotiate with them. We have to fight!". While I announce this, I deftly take cover behind the Hive Commander and draw my sword.

(POV Sylvia)

I hear Karina's words and consider the tactical situation. My Hive Commander is in the middle of the formation. To each side are six Brawlers with just as many Roaches behind them. With me in the trees are six Venators. This brings me to a total of 30 Hive Warriors and one Hive Commander as my primary force. For support, I still have Hunters and Workers in the rear, though I keep the latter out of the fight. I position the much smaller hunters behind the protection of my warriors. Their role will be to intervene from behind.

With my improved perception and my scouts, I think I have spotted most of the enemies. We are approached by over 60 Goblins with various weapons and four much larger figures with large clubs. About a third of the Goblins are equipped with ranged weapons. I have not yet recognized the enemy leader.

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As the Goblins approach, they seem to spot our formation, whereupon the first of them begin to charge. However, a sharp order comes from the back of the enemy ranks and the charging Goblins stop immediately. After the Goblins at the back catch up, they all advance together. The four giant Goblins worry me, but unfortunately I don't have time to calmly gather information about them from Karina. Of my hive warriors, only the Venators would be able to attack the Goblins at this distance, but I want to hold them back a moment longer.

The Goblins continue to march swiftly towards us and the distance between us is quickly closing. Then another command comes from the middle of the enemy formation. Not from one of the four large Goblins, as I would have expected. In response, the enemies stop and the Goblins with bows start aiming at my hive warriors on the ground. Before they can fire a volley at us, I have my Venators shoot first. Poisonous spikes shoot out of the trees toward the unprepared Goblins. My Hive Commander helps with coordination and we focus the enemy archers. The surprise attack takes out about half of the enemy archers with the first volley. The coordination of the Goblin archers completely falls apart and their arrows fly crisscross. With the next volley from the Venators, more Goblin archers fall, whereupon the remaining Goblins start rushing towards our formation on the ground.

I leave further coordination of the hive warriors and hunters on the ground to my Hive Commander, while I myself look out for the enemy commander. The last Goblin archers are being eliminated by the Venators, when suddenly lightning bolts shoot from the center of the enemy formation towards the trees, they are hiding in. The lightning is too fast and hits me as well.

(POV Karina)

I can make out the first sounds of battle and shortly after the Goblins charge towards us. The Sylv creatures rise up and then the big beast in front of me fires a whole volley of finger-thick projectiles at one of the four Hobgoblins. It doesn't kill the Hobgoblin, which now looks like a porcupine, but it slows down and is left behind. I remain skeptical, that this is all the Goblins have to offer, and shortly thereafter I see lightning shooting from the center of the enemy formation toward the trees with the other Sylv. This means that they have a Goblin Shaman who just cast an area attack. This is not good at all, especially since I don't know where Sylvia is at the moment ...

(POV Hive Commander)

Connection to the queen interrupted. Sending hunter and worker drones to recover the queen. Repeated bombardment of the same target shows better effect. Enemies coming into range for acid attacks. Commencing attack from hive warriors of type: Roach.

(Narrator POV)

As the Goblins close in far enough on the Sylv formation, the front ranks are met by a wave of corrosive acid. The Goblins that are hit go down screaming as the acid continues to eat rapidly from the outside in. The following Goblins dodge to the sides to avoid contact with the acid as the next volley is already coming. The first Goblins begin to flee, but the Hobgoblins grunt a few unintelligible words, at which point the smaller Goblins rush forward again. After the first Hobgoblin dies from the Hive Commander's continuous fire, he changes targets and tries to target the Shaman in the middle of the enemy formation. Before a third volley can hit the Goblins, the Shaman creates a shimmering, translucent wall in the air, against which the bombardment slides off ineffectively. Immediately afterwards, the first Goblins collide with the heavily armored Hive Brawlers. The attacks of the small Goblins simply are not enough and are not able to penetrate their natural armor. As the Brawlers attack back, they shred the attacking Goblins in front of them with their razor claws. When the surviving Hobgoblins arrive at the melee, the Hive Commander confronts all three of them.

(POV Sylvia)

I wake up with insane pain, everything in my body hurts. My sense of time slows down, just like last time when I was in a life-threatening situation. I have fallen out of the tree and am lying on the ground, above me a Goblin is about to strike a death blow with a spear. Without thinking, I use Fire Spark and set his face on fire. While the Goblin howls and drops his spear, I quickly jump up and bite his neck off. My camouflage blurs me against the background again, while I'm already pouncing on the next Goblin, cutting it to pieces with my claws. Then I see a Goblin with a colorful robe and a staff with a skull on it in front of me. He looks at me in horror as I pounce on him next. He tries to mutter something while swinging his staff, but I don't give him time and pierce his chest with my claws. As I tear my claws apart, splitting the Goblin in two, I realize that I am surrounded by several other Goblins. I fall back on my mana reserves and use Kinetic Blast. The Goblins around me are hit by the resulting shockwave and are flung away.

(Narrator POV)

The Sylv warriors just slaughter their way through the Goblins in front of them and when the Hobgoblins arrive, the Hive Commander throws himself at them with a threatening screech. He deftly dodges the first blow and leaps at the Hobgoblin that dared to attack him. Like a giant angry alien spider with razor sharp claws, the Hive Commander falls upon the Hobgoblin. The other two seize the opportunity and one manages to hit the beast in the back. The Hive Commander is pushed aside by the blow, but is otherwise not impressed. During this fight, something suddenly seems to attack the Goblins from behind. The shaman wheels around and with a horrified look sees a bloodied shadow rushing towards him. Before he can cast his next spell, the shadow catches him and tears him in two in front of his subordinates. The surviving Goblins want to pounce on the new monster in their midst, but are caught in a blast wave and flung off to the sides, where the remaining Sylv warriors fall upon them like hungry predators. After the hive warriors converted them to mincemeat, the Hive Commander already falls over the last Hobgoblin. He desperately tries to fight back and swings his club directly at the beast in front of him. However, the Hive Commander catches the club with two of his arms and deflects it to the side. Before the Hobgoblin can do anything else, the bloodied shadow falls on him from behind, using its claws to climb its way up to his head, while the Hive Commander disembowels him from the front.

(POV Karina)

The Sylv warriors are uncanny. The precision and coordination with which they act is terrifying. The Goblins didn't stand a chance and were completely wiped out. Immediately after, they pounced on the carcasses like crazy and started consuming them as quickly as possible. Only one Goblin managed to get to the backline, where I quickly killed it. The sight in front of me makes me sick and I turn away, while at the same time trying to block out the noise. This fight will surely attract other hunters of the forest, we have little time and must quickly leave here. I turn again, with the goal of finding Sylvia and warning her. I search for her in the battlefield in front of me and a minute later spot her motionless form being carried by other Sylv creatures towards the Hive Commander.

(POV Hive Commander)

Queen found. Condition critical, unconscious but in regeneration. Maintaining control of swarm functions until the Queen is operational again. Current location is dangerous. The battle will attract predators from the forest. Preparing immediate departure after successful transport of the Queen to my location.

Allied subject named Karina approaching. Poses a long-term threat to the swarm. Concerns have already been communicated to the Queen. Communication not possible at the moment. Assessment: Unproblematic for now, allied subject is intelligent enough to recognize intention of actions. Will follow the swarm when it starts to leave.