Sounds echoed oddly in the underground caverns, traveling farther than one might think or barely beyond the bounds of one’s own location. The faint scent of decay, of rock, mushrooms and stale air insufficiently refreshed through the small connections to the surface seemed to pervade the space. Anuis imagined that being deep underground was only slightly better than being far out on the ocean (not that she had ever been particularly far out to sea).

But her duty had sent her down here, and so she did not falter nor slow her steps as she crossed this most recent cavern. Beside and behind her, the steps of her warriors accompanied her, kept just as quiet as hers, yet not entirely soundless here in the depths. In contrast, the rhythm of the drone accompanying her seemed odd, discordant, steps not quite at the same pace as the elven soldiers. Anuis glanced at the focused faces around her, her command decade. She knew they didn’t like being down here in the ancient tunnels any more than she did, but they would still perform acceptably. They had not let her down yet.

“How far do we need to keep going?” one of her men, Niolin, asked. He pitched his voice low, but not quite as low as he would have had they been alone, she knew, since there was still some uncertainty about the hearing of their Hivekind allies.

“Maybe ten minutes of walking at this speed,” the Drone Warrior accompanying them said after a few seconds of silence. The System showed her level as seventeen, and her name was Zoe. Anuis had seen her before, but not paid her much heed, as she hadn’t seemed to be among the inner circle of her Hive Queen.

“And are the other squads ready?” she asked.

The Drone didn’t move her head or give any indication of distraction, but her gaze remained fixed ahead. Anuis knew she was communing with her Queen in some way. Her mother had given her most of the information she had on the Hivekind and their capabilities before Anuis had set off.

“I believe they are,” Zoe finally replied. “Squads two and three are closing in on our position, though squad four might not find a good tunnel leading this way in time. We haven’t explored these tunnels as thoroughly as we’d have liked.”

Anuis nodded. “That will be acceptable.” She had maps of these underground caverns and tunnels, ones they had studied beforehand, but she knew they were not entirely reliable. New tunnels tended to appear down here, dug by the monsters or unearthed by explorers sneaking down into the cave system. The Delvers were known to have barricaded paths or caused cave ins, as well.

They continued walking in silence, moving from a cave into a narrower tunnel. Her soldiers shifted their formation smoothly, keeping their melee fighters on the outside, guarding their front and back, and leaving their ranged fighters in the middle. Anuis herself kept to the forward part, but not directly at the fore. The War Drones their allies had allocated them were at the back. They would have to switch formation to let them take the brunt of the damage at the front later, but she did not want the mindless beasts traipsing ahead, especially considering their apparent weakness.

She used the silent approach to steady her nerves and prepare herself. She had little compunction about attacking the Delvers, and knew her decisions might raise questions, but were not likely to be condemned back home.

Anuis Eltarianal had made Ariedel’s defense her duty and career, and had fought many different monsters as well as sapient people, including humans. She had her fair share of experience when it came to Delvers. What made things different this time was, of course, Regina’s Hive. Anuis considered it her good fortune to have met her and become involved in these events. Not simply because it had benefited her career. Although she had finally earned her last name just recently.

For most elves, reaching even your third decade without a proper name would have been shameful. But Anuis had not wanted to settle for anything less than her mother’s surname. She knew her mother Enais had mostly given her the right to use it now because she had found the Hivekind, which was not much of a personal accomplishment on her part, but that was how things worked. Her new allies and even some of her own soldiers presumably didn’t know; after all, the System did not acknowledge elvish last names, or, at least, did not display them openly. She still felt it had helped solidify her standing with the troops after her promotion.

Now Anuis stopped her musings, as she could finally hear their opponents. Humans tended to seem loud to her, and the equipment and weaponry of these ones did them no favors in that regard. Still, she could tell as they approached that the Delvers were doing well, acting professionally. They didn’t quite march to a steady beat, but there was a rhythm in their movements, and they stayed quiet except for a short, hushed command. Unfortunately for them, their senses were not up to par, especially down here, where vision would be constrained.

Zoe whispered directions into her ear, as well, and Anuis signaled to her soldiers with hand gestures. They slowed down, making sure they would move together with the other groups. It had been a bit of a hassle to coordinate this push, since they weren’t entirely sure of the location of their quarry, and needed to move through the tunnels in such a way they could cut the Delvers off completely while not spooking them prematurely. But with the help of the Hive Queen and her coordination, they had managed it.

Anuis spared a moment to wish that Regina was here with them and ready to take part in the fight instead of staying safely up above, guarded by some of her strongest drones. She didn’t truly think that she would need her, but she would have liked the chance to see her fight. Anuis knew the Hive Queen had magic, but seeing her cast her Spells in combat was another matter. Still, she could not blame Regina for staying back, all things considered. She had been more useful coordinating them than she would be in a fight, in any case.

Then they turned a corner and finally caught sight of their targets. The group of Delvers was in a relatively large tunnel, not quite as big as the main, old thoroughfare, but still wide enough to let her soldiers take a formation several people across. The humans stopped and immediately assumed defensive stances, with several even conjuring armor with the use of a Skill or calling up elements to coat their weapons or crackle in the air. However, Anuis’ gaze was drawn even beyond them, where another large tunnel, little more than a thoroughfare of a cave further back, connected to this one. Another squad had taken position there, this one a more even mix of her soldiers and the higher level warriors of the Hive.

“Greetings, Delvers,” Anuis called out in a clear voice that would carry well. She did not step out, however. “You are perilously close to the territory of the Elvish Free State and our allies’ Hive. In addition, your leadership is suspected of ordering a recent unprovoked attack against peaceful explorers.”

The humans spoke in hushed whispers to each other, too many at once for her to make out more than a few scraps of words. Then the apparent leader took a step forward. He was an Earth Guardian only three levels lower than her, enough to make Anuis wary, though not truly concerned.

“In our eyes, it is you who are trespassing, elves,” he replied. Then he glanced at Zoe and the other drones behind them. “And demihuman monsterbloods. I had thought elves had better sense than to consort with their kind. Do you not know that they are suspected of attracting and attempting to make use of a monster horde?”

Anuis did not outwardly react, although she was torn between snorting in contempt and raising a curious eyebrow inwardly. “These allegations are baseless, as you would know, had you any schooling in monsters or hordes, or knew the details of the situation. Our friends were driven from their old home by a particularly irksome monster horde, and never offered humans any violence or offense.”

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She glanced at the other group, particularly at Tim, the new Royal Blade, their apparent leader. He inclined his head slightly, clearly not offended that she had spoken for them.

“Be that as it may, we are searching for some of our companions who have recently gone missing here, and the demihumans you so strongly defend are the obvious culprits.”

“I assume they are the ones who perpetrated the aforementioned unprovoked attack and suffered the consequences of their actions. If you truly do not know of this, perhaps you are innocent in this matter. Stand down and put down your weapons, and we will do the same, so we may settle this peacefully.”

The plan called for them to fight and eliminate this group of Delvers, but Anuis presumed Regina would not be too upset with her. The thought of attacking without at least trying to talk to them did not sit well with her, and it went against her people’s long-standing policy, to boot.

The human drew his sword, a gleaming blade that seemed too large to use comfortably in such tight confines but still sized to be used with one hand. “We will not be doing that,” he replied calmly. “You just admitted to being involved in our comrades’ disappearance and apparent death. If you do not surrender right now, we will be forced to resort to violence.”

Anuis shook her head lightly. This one seems quite calm and almost reasonable. It’s a shame. But she knew they would be unlikely to back down unless they were confronted with an even greater strength disparity. Surrendering, especially to nonhumans, would end the leader’s career at the very least. And considering he seemed to be quite strong to be sent on a mission like this, he was likely either a newcomer or had angered someone important, and clearly had something to prove.

“You only have yourselves to blame for this, then,” Tim said, perhaps to keep her from drawing this out further and giving them more time to prepare.

“Indeed,” Anuis said. Then she raised her fist to shoulder height and opened it, calling on one of her first Skills, Wind’s Aid, at the same time.

Her soldiers took the signal to attack. At the same time, the four arrows the humans had just loosed encountered the gust of wind she had summoned and lost their course. Two of them collided with each other, while the rest scraped into the walls of the tunnel.

The humans started charging, while the frontline fighters among her own soldiers rushed to meet them. Anuis soon came to the realization that the Delvers were concentrating their efforts on the other group, presumably assessing them as being the weaker threat. Some of them tried to move down the tunnel the way they had come, as well, but the screams and sounds of battle quickly echoing along them showed that they had encountered the third squad. Since that group had been intended to directly follow after them, it contained many skilled in stealth and following their targets undetected, but also quite a few of their stronger fighters.

Her own preferred weapon was not very well suited to this environment, but Anuis still drew her bow and nocked an arrow. Without it, she would not be able to use some of her best Class Skills. She calmly watched the battle and looked for an opening, a straight shot at some important target. It came after just a few moments, and she loosed her arrow towards one of the stronger human fighters, a level 35 swordsman.

He turned around just in time, perhaps warned by some Skill or just instinct, and raised his left shoulder to catch it on his pauldron. But her arrow spun in the air, guided by her Skill, True Shot, which she had imbued it with. The arrow slipped by his pauldron with not even a finger’s distance to spare and instead sought out the small piece of bare skin between it and the side of the man’s helmet. His reflexive move to get away, somewhere between a jerk and a swatting motion, only made it easier. The human screamed as it hit home. It was likely not a lethal strike by itself, but one of the drones used the man’s distraction against him and slipped their blade into his other side.

It quickly became apparent to Anuis that the humans were more practiced in fighting down here than her elves. But they were still encircled, and the Hivekind seemed well suited to fighting them, as well, despite what Anuis knew should be a propensity to swarm that would be hindered by the tight confines. But they worked well with her own stronger soldiers, pulling injured or distracted humans out of position and descending on them in groups. Their smaller War Drones managed to slip past the gaps in the humans’ positions, disrupting their simple formation. Above all, they fought with a coordination that was truly remarkable, especially as they did not have years of training to rely on.

The humans’ higher levels might still win out, though. That was why Anuis hung up her bow after a quick look and instead drew her sword. She advanced, relying on her soldiers to adapt their motion to her, and went to meet the Delvers in battle head-on. She had not seen anyone whose Class name she recognized as being past the second Evolution, so she should be able to take any one of them, especially with the support of her soldiers and allies.

The fight was brutal and fast; true combat always was. She saw humans falling left and right, and even some on her own side cried out and fell, being dragged to safety by their comrades. Anuis cut a swath through the humans, mopping up the lower-level fighters.

The Delvers were good, she had to admit. But she had studied the sword for far longer than any of them had been alive, and in a pure contest of skill, none of them would be her equal. That was always the way. The System might attempt to keep their strength at the level of the humans, make their experience gain slower and thus keep her people from reaching the higher levels as quickly, but it did nothing for the difference in true proficiency.

Anuis had had all of her Skills for years and had mastered all of them. The humans might throw more attacks at her, but she danced around them with her high Dexterity, parried and redirected their strikes with no wasted movement, always moving just enough but never extending too far. A quick thrust exploited an opening in a spearman’s defense. His neighbor raised his sword just slightly too high and had his right foot just a bit too far forward, creating an imbalance in his stance, so Anuis let his swing pass by her ear and pushed him off-balance. The human stumbled into the warrior behind him, both of them tangling up long enough for a trio of drones to bite down on their legs and a flailing arm.

Then the weaker fighters were out of the way and she faced a man more her equal. According to the System, they were the same level, just one small step away from reaching the next tier. His Class was Swordsman, as well, and the blade in his hand an elegant weapon she could see at a glance had been made by foreign masters. Much like her own, a gift from her mother, which, despite its simple appearance, would have cost her more than a year of her salary. His Skills would be tailored around his sword, but she knew how to deal with such a Class.

The world seemed to pause for an instant as they faced each other, blade in hand. Then they started to move.

Anuis was the slightest bit faster than the human. She brought up her sword first, catching his own blade and diverting his low swing. His sword was just starting to light up, evidently the activation of a Skill. But a step brought Anuis forward and she carried the momentum of her sword, now inside his guard, into a strike. He was wearing scale armor, but she could tell it was not of the same quality as his weapon. Her own blade cut through its lower portion, opening his femoral artery.

He turned, trying to chase her, and three blades of razor-sharp wind flew from his blade. Anuis slipped past two and dodged the third, letting it pass just over her head. She’d already taken a dagger into her left hand and now stepped forward again. His reactions were already slowed by the serious wound he had taken, and he only barely managed to parry her sword. He could do nothing to stop her slipping her dagger into his kidney. His skin started to darken, but Anuis didn’t give him the time to channel another Skill, instead thrusting her sword into the eyeslit of his helmet. The human fell to the ground and she stepped back, putting her back to the wall of the tunnel.

Her caution turned out to be unnecessary. The other humans were all either wounded or trying to escape. Already, many of the War Drones were gone, no doubt chasing down stragglers. Anuis glanced at the message the System showed her.

You have leveled up

Finally, she had reached level 40. Anuis pulled her focus away from the other sheet waiting for her, pushing it to the edge of her consciousness. She would deal with it later.

Only long experience allowed her not to grin openly. She would need to find a moment of quiet, but then she could finally achieve her second Class Progression.

There was no time for it right now, though. “Sound off,” Anuis ordered.

Her soldiers started reporting in, and then the Hivekind did the same. Anuis forced her thoughts back to the situation at hand, but she still felt pleased. Their first common battle, perhaps not to remain the only one, had gone rather well.

She had her suspicions what Regina wanted of her now. And while decisions about an alliance and military campaigns were above her head, at the strategic level, she did not think the Hive Queen would be disappointed, and Anuis had to admit to herself she was a little excited to see where it would lead.