Kaden had only a moment to verify the shapes emerging were Formies, and then Cutter went sailing into the tunnel with her party right behind her—and Eve, who kept using [Plague] and [Moon Strike]. Ashi circled the butchery, incinerating wounded Formies.
Sara was barely functioning. Her gaze was distant, her focus nonexistent. “How did you get here?”
“I came from that way,” he said, pointing to the tunnel, then smashing a twitching Formie. “Come on, we’re going to need you.”
“No. How did you know to come?”
He waited for her to join him and headed down the tunnel. “Ashi sent a message. We can do the whole hug and learn thing later. Right now, what counts is getting to the other nursery.”
Anger still boiled inside him every time he looked at Sara, but it would wait until after Rey—or his corpse—was located. The path outward was covered in wounded Formies. Cutter’s blades started out weak, but the more she invoked her rituals the more damage she did, and now simple slices made mortal wounds.
But out in the nursery, a war raged on three fronts.
Cutter had taken on the core of the soldiers, meeting them right where they swarmed out of the entrance. “Level!” Her shout of triumph echoed, and Kaden briefly felt bad. For the Formies.
Her party had drawn flaming weapons from Inventory and encroached on the Queen, taking care not to close on her.
“Eve!” Kaden shouted. “We’re heading to the other butchery. Every second counts.”
“I. Can’t. Leave.” Eve drew her Blood Moon staff.
Eve Black has activated Blood Moon.
The staff blasted out red light that caused every Formie it touched to ooze ichor from the joints. The Blood Moon light reflected off its first victims to strike others, and those, too, oozed. Since Cutter’s buffs scaled when she hit enemies with a debuf, and the woman was a literally blur as she attacked the affected Formies.
Sara summoned a crawling horror, the fat head-sized maggot squirming in her hands, and approached the [Formicidean Queen]. It spread mandibles and sqealed at her in a way that [Beast Soul] translated as *You come into my home, on the day of my daughters’s wedding flight and threaten me?*
“You want to eat? Let me offer you food.” One of Sara’s pseudopods took the [Crawling Horror] and thrust it forward.
The Queen lunged forward, her jaws snapping shut.
Sara screamed in agony.
The Queen shivered, her legs splaying out as they jangled, then went limp.
[Formicidean Queen] used [Strength of Generations].
It began to glow under the skin, even as its skin changed color, becoming pale.
“What’s it doing? [Identify] isn’t showing skills,” Kaden said.
“According to my notifications, it’s regenerating. It will be invulnerable for ten minutes, then emerge in a battle mode.” Sara’s voice trembled. “I doubt I can kill it like that again and we do not want to be here when it wakes up.”
“We are close to being overrun as it is,” Ashi said. “Go. Find him.”
“Come on, we have to get to the other butchery.” Kaden left Cutter and her party to hold the wave and rushed toward the now empty tunnel that had held a feeding line. The workers weren’t like soldiers, it made sense for them to run.
Very likely, the nurseries were packed with workers ready to fight to the death. Kaden drew a [Mana Dart] and raised it to provide light in the dark nest. Then he took a risk. “71, I want to find Rey.”
A pink wisp emerged and bobbed down the tunnel. That was definitely 71.
If Sara had an opinion, she kept it to herself as they took turn after turn.
“Whoa!” Kaden caught Sara as the tunnel simply dropped away. He spotted 71 down near the bottom, and picked her up. “Down we go.”
Kaden leaped off, and let Remembrance’s axe head dig into the wall as he fell, and skidded to a halt. Up ahead, mushrooms lit the paths, and a few Formies carried chunks of flesh.
“That’s him!” Sara shouted—and she was off sprinting after a Formie carrying a corpse.
It saw her coming and dropped the corpse, then turned on Sara.
It never saw Trinity, as Kaden unleashed her from behind it. Sara’s pseudopods ripped at limbs until they came loose, while Trinity applied all three heads to the hapless formie.
There simply wasn’t room for Kaden to attack. Instead, he stuffed the corpse into Inventory and pulled at Sara. “That one’s dead, help me rescue others.”
She reluctantly entered the butchery, where three Formies worked dutifully on a mound of dead Adventurers. In this one, they stuffed whole bodies into cavities in the wall.
“How many adventurerers were there?”
“Six full parties that I know of, maybe another six in the rescue group.” Sara used her bow to unleash lightning on a Formie from across the room. When it sprinted toward Sara, Kaden intercepted it with a spinning axe blow that cut deep into the shell.
“Leave Trinity with me and get the bodies.” Sara said.
Trinity imediately charged the Formie furthest from Sara, while Kaden worked his way through the alcoves, collecting corpses. So many of these didn’t have heads, but soon the grizzly deed was done. “I’ve got them all. 71, what’s the shortest path out of here?”
The Wisp floated to the other end of the butchery, then into the wall.
“We can’t do that! We’re solid!” Sara shouted. Then she stopped and ran to the wall. “There’s a tunnel here. An old tunnel. Help me dig it out.”
Together they pulled at rocks, and as they worked, Kaden caught a breath of fresh air. “Definitely this way. We need Ashi. She can blast it open. How do we convince Cutter to end the battle and retreat?”
“I’ll handle it. Keep digging.” Sara turned and ran back toward the Queen’s chamber.
Kaden focused on one rock at a time, widening the opening, then removing stone after stone so he could crawl through.
“Move!” Ashi shouted as she ran in. “No fire! Wind!”
A tornado formed in the middle of the room, and the base twisted to siphon dirt from the mound, pulling loose rocks, until it dissapated.
Now Kaden could pull even more out, making a true opening. “There’s fresh air this way. Has to be an exit. I’m going back for Sara.”
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
“I’m coming!” Sara shouted. “Ashi, can you seal this?”
“No. I am out of mana,” she said.
Kaden activated [Mana Well] and poured all his mana into her. “Now?”
“Now. Move!” Ashi shouted.
One by one, the members of Cutter’s Party emerged from the tunnel, then finally Eve, and at last Cutter emerged. She dripped with Ichor and literally glowed in pulsing waves of red, gold and green. “Queen won’t be able to follow us,” Cutter said.
“No one is following out!” Ashi shouted. She drew a wand. The Elder Gnome’s wand, and pressed it to her palm. “[Moon Fall]!”
The same asteroid exploded into the tunnel.
They ran.
The closed up tunnel led to mildly flooded chambers where the lake had seeped in, and from there, out into a swamp where the river backed up. With 71 leading the way, Kaden began leading them back through the forest toward the Far Portal. In the distance, the trees shook, and the earth trembled. A swarm of flying ants errupted from the ground, sailing over the forest, then turned north.”
“Holy shit, there’s three juvenile queens. Everyone take a shot,” Cutter said, drawing a bow from Inventory. “Buffs are fading, I can’t be sure it’ll die.”
Sara and half the others drew bows as the Formicidean swarm came closer.
“Now!” Cutter fired, and half her party did too, targeting the lead ant, which dipped and dodged.
Kaden hadn’t drawn Thorn Caster yet. He was waiting. Watching. The key was not thinking. He drew back, not focusing on the arrow, which sizzled and vibrated, sending blurs through the air.
“Kaden, you must shoot,” Ashi said.
He let out a breath and loosed the arrow with a generous lead on the one that trailed.
You have inflicted a status effect (Poisoned).
The Juvenile Queen lurched sideways in the air, as shouts of triumph rose up. Then silence and muttered curses, as she lurched again, plummeting, and again.
You have inflicted a status effect (Poisoned x2).
You have inflicted a status effect (Poisoned x3).
“Three stacks of poison,” Kaden said. “What’s it going to do to something that big?”
Cutter had changed course, heading toward where the juvenile went down. “Poison costs a percentage of health. Three stacks is more damage than you’d do in your best hit, every second.”
Sara wasn’t watching. She spoke quietly with Eve, who nodded. “Kaden, I need the body.”
He gently let go of Rey, setting the man down on the forst floor even as Cutter tromped away. “I can get Eve to hunt down a rat.”
“No need, I’ll handle it.” Eve activated [Life Exchange]. Blood burst from Rey’s mouth and nose, and his muscles spasmed, as Eve followed up with [Life Endowment], raising his health. “Careful, be careful. Just rest.”
Cutter was still moving, and Kaden chased her down. “Your man is down. I’ll help you hunt down the juvenile, but we should wait for him.”
“You need to re-think how you run your party. You are the damage dealer. That makes you the leader. Rey’s a decent healer but he’s not how we get XP. They’ll catch up. You helped me, I’m in for killing your cult, but I will go get that juvenile Queen. Chances like this don’t happen every day.” She turned and kept moving.
Kaden went back.
Rey was on his feet, though he still looked lost. Sara cradled him close, her pseudopods showing teeth every time someone came near. “Go on ahead. We’ll be fine. We’ll keep moving in that direction once he’s had some time to rest.”
Kaden summoned Vip.
Vip had a way of getting through to hurting people.
*Love*, he thought at Vip.
*Love*, the dog agreed. She went to stand by Rey, wagging her tail and begging to be held until at last he picked her up.
“You up for hunting down that Juvenile Queen?” Kaden asked Eve.
Eve began to move ahead. “We shouldn’t leave Sara and Rey alone. Cutter isn’t cruel, but she expects everyone to pull their weight. I’ll go with her, if you stay and keep them safe. The original Formicidean colony underlies all of this.”
Cutter and her crew had taken to running, and now the forest stretched away between them. “Do you want Trinity?”
With a slow appraisal, she reached out to pat the TriTerror. “That would make me feel safer. Once I catch up with Circe, she’ll protect me.”
Trinity’s armored head swung around to look at Eve with one side and then the other, and groaned, but she began to push her way through the downed trees, following in Cutter’s trail. Kaden kept his distance, letting Sara talk with Rey.
He’d been there.
It was well after dark, and the Time Of Monsters had begun, when the notifications rolled in.
You have helped defeat a [Juvenile Formicidian Queen]
You have gained experience.
He really had. Levels took such a long time now, but Kaden could see reaching twenty six. It would probably be a let down compared to twenty five. A howl rose up from the woods, and Kaden set off to hunt the wolves before they could hunt him.
###
Dawn brought Eve, Ashi, Cutter, and her party coming through the morning mists that turned the forest into a ghost’s domain. Ashi moved like she was near dead, and when Kaden approached, she looked at him blankly. “One day, I will not need the help of others to deal with such a threat. For now, I am glad they were there.”
Eve looked exhausted, and she used her staff as a walking stick, while Trinity supported her on the other side. Trinity’s serpentine head hung limp, dead, and her blind head sagged downard, the jaw broken to the side.
Kaden looked at her.
She’d leveled.
Twice.
Trinity (TriTerror)
Level: 7
HP: 550/550
Mana: 120/120
Skills: Acidic Drool (9), Razor Scales (10), Spear Tail (9), Bone Breaker (8), Cooking (3)
Talents: MultiTasker, Resilient Constitution
Razor Scales was ready to specialize, and Kaden wasn’t sure how to make that happen. Spear Tail was close, Acidic Drool, too. He’d work with her, figure out what she needed. “Thank you for taking care of her.”
Eve looked up at him, haunted. “Circe insisted. It wasn’t my idea.”
“Insisted on what?” Kaden looked back into the forest.
Her crew carried a juvenile queen’s corpse
Cutter strolled over. “You brought it down. I’ve never seen ants fight so hard, took us five hours to kill the swarm and then the juvenile, but she was half health when we got there. Eve said you got a thing for harvesting them.”
It would be tough.
Kaden held his breath and siphoned the corpse into Inventory. His chest felt compressed, like he’d eaten six winter feasts. “Thanks. Let’s get out of here. 71 will lead us to the FarPortal.”
The wisp materialized, waiting expectantly.
“You have the nicest glow, 71.”
It swiveled and led them away.
A few hours later, they stepped through the FarPortal and into the Guild. Kaden headed to the temple to dump corpses, then to the Crafting Floor at the Guild to find Munoz. She had lived at the Holding during the surge, and he trusted her. She worked a piece of leather, sealing pores. “Kaden Birch. What did you drag in this time?”
“I’m going to need room,” he said. “A lot of room.”
With coordination, the Crafters cleared the aisle so Kaden could drop the Juvenile Queen’s corpse. Not even ten feet long, with a carapace that only glistened in places, it truly was less impressive than the full grown mother.
Munoz squealed in delight. “The Eyes. The acid’s worthless, it’s a juvenile. No mana core, the wings are literally disposable. Ignore everything but the eyes, they’re used to create refractories for [Fortune Tellers]. And I think there will be three [Diamond Carapace] segments, no matter how I process it. The segments are armor, no surprise.”
[Fortune Tellers] were closely related to [Prophets], but Kaden had no idea which was the specialization. “How much will this cost me?” Kaden asked.
“I want the segments. And I want to choose what crafter gets to work on the refractories. Favors make the Crafter world go round.”
“When you’re done harvesting them, you pick the person and deliver them. I’ll pay the crafter and sell the finished product.” Kaden had the only armor he wanted. “I have a ton of acid from Formies, and some jelly.”
“Alchemists. They’re a bunch of dicks,” Munoz said.
He knew his way, and chose the Alchemist who had sold Trella her first full sized kit. “Acid from Formicideans. And Jelly from a Brood Tender.”
“What?” The Alchemist leaned over and examined it. “I don’t think we have a record of this. At all. Ever.” Soon there wasn’t just one alchemist, there was a crowd of them shouting and arguing over what tests, precisely, should be performed.
Kaden had taken to watching from a distance, wishing Trella could see it. When he looked up, the Market Master stood at his side. The stern faced woman nodded. “They’ll be there all night. Maybe two nights. At some point I’ll be forced to have them move this discussion to the Alchemist’s Hall so my market can function.”
“How do I get paid? Because I’m not keeping it.”
“I wish everyone was this easy to deal with.” She offered him a slip.
You have received 1x Bid Marker (Brood Tender Jelly).
Kaden stored it away. “Do I need to check with the guild?”
“They’ll notify you. It’s highly likely the Alchemist’s Hall will buy it, but it’s always possible some Centurion is hell bent on owning the only sample. Have a good day, Mr. Birch.” With that, she set on her way.
Kaden summoned the FalCrow, letting it frighten everyone as it came to roost. “Tell Mara I did my part. I want [Rangers] to help kill my cult. The [Druids] have Sara’s contact information.”
“Right you are!” The Falcrow answered in the voice of a City Counsel member.
That was progress, it was talking in a way that didn’t involve imitating someone having sex or making rude comments. It was time to go home.
Kaden waited in line for the FarPortal, and relaxed as he arrived back at the Holding. Adventurers kept the worst schedules. Night was great hunting, and monsters didn’t operate on human needs.
But he didn’t head to the Farmhouse.
Instead, he knocked on the door of Ashi’s tower, then opened it. “You here?”
“I am.” Her voice came from upstairs. Ashi lay curled up under a heavy blanket, her wraps in a pile, and streaks of Formie ichor trailed around the room. “I have no energy for celebration right now, but you are welcome here.”
Kaden slipped into bed and put his arms around her. “Not asking for that. I just don’t want to be alone.”
Ashi’s affirmative was muffled as she pulled the blanket tighter around both of them.
For once, he surrendered to sleep with grace.