Path of the Hive Queen

Regina crouched down lower, steadying her spear, and waited for Max to make his move. Between them, in a clear spot among the trees, their prey had frozen.

It was bigger than any squirrel she knew about, and its back was covered in gray spikes that made it seem even larger. It still wouldn’t even reach her knee. She couldn’t help but feel that their preparations might have been a little exaggerated, if this was all they had to face on their hunt.

Max took a step closer, his scythe-arm poised to strike. The squirrel reacted, drawing itself up higher. Regina saw a faint quivering, a moment before it launched its attack.

A volley of small spikes shot towards Max. He ducked, raising his shield. It was little more than some big pieces of bark around a crude frame of sticks. But the spikes struck it and didn’t penetrate. Clearly, they didn’t have much punch.

Regina breathed out and launched a Magic Missile at the squirrel. It was facing away from her now, and the attack hit. The squirrel was tossed a small distance away from her.

She stepped forward as it jumped to the side, chittering angrily. She could tell that it was dragging one of its hind-limbs, and its back looked a bit scorched.

She would have sent another few missiles, but Max stepped up to it now, so she stopped herself. It wouldn’t do to hit him. Instead, she watched, prepared for another strike, as he went on the attack.

The Spiky Squirrel was fast and agile, clearly quicker than him. But Max was a lot bigger and had much more reach. His first swipe missed, but his second bladed limb managed to cut the small monster. It was pushed to the side again. Regina used the opportunity to let another Magic Missile fly. It hit and flipped the squirrel over. Then Max stepped forward and brought his blade down.

She grinned as the monster stopped twitching and Max stepped back to wipe his blade on some grass. The scent of blood hung in the air, but she was a lot more excited about the experience they hopefully earned than the food.

“A few more of those and we might level up again,” Max said. He sounded cheerful.

“Maybe.” Regina shrugged and walked closer to look the squirrel over more carefully. She hadn’t seen much of the other one he’d killed, and she was a little curious about the monsters here and how they differed from their animal counterparts. “But it’s probably going to take more than our first level-up. You usually need more experience for every successive level. Plus, we’re higher-level now, too, so opponents at Level 2 probably give less experience.”

Max shrugged. She couldn’t fault him for that. Neither of them really knew how the System worked. And it wasn’t that hard to find monsters to fight in this forest, so leveling up shouldn’t be difficult. Assuming they won every fight, that was.

She waited while Max started to process the corpse of the squirrel right here, mostly letting the blood drain and removing its intestines. Its hide got quite a few scratches and rips in the process, a reminder that he was still a Warrior and not an experienced hunter and gatherer. She’d offer to help, but he probably wouldn’t like that. Okay, maybe she just used that as an excuse because she didn’t want to do it, but it wasn’t like she didn’t pull her weight here.

Then a new scent reached her nose and Regina froze. If she had hairs, they would be standing on end right now. There was danger here, more than what they’d faced before. And it was approaching.

“Max,” she hissed.

The Hive Warrior had already paused in his work. He let the squirrel fall to the ground, forgotten, and came to her side, weapons bristling.

Regina kept her gaze fixed in the direction the threat came from, even as she started backing away. Max did the same. She could sense the tension rising in him.

Neither of them was fast enough to get away from what was coming.

It dove from the sky in a dark blur, accompanied by a screech like metal grating against metal. It took a moment until Regina could make out more than a blur of feathers and claws, but when it slowed down as it neared the ground she got a good look at the giant bird of prey.

Its head and neck were bereft of feathers, but really, the monster looked more like a falcon than a vulture. A grossly oversized one. Its feathers were dark, with only a few bright spots, and its beak looked wickedly sharp.

Regina ducked on instinct, feeling an incoming tide of mana. She rolled to the side and regained her feet, blinking to clear her vision. The sapling to the side of her was now twisted, listing to the side and tangled in the branches of another tree.

“Hey, you ugly bird!” Max yelled. He stomped and tapped on his shield, clearly trying to draw the monster’s attention.

The bird let out another screech, though that one sounded a bit more bearable. Its beady eyes fixed on the Hive Warrior, and it flapped its feathers as it hopped towards him.

Regina cursed and edged further to the side. She had some doubts about the wisdom of Max’s plan, but she didn’t have any better ideas. A large monster like that should have been hindered among the trees, even if the forest was pretty light here and they were in what you might generously call a clearing. But it didn’t seem to care.

Just as it darted towards Max, Regina let loose with a Magic Missile, hitting it dead-center somewhere on the neck. The monster shuddered while Max dodged to the side, seeking shelter behind a tree. But it didn’t seem to be more than inconvenienced. And now it turned again to face her.

This was definitely a higher-level monster. Regina edged towards the corpse of the squirrel they’d killed and kicked it towards the bird, hoping it had only come here for that and would leave them alone once it got some food.

The bird eyed the squirrel, then looked back at her. It took another step forward, ignoring the offered prey. Clearly, it was in the mood for a more substantial snack.

“Shit!” Regina darted to the side, trying to find shelter behind another tree.

She quickly checked her mana. Only a little over half of it left. With her reduced mana regeneration, she wouldn’t even regain one point of it before it no longer mattered. There was no point trying to conserve her MP for later, but that still only gave her a few more castings.

She heard the monster circle around to get at her and ducked low, rushing towards another tree. Something crashed against the one she’d just been hiding behind, and she could feel its shaking from here.

Regina straightened up and eyed her opponent. It cocked its head slightly, then she could see it tense before it started to move again.

Now she understood why it had been given its name. The monster moved in an odd, winding pattern through the forest, dodging around trees as if they weren’t even there as it moved in circles. Gusts of wind gathered around its wings, enabling the movements, and she could sense the hints of mana in them.

Far too quickly, it was upon her again. Regina jammed her spear into the ground and ducked to the side as well as she could. She felt one of its taloned feet rush past her head. Her spear hit it in the chest, but barely slowed it down, and then the shaft broke with a crack.

Cursing, she rolled to the side. Max threw a stone at its beak, distracting it enough to let her get away. Regina crouched behind another bush, even if it didn’t offer much cover, the remnants of her weapon discarded.

Now she just had a few stones and her claws. And Max, of course. She needed to make her attacks count.

At least the bird didn’t seem too smart. It let itself be goaded away from Regina, turning towards the Warrior again.

She hesitated, unsure what she could do. Before she had the chance to act, it rushed at Max. She winced as she watched it barrel at him, accompanied by a whirling current of air. It knocked into Max’s shield, almost ripping it from his hand, but it was like the attack hit a stone wall. He didn’t even have to take a step back.

Of course, she realized. He’s the only Hive Warrior here, his Last Bastion Skill must be active. So pushing counts as impeding his movements? She shook herself out of her daze and ran closer, trying to line up a shot with another Magic Missile.

With his shield out of position, Max couldn’t deflect the next attack from the bird. Its beak pecked at him, and Regina heard a crunch as the shell on his left shoulder broke. His scythe-limb drooped to the floor.

For a moment, she was afraid that was it. But Max kept standing. His boosted Constitution allowed him to stay on his feet, even as he stumbled a step to the side, raising his other blade.

Regina launched another Magic Missile at the bird. This time, it hit the back of its legs, right where it met its torso. The bird hopped up as if poked by a lightning rod, screeching again. The smell of burnt feathers told her she may have hit a weak spot.

Regina kept advancing, trying to swallow her nerves. Skill or not, Max wouldn’t stand up to it for long by himself. “Hey, birdbrain!” she called.

The monster turned to face her again, crouching down slightly as it prepared to jump.

She let loose another Magic Missile, right before she dove to the side again.

She couldn’t see it, but she heard the monster crashing through a bush and landing close to her position. Regina whirled around, holding her clawed hands up, even as Max staggered towards her.

She’d landed a clean hit. As the bird thrashed around, she saw that one of its eyes was a burned out ruin.

Then Max was there. He approached from its blinded side. While Regina straightened up and hissed at the monster threateningly, capturing its attention, he pounced.

The monster tried to turn its head at the last moment, but it was too late. Max adjusted and drove his blade right through its other eye. It twitched a little, then Regina’s last Magic Missile hit it in the neck, making the head jerk again.

For a few seconds, they both waited, starting as the monster tumbled to the ground, twitching. Then Regina let her shoulders relax and stepped closer, breathing out heavily. She kicked it, but it didn’t respond. Critical hit, I guess.

“You were really good.” She turned to Max, smiling widely.

He ducked his head. She had the feeling that he’d have blushed if he was able to. “Thank you.”

Regina’s smile faded into a frown as she studied his wounds. The bleeding seemed to have slowed, but just from the way he stood, she could tell it was bad. “How are you, Max?”

The Hive Warrior straightened up slightly and grimaced. “Not too bad,” he assessed. “I won’t be able to use my left arms for a while, but I’m not in danger of bleeding out.”

“Let’s bandage it up anyway, just to be sure.”

Regina collected a few leaves that seemed spongy and a few lengths of vine, then tried her best to bind Max’s wound. It clearly hurt, but he held still and let her work.

“I gained a level,” he said, trying to roll his shoulder and grimacing again.

“Me, too.” Regina glanced at the dead monster. “Well, I guess with you out of commission, it’s my turn to do the grunt work.”

She dug a small hole and drained the blood with a few cuts. Then Regina tried to heft the monster’s corpse to carry it to their camp. She staggered under the weight, but kept her feet. This was not going to be a pleasant hike.

Getting back to their camp took twice as long as it should have. Max walked carefully and slowly, but the real impediment was the thing’s weight. Regina set it down once to take a small rest before she began carrying it again. Maybe she should start exercising. After I take a bath.

She dropped it to the forest floor after they reached their camp, deciding that it would keep for a while. Then she rolled her shoulders and turned back to the campfire. Maybe there was something more they could do for Max’s injury.

Just as she reached the fire and resisted the temptation to just collapse in a heap beside it, she heard a cracking sound. Regina froze, but after a few moments, it came again.

She turned to the egg sitting in its little hollow. It was starting to crack.

She grinned. Then, on impulse, she checked her status sheet.

Good. She was level three and there was a new Hive member. Regina made to turn her attention back to its hatching, then paused.

The limit for her Hive had increased. Not by one, but by two, from 2 to 4. That meant … it would keep growing more quickly. She didn’t know if it would be linear, of if it was quadratic or exponential growth.

The hatchling finally climbing out of the egg brought her attention back to the present. Max stepped up to the new drone and plucked a bit of eggshell from them.

“Welcome, new brother!” He sounded cheerful.

Regina looked over the new Drone Warrior. He looked very similar to Max. Not quite the same, there were a few small differences and she could easily tell them apart, but they could have passed for twins.

“Tim,” she decided. “We’ll call you Tim. Welcome to the world.”

He looked up at her with a wide-eyed expression. “Thank you, my queen.”

She smiled. The hive grows. Time for me to finally get some Workers.