I wasn't sure how long it had been, but it had been long enough that my jaw had begun to hurt. The adult wolfstags' skin and bone was significantly stronger and more durable than that of their young, so it took real effort to ensure they died with each attack. In the back of my mind, I realized that I couldn't see Rulac any more, but also couldn't bring myself to care too much about that. I was happy to realize, though, that the influx of enemies had begun to slow.

Finally, I was allowed to step back and relax. Looking around, the rest of my pack seemed to feel the same way. I could see the [System] notification flashing out of the corner of my eye, indicating that I had grown. Thinking about it, I was sure that all of the spawnlings that were here were sure to have experienced a not insignificant level of growth. Solia was obviously more powerfully built, and Treel and Brutus were almost as tall as me now. Took, on the other hand, didn't look too different.

Measuring myself against the bodies around me, I realized that I had grown significantly in height since the night's "activities" had begun. I was now almost 85cm tall, getting closer to Took's height of now 95cm. A part of me wondered if I would ever be taller or bigger than her, but I didn't much mind if we ended up having the nearly 30cm height difference of Redael and Rulac, since we each had our strengths, and I never intended to be the same kind of bruiser she was.

Nonetheless, since I now had a moment's rest, I decided to check on my new [Status] after this explosive period of growth I was experiencing.

[Status:

Name: Ashlani

Race: Young Sonic Magicblood Alpha

Current quest:

—Subjugate 10 keelish. Reward: 1 Agility, 1 Intelligence.

Stats:

-Constitution: 11+1+4=16

-Strength: 14+2+6=22

-Agility: 16+3=19

-Intelligence: 13+2=15

-Magic: 8+1+5=14

Skills:

Innate Leadership—cannot evolve

Pack Tactics—current evolutionary progress: 0/10

Improved Bloodlust—current evolutionary progress: Unknown

Dominance—current evolutionary progress: 35/100

Improved Vision--current evolutionary progress: 0/18

Sonilphon—current evolutionary progress: 1/50

Evolutionary foresight

-Adult Sonic Magicblood Alpha: live 30 days. Progress: 14/30

-Young Sonic Magicblood Swarm Alpha. Prerequisites: Young Sonic Magicblood Alpha. Requirements: acquire 50 followers. Progress: 32/50]

Looking at it, I was pretty grateful that the [System] showed what growth came from my completion of the assigned quest, and what came from other things. Hopefully, I would be completing this new mission two days later. Or, given that this raid had be going on for a while, tomorrow.

As I studied what was recorded in my Status, the thought crossed my mind--how do I evolve Bloodlust? Is there something special about this skill, since I'd never gotten anything about how to evolve it?

[Previously, the Administrator had deemed it unnecessary to divulge that information. However, that decision is now rescinded, in consideration of your current growth.

[Skill: Improved Bloodlust: Evolutionary Requirements--spend 3 days with Bloodlust skill activated, without stop. Progress: 0/3]

Oof. I wasn't sure if that or Improved Vision's requirements were more stringent. I decided to look into that sometime in the near future, and looked around me. Rulac was still gone, but the whirling inferno in front of me had faded, and the 2 Alqat were sitting on their haunches, recovering.

I approached them, "So, where did Rulac go?"

One turned back and as she was about to reply, a horrendously loud clap of thunder echoed through the den. She then continued, "He went to kill the alpha here. If you hurry, you may find him before he kills it, but we cannot accompany you nor guarantee your safety in here, as there may still be pockets of resistance." She then turned back to her companion and kept an eye out for any incoming wolfstags.

I looked at Took, who looked like she wanted to go look for the duel, but just then, "HAHAHAHA!! A GOOD FIGHT!!" echoed from the depths of the den, and the two Alqat stood tall and looked deeper into the cave. There was nothing for a time, maybe 5 minutes, and we all stood there, gradually losing patience. I could see that Took was about to try to go down the hole herself when we heard shuffling and steps coming down the hall to us.

Coming down the hall was a shambling mass of fur. Looking closer, it was Rulac carrying an absolutely massive wolfstag. While alive, this thing must have stood nearly as tall as Rulac himself (1.7m), but it was significantly larger, with its head being .5m wide and almost 1m long. Its massive curling horns were permanently scorched black by the lightning that surely nearly permanently covered them back when the beast was alive. However, once the sheer size of this behemoth was comprehended, the thing that stood out most was the insane amount of injuries covering its body. There were deep bite marks scattered everywhere, and three long gashes, one from its nose and leading through its eyes and down to the nape of its neck, a second going from one shoulder to the opposite haunch across its back, and the third disemboweling it. Its steaming viscera trailed down Rulac's back and on the floor behind him.

Upon seeing us, Rulac dropped the carcass to the floor with a thud. He stood tall, and I finally noticed his own state. All things considered, he was doing well, but I could see that a couple of his ribs were obviously out of place and he had a deep gouge on his back, from the back of one shoulder all the way to the base of his tail. He then began to speak in that regal timbre from before.

"The killer of our fallen brother lays slain before you. He was a valiant warrior, thus proving Katar's death was not in vain nor unworthy. Katar, just as you have passed your strength to us, we take the strength of your killer and add it to our own." With his final words, Rulac lowered his head to the corpse in front of him and took a massive bite, then swallowed. He stepped back, then his second in command stepped forward and did the same, followed by Wisterl and the rest of the Alqat, each stepping forward in turn.

I wondered if my pack was meant to step forward, but Rulac looked over at me, and shook his head. "You are not Alqat, therefore, you have no place in the ghidh. If you decide to join us, then you will join any that we have after that." He turned to the rest of the Alqat, "We have purged their existence from our territory. Take whatever you want back to the den--it's yours. You have earned your keep, my Alqat, my killers. We feast tonight or, maybe this morning." He grinned at that, and bodily hauled up the body of the alpha once more.

I looked at the rest of my little pack, and, after seeing their looks back at me, we all went to grab as big a load as we expected ourselves to be able to haul back to the den.

...

We staggered back into the den as the morning sun began to color the sky pink. It was a strangely beautiful sight, considering every muscle I knew and then some were screaming in agony after the abuse they had been through in the last couple of days. I still wasn't at 100%, and I could really feel it now that I was left mostly to my own thoughts as we returned.

As we separated from the excited Alqat and stepped into our own little part of the den, I nearly bulldozed Sybil, who was anxiously awaiting our return. I only barely noticed her pacing in time to stop myself from fully running her over, and all five of us raid-goers stumbled and nearly fumbled our cargo. I decided to give it up once I was fully in the den, and took another 13 (I counted them) steps before I dropped my massive adult wolfstag before I turned back to Sybil and smiled.

"We're back."

She grinned wryly in return. "So you are. Let's get you all a visit with Vefir before you rest."

The rest dropped their prey in the main room, nearly filling it up completely, before we all trooped off to Vefir for some well-deserved healing before even more well-deserved rest.

...

He fussed over us as was his wont, but quickly doled some of his magic to each of us before looking ready to collapse himself. I was going to lay down to rest at that point, but Sybil approached me. I tried to withhold my groan but wasn't quite able to.

Sybil smirked at my poor performance, "Look, some of us actually keep working. All the time." Then her face shifted to a strange mix of frustration and confusion. "Shemira was up to her tricks last night after you left, but her heart doesn't seem to be in it as much as it was before. I think that my indoctrination is going very well, so, as long as we keep her away from the babies when they come, we should be fine. I don't believe that she's really given it up though, so I don't know what her current angle is."

"Well, we'll keep our eyes out and her isolated, so I wouldn't worry too badly. Have you decided who would be your chief 'helpers' with the indoctrination?"

"Primarily Octavi, who seems to have grown in a manner similar to me, then, there are a couple of nameless who are willing to take part in the effort. I wonder if you'll let me name them as I see fit?"

I nodded. "Now, can I rest?"

"Well, ideally, not here. Just in case, it would be best that you set yourself up in the den where all the babies will be hatching. If you miss the hatching, it'll be twice as difficult to convince them to follow you."

I groaned, loudly this time. "So where is their den?"

"Not close. About 45 minutes walk through the den. I'm not sure where the entrance is aboveground, so we need to get there through the den. And, I'm not really comfortable going through the deeps without you, since they don't respect the rest of us."

I stood. "Took's coming with, and so's Silf. I'm not going to be the only one suffering."

It was a rather uneventful trip through the deeps, and fortunately, we didn't need to go all the way down to where the upper echelons lived. There were a couple of curious sorts that poked their heads out, but between my "I ain't about to deal with your shit" face and a couple of whispers of "Alqat", nobody bothered us.

I was glad for it, since once we got to this new den (which was surprisingly small to me), Took and I immediately sprawled out on the floor and began to get comfortable. I could sleepily remember telling Silf to find the aboveground course to our exit, but after that, the sweet release of sleep.

...

It was actually 2 days later that I began to hear movement out of the corner of the den. This entire time, I had kept myself in this room, with nothing to do besides eat and practice my sonic magic. There was little progress. We had already gone and brought back an entire adult wolfstag back to this den, and it was beginning to stink.

Excitedly, Sybil and her helpers forward (we had come to the decision that Took needed to stay back in the den... just in case.) to begin helping the little ones in their hatching endeavors. Initially, only one by one, then tens began to emerge from the dirt, squalling, shoving each other, and pushing for the heap of food lying in the corner.

After a moment of letting them begin to drive themselves into a frenzy, I pushed my magic into my throat and the sudden crack of sound made the entire group immediately fall silent and look to me.

I grinned widely.

"Welcome, my younger brothers and sisters. You are all now spawnlings in the service of the swarm. I look forward to your service."

END OF VOLUME 1

Thank you to all the people who have read thus far! I read all your comments and I excitedly check my phone all day at work to see if there are any new comments or follows or stones or anything, haha (no, I don't have a problem!). I'm going to be taking a brief rest now. I'll still be writing a bit, but I'm getting stressed trying to make sure that I post every day, so I'm just taking some time to collect my thoughts, plan the next volume, and rest! See you soon, and may we soon wet our fangs in the blood of our adversaries soon! (Please not real blood, haha!)