The trek through the forest reminded Tim unpleasantly of the time a few weeks ago when they’d been chased out of their first home. This time, there was no monster horde behind him, but if anything, he would have preferred that.

His little group moved as quickly as they could, though he made sure not to burn all of their energy by running too fast. They hadn’t gone that far back towards the hive when they became aware of the trouble there, so they had quite a large distance to cover.

Though they were finally getting close. Tim was glad for his good low-light vision that allowed him to navigate through the forest even in the darkness of the night. He turned his head and looked at his companions, slowing down slightly as he noticed how heavily they were breathing. There was no point in arriving too exhausted to fight.

At least they had been able to move faster since leaving the War Drones behind. He wasn’t entirely sure of that decision, but Regina knew what she was doing. And he wanted to come to her aid as soon as possible.

He thought back to the War Drones. They’d followed orders perfectly, now, at least. When they’d gone beyond the limit of Regina’s psychic connection, it had taken him a few minutes to realize what had changed. They didn’t turn aggressive or anything. Instead, it was more like they suddenly became a lot dumber. They clearly still regarded him and the others as part of their hive, their dominant pack members or something, but they simply had trouble understanding what he wanted from them. Plus, they got a tendency to wander off. Maybe they lost the ability to understand speech, or language in general.

Tim shook his head and returned his thoughts to the present. There was no sign that being beyond their Queen’s control radius had changed anything in them, so there was no point in contemplating it now. Besides, the War Drones still with the others would follow orders just as they always had.

“We’re getting closer,” Ada said in a low voice.

Tim looked back and nodded, slowing down. The others matched his pace. Ada had joined them not long ago and they’d exchanged what information they had, but they were thinking about maybe splitting up again. He wasn’t sure that would be a good idea for the fight.

“Scout a little further ahead, please,” he said. “The rest of us will move forward more slowly.” He could swap her with Ace later, but Ada was actually better rested than the other Scout for now.

“Yes, Tim.” She flitted away and disappeared into the foliage of a nearby cluster of trees and bushes.

Tim started moving again, hearing the others following. Neither of them spoke. They hadn’t talked much on the way back, either. None of them had voiced any complaints, and he knew they were all determined to get back and do their part to free their Hive and their Queen from the human intruders. He had to admit he was a little proud of his younger hivemates.

Then he felt that hard to describe sensation that told him Regina was paying attention to him again. He slowed down and held up a hand to alert the others.

It looks like we have one less enemy to worry about, she said. Or that was what he thought, anyway. It was always a little hard to grasp the telepathic messages she sent, although he felt like he was getting better at it.

Tim listened with focused concentration as she told him what had happened. From what he gathered, the humans had imprisoned her underground, and just now, their leader had one of the others do something, but it failed and hurt him. That goddess hadn’t liked it or had punished her follower. Regina conveyed that she thought the man was out of the fight for at least the night, and she seemed confident.

“Understood, my Queen,” he answered in a tone so low even his companions would have trouble making it out. It didn’t matter as long as she could hear it through his ears. “We’re getting close. I sent Ada to scout a bit ahead. We should be there soon. Do you have any further orders?”

There was silence for a moment, then she sent, Wait until I give the command. Or until trouble is breaking out, the others fight. Try to attack from the forest to the left of the old shelters.

Then she withdrew again. He got the feeling something else had demanded her attention. Hopefully the humans were leaving her in peace.

“Let’s hurry up a little more,” he said anyway. He spoke just loudly enough the others would hear him, something he’d learned to judge by now.

Ada showed up again a few minutes later and they stopped to confer.

“The basic layout of the camp is still the same,” she reported. “I saw four people on watch currently, although one of them might have been with the other group. Two of them came out of the left house. I’m guessing that’s where the last one is.”

“Probably the one who’s down,” Tim interjected. He quickly explained what Regina had told him.

“Makes sense,” Ada agreed. “They did look a bit agitated. I don’t think any of the watchers is really specialized in perception, but I could be wrong. I had the cover of the trees, anyway, so I’m pretty sure they didn’t see me. It’ll be more of a problem to actually move to the houses. I also saw some of our people. They seem to be packed into a few groups, with human watchers. Dan was tied up, I’m not sure about others, since I didn’t see everyone.”

Tim nodded. “I guess that’s about what I expected. Did you sense anyone else out there? Or any monsters, for that matter?”

Ada had leveled up again on the trip, he knew. She was one of the stronger people in the hive now and should be good for this. Her latest Class Skill, Life Sense, would hopefully show them if there were any hidden enemies.

She shook her head. “There are a few small animals around, but nothing bigger, and no signatures that feel like the humans except for the eight we know about.”

“Good. Then if you think it’s safe enough, let’s move to the tree line.”

They continued on slowly, carefully. He knew human ears weren’t that good, but they still tried to minimize the noise they were making as much as possible. Ada and Ace were naturally good at this, but it was a bit harder for the Warriors.

Luckily, they still found some suitable spots right at the edge of the forest, where he had a good view of the houses, but anyone there would have trouble seeing them. Especially since it was still dark and the humans only had the light of the campfire, the moon and the stars. It was a bright night, relatively speaking, but he still didn’t think they could see very far without aid.

They waited. Time seemed to pass in a crawl, slowly creeping towards dawn. Tim almost flinched when something changed at last. The humans in the camp moved, although he had trouble seeing the details. Regina contacted him again right away.

They’re getting back to me. Okay, I think this is time. There was a short pause, then she continued. Are you in position?

“Yes, my Queen, we’re ready,” Tim whispered.

Okay… I will try to get one looking to you. Move right away. Move quickly.

Her presence receded, and Tim took a deep breath. “Any moment now. Be quick,” the whispered to the others.

A second later, a brief flash illuminated the camp. Tim didn’t question it and started running right away. He pumped his legs, trying to cross the distance towards their Hive’s settlement as quickly as possible. He needed to have an enemy in his sights and in range to activate Warrior’s Charge, but he’d use that soon.

Shouts rose from the camp, but it wasn’t immediately clear whether they came as a reaction to Tim’s group. He caught a glimpse of drones pouring out of a house. War Drones were at the front, swarming the human fighters outside. Two of them had thrown themselves over their Queen, blocking a strike from the big man who had to be the leader of the humans.

Tim focused on the other human next to him, who wore lighter gear and carried a staff. A Shaman. He felt a familiar, slight buzz as his Ability activated. Then he rushed forward, crossing the distance in the blink of an eye.

His blade shot out, but the human dodged his swipe. Tim’s momentum still carried him forward and he shoulder-checked the human, throwing him back. Tim stumbled, but used his other blade-limb to catch his balance as he attacked with his ax.

This time, there was a feeling of resistance, like he was trying to strike through a viscous fluid. Tim aborted the attack and stabbed with his blade-limb. It slowed again, but he put all of his power into it, the strength he gained fighting alongside his brothers and sister. The blade flashed down and cut into the human’s leg.

The man went down with a cry. Tim prepared to end him, but another drone jumped onto him right away. Tia, he realized after a moment. He turned and sidestepped, raising his shield to catch a javelin thrown by another human.

The impact almost spun him around and his shield splintered, but Tim didn’t care. He ran forward two steps, coming at another human currently flattening two War Drones from the side.

The human dodged, but Tim let him block his right blade-limb and attacked with his left one at the same time. This forced the human back a step, making him stumble over the corpse of one of the War Drones. He suddenly seemed to grow taller, halting his momentum and bringing his warhammer forward with blinding speed, but Tim barely managed to evade it.

Then two other War Drones fell onto the human. One of them managed to bite his arm, making the man drop his weapon.

Tim didn’t stay to help, but immediately jumped forward again. He could see that Max was down, clearly still alive, but one of his blade-limbs was mangled and his weapon-arm twisted badly. Regina was still stuck in the ground beside him, Mia frantically trying to dig her free. But the human Weaponmaster, Ulric, turned on her at this moment.

Time seemed to slow down for Tim as his focus narrowed down to the situation in front of him. The world faded out at the edges, the fire surging through him making it irrelevant. He had a moment to curse the fact that he had no ranged weapon or Ability. But he wouldn’t let that stop him. Tim raised his ax and threw it towards the human.

It wasn’t a real throwing weapon, but the distance was short and he’d put all his strength, increased by his Class Skill, into the throw. The ax struck the human with the back end of its blade, with no chance to penetrate his armor, but the impact staggered him.

Tim’s Ability was available again and he Charged at the Weaponmaster. He felt something break his shell on his left thigh, but it wasn’t a deep blow. He used his hands to grab his opponent’s arms while his blade-limbs tried to look for a chink in his armor.

He didn’t find one right away, but he didn’t need to. Other drones jumped on, and with Tim grappling him, they managed to wrest his sword and strange ax out of the human’s grip.

Then Tim heard a faint whistling sound and a glowing blue ball of magical energy crashed into Ulric. The human jerked. Tim didn’t waste the opportunity, but instead darted his head forward and bit down. The human’s scream rang in his ears, deafening at such close range.

He sensed someone stepping beside him. They’d finally managed to free his Queen. Tim raised his head to look at her, feeling some of the frantic fury leaving him.

She must have seen his unspoken question, for she smiled, showing teeth that were sharp but not quite as dangerous as his own. “Let’s finish this,” she said.

Her words sent the other drones into a little frenzy. Tim bent down again, cutting through straps and divesting Ulric of his armor at the same time as he sought out his major blood vessels. Others weren’t as restrained.

After a long few seconds, he finally stepped back. He knew his Queen wouldn’t want them to eat humans, so he spat out the blood pooled in his mouth. He finally saw his System notifications.

You have leveled up You have leveled up

He’d probably been close to reaching level 13 anyway, but more than one level was still quite something. It meant his Queen had also leveled up, at least. Tim found it hard to feel excited about it, though. He glanced around.

Regina was already kneeling next to Max, her hand on his twisted limb. Tim watched as it started to straighten out, then turned to the others. With both of them occupied, he should make sure things were taken care of.

“Move all of the injured who can be moved here,” he called. “War Drones, stand down and stay at your posts. Scouts, make sure our perimeter is secure. Ben, come here.”

It looked like most of the humans had survived, or would with medical attention. Leveled people were tough, and these seemed to be mostly warriors anyway. He didn’t know if his Queen wanted them alive, but he shouldn’t presume.

Tim shook his head, looking at the Hive’s drones laid out on the ground. He could already tell they had lost quite a few War Drones. He’d need to confirm the status of the sapient drones.

At least the intruders had been dealt with, and his Hive got their gear and weapons and surely some levels out of it.