The next few days bring problems. Many, many problems.

"They locked down the town and are forcing everyone to stay inside." I growl as I observe my town through a scout.

"They are scared." Enna purrs, "As they should be."

"There's still three days left, what now?" I ask my general.

Pirous is staring at a map of the town, moving a few wooden figures around, doing his best without direct access to my vess network, "The people can likely wait in their homes for three days, if it was any longer I would be concerned." He picks up a figure and moves it, "As is, I suggest we wait."

"Can we start shooting at them? Please?" I practically bounce in my seat next to Pirous.

He chuckles, "Why not?"

"Really?" My eyes shine with excitement, as in, they literally glow brighter, "I thought for sure you'd say no!"

The human gives me a gentle smile, "It won't make much of a difference if they attack us today or three days from now. What is important, is that we fight them on our own terms, and put them at as much of a disadvantage as possible. Putting them under some pressure might make them slip up."

With a grin I order the ballistae hidden in the forest to begin firing at the Mage Guild. The first bolt smashes apart on a barrier that springs to life around the building. The second follows suit and so does the third. I report this to Pirous.

"I imagined they would be at least a little prepared for that, after all, Gwyna has seen your forces in action before. I suggest continuing to fire, it will eventually drain their wards, probably not before the time limit is up, but every bit helps. Target the Adventure Guild now."

Leaving a few ballistae to fire on the mages, I order the rest of them to aim for the Adventure Guild. The humans act faster, however, and a large group of mages and adventurers leave the town and begin closing in on my artillery.

The group is forced to split up slightly, the trees forcing them apart, as I hid my forces deep in the woods.

I spring my trap, hidden just below the ground, hundreds of soldiers pop up to surround the group of humans. A score of archers lift off and begin to rain down stingers into the trees as my soldiers close in.

A desperate fight starts as the groups clash. The adventurers try to form a line to protect the mages, but are only partially successful due to the terrain. A few mages blast an area clear of trees and raise a small hill, defense oriented warriors take up positions on the hill as the mages cast from the hilltop. Sharp vess blades are turned aside by glowing skill infused shields and bolts of fire and ice pierce the carapaces of my troops. It takes multiple bolts of magic, but my soldiers fall eventually. Fortunately, I have hundreds of soldiers and as soon as one falls, another takes its place.

My archers are largely ineffective, a few mages focus on generating a barrier and holding it in place, the vess stingers bouncing off harmlessly. It would be an issue, but I expected this, as I am choosing to use a classic vess tactic; attrition. Every deflected stinger is a little less mana in the mages pool, and I have infinitely more stingers than they have mana.

While this is going on, my ballistae finish targeting the Adventure Guild and launch a volley of bolts at it.

The bolts crash and splinter into pieces against a barrier, however this barrier is visibly weaker, already cracking and weakening with each hit. It only takes a few volleys before it is shattered completely and the bolts smash through the building's roof. Over the course of a minute, dozens of bolts tear through wood and stone alike and the whole building collapses in on itself.

I cheer and redirect my ballistae to fire on the Mage Guild.

The battle between vess and human rages on, a few warriors tire and fall to the blades of my summons while a few mages have already collapsed from running out of mana. That's when I see a new group leaving the town, Evans and a few others.

Evans is wearing a full suit of glowing blue armor and brandishes two similarly glowing swords. The rest of his group also appears to have enchanted armor and weapons and looks quite formidable. I relay the information to my general.

"I believe Evans is around level fifty, if my information is correct." Pirous paces the room, "The people with him are his party, Wardens of Peace, I believe. They are all over level forty. The only saving grace is that they are all warriors, a few are magically inclined, of course, but most are martial." He rubs his clean shaven chin, "This is troublesome, but not unexpected. We either need to retreat or commit to a, potentially, resource intensive fight. Both plans have merit." The older human stops his pacing and looks at me expectantly.

"Uh." My tail lashes, "Kill them?"

He nods, "Very well. Be sure to kill Evans and his party, anything less would be a net loss for us. And don't let them reach the group they are trying to rescue."

My knights are lurking nearby, fifty of them. A few drakes are circling far above too, ready to strike at my command. The forest offers great cover though, so I am holding the devastating breath attacks of my drakes back for now.

From underground tunnels, the nightmarish forms of my knights emerge. Trees are broken and toppled over to make way for their massive frames. Evans and his party stop dead in their tracks.

With a single swing of his sword, Evans turns the surrounding trees into splinters and creates an impromptu clearing to fight in. My knights need no further invitation as their forms blur into motion.

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I have a few knights engage each of Evans' companions, keeping them on the backfoot. Evans himself stands tall and pushes back against my knights. His sword actually cuts through the blade arm of a knight, sending black ichor spurting everywhere. Before the knight can reposition, the Guildmaster's second blade cleaves through its chest, bisecting it from shoulder to hip. The high level human stands strong as an attack just slides over his glowing armor, leaving no visible damage. The knight is quickly dealt with, and he moves on to the next.

Annoyingly, overwhelming numbers doesn't seem to be enough, as Evans doesn't even need to avoid attacks, taking everything on his cheating armor. He can just advance without care, felling my knights left and right. I grit my teeth, those are expensive!

Calling upon my drakes they do a quick flyby, dousing the area in flames. What's left of the trees are incinerated as the heat washes over the area, catching the surrounding foliage on fire, thick smoke begins to billow up into the sky.

My knights are resistant to the flames and it seems like Evans' party is too, as they shrug off the attack. I frown, okay, let's try a direct attack. A drake circles around and lands by one of the humans, my knights keep the annoying warrior in place while my drake rears up, a concentrated blast of fire forming in its throat.

Evans is too quick, he cuts through the knight he was fighting and disappears. Reappearing next to the drake, his swords shine with the light of a skill and they both slice into my summons's throat.

The fire my drake was preparing goes unstable and explodes prematurely, blowing my drake to pieces and leaving a smoking crater in its wake. Of course, the Guildmaster got out of the way in time and is fine.

"Fair Lady? May I?" Hollis tilts their head with the question.

I wave my hand for them to go ahead. They curtsy to me and teleport away.

Pirous grunts his approval, "We were going to need to send someone, unless you were hoping to wear him down."

My scout shows me Hollis appearing in the air over the battlefield, their dress whipping in the wind. They raise a hand and shoot their signature lightning bolt, catching Evans off guard and sending him sliding back a few feet, a smoking scorch mark marring his breastplate. I grin with satisfaction.

Evans is much less pleased, a darkly troubled expression clouding his face. He seems to be considering how to handle my magi, when another bolt nearly hits him. Dodging out of the way, the Guildmaster leaps into the air, dual swords shining, only to get blindsided by a drake and swatted back to the ground.

Hollis hovers in the air, a few drakes swirling around them, lifts their hand, and sends Evans firmly on the defensive.

Lightning bolts rain down on the human, combined with multiple flame breath attacks from the drakes, Evans is unable to avoid it all. He redirects a bolt into the ground with his sword, only to get doused in a torrent of flames, another drake swoops down behind him and catches him in its jaws.

The drake's teeth dig into the human's armor, but are unable to puncture it. Still, the man is helpless for a moment, enabling Hollis to get a clean hit with a ball of acid.

Twin swords pierce the jaws of the drake and bisect the creature's head in half. Upon freeing himself, Evans lands heavily on the ground and tries to wipe off some of the acid that is sizzling on his armor, even now it is starting to break through the enchantments and eat into his armor.

The Magi doesn't give him the chance, sending multiple spears of energy down towards the human.

Evans parries a few spears, but one catches him on the shoulder. The pauldron is already weakened from the acid and shatters completely from the attack. The exposed shoulder is bleeding heavily, and the attached arm moves noticeably slower.

More spears of energy explode into the dirt, throwing up mounds of earth. Evans avoids them all, almost skating over the landscape, his whole body glowing with the use of a skill. He flips over a spear and launches himself into the air for another go at the flying magi. Another drake swoops in to intercept him as Hollis sends a suppressing barrage of bolts his way. The Guildmaster parries the bolts that he can with his one blade, catching many of the projectiles on his armor, new cracks and dents forming with each hit. His other sword glows with skill power and seems to grow four times larger. Bringing the sword down, he cleanly cuts the drake in half, sending gore raining down onto the battlefield below, the sword immediately returning to regular size after.

Hollis teleports away before Evans reaches them, wasting the attack and sending the human back down to earth. Evans lands heavily, sending up a cloud of dirt, and glares up at his flying opponent.

That's when the ground erupts from underneath him and I hit him with the burrower, the giant worm swallowing the man before he has a chance to react. Hollis immediately holds their hands up to the sky and begins to charge a spell, electricity begins to crackle around the vess and the sky itself begins to fill with dark clouds.

Of course, the worm doesn't hold the Guildmaster long, but it wasn't supposed to. The human easily cuts himself out of the burrower, covered in sticky, black ichor, it takes the man a moment to orient himself. A moment he couldn't afford.

With a world ending crack, a pillar of lighting falls from the sky, directly on top of Evans. The surviving members of Evan's guild and the knights they are fighting are caught up in the blast and vaporized. The giant beam of energy continues to fall for a solid five seconds before suddenly shutting off, leaving a pile of smoldering slagged armor behind.

+75,000 XP

Hollis falls out of the sky; their mana completely expended and is caught by a drake to be carried back to the hive.

By this time the other battle is over too. Between the two conflicts, I lost about Twenty three knights and two hundred soldiers. I grimace at the amount of lost knights, those are expensive and I can only afford to summon a few every day. Worth it though, to defeat the best the adventurers had to offer.

A sudden rumble shakes the walls of my hive. I open my eyes and look around in alarm, "What was that?"

Pirous stops his conversation with Enna to answer me, "It seems the mages snuck up on us, using the other battle as a distraction. Gwyna and her best mages are in the hive. I admit, I got too comfortable with your scout network. I should have expected the mages to be able to hide from them."

My stomach does a flip, "Gwyna is in my hive?"

Enna kneels by my side and caresses the side of my face, "Do not worry, sweetheart. Pirous and I are more than a match for her."

Pirous nods his agreement, already up and donning his armor, "The narrow tunnels will do her no favors. Although, it gives us less room to maneuver as well. It will be a difficult fight, the situation could easily go wrong, be prepared to evacuate."

"The tunnels will not hinder us." Enna glares death at the human, "One ambush with the burrowers is all it will take. She will be dead before she can cast a single spell."

I can feel my soldiers dying in droves as they fight to slow down the approaching mages. My burrowers are collapsing tunnels, but the mages just dig new ones with magic.

Throwing my arms around Enna's neck, I squeeze as tight as I can, "I need you, please don't die."

Strong arms surround me and hold me close, "All will be well."

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