Chapter 22: Chapter 22: Still Alive

From outside of it, the way the monsters all seemed to home in on the castle was a lot more helpful. Not only did it mean that there were fewer monsters in the fields outside the forest, but it allowed Regina to extrapolate their movements. She could see the patterns in the way the monsters who were outside moved, which made it easier to guide her hive to avoid them.

Their trip away from the castle were the most nerve-wracking one of her life. At least in the forest, you couldn’t see all the monsters in the area, even if they might be waiting behind some trees to jump you. They were also in the middle instead of at the edge of the monster horde now, which meant she could probably expect to encounter more high level monsters.

The further they traveled from the castle, though, the lower the monsters’ levels seemed to get. She only managed to get a blue box for some of them, those who were closest. But while they were mostly question marks at first, after leaving the castle behind them, she could read the level about half of the time.

They couldn’t completely avoid meeting some monsters, unfortunately. A few of them simply moved away from her hive, probably sensing that they were outclassed or at least out-leveled. Regina and the warriors managed to scare away a few others. But that didn’t always work.

Max pulled his ax out of the hide of a young Hill Troll, probably about level 10, and wiped it in the grass as they finished their latest fight. Regina shook her head at how much of a difference a proper weapon made. They could have defeated the troll before, but it had gone much faster now.

“I was hoping I would level up again,” he muttered.

“Soon,” Regina consoled him. “It’s obviously getting harder at higher levels, but given how much we’re fighting compared to before, our next levels shouldn’t be far off.” She certainly wouldn’t mind if Max and Tim reached level 7 too.

She glanced at the downed troll, then hurried away quickly. Already, she could see what looked like a vulture monster circling overhead, and a few dark shapes were also approaching. They needed to leave them the free meal and get gone.

She could see more of the village as they came closer. It looked bigger than she’d expected. She’d estimate it as housing at least a thousand people, rather than the little hamlet she’d imagined. Of course, that was only by medieval standards. Smoke was rising from several houses, and the wind carried the faint sounds of combat. It also smelled faintly of ash, which covered whatever other scents there might have been. Regina spared a moment to be thankful that this direction was downwind of the place.

It looked like the monster density was higher here, too. That didn’t bode well for any defenders, even if there weren’t nearly as many as at the castle. Regina looked around, picked her steps carefully and fell into a jog. The sound of the drones’ steps behind her increased like hers did and made it harder to hear any quiet noises, but that was worth it. She dashed across the field onto a dirt path leading into the village.

The village’s houses looked to have sprung up wherever there was room, without much in the way of organization, or straight roads. The outer houses all had gardens extending into the fields around the village. One of them sported a few small fruit trees. Regina barely noticed a shadow moving behind one of them in time to stop.

A small fireball flew across the road right in front of her. A second later, her own Magic Missile responded. She managed to curve it slightly, and was rewarded by a small scream as a figure stumbled out from behind the tree.

Regina was already readying another missile when its appearance registered. She canceled the spell and took a step forward, holding out her hands.

“Stop!” she barked.

The woman across from her started, but Regina hadn’t really been talking to her. Max and Tim stopped right away, and she saw Max slowly lower his blade-arm. But Regina didn’t take her eyes off the woman for long.

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