Chapter 24: Chapter 24: Against All Threats

One day. The monsters left them in peace for most of a day. Well, more like a night and some change, really.

As Regina stared out at the group of monsters approaching the village now, she couldn’t help but feel that it still wasn’t enough. But she hoped she was wrong. It wasn’t like she only had her hive to fight them off. And they’d used the time they had well.

The morning sun was only just cresting the horizon, but thankfully it came from the side, so she still got a good look at the pack of monsters drawing closer. They looked like overgrown, rabid dogs, except that there were odd spikes and plates of bone growing out of their bodies. Regina leaned her arm on the earthen rampart they’d built and glanced around for a moment.

Quite a few of the baron’s men covered this post, the main road leading into the village. They had, with the help of her workers, built a palisade together with a ditch. It was rough and quick work, but it should hold for a while. Or so she’d heard the commander saying, at least.

Her hive had used the night to recuperate, although they’d had one or two members at a time out to patrol the village. Regina took the last shift and didn’t move much from here until the others arrived. The evening before, Mia and Tia worked hard with the locals to build their improvised fortifications.

They’d both hit level 5 yesterday and, although Regina had missed it in the commotion, they’d gotten a new Ability. According to Mia, it was called ‘Meld and Merge’ and it basically glued things together magically. That would be very useful for crafting and had even come in handy with building the palisade. And even better, unless she was greatly mistaken, they would both get experience for that work.

That was one of the things she’d been able to confirm by watching and listening to the villagers: Combat wasn’t the only way to level, even if it was by far the fastest, and Classes with a non-combat focus, especially, gained experience by doing tasks that pertained to their Class. In her case, Regina suspected she’d get experience for doing queenly things — leadership, presumably — and perhaps for growing her hive.

She shook her head and focused on the coming fight. Behind the horde of dogs — which she could now see were called ‘Spike Dogs’ by the System, very creative — other monsters were moving closer, too. This wasn’t the occasional stray monster they’d faced in the night, but a significant part of the horde in the area coming for them.

Suddenly, one of the human fighters in the group opened fire. Regina resisted the urge to turn and stare in surprise. She didn’t think they were in a reasonable range already, but his arrow shot out like a bullet and hit the closest dog right in the throat. It collapsed where it stood. The rest of the pack started to howl, but they didn’t change course.

Other fighters joined in, everyone with a ranged option unleashing it on the monsters. Regina resisted the urge to fire a Magic Missile. She needed to conserve her mana today. Even without the eggs, there was no way her mana regeneration would be able to keep pace with the fights.

Only two of the Spike Dogs survived to reach the palisade. There, two of the human warriors captured their attention, while Max and a human swordsman cut them down quickly. Regina wasn’t sure if they’d used Skills or not.

But they didn’t get much time to rest. The next group of monsters, a mixed pack of hyenas and feline monsters, was approaching already. This time, the soldiers took fewer of them out at range, probably because their more powerful abilities were spent or needed to recharge. Half a dozen of the monsters charged at the fortification at once. One got stuck in the ditch and three tried to scramble up the palisade, but one large black cat managed to vault it with a leap supported by a sudden gust of wind.

Regina thrust with her spear, but the monster dodged. Then Tim caught it in the side with his sword, almost ripping it open, just before a human warrior appeared at his side and skewered the monster. Regina assumed Tim had used his new Skill. He’d chosen to go for Strength of the Hive, and even with only one other Warrior present, the baseline buff wasn’t so bad.

Max used the shield he’d been given to bash a hyena off the palisade, and the rest of the pack was quickly killed as well. But more and more monsters approached the fortifications. Just as Regina considered moving her position, two black forms fell from the sky, quickly growing bigger, and resolved into large birds of prey. One falcon opened his beak and spewed a fireball right at their defensive emplacement.

Regina cursed and dodged to the side, wincing as a rush of air and heat shot through the space beside her and barreled into the side of a building. Shingles flew and tendrils of smoke curled into the sky.

She narrowed her eyes and focused on one of the birds, gathering her mana.

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