My Little Queens Are Building Me Another Army. And Somebody Has A Campsite Just Outside My Domain.

It was my Dungeon Sense that first alerted me to their presence. I had barely seen them at all. But I did see them. On the surface at the very edge of my Domain. Somebody stepped into the boundary of my Territory and then retreated too fast for me to get a good look at them. But whoever they are, they were a Bipedal Humanoid. They were also Cloaked. Maybe a Ranger? I sent a few Kobolds up to the Surface. Maybe they could see what was out there. If that actually worked then I might have to keep the Kobolds out there permanently. Then I could see threats coming before they got this close. I wasn't worried. Not really. I was more curious than anything. Unless they were a being of Immense Power then they couldn't even enter my Dungeon without permission.

The Kobold idea worked to some extent. Their eyesight was terrible but they could see beyond what I could through my Dungeon. Without the need to speak they showed me images of what they saw. They were linked to me through my Dungeon so we had some semblace of magical communication. It included both mental speech and a bit of visual transmission. It was like looking at an old Polaroid Photo only without color and blurry as hell from this distance.

It was a campsite. There were two campfires surrounded by 5 cloth tents. There seemed to be 7 individuals. The Kobold's vision was too distorted to make out much deatil. My Dungeon Creatures could not pass beyond the borders of my Dungeon but I could send other scouts. Army Ants perhaps... No. It would be best to keep my cards hidden. Either they came into my Dungeon or they didn't. It was nighttime up there on the surface so I didn't expect this group to move until just before dawn at the latest. That gave me some time to plan.

I could just lock my doors to them and refuse them entry. But what was the point in that. My doors were only closed to prevent an Army of Duergar from marching on me. Even then I intended to face them when I was ready. On the other hand, what were the benefits of letting this group enter my Dungeon? I could capture them and learn more about the lands nearby. Neither Abria nor the Dryads knew much about the wider world. They hadn't needed to know what dangers lurked in what directions off in the distance. Killing this group would aid in my overall growth. No matter how weak they might be. Or I could let them come in loot some treasure and then let them leave.

I had thought about this option before. There would be no immediate gains to myself but in the long run I could attract Adventurers to Delve my Dungeon. Was that something I wanted? I was split on that issue.

Ultimately I decided to allow Adventurers to Delve my Dungeon because I was already at war with the Duergar and I wanted to consolidate my Underground Kingdom First. Everyone knows that waging wars on multiple fronts was a losing strategy. So if I could keep the surface world occupied with what they believe is my true Dungeon then all the better. I did not think for one second that my Dungeon would escape detection forever. And if I killed every trespasser then eventually word will spread of the disappearances and blame will easily fall on the "Evil Dungeon". Then I might expect to find heavy hitters prepared to destroy my Dungeon Core.

I did NOT base my decision off of the thought of Exotic Women Adventurers somehow disappearing into my Dungeon. It didn't even cross my mind.

My next choice was rather easy for me. I decided to split my Dungeon into two disproportionate parts. One would be my False Dungeon that Adventurers could brave for Loot and Levels. The other far larger piece of my Domain would be the Beating Heart of my Expanding Underground Kingdom.

My first action was to seperate my Gateway Chamber in two. I created a new Mega Cavern below the rest of my Dungeon and relocated the passageways from the surface to it. I decided to get a bit primal with my Dungeon setup. I wasn't sure how intelligent most Dungeons were but I had the sense that they came in many shapes and forms. I widened and streached the earth of my upper passageway till it resembled a chasm running into the ground. It cut through the cliff face on the surface next to the abandoned Dwarven Town. I placed a new doorway of False but similar Dwarven Construction large enough to block the Entranceway to the Chasm. It made the setup look like the town had once protected the Underground Entrance. I didn't leave the doorway wide open. I made it seem like something had opened one of the two massive double doors partway before it became stuck. It created a bit of false drama and made it easier for me to close my Doors quickly if I needed to.

I diverted enough water from the sizable lake above to create a new river that ran through tight underground channels to meet up with my Chasm. I littered My Chasm with boulders and uneven terrain designed to make travel difficult but not impossible. I built a Dwarven Roadway through the harsh terrain but I made it look half destroyed by the river and what road there was could be easily ambushed. It was made all the more challenging when I relocated a good amount of trees and other greenery from the Forest outside to make the place even more dangerous. It became a Rocky Twisting Forest with occasional meadows between boulders with thigh high grass. The sides of the Chasm itself was riddled with caves, crevices and occasional Dwarven Mining Tunnels that were dead ends, connected to each other or led to hidden caves. A great environment for Beasts and Draconic Monsters to prowl.

Luckily for the Adventurers it was all sparsely lit up by crystals in the walls exuding a soft white light. The placement of the light giving crystals was something I could influence to a degree but not their existence. This was another odd quirk of the Dungeon **** upon me by THE SYSTEM. 90% of all crystals found in my Domain were infused with raw mana and turned into crystals that provided light. I could change the colors of the light but I couldn't stop THE SYSTEM from placing the crystals in areas with no light. I could tweak the placement of a crystal to change the lighting of an area but I couldn't remove it entirely. I could even block the light somewhat. But again, not entirely. And once placed those crystals became as indestructible as the rest of my Dungeon. They could not be harvested by Adventurers.

This wide and dangerous Verdant Chasm led down to my new Mega Cavern. I decided to make it so big because I wanted people to believe that this was the heart of my Dungeon. Why would anyone search for something they wouldn't even think to look for. After all, I was a Dungeon. Just not only a Dungeon. Nobody but the Gods knew that. And I don't think they wanted to sour their relationships with me. They all wanted to convince me to turn solely to their own causes.

My Mega Cavern was a wide open space reminiscent of the Grand Canyon. My Undergroud ravine had steeper cliff faces than it's Earth cousin but in general the look was very similar. There were Dwarven Roads carved along the cliffs that made travel easier but they all followed the path of the deep rushing river at the base of the canyon. I made travel overland impossible. Walls of sheer rock rose to the shadowed ceiling. Delvers would be **** to follow the winding Canyon next to the river. There was little vegetation in my Rocky Ravine. Only down by the riverbank did high grasses grow and sparse trees break up the desolation of the landscape.

I placed several fake Dwarven mining outposts with loot of a dubious quality. If the Delvers chose to take that loot then they would mostly be hauling chunks of rock. Sure, I did place Silver veins in the rocks but I made those stones look more expensive than they were. By doing this I would maximize the chances of Adventurers leaving quickly with loot that would weigh them down but cost me a minimum amount of my wealth. The Delvers would still profit just not nearly as much as if they had collected an equal weight in silver trinkets or coinage. Doing this might even help spread word of my existence. Raw Silver would require expertise to extract from the rock. Experts who would probably pay for information regarding the source of Raw Sliver. Or would demand to know what legal rights the sellers had to their Silver Ore. The group might be required to explain the source of their wealth. And either way this would precipitate more visits to my Dungeon increasing the likelihood of others finding me to Delve My Dungeon.

I scattered my Dungeon Creatures about placing them where I thought they might be best utilized. Then at the end of the long Canyon I built a Large Dwarven Fortress City in a similar Ruined state to my real town on the surface. This was where I would plant a Fake Boss Monster with a decent haul of loot for Adventurers to claim if they were bold enough to try. Nearby I would place a False Dungeon Core for anyone who would dare to try destroying it. If anyone tried to destroy the "Core of My Dungeon" I would show them no mercy. I would open the hidden passageways to my True Dungeon and ensure their destruction.

The effort of expanding my Dungeon wasn't hard on me but it was time intensive and it took me most of the Night. My Harem would give birth in a few hours and I was looking forward to seeing my new Children. How many would be born this time? What Magical Aspects might they receive? Soon. I would know soon. Until then it was time to check in with my Second Hive. I had plans for my brand new Arachne Army.

My Three Arachne Queens had grown up fast. They were even more monsterous in size than my Ant Daughters. They were Giants among all of SpiderKind and Dominated their new Hive with their presence. Unlike my Army Ant Queens my Arachne Daughters could take care of their own egg laying and had produced just over a thousand Eggs in 11 different clutches. Each clutch consisted of around a hundred eggs. And every hour or so a new clutch would hatch and my Queens would lay a new batch of eggs.

Between the Dead Army Ants I've provided and the ever increasing supply of Honeydew there was no shortage of food for my new Army.

An Army that currently only consisted of 106 mature Arachne. Like their mothers they were pale ghostly white in color and had humanoid torsos like a Centur. It was rather strange but there was only 1 Female in the entire clutch. When I examined the other immature clutches of spiderlings I saw a similar pattern. Each group of about 100 only had 1 Female. Maybe this was a matriarchal thing. Each of those Female Arachne were larger than the males and given the size of their mothers it was possible that the Mature Female was still growing. All the males deferred to her leadership and even seemed to devote their resources to her above themselves. As I watched they occasionally produced a ball of their DiamondWire Threads. The males gave their special silk to their leader. The Arachne Female would take the Threads. Then with the chitinous tips of her human fingers she wove those razor sharp Threads into a slowly forming weapon. It looked like an extreamly long and slender whip about the thickness of a string of twine.

Kinky. In a bloody, deadly way. Ok.... Not kinky at all. That whip had no place in any bedroom. I was sure that it would cut through flesh easier than most swords and probably hold up well against any blade trying to cut it. In fact. It was DiamondWire. Who knew what it could do. DiamondWire might be capable of cutting metal. Guess I was going to find out. How the Arachne knew how to craft a weapon like that was totally my doing. Hours ago, when I noticed my Arachne Queens had begun to produce their DiamondWire Threads I gave my daughters some ideas on what they could craft. The whole affair had gone through a Kobold messenger but the results I saw now impressed me.

I suggested my Triplett Queens try a number of ideas to equip their children. Such as blowdarts, caltrops, tripwires, whips, needle swords, needle knives, needle javelins, throwing needles and possibly DimondWire Armor if they could make that work. I was glad to see a number of my ideas had proven to be possible. My Queens had informed me that they could produce a special hardening enzyme to make their DiamondWire stay in one shape. That was great news.

Even so that didn't explain how they had succeeded in crafting Armor. I knew my Arachne could use their chitin to protect themselves against the overly dangerous DiamondWire but I still hadn't expected them to figure out how to make DiamondWire Armor work.

The whip was only the last of the DiamondWire equipment under development. All of the young Arachne Soldiers wore thin skintight DiamondWire Armor that covered every inch of their humanoid skin except for the chitin at the tips of their fingers. They wore DiamondWire Face masks that looked both scary and beautiful. When I asked them how they had managed to produce safe Armor that wouldn't cut their **** skin my Arachne told me that they found Honeydew to be the solution. That was interesting news. Apparently wax was an integral part to the creation of Honeydew by Aphids. My Arachne had discovered this and then collected enough to coat their Armor in the material. Once hardened the wax was closer to plastic in hardness. That made Armor made of razor sharp strands of material a crazy reality.

I was impressed by the ingenuity of my Arachne Army. Even more so when I examined the rest of their equipment. They had really taken my suggestions to heart and decided what worked best for them. They had forgone the use of larger weapons such as the swords and javelins I'd suggested in favor of an overabundance of smaller gear. Their DiamondWire Armor was designed with many built in multi layer banodoliers holding hundreds maybe even thousands of DiamondWire heavy throwing needles. This seemed to be their weapon of choice given how many projectiles they carried. I watched some of the young spiderlings at practice in one corner and could easily see why. Even their trainees were very adept with the needles. The Arachne were very accurate and the DiamondWire needles were sharp enough to penetrate metal. That was. If my estimate of how deeply they were penetrating the Stone Armor of those dead Army Ants was correct. I wondered if the Arachne had thought to poison those needles yet? My Arachne were poisonous but not leathaly so. Their venom was a strong paralytic that could temporarily paralyze an enemy with a large enough dose. At the very least the poison would slow or disable their foes. Add it to ranged weapons like their needles and that would be devastating when it happens.

The next weapon carried by every Arachne were loops of rolled up DiamondWire Threads with a powerful spike affixed to both ends. It was easy to extrapolate that they would make extreamly deadly tripwires with those. Each tripwire was several threads wound into a cable for increased strength and survivability. At least for the wire. Not so survivable for the guy who runs into the wire.

The last weapon shared amongst them was stored in a secure pouch. Caltrops. They had designed DimondWire Caltrops. About the size of metal Caltrops I couldn't help but wince at the thought of stepping on one or more of these devices. These things would wreck anyones day. I'd even bet that a Minotaur would crash to the ground as his powerful hooves were diced to shreds. At least they would be used for my team. I would absolutely hate for my enemies to deploy these against me on a battlefield.

Hit and run tactics to place DiamondWire Traps and an arsenal of replenishable throwing weapons to kill or keep the enemy pinned down. I had a veritable Ninja Army at my fingertips. That wasn't originally what I had in mind with the Arachne but perhaps it was better this way.

I suggested to my Arachne to make whips into standardized equipment. In my opinion they needed at least one melee weapon to protect themselves. Very shortly they would see firsthand why that might be important. It was time for the Wargames.

After thinking about how I would increase the Levels and Battle Experience of my Armies I came to the conclusion that all I had to do was let my Armies fight each other.

As long as they obeyed certain rules my forces would never diminish in usefulness to me. They would be able to fight each other and become more competent at their professions.

My rules were as follows. Attacking each other's Hive is Off Limits. Fighting was only allowed in the designated areas. That was why I created a warren of connecting tunnels and caves between my Hives.

My next rule was. Wounded soldiers were not to be killed unless they continued to fight back. This rule would keep more of my Soldiers alive but mostly it was so that I would have a steady stream of wounded warriors to power level my Priest Class. All wounded were to be collected by the winning side and delivered to a designed area to be brought to me for healing.

Always retreat when your forces reach 50% casualties. When a signal was given the opposing side was to allow any **** that had sustained 50% casualties(dead and or wounded combined) to retreat. This rule was to prevent either side from completely annihilating each other. Then my Army could learn from it's mistake and improve their War Doctrine.

The last rule stipulated that there was a mandatory Cease Fire every day for a few hours in which time all the Fallen Soldiers and their gear would be collected.

This system would work well enough I figured. They both knew how many warriors they could spare and all my Little Queens had assured me that they would stop fighting if they were worried about becoming combat ineffective. Neither Hive wanted to suffer so badly as to lose their effectiveness to me. They wanted to make our Family stronger as a whole. And neither of the Sister Hives would ever hold grudges against each other over these Wargames.

My Therionic nature was a blessing in bonding my children together in a pack mentality. Control over my children was my ultimate reason for choosing the Hybrid Cheat from the Gods. In becoming a Hybrid I could become half Therionic and make my children obey me and work well together no matter what monsters my children might be.

I was certainly tempted by the Pro Gamer HUD Cheat. Really I was. But I decided that greater strength lay in utilizing my children to the fullest. And no amount of extra EXP would give me total control over my progeny. As it was, my offspring were willing to die for me by the tens of thousands and I was only getting started.

Our First hour of the Wargames went about as well as I might have expected. 106 inexperienced Arachne vs a Horde of Army Ants 88 thousand strong. It was ridiculous in the ****. However while the Arachne were driven back relentlessly by tunnels flooding with their opponents they only suffered 27 casualties. And 8 of those Arachne had been treated for wounds and returned to their Hive. On the other hand the Arachne had killed a staggering 986 Army Ants and wounded 784 additional soldiers. I really received some good experience for healing that many wounded soldiers.

The Arachne had been driven entirely back to their Hive. But already their numbers had doubled as the next Clutch matured. The Arachne had failed to hold back the tide of Army Ants but they had learned quite a bit from their mad dash retreat. The first major thing they learned was that they were capable of far faster movement than the Army Ants. They had time and again slipped away from danger due to their speed advantage. Then they learned of the effectiveness of their magical aspect. Their DiamondWire Equipment was nearly impossible to break. It cut through Stone Armor easily when the Army Ants charged straight into their weapons. The majority of Ant deaths could be attributed to the Tripwires. Once placed they did not detatch from walls easily and they tore through anything that pressed against them. The Army Ant Horde had even stopped using a corridor that had so many Tripwires that the body's of their dead had filled the passageway making it unusable. The Arachne had still retreated due to being swarmed from other tunnels but the point had been made. If the Arachne could stop the Army Ant advance once, then they could do it again.

The carnage was as I expected. It was bloody as hell but served a major purpose. Levels and EXP for the Survivors. Training in real-time combat conditions. These benefits were worth the losses taken. Already both of my two Hives were ploting and preparing for their next engagement.

But I had other matters to attend to. My next batch of children was being born.