Breaching the Hive

Riverbend's squadron is making good time, and the goblins are right behind them. Captain Roger turns to shout at his troops. "Turtle formation!" Now that we're nearly there, it's more important to keep as many men alive as possible. The soldiers begin huddling together. Those with shields raise them, and the relatively few archers line up behind the front row of shield-bearers. The captain himself falls in with the front row, while even more soldiers fall in behind them and raise their shields up to the sky. "Take your time, men. It's better to be cautious in times like these..."

You sidestep another volley of stingers, taking the opportunity to stab at another hornet that arrived in the room. I know I'm just supposed to be 'stalling' her, but this is ridiculous! "Come on, Em, that all you got?"

Her antennae twitch as her face scrunches up in anger. "You want to see what I've 'got'!?" Within seconds, the 'windows' in the room begin to darken, as hornets hug the outside of them and block the sunlight. As they finish, no light enters the room, and you're surrounded by darkness. "Heh, I guess you won't be seeing anything."

You feel impacts against your chest, luckily not hitting you thanks to Blobby. Taking a few steps to the side, you adopt a defensive stance, with your dark blade in front of you. A few seconds later, another volley hits you, one hitting your blade, one your arm, and another your leg. Searing pain courses through you as you rush forth, in the direction the stingers came from. Thrusting forward, you hit nothing before nearly running into a wall. There's enough light to see where the windows - and by extension the walls - are, just by the tiniest of gaps left by the hornets, but you can't see anything else in the room.

Turning around, you feel the pain of another stinger, the other two hitting the wall behind you. As you wait for another volley, you take a soft step to the side, holding your blade in front of you once more. As you listen for where the Empress could be, you hear the faintest whiff of air immediately before three more piercing sensations fill your legs. She must be using pheromones to aim! Thinking fast, you take a flare - you think it's the red one, but you could be wrong - and light it, before dropping it in front of you. It doesn't provide much light at all, but it does stink up the area around you with that smoky smell. No need to worry what the flares mean right now. Not like anyone's gonna see it. You cough, putting some distance between you and the flare. Have fun spotting me now!

"We're almost there! Hornets, seven o'clock!" Camilla fires off another order as the next wave flies in. Even when we're this close, the hornets are more worried about the Recuan troops than a small group like us. As the flying hornets once more avoid the piercing spears, the Riverbend militia reach the point where the hornets' grounded guards begin to approach. "Face forward! Frontal ****!"

There aren't many of the ground hornets, but instead of lances, their heads have odd protrusions, almost like a beetle. Using those, the hornets push into the shieldmen, knocking several to the side before the spearmen attempt to pierce through the head's carapace. The sub-optimal spears deflect easily, and the beetle-hornets take the opportunity to shove the group even further apart. The lancer hornets are moments away as they make another pass, and Camilla jumps off of one of the beetle hornets' heads to leap up and swing her sword. The captain strikes one of the lancers, and seems to scare away the rest, but as she lands one of the beetle hornets shoves her to the ground.

Camilla raises her sword in defense as the hornet is about to slam her into the dirt, but before it can, its head explodes, an arrow piercing through it an into the dirt nearby. The captain looks to where the arrow came from, mentally thanking the goblin she sees riding atop a slowly approaching ogre. Pushing herself up into the air and into a standing position, the brunette returns to the fray, striking down the nearest hornet before it can do to Mark what it nearly did to her.

"Into the hive! We'll be safer inside!" The captain lights her green flare and tosses it before rushing further forward, cutting through another beetle hornet pinning down another of her men.

Alright, Camilla's okay... Eve takes a deep breath. "Keep going! We're almost there!" The tyrant goblin lines up another shot, taking care to conserve as much mana as she can. "The grounded hornets have armored heads! Hit the abdomen and thorax instead!"

Torch yells from Og's other shoulder as she burns a lancer hornet closing in. "Don't let up! Hornets are no good alive, so kill them all!"

Eve nods to her current 'co-captain', as their chief had put it. Almost there. With Camilla right in front of us, and the army moving slowly, we're going to be heading down. All according to plan, right? She glances up, to the top of the hive, and spots a small swarm seemingly resting. That doesn't look according to plan... Does Chief have night vision? Not knowing the answer, she raises her bow, enhances the arrow with her mana, and fires upward.

"Clever, clever. Is this why you wanted to get so close to me? Learn my strengths, my weaknesses?" The Empress teases.

You turn your blade to where the voice seems to come from. "Something like that. Our gods also wanted me to say hello."

"'Our' gods? There is no one above me!" You hear a buzzing sound, and before you know it, you hear a clang against your blade, knocking it to the side before you feel a slash against your chest, thankfully dulled by Blobby's presence. You recover quick as you can and swing back, only to find nothing but air. "Smell isn't the only way for me to find you, you know. You'd be surprised how many queens I've fought that were so easily overpowered by taking away their pheromones." She giggles, before coughing.

"Well, you can't fault me for trying, right?" You cough, feeling the smoke continue to fill the room.

"I have to admit, your methods are quite...different from mine..." The hornet coughs again, seemingly from not too far in front of you. Suddenly, the window near you bursts open, light filling the room, revealing the Empress herself preparing another swipe at you through the red smoke. Taking the opportunity as she momentarily recoils from the light, you strike hard, delivering a gash across her stomach. She rushes backward, nursing the wound with her free hand. "Gah! You treasonous bastard!"

"All's fair in love and war." You rush her, swinging again, only to have your weapon quickly parried.

"You won't get the best of me so easily!" Her antennae twitch, and the room begins to darken again.

"And you won't keep the lights out that easily!" You launch a dark bolt into the window. However, as you do, the Empress thrusts toward you. You're barely able to duck to the side enough for her to miss your heart and hit your arm, instead. Reacting quickly, you cast recompense, even more dark energy surging forth, but this time into the womanly hornet in front of you.

She's knocked back a bit, but seems to recover quickly from the burst of magic and begins striking again. "You are but one man. You can't stand against a goddess and her followers!" With that, her antennae twitch. As you glance to the entrance, more hornets begin marching in, single file.

"Give it a break, already! Didn't you already try to test me on how many of these minions I could kill?" You stab into the nearest one as you taunt her, keeping an eye on the Empress to try to dodge her stinger attack. Sure enough, it comes, and you take the chance to push yourself out of the way, so the stingers pierce into one of the regular hornet's head. "Though, it's nice that you're helping me out, this time."

Her face scrunches up in anger as darkness overtakes the room once more. Alright, Kara. I tried to give you as much rest as I could, but now I don't have much option...

Taking a quick survey of the battlefield, Camilla retreats inside the hole. "Kris, you're staying here. If someone comes to you, heal them. Mark, Jacob, Peter, you stay down here to protect her. Once I lead the others up, she's our only healer on the ground."

Arsorisa's priest nods as she spits and sputters, clearly winded from the dash across the clearing. "Under...ah...stood."

The captain takes the blue flare from her side and lights it before tossing it outside. "I already discussed this with Captain Roger, too. They have priests, but I doubt they'll be willing to heal the goblins." She pauses, looking to Kris with worry. "Are you sure you'll be able to heal them?"

The elf hesitates and gulps, but nods. "Eve help me."

"Good. The rest of you, follow me up. I know Dusk seems strong, but there's only so long he can last in a two-on-one fight." She hands a torch to Aaron, who begins marching right behind her up into the tunnels.

It's a lot harder to climb up the hive than dig down, as Camilla finds out.

You step back, feeling your wings against the wall. The flare's smoke continues to fill the dark room, despite the momentary burst of fresh air. Taking a moment to focus, you draw on the lingering 'threads', as Miki had put it, connecting you to Camilla and Kara. The former, you can feel nearby. She must have already entered the hive. The latter, you can feel is much further away, likely (no, hopefully) still back in town. Strangely enough, there seem to be...more threads? And they're nearby, too... You shrug the thought. Not the time, right now. Tugging on Kara's thread, you feel it shorten rapidly. Within moments, you feel the kitsune's presence within you, causing an initial shiver.

It's the first time you've done this, and it feels a bit odd. Rather than feeling like you're being casually invited into a friend's house, it's like you've invited them to your own, except you're also running a three-legged race the whole time with someone who decided to ragdoll the whole way. The extra strain seems to be there, but only in your mind.

As you're recovering from the sudden jolt, you feel pressure in the slimy chestplate that is Blobby. Looking up, you hear the Empress muse. "Your scent changed..."

"Good to know." You take a breath in the smoky air. Time to change the game... You cup your hands together and blow into them, similar to if you were trying to make a bird call. However, instead of sound, a glowing, forest green, translucent butterfly appears in your grasp, surrounded by faint, spectral flame. Your mind goes back to Miki's explanation of the spell earlier today.

"Foxfire. I'm unsure if it will be of use during your fight, with how much power Kara will be able to lend you, but it is an essential tool in every kitsune's arsenal, even when they are young, like my children."

You release the butterfly, allowing it to flutter about. It's glow radiates off the smoke in the room, making it seem brighter than it would normally. "I think you'll like my little friend here."

The Empress, likely aware of losing her already diminishing advantage, shoots one of her stingers at the glowing bug, only to have the projectile fly straight through.

"It's intangible, unless you would choose otherwise, and will glow a faint green."

The butterfly floats along, searching for its target. "What, afraid of a fair fight?" You launch a light bolt to where the stinger came from, and while you know you'll miss, you momentarily brighten the room enough to help guide the butterfly to the Empress, standing at the foot of her rocky bed. "You too scared you'll lose?" Taunting again, you use your wings to push yourself forward, lunging at the air left behind when the hornet moves. Turning around, you faintly spot her at the edge of the butterfly's glow, and launch another light bolt behind her. Stay still, and get hit by the foxfire, or move back, into my crosshairs... She chooses the former, likely reacting instinctively to the blast. As the butterfly contacts the Empress, it sticks in place against her arm.

"Again, I am unsure how effective it will be at this stage, but given our lineage, the foxfire can attach itself to someone. Then, you can channel a bit of magic through that individual. As a nibi, the most Kara would be able to do after that is make her illusions a tad more or less effective against them. Helpful when you have allies you don't want to trick."

Root-like tendrils spread from the butterfly, and you can now see a very faint green outline to the Empress' widening eyes. "What have you done to me!?" She tries to pulls off the butterfly, only to scratch at her own skin.

"Only made the fight fair. You can smell me, and I can see you." A smirk crosses your face. You can almost hear Kara asking, "What would you and Cammy do without me?" You raise your hand again, now with a clear target, and launch a dark bolt at the Empress. For the second time this fight, your attack properly hits, and you can see enough of her clutching her gut to know that.

"You will regret this betrayal..." She launches forward, her glowing arm raising her sword to you. As she does, light begins to flood the room once more - this time from behind her - blinding you enough that she gets a good swing into your sword arm.

"Fuck!" You step back, raising your dark blade to defend while simultaneously healing the deep gash. The only reason my arm's still here is how much I've been taunting her... "Finally fighting me head on, huh?"

"You've left me **** but to grace you as such. Just remember: you asked for this."

A/N: Hey guys! Sorry for the unannounced break over Christmas. Turns out it's really annoying and difficult to write a chapter on a porn site on your phone when you have to deal with family watching over your shoulder. Anyway, to make it up to you guys, and hopefully finish off this battle and arc before the new year, I'll be putting up a bonus chapter on Saturday. Happy Holidays, everyone!