The uninitiated may not understand why a complete group of keelish is called a swarm, but there's no other word for it. A small group, a pack, may range up to 50 individuals, but that isn't anywhere near the end of a swarm. A true swarm, if left to fester, can number up to 1000 adults. Now, not every one of these adults are battle-ready, or even battle capable, but they're all bodies, and they'll keep pushing you more and more until you're buried. To make matters worse, they make multiple exits from the main den, so there's always the chance that you missed a back door, and when the going gets tough, the alphas will run off to create a new colony. That's why, whenever a new den is found, any sane person takes the necessary steps to eradicate as many as they can. It's never over in just one hunt though. It takes months of concentrated eradication attempts before you can smoke them out, and that's usually literally.

Fortunately for humanity, the leadership of a swarm is generally unconcerned with the casualties of their lessers, so the exterminators can usually put down all but the main body of adult keelish before the more powerful, swarm alphas get involved. At that point, when the swarm is beginning to feel the heat, the extermination gets dangerous and starts to become basically a war, with trenches dug and constant watches posted. The top dogs of the swarm are generally powerful, and their subordinates become more powerful when the leaders are present. Must be the influence of some magical organ, now that I've been notified by the [System].

The point is, there are tons of keelish anywhere they get set up, and my new home was no exception. I guess because I was so used to being diurnal, I didn't think about the natural advantages that my new race had over my old, such as vision that is not inhibited by a lack of light. In retrospect, I really should have thought of that earlier, given that I'm constantly in the dark, but... here we were. There were ever more frequent den entrances as we descended, and I could hear rasping, bassy, sweet and angry voices as we continued onwards.

I was amazed to see how deep this went--it had been well over 50m, and showed no signs of stopping. As I walked, lost in thought, a voice interrupted.

"Ehhhh. That gon' be 'nother one of yer 'killers' Rulac? Don't look like one t' me." A large female had poked her head out of a nearby den and began speaking to my guide.

"'Ello there beautiful. This one here's a real killer. Just killed a baby alpha, all by himself, all ritual combat-like. Told 'im I'd introduce him to Redael if he won the duel, and, well, he's still alive so..." Rulac chuckled at his own comment. "Anyways, you good for a romp after I drop the kid off? It's been a while?"

The female smiled, coyly. Ugh, she reminded me of Shemira--it sent shivers down my spine, thinking about these two monsters copulating. "Well, I been bored since th' 'quiet' order came out..."

Rulac guffawed, walked up, and bodily pressed the female to the wall and breathed heavily down her neck. Ugh. I think he could feel my revulsion radiating, since he backed off and called, "See you soon!" before continuing to lead me ever deeper.

"Ain't nothing to be ashamed of little guy. It's how you came to be. Who knows, you might even be mine!" Didn't love that idea. Suddenly a thought occurred to Rulac.

"What's your name?"

"Ashlani."

"Righty ho, Ash!"

I felt my scales subconsciously stiffen as I felt the familiar nickname crawl down my neck. I needed to keep my cool, but I REALLY was not ok with being called that by this horny idiot. He chuckled at my obvious distaste.

"If you're weak, you can't complain." His toothy maw came uncomfortably close to my face, but I managed to keep my cool. "Get strong and make me stop, little Ash." I stiffened up again. "Awww lighten up. I like you, no reason to stress so much. Just lay one of those females and you'll loosen right up." No, no, no no no nonononono, a million times no. The thought of Took or Treel... I had to hold back my gags.

Fortunately, before I was further tormented by the stupid comments of Rulac or my own imagination, he stopped. "Listen, Redael's a good leader. But he's stiff man. Shut up, cause if you pull this surly shit you pull with me with him, you're only leaving as shit. Aiight?" I nodded, surprised by the genuine severity and... concern? from this beta, and, for the first time, saw Rulac as something more than just a weird reptile. We then walked the final 15m in complete silence, only the crunching of our claws in the loose rock sounding out. We stopped again, this time in front of a large cavern mouth and Rulac spoke up.

"Ay, Redael, that promising killer's here. Name's Ashlani. Want him to wait or come on in?"

A... dare I say it, sonorous, voice came from within the cave.

"Come on in. Rulac, go bed that wench already, I can smell her on you from here." Rulac grinned, winked at me, and jogged back up from whence we came. I, for my part, collected myself and stepped forward.

By all measures, Rulac was more intimidating than the keelish in the room. This one was much shorter than Rulac's 1.7m, standing maybe 1.4m tall. Their head was narrow, but wicked fangs hung out, and were constantly wet. What did catch my attention, however, was his hands.

These hands had protruding nails, almost appearing to be small daggers, and, under my observing eye, they shot out to about 30cm in length. This looks to be my future evolution, a Bloodletter Keelish alpha.

Redael smiled at me, and spoke. "Let's talk, Ashlani."