Regina cursed her luck as she looked around. The castle buzzed like a kicked beehive, but the activity had a frantic edge. The gate was half hanging off its hinges, and already the first few monsters had forced their way inside. Soldiers and knights were swarming to the gate to hold it, but the walls were being pressed too, and a wyvern still lurked at the top of the keep, sending broken tiles and pieces of stone showering down.

She didn’t see Tim and Tia, so Regina closed her eyes for a moment to check on them. She dove into Tim’s mind right away. It took her a second to process the view of the castle wall and buildings she got and extrapolate his position.

When she did, she opened her eyes again and glanced at the two drones with her. “Let’s go.”

Max stuck close to her as she started running, his blade-arm held at the ready. Mia trailed a step behind her. Regina wove her way through a group of agitated people without armor, then rushed down the side of another building.

Tia almost crashed into her as she and Tim rushed towards them. Regina smiled at them and squeezed the Worker’s shoulder for a moment before she started walking again. She felt like they needed to keep moving. Seamlessly, Tim and Max fell into guard positions at either side.

The battle had only gotten worse in the short time she’d been distracted. “Fuck,” Regina muttered, glancing at the circling monsters in the sky. Some of them looked like oversized birds of prey, but there were also the wyverns and what looked like a flying serpent as well as a twister of condensed wind that had to be some kind of elemental.

Some of the soldiers she’d looked at had been at her level, but most seemed to be higher. She didn’t think there was much her little hive could do here. And she didn’t particularly feel like throwing her life away trying to save the castle, anyway. She just wanted to get out.

“Any ideas?” she asked her drones. “I’m not sure how we can make it out of here.”

They shared a look. Then Max said, “The Workers’ Ability.”

“Good idea.” Regina couldn’t help but smile briefly. She’d almost forgotten about that. “I don’t suppose you can dig through the castle wall, Mia, Tia?”

Tia shook her head. “No, my Queen, that would take much too long.”

That figures. “If there’s a back door, we could dig under it,” Regina said. “Let’s go and look, at least.”

She glanced at the gate as they went. It was just about splintered in half now, with more and more monsters trying to force their way through and sometimes succeeding. A few had gotten past the soldiers at the gate, probably either flying or climbing the wall at a spot that was less guarded. There would be no escape that way, in any case. And even if they left the castle, they’d still have to contend with the monsters outside.

“Why are they trying to get in so badly?” Max asked.

“No idea,” Regina said.

“There’s the center and power source for the nearby enchantments of that defensive line here,” Tim answered. “A soldier I talked to said so, at least. The concentrated mana attracts monsters or something.”

Regina shook her head. She’d sensed that the castle was built directly in the middle of that line.

Right at that moment, the wyvern atop the tower moved. She reflexively ducked and covered her head as dust rained down, sprinkled with heavier stuff. Something creaked and cracked as the shadow of the wyvern moved from the keep and landed with a thump on the roof of another building. Soldiers started to pepper it with arrows, and it roared, making the nearest ones clutch their ears.

She looked up just in time to see a Flametongue Wolf pouncing at them, a tongue of fire shooting out towards Tim. The Warrior ducked and it crashed into the side of the house beside them, but didn’t manage to catch anything on fire. Max jumped at the monster and Tia followed, swinging her work-limb at its snout like a hammer.

It yowled and retreated, only to run right into Regina’s Magic Missile. She hit it in the eye, making the monster visibly shudder. Then Max’s blade ended any threat it posed.

It wasn’t the only monster that had made its way inside the walls, and she could tell that their number would only increase. They needed to get out as soon as possible, or they’d be overrun along with the castle defenders. Maybe they could take shelter in that village, some defensible structures had to be better than nothing.

The group kept walking, moving along the wall. Regina resisted the temptation to turn to look at every roar and crash she heard.

They only got a few meters before they were attacked by the next monster. This one jumped out of the shadows at them. Regina barely ducked away in time. Max’s blade limb jumped out and caught the monster, some kind of dark lizard-looking thing, in the gut. It screeched, then Tim caught it in the snout with another blow.

Mia and Tia stepped up and swung at it as well, while Regina exhaled and looked around. What she saw made her swallow hard. There was a breach in the wall, not all that far from them. It looked like half of the battlement was missing, and monsters were climbing over the wall. Human defenders were frantically trying to get there to close the breach, but they were being harried by other monsters and the gate wasn’t faring any better. Already, Regina could see and smell quite a few bodies lying on the ground that wouldn’t be standing up again.

“Screw it,” she said, “Let’s get onto the wall.”

There was a staircase at a corner tower not far from them. Soldiers were clogging it, but at least it was intact and they still moved. Regina hurried in that direction, taking a moment to check that all of her drones kept up with her.

Max stopped beside the prone figure of a fallen soldier for a moment. The guy had what looked like half his chest caved in beneath his chainmail, but Regina didn’t feel much looking at it. She shoved that observation to the back of her mind for later. At the moment, she couldn’t afford to be distracted. Max took the sword lying beside the dead soldier and passed it to Tim before grabbing the ax that had fallen a few meters further.

Regina nodded and kept moving at a faster pace. When they had the opportunity, they should look for more actual weapons, but they couldn’t afford to get bogged down.

Getting up the staircase was easier than expected. She squeezed herself past a human man and hurried up the stairs. It looked like reinforcements were slowing down, not a good sign. She glanced around, trying to ignore the noise of the battle coming from everywhere, then hurried along the walkway to the left, away from the spot where the fighting was fiercest.

“My Queen, let me go first.” Max pushed himself past her and took the lead.

Another monster jumped at him before they could take more than a few steps. Max bashed it against the wall, and Regina fired a Magic Missile into its face point-blank. The monster, some kind of harpy-looking biped with scraggly feathers, screeched and shuffled backwards a meter. Then Tim and Max grabbed it and heaved it over the wall before Regina could even launch another attack.

They made their way along the wall, occasionally dodging humans and pushing off or cutting down monsters, until they reached a spot that Regina judged the best they could get. They were almost directly opposite the largest breach, and there weren’t as many monsters around here. A glance down the wall showed that the river looked clear and the riverbank, which was only a few meters away in this spot, remained empty.

“I’ll go first.” Tia grabbed one of the vines they’d managed to take along and passed it to Max. Tim grabbed on, too. Then she threw the rest of the rope over the wall and followed it up.

Belatedly, Regina grabbed onto the rope as well. Tia started climbing right away, but her weight wasn’t too much for them, especially split between three people. Regina knew the vine rope wasn’t large enough to reach the bottom, and after what felt like a very short time, it slackened as Tia let go.

“You go next,” she told Mia, “then I’ll follow.”

Mia hesitated for a moment, before she grabbed the edge of the wall and pulled herself on top of it. Regina looked around, watching a bird monster that looked like it was coming too close, then clenched her jaw as Mia began climbing.

Quickly, the rope was free again and it was her turn. Regina took a deep breath, but started moving right away. She couldn’t put the boys at more risk.

Climbing was awkward with her claws, but she managed. There were some small clefts in the stonework where she could put her feet. Regina resisted the urge to glance down more than once and just swung her legs over the wall and let herself drop, catching herself with the rope. She climbed down until she reached the end of the rope, then let herself dangle from it, pushing off with her right foot as she let go.

For a moment, she fell, the wind whistling past her, before cold water closed around her. Regina kicked her feet and struggled until she broke the surface, gasping more from the shock than the need to breathe. She started swimming for shore. Luckily, her Endurance and Strength were more than enough to contest with the rushing water.

Something warm brushed past her right leg and Regina instinctively jerked it away. She redoubled her efforts, her pulse pounding even faster. But despite what she half-expected, she managed to reach the river’s shore without encountering any aquatic monsters.

Regina stumbled out of the water, taking a deep breath and looking around. Mia and Tia were waiting not far off. When she turned to look at the river, she saw Tim just behind her in the water. Max was climbing down the rope, presumably having tied it down somewhere.

She resisted the temptation to anxiously watch his progress and instead kept an eye out for monsters. She almost missed the slightly darker patch in the field just a few meters from her. But when she looked at it just a moment longer, the System gave her a notification.

Field Mimic — Level 7

Regina cursed and loosened a Magic Missile. The green field jerked, letting her see it as the monster it was. Its beady dark eyes were very easy to miss, and the knobs on its underside looked faintly ominous.

Mia pounced on it quickly, using her little blade to cut it and spill bright green blood. Then Tia joined in, hammering it with her work-limb. Regina grimaced and stomped its head, feeling something deform beneath her foot.

Tim joined them a moment later and when she looked around, Max was just staggering onto the shore.

“Thank fuck,” she said. “Alright, let’s go.”

The warriors straightened up and moved to guard positions, their metal weapons held firmly. When Regina started walking, they stayed in step with her.

From here, she could see that while there were a lot of monsters on the plains, they weren’t exactly blanketing it. It wasn’t immediately obvious, but she recognized a large-scale movement towards the castle. Mostly on its other side, which held the main gate. But the river curved here, so they were actually on the same shore of it as well.

“Smoke is coming from up ahead,” Tim said.

Regina followed his gaze, frowning. He was right. Sighing, she adjusted her course to head more directly for the village.

“Are you sure this is wise, my Queen?” Max asked hesitantly.

“We’re not going to survive long out in the open with the monster horde about,” she replied. “Let’s at least check it out. If it’s too dangerous, I’ll think of something else.”

The others didn’t say anything, but she knew they weren’t happy about her heading into danger. Too bad for them that we’re all in the middle of it already.