By the time the last group of reinforcements for Regina’s side arrived, they basically had no one left to fight. Anuis and the other people with her made short work of the remaining human fighters, though they did capture a few that they could interrogate later.

It helped that Regina still had some Winged Drones left. With her replenished mana, she conjured some gifts for them to give to any nearby enemies with express delivery. Not what I’m used to thinking of as delivery drones, but hey. At least they’re useful, even if no one would get it if I made that joke.

Regina smiled wider and shook her head. She knew she was coming off an ‘adrenaline high’, and had to steady her hands to make sure they weren’t trembling. She’d become too familiar with the tired and somehow exultant feeling of a battle won. It didn’t feel right to celebrate now, though. She had lost drones.

Regina quickly changed her focus to Zac and looked through his mind’s eyes. Ted hadn’t made it, and the Harvester was carrying his dead body, obviously trying hard to keep his composure.

He will get a proper funeral once we are back, Regina whispered to him. Please don’t blame yourself for anything that happened. If any of us is to blame, it’s me. I should have recalled all of you from the hive’s camp days ago.

You couldn’t have known this would happen, my Queen, Zac responded. And at least we won a big victory against these intruders. They lost far more than we did, I know Ted would take satisfaction in that.

I hope so. Get back to the others and rest, Zac. You’ve more than earned it.

Regina kept walking, but she couldn’t help her eyes darting to the occasional corpse in the underbrush. Or, more often, in some cleared spots. She could use her newly healed wings to fly, but she preferred to be walking right now.

It didn’t take long for her to reach Anuis and the others. She paused before she entered the clearing they were in, taking a closer look. Right then, a fast-moving figure came from the other direction and skidded to a stop. It took Regina a moment to realize that Janis had finally figured out Haste. Two Spells in one day. I’m sure mages back in Cernlia would have trouble believing her.

“Good, you’re safe,” Anuis said with a slight, relieved smile, looking at Regina. Regina knew she only saw that relief because the elf chose to show it, but she didn’t mind.

Janis’ smile seemed a bit more genuine, or at least brighter. “I’m glad you’re alright, Regina! But what was that? A new weapon you created?”

Regina shook her head, still walking closer. “No, not really. It’s a bit complicated.”

“Divine magic,” Anuis said quietly. “That mark you carry is not simply for show, it seems.”

Regina nodded slightly, but didn’t say anything. She didn’t really want to talk about it.

She had tried to find out more about this mark previously, though with nothing really to show for it. She’d even tried calling out to Alianais before. Now that it had worked, she still wanted to find out more.

It took a while for them to settle things after the fight. They had to take stock of the injured and dead, both their own and their enemies’. The Scouts got more work to do, trying to investigate if and how many of those had fled. Regina knew there were at least some. They would carry information on what they’d seen back, but it had been so chaotic that she wasn’t too concerned. At least about their enemies learning any new details. It was pretty clear that they had been watching them, or probably the village, before.

Another group of drones, led by Max, arrived later. Regina met them in another clearing, on her way back from checking on a few Swarm Drones she hadn’t felt comfortable moving. Max sped up when he saw her, then slowed down hesitantly as he came closer. Regina smiled and turned towards him, raising her arms, and they hugged. It was not entirely comfortable with the hard shells, but she didn’t care.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t be here to protect you, Regina,” Max said.

“Don’t be an idiot. I know you made yourself my bodyguard, but you can’t be there all the time.” Regina smiled and nodded at the others. Ben and most of their stronger drones had stayed behind, showing restraint she appreciated. Tim was already working with Anuis.

“Well, I’m here now, my Queen.”

“So you are,” Regina agreed. She tugged on her mandible and glanced around. They happened to be close to a particular spot she knew.

When they were almost finished and the others clearly thinking about going back to their base, or more likely the village, Regina hesitated. “I know they need me here,” she said. “But there’s something I need to see.”

Max nodded seriously. “Whatever you think best, my Queen.” He hadn’t gone more than two meters away from her, and didn’t seem inclined to start now.

Regina glanced at him, then turned and sighed. “Go tell the others to go without me,” she told the nearest sapient drone, Dan. “We’re going to catch up later.” Well, we’re probably not going to be fast enough to ‘catch up’ exactly, but close enough.

Dan nodded and hurried off. Regina turned and started striding purposefully to her target while Max fell into step with her.

But when she reached the small crack in the overgrown rocks that hid a cave opening, he hesitated. “My Queen, is it wise to go there? Delvers or Nerlians from the battle might have fled there.”

“What happened to ‘whatever you think best’?” She grumbled quietly. “I’ll take some War Drones along, Max, don’t worry.”

She let some of the drones from the group she gathered go first. They were a few of the highest-level Swarm Drones she had, though she didn’t want to take any that had actually reached Tier 2 already. These would at least serve as an early warning system, though. Not that she hoped to meet any hostiles down there - though she wouldn’t mind finding a few of her enemies who had gotten away - but there were also monsters down there, after all.

They descended in silence. Neither of them had brought a torch, but they didn’t really need one with their low-light vision. Regina looked around curiously. She’d seen the underground caverns several times, but this would be the first time she actually went down here and saw them in person.

There weren’t many surprises at first. It felt and looked pretty much the way she had expected, from what she’d gathered using her drones’ senses. Regina spared some of her focus to make sure the Swarm Drones with her were going the right way, spreading out a little, but not too much, and scouting their surroundings for them. A few times, they did happen upon monsters. Those either fled or started a fight. The two times that happened, Regina quickly got other nearby Swarm Drones involved and they wore their enemy down with numbers. One of their drones got heavily injured, though, and Regina stopped to heal it.

Her miraculously refilled mana was drying up fast, she noted. But that was fine. She still had about five hundred points left, which should be enough for a fight or some more healing, or both. Regina still tried to be cautious as they proceeded deeper into the caves. It took longer than she thought, although she probably should have known better. She paused twice to check on other drones outside, on their trip back and in the village, although she didn’t contact them.

Then, finally, they reached the big tunnel. Regina paused as they approached and slowly stepped further in, barely paying attention to the gravel-strewn slope leading down from the side tunnel they came from.

The mana down here was … interesting. Her mana senses still weren’t nearly as fine as they probably could be, but she had gotten better at perceiving it. She could even sense the faint traces of mana in the Cave Lights hanging on the ceiling. There was more to it than that, though. She couldn’t quite put her fingers on it, but something sent a trickle of electricity down her spine.

It wasn’t just the mana, though.

Regina walked forward, slowly, craning her head and taking in the view. It was at once alien and yet eerily familiar. She’d had the thought that they looked like subway tunnels before, and that impression was only reinforced now. She stepped towards a wall and ran her hand over it.

It felt like stone, and yet, there was something off about it. Regina frowned and walked forward, trailing her hand along it. The surface was very smooth, not something she imagined you could get with some pickaxes, and yet, it didn’t look like it was made out of stone building blocks, either.

Regina looked around and called one of her drones that was carrying an ax to her. It was a fancier model, which they must have looted from a human at some point, with a spike on one end. She focused and created a covering for it out of titanium, leaving it a very pointy spike. Then she swung the improvised pick against the wall.

It took a while and some elbow grease, but she didn’t care. A monster came to investigate the noise, but Max and the War Drones held it off. Regina was grateful for her Str stat, which gave her strength above that of a normal human.

When she stopped, she had a rough hole quite a few centimeters into the wall. “I think that’s it,” she said.

Max tilted his head. He’d waited quietly. “What do you mean? Is this about what the wall is made of?”

Regina nodded. “It looks like it’s really concrete. Or cement, or whatever. But definitely a modern building material, and not the kind you could create with medieval level technology or knowledge, either. This isn’t just some ancient original cement, it’s familiar. At least, I think so.”

Max frowned. “That seems odd.”

Regina snorted. She gave the drone back its weapon and started walking further down the tunnel, moving quicker now. “You could say that.”

This was just another piece of evidence that her supposition was correct, and this world had once seen at least one civilization with more advanced technology. The Precursors, presumably. She’d asked about them, of course, but hadn’t gotten much. Just vague mentions of a past golden age, like something straight out of mythology, and a lack of records. From what she could gather, especially given the history texts Tim and Bea had seen in Ariedel’s library, that was centuries ago, probably a millennium or more.

As Regina hurried further down the tunnel, ignoring any monsters which scurried off at her approach, she realized what was giving her a weird feeling about the mana in this place. It felt twisted, for lack of a better word. Not in the crazy, evil or corrupted sense. Probably not, at least, but she hadn’t seen any indication of that. More like someone or something had taken the mana and twisted, shifted it just slightly out of alignment, or maybe put in new mana that didn’t belong, and didn’t quite settle. There was an odd feel to it in her mana sense. Like the place, this relic of a bygone age, doesn’t belong with it. She shook her head. I don’t even know what I’m thinking.

She couldn’t shake the feeling that it was her world, her memories’ world, which was beneath that twisting.

“Are you alright, Regina?” Max asked quietly.

She nodded and took a deep breath. “Just fine.” This was an interesting experience, but she didn’t think she would get many answers musing on it.

They continued on their way, going down the tunnel. The light was getting brighter, and soon, Regina saw the end of the tunnel approaching. She reminded herself to be careful. There seemed to be at least one strong monster close by here. Maybe she should have taken Anuis, or just more people. This wasn’t really something she wanted to share with anyone, except perhaps the drones she was close with, though.

Regina sent a War Drone forward, letting it creep carefully closer to the door at the end of the tunnel. It looked like a steel gate that one might see in industrial use or as a security door, just very large, but she’d need to get closer to look for any details.

Luckily, it seemed that there were currently no strong monsters close to the gate. There were a few Tunnelers, but the War Drone, and maybe the others quietly coming up behind it, managed to make them skitter away instead of fight. It looked like the monsters might have started to learn to be wary of her hive.

Regina approached the door carefully, glancing around to make sure it really was safe. Max stayed half a step ahead of her, his shield, which he must have taken off a dead soldier, raised protectively. But everything was quiet.

Regina paused as she moved towards the door. If possible, the weirdness of the mana only increased here. Or so she thought, it was hard to be sure. She examined the door. Definitely industrial steel or something similar. I could conjure a diamond blade or something to try and cut through it. Or I could just heat it to the point that it melts or lets us create an opening.

She stepped forward, hand already raised, when she paused. There was something else now, a faint tingle, a kind of sensation she couldn’t quite describe, but it felt vaguely familiar, from not long ago.

She turned to see a woman step out of the shadow, where there definitely hadn’t been a tunnel entrance. Regina recognized her at once. Pointed ears but mostly human features, shimmery skin. The watcher she’d met before.

“I wouldn’t if I were you,” the divine (presumably?) being said. “You’re not ready for this.”

Regina lowered her hand and took a step away from the door. That sounded like a warning she’d better heed. “I don’t mean to be rude,” she said, inclining her head. “But who are you, and why are you here?”

The woman smiled. She barely glanced at Max, who’d assumed an obviously combat-ready posture. “I am Lianaleine. You’ve done well since last we met, Hive Queen Regina. I was sent here by Alianais. You’re supposed to come with me.”

Regina glanced at Max again, then back at the divine messenger. “Okay.” Alianais had promised her answers. And if she had any ill intentions, there wouldn’t be much Regina could do about it.

“Oh, I’m sure I could take your valiant warrior back to safety.”

The goddess (she decided to just stick with that assumption) waved her hand, and in a small shimmer of sparks that reminded her of System screens, Max disappeared.

Regina glanced at the War Drones, who’d stayed stock still. “Uh, head back to the hive, try to avoid trouble,” she ordered them. Then she turned back to the goddess. “Where did you take Max?”

“Back to the village you captured. Now, come.” She held out her hand.

Regina glanced around one more time, steeling her nerves. She heard a distant rumble that seemed to be moving away from her. Then she took the woman’s hand and light filled her vision.