"Prepare. It has to be now. We went too far in without encountering them," Aranea said, cooling Yuki's and Kate's heads.

Both were on edge, their instincts screaming to chase after the enemies, rend them apart, then to feast and devour. The smell of ichor energized the pack and was difficult to ignore, arousing instincts in the female Wolfkins. Calmed by the reprimand and overseen by Kostya's calm and relaxed demeanor, the males handled the call better. Out of them, he was a veteran who had participated in hundreds of engagements. To him, there was nothing new to see here.

Kaleb tried his best not to screw up, but Aranea noticed his delay in reloading the shardgun after the workers broke into a retreat. Not that big of an issue compared to that time he had accidentally forgotten to arm his weapon, and Kate had consigned him to a shooting range for several weeks, drilling the routine into his head. His lenses shifted anxiously, briefly focusing on Kate. Distracted. Aranea will speak to her later. Whatever their beef was, it affected his performance. As usual, Sly was more concerned with counting the tally, recording unusual minerals, and the dead than worrying about himself.

Kaleb. Aranea messaged on private communication. Sly's dozing off. Guard the brain.

By your command, Scout. He answered officially, snapping out of his daze.

A little trust went a long way in fostering confidence. Kate needed to learn that if she was to crush her.

To her left, a stone pillar hung, and the crimson eye caught a shadow moving behind it. Before she had a chance to turn, a spear-like appendage shot out with a speed surpassing that of a bullet, aiming for Sly's temple. Kostya raised his shardgun a fraction of a second too late to react. Kaleb's paw grabbed Sly by the collar and pulled him to safety. The sharp-bladed limb grazed Kaleb's fingers, landing perfectly between the overlapped protection and shearing through the metal, bleeding him. Another organic blade swiped at where Sly's neck was a breath ago.

"Pisshead!" Kate's barrel scraped over Kaleb's shoulder, and she fired, collapsing the rock structure as the creature darted aside.

"Above!" Aranea shouted, aiming the shardgun upward and pulling the trigger. The projectiles tore a gaping hole in the belly of the insectoid warrior waiting to drop on them.

Far more dangerous than their brethren, insectoid warriors had an uncanny resemblance to a normal human, if that human was malnourished enough and had four legs capable of sticking to anything. Their chitinous exoskeletons changed colors, blending in with the area. These creatures stood tall at a meter and a half, clutching their folded, bladed limbs to their chests. Small, elegant mandibles were located below clusters of compound eyes.

The similarities to humans didn't end in their remote appearance. The hive's hounds were intelligent and capable of independent decision-making. Upon hearing the carnage, they hid themselves, inviting the pack to pursue the exposed drones and score kills while the Wolfkins were distracted.

No way Olesya is that dumb to be fooled by you. The first insectoid warrior had not yet completed its fall, and the pulsing of blood in Aranea's temples had already silenced the worry. The scout grunted, suppressing the blasted power and telling it to take that 'reward' along with it. She had no need for it.

The second insectoid warrior emerged from behind a boulder, crouching low and racing toward the group. It neared Kate, but the pebbles under her foot suddenly crushed, causing the scout to curse and lose her balance. The bladed limb flew past her shoulder, narrowly missing her neck as she swayed. Irritated, the creature tried to dart back and got torn apart by Yuki's shot. Even torn in two, the creature twisted, launching one last attack at the Wolfkin's warrior knee. Kate grabbed the bug by the flat sides of its bladed arm, slammed its twitching body into the ground, and stomped it into mush, growling from pleasure as the reward flowed into her, bringing her a little closer to the peak.

"Stupid, blasted sack of shit! We will lose points because of you!" Kate screamed in desperation.

"Forgive me…" Kaleb began, but the scout silenced him with an enraged gaze.

"And you shut up! Sly, take care of his wound," Kate commanded, still on edge from the elevation. She faced Aranea, baring her neck for displaying the unasked initiative.

The gorget of her armor slid into the chest piece, freeing the space to bite through the lesser protection. Aranea simply propped up her fellow scout, not bothering to stage a show of dominance. Kate at least tried to be a team member tonight, and that deserved a certain encouragement and commendation.

"You should respect our traditions more," Kate said quietly, and Aranea slapped her on the shoulder.

"There. That's your punishment," Aranea stated simply.

Their warlord was a fierce traditionalist, warning her troops about the dangers of ignoring the ancient wisdom. However, as Janine had once explained to Sonya, traditions never specified what the punishments must be, only that they should be physical. This left wiggle room for Aranea to avoid harming her pack, and she prided herself on the fact that her pack's performance matched those of the other scouts without any use of clawing. "I will scold Kaleb later." Kate tensed. "No, you are not to punish him, understood?"

"As if this stupid weakling could ever endure punishment," the scout mumbled, releasing a scent of submission. "We need all the paws we have."

"Glad you agree," Aranea chuckled.

The pack dealt with one more ambush, collectively shredding a random insectoid warrior before reaching the main cave, arriving at the carnage reigning inside. Olesya and two females stood on a literal pile of corpses in the middle of the chamber, surrounded on every side by a living river of drones converging upon them. Yet the Wolfkins worked in unison, holding the high ground, covering each other, and refusing to create an opening for their enemies to exploit. Their claws screamed through the air, ending drones with every swipe and stab, and bursts of shards sliced through the chitinous forms.

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"Locate their males," Aranea ordered, worried. Three! Even one would be too many, but if three were injured or killed…

Broken carcasses covered in white ichor cracked under the Wolfkins' feet, while the soldiers kept fighting, often kicking just back the most eager of the workers. Dozens of insectoids charged in the familiar burst of speed, and Olesya laughed contemptuously, throwing up her shardgun to meet the crowd. It barked once, and the shape of an insectoid warrior rose behind the drone. It climbed over the drone and jumped to escape the cloud of deadly projectiles, closing in on the scout. Its bladed limbs thrust out, hungering for vulnerable necks, and the panicking Aranea took aim, fully realizing that she was too late to stop the fiend. Damned buffoon! Never play with your food!

The insectoid read her friend's desire for fame and counted the shots, striking exactly when the shardgun was emptied. Now that they were out of ammo, the females were cornered…

A round hole appeared in the head of the insectoid warrior, sending it sideways. Olesya caught the creature on her claw while it was still reeling from the shock. She turned her stab into an uppercut, tearing the entire midsection away as she evaded the incoming thrusts. Her jaws closed on the insectoid's head and bit it off cleanly. In response to killing an insectoid warrior for the first time, a ripple passed through Olesya's body, bulging her muscles beneath the plates as the power rewarded her, and she spread her arms wide, howling in triumph, and shoved the shardgun through a drone.

Foolish girl. Aranea thought sourly. You can't trust this power. Mom's transformation still burned brightly in her memory even today, and she refused to accept anything from that filth slumbering in her.

"There!" Kostya pointed at the three males standing near the second entrance.

Armed with unusually long rifles, they unleashed a barrage of bullets upon the creatures, showing no concern for the safety of their comrades. The rounds harmlessly bounced off the power armor while breaking in small craters upon the teeming mass of the oversized insects.

"Blastguns!" Aranea laughed in relief, firing at the swarm to Olesya's left. "Oh, you crafty girl, I'd love to kiss you!" Her pack joined her, carefully picking apart the largest creatures' gathering, avoiding firing near the females.

Blastguns were low-powered rifles favored by the farmers and cusacks' owners, not meant to be used in actual combat, so Aranea had dismissed them as useless. But her friend, having worked alongside villagers for so long, clearly knew better. Well, well, each day brings new discoveries!

"Olesya gathered foes around her and used the males to soften them up before the kill. She trusts grunts a little too much," Yuki observed while eradicating the targets.

"It's Scout Olesya, Warrior," Kate snarled.

"Sure, but it should be the other way around. What if they mess up? Her plan was reckless and endangered the lives of valuable troops."

"Hey, as long as it works." Sly smiled. Yuki growled but didn't discipline him.

With both packs joining forces, they began thinning the predators out. Despite their impressive numbers, the critters were not endless. Here and there insectoid warriors appeared, unable to hide any longer, and met their demise in the gunfire. Steadily and methodically, the cave was becoming clear of the unnatural horror. Olesya strapped the shardgun to her back, flashed her claws, and dove into the crowd of chitin, fully surrendering to the battle frenzy invoked by the adrenaline. She slashed and stomped, sending white motes of hemolymph and torn pieces of carapace flying, cheering in ecstasy as her pack kept their scout's rear secured.

Unexpectedly, a tremor passed through the cave, snapping Olesya out of her blissful butchery. The smooth wall at the end of the tunnel cracked under the pressure of immense weight, pushing it forward. Chunks of stone the size of cars sent the Wolfkins rolling away to save themselves. More tremors followed before the dust settled.

"Now," Aranea ordered, seeing the hive queen emerging from her hiding place.

The long, fat body gleamed white between green chitin plates. Comically small legs, too many to count, supported this train of fat and muscles, carrying the breeder into the battle as the pools of dark locked at the Wolfkins, choosing the order of victims. Two large, scythe-shaped arms, each bigger than an APC, rose, ruining the ceiling, burying Olesya to her knees in the rubble. Her soldiers opened fire, but even shardguns could barely scratch the plates and only drew moisture from the compound eyes, while the blastguns were utterly useless against that creature.

If she gets wounded, the win is mine. Aranea understood. Her paw stopped halfway toward the grenade launcher. Surely her rival was at fault for the situation, right? Olesya's rashness made her into a liability; a person such as her will never change the Wolf Tribe for the better, and Kaleb's injury meant that if Aranea stepped in, her pack risked losing. And that meant no promotion, no chance of fixing the tribe… For I have a great many things that I want to change in our Order. Whispered the hateful voice in the back of her mind.

"Open fire! Dust the beast!" Aranea shouted, shrugging off the temptation. I will do things in my way. I will not become him. She swore, taking the grenade launcher and leveling it at the queen.

Six shots landed almost simultaneously, but rather than exploding upon her carapace, the grenades' tips drilled into the thick armor and the compound eyes, releasing their destructive potential inside the obscene abomination. The fiery flash and smoke briefly hid the creature before she pushed out of it, thrashing wildly in agony and abandoning any semblance of planning. Both eyes were gone, her mandibles were cracked, and the ruined chitin around her neck pierced her flesh with every movement.

But the scythe arms still worked, and the queen swung the first one, nearly slicing Olesya in two. Blinded, the creature pressed on, splitting the floor and causing the females of Pack Olesya to fall. More jagged rock blanketed the cave, and Aranea understood the creature's plan. She wanted to bury herself and them, slipping away in the chaos to regenerate and heal, navigated by her surviving minions.

Denied. You won't take anyone from us ever again.

"In the holes." Her pack landed grenades in the destroyed eyes, and the queen emitted an ear-piercing shriek. She arched her back as death drilled its way into her brain. The ensuing explosion tore her upper part apart, sending the bladed limbs falling, accompanied by the torrent of rubble flooding the cave.

"We better run," Kaled stated the obvious, gasping upon noticing that the pack had already turned around. Kate grabbed him by the shoulder, dragging the soldier after herself and putting him in the front.

"Stop blabbering with your mouth and leg it, you idiot!" The scout snarled, kicking him in the butt to encourage him to run faster. "On all fours, you dumbasses!" Kate howled, frothing from rage as Sly and Kaleb continued to run on both legs. The grenade launcher slipped from Kaleb's paw as he frantically dropped on all fours, and Aranea kicked it to Yuki, who swiftly caught it in her jaws, and together they rushed to the exit.

Through the shared video feed, Aranea watched Olesya and her team fleeing swiftly as well, and the sight calmed her nerves. She was the last link in the group, ensuring that no one would stumble or be left behind. As the person in charge of the operation, she had to prove her leadership by keeping her troops safe. A hail of stones drummed upon her back, causing the scout to gulp nervously, and the faint light of the moon ahead was the sweetest picture she had ever seen.

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