Back to the Hideout

As Lucas walked down the tunnel in silence. The only thing with him in the tunnel were the roach like Xeomorphs skittering down with him. He was surprised that no more hostile Xeomorph's attacked him since Yellow Stripe had ran off. As he walked he felt something in his shirt move. He looked over to see The small blob of Xylon's little clone slither out of his shirt. 

"Lucas. Food. Storage. Room. Found. Ran. Into. Royal. Guard. Main. Body Hurt. Return. To. Hideout." The little clone bubbled. 

"That was fast." Lucas said. He more surprised that they had found the food storage room so quickly. He shrugged and started to walk back the way he came. As he walked he felt a immense feeling of dread coming from behind him.

He looked down the tunnel. He couldn't see to far down as the tunnel slowly went downwards. If he continued to walk down the tunnel he felt as though he would run into something he shouldn't. Not that it would kill him, but he knew deep down that he wouldn't make it out without a price. Even if it was training he didn't to be the first one sent back. 

He quickly bottled the feeling up and walked back the way he came. He held his staff tighter this time and made sure to glance back every so often. Just in the off chance whatever is down the tunnel would chase after him. After some time he finally made it back to his real battle. There was nothing but ashes and smashed corpses. 

In the main room the debris he had created was nearly gone. There were still Kompies eating rock, but they were so engrossed in their task that they ignored is didn't notice Lucas. He made his way to the tunnel his group created and waited for his group. He had asked Mini-Xylon if anyone had made it and found at he was the first. He asked Mini-Xylon what happened.

He learned Zyra was closest one to him, but she was in a weakened state. She had used a special technique to avoid death at a price. Xylon explained he had done the same and was now smaller so it would take him more time to cover ground. Kaelon on the other hand had a more complex situation. He was deeper in the tunnels and was being lead to the food storage room.

He and Xylon had similar ideas. Kaelon had used a technique to birth a new version of himself hidden in his corpse. His plan was to be dragged to the food storage room for the queen memorize where it was and make his way back to the hideout. But since Xylon had found it first he had to bail on that plan. He had surprised attacked the Hive Guard Hunters killing them and had to sneak back in a smaller body. 

Lucas was surprised that the group was in such a rough shape. All that he was low on was his mana. Even then it was recovering very quickly from his staff. He thought over what to do next and how he would have to take on a more guardian like role till the others are in better shape. So he waited for his group in the off chance they are being chase. 

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Deep down the tunnel Lucas was walking stood two figures hidden in the shadows. 

"So where is this intruder?" A deep sinister voice spoke. 

"I assure you Royal Guard, the intruder is coming this way. He is very powerful and slaughter many of those under my command." The voice spoke back with a quiver in its voice. 

"As you've said." The voice spoke filled with disdain. 

The two waited for another handful of minutes. Nothing. They heard no foot steps, no fighting, no nothing. 

"Seems this little intruder has escaped" the voice said directing its ire towards the other figure. "You've woken me up from my slumber while guarding the queen and wasted my time?"

"Wait no! I swear he is coming! He is very strong he-" in the voices frantic panic before being silenced. A head hit the ground as its body fell to the ground with a thud. Blood began to pool out of the body and onto the clawed food on the creatures voice. 

"Tisk tisk. And I had such high hopes for you to become a Royal Guard. Just a few more years and you could have given me a run for my money. In half the time you could have slaughtered 3 for her spot. Such a shame you relied on others for strength." The Xeomorph stepped over the corpse light finally shining on it. On the ground was the corpse of Yellow Stripe and next to it was its head with a look of panic. 

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Outside the entrance to the tunnel Lucas waited for his team. The first he saw coming from one of the other tunnels was Zyra. She was fine, besides the tare in her clothes, but she did look exhausted. Lucas waved and walked over towards her.

"Seems like you ran into some trouble" he said pointing her her torn clothes. 

"You can say that again. I ran into a Royal Guard. We have to prepare for them. They are nasty."

Lucas grabbed Zyra by the arm and helped her walk over to the some rocks for her to sit down.

"You seem fine" Zyra said while eyeing Lucas up and down. She was impressed he wasn't hurt. Even if he was the lowest realm cultivator. "Run into any trouble?"

Lucas shook his head. "Nah. It wasn't too bad. Although I run into a yellow stripped Xeomorph. Unfortunately it ran away and I wasn't able to kill it."

Zyra looked at him confused. "You ran into a yellow striped Xeomorph? And it fled?"

"Yeah? Why? What's so special about them?"

Zyra bit her thumb as she thought. "I keep forgetting you have zero knowledge about Xeomorphs. You definitely need to working on that once we are done with this training. "A stripped Xeomorph is basically a Royal Guard in training. Technically Royal Guards are birthed by the Queen, but as a way to keep the hive at full strength at all times some Xeomorph will be born with between 1-3 stripes. Each stripe represents which position they'd take in the hierarchy of the Royal Guard. 3 stripes being the weakest of the striped Xeomorph."

"That being said any Xeomorph with a stripe is much stronger than their non stripped counter parts. What rank did you run into?'

"A single striped Hive Guard Hunter. Honestly I didn't engage in physical combat with any of the regular Hive Guard Hunters, but Yellow Stripe was stronger than I. That being said I did manage to make it flee. Although, during the small battle it showed how smart it was by its tactics and even surprised me."

Zyra was very impressed! Any stripped Xeomorphs had the strength of a Liquifying Realm cultivator. She was curious to how strong Lucas was. Could he go toe to toe with a Nascent Realm strength Xeomorph? "Well it's good to know about Yellow Stripe as you called it. Though, hearing it that it ran away means it was weak and will probably be killed by an Xeomorph stronger than it. The Hive hate weakness."

Just as Lucas was going to say something they saw a small greyish brown blob move at the entrance of another tunnel. They watched as it stood up straight and began to wave at them. The two smiled and gave out a light chuckle seeing how small Xylon was. He quickly changed his shape and slithered over to them.

"Hey. Guys. Kaelon. Here. We. Need. To. Go. Soon." His bubbles almost sounded panicking. 

Zyra sat up. "Why? Did you run into a Royal Guard? Lucas ran into a single yellow stripped Hive Guard Hunter. They must think we are dead."

"Oh." Xylon looked up at the two. "We. Should. Leave. Once. Kaelon. Is. Here. I. Don't. Have. A. Good Feeling. Something. Is. Off." 

The two nodded and sat back down and began to chat about what they all experienced. They were all going to wait on Kaelon to get back and then head back to the hideout. They waited for an hour before Kaelon finally showed up. His new form was exactly like a mini-version of himself. Although he only had 2 arms this time and he was covered in the blood of Xeomorphs. 

"I finally managed to sneak away from that fight" Kaelon said with a click of his mandibles. "I had to hide in another Xeomorph corpse to get away. How did you guys do?"

Zyra spoke for the group that waited. "Xylon and myself happened to have the good fortune to run into a Royal Guard. While Lucas ran into a single yellow stripped Xeomorph, lucky him." She said obviously frustrated with her luck. 

"Well that's not good. Seems the Royal Guard are active. It shouldn't be a problem. They are in the Liquifying realm. With all of us working together we'd be able to take them out. It'll be tough, but we can do it." Kaelon was confident with their teamwork. 

"No can do. They are much stronger than that" Zyra said shaking her head. "They have the strength of a Nascent Realm Cultivator. Although I don't think they have any techniques. Only the phyiscal strength."

Kaelon's mandibles clicked as he thought. "Well I'm going to be like this for the next few days. Xylon what about you?"

"Same." He bubbled. 

"So what's the exact game plan?" Lucas asked looking at the rest of his group.

"I guess we have to wait" Zyra said with a sigh. "You and I can do some scouting, but Kaelon and Xylon have to stay back in the hideout. That being said I don't think we should do any scouting. With the Royal Guard finally up and about we'd be at a disadvantage with only the two of us."

"I suggested we just wait out the next few days and come up with an actual game plan. Once we go back into the Inner Hive I think it'll be our last chance. We should do all we can to prepare and create some technique combos. We need to be able to make our next exertion into the Inner Hive our last."

The others agreed. They were below half strength as a whole and were in no shape to fight. Spending the next few days in their hideout making plans and training with each other wasn't a bad idea. They could really learn each others fighting style to make the most of their teamwork. 

With a new game plan laid out they quickly made their way back to their hideout while covering their tracks. They didn't want any Xeomorph following them to their hideout. Especially the Royal Guard.