Eris was currently sitting in the wagon, feeding Milith. While normally they wouldn’t need to given the Solean Metabolism her regenerative state, however, was changing that. Her body was rapidly depleting her nutrient reserves to stimulate regeneration. Given her state, feeding her wasn’t easy, since she could only swallow liquid food. Which is why Eris was holding the older girl to her breast and breastfeeding her. Traveling rations weren’t suitable, since it was mostly dried foods. Which they had been supplementing with the occasional hunted animal and any fruits and berries they harvested on the way. Which is why they were mostly breastfeeding her, and giving her any fruits they found on the way. After mashing them into a paste she could eat. The swarm females could nurse since like Arlie they could magically stimulate their breasts to produce milk. Although their milk is a little different from the norm, since their young don’t need it. They can nurse their young, but the swarm can also adopt the children of others. Anyway, the special thing about the milk of swarm females is that is it contains a rather potent aphrodisiac that is also somewhat addictive. One that they could choose to produce, or not when lactating. She had chosen not to produce any.

As Eris was feeding her, she thought about the last week on the road. They had managed to get out of town without much hassle. The traffic was also a somewhat lighter than normal, so they had made good time. Unfortunately, the lighter traffic meant less prey for the bandits on the road. Which is why the had been hit by bandits three times in the last week. The first group hadn’t been all that good at banditry, and there guards easily dealt with them. The last two groups had been better off, and caused them a little trouble. Still, they had rescued some slave girls from the bandits. They would have recruited a few of the bandits, if there were any promising individuals among them. Of course, the only promising individuals they found were among the slaves they had.

Eris was brought out of her thoughts by the sounds of a commotion going on outside. Immediately she opened her mind more fully to the rest of the swarm. Moments before the wagon came to a halt. The reason being that they were under attack, by a group much better equipped and with a higher average level than the bandits they had fought off. Most bandits in the area had an average level of twenty-five, with the leaders of the group often being around forty. This new group was entirely on horseback, with an average level of eighty. As for the person who appeared to be the leader he had a level of eighty-six. The path in front of the wagon had been blocked by a pair of large trees that had been knocked over. Most likely by the attackers, to force them to stop.

Problem was that they were both outnumbered and out leveled in this case. They only had about forty guards with an average level of sixty. Which was quite good most experienced fighters had an average level of sixty. Both groups had already split into two, with the attackers making and hit and runs on the flanks. The defenders had dug in and were doing their best to keep them off the wagon. They were actually doing far better at it than they should. It was an effect of the pheromones combined with a buff spell. Unfortunately, the effects were barely enough to level the playing field and they were losing people faster than they were killing the enemy.

Eris through the eyes of her sisters recognized the attackers as church soldiers. She thought a moment and decided their best chance was to get away while the guards distracted the soldiers. As for what they were after, she was almost certain they were after Milith. So she directed her sisters to start working on the trees blocking the path. The trees were too big to move, so they began casting firebolts at the trees. It took a few bolts, but both trees caught fire. The fire rapidly spread as it began to burn, with a fair amount of rapidity, although Eris felt it was far to slow. As her sisters were burning the tree, she separated herself from Milith. Laying the girl back into the cushions gently, and then slipped her shirt back on. Not bothering to replace her bra, as it would take a little longer. Standing up she walked to the back of the wagon and hopped down. Landing on the ground she came face to face, with a church soldier. His horse was nearby and was sprawled on the ground bleeding out from a massive slash wound on its belly. As for the soldier he was wearing leather armor and seems to have lost his helmet but was otherwise fine. The bodies of four guards were nearby, all with grievous sword wounds and clearly dead. Judging by the amount of blood and the silence of their thoughts.

The church soldier didn’t bother with his sword and instead knocked her onto the ground. The hit stung and a notification sprang up saying that she had lost a hundred hp. Not surprising since she was also a little dizzy from the hit. Out of instinct, she discharged a powerful lightning bolt that slammed into the soldier’s face before he could move. The bolt took the entirety of her electric reserve and some of her mana. The soldier flew back several meters, his face turned black, bleeding from the cracks in the dried-out flesh and he spasmed violently before finally collapsing ultimately killed by the shock. She panted for a moment as she recovered a bit while keeping an eye on her surroundings. At the same moment, she received a blue box.

The Girl Who Slew a Giant: This achievement is granted to female adventurers who manage to kill an opponent fifty or more levels above them in a single hit. (note said single hit need not kill instantly, but the target must die from the effects of said hit) Grants a massive bonus to critical hits that increases for every level the target is above the holder. Boosts damage output of skills.

Eris only paid the message a few seconds of attention, as she knew she had gotten lucky there. Two more soldiers were coming her way, and she had little confidence that she could beat them. Both still had their horses and all their equipment, which meant hitting them in the face wasn’t going to kill them. Worse killing the first one had taken most of her energy, and she couldn’t unleash another bolt that strong. Still, she took a stance, hoping to distract them long enough for help. When suddenly the soldiers were ripped apart by powerful blades of wind swinging through the air.

Phyllis was sitting under the canopy of a large tree. She had cleared the site of fallen leaves and other detritus before building a campfire. It was only around midday so she was only stopping for a quick lunch. She had used magic to get the campsite up quickly. Reaching forward she pulled the roasted meat of a horned rabbit she had caught earlier out of the fire. Placing it on a metal plate she had brought with her, she began to eat. A part of her wanted to hurry and skip lunch, but she knew that rushing was not good for one's health. That and the one time, she had decided to skip a meal her new secondary patron Dewari started bugging her for the next three hours. Until she gave in and stopped for a meal. The whole time she had been wondering if the goddess didn’t have better things to do than bug her about her traveling habits. Of the course, the goddess was just making sure that one of those under her care had a healthy child. Which as a fertility god was something that fell under her domain.

She was just about done with her meal, when she saw smoke rising in the distance. While not unusual for people to have fires around this time, the sheer volume of smoke meant something was up. She grabbed her stuff and cast a quick spell to put out her campfire. As an experienced adventurer, she had been taught to never leave a campfire unattended due to the risk of a forest fire. With the fire out, she slung her travel pack on her shoulder and rushed towards the site of the large fire. It took a few minutes for the fire to come into view. In the distance, she saw a large wagon, stopped before a couple of fallen and burning trees. Some girls were standing in front of the wagon, casting fire and wind spells into the trees.

She could see the guards doing their best to keep the attackers at bay, but it looked like half of them were already dead. One cavalryman, rushed past four guards and slashing one with his cavalry sword. His sword connected with deadly force, while at the same moment one of the other guards managed to split the horse open. As the horse was falling the church soldier jumped off the horse, and slashed another soldier. As he was landing one of the remaining two guards came up behind him and tried to slash at him. The soldier’s battle instinct allowed him to narrowly dodge the blade. His helmet wasn’t so lucky and was split open the blade missing his skull by less than a centimeter. He turned around and cut the man in two, before parrying the next man's blade. A couple a quick thrusts and a slash later and all four were dead. The man took off his damaged helmet and looked at it briefly before tossing it aside. As he was approaching a pretty young mousekin girl jumped out of the carriage. Landing in front of him, Phyllis wanted to help the girl, but was still too far away. So instead she watched as the man, struck the girl, and then as she landed on her butt retaliated with a lightning bolt to the face.

That blast seemed to exhaust the girl a bit so she stood there panting for a few moments. Phyllis than noticed two more soldiers riding straight for the girl. The girl also noticed and took up a clear stance. Phyllis didn’t like the girl’s chances, but was glad she was finally close enough and used her wind blade skill. Powerful blades of wind ripped across the space between her and the two soldiers and shredded them. Phyllis took a quick look around and saw that most of the guards were either dead or wounded. Her attack, however, had drawn the attention of the attacking soldiers, whose casualties so far had been rather light. Having lost only ten of the original eighty soldiers, most of whom got unlucky and were killed after losing their horse.

As a charge of cavalryman were bearing down on her position, she took a stance. The moment they were within ten meters of her position she unleashed her wind blade skill. Rapidly followed by her ice blade skill and then finishing with a light blade skill. The three elemental blade attacks sent magical force blades into the cavalry charge. The troops were too close to dodge and the blades ripped all but a couple of lucky ones apart. Four lucky men charged her position, while a couple of cowards ran. The leader of the attack force, sent a few men at her in two charges coming from different directions as he pulled back with his most trusted subordinates.

Phyllis met the charge with her blade, managing to parry three strikes at once. The fourth one, hit her in the side and tore her traveling attire, but was stopped when it touched her skin. Thanks to the enchantment on her rather embarrassing armor. Taking a more offensively oriented stance, she responded with a series of rapid slashes in a deadly combo. The men were far below her both in level and skill with the sword were unable to block her strikes and collapsed to the ground dying from fatal wounds a mere instant later. The two charges were not yet close enough to threaten her, so dropped into a stance that works well with magical blade skills. Once they were close enough she finished them off, with a few quick slashes. Sending blades of magic to tear the men apart. The rest were already in full retreat so she ran over to check on the wagon.

She was met near the rear of the wagon, by the girl she had seen earlier. Up close she noticed the distinctive traits of a lightning mousekin, who promptly introduced herself as Eris. Next thing she knew Eris hugged her and began sniffing her.

“You smell like a friend! Help us move those trees out of the way, we need to get the god-queen to safety before they come back,” said Eris.

“What about your guards don’t they need help? Also, who is this god-queen” asked Phyllis. While wondering if the god-queen is the person she was looking for.

“A bit, but the god-queen is more important. My sisters are already tending to those they can,” said Eris as she started pulling Phyllis to the burning trees. Then she started to describe the god-queen as she was being called. While a bit confusing, Phyllis was able to put together that this god-queen the girl was speaking of was in fact Milith. She also figured out that the girl was a swarmling.

Clearing the tree, didn’t take to much physical effort, but took some time and quite a bit of mana. A couple of quick spells cleared the area around the fallen trees, to help prevent the fire from spreading. Feeding it mana then sped up the flames, before long there was only a pile of ash where they had been. Phyllis then used an ice spell to cool the spot down. By the time the tree was taken care of, the guards had already been tended to. While the dead had been given a basic burial in the form of there bodies being set alight. Eris led her to the cart, and she climbed up to find Milith lying unconscious in the back of the wagon.

“How long has she been unconscious?” asked Phyllis as she kneeled down next to Milith. While the wagon began to move forward, resuming the trip towards border town. 

“The entire trip, by the time we located her she had already entered a regenerative state. She won’t wake up until she is out of danger,” said Eris.

“I know, I am familiar with races that can enter a regenerative state. Although, I am pretty sure she should have woken up by now, if it’s been that long,” said Phyllis while Eris knelt down next to her as well.

“Normally yes, but the god-queen used a powerful spell, with some rather nasty drawbacks. I think she will wake up in about a month maybe two,” said Eris as she pulled her shirt off again.

“What are you doing?” asked Phyllis surprised to see the other girl stripping her shirt off. Her eyes drawn to the modest peaks that were now on full display.

“Finishing what I was doing earlier, feeding the god-queen,” said Eris as she pulled her back to her breasts, but choosing the opposite boob this time. It took little stimulation to get her to suckle.

“That is a rather strange way to feed her. Why are you breastfeeding her? Also, I have been wondering why do you call her god-queen?” asked Phyllis.

“It is easier and gets more of the nutrients she needs than a diet of mashed fruit can provide. Besides her kind need a diet rich in protein which is found mostly in meats, so we have been eating one rich in protein to increase the amount in our milk. Well, as rich as we could make it anyway. As for why we call her god-queen, well it's because she made us, making her higher in status than any queen of the swarm. So we gave her a title that reflects that,” said Eris. 

Phyllis remembering what she knew about draconic species, decided that what she said made some sense. All races with a blood relation to dragons were predators. Some, of course, were omnivorous and would supplement their diets with plants, but they were still predators at heart. Not that it made seeing a grown girl being breastfed any less strange. Not that the Swarmlings thought about it that way. They thought differently than humans, and this was just one example of how differently they thought. Ultimately she decided not to press the issue.

“Out of curiosity where are you planning on taking Milith?” asked Phyllis after a couple minutes of just sitting there in silence.

“Bordertown, the area is nice and rich in mana. Of course, we will have to build a nest there to help protect her from those who would harm her. Not having one there is the only real drawback to going there,” said Eris.

“That is good, and my uh mate wants to guard her in her lowest floor,” said Phyllis hesitating at the word mate. She was still getting used to the fact that she had a mating bond with a dungeon.

“You’re bonded to the dungeon!? That will be a great help,” replied Eris with great excitement.