Chapter 462: Proxies

Class Skills or Abilities, Regina had learned, were always more complicated than they seemed. Certainly more complicated than the description itself showed, presumably since it only had limited space, anyway.

(She was pretty sure hers were technically all passive Abilities instead of active Class Skills to be triggered, even those that seemed different, but that probably wasn’t the reason.)

She’d obviously made a habit of trying to figure out hers, noting details that weren’t covered by the description. But it wasn’t simply a matter of using the Abilities enough and then analyzing what you could do or couldn’t do with them; sometimes, there was also a bit of an intuition. And it seemed like Leian had been rather helpful and left a few perks for her latest choice.

Case in point, how she wasn’t able to designate just one ‘proxy’ for this Ability, but several.

Regina had thought about it, but in the end, she hadn’t wavered from her initial impulse and chosen Queen’s Proxy instead of Hive’s Sanctuary. The best defense was a good offense, and all that. While more protection would have been a godsend (literally … unfortunately), the ability to bypass her range restriction was just too tempting. And it was proved right by the discovery that she could immediately choose several subsidiary anchors of the hive, or however she wanted to call it.

Of course, this wasn’t unlimited … she’d only chosen a few people, but she’d be surprised if she was able to maintain more than half a dozen or so at all. Still, under the current circumstances, it was already great. Especially since, as Regina had also discovered, they didn’t even need to be near her for the Ability to work.

Which was also how she’d discovered that doing something like that in the middle of a battle was … complicated, to say the least.

She hadn’t really planned that; she’d simply chosen a proxy who was currently in the forward headquarters of this army, where it would be easier to coordinate with Owin and June. Their forces being attacked complicated that idea a little.

It would have been easier if she was able to sense everything with her normal acuity, even the same she had at the edges of the psychic link; or maybe it just seemed that way. But the Ability description hadn’t lied. It was more like a separate psychic link, broadly subordinate but not immediately accessible to her, or at least not the same way.

That said, if she focused enough, pushed past the headache she could already feel starting, and tried to delve deeply into her designated proxy’s mind without distracting her too much, it allowed her to get some idea of what was happening, and even more specific feedback from individual people in this new psychic link cluster.

It was definitely enough to learn that June was currently fighting Helen, at least.

Regina gritted her teeth as she tried to gain what information she could. That little traitor. She wished she was there personally, so she could confront her herself. But that wasn’t possible, so she had to see what she could do from here.

Of course, watching a fight between two psychics from the outside was kind of hard even under the best of circumstances. Most people could only see the surface of it, and at best get an impression of what was going on at the more important level they were actually clashing at. And while Ria was at least a mage, she wasn’t a psychic or even a Keeper, and Regina was mostly limited to her senses as her entry point right now.

At least that was enough to tell that June wasn’t seriously injured. And there were still a few tricks Regina could use. For now, she mostly kept back and let the drones coordinate themselves. Most of them were a bit thrown at suddenly being pulled into the psychic link — or a psychic link — again, but they adapted quickly. And then they used their suddenly much improved coordination to really hit the Esemen hard.

The battle was a bit chaotic anyway, but with the Imperials finally able to coordinate their drones better, they were clearly starting to turn the tide. The clash of the vanguard had dragged on long enough for the main force of the enemy to approach, but their side had also been reinforced. And perhaps more importantly, the Esemen strike force were getting their posteriors handed to them — any attack like that needed to burn fast and hard, and if they lingered too long, they were getting overwhelmed. Well, they were lingering too long right now. Some of them clearly attempted to flee. A few were shot down by massed fire from flying drones or ranged soldiers as they tried.

And Helen was still there. That was the primary reason Regina knew that June was having an effect.

She nudged Ria, who felt quite tense, and then carefully reached out to June. The problem was that Ria wasn’t a psychic herself, but June was, and she was clearly at least slightly keeping an eye on them — she must have felt the formation of the proxy link and decided to monitor it, at least subconsciously. With Ria acting as a middleman, it was enough for Regina and June to connect, faintly.

Their communication was quick and low-key, not so much exchanging words as fleeting impressions. Regina sorted through them quickly, trying to understand what she got. The gist of it was clear, even if she was obviously missing some nuance: June was trying to hold Helen back, keep her in place, to either be shot down, wait until reinforcements arrived, or break through her defenses. Helen was playing defensively — she had little other choice, her training had clearly leaned more on defense than offense, at least against other psychics, and her shields were her biggest asset. She either hadn’t decided to flee yet or was genuinely too distracted to manage it.

It felt like pulling teeth, but Regina finally tore her attention away from this proxy link. Only for a moment, but she needed to act. Others were already clamoring for her attention — she had designated several proxies before noticing this situation — but she ignored them for now. Instead, she focused and found one particular mind. A familiar one. After a moment of hesitation and quickly considering her options, she also linked in several others. This is going to be a bit of a gamble, but we won’t get an opportunity like this again soon.

She closed her eyes for a moment, taking stock of the state of the psychic link and looking at recent reports from the front; not in detail, but getting an impression of the situation and the distribution of forces from the latest information put into the psychic link. There were potential reinforcements in place, but not immediately available; this initial attack would probably have to be fought without them. The main battle against the advancing Esemen force might have their support, but she was less concerned with that right at this moment. Regina still sent a message through the link, and made sure to mentally tag Ben so he’d be aware.

The mana in her room shifted as something cut through the air, and Regina opened her eyes just in time to watch a familiar kind of portal open as a familiar mind appeared.

“You know, we really need to ward my office better against teleportation,” she commented.

“Put it on the list,” Iseis said, sounding a bit sardonic. Since she was responsible for that particular aspect of their defense and could probably circumvent any measures if she wanted to, Regina supposed that made sense. “But that’s not why you summoned me, I thought this was urgent?”

“It is,” Regina answered, sitting up a bit straighter. “Thank you for coming promptly. As we speak, June is fighting Helen, who attacked their headquarters as part of a strike in coordination with an Esemen advance.”

Iseis frowned. “Give me the details, please,” she said, inclining her head.

Regina reached out mentally, connecting to Iseis’ mind. She carefully conveyed some information on the situation to her, or at least what she thought was relevant.

“I see,” Iseis said, blinking a little, but assimilating the information quickly. “You think trying to capture her is worth the risk.”

Regina nodded. “We need an edge against them, and this is our opportunity. I’ll still be glad if she’s dead, but if we manage to defeat her and prevent her escape, that would be ideal.”

“I make no promises,” Iseis said, turning.

She didn’t bother to wait around or do anything else. One step further, and the old elf disappeared, teleporting away to the battlefield.

Or at least, Regina assumed so. She quickly reached out to Ria again, trying to process what had happened while she was distracted, and searching for Iseis. Unfortunately, she didn’t manage to locate the other woman’s mind … it really was easier with a psychic as proxy instead of a drone, but she’d make do. And Ria hadn’t been idle, either.

She was probably a good pick for more than the obvious reasons. She’d had the experience of being removed from the hive, among enemies, and then had to reintegrate into it suddenly, after some changes. It didn’t just mean Ria knew the Esemen better than most, she was also better at adapting to these changes. Right now, she’d already managed to set up a proper communication network, enforcing a few simple protocols with the members of the new proxy link to account for its differences from the regular psychic link.

The battle was still raging; she hadn’t looked away for that long.

The Imperials had deployed forward. Regina wasn’t entirely sure what Owin was planning, but he was still present; Ria could tell and passed on the information. Winged Drones wheeled overhead in loose formation, wings passing above and below each other and spiraling above the battlefield. They dropped explosives and other projectiles, sometimes rather indiscriminately. But with the need to keep their distance and thus unable to do precise strikes, making up for it with volume was best. Enemy shields could be depleted or shattered.

The Winged Drones weren’t the only force on the battlefield, of course. The other Imperial troops were position to take advantage of what cover and terrain they could find, and some soldiers had used Skills to set up quick trenches, mounds and barricades, to give good firing positions for long-ranged combatants. There wasn’t much artillery present here, but they made up for it somewhat with magic, Skills and other firearms — Owin had kept a surprisingly high percentage of the guns assigned to his force with his headquarters, but they were certainly coming in handy now. It was a slightly different kind of battle from what one would expect in this day and age, and even from most previous battles in this war, but her soldiers mostly managed to keep their distance.

And it was also clear that the ritual, or group spell, or whatever it was, that they used for the soul attacks was a large-scale spell best used in a few concentrated strikes; the Esemen didn’t bring it out for a few scattered Imperial units. There might be a practical limit on how often their mages can do it, even if smaller deployments with less energy invested are possible, she reflected. And it’s not a given that they are. There’s probably a high cost to it even if you try to scale it down further.

Either way, there wasn’t much Regina herself could do. She just watched, trying not to disturb Ria. But as the seconds dragged on, she started getting a bit antsy. Helen was still there; she was riding some kind of giant flying bird and had circled high enough up, mostly above the enemy vanguard, to be hard to hit. Especially since there were other enemy riders around her. Their first chance to kill or capture her was probably already gone — but in hindsight, it was obvious she’d retreat if the Imperial soldiers didn’t manage to shoot her down, and they’d been in too much chaos due to the surprise attack. And even with Helen being distracted by June, her mount was smart enough to fly away towards its allies.

Then they finally moved. Regina frowned, focusing harder on Ria’s senses, trying to ignore the rest of their proxy psychic link for now. June was also moving. She’d climbed on a higher-level drone mount, and gathered what Regina assumed were the local elites. Then they pressed forward at the same time as the main Imperial forces made another push as well.

June didn’t advance far enough to actually clash with the enemy, though. She stayed back somewhat, and Regina could tell that she focused on Helen — attacking her psychically, again. That meant the two of them had a psychic duel in the middle of the battle. It was a risky move, but June probably knew what she was doing, and the balance of force in the air favored her.

From the outside, of course, there wasn’t much to see. Both of them sat stiffly on their mounts. Then the group around Helen moved, but the psychic didn’t, only staggering, like her mount was trying to keep up with the others or had to be prodded into it. Not that June was doing much better … It was probably more interesting that no further Imperial soldiers turned against their comrades.

Regina frowned again, contemplating what she could sense for a moment, and then she turned Ria’s attention to another part of the battlefield. A group of Imperial soldiers had set up a defensive position with what looked like a grenade launcher, and they were putting a dent in advancing Esemen forces. But that wasn’t the important part; that was the way a group of Winged Drones turned around, diving and twisting, to take cover behind the unit. One of them was a sapient Swarm Drone — and with the link stretched so thin, she could barely get more than that — but Regina recognized their type. She’d been experimenting a bit when she made them, like a modification of a Drone Shooter. They were carrying a gun, a bit awkwardly since they were flying as well, but it was a big one.

Then the drone touched down on the mound of earth the human unit had put up as a defense, and one of their mages hurried forward immediately, touching them. Quickly, Regina looked for the viewpoint of another drone closer to the action.

Helen jerked where she sat on her mount, her eyes widening. Regina wondered if she had a danger sense Skill, or if she was just that good. She leaned forward and clearly commanded her ride to drop and lose altitude.

But she wasn’t quite quick enough. The enhanced bullet from the sniper rifle was too fast to be clearly visible, but the effect was noticeable — the big bird jerked and screamed, a shrill cry that had nearby riders wincing. One of its wings was hit, Regina saw.

Helen was shouting as her mount dropped down, now uncontrolled and tumbling sideways. Its other wing was flapping frantically, the one with the hole in it jerking. Helen looked around, and one of the men on another flying mount spurred his own on to get closer to her, clearly trying to shield or rescue her.

Except then he stopped, dropping back, and almost fell from his mount. June, Regina realized. She’d switched focus.

The psychic link immediately shuddered and twisted, like something was trying to cut through it, and Regina felt Ria struggling — Helen had mirrored them and launched a desperate counterattack. Regina focused on them, trying to pour her own presence into her drone, her link. It was still her hive, her psychic link, even here. She would not let this upstart hurt them while she was watching.

It was unpleasant to witness the effects, but Regina thought she was bracing the worst of it, and it was only a chaotic flash anyway. Helen was still dropping, this was happening within seconds. Her own panic clearly rose as she got closer to the ground, until a strong gust of wind rose to bolster her. Judging by the way it was aimed under her mount’s wings, clearly aiming to stabilize it, a mage was controlling it. They could only slow her descent, though, not stop it completely.

It wasn’t enough. The impact would still do damage, and the ground was coming much closer. Regina held her breath, watching.

She almost missed what happened next, it was so fast.

A familiar figure appeared close by Helen’s falling form, just above the ground, for an instant. A portal winked into existence.

Directly under the falling enemy psychic.

Regina didn’t know if she had enough time to register what was happening. One moment, she was falling, the next she disappeared through the portal.

Iseis disappeared with her. At least from the senses of all the drones present in that area.

Regina slumped back, shaking her head. “Well, that was close,” she muttered.

Then she reached out again to find where Iseis went. She’d need help handling Helen.