The world watched as the battle drew near. The Legion had shown up in force: half a million strong, all with their synergistic classes and overlapping buffs. Then all of that was doubled by the Legate. His class feature was to double the effectiveness of all Legion class buffs in any battle he participated in.

  Then there were the allied dungeon forces. Only eight celestial-aligned dungeons had deployed aid. Each had sent a single ancient dragon to assist; the rest of their forces were still fighting across the land.

  Then there were the allied nations. Each of the ten nations had sent twenty thousand elite troops, including mages, archers, assassins, saboteurs, and renowned berserkers.

  Despite this unprecedented coalition of power, Maximus Aurelius was not confident. He was the Legate, the Dragon Emperor. He had conquered dungeons and faced threats that most mortals would balk at. But something about the current fight rubbed him the wrong way.

  The Demon Queen strode across the land, spawning a nearly endless tide of demons in her wake. They would arrive first. No matter how elite his forces were, he knew they would reap a toll.

  The Demon Queen herself was also an oddity. She was by far the largest demon royal on record.

  As the demon hordes began to dot the horizon, he called the allied army to attention and ordered everyone to form up. There would soon be much bloody work to do.

  That was when a woman, possibly elven, stepped out of a beam of light.

  "Your majesty," the woman greeted with a curtsy. "I am Rey, Envoy of the Vitalmire Crucible. I have come at my lord's behest."

  "For what purpose?" Maximus asked, his voice rough from long hours of disuse and unease.

  "To offer aid," she responded. That was when her forces melted out of the light and shadows behind her. "We may only number two thousand strong, but we make up for it in quality. We also bring with us about ten thousand war trolls. They are equipped in heavy plate and have already been placed on the front lines to act as wave breaks."

  "You would act without my orders in a battle I am leading?" Maximus asked curiously. "What if you disrupt my plans?"

  "If you use trolls for anything other than dumb muscle, then you are misusing them," Rey countered. "My two thousand troops, on the other hand, are half winter cultivators and half summer cultivators. They are all around tier twenty-five. I am tier forty-nine."

  Maximus nodded. "So your claim to be elite is no idle boast. Despite that, I hope you don't mind, but dungeon mobs are more expendable than the lives of my men. Cultivators of your power should take up the left flank. The demons will be near endless so long as the Queen lives."

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  "No offense taken," Rey assured. "We are but the vanguard, sent ahead to state our intent. More forces are coming, and they are more bestial in nature." With that ominous warning, the fey vanished, using their odd techniques to move to their assigned locations.

  "Just another drop in the bucket," Maximus sighed. "I mean, they will certainly help, but even they can't hold the line forever."

  That was when he heard an impact behind him. A humanoid ant with wings had slammed into the ground behind him. It had landed in a crouch and slowly rose. Power pulsed from this being.

  "I am Antionette," she introduced. "I am from Vitalmire. I am here to fight."

  "And what is it that you do?" Maximus asked.

  "You may attempt to read my status," she permitted as she stretched. "I need some place that will be relatively safe to set something up."

  Maximus spread his arms wide. "This area is the command area. If the enemies reach this far, we have already lost."

  With a nod, she began to excavate a hole. As Maximus attempted to view her status, he was hit with a massive wall of text. His mind reeled from the influx of information. Antionette began spinning a cocoon in the hole she had dug as Maximus tried to parse through her abilities. His mind grasped onto one thing though: [Unique Existence].

  His heart skipped a beat. He knew that passive, as he too had it. Excitement surged through him, but before he could speak, she finished the cocoon.

  "I'll be back," she declared before launching off into the air.

  Maximus watched as she launched herself into the demon lines. The impact shook the ground. Ranks of demons were reduced to red mist as Antionette slammed into them. With a visceral cry of rage, she tore into their ranks. For ten long minutes, she forced the lines of demons to stop and contend with her violence. But even such fierce warriors could not last forever. Eventually, she was buried under a tide of bodies.

  Then the cocoon near Maximus began to rustle. Antionette crawled out of it, whole and freshly reborn.

  "They were weaker than I expected," she mused as she crawled out, her body dripping with fluids. She returned to mending the cocoon, presumably to start the process over again.

  "How many times can you do that?" Maximus asked, shock stirring in his spirit.

  "How many times will it take?" she answered.

  As he contemplated that and tried to break down more of her abilities, the ancient dragons unleashed their breath attacks. Eight breath weapons were honestly a bit overkill, but Maximus assumed they were feeling self-conscious after Antionette's display. Ranks upon ranks of demons were simply unmade.

  "This battle is a marathon, not a sprint," Maximus warned. "I will be days yet before the Queen actually gets here."

  "Then I will continue to fight for days," Antionette responded bluntly. "My master bid this Demon Queen death, and I will not rest until that has been accomplished."

  Her wings had finally dried enough, so she launched herself back into the tide of demons. This time, she used an ability in the time she bought.

  "I am Queen of swarms," she intoned the incantation. "Where I am, so too is my army."

  The ground rumbled as the ability triggered. Holes tore open in the ground, and ants the size of horses poured out, flowing into the tide of demons. Uncountable numbers of dungeon ants appeared and followed Antionette's command, climbing over each other to reach the demons faster. For the first time, Maximus did not feel hopeless.

  "What kind of monster is this dungeon to create something like her?" Maximus Aurelius asked, his blood singing for the first time in ages.