Chapter 675 - The Siege pt 20
Titus watched the battle unfold from the rear ranks of the Legion column, his experienced eye catching numerous flaws in execution that any outside observer would fail to notice. He couldn't prevent the slight twitch of his eye at the sight. They can't help it, he reminded himself, his Legion was still green, not used to working together and lacking proper drill experience. The auxiliaries were even worse, though it was more common for the shock troops to show such a lack. Former prisoners slated for death, they hadn't come from the best stock, even so the Legion had turned them into viable soldiers, given them a family, a purpose and the dignity they had lacked most of their lives.
"Don't pull that face, commander, I can see it too. Don't you worry, I'll give them a proper tongue lashing when they get back."
Titus turned to his side where the commanding officer of the auxiliary detachment stood, doing much the same thing he himself was, looking over the field of battle, seeking flaws in both sides of the conflict.
"Your unit is relatively fresh into the field?" he enquired.
Waving a gnarled claw, the former human turned to one side and pulled a towel from beneath his robes, which he then used to wipe the slobber from his distended jaws.
"Pardon, commander. I figured you wouldn't want a shower as well as a conversation!"
A wheezing chuckle emerged from the auxiliary which threatened to do just that as a spray of sizzling drool launched from the back of his throat. Titus glanced down and saw that little was left of the towel, most of the fabric already being melted away.
"Cloud salamander?" the commander asked.
"Spot on! You know, most people think the acid came from a bile monster or some such. Terrible eating! I'm far too classy to be caught feasting on Biomass such as that!"
Once again the wheeze and cough which passed for a laugh, followed by another spray of hissing fluid.
"We lost a lot of people during the last wave," he continued, "fresh recruits get shoved into the mix with hardly a 'how do you do' and we need to whip them into shape faster than you can blink. It's not easy, but I think we've done fairly well."
Titus nodded. If what he was saying was true, then the many tactical lapses he saw were understandable, generous even.
"It's hard for us once we get in the field," the auxiliary commander went on, gesturing at his own facial appendages, "communication isn't our strong point at the best of times. If I start barking orders at my troops I'm likely to melt half of them!"
Wheeze. Cough. Spray.
"So we'll give them a full review once we're done. The blood will have cooled by then. Once the monster gets into you, the urge to fight is always there, after all."
"Your sacrifice is honoured, commander."
The once-human shrugged his massive, misshapen shoulders.
"It's nothing. Not like I was doing anything worthwhile before I enlisted. No need for the title, just call me Ristos."
Titus nodded.
"Ristos then. Your troops don't appear to have listened closely to the briefing. I can see many moving to engage the abomination in direct combat. I believe they were instructed to avoid that target, it's too strong for them."
Wheeze. Cough. Spray.
"Some of us are a little hotter in the blood than others, shall we say. When they hear there's a big bad monster out there, they want to show that they're bigger and badder, you know? It's something that happens, I've seen it a lot over the years. That's why auxiliaries who can't overcome the urge don't last long. Oof. There goes another one."
The ant in question had reared back and unleashed a brutal chomp, crunching the opponent in front of him into a mangled mess in an instant.
"Stupid waste of Biomass," Ristos sighed. "Don't matter how you warn them, some people just too stupid to live."
The commander rolled his shoulders and turned back to his own Legion. They continued to support the assault with long range fire and medical assistance, dragging the wounded clear for healing and pounding the ant's shields with an endless barrage of spells and arrow fire. It wasn't like they could miss. There must have been twenty thousand ant monsters packed into the tunnel in front of them. The rows of the enemy were so densely packed from floor to ceiling that the imposing metal gate (the second damned gate!) was almost totally invisible.
He still felt irritated by the existence of that imposing ant head studded metal monstrosity. If he'd known there was another, he'd have been much more reluctant to step out of the battle. It wouldn't have swayed his decision in the end. Morrelia had to survive, that was the end of it. He could still feel his body protest when he recalled the blow he'd unleashed to damage what had turned out to be the outer gate. It had been a long time since he'd been forced to unleash his Master Axe Arts and the strain had been severe. The mana saturation in his cells was still too low to channel Skills of that magnitude, though age may have also played a factor. He wasn't exactly in his prime anymore, and hadn't been at his peak strength for some years. The surface would do that to a person. Not even the mana tonics were enough to stave off the decay.
Almost by habit, he checked the ambient mana and then was forced to stifle a sigh. It was still rising. The wave could come anytime now. Might be a few days, might be in an hour. The ants had done everything they could to delay the Legion advance and if they were lucky it might just pay off. Titus pushed it from his mind, he wouldn't stress over things he couldn't control, that was a quick way to burn out in the Legion. Besides, if the waves kept coming at this pace, everyone would have much bigger things to worry about than an ant colony. A second cataclysm, the rising of the ancients. If it came to pass as he suspected it might, he may just need to get back into top shape. Just the thought of baring his axe at one of the nineteen strongest monsters in the Dungeon was enough to get his blood pumping.
"Tell your people to push harder, Ristos," Titus ordered, "In five minutes I'm going to order my ranks forward and you'll have a chance to rest before the next engagement."
"Right you are then commander," the half-monster saluted before he turned and loped forward through the column to relay his instructions.
An experienced and able ally was always welcome in Titus' book, even if he did threaten to melt your face off every time he laughed.
-x-X-x-
Coolant and Sloan watched, gobsmacked as the fight unfolded before them. At first it seemed as though everything had gone well, after Grey had walked out and spoken with the Golgari, the kneeling form of the Shaper, Granin, had risen to his feet, had his bindings broken and painfully jogged his way toward the gate. It was clear at that point that the negotiations had been a success. In the distance, the small camp the golgari had erected was disassembled by the mages and the two figures of the noble and Grey stood a slight distance apart, both of them watching as the newly freed Granin made his painful way to the nest.
When he arrived the gate was pushed open slightly as a few ants emerged to welcome him. Mage ants all of them, they reached out with their minds to reassure him before leading him inside where he was sure to be greeted and cared for by the two who had pled so strongly for his life. Against the odds, their wishes had been granted and their mentor had been returned to them, all that was left was to witness the outcome of the battle.
"How do you think it will go?" Coolant asked her more martially knowledgeable sister.
Sloan started, her concentration broken.
"Sorry, what?" she said, distracted.
"Who do you think will win?" Coolant tried again with patience.
The general turned slightly toward her sister.
"How on Pangera am I supposed to know?" she sounded exasperated. "I don't know their levels or Skills even slightly! From what we know, they don't even evolve, so I can't judge from their physical forms or mutations. What am I supposed to go on?"
"They have classes," Coolant offered sagely, "their species doesn't change, but they have a 'class' that gives stats per level. You should know this much."
Sloan shrugged.
"I know it, of course I do," she jabbed a leg toward the two figures in the distance, "but I don't know what their classes or stats are, so I can't possibly make a prediction."
"Does it really matter to us? Who wins I mean."
The thought hadn't occurred to Sloan and she contemplated for a moment as Grey and his opponent began to move, walking apart until there were five hatchling lengths between them. Did it really matter? She had obviously wanted Grey to win, since he was more or less on the Colony's side, though he had gone to some lengths to conceal his motives and opinions from the Colony. They certainly knew nothing of his true strength. Ultimately though, with Granin released to their custody, the outcome of the duel didn't seem to be all that important. The Shaper was only relevant to the Colony because of his connection to the Eldest, nothing their lives depended on. If Grey could win though... that might take an important piece for the golgari off the table. With this, the most powerful of their number removed from the battle, the odds of holding off the rock-people until the wave began improved dramatically.
"If Grey wins, our position will be much stronger. Also, he is an ally, of a sort. It would obviously be better if our allies are stronger," Sloan reasoned.
"That's true," her sister agreed and the two settled in to watch as the distant figures bowed to one another in a strange display of etiquette before they both took a pose.
The golgari had dispensed with his sheath, the glittering blade of stone shining with the same potent energy that rippled through the hardened 'skin' that coated his body. No armour was worn for this duel apparently, the noble had dispensed with it, revealing his true skin for all to see. The stone was streaked with golden rivers of mana that rippled and flowed as he moved, casting light around him in a dazzling display of power. Whatever mineral or ore had been used it was clearly top shelf, Sloan had never seen anything like it. She wagered Smithant would give an antenna to study it for five minutes. The sword itself was slender and curved, but long, perhaps as much as two meters. Held in the grip of the giant warrior, it looked sharp and deadly, a precision implement of death. When weighed against Grey, unarmed and far smaller, dressed in a humble robe with his claws unsheathed, it didn't look favorable for him.
When it began, Sloan could have sworn that she'd missed it. One moment the two were still as statues, watching each other for the slightest movement, the next they had shifted. It was as if they had vanished from where they stood and reappeared in another place, dispensing with the hassle of traversing the intervening distance.
So fast!
Several more times the two of them flickered until finally they clashed. The poor eyes of the ant general caught the impact a second after it happened. The golgari had rushed forward, his entire body a blur as the great blade had come down in an overhead chop. The energy infused in the blade was so great it felt to Sloan as if a thousand tons of rock was descending on Grey at the speed of a lightning bolt. Inescapable. Unfazed by the danger, Grey had swung both hands from right to left, his claws blazing with light that had extended outward and clashed with the blade, diverting it to the side.
The stone shattered under the force of the impact, shards flying as several tons of rock disintegrated. With his opponent unbalanced, Grey lashed out with his claws, once, twice, thrice, almost too fast to see before he danced back out of reach, both hands extended. The noble golgari took his time righting himself as he gripped the hilt of his sword in one hand, using the other to brush dust and stone from his skin. Whatever material he was coated in, it was clearly tough as nails, not a scratch could be seen on him.
The two exchanged a few words which Sloan and Coolant couldn't hear before they once again took a ready stance, giving the two ants a chance to process what they'd seen.
"What the hell was that?!" Sloan gasped.
"Did you see the mana packed in that sword?!" Coolant was shocked. "That was insane! How does it hold that much?"
"Did you see the speed?"
"The power..."
It was clear then to the two council members, that outside of the Eldest and possibly the Queen herself, there were none who could hope to stand against individuals as powerful as these two. Indeed, no matter how many tier three ants they were to throw at the two combatants before them, would it really matter? In the face of this kind of condensed might, only an individual of equal strength would suffice. Unless they could cultivate warriors of comparable ability themselves, the casualties they would suffer to bring down these exceptional individuals would be obscene. And who knew? Were creatures such as these two even that rare in the depths?
-x-X-x-
Grey and his opponent, the High Blade Kooranon Balta, studied each other, their experience and observation Skills provided a constant stream of information as they continued to feel each other out. Using his rank five Keen Eye, Grey could see every muscle twitch, every exhalation of breath in excruciating detail. The golgari wouldn't be able to twitch a toe without the wolf-folk being able to tell him how many millimeters he'd shifted it. Not just sight, every sense was pushed to the limit of his ability, Skills and his natural advantages as one of the folk ensuring that nothing took place outside of his notice.
Experience was what allowed him to filter that information, to disregard that which wasn't important. He could smell the ant pheromones that blanketed this tunnel, smell the blood and ichor of those that had fallen beyond the gate before him, but ignored those, all that mattered was the battle.
He centered himself as the great warriors of the Folk were trained to do, balanced his mind against his instinct to find the proper equilibrium. Almost reflexively, so ingrained was the technique, Grey began to circulate the mana inside his body around his center, creating a flow that empowered his movements and hastened the absorption of energy throughout his body. It had been so long since he'd fought in a high level duel such as this. The old familiar feeling had begun to stir in his veins, the impression of being on the hunt. The wolf within him had begun to bare its fangs and he allowed the sensation to wash over him, acknowledging its presence but he did not embrace nor dismiss it. Equilibrium was his safe harbor.
The High Blade mastered his breathing and once more began to exert his aura. Powerful and domineering, it swept through the air and attempted to crush down on the wolf-kin, intimidating and robbing him of strength. As before, he did not resist it, but instead let it pass through him. Such childish tricks were a waste of precious energy in a duel and would have no effect on him. The fact that the High Blade insisted on attempting it displayed a lack of experience.
"You will yield to me, beast," Balta said, confidence dripping from his large frame. "How many of your kind have fallen to my blade already? You are just another notch and you don't even know it."
Anger flared in Grey's heart. The war between the new and old races of Pangera never really ended and conflict between the Empire of Stone and the Folk continued to this day. There was a chance that Balta had slain his people in the depths, it was true, but most likely it was just a taunt. He allowed the anger to sputter out. This was not the time for anger.
"You are a pup," Grey said calmly, "whining and snuffling in the dirt, waiting for the alpha to teach you the ways of the world. What are you waiting for? I'm right here."
The golgari's stone covered face twisted with rage and he lunged forward, the rock beneath his feet shifting with the force of his Dash. In a battle of this level, there wasn't time to think or ponder, no consideration for the next move. It was a realm of highly trained reflexes so fast and automatic that an argument could be made the brain wasn't involved at all. Grey threw himself into the battle, refusing to direct or control his body to strike. He didn't need to, it would strike all by itself. He and his instinct were one and the same.
He Dashed with his right foot only, rotating his body as his left activated Meteor Slash. Stamina and mana drained out of him through his claws as the Skill activated and manifested in the air. Enhanced by the rotation of his body, the five jagged cuts streaked through the air at a speed faster than even his eyes could follow. As predicted, Balta had charged directly forward, relying on his toughened body to absorb whatever Grey could unleash, yet once again he had been underestimated. With a loud crunch, the slash impacted the golgari's side and threw off his balance enough that the destructive overhead strike flew past its target by centimeters.
Breathe. Then flow. The wild joy in his heart surged and Grey allowed his lips to peel back in a savage snarl, baring his fangs. His body continued its rotation, completing the full spin in an instant whereupon he slammed both feet down and charged. Mana swirled in the air and within his body as his hands fell inward to rest at his h.i.p.s. Dash. DASH. DASH. Three times in less than a second he executed a perfect micro dash, bringing his speed up to a dizzying height as his hands concentrated stamina and mana. Unleashing his named Skill, he thrust both hands forward, palms up and claws extended.
Pierce the Wall!
The light from each claw unified in a single fang that shot outward from his thrust and dug into the side of the noble.
The golgari wasn't without his own Skills. Unable to bring his blade to bear in time, he activated his own Dash to take momentum from the strike as golden streaks of metal on his skin slithered together toward the point of impact. Just before the moment of impact, Grey noticed the telltale shimmer of a shield around the frame of the noble, then his Skill landed and blew the body of the golgari away.
He wasn't finished though, despite how much that must have hurt. As he blasted out from the point of impact, Balta rotated his body to protect his head before he slammed into the roof of the tunnel and felt the rock shatter around his frame. Even from that position he was able to fight back, his free hand gripped the hilt of his living stone blade and he used it to send a wide defensive slash toward the beast as he freed himself from the stone. Contrary to his opponent's expectations, Grey did not choose to follow up on his advantage, instead, he chose to be patient. Eyes wide, he studied everything. How hurt was the golgari? How effective had his strike been? At the same time he focused on regulating his breathing and ensuring his state of mind was not disturbed. It had taken a long time for him to learn the necessity of resisting his urge to chase, but it had been a valuable lesson.
As Balta dropped back to the tunnel floor, Grey flexed his hands and shook out his legs, ensuring he remained as limber as possible.
"That's a very tough mineral you have bonded to your skin," he observed conversationally, "quite a rare find."
Balta sneered as the light glittered on his true skin.
"We prize the stone above all things, beast. Naturally the best ore is destined to fall to the best of our people."
He was unbalanced to his left side, Grey was sure of it. The moment he detected the weakness his pupils dilated and the breath caught in his throat for the briefest of moments, then it passed and he was in control once more. It was unfortunate, but in that moment he lost control of his bloodl.u.s.t, the murderous aura of the hunter had surged out of his body and judging by the expression on the noble's face, he had sensed it. It was almost funny. Balta had been so willing to call him a beast as a taunt, not realising that the description was quite apt. Grey was a beast, and Balta was his prey.
A wide and feral grin stretched across Grey's face as he accepted the rising tide of the wolf within.
"Naturally," he growled through his exposed fangs, "and I suppose you won that ore by your own hand? Did you Balta? Or did someone else buy it, like everything else exceptional about you?"
The mix of fear and outrage on the noble's face was like ripe wine on Grey's tongue and he didn't wait for a reply before he lunged forward. The golgari responded with excellent reflexes and high level Skills, slashing out once, twice, thrice with his sword in the blink of an eye. The sword light howled with malevolence as it carved through the stone floor of the tunnel, but Balta paid it no mind. His foe had dodged at the last possible moment, he had sensed it. His eyes flickered as he tried to track his opponent but the aged wolf had gotten even faster than before and his instincts were yet to catch up.
He never saw the final blow coming. Grey had leapt above the sword blows and used his shifting cloak to blend with the stone behind him. In a battle of this level, losing track of your opponent for an instant was ten times longer than they needed to end the fight. Focusing hard on his inner self, Grey breathed and shoved hard with both feet. To the outside observer, it looked as if the wolf-kin pushed off thin air, descending on his unaware opponent like a fanged comet. A vortex of mana and stamina formed in front of him and he rotated his body to give it more speed and power. When he reached the High Blade, he sent all of that energy driving into the giant, rock covered frame with the points of his claws.
BOOM!
The stone around them shattered like porcelain as Grey drove his foe deep into the ground. By the time his attack had dissipated, he found he had buried the golgari in ten metres of solid rock. As he had no personal grudge with this foe, he ensured that the noble still lived before he hauled the fellow up and carried him back to the tunnel floor. Once there, he lay Balta down on the ground so that he might be collected by his people, turned and began to walk back to the nest.
A nice little fight. Just enough to whet the palate.
-x-X-x-
Chapter 678 - The Siege pt 23
At least those crazy malformed humans were good for experience. Whatever the Legion did to turn them into... what they were, they certainly seemed to lack the finely tuned discipline of their more regular compatriots. After I'd demonstrated the ability to rip into them using my Doom Chomp, cutting down several at a time, they continued to come, almost ant-like in their eagerness to sacrifice themselves for their allies. If they'd just fought defensively, been a bit more cagey in front of me, then I wouldn't have been able to hit their numbers even half as hard as I did in the end. I've not been paying attention to the notifications that Gandalf has been whispering into my ear, but I'm sure I must have racked up three levels from these clowns by now. If they want to throw experience at me, I'm more than happy to take it!
Although I'm a little tired from having to use the draining Doom Chomp so many times, which was possibly their aim.
It doesn't look like I'm going to get time to rest, either. When the bizarre creatures pull back from the ant line, they slide expertly through the perfectly aligned ranks of heavy armored Legion soldiers waiting behind them. The moment the way is clear, the ranks reform into a solid wall of shields and blades that begin to close with us at speed.
"Bring up the humans!" comes the call from the generals huddled close to the front. The words are repeated all the way up and down the line before being passed through mages to the human antmancers dotted throughout the battlefield.
With an enthusiastic roar, the first real sound from our side of the field, the human volunteers and the robed figures of Beyn and his true believers take their places in our formation. A half-second before the two forces collide I feel the rush and surge throughout my body as the potent buff rolls through me from the nearest Antmancer. I see every ant around me stand a little taller, a little firmer, as their stats get a healthy bump from the aura effect. It's needed too, without it, most soldiers simply aren't able to stay in front of the more powerful Legionary soldiers for long. For me? It makes me a real pain in their backside.
The nice thing about the aura provided by the antmancers, is that it doesn't cancel the benefits we gain from the generals, so that's nice, but also that the stat boost they give affects all stats. Which means my brains get that little edge they need to be able to handle the construct I have spinning without me having to interfere with the main mind nearly as much. Gweheheheh. It might not be much, but I'll take every advantage I can get in this contest for the survival of my family.
The two lines smash together as carapace and mandibles contest against stone and steel. A shield is thrust in my face and a short sword flickers like a snake tongue, seeking my eyes. Always the eyes with these people! Is my diamond carapace so damn impressive that you've just given up on ever breaking through. With my antennae still functioning and my reflexes primed and ready I'm able to make small adjustments of my legs, shifting my head by a few centimeters in order to deflect each attempt.
Get out of here punk!
Firing my legs in a Dash, I surge forward with my head tilted to one side, using my 'shoulder' to smash into the braced shields. The new muscle augmentation isn't just useful for my mandibles. I've found that if I set my legs before a dash I can snap out with more power and acceleration than before. Which is certainly handy! Faced with my bulk, the soldier in front of me has little choice but to give ground as I crunch him back into the ranks lined up behind him. They brace together to absorb the impact, but I've gotten the little bit of breathing space that I wanted.
Eat steam!
I blast all of them in the face with a searing wave of steam as I wind my mandibles back and unleash a mighty Doom Chomp!
SNAP!
I feel my mandibles pierce and crunch but the lack of notifications tells me my attempt hasn't been as successful as it was with the previous wave of foes. These armored guys are hard nuts to crack! Especially when the ranks are packed together like this. The extended mandibles of dark light that manifest when I use the skill help to extend my reach, certainly, but they also spread the impact out across a half dozen Legionaries. When they all work together to absorb the blow, it becomes even harder to break through their defense.
I throw away the residual fire and water mana so I can start cooking up the lava mana again combined with a little earth mana. Hopefully I can make something good happen with this combo, I have a few good ideas.
"ROOOOAAAAAAR!!!'
The colossus of metal and muscle that is Tiny continues to be a pain for the Legion as he sends his devastating fists over the heads of the Colony members in front, smacking them in the face over and over again with his electrified punches. Crinis has retreated to the shadows once more now that she isn't needed to shore up that faltering section of the line, but I get a feeling we're going to need her again fairly soon. With the two forces confronting each other at this range, I know Invidia is working double time on the defensive end. I can feel the spells flying over my head with my mana sense, an endless flurry of magic that could cause incalculable damage to either side should one group of mages get on top. Even with all our numbers, the Colony is being suppressed in this area as more and more of the Legion mages find their range and pile on the offense. With Invidia throwing his enormous ability behind the mage-ants, the line is holding for the time being.
All I can do is keep battling away here in the front lines, using my body to protect my family as best I can.
Once the lines hit, the battle devolves into an endless tug of war as the two fronts smack into each other endlessly, shoving, stabbing and biting in an attempt to break the other. I continue to use every trick I have in the book, charging, biting, blasting with acid and lava as the fatigue starts to set in, even for me, but it never ends. The effort is unrelenting and neither side is prepared to back down. As the minutes grind past though, it starts to become clear that the Colony is being pushed back. The line is just too wide and I can't cover the whole thing at once. Wherever I and my pets aren't, the Legion pushes forward, wounding our soldiers, cutting them down and advancing one step at a time. Even deploying Crinis isn't enough to stem the tide.
Can that wave start already?!
-x-X-x-
"Something isn't right," Sloan suddenly scented out loud.
Coolant looked askance at her sister as the two of them continued to hang outside the second gate facing the golgari invasion. She could tell the general wasn't discussing with her but thinking out loud, so she remained silent and waited.
"They've formed up, but they aren't approaching us, why is that?"
One of the two ants most central to the Colony's planning of this siege was more than a little off-put when she saw something so out of her expectations. The force from the Empire of Stone had behaved almost exactly as expected right up until they started demanding honor duels in front of the gates. With the bizarre rituals of their people disposed with, Sloan had expected the golgari to return to their expected behavior and assault the gate. They were here to exterminate her family, were they not? How was that going to be achieved if they didn't attack? They were on the clock, after all. The entire strategy that Sloan and Victor had hammered out centered on the concept of their enemies working within a limited time frame. If the wave started before they had finished their task, they would be forced to retreat. They couldn't possibly hope to stand against both the Colony and a raging Dungeon filled with desperate monsters? Surely?!
Yet before her eyes, something inexplicable was taking place. Once their leader had been collected and returned to his troops behind the first gate, the golgari had forced the gate open wider and formed ranks, their soldiers imposing in their sheer size and mass. Not wanting to be caught unprepared, the Colony had deployed their own troops, along with the human volunteers and prepared for the confrontation. Except it hadn't come. According to her understanding of the situation, it should have begun immediately, yet here they were, several minutes later, still waiting for the enemy to take a forward step.
"Perhaps they're waiting for their leader to awaken? They seem quite rigid in their authority structures," Coolant suggested.
Sloan shook her antennae.
"They are an organised semi-military force who pride themselves on martial skills. I refuse to believe they don't have a second in command willing to issue orders to complete the mission. It would be insane to arrange the command structure in any other way. This is something else..."
The general stared, her twin compound eyes focused on the unmoving ranks of the golgari in the distance as if trying to penetrate their thoughts.
"Do you think their ranks looks thin?" she asked.
Taken by surprise by the change in topic, Coolant could only go still as she tried to assess the 'thickness' of the enemy soldiers.
"They seem well fed to me?" she said.
"And why didn't they open the gate all the way? Do you see the way it isn't fully open? They could probably fit an extra six soldiers to each rank through that gap if they pushed it open all the way. It doesn't make sense to create a choke point for their own troops there. It only makes it take longer to bring their soldiers to bear against ours. It only makes sense if there's something they don't want us to see. Something that they're hiding, out of our line of sight."
That made a lot more sense to the mage. She was instantly more alert, scanning the distance with her mind as well as her eyes.
"You think there is some sort of super weapon back there? Something we haven't seen and can't predict?" This was one of the council's greatest fears. They were young as a people and it was certain that those races and groups that had existed for hundreds, if not thousands of years would have innumerable pieces of wisdom that the Colony just hadn't had the time to experience. They couldn't prepare for the unknown, only acknowledge that it existed.
"... No," Sloan said, her eyes still scanning the distance.
Coolant was confused.
"Then what?" she said.
"... I think we've been betrayed."
So saying the general turned and dashed back within the nest as if a hundred golgari soldiers were at her back.
Within the nest.
The Queen clacked her mandibles in an attempt to dispel her irritation but knew it wouldn't succeed. Her conversation with the human, Enid, had been enlightening and had helped explain the exasperating behaviors of her children, but it did little to alleviate the frustration she felt at being treated like a grub. Out of deference for the concern of her children, she had agreed to remain within the nest to protect the brood in the event of a breach, a role that kept her out of the fighting altogether. If the battle came to the brood chambers, then it was already lost, she understood that much just from having the plans explained to her by one of the soldiers who stood guard. Still, she had agreed, only to find now how chafed she felt not being able to fight alongside her children. She felt as if her carapace were being scratched from the inside. A constant, maddening sensation that just wouldn't go away, no matter how she scratched at it.
Not for the first time, she stood, her six legs heaved her bulk from the floor, only for to her to slowly lower herself back down. She had given her word she would remain and defend the brood, so she would. No matter how much it grated her. Internally she vowed that her children would never extract another such pledge from her, no matter how they pleaded.
"How do you think the battle is going, mother?" Antionette asked, obviously nervous.
The two young Queens were anxious, despite being members of the council and privy to all the planning that had gone on, they felt helpless being unable to help protect their family. For the Queen's life had continued much as it always did. The Biomass reserves were brought to them, they ate, and then produced their maximum daily quota of brood. The brood tenders cared for and raised the young in the chambers, much as they had before. The only real difference in their environment was the huge chambers carved beneath the egg-laying space to house the hatchling who couldn't be transported to the surface nest for their academy training. Obviously, the Queen hadn't been able to leave on her regular hunting expeditions, another imposition that chafed her, but otherwise the three of them continued to perform their role for the Colony without pause.
"I'm sure it will be fine," the Queen soothed her daughter, patting her on the head with an antenna, "trust that they will work hard and succeed, just as we must..."
She trailed off, her antennae quivering.
At that moment, several soldiers broke into the chamber at high alert. A scout moved away from the others and approached the royal triplet.
"We have detected vibrations in this area, moving fast. Really fast. We aren't sure what's going on, but we want to be careful."
Antionette and Victoriant looked up at their mother anxiously and she tried to soothe them until she suddenly paused. She felt something. Something odd...
The Queen turned toward one of the walls of the egg-laying chamber and approached it slowly, her two antennae dancing in the air as she felt the vibrations in the air. As she drew near, a trickle of dirt broke loose on the wall, cascading down the rock to come to a rest on the floor. Then another. Then another. As she finally came face to face with the wall, the rock had started to quiver and shift, almost as if it were being pushed from the other side.
"Daughters," the Queen called, not turning around, "fetch the guards. All of them."
"Mother?" Victoriant called.
"Now, child," came the stern reply.
Suddenly, the wall bulged and the Queen leapt back to avoid the collapsing stone and dust that rained down when whatever it was finally broke through. Waving her antennae to clear away the dust, the Queen found herself face to face with the featureless, ringed face of a giant worm.
[I'm sorry,] she heard in her head.
Before she could respond, the worm lowered its face, the almost invisible mouth opening wide to crunch into the stone floor of the chamber and in a blink it was gone, burrowed into space between the rooms. With the bloated creature no longer blocking her view, the Queen was able to see the massed ranks of stone covered warriors charging toward the new opening and she reacted in the only way she knew how.
"FOR THE COLONY!"
Mandibles wide, the War-Queen charged into the breach.
-x-X-x-
Brendant dashed into the depths of the nest, the emergency pheromone trails screaming against her antennae with every step. The brood was in danger! The Queens were under assault! Every nerve in her body was on fire with desperate rage. There wasn't a single ant in the Colony who wouldn't put their life down to protect the brood, including the Eldest, and now they flooded from every inch of the nest toward the breach.
She burst into the egg-laying chamber to find a scene of utter chaos. Without any plan or strategy, the ants were racing forward to throw themselves upon the enemy any way they could. Brood Tenders raced up the walls and dropped down on the golgari from above, biting and tearing with their feeble jaws until they were dispatched by the stone people in short order. That didn't stop others from repeating the action and already the piles of dead and dying ants being dragged out by exhausted medics were growing into hills.
A member of the Council and graduate of the Eldest's own training program, Brendant knew she needed to be calm, needed to take control of the situation and establish some order, only then would the chances of a successful defense be maximized. She knew that. But when she saw the Queen, covered in wounds, thrashing and biting in the midst of the battle, she lost it. Her reasoning fled, replaced by her instinct and the next thing she knew she was face to face with the golgari, her mandibles cracked as she bit again and again.
What had happened?! Where was the Queen!?
She pulled back a moment and lifted her head, desperately seeking her mother amidst the heaving bodies still locked in battle. There! She was there! Somehow, someone had managed to get her to retreat. In glimpses caught through the legs and segments of ants that crawled over the top of each other to grapple with the invaders, she saw the Queen being tended to by healers as she stood, wounded heavily and dripping ichor on the floor.
"Hey-hey! You awake now Brendy?" A scent managed to cut through the chaos long enough for Brendant to catch the meaning.
Vibrant?
"You gotta do better than that Brendy!" her sister chided, "can't go losing your temper just because Mother had to fight. Not like she didn't want to anyway."
Suddenly she was there at her side, the massive and absurdly quick soldier who talked just as fast as she moved.
"Hi-hi! You look a little beat up, let me getcha!"
Those massive mandibles reached out to grasp hold of her thorax and before she knew what was happening, Brendant was being dragged away from the fighting.
"Hey! Vibrant, let me go! I can still fight."
"Hummmm," Vibrant released a meaningless, musical scent as she continued to haul her wayward sibling out of the fight before dumping her in front of a small team of medics and generals. "Got her out of there finally!" Vibrant cheered, "Get her fixed up alright? She couldn't bite a cheese wheel with her mandibles like that! What have you been doing Brendy? Trying to chomp their swords in half?"
Bewildered and confused, the soldier could barely process the rapid fire words coming out of Vibrant as the healers stepped forward, applying magic and regeneration fluid to her many injuries. Her carapace began to tickle as it started to stretch and flex, the damaged sections stitching shut at a visible pace.
"Vibrant?" she finally muttered, "when did you get here?"
"Pretty fast! We got word over at the gate so me and my team raced over here to help out. Everyone was pretty mad so we ran-ran super fast, I don't think I've ever run like that before. Good thing others did such a good job holding the breach, but the time we got here, the stony people hadn't gotten far at all!"
"What about the brood?" Brendant was desperate, "What about the young?"
This chamber was directly connected to the chambers above where the eggs were kept before hatching, and then above those were the myriad rooms reserved for the larvae. For a brief moment, even the irrepressible Vibrant was at a loss for words and she knew something was wrong.
"Tell me," she said.
Vibrant sighed, a scent rarely detected in her vicinity.
"We weren't fast enough," she said softly, "several groups of golgari were able to invade the upper chambers, they're still fighting up there."
A crushing feeling of despair and rage seized Brendant's heart as she thought of the young lives lost, but after a few seconds, the anger won.
"Come on, let's scour these sc.u.m from our home!" she declared.
"No-no you don't!" Vibrant said, tapping the wounded soldier on her still mending carapace. "You're in no shape to still fight. Me though? I'm still good to go!"
With a savage clack of her mandibles, the speedy soldier was gone, back into the thick of the fray and where she went, her loyal troops followed. Filled with righteous anger and the need for speed, they ploughed into the fight, leaping over the backs of their own allies to ensure they crashed into the golgari lines at full speed.
"FOR THE COLONY!" Vibrant roared and her followers echoed her cry as they impacted the front lines like a thunderclap.
The resurgence of Vibrant and her allies gave the Colony the little bit of breathing room they needed. Once Brendant stabilised her condition, she kept a cool head and began to organise the defense, a job that sorely needed doing. Gradually, the Brood Tenders were taken out of the battle, replaced by soldiers. Mage and scout support arrived and began to pepper the enemy from range. The medics were given more space to work and proper paths established for the transport of the wounded.
The battle still raged, but the Colony were starting to hold the line.
-x-X-x-
RAGE! RAAAAAAGE! That damned worm! How could he do this to us?! After everything we did for him?! He's food. FOOD I TELL YOU! If I ever get my mandibles on that worm I'll feed him to the larvae myself! The mere thought of the brood being destroyed by the golgari makes the mana in my body boil like the lava I'm spitting out of my mouth. He let them in to the egg-laying chamber?! With MOTHER?!
I'm so damned angry I'm going blind! I'm going to bust a vein at this rate! Is that even something I can do? Perhaps I'll be able to manifest it out of sheer anger, at this rate, I can believe I'll make it happen.
I channel my anger into the only positive avenue I have available to me. Chomping like a fiend and blasting my enemies with bolts of lava to the face! All I get in exchange is about seventeen sword strikes to the carapace and I think someone kicked me... Since Vibrant and her crew had to take off, things have gotten tense here at this gate, and when I say tense, I mean, real tense. The Legion is pushing us hard and the ant line has been driven back to within the shadow of the gate. Spells and arrows are smacking into the grand metal structure already, but so far the enchantments are holding steady and there's been minimal damage.
"Come on you slackers! Are you trying to live forever?!" an ant bellows from nearby.
"Victor! What the hell are you doing here?!" I cry.
"Trying to shore up the line! We diverted a portion of the troops from the other front to here, but they haven't been able to make up the difference. We need to go harder!"
I check my menu for a second. I'm getting constantly topped off with healing, pumping my regeneration gland on cool down and the Vestibule replenishing my energy. With all of the ants in the nest providing me with a portion of energy, I've been able to push well beyond the normal limits of my body, but even that has a limit. I've been chomping and throwing my weight around out here for a long time and I'm starting to feel it.
[Tiny! You got much left in the tank big guy?]
The giant ape has been giving his all in the fight since the very beginning and to be honest I'm not even sure how he's still out here swinging. In reply to my query, the exhausted and battered bat-faced gorilla flashes me a grin full of fire before he throws out another fist. I mean fist literally now, since he's long been out of the stamina required to activate his skills properly. His hands are a bloody mess by this point, but he doesn't flinch as he crunches his knuckles into the shields of the enemy over and over again.
[Crinis?]
[I'm running low on my reserves of shadow flesh, Master! They've been targeting my limbs whenever they can see them.]
Dammit.
[Keep pushing but don't take too many risks. I can't afford for you to take permanent damage.]
[You're taking damage...]
[What was that?]
[...]
That's what I thought. I let Crinis sulk on her own as she continues to operate as best she can. The Legion are a terrible matchup for her and she's done far more than I expected of her at this point. Instead of trying to saw the enemy apart, she's been disrupting as much as she possibly can, sneaking her tentacles out into the enemy ranks and grabbing ankles, shoving legs, doing whatever she can to blunt the offensive and help the front line hold up.
As I continue to battle with the Legionaries in front of me I feel another wash of healing flow over my carapace from behind as the healer who's been with me throughout the battle pops her head up once more.
"How's it looking?" she asks through the mass of scents.
"It's been better," is all I can manage.
She seems to take it in stride.
"Do I need to move back?" she says.
If the frontline needs to fall back then we need to let the healers and generals behind us know in advance. Even a few seconds is enough for them to uproot their positions and find a new bunker further back before we crawl backwards. Needless to say, this has already happened numerous times over the course of the battle. I give out a short, sharp laugh.
"The next time we retreat, we're going to be behind the gate, little one."
"Oh," is all she says before she sinks back below the surface of the tunnel floor to recharge her abilities.
I'd shake my head, but I'm already doing that since I managed to get a good grip on a shield for once. Gimme that! I pull the slab of layered metal to one side and unleash a blast of lava that coats the Legionary in front of me right across the chest plate. The stone there glows bright red from the heat as he falls back, releasing his grip on the shield before I can hit him again and the ranks close tight in front of me as another soldier steps forward to take his place.
Dammit! Irritated, I throw the offending shield back over the lines and reset my mandibles for another Doom Chomp.
"Watch it up there!" comes a strong scent. "You nearly knocked a human's head clean off!"
What? Raising my head just a little, I can see that it's true. At some point, Beyn has ended up behind me and I've darn near brained the man with that throw. Rather than be mad, the priest's eyes blaze with purpose as he seizes the shield with both hands and labors to lift it from the ground despite it being clearly too heavy for the man. I can already see him roaring out some nonsense or other, the pitch of his voice rising to seemingly inhuman levels.
Why do I get the terrible feeling I've created a 'holy artifact' or some other nonsense?
[Invidia, if you see a spell coming at the priest, don't work too hard to deflect it, alright?]
[Your siblingssss protect them mossst ardently.]
[So you're saying he'd live anyway.]
[Mossst likely.]
Dammit. I'm still mad as hell!
KEEP BITING!
-x-X-x-
Titus watched the battle unfold from the rear of the formation. The irregulars had formed up once again and begun to execute another charge. Using them as shock troops, charging, pulling back, charging again, was a brutally effective tactic the Legion had long made use of. It was hard on the half-monsters, in terms of effort and casualties, but it was a role they seemed to relish. The ants had held up remarkably well against the punishment, but as he had expected, they were being ground down.
In the distance, he could see the abomination buck and lash out with its mandibles, using its body to shove against the tide and try to push the Legion back, all to no avail. The auxiliary troops rammed into the gaps the regular Legionaries opened up for them and the ant lines were thrown back once more. Another wave of the giant insects flooded out of the gate, jaws snapping at the air in rage as they replaced those who had fallen and after a few minutes of furious fighting the order was given and the irregulars pulled back, replaced by the iron wall of the Legionaries who continued to relentlessly batter away at an enemy that outnumbered them immensely, but couldn't hope to match them one on one.
In a way, the ants had chosen a poor field of combat. Within the confines of the tunnel, their ability to maximise the effectiveness of their numbers was hampered. In a more open battleground, where they could flank or open up more fronts, their numbers would matter far more. Still, they hadn't had a choice. In many ways, he had to acknowledge the cleverness of whoever had coordinated the defence of the ants, presumably the abomination. This was the only plan that could hope to save them, and it had almost worked.
Had the wave come early, and he had been worried for some time that it would, he would have ordered his troops back to the base camp already. Orders were orders, but any commander who pushed to complete the mission and got their Legion wiped out would get hanged and deservedly so. Even now there was a chance, a narrowing window in which he would be forced to order the retreat, but it was so slim now that he felt rising confidence that this nest would be purged before time ran out.
It was likely the satellite nests wouldn't survive the surge of monsters from the third strata without the support of their most powerful members here, but just in case he would have his troops bunker down within the nest to ride out the wave. Once it was done, they could emerge and track down the remnants at their leisure.
"Looks like the gate is starting to take damage, commander," Aurillia observed from his side.
The other tribunes attached to his Legion nodded their heads, each of them an experienced head with decades of experience, they watched the fight with the air of hawks.
"After the next push, they'll probably fall back behind the gate and wait for us to break it down," Titus mused.
"Do you think they have another gate?" Alberton asked, the Loremaster having joined with his advisors. "They have two, why not three?"
"Judging by the size of the nest, I deem it unlikely," spoke up Meognus, a newly attached tribune, "but the possibility exists, as you say. If we find another gate, we'll knock that one down too. How else can we achieve our aim?"
The young tribune was a fresh promotion, placed within Titus' Legion for a bit of seasoning. He was a good soldier, but Titus found him a little green as a leader.
"Our troops are tired and drained, casualties are mounting and exhausted Legionaries make more mistakes," Titus spoke slowly, no judgement in his voice, "if there is another gate, we will pull back to give rest, water and food to our people. The men and women who put on the armour of the Legion are our greatest resource and they mustn't be wasted under any circ.u.mstances."
There were a few nods, but it was Alberton who protested.
"B-but..."
Titus silenced him with a glare.
"Under any circ.u.mstances," he repeated.
His friend turned his head away from the anger on the commander's face, his protest dying in his throat. 'What about Morrelia?' he'd wanted to say, but Titus had known his intentions before he finished opening his mouth. Despite appearances, Titus was desperately worried about his daughter. The thought of her in the clutches of these monsters was enough to make his blood boil and his stomach turn, but there was only one way within his power he could bring her back and so he would follow it to the letter and hope.
After a few moments of awkward silence, the other tribunes began to offer their own thoughts on the battle as it raged on. To the more seasoned officers, the cold, brutal calculation of war was evident in their observations. Discussions centred on the rate the monsters were slain versus the number of Legion casualties and how those numbers could be improved were had in quiet voices amongst them as various hypothesis were pondered. Such talks may seem inhuman, and Titus found new officers often struggled with them, but in reality, this was how a commander and his tribunes ensured aims were accomplished with the minimum possible losses. To do anything less than confront the harsh reality the Legionaries faced with unemotional logic would be an unthinkable abrogation of responsibility.
Over the next minutes, things played out much as expected. Though the abomination and the pets it had raised caused significant issues, they were not individually powerful enough to overthrow the course of the battle. It was lucky they hadn't had a chance to evolve again. Had the reincarnated monster reached the next tier, this fight would have been far more difficult. As it was, the next charge of the irregulars disrupted the ant lines enough that they were forced to pull back once more lest the Legionaries cut their haphazard formation to pieces. Acid and spells rained down on the Legion forces as they advanced more and began to batter at the gate itself. Without proper siege equipment, it would take some time to break down, but with the proper application of fire and water the metal could be warped and splintered. Throw in some good old fashioned whacking with sword and axe skills to provide some oomph and the job would get done.
The closer they got to breaking through, the more tense Titus became. He hoped he could trust the enemy to provide mercy to his only remaining child. Would they hold to their word and keep her safe? Or would they strike her down out of spite once the battle was lost?
So lost on his thoughts was the commander that he didn't notice the disturbance behind until Aurillia reached out to shake his arm.
"Titus!" she shouted, "look behind!"
Shocked at his own lack of awareness, the veteran turned to see something he had truly hoped not to see.
Green. The entire tunnel had turned green. Even as he watched, vines and leaves sprouted out through the Dungeon walls, transforming the darkness around them into an emerald sea.
"That damned tree!" Titus growled under his breath as he drew his axe in a tight grip.
"The Great Mother Tree feels much the same toward you," an unfathomably deep voice echoed out of the darkness. "You have made war on her and she does not forget, nor forgive."
"Your mother is a monster," Titus spoke flatly.
"Haaaa," a sound halfway between a sigh, a laugh and bending tree branch resounded through the tunnel, causing the leaves to bend and flutter.
A great figure stepped into the light, massive, as his kind always were, his head near scr.a.p.ed the ceiling of the tunnel as his thick wooden limbs were as far around as the mightiest of trees.
"What care do we children have for the origins of our parent? She made us, that is enough."
"She is spawned from the Dungeon," Titus replied, "that is enough."
A tense air had descended amongst the officers and those Legionaries around them as each of them stared at the newcomer. As if it sensed the hostility, the greenery had ceased its expansion and remained as it was, ominously writhing and twisting with every word that was spoken. At Titus' declaration, a rustle so loud it was almost a shout rippled through every leaf and the giant figure c.o.c.ked its head.
"She has told your kind she had no choice regarding the manner of her birth in this world," the giant said.
"Did she also have no choice in the lives she has consumed?" Titus didn't back down.
The giant shook his wooden head slowly.
"There can be no understanding between our people, this is old growth."
"Why are you here, Grove Keeper?" Titus demanded, "this conflict has nothing to do with your kind, or your damned mother."
From the abundant growth, more figures emerged, smaller and thinner, but nonetheless powerful, the bruan'chii formed loose ranks behind their Keeper.
"Haaaaa," that sound came again as the Grove Keeper looked down on them with ancient eyes, "you want something, so the mother will take it away."
He shrugged.
"She can be petty like that," he said.
The leaves rustled again with malicious glee.
-x-X-x-
The massed ranks of my siblings can only watch as the gate bulges and buckles under the immense weight of the pressure the Legion is applying. Exhausted and weary, the last fighting fit ants on this side of the nest stand ready for the final conflict. Once those gates come down, this will be the final stand. If the Legion manages to break through this point, they'll be able to separate into smaller teams in the narrower tunnels where we can't hope to apply the numbers needed to defeat them. They'll destroy the nest one piece at a time until they reach the brood chambers where the golgari are fighting and complete the annihilation of the Queens and young.
Looking around I can see that we've all been pushed to the brink. Almost every ant is carrying wounds but the healers are so tapped out they have to be selective where they apply their ministrations. I'm pretty sure I saw Beyn spitting blood a little while ago, even his legendary vocal endurance unable to go the distance. Tiny's hands have been healed a few times already and I can still see they're raw and broken. Crinis has lost almost all of her reserve flesh and Invidia is suffering the kind of mental exertion migraines I frequently experience after casting too many spells. Even so, we need to front up again. The gate booms and shudders as our enemies batter it down, but each second that passes is a blessed relief. A few moments to recuperate will do wonders for all of us. We're going to need all the energy we can get in a minute.
A strange silence descends amongst the collective ants and humans that remain. We watch the gate as it gradually breaks down, awaiting the foe to come together.
Elsewhere, in the brood chambers.
An Asura Bear was a cursed creature at its core. Truthfully, Sarah couldn't remember even choosing the evolution, so lost in the rage and fear was she at that time that it's possible she hadn't made a choice at all. Yet somehow, the form she had chosen was so devastatingly suited to her that it succeeded in tipping her over a precipice that had taken her a decade to climb back up. She could feel herself teetering on the lip of that cliff now, her psyche balanced on the edge of sanity and that pit of mindless violence in which she had dwelled. The problem was, deep within, it was so hard to care.
Next to her core, in the centre of her massive frame beat the asura heart, the powerful mutation that gave her species its name. It provided incredible strength, but at a cost. The heart fed on her negative emotions, her rage, pain and fear, magnified them, liquified them and send them pumping throughout her body until every inch of her frame was suffused with them. She could feel it now. The pain of betrayal, the anger of broken trust, the fear of losing herself again. She could feel it all echo through every cell of her body until she was drunk with it.
And it made her strong.
She could barely see the golgari in front of her, her vision had long since faded from red to black. There was a chance her wild swipes did just as much damage to the Colony as it did the target of her wrath, but she didn't, couldn't care. Maybe her eyes had been injured, or perhaps she was already so far gone that seeing what she hit just wasn't important to her anymore. Regardless, she could feel the devastation wrought every time she struck out. Flesh was parted, armour split, metal cracked and bones splintered. It was like wine on her tongue. Fresh Biomass between her teeth. She needed more.
There was pain, somewhere. Her entire body ached, but she couldn't tell why. It didn't matter. She could still swing her paws and bite with her muzzle. That was all that mattered.
The Queen watched everything from a distance with worry growing in her heart.
"Will she be alright?" she asked the healer by her side once again.
Frances clacked her mandibles.
"I don't know," the healer was uncharacteristically short, the stress of the situation causing her to constantly rake her antennae through the elbows of her front legs. "Mother, please retreat. We've not been able to fully heal you and this area isn't safe," she pleaded.
"I will not," the Queen replied, her tone sharp. "Cease treating me immediately and go help the others. The bear appears on the verge of collapse, why do you not treat her instead?"
"I cannot reach her, and even if I could, we can't be sure she won't just kill me on the spot. We've already had a number of ants wounded by her in this fight."
"And so?" The Queen demanded. "Is she not lost to her rage as she has been before? Why do we not help her?"
"We aren't strong enough!" Frances was growing exasperated. No matter how she tried, she was unable to persuade her mother to leave this dangerous area and it was making her desperate. "The only one in the Colony who could hope to stand up to friend Sarah is the Eldest and they aren't here!"
"But I am," the Queen stated and pushed herself to standing.
The healer watched her mother rise with growing horror.
"Mother, no!" she cried.
But it was too late, the Queen stepped forward once, twice, then waded into the thick of battle, the rampaging form of the bear firm within her sights.
Outside the nest.
"You won't retreat?" Titus asked.
"We will not," the Grove Keeper replied.
The standoff between the two sides continued as Titus weighed his options, his mind churning furiously. There were only two paths he could take that he could see. He could stand down, order his Legion to retreat, and possibly secure the release of his daughter in the process, or he could fight. He had promised not to take action against the Colony, and he would not, but the bruan'chii were another thing entirely. If they were able to hold off the children of the mad tree here, and the Legionaries succeeded in breaking into the nest, there was a chance they could still accomplish their goal. His grip tightened around the haft of his axe.
"You don't leave me with many choices," Titus ground out, his anger beginning to kindle in his chest as he weighed the lives of his soldiers in his mind.
"That is our intention," came the answer. "The mother will take everything from you that she can. So far from your metal mountain, there is nothing you can do to resist her."
"Is that so?"
Even as they spoke, the number of figures who emerged from behind the Grove Keeper continued to rise as more of his people stepped forward. Fortunately, there was only the one Keeper, the tree wouldn't be able to support more than that this high in the Dungeon.
"Haaaaa. It is so," the Keeper replied.
Titus brought up his axe so that he could hold it in a two handed grip.
"Let's find out then," he said grimly.
Deep in the Dungeon.
A chasm plunged downward, filled with an impenetrable darkness. There was no movement here, no living thing would dare set foot so close to the home of the hungering one. To do so was certain death, this was instinct so ingrained that it seemed as though monsters were now spawned with it. For a hundred years, no monster except those that had the misfortune to be born in the area had existed in this place, and those that were spawned here did not live for long.
From somewhere deeper, though it felt not that far away, an inaudible thump rippled outward, like a silent thunderclap. The wave of invisible pressure swept through the rock and the darkness, swept through the chasm and continued on its way, outwards through the strata.
Silence reigned once more.
For a few moments, it seemed that nothing would happen, but this was merely the calm, the storm was sure to follow. And follow it did. The mana in the area drained away rapidly, thinning to less than half of what it had been only a few moments ago, but then it came roaring back. Like the tide which retreats only to crash back in fury as a tidal wave, the mana flooded outward with a tangible roar, suffusing every rock, every twig with a dizzying amount of power.
Then there came a stir. Slowly at first, then with growing speed, the great chasm began to close. There was a great cracking sound as hundreds of tons of stone shattered into pieces, the two walls finally crunching together with a deafening crescendo. Then, after a moment, they parted once more. Visible here and there now that the dirt and rock had begun to fall away were massive, triangular ridges, each one stained a deep red. If an observer stood far back enough, it would be easy to guess what they were, teeth. Hundreds and hundreds of teeth.
An aura filled with a terrible madness exploded outward, driven by one, insatiable urge.
HUNGER.
-x-X-x-
When the gates finally fell, they fell with a resounding 'boom' that echoed from the walls of the tunnel. Might seem a little excessive to knock the damn things off their hinges, but that's what the Legionaries decided to do anyway. Perhaps they felt the width of the nest entrance was a reasonable width for them to engage in and I have to agree. The tunnel approach to the nest narrows as it approaches the gate, stays the same for a short distance before it opens out into the chamber beyond. To be honest, they're probably just happy not to see yet another gate waiting for them in the distance.
Once the gates are down, it takes the Legion a few minutes to reorganise their formation before they once again begin their approach.
Boom!
What the heck was that?! The vibrations of a colossal impact roll through the rock beneath my legs and my antennae waggle through the air in confusion as I try to pick up the source. It didn't happen within the nest, that's for sure, whatever it was that caused that, it surely originated outside the gates.
"Eldest! Can you sense what that was?" Burke rushes up to me.
"I'm trying to work it out," I reply distractedly as I focus on watching the approaching soldiers whilst reaching out with my mind.
The distance is too far for me to reach, even with my relatively high Skills, but there are definitely fluctuations in the mana further down the tunnel, behind the approaching force.
"I can't be sure," I respond tersely as I set my mandibles, "but it seems like something is happening at the rear of the Legion forces."
"Like what?!" Burke is baffled.
"How the hell am I supposed to know, Burke? Maybe put a scout on it?"
"There's an army between us and that location!"
"I noticed!"
The two sides have already begun to accelerate towards each other and I join my brethren, using all three pairs of legs to synchronise three separate dashes to achieve maximum speed.
*CRUNCH*
The two fully braced armies smash into each other as both sides activate their Skills, spells and everything else they have at their disposal. Armour and carapace are dented, cracked and splintered as neither side holds back any of their strength, the Legion on the precipice of victory, the Colony on the edge of annihilation. My carapace absorbs numerous blows in the first few seconds as weapon light blooms all around me. Only my future sight and heightened reflexes keep my antennae attached to my head as my body makes the minute adjustments necessary to absorb all the strikes with my diamond exo-skeleton. Precious diamond carapace. Where would I be without you? If I could, I'd kiss that precious stuff, but thankfully for my dignity such a thing is impossible.
By this point, my sub-brains are fairly cooked and I've released the omni-elemental construct, opting instead to deploy a simple gravity domain over as wide an area as I can, hoping the already tired Legionaries will suffer under the added weight of their armour. It's hard to tell what sort of effect it's having, but then again, it's hard to get a good visual of the battlefield when I'm doing the dirty work here in the front line. Shields and the flashes from enemy attacks are pretty much all I can see at any moment!
The fighting is savage and relentless as I chomp everything in front of me until my jaws ache with a constant throbbing pain and the barbs on my mandibles begin to crack and splinter. My regeneration gland is running dry again already and my helpful healer friend had to pop up and top me off within the first five minutes of the conflict.
"For the Colony!" the cry rises from somewhere behind me.
"FOR THE COLONY!" a thunderous wave of pheromones crashes through the battlefield, stunning my antennae with its intensity.
Within the egg-laying chamber, the Queen once again pushed herself to the forefront of the battle, shouldering aside the children who tried to block her way. She would not be denied by them, not this time. Unwilling to put up any real resistance to their mother's advance, the soldiers and generals gave ground the moment they felt her push against them. If she wanted to go to the front, none were prepared to go all out to stop her. What were they supposed to do? Fight their mother and drag her from the front whilst also fighting the golgari?
So it was that the Queen reached the place she had wanted to be, right by the side of the bear who appeared to be on the brink of death. Covered in wounds, her fur matted and dark with her own ichor, the friend of the Colony fought on as if she felt none of it, a seemingly never ending roar bellowing from her maw. The giant ant reared back, her antennae bursting into light so bright it chased away the shadows in the chamber before she unleashed a vast pulse of healing magic that swept through the ant forces, though a great chunk of it was absorbed by the bear.
Wounds visibly knit before her eyes as the body of the raging beast soaked up the healing power and regenerated itself, but the bear didn't seem to notice, no change came over her at all. The golgari certainly noticed. They had been on the verge of finally bringing down this monstrous entity, only for it now to get a sudden boost of health. Despair gripped their lines which was only made worse when the Queen activated her war form. Drawing energy from every ant in the room, she grew in size until she loomed over the enemy who shrank back from the mighty visage before them.
The Queen had changed from her fight with Garralosh. Unable to protect her children in that fight, she had taken steps to ensure she would not be found lacking in strength. Her daily hunts had helped to level her combat Skills, the extra Biomass she had taken in was spent to improve her body for fighting. Never again would she allow the enemy to bully her children.
"GET OUT OF MY NEST!" she roared.
Her mandibles glowed bright and manifested two enormous jaws that extended from her own before slamming shut, crunching the front rank of the golgari. With the Queen returning to the battle, the tide had shifted in the Colony's favour. After having matched the strength of the demonic bear for so long, and grinding out the battle against the endless ants, the sudden appearance of a powerful tier six monster was too much for them to handle and they began to pull back from the front, drawing their forces back into the tunnel through which they had come.
That's when things changed.
Sarah's endless roar of mindless rage had only grown louder as the fight had gone on. Now, she found nothing in front of her to rend, so she turned and lashed out at the first thing she saw. The claws raked down the side of the Queen and carved deep gouges in her carapace. Taken by surprise, the Queen was slow to respond and before she could turn her gigantic body another swipe ripped a chunk of exo-skeleton away, spraying the air with ichor.
"DEFEND THE QUEEN!" the Colony became frantic at seeing their mother attacked and rushed forward to protect her.
"GET BACK!" the Queen demanded as she faced down the maddened bear. "She does not know what she is doing!"
With her mandibles between them, she was much better able to ward Sarah away, lunging forward to ram the bear and put her off balance. Whilst it prevented her from taking any more serious wounds, everything the Queen did only seemed to drive the bear deeper into her rage, increasing her strength until her claws ignited with a murderous red light that seemed to tear at the fabric of reality, as well as fill the Queen's mind with gibbering voices of anger with every swing. The Colony watched paralysed in the moment as the Queen struggled to fend off the mighty creature, and the golgari, sensing a change in their fortunes, stopped their retreat and waited to see what might happen.
-x-X-x-
Grove Keepers were unreasonably strong. How exactly they were born, the Legion wasn't sure. They weren't monsters, as such, none of the bruan'chii were. They were not spawned of the Dungeon and unlike the ants, they weren't created by a 'parent' monster through the traditional means. This was why the Legion didn't really have a problem with the wood people per se, but rather their murderous, meddling parent. Naturally the bruan'chii were unwilling to sit by and allow the Legion to destroy the source of their entire race, and so conflict had ensued. Throughout the decades of battle, the Legion had learned many lessons, one of the most important being: Grove Keepers were unreasonably strong.
The gigantic tree creature brought one ponderous wooden fist down in an overhead smash that would collapse a house but Titus was undaunted. Timing his footwork perfectly, he Dashed to one side before pivoting and Dashing once more, forward this time, his axe raised to strike. The Keeper moved with deceptive speed and grace, pulling his left leg back and rotating his body to sweep his left arm in a wide arc to catch the commander before he could unleash his blow.
Without pause, Titus brought the axe down, using the enormous power of his wrists to divert the blade to the side where it collided with the offending arm, releasing a shockwave that rumbled the stones around him.
"Haaaa," the tree rumbled with its impossibly deep voice. "You are a strong one."
Titus reset himself, his eyes absorbing everything in an instant. The blow had been shallow, without the full weight of his Skills or Might behind it. Even so, he had carved a deep wound through the bark of his opponent from which leaked a thick, golden sap. The commander breathed deep, soaking the mana surrounding him into his body and sending it circulating through his mana channels at a furious pace. As if awakening to a craving he had long put behind him, no matter how much energy he poured into his body, it still wanted more. The amount wasn't the problem, but the purity. Once he had become acclimated to the mana in the deeper strata, the thin stuff this high up would never be enough to truly top him off. Nevertheless, he would make do with what he had.
He approached the tree with caution, unwilling to be caught off guard. With a flick of his wrist, his axe ignited with red light, a powerful aura rising from the blade. In an instant, the vines and growth around his feet lashed out from the wall, a thousand barbs reached for his flesh and sought to twist within his armour.
"HAH!"
With a mighty roar, energy exploded from Titus' body and the vines were incinerated to ash before they could reach him. Seeing the green growth burn sparked anger within the eyes of the Grove Keeper for the first time and he stepped forward, his body suddenly illuminated with thousands of runes and shone with green energy.
"This place has been claimed by the mother-tree!" the giant roared, pushing forward with both hands.
A wave of energy erupted from the keeper and the growth around them went mad as it drank in the power he emitted and exploded with growth. Twisted shapes of flowers filled with fanged jaws and vines as thick as a man with barbs that dripped with virulent, orange poisons erupted all around Titus within seconds, yet he did not retreat. He took a deep breath and poured his energy into the axe in his grip before he swung it in a wide arc around him.
A wave of force erupted from the edge of the blade that annihilated the growth in a ten metre radius centred on the heavy armoured Legionary. The Keeper hummed out a low growl and stepped forward again, drawing his hand back for a mighty blow. Titus' face bore no expression, still carved in lines of iron as it always was and he watched the strike come before he shifted his feet again and prepared to intercept it. The demon sealed within his weapon howled with glee as he slashed out once more, putting the weight of his armour behind the blow and grunted with satisfaction as he felt the weapon bite deep.
Still, Grove Keepers were known for their potent regeneration and Titus knew it would take too long for him to bring down the bruan'chii to stop his Legionaries from falling at the hands of the others. Instead, he delayed and hoped that the battle within the nest went well for his people. Determined, he raised his axe again and waited for the other to make the next move.
Within the egg-laying chamber, the Queen was stuck in a battle for her life. The enraged bear, though smaller than the Queen in her war form was still significantly stronger, the power of her rage driving her might to incredible heights. Whilst the giant ant was permanently on the defence, unwilling to unleash any bite that would deal significant damage to her opponent, Sarah did not hold back, attacking in an endless, mindless rush that never ceased. The Queen knew that this couldn't go on forever, there was only so much ground she could give, only so long she could drag out the fight, before her larger form expired and she would be reduced to her normal size. Without the bonus stats she gained from drawing on the strength of her children, she would fall quickly to the bear.
"Whatever it is you want to do, you need to do it fast, my Queen," Brendant warned her from nearby. "We will not sit by and watch her destroy you, friend of the Colony or not."
"There must be something we can do to reach her," the Queen argued, "haven't you done so many times before?"
"We have, but never have we seen her so far gone that she would attack us. It is what she feared would happen, but we were unable to persuade her from battle for long."
The soldier shook her head with genuine grief. Sarah had been a loyal friend to the ants and had bled for them many times during the invasion. Without her, the golgari would have done far more damage, and advanced far more quickly than they did. It pained her to see the bear lost to the madness she had feared for so long. Even so, she hardened her heart. There was no life, except perhaps that of the Eldest, that she would put before the Queen's.
"Get a mage!" the Queen demanded. "Connect my mind to hers. Let me try to reach her."
Ever ready to obey the commands of their mother, Advant didn't need to say anything before a small team of mages leapt forward to weave the necessary mind magic. In only a few seconds the connection was established and the Queen could feel her thoughts match with those of the once-human, Sarah.
[Sarah,] she called, [you do not need to fight.]
The maddened bear did not react, nor slow in its assault. Wild swings of those deadly claws slashed through the air and threatened to rip the Queen apart if she didn't dodge.
[We will not hurt you,] the mother of the Colony spoke again, [there is no need to embrace your rage.]
She searched the bear in front of her for any flicker of recognition, any hint of the person within, but she saw nothing. There was nothing to indicate that she had even been heard. It was difficult, unlike the meddlesome one, the Queen did not have the mastery over mind magic necessary to project her mind into another being's consciousness. All she had were words. Words, and actions. Instead of retreating, instead of trying to fend away the vicious claws that tried to end her life, the Queen did the unthinkable, she lunged forward. She didn't bite, or dodge, or defend herself at all, instead, she brought her antennae down on the bear's head and allowed her healing mana to flow through them whilst those dreadful claws tore into her.
"MOTHER!" Brendant cried in horror. "Attack!" she ordered, "get in there and save the Queen!"
[It's fine now,] the Queen paid no mind to her mounting wounds as she sought to reach out to the rage-filled soul in front of her. [You are safe, you are protected, you have done well.]
The ants swarmed forward to defend the heart of their family but the distance they had kept in order to respect the Queen's wishes cost them precious seconds. Again and again the mighty bear slashed with her paws and snapped with her maw until the Queen's carapace was cracked and rent. All the while the Queen continued to pour her healing magic into the other and repeat the same soft words of praise. As Brendant rushed forward to attack the bear and sell her life in the defence of the Queen, she was shocked to find that Sarah was slowing down. Her swipes became less damaging, with longer pauses in between and the deathly aura was fading from her claws. As one, the Colony's charge slowed to a halt as the Queen continued to soothe the bear, whose endless roar had finally begun to fade, receding until it was scarce more than a whimper.
The Queen was exhausted and on the verge of collapse, but she watched the light return to the eyes of the one who had helped save her children with joy.
[You are safe,] she said, [you are protected. You are home.]