The Mother Tree had a name. At least, she'd had a name. The memory was there, vague and distant, tucked in the recesses of her mind. She could recall that she'd had feet, and hands, and eaten food, though such memories were so faint that she couldn't really recall what it was like.
She'd done it, certainly, but how it had actually felt. That, she could no longer recall.
Birth, or rebirth, on Pangera, now that she could recall. The cold and heartless System welcome, followed by her awakening as a brand new life-form.
A plant-type monster. The sense of horror she'd felt was visceral, though now it was hard to relate to the person she'd been in that moment. Back then, the memories of being human, of being Rose, had been fresh. Trapped in a sightless, limbless form had been a nightmare. She hadn't even had a mouth with which to scream.
Roots and leaves had seemed so foreign to her then, strange and useless. How attitudes shifted with the times. Were she offered a human body now, she would reject it out of hand. The plant was superior to the animal in every way. She'd just needed time to realise it.
[Rosa Spina.]
That had been her species. Perhaps a play on her name? Had that been enough to convince the System to reincarnate her as a plant? Or perhaps her work as a botanist had been the deciding factor.
Regardless, those early weeks had been difficult.
People often think of the animal kingdom as brutal and heartless. They see wolves fighting, or bears clashing, or snakes stealing eggs and young from heartbroken birds and think of how tragic it all is.
The Mother Tree knew better, as had Rose.
There are vines that will strangle trees to death over the course of decades. Every plant is locked in competition with its neighbours every second of every day in a battle that will last until one of them succeeds and one of them dies. Competition for sunlight, for water, for nutrients in the soil. Never ending.
Inside the Dungeon, that battle played out too. It was faster, but no less merciless.
Her roots had pushed into the wall, seeking what every plant-monster around her had been seeking: mana. The more she had, the faster she grew, the faster she grew, the better she could compete.
Fear had thrilled her little plant heart the first time she had touched another of her own kind, several days after her rebirth. There had never been any hope of cooperation between them, that wasn't how things worked. That plant had probably been a sibling of hers, in a sense. They'd been spawned together at least.
Her first conscious act on Pangera had been to strangle that plant to death. Over a period of weeks, her roots had invaded, choking her neighbour out of the precious mana supply, which she stole for herself. As the monster withered and died, she had been quick to grow into the space made available, to claim it before anyone else could.
A lesson, an excellent one. She would repeat that action thousands of times over the decades.
Deep within her trunk, she felt her soul-space emanate with light. Could the massive tree smile, she might have in that moment. Her children were playing. As creatures of pure energy, they intermingled and conversed with each other using the language only those born of the same soul could understand. It warmed her cold, wooden heart.
As they felt her gaze fall upon them, the bruan'chii danced and waved, and her spirit waved back at them, sending them zipping around each other with glee.
So innocent, her children. Too pure for this world.
When she thought of how close she had come to losing them, she felt anger shake her branches. Even after all this time, even after all the strength and power she had accumulated, it still wasn't enough. Without the intervention of the ants, she may have been crippled.
Even now, her roots, buried hundreds of kilometres beneath her trunk, writhed with fury at the thought.
That there would be someone who dared to engineer an entire species to target her weaknesses. She hadn't encountered anything like it before. A million flowers across three strata hissed with frustration, but she soon settled herself.
The mana was rising.
Her tap-root already thrummed with power collected deep within the Dungeon, and soon, her entire root network would do the same. It would take time for her to recover the power she'd been forced to expend.
Regenerating after the assault five decades ago had been a long process, one that still wasn't complete. When her strength had fully returned... she would ensure that those who had tried to steal away her children would get their just deserts.
Until then, she would be patient. In all of the Dungeon, with its long-lived races, immortal monsters and slumbering Ancients, there were few who could be more patient than a tree.
-x-X-x-
Hanging out on the third stratum is uncomfortable, that much has been established. While I'm here, I may as well get something out of my time, but as a tier seven, there isn't a whole lot I can do to gain experience. I get a bit of Biomass, obviously, but the most important thing to mutate is my Altar, and I'm still not entirely clear on how the thing works.
As the mana level gradually rises, Tiny, Crinis, Invidia and myself stick to Colony territory, hunting and grinding as the Colony works itself into a frenzy around us. Farming the waves has become something of a Colony tradition, and this time around is shaping up to be no different.
I've no doubt that the already existing network of farms in the Shadow Sea are being massively expanded, but it's here on the Demon Plains that the biggest push is being made.
I had a chat with a few engineers when I walked past, just because I was curious as to how they were going to go about it. The main goal of the farms is to create an enclosed system wherein the monster spawns have a high chance of forming a core. Getting Biomass out of them is nice, obviously, but the dramatic increase in core inflow is the real prize of the waves if you ask me.
There are a ridiculous number of ants now, and more being born every day. There are something like twenty egg-producing nests now, each with three queens hitting their quotas daily. Thousands and thousands of eggs every week! The Colony is well on the way to reaching Super-Colony status!
I feel extremely proud of our progress. On Earth, there were some truly massive ant Colonies that we can compare ourselves to. A single nest, or Colony, of some species could hold up to several million individuals, a number we are rapidly approaching.
A super-colony is created when ants in multiple nests recognise each other as the same species, and therefore cooperate. For ants, this isn't normal. The pheromones of one Colony are usually too different after a single generation, so the children of a Queen will fight and compete against ants from the nest she was born in!
When this doesn't happen, when the children still recognise their parent nest as being friendly, they cooperate and act as one massive Colony. There were several of these on Earth, numbering hundreds of millions of ants and tens of thousands of queens. The largest was the Argentine ant super-colony, covering over six-thousand square kilometres, with capital B Billions of workers!
One day….
Anyway! The farms… it's quite interesting how they're going about it! Obviously, monster spawning on the third works differently than anywhere else we've attempted this. The larvae just pop out of the ground in truly absurd numbers, immediately start murdering each other until a select few survive to evolve. Then they kill each other and a few evolve. Then they kill each other and a few evolve. And so on.
Our research ants have determined that the ratio of larvae that survive to reach tier six is close to one in a million.
So wasteful!
The Colony has already succeeded in selective demon rearing. Picking out a promising larva and tending it to ensure that it matures, feeding it cores to fuel its development.
By far the biggest issue with demon evolution is that precious few larvae form cores before evolving to the second tier, but those who do, and then go on to survive to level five again, are waaay overrepresented in those who make it to tier six. Which is expected, since they have better evolutions. So how do we create a system wherein the maximum number of tier one larvae achieve a core?
The answer can be found on the Plains of Leng right now.
It's basically a multi-floored maze. The interesting thing about demon spawning, is that they tend to always want to spawn on the ground if they can. If you build a wall, they'll spawn on top of it, but not inside it, if you take my meaning.
So the engineers have fashioned a massive network of rooms, each roughly fifteen by fifteen metres. They've calculated that this is enough floor space to generate enough larvae that a tier two will be formed every five minutes. The hope is that the victorious monster will clear out the room, find no threats and therefore feel comfortable forming a core. By the time they wake, the next round will be ready to spawn, which they can farm up and evolve.
Here's the interesting bit. There's an iron grate on the roof, which will only open if a tier two pushes on it. An ingenious mechanism that utilises the latest in enchanting techniques to measure core strength. Impressive to say the least! And what do the demons find when they climb through? A whole new room, larger this time, connected to exactly twenty of the lower rooms. The floor here is made of iron, no spawning allowed, so only tier twos will make their way in here.
So what happens then? They fight each other! Over and over again until a tier three is created. Once the tier three has cleaned out the room, there's nowhere to go… except… you guessed it, up!
The next level, they find an even larger space, in which they fight, until a tier four is created! Then they climb up the final grate, ready to achieve freedom… except they get harvested by the Colony instead. If it's a particularly useful, or powerful demon, we may end up just recruiting them. Help them get to tier six and then move them into a city within our borders.
It's still a wasteful process, but the boffins crunching the numbers and doing the antgebra believe this is five times more efficient than just leaving the demons to spawn on their own.
The whole farm is enormous, covering well over a hundred square kilometres, and should produce a steady stream of demon cores. And that's just one of the farms. More are being constructed around the Roklu nest as we speak.
It's a fairly brutal process, especially when we consider that demons are rapidly approaching true sapience once they reach the fourth tier. In reality, this is simply a streamlining of the process we are already undertaking across the plains. Teams of ants scour the terrain between the cities for Biomass and cores, or plunge down into the caverns for it.
The demons themselves don't seem to care. As long as the larva spawning is uninhibited, they don't really mind what happens to their weaker brethren.
According to all reports, the spawn rate of larvae goes absolutely gang-busters during a wave anyway. Considering the entire floor of the stratum is a literal living carpet already, I honestly can't picture what it's going to look like.
Sadly, I'm not going to have to wait too long to find out.
-x-X-x-
Farming aside, I've got other things to worry about, namely trying to work out exactly how the Altar of Self actually works. I mean, I have the basic idea, it's not that complicated; the Will of the Colony flows through the Vestibule, is amplified by the Nave, feeds into the Altar and is consumed to help fuel my Skills.
Simple in concept, but there's a lot of variables I need to take into account. Which Skills use the most energy? How much do they use? How quickly does it replenish? What effect does it have on each Skill?
I need to put in a lot of reps just to figure out how it all works. By practising over and over again, I can develop the instinctual feel I need to make snap decisions and use the ability in battle.
The issue I have is that I don't want to be taking experience away from my precious pets. The three of them need a ton of experience to reach the next tier, and I don't want to slow down their progress in the slightest.
[It's fine, Master,] Crinis says, [you need experience. We can't take everything!]
Huh. She must have noticed me musing off to the side while the three of them hunt.
[Don't worry about it,] I tell her. [I've got my own stuff to work on, you three need the levels.]
[A-are you sure? I really don't mind!]
[Of course I'm sure! I wouldn't feel right if I stayed stronger than you guys. You need to hurry up and reach my tier!]
[Alright! We will!]
[That's the spirit.]
Crinis turns and rips into the demons around her with renewed rage and I'm happy to avert my gaze and continue to contemplate what I need to do.
I mean, better start with the basics, right?
There isn't much room down here in the tunnels, and whenever my three pets have finished pulverising the opposition, I have to pick up and follow after them, but there's enough space to test a few things.
Facing a wall, I pull back my mandiles, lock them in place and then lunge forward, allowing them to tear into the steaming hot rock in front of my face.
Crunch!
My impossibly hardened mandibles shear through the stone like butter, crashing together with a satisfying clack! Very nice.
I step back and take a look at my mandi-work, pleased with what I see. The ol' face hands are doing good work. Longer than before, they really have quite the reach now, snapping together metres in front of my face.
Crucially, I didn't activate a Skill with that chomp, so as impressive as the result might have been, that was down to pure physicality.
Next, I shuffle a few steps down, give myself a little shake and prepare for another bite.
Everything occurs as before, except this time, I try to draw on the energy boiling away inside the Altar of Self.
When I say boiling, I really do mean boiling. With so many ants running around the plains, and several demon cities within range, each with its own mega-nest built against the pillar, let's just say the Vestibule is absolutely humming with energy. It's to the point that I'm actively avoiding dipping into the stream, lest I get overwhelmed with the impressions from hundreds of thousands of ants.
My jaws slam together, but despite my best efforts, the energy, unlike the spice, does not flow. Hmmm, interesting.
So unless I'm actively using something System related, it won't work? Like, I can't just run and use the Altar to run faster, I actually have to dash?
Well, let's make this next test then.
I shuffle down another few steps and set my legs, locking my mandibles in place and getting ready.
Time for the VOID CHOMP!
As I unleash the Skill, the dark ball of energy manifests before my face, along with the mandibles formed of pure, black light. More than that, I feel the Altar surge with power, pouring out from deep within me and filling my mandibles.
The chomp immediately goes berserk mode, soaking up that energy and growing stronger and stronger before my mandibles smash shut with a colossal detonation!
I'd blink if I could.
Rock flies everywhere, along with ash, dust and flecks of magma. It looks as if a bomb went off in front of me as stone comes rumbling down, collapsing on the empty void that I'd created by vaporising the stone in front of my face.
Uhhhh. Whoops.
[Master?]
[Ah! Sorry about that, Crinis. Just trying to work on a few things.]
[P-perhaps work on them... outside of the tunnels?]
[... That might be a good idea.]
I don't really want to drop a thousand tons of rock and lava on our heads. No more bite testing. Not until later, at least.
As we move forward, the pets continuing to annihilate everything in their path, I reflect on the experiment.
That chomp drained the Altar of about a tenth of its energy, which feels like a lot. I could probably mutate it to increase capacity, but it only takes a few minutes to replenish with so many ants in the area. Something to consider.
Well, if I can't keep testing the bite skills out, perhaps I can try something else....
As the others are fighting, I find a decent stretch of tunnel that I can use for my next attempt.
I already know the Altar has quite an effect on the dash Skill. When I tried it before, it practically felt like I was teleporting. To establish a baseline, I try a few warmup dashes, about a hundred metres long up and down the tunnel, just to get the feel for it.
Alright, now with the Altar.
Again, the energy thunders through my body like a tidal wave, soaking into my six legs this time as I activate the Skill. All of a sudden, I feel like my legs are just bursting with power, I flex them, kick off, and the world just seems to stretch in front of me, the wind so thick I feel like I'm pushing through a brick wall.
BAM!
Then I smash through several metres of solid rock and bury myself.
[MASTER!]
-x-X-x-
It took an embarrassing amount of time to get myself out from under all the rocks and I apologised to the others profusely. I'm taking away from their precious training time with my idiocy, after all!
We push down to the next layer, bypass the demon city there and the three pets continue their hunting activities on the plains while I focus on using the greater space to run my tests with a little more safely.
Turns out my dash Skill needs a minimum of a hundred metres room when I'm charging it up with my Altar. At least, that remains the case until I get a better handle on it, I can't seem to accurately judge the distance or control how far I travel when I'm moving with that much juice.
Further chomp testing yields similar results as before. Essentially, an Altar boosted Void Chomp is completely off the chain, so out of control that it and control have never been seen together in the same room. The destructive power is… rather intimidating. When compared to the normal, unempowered Void Chomp, the result is more than twice as devastating in terms of the area. It's difficult to tell what sort of effect there is to damage, the rock doesn't exactly do a great job resisting the attack.
It's stronger, how much, I can't really tell.
With the basic physical Skills tested, I move on and try to use my spells. Not getting crazy about it, no Gravity Bombs or the like, at least not yet, but I fling out a few firebolts to see what happens. Unempowered, they're not overly impressive, but when I attempt to use the Altar, I'm delighted to find that the energy floods out one again, beefing up the spell to a much more impressive version of itself.
Which still isn't much, it's just a firebolt after all.
Even so, this is progress! I run through a few other spells, testing how much energy is used and what sort of effect I see from the influence of the Altar.
The amount of Will consumed seems to be roughly commensurate with the amount of mana contained in the spell. Which makes sense, I suppose. Basically, the Altar tips in an equal amount to whatever Spell or Skill I'm activating, which means the beefier the attack, the more it gets beefed.
That explains why the Void Chomp experiences such a dramatic upgrade.
I shudder to think what might happen with I fire off a full power Gravity Bomb. Not likely to be testing that any time soon.
I can kind of think of the Altar as making my Skills and Spells act like they're one rank higher than they already are. I'm not certain if that's an exact estimate, but it feels like a simple way to understand what is happening to my abilities.
As my three friends keep hunting, racking up experience, I continue to test my abilities and chow down on the Biomass. I'll need to mutate the Altar at some point soon, along with everything else I have. It'll be easy to get my body fully mutated before I next evolve, but there's no point in lollygagging and taking it slow, I'll pack in the food now and mutate as soon as I can.
If I'm going to taking on a series of monsters an entire tier higher than I am, I'll need to make sure I have every advantage squared away. Those are the most dangerous battles and minimising the risks is obviously the smarter strategy.
Overall, we stay out for a couple of days, which isn't enough to make much of a dent in the experience needed for Crinis, Tiny and Invidia, but every bit of progress is good.
It's quite eye opening really. I've reflected on this before, but trying to get three separate pets to reach tier seven is an incredible resource sink. Splitting the cores between us, we go through a fortune in precious gems without scratching the surface of what's required to max out our cores. Then the experience….
Level one hundred and sixty is no joke! The sheer amount of hunting that needs to be done to reach that kind of level is absurdly high. To create a single tier seven pet, you could raise an army up to tier four.
I can see why it really isn't worth it for most to pursue this path, but I'm determined. I refuse to allow my pets to be weaker than myself! We will rise together, as true equals!
The entire premise of the pets being essentially bonded servants is distasteful to me and I still haven't given up on eventually finding a way to release them from their bondage.
Obviously Crinis would say that she'd rather remain a pet that be free, but that's just the obedience compelled by the Master/Pet bond talking. Free, independent monsters! That's what I want for Crinis, Tiny and Invidia!
I'll get it one way or another.
As we return, it's clear that the mana levels have continued to rise across the stratum. The little larvae that coat the floor are giving us a little taste of the chaos to come, writhing and threshing each other with even greater vigour than usual, without ever seeming to run out of fresh spawns.
I'll need to check in with the troops, see what's happening on the demon front. If more of our own allies are going rogue, then there's going to be issues, especially if the stronger demons start to turn against us.
I mean, I'm totally confident I can smoke a tier seven demon like a fresh ham, but I can't be everywhere at once!
The Colony has just gotten too big for me to protect every single part of it, which means I need to be especially careful where I place myself….
-x-X-x-
The Church of the Path is founded on the belief that all things born of the Dungeon belong to the Old Races. The resources that are found there, the territory and space, the mana and, perhaps most importantly of all, the monsters.
Monsters give experience when killed, allowing the slayer to grow stronger. They also contain valuable materials; their cores, primarily, but also the precious substances that make up their bodies, things that often cannot be found any other way.
A globe-spanning entity with adherents in every one of the old civilisations, the Church is a powerful entity with a simple mission: the complete and utter domination and exploitation of the Dungeon.
This view has put them at odds with other organisations, such as the Legion, who view the Dungeon as a danger and threat, but they remain undeterred.
Among the most important secrets of the Church has been their development of the Elixir, otherwise known as Dungeon Nectar. A miraculous beverage that can empower others simply by drinking it, the method of its manufacture is known only within the Church, though many would commit dark deeds to learn it.
- Excerpt from "Power and Influence: Church of the Path" by B.S. Wordsmith
The monster twisted in agony, suspended from hooks anchored into the stone ceiling. Senior Priest Alir tsked loudly as he looked up from his desk.
"Try to be still, stupid beast," he grunted as he stood.
A quick tour of the chamber showed that the array was still functioning as intended. As he watched, another drop of golden liquid dripped down from above into the receptacle and he nodded, satisfied.
"You will serve your purpose in death, monster," he said as he sat once more and turned his attention to the report that had filtered to him from the Cardinals.
Cardinal Horace had remembered Alir was the one to first report contact with the ants and ensured the document found its way to him. Quite considerate.
What he read was... fascinating, to say the least. Monsters, actively working with others, seizing territory, reports of a tier seven ant, the first in recorded history. Rather than a ravenous horde of mindless insects, these ants appeared to be building an empire.
Unusual, would be one way to phrase it, unheard of, another. There was something different about this, but then, these were unusual times.
Mana continued to rise across the Dungeon, repeated waves, so close together. The Church could clearly see what was coming. Thousands of years of preparation were coming to a head, any change or new factor had to be carefully considered.
What to do with these ants then?
It was hard to put them out of his mind. There had to be millions of them, most of them tier four, and a mythic as well. Such a resource. Should they be properly harvested, a veritable river of Elixir would flow through the Church. It could be just what was needed to fortify them before the Ancients rose.
Or it could come back to bite them. Kicking the anthill at the wrong time wouldn't pay off, rather the opposite.
Alir glanced down at the letter the Cardinal sent.
There are plans underway already, but I value your input. In fact, I wish you to be a key component of our council. We must not make missteps at such a critical time.
It was a summons, drawing the High Priest away from his critical work. Still, he understood it, he was an Elixir specialist, and these ants would make a fine brew indeed.
He needed to think.
He stood once again and walked a slow circuit around the monster that continued to thrash weakly above. The array carved into the stone continued to burn with a dull light as it worked its magic on its target. The result of hundreds of years of research from tireless priests who demanded that the Dungeon yield to them, this array was one of the greatest achievements of the church, or indeed, of civilisation.
After all, why should a monster only yield a portion of its experience? The System was the Path on which all must walk, but who's to say it could not be improved? Extract all of it, that had been the dream of those early pioneers. They had very nearly succeeded. The Elixir wasn't perfect, but it certainly was close.
A million ants, just what would Alir do to get his hands on a crop like that. But how? They couldn't be underestimated, that much was certain. They had survived an attack from the Legion, nothing to sneeze at. It would not be a simple endeavour to launch an undertaking of this magnitude.
They would need allies. It may be possible to draw on the Legion, though unlikely; they would be too focused on the upcoming cataclysm. The Ka'armodo, the Empire of Stone, perhaps even the underwater kingdoms of the Brathian, surely someone would be willing to assist if promised enough Elixir.
Alir chuckled darkly to himself.
With enough Elixir, the Church could make the whole world turn. Perhaps even the Tower, or the Golden City, could be made to move for wealth of this magnitude. Everyone knew what was coming, even the silver beards buried in their libraries had to be clear on the danger.
Now would be the worst time to have a burgeoning Ant Kingdom rising.
Yes. Yes, that was how he could sell it. This was a threat that needed to be extinguished now, before the Ancients rose and turned all monsters into their ravenous slaves. From that point of view, he could say that this mission wouldn't be drawing away from their defence against the cataclysm, but striking an early blow against it.
It made sense, the logic worked.
He looked up at the monster twisting above, continuing to have its essence ripped away and dripped down into the pool below. Another three hours and this creature would no longer exist except as a husk, ready for the Dungeon to reclaim.
He stepped carefully to the centre of the array and reached down with one hand, scooping a small handful of the precious liquid and bringing it to his lips.
The taste was dreadful, as was to be expected from anything extracted from monsters, but that was hardly the point.
[You have gained experience.]
That was what made the world go around.
-x-X-x-
I have to say, the demons are acting more… vigorous, as the wave approaches.
[It's a combination of the rising mana level, and the growing influence of Arconidem,] Al informs me. [As our access to mana grows, it feeds our obsessions, making them stronger. Look over there.]
I can already see where the demon is pointing, but I turn anyway, facing down a narrow path in Roklu toward a cluster of buildings. At first, I'm not sure what I'm meant to be seeing, but after a few seconds, a wicked, blade-coated demon bursts out of a building, barbed, scythe-like arms swinging as it screams bloody murder at the ash-filled sky.
[Blood demon. The urge has grown too strong to resist. Disappointing.]
As we watch, the demon in question throws itself at its nearest compatriot, still shrieking like a banshee.
[Uhhh. Should we do something about that?]
[Your compatriots have become quite proficient at dealing with situations such as this. Watch.]
And we do. The crazed blood demon continues to go absolutely wild at everything it sees, without much success, it must be said. I think the unthinking, berserk nature of the attack is helping in that department. Another few moments pass and then… BAM!
Like a squad of determined ninja-police, ants appear. Leaping over the edges of the buildings, scuttling down the walls, they rush into the conflict, barrel over the offending demon and just like that, the threshing mass of demon and blade is contained.
In fact, the ants deploy something I've never seen before. It appears to be a weighted net of some sort. It must be made of incredibly hard material, since even the blood-demon hasn't been able to cut through the threads.
Just like that, what had moments ago been a frightening spectacle, a powerful tier six demon going on a rampage, has been resolved. The ants quickly check the area, repair the damage, heal any wounds, tip me a quick dip of the antennae, then drag the still screaming demon away.
[Holy moly,] I say, impressed. [What are they going to do with the demon?]
[They'll take her down to the plains and set her loose. Messy. Doing so will enable her to satisfy her obsession in a safe manner. After that, she will be able to return.]
Man, the Colony really has done a good job trying to manage the demons living in our territory. Rather than trying to suppress or control them, we've let them indulge their obsessions in as safe a way as we can manage. Safe for the Colony, anyway.
Which isn't being mean to the demons, they expect to live this way. Each of them cares only about one thing, and I think they honestly find it strange that others don't.
[And this heightening of obsession is normal for a wave?] I say to Al.
The knowledge demon burns bright.
[Yes. Although the mana levels attained during the last two waves have been higher than normal. With the Ancients waking and the levels climbing even higher, this will be the worst yet.]
There's a definite tension in the air, one I can practically cut with a twilight-filament antenna. The threat of violence is explosive, and if demons are growing ever more obsessive, I can imagine exactly what's going to happen.
Pride demons will be even more insufferable to everyone.
Grudge demons are going to lash out for practically everything.
Murder, Blood and other violence-motivated demons are going to cause absolute mayhem all the time. I can only imagine what it's going to be like when a war demon is around. Ugh.
Then we have to deal with those who succumb to the urging of their meddling Ancient… parent, or whatever he thinks he is.
[I presume those who are falling into Arconi-dumb's crusade are more numerous as well?]
[That is the case. It is… interesting, watching it take place. I have not seen it myself before.]
[Are there any demons old enough to remember the last time this happened? I didn't think there would be, considering it was… what… like a thousand years ago?]
[There are some, but they are not on our side.]
[Well, darn.]
He's probably talking about the tier eights below. After checking out the city with Al, we march down into the gigantic anthill built beneath the plate to see if the brass have worked out where they need us.
I don't exactly get what I'm looking for.
"There are spot fires everywhere, Eldest," Sloan tells me wearily. "I could ask you to go to a hundred places, but putting out one isn't necessarily going to help."
"None of those issues are large enough to warrant your attention," Victor says. "There are plenty of others to deal with things like this."
It's something of a rare treat to see the two of them together in the same room these days. The two premier military commanders in the Colony have been in high demand to the point where they almost never have the chance to work together.
"You two're coordinating the response to the wave from here?" I ask them.
"That is the case," Sloan confirms. "My sister and I work better when we have each other to refine our ideas. We've been training other teams to help plan strategy around the Colony so we won't be split up as much going forward, we hope."
"Bit of an issue when you're needed everywhere at once, isn't it?" I nod sagely. Then I step forward and poke the two of them with an antenna each. "But it's better than being told you aren't needed anywhere. I'm up here dealing with this damn Call and it sucks! Don't tell me there's nothing for me to do!"
The two generals share an uneasy glance before turning their focus back to me.
"There really isn't anything big enough to demand your attention, Eldest."
"We have a hundred problems, but none so dire that only you can solve it."
"That doesn't mean you just leave me twiddling my claws until some massive problem kicks up! I'm not a strategic reserve! Lemme help!"
The two generals shrug helplessly and I give up on them.
"Bah! Fine. You two go back to your planning, I'll find something to do that will help out."
I can immediately tell they don't like that. I'm not even done backing out of the chamber (not enough space to turn around) before they rush up to me.
"Eldest! You aren't planning on doing anything stupid are you?"
"What? Stupid?!"
THWACK!
"Just what are you suggesting? In fact…."
THWACK!
"I didn't say anything!"
"I can definitively say you were thinking it. No, I'm not going to do anything stupid. I'm here to help! You two worry too much."
I can tell they both want to say something, but a quick flex of the antennae and they keep it to themselves. Luckily for me, I can still hear their Will.
"No sending troops after me either! Sheesh. No faith."
[Come on gang,] I tell the others when I get back out of the nest. [I've thought of a place we can go that will get us some experience fairly quickly.]
Tiny grins a manic, feral grin.
[That's right, buddy. Warm up those fists, it's time to smash!]
-x-X-x-
No more mucking around. I want to power up my allies, and we've been dithering around on the plains and in the tunnels. Why bother?! There's an enormous feast of experience just waiting for us to go and claim it!
I'm of course talking about the rampaging demon army.
We rush down into the caverns below Roklu, heading deeper and smashing everything in our way. Tiny is hopping up and down like a kid on Christmas morning, anticipating the fight to come. When we break down to the second layer, little sparks are flying off his fur. He usually isn't too keen on the long climb down the pillar, but he literally jumps at it this time. This ape is just too simple.
The city we pass through, I never bothered to learn the name, is starting to fall apart at the seams. There's rubble all over the place and a number of tier six demons are running wild, causing absolute havoc.
I've no idea who the city lord is, they've never stuck their nose out when I've been passing through, and that continues to be the case now. Whoever they are, they really need to get their act together.
Aside from a pride demon who runs up to challenge Tiny, we make it across the plate without too much trouble so Invidia and I make a platform to take us down the rest of the way.
It's hard work considering all the extra mass I bring to the table now, but the two of us working together are able to handle it. Once we reach the plains, rather than moving in the opposite direction from where mother encountered the horde, we head straight for it.
[Got an entire stratum full of crazy monsters who want nothing more than a fight. Sounds like a perfect power levelling opportunity to me.]
[A-aren't there too many of them, Master? Also, there are many tier six monsters as well....]
[Yeah, the three of you couldn't take on the lot of them by yourselves. I mean, I could.]
Probably.
[So what we'll do is hit and run. Smash and grab. We dive in, hit the horde as hard as we can, then scadoo out of there as quick as we can. If it looks like they might catch up and tangle us, I'll drop a gravity bomb to create some space. Sound good?]
The three of them nod in agreement.
[Tiny, wipe away your drool, man, that's disgusting.]
He grins a little sheepishly as he drags one thick, furry arm across his face, but the fire in his eyes never goes away.
[Keep an eye on the condition of your armour,] I warn him, [if it gets too battered, then we'll need to pull back and get it repaired. There's way too many demons that can hit a lot harder than you can take, so watch out.]
His current suit isn't as complete as what he was wearing before, but it still gives a lot of protection to his chest, upper arms and neck. Anything to make the glass cannon a little bit harder to crack. His bones have proven to be absurdly strong, which is a win, since he doesn't mind blocking a lot of shots with his face. That skull has had a workout since his last evolution.
With that, we set out across the plains, and it isn't long until we find signs of the hordes' passage. They aren't bubbling up from the layer below anymore, at least not here, but we catch signs of them in a nearby city. When the pillar emerges from the darkness, we can see the fires burning, smoke billowing into the ash-filled sky.
It's on like Donkey-Kong!
We rush forward to find the demons still all over the pillar and crowded around the base, though it appears they're leaving rather than coming.
[Hold up,] I tell the others, [we need to rotate around and hit them from the other side. We can't retreat toward the Colony, otherwise we'll just be dragging them back into conflict with the family.]
A little bit of wisdom, from me? Gweheheh. I mature!
So we circle around, although I have to latch my mandibles around Tiny's arm and physically drag him at one point. The demons are already starting to trail away, looking for a new fight.
You're about to get one, you poor, poor idiots.
[Alright, Tiny. Get 'em!]
"AAAAAARRRRRRRRRRR!!!!"
The massive gorilla, unable to contain himself any longer, unleashes a stone-shattering warcry, pounding his chest with his open palms. When he leans forward and smashes the ground with his fists, propelling himself forward, I swear I hear thunder.
[Go on, Crinis. If he gets more than you, I'll be disappointed!]
[AHHH! I'LL GET ALL OF THEM!]
Crinis dives off my carapace and splashes into the stone. A moment later, a wave of slithering shadow flesh is rolling across the plains, three enormous mouths appearing now and again, gnashing at the air.
Well, that's horrifying.
[Do your best to keep Tiny alive, but I want you to make sure you get your share of experience, alright?] I tell Invidia, who remains hovering by my side.
[Your praissssse. I ssssshall havessss it!]
[Anytime you want it, you got it.]
With a green glitter in that giant eye, he turns and begins to flutter his way over to the fight. Tiny has already arrived, and the big lug's roar almost sounds like laughter as repeated detonations and flashes of lightning explode in the distance.
This should be fun to watch.
I try to stay close and continue to work on my new Skills and abilities, testing my gravity magic and Altar out. I have to be a little sparing with the Altar, though, since there aren't nearly as many ants in range down here. I mean, there's still a ton, I can get all of them from the nest under Roklu, pretty much, but all the surrounding nests are well out of range. Occasionally, I yoink a bit of Biomass during the fight while keeping myself out of harm's way. I'm not here for experience, after all.
My three friends tear into the demons like forces of nature. Each of the three is a peak-performance creature, perfect mutations and evolutions straight down the line, with high-rank Skills to boot. Experienced in fighting together and with complementary abilities, they battle like a well-oiled machine.
So overwhelming is their assault that the demons don't manage to even lay a claw on them for several minutes of fighting. Crinis' ability to seek out juicy targets and turn them against their allies causes absolute chaos within the horde, and the big-hitting Tiny and Invidia have all the room they need to go to work.
I almost feel sorry for the demons, but eventually, the weight of numbers wins out.
[Retreat!] I bark at them. [That's an order, Tiny! No stupid stuff today. Crinis and Invidia, grab onto Tiny and let's get the heck out of here.]
They do as asked and the gorilla zooms past me, bleeding from several cuts and grinning like a lunatic.
The demons rush towards me, minds gone, desperate to kill.
Gravity Bomb!
HOOOOOOOOOWL!
Not like I'd give them a chance. See you soon, horde. We'll do it all over again!
-x-X-x-
Sometimes, a horde just gets out of control. It can happen to anyone, who am I to judge? Call in the professional barber service, give a little snip here, a little snip there, and voila! Your rampaging army of feral demons is suddenly that much more manageable.
We've cycled through assaults on the horde four times now, and it's honestly a bit of a laugh. There's no coordination amongst them, and they aren't quick enough to catch us when we try to run, especially not when I drop a gravity bomb on the frontrunners.
Now, there's no need to fear. I know that this isn't the majority of the demon army, or even a significant percentage. If it were, there would be tier eight demons trying to stomp on my head.
Where are the rest of them? No idea! But while this group is out here going wild, we may as well do our bit to reduce their numbers.
[How are you doing, Tiny? Ready to go again?]
He gives me a grin and a confident thumbs up. I'd expect nothing less from him. In fact, why the heck do I bother asking? If he had no legs and only one arm, he'd still give me a grin and a confident thumbs up!
[Invidia, how's the mana situation? Make sure you don't run low.]
[I am taking it allssss,] he tells me smugly.
Of course you are, I'm letting you recharge your core from the ambient mana, you eye-goof. Well, he's performed admirably so far, I won't begrudge him his little triumphs.
[Crinis, how's the shadow flesh stocks? No need to recharge?]
[I'm ready to go, Master!]
[Excellent. Make sure you eat at least a few of them every time we go in. It's important you keep yourself topped off. All right then, let's go get 'em!]
And we're off! With an explosive upper-cut, Tiny blows the top off the impromptu burrow we've been hiding in and we emerge to find the horde has moved yet again during our down time. They found a second city not that long ago, and we hit them twice during their assault. Now it appears they've moved on. Not to worry! Tracking a giant army of crazed demons isn't as hard as it sounds.
Just follow the obvious trail of wanton destruction!
It's a little depressing, though. When we do finally catch up with them, it appears as though they've managed to replenish their numbers from the city that they smashed. Clearly, the frenzied assault is followed by a vigorous recruitment drive. Hopefully, there weren't too many non-demons in that city.
I imagine there's a whole lot of folks taking gates and getting the heck out of here. Which is exactly what Arconidem is looking for, I suppose. If he thinks the Colony is going to up and leave, he's got another think coming!
[Right, now that we've caught up, go get 'em!]
Aaaand they're off!
Tiny in the lead, Tiny rounding the bend in first place, and it's Tiny taking the prize! What's he won? The opportunity to pound an entire army into submission, of course!
Not that these demons are likely to submit. I don't know what it is that their 'god' is doing to them, but they have gone completely loco. The intelligent, obsession-focused monsters are gone, replaced by these slavering hounds, desperate to enact his will. It's depressing if I'm honest. The demons might be a bit nuts most of the time, but I like them. They're weird.
Ah well. I entertain myself as usual, keeping to the background, grabbing some snackage when I get the chance while my three friends go absolutely nuts on these demons. As long as they operate at full firepower, it's too hard for the demons to surround them, but obviously, they can't maintain it for that long, hence our need to retreat.
I mean, I wish they were strong enough to fight an entire army by themselves, that would be awesome! Maybe after they've evolved….
Alright then.
[Just about time, guys. You've got about a minute left, then we'll retreat that way, through that other army over there.]
Nice.
Wait….
Something seems off about what I just said. The time? No, that's right, one minute remaining. Hmmm.
Ohhhh, the army. The second army.
When the blazing heck did they get there?!
[Holy moly, guys! Change of plans, we need to run… somewhere else. Uh, that way! Get cracking! I don't care if you have thirty seconds left, Tiny! Get moving, NOW!]
Ordered directly, they don't have any choice but to comply, rushing off between the two armies as they move toward each other.
Guess I'm going to have to be the bait to give them a little time to get ahead of the curve. I can manage that, this seems like as good an opportunity as I'm likely to find for a little testing.
Gravity mana flows from the gland deep within my carapace. A trickle that rapidly grows into a now familiar flood that curves and swirls down on itself to form my most devastating spell.
I've been flinging out pretty weak ones during our hit-and-run escapes. There's no need to go nuts after all. But with a second horde running at us, I think this moment calls for something a little more… spectacular. Condensing the mana as I go, I pack more and more in, letting my sub-minds take over my legs and running me away as I focus the bulk of my attention on cramming as much as I can into this spell. At the pace I'm working, it doesn't take long until I've got quite a potent bomb ready to go, and rather than force every drop of mana I can into it, I let it fly.
Only after triggering the Altar, of course. This should be interesting.
HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWL!
-x-X-x-
It needed to be tested at some point, and what better time than now? I've increased Gravity Magic to the second rank thanks to all my stuffing about with Gravity Fields, and the bomb was always going to be on the list of things that I want to see how the Altar interacts with.
As it turns out, quite well.
As the spell is unleashed and I activate the Altar of Self, I'm rather startled to feel all of the gathered energy drain out of it.
All.
Not a single skerrick left. As it is usually wont to do, the Gravity Bomb soaks up every drop of power it can get, and when it does, it goes absolutely nuts.
HOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWL!
The air screams, and I mean SCREAMS. I didn't put anything like my full reserve of gravity mana into this thing, and it sounds an awful lot like some of the biggest I've ever cast.
I, of course, do the sensible thing and sprint away like my life depends on it, which it likely does. Despite the fear of my own mortality this spell always seems to invoke in me, particularly when I'm near it, I keep a close eye trained on the ominously dark sphere as it streaks away from me into the teeth of the oncoming horde. Hordes.
The two armies had been running toward each other, ready to fuse into an even greater mass of slavering destruction, but the flight of my friends and I has changed their trajectories. Like murderous puppies chasing a toy, the lead demons in both groups have angled towards us and led the rest of their fellows to follow in behind.
So it is that when the Bomb strikes, it detonates right in the faces of the frontrunning monsters from two armies, both of whom are leading their allies into danger like twin pied-pipers.
I'd love to be able to dump some more Will energy into a super-dash, but I don't have the juice! This far down, it'll take probably an hour to refill the Altar all the way, there just aren't enough ants nearby!
FWOOSH!
When it impacts, the dark sphere of the Gravity Bomb expands rapidly in the swirling vortex of nightmarish doom that I've come to expect. Except that it's larger. Significantly.
Holy moly!
Like a dark god brought to life, the bomb grows to its full, horrifying size and begins to do what it does best: drag in and annihilate everything it can touch.
The force it exerts is horrendous, as is the noise. The two demon armies behind me are immediately lost in the haze of ash and dust as the air fills with debris and demons. Monsters are being yanked off the ground and hauled into oblivion, I can see their shadowy forms spinning through the air before they vanish beyond the event horizon.
Only Gandalf could possibly know how many demon larvae are getting swallowed by that thing….
As I flee my brave little heart out, I marvel at the sight of the bomb. It's so large, I can clearly make out its slow revolutions, and the ash-filled atmosphere of the third stratum is allowing me to witness another new sight. I can clearly see the path the air is travelling as it spirals down into the heart of the void, a vast, sweeping descent that spins around and around, curling more and more tightly to the bomb as it descends.
[Keep running, Tiny! Don't look back for a second!]
I make sure to put that little extra emphasis that a genuine order gets as I yell at him. This is not a time I want him to indulge his curiosity!
The drag of the bomb, even as far from the epicentre as I am, is absurd. I grip the ground with my ant-claws with every step, cursing my immense mass.
Dammit, Anthony, why did you go and have to make yourself so damn chonky?! You'll have to be twice as far from every bomb from now on. No, three times as far!
My heart can't take this stress….
It's passing, though. With every step, the grip of the gravitational pull lessens, and several dozen metres in front of me, my friends must be well in the clear. I always feel a moment of panic when Invidia is too close to these things. He's so small, and not a particularly strong flier, it wouldn't take much for him to be dragged away and lost.
Just to be safe, we keep on running. Better to put all the distance we can between us and the demons for when all of this blows over. When the dust settles, I don't want them to have even a sniff of us.
Behind us, the high-pitched shriek of the wind has been joined by a dull roar as the bomb drags in everything it can touch and crushes it. The horizon behind us is looking dark indeed as even the light seems to be struggling back there. Such a horrendous power I've unleashed. What would happen if I put all of my Gravitational Mana into it as well?
I shudder to imagine. I mean, I'll have to try it at some point, but I shudder just the same.
Whatever the Altar has done to the spell, it seems to have given it more staying power to boot. We're kilometres away when it finally flickers and fades, the ensuing quiet all the more jarring after the din and terror unleashed by my spell.
I can't see what's left of the two armies, and I'm not too keen to rush in and fight out either. Judging by the sheer volume of notifications I've received from poor old Gandalf, I've chopped through thousands of demons with that one bomb. I almost feel I should apologise to my pets. After all the effort they've put in, I've managed to get just as much experience as they have.
We find a large mound of stone jutting up from the plain and use earth magic to burrow into the side, sealing it off behind us as we settle in for a bit of rest.
[Right then, that was a bit of a surprise, I wasn't expecting a second army to just appear out of nowhere. Everybody alright?]
All three give me an affirmative and I nod appreciatively.
[That's good. I suppose we'll need to be more careful as we hunt around this layer, as it appears there are multiple demon hordes running about the place. We can tackle one of them quite safely, but if we get pincered by two again, it may not turn out as well as it did this time.]
[That spell was very impressive, Master. Won't you be able to do it again?]
Crinis sounds quite proud of me as she asks if I can replicate the feat, which leads me to brag a bit.
[Well, it was rather potent, wasn't it? Possibly the biggest I've ever cast. To answer your question though, nope, not for a while. And firing off a spell like that leaves me a bit vulnerable afterwards, considering the total loss of energy. As cool and amazing as it is, I'd honestly rather not have to do it again. An eye catching event like that might draw attention we'd rather not have.]
[As you say, Master.]
-x-X-x-
Marvel. Wonder. Architectural triumph. One of the great achievements of the age. The Twin Cities have been described in such glowing terms for over a millennium and truly they are deserving of their reputation.
Situated on the same mountain, Mt Atraem, they can be seen many kilometres away, glittering like matched jewels in the distance.
Dressed in peerless Soul Silver, the lower city gleams like the finest polished swords. Home to several million citizens, the Silver City is the beating heart of a great and enduring empire. Its six walls and twelve towers are so heavily enchanted with wards and protections it can be painful to look at them with the naked eye.
As impregnable as it is beautiful, visitors have so many sights to take in, one simply cannot hope to catch them all.
Yet it is above that the true vision lies. Carved from pure Heart Gold, the Golden City glows radiant from the upper reaches of the mountain, a glimpse of a luminescent heaven.
Palace after palace, castle after castle, each one a peerless work of art such that the finest carvers and builders weep to look upon them. The Scholars' tower, rising like a spear into the sky, a house of learning and knowledge unequalled in all the realms.
For those lucky few who are able to catch a glimpse, the Imperial Compound, home to the Child-Emperor himself, is a sight so rare, and so marvellous, as to be without equal in all Pangera.
The Twin Cities of Silver and Gold. Seat of the Emperor and Capital of the Atraem Empire. Truly a wonder of the modern age, may they stand forever.
- Excerpt from 'Travelogue of the Fourth Stratum - Sights to See' by Wandering Wallace.
Human life had been hard on Odin Malum, and he had learned to be hard in return. Carving a bloody place in the world had been his purpose and he had relished the challenge.
His rebirth had similarly been difficult. Yet this world had been much like the last, only the veneer of civilization was different. Kill or be killed. Fight to live, surrender and die. These were rules that Odin understood, and so, for the second time, he had thrived in difficult circumstances.
Deep down, he had thought that perhaps here, he might truly be free. Rather than kill for others, or to make himself useful, or defend that which wasn't his, in this world, he could kill and gain strength for himself only.
That had been a short lived dream. The vision of Arconidem the Demon God had robbed him of that illusion. Being in that presence, he couldn't bring himself to believe that he had any alternative but to obey. It was normal, in a dog-eat-dog world, for someone to be the alpha. Odin had bowed his head to power before, he would do it again.
And so he had fallen, fallen into the power of a being so much older than he, and had been lost for a time. The lure of Arconidem was so seductive, so powerful. His demon body craved indulgence, it needed to kill, to revel in death and destruction. The Demon God whispered to him constantly, urging him to let go of control, to succumb to his influence and enact his vision.
Odin couldn't recall the past week, not totally. There had been blood and death, ash and fire, of that he was sure. The great demons had been with him at times, at others, they had not, but even so, he hadn't questioned their mission.
Until now.
What the hell was that?! Some sort of Black Hole?
He'd very nearly died his second death. He could recall running along with the horde, but he had no idea what they'd been chasing. Then it had… appeared, booming into existence in front of him, a terrifying visage of the end-times.
For one brief, horror-stricken moment, he'd thought the world had simply ended. The howl of the wind, the groan of the earth, all things being drawn into the void, never to be seen again.
It had been enough to shock his mind out of the rut it had been stuck in.
Without the lightning fast reflexes he'd trained as a hitman, or the incredible capabilities of his new demon form, he would be dead, without a doubt. Lashing out with his blades, he'd latched into his own allies, using their flesh to lever himself away from the singularity.
It almost hadn't been enough. Before he could escape its pull, he'd been caught. In that terrible moment, he'd lifted into the air, losing his last grasp to the ground and began to fall toward the heart of the beast.
Thankfully, it had flickered and vanished before he'd come into contact with it.
Returned to his senses, the former hitman had stood on the plains, surrounded by the shell-shocked remains of the demon horde, bewildered. He had no idea where he was, or what he was doing, but several things were clear.
Whatever hold Arconidem had on him was temporarily broken. The whispers of the Demon God were still there, in the back of his mind, but for the time being, Odin was firmly in control. Secondly, his minders, the mighty tier eight demons, were not here.
He had slipped the leash.
Instantly, he made a snap decision and raced away, his lithe and powerful form making great distance in short order. He had to put distance between himself and the horde, lest he be found.
He needed to free himself. He would be nobody's dog, not this time.
Smoke and ash filled his lungs as he ran, like sweet summer air to a demon. One thought pounded in his head to the same rhythm as his feet on the stone. He'd thought the Ancient was invincible, that nothing could possibly stand up to a creature like that.
But something MADE that black hole. Whatever it is, I have to find it.
Any monster capable of such an incredible feat would be worth knowing, even if only so he could avoid it. Until he was stronger, of course. After all, if one monster could get that strong, then why not him?
-x-X-x-
Hello, dear readers! Once again, it is I, your friend Travelling Tolly, writing to you of my adventures in the lands of the Colony!
And such a grand adventure it has been. From the charming city of Renewal, to the wonders of Anthome and the incredible things these industrious monsters have created, I must say I have been positively delighted with my experience.
Also, it cannot be overstated, that the tea and biscuit service has been as fine as one would find in the Golden City itself. That is not something I say lightly, dear reader! But it is true!
So many people neglect the importance of the little things when going on tour. Yes, obviously, seeing wondrous marvels that cannot be seen anywhere else is important, but getting a decent cup of tea and a bikkie for dipping is what elevates an experience to the truly unforgettable!
That is my position and I shall not be dissuaded from it!
I must say that my guide, the wonderful Emilia, had been beyond patient. I had originally engaged her to tour Renewal and the nearby nest, and here we were, weeks later, about to descend to the third stratum. She was the soul of patience, and very accepting of my constantly shifting priorities.
"As long as you'll have me, I will be happy to accompany you throughout the lands of the Colony," she told me. Such a lovely and caring young lady!
She was very particular about our sleep schedule though.
So it was at last that we descended into the third stratum. Now, as you may know, reader, the third is not a popular destination for travellers. Abysmally hot, hard to breathe, and not much to look at unless you enjoy looking at millions of wriggling demons trying to poke each other in the eye.
Nevertheless! I have committed to exploring ALL of the Colony's territories, and so I shall!
On the day of our departure, my escorts and I gathered together with Emilia within the walls of Anthome. The three of us had been confined to a special "acclimation zone" for several days to allow our bodies to adjust to higher mana densities in comfort, a welcome innovation to say the least.
"Welcome Tolly," Emilia smiled, "I hope you rested well?"
"It was difficult to sleep with all the excitement - don't glare at me, girl, I rested! I rested!"
She is quite strict on proper sleep.
"I am pleased to hear it."
Once more, serenity settled over the face of our guide and she led us through the well appointed and wonderfully decorated tunnels of the ant nest.
The Colony had been relentless in its dedication to overcoming my expectations, so I was quite excited to see what they had in store for us in the third. I didn't expect the surprises to start before we even arrived!
"What's this?" I asked, a little wide-eyed.
"This is our conveyance deeper into the Dungeon," came the matter of fact reply.
We had been led to a fairly largish chamber, perhaps forty metres across, with a solid metal floor. There were other people gathered as well, standing in loose groups around the place, golgari, human, brathian, even a ka'armodo.
"We aren't taking a gate?"
"The Colony likes to be mana-efficient and gates are anything but. This chamber, and another nine just like it, were built to move people and cargo between the second and third strata. Moving this way, we will consume only ten percent of the mana than it would take for us to move via gate."
"But how long will it take? It's a long way down…."
"We will arrive in an hour."
"An hour!"
I was dubious to say the least, dear reader. However, I swallowed my doubts. The Colony had proven me wrong many times already!
It was a good thing that I kept quiet. As the room continued to fill with people, a bell chimed, loud and clear from somewhere overhead.
"Miss Tolly. Place your feet in through the loops," Emilia advised.
I looked down to see that small, metallic loops had been released from the floor at regular intervals. All around me, passengers were finding a place on the platform and slipping their feet through the strange material.
When amongst the Colony, do as they do! That's my advice, reader, and I am seldom wrong!
My escorts and I hastened to imitate the others and I found, much to my amazement, that the loops tightened themselves over my feet once I'd slipped them through. Quite remarkable! And comfortable enough, I might add. Nothing more than a slight pressure to the top of the foot.
"We will be going quite fast," Emilia told me calmly, "the straps ensure that you don't fly up off the platform."
"Off the… how fast will we be going exactly?"
"Very."
It started slowly, at least. The platform on which we stood gave a gentle lurch, no more than a slight dip, then it began to descend at a stately pace.
It was then I realised that we had been stood on top of a circular, vertical shaft. The walls were completely smooth stone, flattened to a degree that scarcely seemed possible.
We continued to accelerate, and continued, and continued, until the walls were a dizzying blur and that slight pressure on the roof of my foot had grown significantly.
Despite the obvious speed we were travelling, I felt remarkably comfortable, as if I were insulated from the wind pressure somehow. Looking around me, I could see some gentlemen were reading newspapers, and one old lady appeared to have fallen asleep!
"This set of shafts was dug almost ten years ago," Emilia informed me, never missing an opportunity to educate on the Colony's workings. "It was decided that moving personnel and material between the main nest in the second stratum and the third was much too slow and a more rapid means needed to be employed that used less mana than the gate. As you can imagine, the Colony needs to move tens of thousands of individuals every day, the gates were stretched to breaking point, so another solution needed to be found. The shaft runs for a hundred kilometres, straight down."
"And we will complete our journey in an hour?"
"That is correct."
And she was right. We chatted back and forth as the platform continued to descend at its absurd speed. I felt it begin to slow a full ten minutes before we reached our destination. When it finally came to a stop, the passengers around me slipped their feet from the loops and began to make their way to the exit, a neat opening that now appeared on one side of the shaft.
"Here we are," Emilia smiled. "The third stratum awaits."
-x-X-x-
Before we departed our strange conveyance, Emilia handed each of us a small bracelet and urged us to put it on.
My escorts eyed the metal rather suspiciously, it was clearly enchanted, I could see the core set in the ornament with my own eyes. I couldn't help but look upon their reluctance with a slight amount of exasperation, dear readers. Only a slight amount! The two gentlemen, Arryn and Potamus, had done their job wonderfully well over the trip, but I had begun to wonder if being surrounded by monsters all the time was starting to send their danger-sense a little haywire.
If the ants wanted to harm us, they could do it anytime! We were surrounded by millions of them, constantly.
With a warm smile, I accepted my bracelet with grace and decorum, as one always should! Slipping it around my wrist, I felt the enchantment take effect the instant the clasp snapped shut.
"Oh, that is wonderful!"
"The Colony offers these free to visitors. I collected them from the rack on the wall just through the door."
"Well isn't that wondrous? Stop being rude, you two, put them on immediately!"
Arryn and Potamus eyed the slip of metal one more time before they shrugged and both placed them around their wrists.
"The third stratum isn't known to be comfortable for visitors, so the Colony created a number of these to help take the edge off. It won't keep you cool completely, but it will significantly impact the heat, as well as help purify the air you breathe."
Now, it's no secret that I like my creature comforts, reader, don't we all? I've worn several items with similar enchantments before, they are positively necessary to survival in some parts of the Dungeon, so I have seen such as these many times before.
What I haven't seen, is such expensive materials given away for free! It's complex enchanting and smithing to make things like this. I paid more than a pretty penny for my items!
"Of course, they aren't being given to you," Emilia seemed to notice my complicated feelings, "they are simply a loan. You can return them when you leave the third at a collection station on the way back up or down."
How lovely!
Exiting the docking station, we found ourselves looking down across the incredible vista that is the third stratum when viewed from on high.
I'd seen it all before, but I made sure to make appropriate noises of awe and appreciation. Never be a rude guest, readers, stand by this rule above all others!
Emilia led us down a walkway from which we were guided to another platform, this one formed of pure energy, which we used to descend further.
"Below, you can see the demon city of Roklu, the very first conquered by the Colony when they came to this stratum. You can see over there," she gestured with one hand, "the statue built to commemorate the victory of the Eldest over the demon lord who ruled here."
Well... Of course I could see it. It must have been a kilometre tall! A gigantic, majestic ant was carved on the pillar itself, posed above the city, looking down on all below with a superior gleam in its eye.
"How on Pangera did they manage to carve that into the pillar?" I asked, shocked.
"They didn't. The bulk of the stone is created magically, though I'm told it is somehow anchored to the pillar beneath."
An impressive feat nonetheless.
"Does the Eldest, the Great One, actually look like that? Would you say this is a fair depiction?"
There was just something about the way the enormous sculpture appeared. A certain debonair, a certain suave that exuded from every carved line. The pose, the curve of the carapace. Every inch screamed confidence and triumph. It was a magnificent example of the sculptor's art, doubtless another example of Michaelangelant's work.
For once, Emilia seemed to hesitate before replying.
"I would say it is a fair example of how the Colony views the Eldest."
An interesting answer! And one that held a secret nugget of information.
"Have you actually seen the Eldest yourself then, Emilia?" I asked, as casually as I could manage.
The young lady blushed at having been caught out.
"Once, when I was very young," she said. "At that time, it was still possible for the Eldest to move high in the Dungeon. Sadly, that is no longer possible. It is extremely difficult to gain access to them now."
I've no doubt about it, but that doesn't mean I was going to give up my exclusive! I'm as tenacious as an Evergreen Bulldogdragon when I want to be!
We descended down past Roklu, without stopping. The Demon City was gigantic, fully covering six wide plates that extended out from the central rock formation, each teeming with monstrous life.
"We will visit the City in time," Emilia assured us, much to the dismay of my escorts, "but first we need to present ourselves at the nest."
"There's a nest nearby? I don't see it anywhere."
"You'll be able to see it in a moment," Emilia smiled that little smile which I now recognised as hinting that I was about to witness something ridiculous.
I was on my guard, dear reader, don't think that I wasn't! Even so, these damnable ants managed to take my breath away once again!
When we cleared the last plate of Roklu, it became clear what Emilia had been talking about. The 'nest' that the Colony had built extended from the plains below, wrapped around the pillar, all the way up to the bottom of the city itself! We'd been too close to the plates to see it, but now it was revealed in all its glory.
It was enormous, first of all. Kilometres high, it towered taller than the greatest parapets of the Golden City itself. Thin at the top, it grew wider and wider as we descended, an upside down funnel of comical proportions.
Yet the sheer scale of the nest wasn't the most astounding thing, it was the majesty and grace of the construction. It was an architectural marvel. They could have left the form of the traditional anthill alone, nobody would have expected them to do otherwise, but the slopes were anything but smooth. Broad, intimidating walls with ornately carved gates. Towers as thin as spun glass. Roads, markets, houses, there was an entire city built onto the surface of the nest, each and every construction part of a grander, more harmonious whole.
It took me a moment to realise that the area I was looking at formed a pattern, then a moment longer to realise it was a leaf. Once that fell into focus, I could see it all, the vines, the leaves, the trunks and bushes and grasses that covered the entire surface!
The sheer scale of the planning! The unbelievable amount of effort!
"This must have taken a decade at least to complete," I breathed.
"Not quite as long as that," Emilia demurred. "The Colony is not afraid of hard work."
-x-X-x-
I don't know what's up with these demons, but they are seriously feeling themselves at the moment. Every now and again, we'll be out on the plains and some tier five Stab Demon will come sprinting at me from out of nowhere, leap ten metres in the air and come crashing down like a spear from the heavens… only to bounce off my carapace without me noticing.
Where is your sense of self preservation, idiot?! Life is precious, a miracle of mana and coincidence, don't waste it like this. Alas, monstrous life is as cheap as it gets on the third, and the price is currently crashing through the floor. In fact, I'd go further. It crashed through the floor, through the basement and burrowed deep into the earth where it found a portal to a new reality, the EvenDeeperVerse, where it continues to plunge to new, mind-bending levels of depth.
The spawn rate for demon larvae is getting so out of control, they're starting to scrape the bottom of my carapace when I walk over them. Usually this happens when one of the vicious little stabbers jumps too high, not from being stacked on top of each other!
The vastly increased number of larvae of course means a vastly increased number of higher tier demons roaming the plains. They hunt each other, or, if feeling particularly full of themselves, have a go at passing Mythic Monsters.
But something else weird is happening as well. Something I haven't seen before.
[Over there, Master. Another group.]
[Where?]
[Tiny is pointing at them.]
[Ah, so he is.]
Hmmm.
[It's still odd, no matter how many times I see it.]
[It is unusual, Master.]
[What do you think about it, Invidia? These are, at some level, your people after all.]
The eyeball blinks once, twice.
[It issss unnaturalssss,] he says with some distaste.
Oho. An usual amount of feeling was put into that, and he didn't even demand something! My boy is growing up. I feel a tap on my carapace and notice Tiny has sidled up to me and poked me on the side.
What is it? What does he want?
[Do you… want me to ask your opinion as well?]
The giant bat-faced gorilla shrugs one massive shoulder nonchalantly, but I can see his ears twitching in excitement. Ho boy. This is going to be good.
[Alright then, what do you think about it, Tiny?]
At being addressed with the question, he snaps his attention to me, a serious expression plastered on his face. He narrows his eyes and nods slowly, just the once.
[Odd,] he declares.
Then gives me a solemn thumbs up.
[Thanks, buddy. I really appreciate it.]
Still with his large thumb jutting proudly into the air, he nods again, pats me on the back and steps to the side. The air coming off him is insufferably smug, as if he just achieved something incredible.
I want to say something, but I can't bring myself to puncture this moment for him.
I've no idea what's going on in the pea-seed brain of yours Tiny, but, good for you.
The source of our confusion roams the plains in the middle-distance, a pack of tier five demons going absolutely wild on everything they see. This is extremely unusual behaviour for demons out on the plains. They're solitary hunters, preying on each other until they reach tier six, at which point they gain true sentience and seek out a city to take them in. Here we see a gathering that breaks that pattern. These demons should be trying to slice each other's faces off, but instead, they're out here pallin' around!
It's not natural.
And this isn't the first time we've seen this lately either. Ever since we broke off the assault on that demon horde, we've been creeping about hunting while looking for another horde to take bites out of and this stuff keeps happening.
My feeling is that these demons have become possessed by the will of Arconidem and are acting against their own natures. Should they come across a horde, they'll probably join it immediately.
Which leads me to a scary thought.
[So if these guys meet up with others who've banded together, just like they have, in order to do whatever the Ancient goonball wants them to do… will they just group together?]
[... Most likely, Master.]
[Does that mean hordes of demons can just form… out of the blue? Like, if enough of them get together, that's just a brand new horde that hasn't come into contact with any of the others.]
[... right.]
[Well… nards.]
So even if we smash every horde, kill the tier eights, and scatter the demon uprising to the winds… it'll never actually be over until Arconidem either catches these mandibles, or goes back to sleep? Things are going to get so much worse around here, aren't they?
[Well, let's go smash this group before they get into any mischief and then be on our way.]
Putting down a mob of tier five demons doesn't take long for the three pets to achieve. They are the crème de la crème of tier six monsters, after all. Strong Skills, excellent evolutions and potent mutations. They'll probably be stronger than me after they evolve, which will allow me to kick back and relax while they do all the hard work.
I mean, that's not what I'm aiming for or anything….
[Right, then, off we go! There has to be another horde around here somewhere.]
We set off again around the plains, trying to stay close to the area beneath the Colony's territory. I don't want to wander too far away in case they need me, and I certainly want to notice if one of the tier eights comes up and tries to go higher.
If I can intercept them here, then that's going to be the best scenario. Still in range for the Vestibule and without other ants nearby for them to threaten.
So we set off, the larvae continuing their eternal battle beneath our feet as they scatter out of the way, then roll back to cover the ground after we pass by.
Sure enough, we do find another horde not far away.
[I can sense some strong cores out there,] I warn the others, [so let's be a little cautious.]
Not strong enough to be tier eight, but there may be a few sevens in this group. This could be interesting!