I mean… you want me to leave messages for EVERY caste now? Give me a break. What do I even have to say?! Really, this is my fault. The moment I did the first, every member of the council was going to come after me, asking me to leave a nugget of wisdom for their followers.
Listen well, hatchling, Don't let your siblings hassle you into things you don't want to do.
I mean, it's hard for me to say no to Bella and Ellie. The Core Shapers are near and dear to my heart, because the pets that I raised became such dear friends and reliable allies. I can't imagine what would have happened had I been forced to face the Dungeon by myself.
Treasure your pets. In fact, don't even think of them as pets. They aren't disposable, they aren't less than you are. They're your sword and shield, just as you are theirs. Don't even think of them as friends and allies, but as members of the family.
- The Eldest's message to the Core Shapers.
It's not easy to read a giant floating, fiery eyeball, but I can tell that Al is intrigued. Mainly because my eyeballs feel like they're boiling from the heat pouring off him.
[Answer a question for me, Al. Why the heck are you a burning eyeball if you're a knowledge demon? I'm not trying to pry, but it doesn't seem to line up. Shouldn't you be some sort of flame demon or something?]
He radiates heat like a mini-sun, for goodness' sake. What does flame have to do with knowledge?!
[I was a type of envy demon in the past, but took on the aspect of fire along with my desire for knowledge in my evolution to tier seven.]
[So you changed significantly in your last evolution?]
[Indeed.]
I guess that makes sense. I turn my attention to Invidia floating nearby, his eye fixated on Al. I wonder what he'll turn into during his next evolution? Right now, he's envious, of pretty much everything and everyone. How will that obsession change? Personally, I wouldn't mind if he became a little less broadly focused. A bridge to cross when we come to it.
[Now then. Time to get down to business. You used to live a lot deeper in the stratum, and you've been collecting information for goodness knows how long. I figured if anyone knows anything about these long sleeping demons, then it was going to be you. Care to share what you know?]
Al floats for a little while, contemplating his thoughts before he replies.
[I have… some understanding of the demon of which you speak, and his sisters.]
Sisters? Perhaps he means the other two?
[Nice! Considering the fact that I'm going to have to beat all three of them, any information you can give me will be welcome.]
[Are you… certain, that you will be able to defeat them?]
[I already sent Torrifex running once, why wouldn't I be able to do it again? And against three times as many monsters?]
Maybe that will be difficult. But I'll work it out.
[Hmmmmm. I will tell you, but there will be a price.]
Of course there is.
[Let's hear it then. Hopefully, there won't be any price gouging.]
[What is… price gouging?]
[Don't get distracted, we're already in the middle of a transaction. Unless you want that to be the payment?]
[... No. When you go to confront the Heralds, I want you to take me with you. That is my price.]
That's… a little unexpected, but the help will certainly be worth it. Though, I'd better make sure that it is help.
[You don't plan on allying with them, do you?]
The flaming eye flashes.
[They… would not welcome my help. That is not my intention.]
[Well, all right then. You can tag along. Now spill the beans.]
[What are beans?]
[Concentrate, dammit!]
[Ah, yes. I am sorry. Allow me to explain what I know of the Heralds.]
Al composes his thoughts, fire flickering around his eye.
[Arconidem is known to cultivate powerful demons that act in his interests. These are his Heralds. When he sleeps, they rest, hidden in the deepest reaches of the stratum, in places thick with mana to sustain them. When he wakes, he sends them to carry out his wishes amongst the demons. Creating havoc, driving out any non-demons, these are his usual goals. When they grow too strong to remain at this level of the Dungeon, they are called down to his court, by his side.]
Interesting. So that implies that these aren't the first round of servants the big jerk has had running around, but just the latest.
[Torrifex, Pyrixan and Somonax were last awake five hundred years ago, which corresponds to Arconidem's last period of activity. It was at that time I became acquainted with them.]
[Wait a second. You're over five hundred years old?!]
[I am.]
[How in the heck are you not tier eight, then?!]
[Evolving to tier eight would make remaining on my home stratum… difficult. So I have not.]
[Wait, but you could?]
[Yes.]
Holy. Moly. This guy has been sitting at level one gigabillion or whatever it takes for hundreds of years?! Yikes!
[So are your Skills at rank fifty or something?]
With hundreds of years to train. It boggles the mind.
[No. Raising Skills to a rank higher than your tier of evolution can be… dangerous. Our bodies are not strong enough to withstand them.]
I suppose that makes sense. If I raised Void Chomp to the eighth rank, I can easily imagine it being so strong my own face would explode from the pressure. That's something I've never thought about, and it's something Granin never brought up, but then, why would they? I don't have a Skill even remotely close to matching my evolution tier.
[I can also tell you what species the three Heralds are, though I cannot explain to you their abilities.]
[How in the name of heck can you tell me their species?!]
[Because I was almost one of them. Arconidem wished me to become his fourth Herald.]
-x-X-x-
[Wait, so you were contacted by the big cheese himself to become one of his lackeys? And this was like… five-hundred years ago?]
[That is… correct. It was… difficult… to refuse, but I did not wish to surrender my obsession. Arconidem would not have allowed me to pursue knowledge freely.]
[I imagine he was super impressed.]
[Quite the opposite.]
[I know… it's… never mind. So there's only three Heralds right now, since you refused to be the fourth?]
[No. Only three demons, no matter how powerful, could not influence all of the third stratum. There are others, but these three are the oldest and the strongest. Soon, they will evolve to tier nine and no longer be able to sustain themselves in the third.]
[Any chance we can just wait this problem out, then? If they keep rampaging around, they'll eventually reach max level and then be out of our business.]
[They would not be forced to descend until after the wave. Would you risk three tier nine demons running amok in your Colony's lands?]
Uhhh… no.
[So that's off the table.]
[I recommend the opposite approach. We should hunt them down and destroy them before they have a chance to grow stronger.]
[Cool plan, I'm down. Now give me the gossip. You know about these three? Their species and evolutions? The tricks and tips?]
[I can give some general information. We will not go into battle blindly.]
[Awesome. Invidia? Try and remember all this, if you could.]
[I willsss remember all of it!]
[No need to make it competitive, but that'd be great. Thanks, Invidia.]
All eyes turn to… the big eye, who stares back at us, unblinking.
[First and foremost is Torrifex. At tier eight, he became a Pure Demon, which I speculate may be the path that Arconidem himself took to ascension.]
[Oh snap. So he's another proto-ancient in the making?]
[I think… not. If Torrifex were to evolve all the way to match his god, and I do not know what tier that would be, how would he hope to defeat a creature so much older than he? Also, if Arconidem holds power over the demons, he is unlikely to want to share it.]
That's a good call. I don't feel like any of the Ancients I've heard about are into sharing and caring all that much.
[As a Pure Demon, Torrifex embodies all that is typically demon and the nature of this stratum. As such, he possesses great control over fire and smoke, along with brute physical violence.]
[He really struggled to cut through my carapace, but the fire-blasts were something else,] I muse.
[I believe that Torrifex did not show his full strength against you. Though it is possible I am wrong. I don't know how strong you have become.]
The big eye gleams with avarice at the thought of learning about my capabilities. Probably another reason he wants to tag along.
[Let's get back to the enemy.]
[Of course. The most fearsome of Torrifex's powers is his mastery of fire, which he can wield in any number of ways. His entire body can ignite into demon flame, and I would not recommend being within reach if it does.]
[Gotcha.]
[His sisters, Pyrixan and Somonax. Pyrixan is an Empowered Ash Demon. Her aura of destruction is so strong, it can break an enemy down to nothing just for drawing too close to her form. Her power will eat away at anything she touches, annihilating it completely. If she gets ahold of you, escape as quickly as you can.]
[Oof. That sounds tough to deal with. Can she apply the effect at range?]
[She can, but it loses much of its power. The closer your proximity, the more deadly the danger.]
[Right, not a fan of that.]
Ash is a native element to the third stratum, and it's an absolute pain to deal with. Little flecks of ash fly everywhere, mixed in with the smoke and dust in the air, but when they touch a wall or bump into your carapace, they start to eat into it. If your buildings aren't made of the right stuff, or treated in the correct way, they'll fall over in a week.
Luckily, my diamond carapace has been dense enough, and regenerates quickly enough, that I don't really notice. It's a pain for Tiny, but Invidia keeps him healed up. Crinis has to constantly replace small patches of flesh to make up for the losses, but the demons themselves are immune. Something about their tough black skin resists the effect.
The home field advantage.
[Somonax is a Greater Massacre Demon.]
[That sounds… rough.]
[Indeed. She wields many, many blades, each formed from the blood of her enemies. In terms of cutting power, she is far above even Torrifex. I do not recommend you test your carapace against her.]
[I may not get a choice.]
[True. Her mind is lost in a killing frenzy most of the time. Her obsession beats strong within her, and that makes her powerful. The more we demons are in sync with our obsessions, the greater our strength.]
[I guess that means you're a pretty powerful chap then, doesn't it? I can't imagine you could get any more obsessed with knowledge.]
The big, floating eyeball considers my words for a moment before bobbing a little.
[There are always… limits. To throw oneself as deep as Somonax has, will grant great strength, but to all intents and purposes, she is lost to her need for massacre and violence. Were I to do the same, then little would remain of me outside of my drive for knowledge. I would become as she has, a thoughtless thing, drifting and aimless, consumed utterly.]
[Seems like that would make it harder to get knowledge, not easier.]
[Indeed. I must have control over my thoughts and emotions, otherwise I will learn fewer things. If not for that, perhaps I too would have given myself over to Arconidem and surrendered my obsession.]
The more I learn about the demons, the more I worry about them. They really do have a rough time of it, in more ways than one. Of all the monsters I've encountered in the Dungeon, I feel like they get the worst deal. As I ponder their harsh lives, I can't help but turn my eyes to Invidia. The poor little dude didn't have the best start in life, being captured young and raised by golgari shapers.
I wonder what he will become obsessed with as he evolves and how deeply it will draw him in. The idea of my little green-eyed monster losing himself to some sort of fugue state isn't a pleasant one.
[Alright then. I think we have what we need. Let's roll out!]
-x-X-x-
"How are the demon traps holding?"
"Barely!"
"Then reinforce them, dammit!"
"I can't just poke them with an antenna and then they become stronger. I need time to design, materials to build with, ants to do the building. Those are huge construction projects, we can't just 'reinforce' them!"
"Right, sorry."
Sloan rubbed her antennae against her carapace, trying to calm herself down. The carver, Carpentant, also soothed herself as they took the temperature out of the argument.
Which wasn't easy inside the third right now. With the mana thickening by the hour, the air only grew hotter and hotter, to the point it had grown oppressive. Ants didn't mind a bit of heat, not at all, but they weren't amazing at regulating their temperatures. If things got much worse, they'd need to distribute enchanted equipment to every member of the Colony in the stratum.
"Are the farms at least producing cores and Biomass? They're working?"
"Oh, they're working. Too well! There's so many demons crammed inside that we're getting double the amount of cores we expected. The workers in charge of maintaining and operating the farms are overwhelmed, but there aren't enough of us to help them. We need more ants!"
"If you get the numbers you need, will that stop the farms from breaking?"
Carpentant thought for a long moment. It wasn't a simple question, but the wrong answer could have grave implications. It was already a difficult proposition to contain the mess that the plains had become. If the monsters within the farms broke out….
"If you give me what I'm asking for, plus another ten percent, we'll have enough to properly run the farms and look to reinforce the structure."
Sloan almost collapsed as pain shot through her head.
"That's thousands of ants," she managed to squeeze out. "Everyone is desperately short staffed right now."
Carpentant shrugged.
"That's how many it's going to take. You're the one who has to distribute resources, not me. If you tell me no, I'll go back and make the best of it, but I think we both know what will happen."
The farms would fail, causing greater chaos on the plains and costing the ants an enormous haul of cores and Biomass, resources they desperately needed.
"I'll get you the ants you need," she promised, "but they're likely to be fresh graduates. Is that alright?"
"It'll have to do," Carpentant grumbled. "Feel sorry for them being thrown into a mess like this."
"It's not what I would have wanted for them either, but I'll provide extra security as well to make sure you all stay safe."
The irritated carver froze before she nodded with respect.
"That's appreciated."
When Carpentant rushed out of the chamber, Sloan sighed and went back to her planning documents, scratching out a few lines of scent and replacing them. The next wave of reinforcements from above had been allocated already, but now had to be changed. Again.
It was frustrating, but despite the over the top allowances the Colony had made when planning to resist the wave in the third stratum, the Dungeon had surprised them yet again.
After scribbling away using the new 'scent pen', she completed her new distribution plan and put it down with a sigh.
"Better go check on the fortress," she muttered as she rose up from her chair.
Ant chairs were becoming more and more common among the various nests, despite the need for varying sizes. They didn't really need a chair, they were perfectly content to work while standing, but it felt nice to rest the legs every now and again.
Even Smithant had created a custom built, swivelling chair that could rise up and down and wheel around her smithy. She claimed it freed up more legs to work with, which was another aspect to the rate of chair uptake.
Outside of her office, Sloan was immediately enveloped by the flood of messengers. A constant stream ran in both directions, toward the wall and deeper into the nest, requesting medical treatment, or supplies, or any number of things. She was kept updated, of course, but having a description was never quite the same as seeing the situation for herself.
She slipped into line and began to race along the paths, keeping pace with the ants on her lane.
A new innovation had been to divide the wider passages within the Colony into 'lanes', each with its own designated speed. This particular passage was six lanes wide, three in either direction, with another six on the roof, split the same way, and she was barely able to keep up in the middle one. To her right, scouts flashed past her as if she were standing still, whereas on her left, soldiers rumbled along at a much slower pace, slowed down by their bulk.
All for efficiency.
When she emerged from the nest, she found herself only a kilometre from the outer wall. The area at this exit was a staging ground and ants bustled all over the surface of the nest. Within the grand fortress, there were well over a hundred thousand of her siblings at present, every one of them dedicated to the preservation of the nest.
A general rushed up as soon as she saw Sloan heading to the wall.
"General! What brings you to the front?" she asked, snapping a one antenna salute.
"I wanted to take a look for myself," Sloan said, saluting back. "The situation is difficult to grasp from the reports."
"I can imagine. I don't believe what I'm writing half the time. Come and have a look."
The two chatted back and forth in the brusque manner of war-focused ants as they drew closer to the wall. The fighting was deafeningly loud this close, explosions, fire, ice, stone and whatever else the Colony could muster was thrown into the face of the neverending demon wave. With little effort, Sloan hauled herself up the wall and gazed out into the mouth of madness.
"In the name of the Eldest…." she trailed off.
"It sure is something," the general agreed.
The wall was enormous, fifty metres tall and twenty thick, covered in ant defenders who battled hard to prevent the demons from finding purchase on the fortification.
What Sloan saw beyond the wall… was an ocean. An ocean of monsters that heaved and thrashed as if gripped by a storm. Waves rose and clashed into each other, one devouring the other and rolling on through the mass until it was overcome by an even larger current.
Every now and again, one such wave would crash into the wall, sending demons flying and scurrying up the side and into the waiting jaws of the Colony.
It was absurd, insane even. And it had only just begun.
"Oh, speaking of the Eldest."
Sloan turned a little to focus on the dark purple patch of light that was starting to move away from the wall. Inside, she could barely make out the gigantic ant effortlessly carving a path through the roiling mass. She thought an antenna popped up and waved, then there came a flash of purple light.
In an instant, every monster within a hundred metres of the wall was flattened, crushed into nothing. The defenders had a few seconds to wonder what could possibly have happened, then the ocean surged again, and they were back to fighting.
Sloan couldn't believe it.
-x-X-x-
"MORE POWER, DAMMIT!"
"We don't have any more! We don't have the power!"
"It's so close. So close! Empty the tanks, we need every drop!"
"But… but that's madness!"
"It's not madness… it's BRILLIANT!"
Electricity crackled, lightning flashed and sparks fell like rain from overhead as the ants scurried to follow the orders of their leader. Atop her observation spire, Brilliant cackled, her mandibles snapping together in a staccato rhythm as the flashes and explosions lit her from below, projecting her demented shadow onto the wall.
"Th-th-the b-backup m-m-matrix is collapsing!" Assistant whimpered.
"It's fine, we have three backups!"
"This IS the third backup!" Experimant roared.
"Not to worry, I installed a secret fourth backup matrix and didn't tell you!"
"That's just a lie, isn't it?!"
Another explosion rocked the chamber and Brilliant teetered on the edge of her spire, a hair's breadth from losing her grip and falling into the swirling maelstrom of light below. The many-faceted eyes of the mage were filled with an unearthly glow, and for a long moment, Experimant was convinced she'd finally lost her mind.
"Dump the tanks and then hit the cages!" she shouted and hundreds of lab ants rushed to follow her orders.
"Th-th-th-th-th-this will overflow the matrix for sure!" Assistant said.
"That's why I'm carrying you to the cages," Experimant replied as she snatched up the smaller ant, threw her on her back and rushed to the blast cages.
"But who w-w-w-will save the leader?"
"I think she's beyond saving…."
The tanks of liquid mana emptied, sending the volatile substance flowing through the underground pipelines and into the gate matrix. As predicted, the matrix blew almost instantly, rocking the chamber once more and sending deadly blasts of unstable mana arcing through the air.
"I CAN SEE EVERYTHING!" Brilliant roared. "I CAN SEE IT ALL!"
The dimension mage was hanging upside down from her spire, so close to the unstable mass of power she could reach out and touch it. Within her heart, Experimant said a quick farewell to the disturbed genius as Assistant cried out from her back.
"L-l-leader! Be c-c-careful!"
"BAH! CALL ME BRILLI-"
The gate flashed white, then expanded rapidly, enveloping the entire room in a second. Brilliant never got a chance to complete her statement.
Within the blast cages, the ants ducked for cover as stone and debris rained down from above. The chamber had been built to withstand magic detonations, but that last one had been beyond even what Brilliant was normally capable of.
It took five minutes before the room stopped shaking and Experimant felt confident enough to emerge.
"Can we get a quick headcount? Sound off."
"I'm here," Brilliant said, emerging from the smoke.
"Of course you are…" Experimant said flatly.
"Do you want to know how I survived?"
"Not really-"
"Because I'm Brilliant!" she boasted, slapping herself on the carapace with a front leg. "And that was the best experiment we've run so far! The results were spectacular!"
"Y-y-you're alive?" Assistant mumbled.
"Naturally! Come on, all of you out of the cages. We've got to check the data!"
"Haven't all of our sensor arrays melted?" Experimant grumbled as she helped the rest of the lab-ants emerge from the protective cages.
"Only the main ones. But that's fine, I got a good look at what they were detecting anyway."
"Can I extract your brain to study it, then?" Experimant said, then realised she said it out loud, went to apologise, then shrugged and kept doing what she was doing.
"No need," Brilliant remarked off hand, "I can project it if necessary. My brain, that is. Come on! We are on the verge of a breakthrough after this one, I can feel it!"
Filled with energy, the little mage raced off in the dust and began rummaging about, shouting and exclaiming all the while. Assistant hesitantly made her way from the perimeter as the rest of the staff began to clean up and rebuild.
"Come on, come on, come on, come on… YES!" Brilliant punched the air with her two front legs as an array embedded into a reinforced stone pillar flickered to life. "Someone extract the data from that, now!"
Then she rushed off to another one. When that refused to work, she savaged it with a bite before running to the next. In short order, she'd either repaired or fatally damaged all ten of the outer detectors and started poring over the printed scent-pages of information along with her team.
"Look at this! LOOK AT IT! The kick of power we got by infusing the liquid mana was just what we needed. See these readings? Are you seeing this!? Look at the stability!"
"Stability?!" Experimant boggled. "The gate blew up in your face, and you're talking about stability?!"
"Of course it blew up! We didn't design the manifold array to handle that kind of power. I'm talking about this."
She stabbed a leg down on the page and Experimant extended an antenna to check the data.
"Tha… that is odd."
For a period of time, the dimensional weave had been… stable.
"If w-w-w-we can replicate th-the conditions w-w-with a better array…" Assistant mumbled.
They'd have created a stable gate.
The thought hung heavy like a weighted balloon for a full second before Brilliant punctured it.
"Don't be ridiculous," she said, poking through the rest of the pages. "We had to expend an enormous amount of mana, even committing our precious liquid mana reserves. I know exactly how fast that stuff accumulates, because I discovered the method to create it. It'll take months before we have that much energy on hand. Besides, do you really think that much power is necessary to form and operate a gate? If so, nobody would ever use them."
Experimant flopped down for a moment before she drew herself back up. For a shining instant, she'd glimpsed the end goal.
"Fine. So what have we learned? Did this mess," she gestured to the exploded lab, "move us forward at all?"
"Of course it did! We stabilised the weave, which is our goal! All we need to do now, is find a more efficient method of doing so. Having succeeded once, even for an instant, is going to guide us on the right path. We've overcome our greatest hurdle! It's time to celebrate!"
"Oh? How are we going to celebrate?"
"Rebuilding the lab! I have some redesign ideas… and we'll need to adjust the matrix, of course. Plus I should probably put in something to dampen the explosive side effects…."
"Wait. You could have done that all along?!"
-x-X-x-
Leeroy's heart was afire.
"Onward, sisters!" she roared, her pheromones rolling across the battlefield like a wave. "Surely today, we will find that which we seek!"
"We seek!"
Her own call was obliterated by the reply of the massed Immortals. They numbered five thousand now, and for Leeroy, charging at the head of their ranks was like being locked to the peak of a collapsing mountain.
The reliquary of the fallen Immortal covered all of them in its blessed light, and Leeroy felt her soul singing as the massed enemies loomed ever larger in her eyes.
As the wave had gone on, the number of powerful monsters who descended from the sky, or rose from below the ground, or emerged from the depths of the lakes, never ceased to swell. The defences of the mountain had been as well constructed as the Colony could manage in the time they'd been given, but even with all their preparations, it proved impossible to clear the monsters from their mountain fortress fast enough.
So the number of rampaging monsters grew. And grew. And grew.
They fought each other, mostly, but the Colony strove desperately to push them away from the mountain-nest to prevent damaging it. Now that they had secured a safe haven on the fourth stratum, they would do anything to keep it.
Including letting the Immortals loose on the battlefield.
"We Seek!"
The tidal wave of pheromones released by the armoured column was so thick it hung like a fog over their heads. As they charged, that fog was caught by their legs and frames, swirling around their feet until it appeared as though they ran atop a cloud.
In the field ahead, Leeroy could see an immense pack of monsters thrashing and fighting before the gates of the nest. To many, it would have appeared like a nightmare brought to life, a whirlpool of death and destruction. Powerful monsters battled there. Sinuous lizards that swam through the air like eels, emerald scales glittering in the light; spirits of wind, water and earth towered a dozen metres into the air, manipulating the elements to their will. Horrific, bloated creatures of the deep, thrumming with a powerful aura and overwhelming life, forced themselves onto the land, fanged maws a bottomless pit of hunger.
To Leeroy and her followers, it was like a glimpse of heaven.
These monsters weren't tier one riffraff, freshly spawned, not knowing up from down. These were powerful, tier six and seven beasts, fat from feasting on the abundant weak prey the wave produced and desperate for something more satisfying. Some of them looked as if they could squash Leeroy with one stomp.
Please, she begged within her mind, please squash me!
Down the mountain they charged, gaining speed until she felt sure her legs, even as reinforced and mutated as they were, would snap from the strain. They held, but only just. As her spirit screamed for release, Leeroy braced herself, angled her carapace, and crashed into the first rank of the pack.
From a distance, it looked like an explosion. As the tip of the wedge slammed into the massed beasts fighting outside the gate, the first enemies simply vanished… popped like balloons as thousands of tons of massed ants smashed into them like an Ancient's fist. To Leeroy, this was the moment she lived for. Ahead, monster after monster stood, so closely packed together they may as well have been a solid mass. Behind, thousands and thousands of her sisters, each carrying ten tons of the Colony's finest steel, pushed her forward with the unstoppable momentum of a mountain collapsing.
She heard the metal of her armour scream as it warped under the pressure, felt her carapace buckle and crack as she was compressed between an unstoppable object and an immovable obstacle. This time, she hoped, it would be enough. This time, the enemy would stand firm and she, at the head of the formation, would be broken. No chance for the Phoenix Fire to build up and activate, no last second healing, only the ultimate sacrifice.
As ever, she was disappointed.
The first monsters gave way to the charge, pierced through by the metal-clad spear of the Colony, as did the second, as did the third. The Immortals trampled over the battlefield, running wild through and over their opponents until they finally ran out of steam, more than half of the horde flattened in their wake.
Then the fighting began.
Under the pulsing aegis of the reliquary, the Immortals fought with a frenzy that even the mana crazed monsters could not hope to match. They battled recklessly, leaving themselves wide open, throwing themselves on their opponents' fangs and claws, intercepting projectiles with their bodies, paying no heed to their personal safety.
Yet… it didn't matter. Their carapaces were so thick, further protected by the finest layered and enchanted metal the forges of the Colony could produce, that it simply didn't matter if they protected themselves or not.
Leeroy fought alongside her sisters, trying to ignore the sour feeling building in her gut. A long serpent raised itself high, jaws open, a burning light flickering within, and she leapt, flinging herself into the open maw! Bright green fire licked her armour, burning her antennae, but she crashed into the monster's teeth and shattered them, sending it reeling back.
Not enough!
Nearby, one of her sisters had pinned down a writhing elemental of earth. The creature raised up a portion of itself, hardening the shifting stone into a shining spear that plunged down toward the Immortal's back.
Leeroy calculated the point at which the strike would reach its peak momentum and rushed forward, taking the blow at the perfect moment. The stone shattered, showering her with rubble, and she cursed.
NOT ENOUGH!
As the fight raged on, and small injuries accumulated, she knew that the Phoenix Fire organ was growing hotter within her, preparing to unleash its cleansing fire. If she wasn't struck down before it was ready, then she would have to hope enough monsters remained after her revival to finish her off again.
That didn't seem likely.
There has to be something…. Anything!
She turned again and saw a leviathan hauling itself out of the water. Surely, a tier seven beast, its open maw was the size of a human house, and its writhing tentacles were as thick as trees.
This was perfect!
"FOR THE COLONY!" she screamed, and rushed forward, her heart igniting with precious hope once more.
How could she fight something this strong? Impossible, not even the Eldest could fault her for making a flawless sacrifice play! Deep down, she knew the Eldest would tell her to simply retreat, but she squashed that voice. This was her moment!
The leviathan lunged forward, and Leeroy was there. Without hesitation, she flung herself into the creature's mouth, kicking with her legs to shove herself deeper into its gullet.
"Choke on me, you filth!" she cried, almost weeping with joy as she felt the powerful muscles of the beast begin to force her into its stomach. Everything around her went dark as she slid into its belly, and Leeroy rejoiced. Surely, in digesting her, the beast would be defeated. A glorious triumph!
Something else bumped into her in the dark of the monster's gut.
"For the Colony!" another Immortal cried.
"A brave sacrifice, sister!" she welcomed her comrade, and the two hugged amidst the sloshing acid.
Another bump.
"My life for the Colony!" the third Immortal cried.
"We-" before Leeroy could finish greeting the newcomer, another bump rang out in the dark.
"I sacrifice myself for the glory of the Colony!" the fourth Immortal declared.
She wasn't even finished with her cry before the fifth arrived, then the sixth.
"Wait…." Leeroy said, a sinking feeling in her abdomen.
Watching from the fortress wall, Advant could only pity the sea monster which had dared to reach land in front of the Immortals.
Armoured ant after armoured ant had forced themselves into its mouth until the beast had collapsed, writhing in pain as hundreds of those morons continued to try and pry open its mouth, which the leviathan resolutely kept shut. It was too late. Eventually, the acid in its belly triggered the Immortals' unique regeneration, and the tier seven monster was burned from the inside out.
Advant shook her head. Such a horrible way to go.
-x-X-x-
Granin paced up and down in his chambers, mind buzzing. He'd thought that after centuries of living, nothing would surprise him anymore, yet here he was. Something glinted in the corner of his eye, and he caught himself in the mirror.
His second skin was as rough as ever, granite, plain and solid, covering his huge frame as it always had, though he thought he may have detected some crumbling in places. A closer inspection confirmed it was all in his mind.
"Not that old yet," he rumbled to himself.
At least he hadn't completely lost the vibrancy of youth. As he took in his own expression, he couldn't deny the glittering excitement in his eyes. An Ancient in the making, his latest prospect, Anthony, had proven to be so much greater than he had believed possible. Despite being so against it himself, Anthony radiated with power and potential, and he would only get stronger from here on out.
His ant species had been such a detriment to him as he'd started, but now it was proving to be a powerful boost. The first tier seven ant in the history of the Dungeon was unimaginably more powerful than he'd thought possible. What about the first tier eight ant? Or tier nine?
Now that Anthony had completed his three part evolution, what would come to him next? Perhaps the Vestibule-Nave-Altar trio would be built on even more, further enhancing the Will he was able to draw from the Colony and how he could spend it? Or something else entirely?
The Gravity Mana that Anthony could control was incredibly deadly, though somewhat cumbersome. Perhaps his next evolution would lead him down that path, improving the mastery he had over that one, strange branch of mana.
Without realising it, Granin had begun to pace in his room, his stony brow furrowed. It wasn't all smooth sailing for the proto-Ancient. His Skills were lacking, for one thing. Generally speaking, the accepted progression rate for Skills was for them to keep pace with evolution tier. That wasn't obtainable for all Skills, of course, not for young monsters, anyway, so at the least a few core abilities should raise their ranks in pace with evolutions. Anthony didn't reach that benchmark, not even close. He had so many Skills that needed to be raised, since he'd made himself such a generalist, that it was impossible to bring up everything he had to work on.
Perhaps Granin should work on a priority list for the big ant? Anthony would hate that sort of meddling. In fact, he seemed to hate organisation of any sort, but it may still be worth it. Gravity Mana specialisation was the most important by far, followed by Void Chomp and perhaps Dash. At least the Altar compensated by boosting the power of Skills, but if the effect only brought Anthony up to where he should be, it wasn't working at its full potential. The sooner he had rank seven Skills and the ability to demonstrate the power of a rank eight, the better.
The golgari caught himself and chuckled wryly. If he kept pacing like this, he was going to wear a hole in the carpet, which would have been a shame. Intricately woven and embroidered, it was a work of art that he was trampling over with his stone covered feet. In fact, wasn't that Anthony woven into the corners?
Obsessing over every little thing wouldn't help, and if kept it up, he'd make a bad example for Torrina and Corun. The two of them had been frothing at the mouth since their last talk with Anthony, working themselves to death poring over documents and workshopping ideas. At least a little of that manic energy had come from Granin, he knew that, but being as close as they were to witnessing the birth of the 20th Ancient, who could blame them?
Feeling a yawn build in the back of his throat, he let it take over, opening his mouth wide and stretching. The rock coating his lower back ground and cracked, causing him to wince. Sleep beckoned, and he decided to go to bed. The Colony was right about a lot of things, and not working without proper sleep was a good one. If he turned up to the meeting in the morning refreshed and alert, he could scold his two apprentices for pushing themselves too hard with proper authority.
Once again, he had to thank the Colony for their dedication to hospitality. True golgari beds weren't easy to find outside of the Empire of Stone, given the size and weight of his stone-covered people. He eased back into the soft mattress with a sigh. Trying to push the buzzing thoughts of Ancients and ants to the back of his mind, Granin grew drowsy and eventually slipped into sleep.
Then he began to dream.
At some point, as his consciousness swam and blurred through the disjointed imagery of his sleeping mind, Granin found himself in a pitch black room. Although, was it completely black? Overhead, there was a subtle light, a deep brown, like rich soil, it glowed ever so faintly, just enough that he could see his hands in front of his face.
He tried to see the edges of the room, but was it a room? No, it wasn't. As his eyes adjusted, he realised it was a chamber, or cavern. Not a particularly deep one, he stood on the floor and could almost touch the ceiling, but it was long and wide. He peered into the distance as the light edged a touch brighter, emanating from the rock above all around him. He still couldn't see a far wall in any direction. Just how vast was this place? And where was he?
He tried to take a step. The ground below wasn't as rocky as he'd expected it to be; in fact, it was unnaturally smooth, and curved. Frowning, he squatted in place and ran a hand over it, barely able to make out any details in the faint light. Yes, there was a slight slope beneath his feet, running downward. He followed it down, and the incline grew steeper as he went, until it dropped suddenly away into darkness, before rising up again thirty metres distant.
That was odd.
He turned and walked back, cresting a peak only to find the ground sloped down beyond that, ending in the same precipitous drop that rose up again thirty metres beyond.
What was he standing on? Where was this?
Only at this point did Granin realise his dream was oddly lucid, and he felt a hint of danger touch his mind. Something was different. Something was very, very wrong.
Wake up, he told himself, but he didn't.
Humans said that they pinched themselves to try and wake up. He looked at his stone covered arms for a second before he let them drop to his side. Perhaps… he could poke himself in the eye?
The ground beneath his feet began to fall, taking Granin with it. The sensation of dropping rapidly nauseated him, as he felt his guts rise into his chest, but his feet remained in contact with the ground below, if only barely. He cried out, arms spinning as the world around him shifted, grinding and twirling in impossible ways.
Who knew how far he fell, or for how long; it felt like minutes, but could have been seconds. All around him, he glimpsed enormous rivers of stone and earth, twisting around each other in the air, but it was so dark they may as well have been nothing. Was he bound in the roots of the Mother Tree?
What was happening?
When the world stilled around him, the ground settling beneath his feet, Granin slumped on his hands and knees, trembling from head to toe. Total darkness enveloped him now, but he could hear something. The air shifted in the distance, as if a wall of wind were pushed back and forth by a giant.
He shivered, wishing he could wake. Light blasted into his eyes and then faded.
He stood in a vast, open space, the walls an interlocking knot of enormous coils, each unimaginably huge. Except they weren't coils, there were no scales, this was no snake. They were rings, he realised, interlocking rings of flesh. That's what he'd been standing on, one of those rings. The drop had been the gap between one ring and the next.
He was surrounded by a worm.
The worm.
Granin flung himself to his knees and pressed his face into the ground.
Not the ground. This isn't ground.
[LOOK AT ME.]
Granin felt as if the world itself had rumbled in his mind. He lifted his head.
The face of Yarrum was like that of any worm, pointed, eyeless, the rings of flesh grew smaller and smaller until they terminated at one point. The only difference was the size. The Ancient was enormous beyond words, beyond comparison.
"I see you, Ancient Yarrum," Granin stammered, heart hammering in his chest to the point he feared his stone skin would rattle off.
The worm beheld him for a moment before it opened its mouth and Granin felt certain he was about to die, dream or no. The flesh peeled back, widening and widening and widening yet further to reveal a city sized opening, lined with ring after ring of building sized teeth. That maw, and those teeth, seemed to go on forever, each ring flexing and spinning independently of those next to it, as if Yarrum's mouth was a grinder designed to chew mountains apart. Perhaps it was.
[There isn't much time. He MUST succeed.]
The worm lunged forward and Granin snapped alert in his room, falling out of his bed with a shout. He lay on the ground, panting and trembling, as he tried to get his nerves under control.
He was okay. He was safe. He was alive.
The old golgari squeezed his eyes shut, only to snap them open again as the visage of Yarrum filled his mind's eye. From the floor, he checked the time. Only a few hours had passed since he'd laid down.
After thirty minutes had passed, Granin trusted himself to rise from the floor. After another thirty had passed, he sat at his desk, pulled open a book and began to make notes. A vision from the Worm itself, he had to record it for the Cult. Then, he should spend more time working on Anthony's build.
After all, he had to succeed.
-x-X-x-
Ah, to be back on the road again, my good friends by my side, such a wonderful feeling. I've got the breeze blowing through my antennae, a wide open plain before me, and fresh, crisp air in my lungs.
Except the breeze is in fact filled with smoke, ash and death, the wide open plain is in fact choked with demon monsters in a fighting frenzy, and I don't have lungs.
Who needs 'em, anyway?! What have lungs ever done for anyone?
Even the friends aren't quite "by my side" so much as "running rampant smashing everything they see, clinging to my carapace and greedily blasting things with green lasers."
At least Al is being cool. I mean, he can't really be cool in a temperature sense, due to his nature as a knowledge demon formed entirely from fire, but he's… cool… in a different way.
My mastery of words continues to impress!
It didn't take us long to make our way to the tunnel opening between this layer and the next, despite the rampaging demons. The gravity domain continued to be amazing for this. Reinforced by the Altar, it kept the weaker demons squashed flat.
My sub-brains continued to grind on my magic Skills as we travelled, blasting gravity spells at random targets. The levels tick along steadily. Gweheheh.
The issue we face is….
[How in the heck are we supposed to get down?]
We stand around the pit that was once the entrance to the tunnels. I say pit, it's more like a lake. Of lava.
[I see that this might prove an obstacle for you,] Al notes.
[Well yes, my body is comprised of non-flame elements. Not to mention, I lack the inborn demonic trait of heat resistance. Swimming through lava is not really my thing.]
[Pity….]
I can tell he's looking down on me. I suppose, to him, it is fairly odd to not be able to get through something like this. Demons continue to climb up through the molten goop constantly, after all.
[Is there a solution? If we need to swim through a kilometre of melted rocks and angry demons to get down, we might be better off staying here.]
[I'm sure we can arrive at a satisfactory solution.]
In the end, I had to create a tunnel of reinforced stone that went diagonally through the blockage to the next layer. It was only possible at all thanks to the Altar, and we were all a burnt mess when we managed to clamber out the end and onto the roof of the next layer down. Except Al and Invidia, of course….
[It's toooo hot,] Crinis groans as she melts across my carapace.
[Is the enchanted gear working?]
I'd secured all the heat resistant gear I could and given all of it to Crinis in the hopes she'd be able to resist the heat during the wave.
[It is, but I'm weak to this much heat. I'm sorry, Master.]
Poor thing. As a shadow monster, this environment is like kryptonite to her. It's only thanks to the efforts of the Colony that she's been able to function at all.
[Don't worry too much. Once we've blasted our prey, we can descend to the fourth and you'll be way more comfortable.]
Me too. The Call is constantly yanking on my guts even now. If anything, I think it's getting stronger as time goes by. Stupid Ancients. The sooner we annihilate these stupid tier eights, the faster we can get the heck out of here.
[For now, let's find our way down, I can't cling upside down like this for long.]
[Master Grip (IV) has reached Level 12.]
Eyyyy, nice! Seriously though, I need to get some ground under me. Naturally, when we descend on a platform of force and arrive on said ground, we find ourselves back in the thick of the demon rampage. Except it's worse.
How in the name of heck can it be worse?!
Somehow, they pulled it off. More larvae, fighting more insanely. It's honestly impressive to see. That all translates to more higher tiered demons, though, which is great news for us!
The other issue we find is, Arconidem's influence seems stronger as well. Any demon that has succumbed to his Will turns on us the moment they lay eyes on us, breaking off their fights and sprinting through swathes of opponents before they get punched into another dimension by Tiny.
That is not normal behaviour. The urge to annihilate anything that isn't native to this stratum has overcome their instinct, and it's revealed in the manic way they attack us. The more we move around, the more we run into roaming packs, looking for things like us to attack.
I sigh.
It isn't hard for us to wipe them out at this point. After a few days, or weeks, it'd get tiring, especially if the demons get stronger. We need to find our prey, take them down, then get the heck out of dodge.
[Al, any thoughts on how we might find these friends of yours?]
[They are not… friends.]
[Fine. Can you track them?]
[As heralds of Arconidem, they will attract those demons who have succumbed to his Will. They will not be hard to find….]
In other words, they'll be surrounded by hordes of demons, meaning we need to fight like mad to even get to them. Great.
[Alright then, so let's just fight everything we find as we roam around. We're sure to find a big army of demons somewhere out here.]
So we set off.
It doesn't take long to find a demon army, as it turns out. We crush it, but there aren't any tier eights around. We dust ourselves off and continue.
The second army takes a little longer to find, but we crush that too. Still no tier eights.
The third army looks promising. Some strong demons in there. We crush it, and there's still no Torrifex.
This… sucks.
-x-X-x-
Look, I don't know what they expect me to say. You'd think I'd get better at this, since I've left messages for a few of the other castes, but it really isn't the case.
You're Soldiers. You Soldier. You get it, I get it, we all get it. In many ways, this was the easiest of all of the evolutions I designed for our species, all you had to do was get bigger and chunkier. All of the stuff I found useful for fighting up close, I made sure you would also get. Inner-carapace plating, healing gland, mutable muscles, all that good stuff.
I suppose if I had to say something, it would be this: Remember Grant. She was one of the first ants I ever trained myself, a member of the Council, and she died heroically to protect me from Garralosh.
Without her sacrifice, I would not have survived that battle, and all I did for the Colony after would never have occurred. I still wonder if it was worth it. A noble, intelligent and selfless ant like Grant, what would she have been able to achieve, had she lived?
In many ways, she epitomises what it means to be a Soldier for the Colony. You are the biggest, the strongest, the toughest. It's your role to put yourself in harm's way so that others don't have to. Where the fight is thickest, where the hunt is most intense, that is where you are to go.
I only ask that you make sure you come back.
It isn't always possible, I know that, and it breaks my heart… but do your best.
And forget Leeroy. She was born stupid and not much has changed.
- Message from the Eldest to the Soldier caste.
Our hunt for the tier eight demons, Torrifex and sisters, continues to be both unfruitful, and a massive pain in the back-zone.
I feel like a cork bobbing in an ocean as we wander around, surrounded by an ocean of demon larvae who scratch and tear at each other in a neverending melee. Of course, higher ranked demons appear constantly, popping out from the waves of weaker monsters, seeking each other out or throwing themselves at us in a blind rage.
It's exhausting.
And of course, the crazed monsters who succumb to Arconidem's compulsion love to group up, and once they start to do so, they gather an unstoppable momentum. The more they group up, the faster they run into more recruits, so the horde grows even faster. It all snowballs so fast into a roaming pack of thousands of monsters that it makes my head ache.
We crush these groups whenever we find them, no matter how large or how small, but none of them are hiding our targets, and despite our overwhelming strength, we lose a little bit of energy, and take a little bit of damage, during every fight.
Well, the others do. I'm fine. My unique advantages make me immune to the rigours of drawn out combat. My muscles never get fatigued, my glands never run out of energy, and I heal superficial damage to my carapace without even having to trigger my healing gland. I can do this for months!
Tiny, on the other hand, just accumulates wounds like they're going out of fashion and even Crinis loses a lot of shadow flesh during each conflict. The two of them need time and Biomass to recover, one of which is fairly easy to provide in this environment, but the other, not so much.
Nestled within my gravity domain, they're relatively safe, but even then, strong enough demons can break through and threaten them.
On the whole, this experience is really pounding into my thick head just why the waves are so terrifying, especially on the third. Without the Vestibule, I'd be too tired, too injured and too mentally fatigued to keep fighting after just two days.
And I'm super strong!
No wonder most of the races just pull up stumps and get out of town. Leave the disaster zone and come back once the mess has died down. Not the Colony, though! We'll seize the unprecedented opportunity of the wave or die trying!
[Come on, Al. I haven't sensed anything like a tier eight core, and we've been out here for two days. Are they really down here?]
The flaming eye glares at me. Well, he looks at me. Al, due to his nature as an eye on fire basically always looks like he's glaring.
[They are,] he confirms, [but they may have retreated deeper still. It's possible Torrifex is hoping to lure you away from your base of support.]
Well… that would suck. No way he figured out my Altar combo that fast!
[Why would he do that?] I hedge. [The big moron seemed happy enough to come at me the first time we fought.]
I've never explained to Al how my species works and the unique organs that I have, and I don't intend to. Being as smart as he is, with the knowledge that he has, he probably has an inkling, but I don't feel the need to advertise my unique abilities.
[From what you have said, he was compelled to fight you by Arconidem, a test, perhaps. Torrifex is a loyal servant of the Demon God, but he has no wish to die. Rather, as close as he is to evolving and joining the Court, he and his sisters would much rather avoid a truly dangerous fight.]
So he only came up to fight me because he thought it would be easy. Great.
[So you think he's hiding from me? He ran a few layers down where he thought I wouldn't follow?]
[I believe so, but he is compelled to remove you and the entire Colony by Arconidem's Will. I imagine he is hoping to draw you to him until you are weakened by the journey, then fight you alongside his sisters and win safely. With you dead, there will be nothing to stop him leading a demon horde against your family and wiping them out.]
Huh. Cheap tactics. I never would have expected this from a demon who talked so much smack!
[So that means I only have two options then. Either I go back to the Colony and wait until Arconibutt runs out of patience and sends them at me, or keep moving lower until we find them?]
[That is… correct.]
Sigh. I hate it when I get two options and both suck.
[I guess we're going down then. Where's the nearest hole in the ground?]
I can't afford to lose the time it would take to draw them up to me. The Colony is bound to be struggling on the fourth, so I need to get down there. As the wave progresses, the danger will continue to rise, and eventually, monsters from the fifth, and possibly below, will rise to the fourth.
-x-X-x-
The ants of the Colony didn't invent universal education on Pangera, but they were, perhaps, the first to pursue it with such rigour. The citizens of the Silver City, for example, are entitled to learning until they turn ten. For the Colony, things are obviously very different due to their monstrous nature. It doesn't take years to elevate a monster, as they are effectively born ready to fight and as intelligent as they are going to get until they evolve.
But the ants approached this situation with the maddening dedication and patience they poured into everything. Even more so, in fact, due to the reverence they hold for their young. Each grub is as well reared and pampered as a princess, as well fed as a festival hog, and as carefully cleaned as a king's cutlery.
After they are born, this treatment continues as the hatchlings are put through the most comprehensive and extensive training program in the history of the world.
- Excerpt from 'Antucation: Teaching and Learning, Pedagogy among the ant' by Karliet Magron.
"Ready yourselves, hatchlings."
The pheromones of the Brood Tender, Poppant, were as soothing and warm as always, washing over the antennae of her charges like a calming wave. Twenty small forms roused themselves from torpor, twitching as they regained control of their limbs one by one.
"Good morning, teacher!" the hatchlings chorused as they fell into two neat lines of ten.
Towards the back, Solant, as the three day old monster had begun to think of herself, slapped herself about with her antennae, trying to sharpen herself for the day ahead.
Exactly eight hours had passed since they'd fallen into torpor, she was confident of that, and sixteen hours of vigorous training and learning lay ahead of them. She intended to extract every ounce of benefit she could. The Colony demanded no less!
When they were ready, Poppant clacked her mandibles happily and turned to lead her charges out of their chamber. Through the narrow entrance they filed, then out into the wider tunnels, other groups falling into lines alongside them as they went.
"Work hard!" one of her broodmates greeted Solant as she fell in beside her.
"I intend to," Solant stated.
The passage widened further as more and more tunnels connected to it. Eventually, it was twenty metres in diameter and every inch of that surface was covered in hatchlings following along behind their teachers. There were ten thousand broodmates in the current class of the Antcademy, Solant had counted them, and she was determined that none would perform as well as she.
After a few more minutes, the hatchlings were led into the vast meal hall, a vertical structure with ten floors, each seating a hundred hatchlings and ten Brood Tenders. They filed in, taking their place at the table silently, as Biomass was lowered to them from the ceiling above via a mechanism none of the new ants had been able to explain.
"Now, hatchlings," Poppant spoke once they had all settled into place, "let us be grateful for this meal our family has put before us, and ensure that we do not take lightly the resources that we have taken. If we keep that in mind, we should avoid unfortunate events such as what we saw yesterday."
Her many-faceted eyes focused on one particular hatchling who ducked her head in shame. Solant shook her head. That silly ant had succumbed to her instincts and flung herself into the jaws of a monster only the previous day. So shameful!
Of course, she would never admit that she too had nearly done the same. Nobody needed to know that!
As one, each of the ten thousand young ants munched down on the Biomass, clearing the tables before they were led away, out of the dining hall and away from their resting chambers.
It was time for training!
"Now remember what we talked about yesterday," Poppant reminded them gently as the twenty members of her group stood perched outside of the farms. "We must work together to achieve our best. Stay in formation at all times, cover for one another, and we will surely beat our best time from yesterday."
Their patient teacher ran through several drills that they had practised extensively the previous day. How to advance as a unit, how to fall back, how to smoothly operate a firing line, alternating shots between the ranks. Only when she was satisfied did Poppant allow them to advance into the farm proper.
"Remember not to panic, hatchlings," she reminded them, "I am here to protect you. There is no need for anyone,"' she paused and eyed them all, "to sacrifice themselves for the sake of the group."
"Yes, teacher," they chorused.
In the front rank, Solant was positively bursting with energy, her eyes aglow from the blazing lines of mana that split through the walls on either side. She could hear the growls and snarls of monsters ahead, freshly spawned monsters, ready to fall before the might of the Colony!
Surely, they would beat their time from the previous day. That had been an appalling showing.
"Begin when you are ready. Time starts… now," Poppant said warmly.
Immediately, Solant stepped forward with confidence, bringing the rest of the front line along with her. She set a brisk pace and the hatchlings quickly advanced along the roof of the chamber until they found their first target.
"Monster spotted!" came the call from the flanks of the formation.
"Reform the line!" Solant called and the twenty shuffled themselves until they faced their prey squarely.
"Fire!"
Half the first rank fired their acid down at the target, followed by half the second, then the other half of the first. Staggered firing in this manner had been the first thing the hatchlings had learned, and thanks to the patient teachings of the Brood Tenders, they had learned it well.
After being pelted with acid, the unfortunate monster who received the barrage could only collapse in a heap as the deadly fluid ate into it.
"Secure the prey!" Solant cried, leading the group down the wall to advance on the downed monster.
From out of the darkness came a rattling hiss, followed by an ominous clacking sound. A moment later, a claw centipede emerged, tail raised high, ready to strike.
The twenty hatchlings clacked their mandibles furiously back at it. Stupid centipede! Hated enemy of the Eldest!
"Firing posture! Unleash the storm!"
Solant wasn't sure who gave the order, but she followed it unquestioningly. The front rank dropped their posture low and turned, presenting their combined commercial empire toward the foe. The back rank did the same, except they raised themselves to stand tall, firing above the heads of their brethren.
The moment they were in position, they fired, covering the centipede with acid and sending it stumbling back into the darkness.
"There may be a centipede nest forming. Be careful as you advance," Poppant warned them.
"Roger!"
The hatchlings maintained their formation, moving as a unit at all times. The first of their prey was secured a few moments later, the group training their bite skills to finish the monster, then devouring the Biomass in moments.
When all was said and done, they defeated their previous time by five minutes, eliciting a heap of praise from their beloved teacher.
But Solant wasn't satisfied. No sooner had they finished the first chamber than she was itching to go to the next. She had to get better!
-x-X-x-
Given the nature of the ants as a social insect, one with a particular obsession toward the care and rearing of their young, it may be understandable, even expected, that they would focus so intently on education. However, the depth and complexity of their methods is astounding, no matter how one thinks about it.
Even among monsters, not all are born with the same interests and passions, and this is especially true for those above a certain threshold of intelligence. The Colony were quick to realise this fact and naturally sought to implement measures that would not only accommodate, but maximise the potential of this difference.
Thus was born the concept of 'differentiation'. Certain ants excel at one task, whereas others are lacking in this area. The Colony quickly identifies these gaps and moves to specialise their curriculum from the earliest moment possible.
Using this method, the ants are able to find the most suited path for an individual and guide them along it within days of that hatchling emerging from its cocoon.
- Excerpt from 'Antucation: Teaching and Learning, Pedagogy among the ant' by Karliet Magron.
"Congratulations, hatchlings!" Poppant praised them, her antennae wiggling with joy.
The twenty young members of the Colony preened under her attention, basking in the approval of the Tender who had cared for them since they were eggs.
"That was quite an achievement, I am extremely impressed with all of you. A new Antcademy record for a third day clear! Of course, there are things we can improve on and each of you will need to write a four page report on what you can do better next time when we get back."
The hatchlings cheered.
"Now off we go!"
With that cheerful declaration, Poppant began to march back to the Colony, her pheromones wafting happily behind her as the twenty tired, but excited ants marched in their wake.
Well, nineteen of them were tired but excited.
One of them was frustrated and disappointed.
The movements had been slow, her orders had been late and the firing discipline had been sloppy. It may have been a record setting pace for the third day of training, but Solant was far from happy. Imperfections were everywhere, she couldn't think of a single manoeuvre that the group had executed without flaw.
And that knowledge burned in her like acid in the gut.
As the ants returned to their chamber, they marched under the great and watchful eyes of the Eldest, carved into the ceiling above. The statue had been updated recently to ensure it depicted the oldest and greatest member of the Colony in all of their current glory, colossal in size and regal in posture.
Solant cringed away from those judgemental eyes.
The Eldest demanded each ant in the Colony perform to as high a standard as they did, at least, that's what the Tenders had told her. She knew that so far, her broodmates had utterly failed to meet that standard. It couldn't be allowed to stand!
After Poppant had led them through their drills, rehashed several key moments of the fighting, and inspected each of their written essays (Solant produced twenty pages of dense pheromone lines for hers), she left to allow the hatchlings to enjoy their eight hours of rest.
Before her siblings could settle in for torpor, Solant stepped forward.
"We aren't performing well enough," she declared.
They turned around and faced her in the centre of the chamber, antennae wiggling with surprise.
"We aren't?" one of her siblings asked. "Didn't we just get a record? I thought that meant we were doing well…."
"We're working hard," another piped up.
"Our teacher is proud of us…" another said.
Solant slashed those words away with a swipe of her antenna.
"And? Didn't you all just write a report of all of the things we did wrong?! Didn't Poppant just demonstrate a long list of mistakes that we need to improve on tomorrow? How can we possibly say that we are doing well?"
She clacked her mandibles in irritation.
"And I'm not excusing myself from this criticism. If anything, I've been the one making the most calls, and many of those were either late or unclear. If anyone is performing the worst in the group, it's me!"
"That's not true… my aim has been extremely poor…" one hatchling lamented.
"I lose the timing when we change formation…" another sighed.
"I tripped over my legs when dashing… I hoped nobody noticed."
"I noticed."
"Dammit."
"The point is," Solant declared, trying to get them back on track, "that our current rate of improvement isn't enough. Even if we turn around and set another record tomorrow, I don't think we should be satisfied. Unless we perform flawlessly, we should never be satisfied!"
"Are you suggesting… we… skip… sleep… and practise?"
Solant recoiled in horror.
"What? Never! I'm saying we need to use our training time more effectively than we have been. Our focus hasn't been sharp enough, our drive not committed enough! If another group would work their carapace off for the Colony, then we need to work until our muscles melt!"
"FOR THE COLONY!" the hatchlings roared in response, their eyes blazing.
When Poppant came to greet them after they woke, she was a little unnerved to see the cold, burning light in each of their eyes.
It was normal for ants in the Colony to be fervently dedicated, they worked themselves as hard as they could and took pride in it. In fact, manic dedication to the family was absolutely the standard that each hatchling possessed from the moment they were born.
But this… focus… was something else.
"G-Good morning hatchlings!" she greeted them. "Are we ready to work hard again today?"
Instead of the normal cheers and calls she would expect from her charges, she got only steely, determined glares.
They were so unified.
When they marched out to meal time, they moved as a perfect unit. They radiated an intimidating aura as they ate, unnerving the hatchlings around them, unsure what to make of this cold and laser focused group.
Once they reached the farms, they trained with a brutal and cold efficiency that Poppant had never seen before.
Often, when she gently pointed out an error, the ant in question had already begun to correct it, and apologised to the whole group as they did. Whenever this happened, the rest would nod firmly and carry on as if the mistake had never occurred.
When she finally unleashed them on the monsters in the farm, they cut through them like a gleaming blade. The fourth day record had been smashed.
-x-X-x-
Postgraduate, or postgrantuate, education was another concept the Colony adopted in a manner very differently to most other societies. While it is normal for there to be scholarly communities, such as the Tower, who accept only the finest minds and greatest learners into their ranks, those who are able to make the most of these opportunities are very few in number.
It has been noted many times that only the wealthy can afford to tutor their children to the exacting standards expected of these institutions. A farmer's children will be put to work on the farm as soon as they are able, seldom completing even basic education. This lopsided representation amongst the scholars of most empires leads to bias and gaps in thinking, with those lacking in material understanding of common tasks called on to devise policy or advise on matters they do not comprehend.
Among the Colony, further education is available to any ant who wants it. Once a hatchling has completed their training, they will be a tier four monster with a set caste and a well understood list of capabilities and responsibilities. At this stage, most of them will journey to those places where their skills are needed, ready to contribute and join the general workflow of the Colony. Some, however, choose to remain and pursue ideas and concepts until they are satisfied.
Perhaps only the ants could tolerate this generous attitude, since they are always supremely confident the studious hatchling is working to better themselves or the Colony rather than shirking work.
- Excerpt from 'Antucation: Teaching and Learning, Pedagogy among the ant' by Karliet Magron.
Poppant observed as the hatchlings watched the battle unfold below them. Like shadows, they clung to the ceiling, hiding themselves amongst the folds in the stone as dozens of monsters fought desperately beneath them. They weren't completely passive, though.
Whenever it seemed that one combatant would overpower the other, an ant would intervene, firing acid down to help swing the fight back to a neutral playing field. In this way, they dragged out the battle until every combatant was exhausted and injured. Fruit ripe for the plucking.
"Dragon Claws!" Solant bellowed.
The hatchlings moved seamlessly through the manoeuvre, sliding into four columns of five each and collapsing on the prey from the flanks. Their jaws flashed as each five ant unit worked seamlessly in tandem, scything through the monsters with brutal efficiency.
It wouldn't be a time record, due to the nature of their strategy, but it was certainly the most effortless victory she had ever seen. This group was acting… differently, than expected. She would need to make a report.
"Well done, hatchlings!" she praised them with genuine affection. "An excellent strategy, and one you executed so well! I'm particularly impressed with how well you were able to deploy your acid, and with such accuracy!"
"We've been working on pairing spotters and shooters to try and improve our aim," one hatchling explained. "Two sets of eyes are better than one, after all."
"Allow the enemy to defeat themselves," Solant nodded with satisfaction as she looked down on the waiting Biomass. "Why should we fight when our enemy is strong? Instead, we make them weak, and then strike. This seems like a viable way to do battle."
"Oh, it absolutely is," Poppant agreed, "though not always feasible. Now, scurry down there and eat. Don't let any of it go to waste! Then come back here to me, I have an exciting announcement to make!"
The hatchlings hurried to do as she had told them, ensuring they divided the food as evenly as they could. It was almost time for them to evolve for the first time, after they'd formed their cores the previous day, and it was paramount that each member of the group achieved a full set of mutations. When the food was consumed, they returned to their teacher.
"Now, in light of your achievements, it has been agreed by the Tenders that you will be granted special cores for your evolution!" she clacked her mandibles joyfully. "Isn't that wonderful?"
Rather than the exuberance she had expected, the hatchlings simply nodded, a cold and determined energy rising from them as their eyes glinted in the dim light.
"No time like the present," Poppant said, not losing her bubbly positivity for even a second. "Let's head back to the chamber, the cores should be ready and waiting for us!"
And indeed they were. Enough cores to max out every one of the twenty hatchlings and then a special core for each of them, giving them the best possible start to life. An exciting opportunity to be sure, and not one that they would waste! Before they touched them, the hatchlings ensured that they had maxed out their mutations first.
The ants settled in and absorbed the cores needed to reach the limit for their tier, then eyed the special cores warily.
"No need to worry," Poppant assured them, "it is certainly painful and uncomfortable, but I have something that might help!"
Humming cheerfully, she deposited a cup of tea in front of each hatchling, and then, with a wink, stirred in a teaspoon of sugar for each of them, deftly manipulating the cutlery with her mandibles.
"I've always found a spoonful of sugar helps the special core go down," she announced. "Drink as you absorb, and then evolve straight away!"
They did, grimacing with discomfort as their cores swelled beyond the size that was normally acceptable. Once the task was done, each of them quickly fell into slumber as they selected their evolution and customised it to their own desires.
A few hours later, twenty Superior Hatchlings awoke, appearing not that much different from before, but brimming with potential.
Solant examined herself carefully, noting every change to her status, and found she was pleased with what she saw. This evolution didn't provide the greatest benefit at tier two, but would start to pay off from tier three onward. That meant securing further records and competing against the rest of their broodmates would be more difficult in the short term.
She relished the challenge.
-x-X-x-
All in all, there is much we can learn from the Colony's approach to training and teaching their members. I'm aware that many dismiss the studies and examination of the ant's methods as inapplicable to any other, non-monstrous race, but that simply isn't the case.
Because the ants don't only teach themselves, they welcome and teach their allies also.
The ant-riders, the devastating cavalry unit formed of human, golgari, folk and even one example of a brathian rider and ant 'mount', are a perfect example. Interviewing those who chose to become members of this respected and renowned brigade, it quickly became apparent the respect and admiration they had for their ant tutors. Many spoke of the harsh and unforgiving nature of the training that demanded the riders meet the same standards as their chosen ant allies, but reported how effective and motivating the monsters were.
The training is almost universally seen to result in a rapid development of Skills and abilities related to the unique Class. That would be enough for most, but trainees are not permitted to leave the Antcademies until they have met the truly exacting standards of the Colony.
My greatest frustration is that all members of the brigade that have been spoken to refuse to detail the exact methods used in their training. Perhaps some secret techniques are utilised and the Colony refuses to spread their knowledge?
Regardless, the existence of this successful program speaks volumes to the efficacy of the ant methodology.
- Excerpt from 'Antucation: Teaching and Learning, Pedagogy among the ant' by Karliet Magron.
"ARE. YOU. READY. TO TUNNEL BAAAAAALLLLLL!?"
Solant did her best to ignore the humans going wild around them. It had been vaguely explained to her what they were here for. Entertainment of some sort? Apparently, this training exercise was popular to watch even amongst the Colony deeper in the Dungeon, which surprised her somewhat. As she understood it, this drill was an excellent test of cooperation and strategy, something her broodmates excelled in.
Which was lucky, since they were currently weaker than their competition.
"Box formation! Prepare the Dragon Claw!" Solant yelled to her allies as the chaos across the field began to resolve itself.
The two frontlines smashed into each other, chitin grinding on chitin as the largest and strongest ants in both teams pushed as hard as they could. Currently, her team had possession of the ball, and so far, they hadn't failed to run it to the other side a single time, but their opponents were catching on to their tricks and grinding them down with their superior bodies.
Solant was forced to get inventive.
"Teatime on the left flank!" she called from her position perched on the stone ball and watched as her team flowed to execute the strategem.
Pharlant, the fastest member of the team who had recently named herself, feinted left, then right, before attempting a shoulder charge against the juvenile scout who was marking her.
With her well trained dash Skill, thoughtful leg mutations and agility, combined with Solant's formations, and manoeuvres that maximised those strengths, Pharlant had been their main scorer in this game. Now, she was tightly followed by at least one opponent at all times.
Followed by another quick superior hatchling, Pharlant attempted to push hard into open space, only to be checked at the last minute. Straining too hard, the hatchling went down in a brutal fashion, legs flailing as she collapsed. Solant winced, that had looked dreadful.
"Pharlant is down, injured! Reinforce the centre and we'll push down the right side!"
Her squad moved seamlessly to shift their pressure to the other side of the field, acting with complete trust in her instructions. Their faith warmed her heart, but her mind remained razor focused on the game. They couldn't fail. She would never fail.
In the middle of their line, Sumant was the rock that anchored the formation and they pivoted around her.
"AFTER A NASTY SPILL ON THE LEFT SIDE, TEAM TINY IS LOOKING TO SHIFT THE PLAY! CAN THEY SCORE YET AGAIN, EVEN WITHOUT THEIR STAR RUNNER?"
Solant wished the humans would be a little more quiet, there had to be a thousand of them up there. She was trying to concentrate!
Every minute shift, every tiny adjustment was caught by her as she hyper-focused on the field of play. There was no excuse for mistakes, and no reason for them.
She could see the opponents were beginning to sense victory. With their larger bodies, they were starting to grind down the centre, pressing Sumant back step by step. All she needed was for a slight gap to open up, then they could strike.
And then it came. Overeager, the opposing team leapt at the first break in the line, desperate to prevent their tenth straight loss. It was subtle, but it was overcommitment, they came too far forward too quickly, leaving open space behind them.
"Flick the tail!" Solant called, before she leapt off the ball and it was swept up from under her, racing toward the right side of the field.
The timing was tight, a tenth of a second slower and the enemy would have intercepted, but they didn't get there in time and then the ball was past them. After being taught several painful lessons, the opposition had begun to defend in depth, and the second wave closed in on the ball runner, trying to hem her in.
Then Sumant was there, throwing herself forward to block the line, crashing into the smaller, more agile of the opposing ants to buy just a little bit of time and space, which the runner used to expertly flick the ball in her mandibles.
A high difficulty pass that required expert mandible control, executed to perfection. The ball travelled from the right side, through the centre and onto the left, where it landed in the waiting grip of Pharlant.
She was finally unmarked.
The nimble ant sprang to her feet and dashed forward in an instant, putting her incredible speed to good use. Caught unawares, the opposition could only watch the speedy ant complete the run, taking the ball across the line with ease.
Solant watched the play unfold with a cold gleam of satisfaction in her eyes. She had made the team's greatest strength appear weak, and the opponent had fallen for it completely.
"AN UNBELIEVABLE PASS HAS SNATCHED VICTORY FROM THE JAWS OF DEFEAT. THE UNMARKED SPEEDSTER HAS SCORED THE EASIEST RUN OF HER LIFE AFTER THE MIRACLE PLAY!"