Despite all this, the horde advanced. An unstoppable wave of momentum that couldn’t be halted. The colony may as well have been spitting in the wind.
“I’m empty,” Burke declared, reorienting herself so she could look out over the wall. “Ten more seconds till they hit the wall, I think.”
A pervasive feeling of determined calm possessed the warriors of the colony. Everything was on the line today. Mistakes could not be afforded. Not even the slightest mishap. Unless every member fought to their utmost potential, the colony would fall. An outcome that could not be allowed.
The ants had planned a defence in depth to maximise their terrain advantage and the unthinking nature of their enemies. The battle would be long and brutal. There would be an opportunity for the desperate rage of the final stand, but not yet.
“Alright then,” Wills said, retreating from the wall where her position was taken by an eager soldier. “I’ll head back and rest.”
“Good on you,” Burke approved. “I’ll try and make sure some of them are alive for you when you come back.”
Wills waved an amused antenna and made a hasty retreat. If she wasn’t going to be fighting, then she had no business on the front lines muddying up the waters.
With her sibling gone, Burke focused her attention back on the horde as it crashed into the first earthen rampart. Monsters of dozens of shapes and sizes crushed against the solid barrier and were smashed into the ground as those behind them climbed over them. Roars and screams of rage, and the dying rattle of monsters filled the air as the soldiers in the front row began to lean forward and chomp at the first enemies to come within range.
Burke took her position, not at the front, but one row behind. The council determined this was as close as any member was allowed to get to the thick of the fighting. Truth be told, only the soldiers and scout portion of the twenty would dare fight here. Burke felt it was necessary that the council shoulder the risks of the colony along with their siblings. They weren’t some protected caste whom the colony existed to serve. The very idea was repellent. They existed to serve the colony!
The soldiers at the edge of the wall continued to lunge, snapping at monsters below Burke’s line of sight. There was no risk the soldiers would fall, they could grip as well as any other ant, obviously, but if they were caught hold of, they might be pulled down.
The horrific din of the horde reached a fever pitch as the monsters pressed against the wall and sought to climb it. The wall wasn’t immense, only three metres tall, but most monsters weren’t as adept at climbing vertical surfaces as the ants were.
Some of them could, though, and after a few more seconds, Burke noticed the first creatures reach the top of the wall. Like lightning, Burke lunged and brought her mandibles closed on a spider that had poked its hideous, fanged head over the edge.
The beast’s eight legs—disgusting!—scrabbled and scratched at Burke’s carapace while the scout leader pulled the creature back over the wall. In seconds, it was surrounded by soldiers and scouts. The ants worked together and ripped the monster apart before it could free itself. As the soldiers pulled back to return to their positions, healers rushed in to grab the Biomass. They’d use it to create stockpiles close to the front to assist with their healing efforts.
First one down, Burke told herself. A heck of a lot to go.
126. The Boldest Soldier!
“Take that!” Leeroy roared as her mandibles tore down yet another foe.
The blood and Mana within her body thrummed with excitement as the battle unfolded before her eyes. The ants were fighting. Gloriously fighting! All along the wall, the horde surged and pushed higher, bringing them within reach of the deadly jaws of the insects above.
“Hahahaha! Die for the colony!” she screamed as she tore into another creature.
Was she telling the enemy to die for the colony or inviting herself and her siblings to do so? Even she wasn’t sure as the joy of battle overtook her senses. She’d put herself on the front lines, obviously. As close to the action as she could get. She figured the others had assumed she would do that from the start. Was it really a breach of trust if she followed through with that expectation?
Freed from concerns of the grand strategy, self-preservation or any sense of the situation around her, Leeroy was able to embrace and indulge her burning desire: to fight! To put her life on the line in the service of her family. What was the point in preserving her life if she could spend it to save even a single one of her siblings? None! Joy soaring in her heart, Leeroy continued to engage to a dangerous degree, teetering over the edge of the wall so she could reach more foes.
The nearby general assigned to this section of wall eyed the manic council member warily. She couldn’t help but sigh at the vagaries of fate. That her unit would be tasked with the mission of ensuring the safety of Leeroy was not something that filled the ant with glee. She would do her duty, naturally. She just felt that, what with the apocalyptic battle the colony was facing, her job didn’t need to be made any harder.
“Step up the line,” she bellowed.
Moving as one, the reserve soldiers pushed to support the ants on the edge of the wall. Some of them grabbed onto the legs of the ants in front, whilst others moved alongside them to help prevent them from being overwhelmed. It had only been a minute since the horde made its first contact. Already, the enemy was beginning to wash over the top of the wall. It was too soon. The colony needed to drag out the fight whilst minimising their losses.
They would need to hold at this wall as long as they could.
“Hold the wall!” she cried. “For the colony!”
“FOR THE COLONY!”
In complete silence, the soldiers roared as one. Thousands of individuals moving in a coordinated unit, they battled furiously.
Where the hell is our mage support? The general worried as she watched her soldiers battle under the umbrella of her aura. How long were they planning to take? If this goes on much longer, we’ll start to lose soldiers.
Just at that moment, a roar of flames erupted behind her. Long pillars of fire from the second wall tore into the sky. Like furious dragons, they took flight before arching down. Searing heat and the crackling sound of flames assaulted the ants as the spells passed nearby, but it was upon the enemy the full force of the strike fell.
Ten metres past the edge of the wall, the fire impacted and spread. The fireball swelled and hundreds of monsters were engulfed in the blaze. The fire mages had struck!
The smell of burning Biomass and the shrieks of monsters pierced the air. The monsters had piled themselves high against the earth wall, and now that density came back to haunt them. Hundreds were roasted in an instant. The flames roared hot enough to singe Leeroy’s antennae as she continued to hang over the edge of the wall.
“That’s what you get!” She cackled at the monsters suffering beneath her, indifferent to their pain.
Any pity would have been needless, as the monsters did not suffer for long. Those who had fallen to the spell were consumed, and only seconds later the enemy threatened the wall once again.
“A chomp for you! And a chomp for you! You dare face me? Feel the edge of my mandibles of wrath!”
Leeroy was driven to the peak of excitement by the carnage. Her eyes shone with such an intense fighting spirit, her enemies may well have been losing HP when they looked too closely. The clash of monsters! The colony fighting as one to repel the invaders! It was intoxicating.