Only by their body language was it possible to get a sense of their emotions, and that was almost impossible at the best of times. Only when the queen emerged had Enid been able to clearly sense their fear. Once that gigantic monster made herself known and rushed to the front, the ants had become frenzied. Not with rage or hate. Enid felt sure of it. They’d felt afraid. When the lightning had fallen on their queen, the thousands of monsters had become frantic.
Enid had been afraid at that point. Afraid of what would have happened if the queen had fallen to the lightning and been torn apart by her attackers. What would have happened to the ants who remained? What would they have done in their grief and rage? She shuddered to think of it.
“Mary,” Enid called softly to a nearby nurse. “Could you get me another cloth, please? This young man needs to have his wounds cleaned.”
The young girl looked down at the suffering young man before she glanced back at Enid’s face and nodded quietly. The boy gripped her hand tighter.
“Do you know if my brother is okay?” he gasped.
“I haven’t seen him in here,” she reassured him. “I’m sure he’s still fighting.”
He relaxed back onto his pallet.
“I saw him fighting next to the beast,” he forced out, a rictus grin on his face. “He always looked up to her.”
Enid couldn’t help but snort at the use of Morrelia’s nickname. She didn’t know when they’d started referring to her as ‘the beast’ but she sure as heck didn’t want to be about when the young berserker found out. To Enid’s knowledge, Morrelia had been on the wall battling like a maniac the entire time. With her reckless, two-handed style, it would be a miracle if she hadn’t suffered major wounds.
If only they had healers! Enid would happily cut her left arm off for a decent apothecary, even.
Ultimately, Enid had begun to despair. What if, despite everything they’d done, it still wasn’t enough? Just like the young boy, who couldn’t be more than fifteen, she felt her hopes slowly dying. She would never let it show on her face or in her demeanour, but she was afraid. Not for herself, but for her people. They deserved so much better than this.
At that moment, a stir ran through the medical tent. A wave of energy that crackled in the air. Tension, excitement, and fear, all rolled in one.
“Miss Enid!” Mary rushed back, a cloth forgotten in her hand.
“What is it, child?” Enid asked, concerned.
“They’ve come! They’ve come to save us!”
“Who?”
It didn’t take long for the question to answer itself. From her position seated on the ground, Enid could see people shuffling to one side, trying to make space for something to make it through. She gasped when the first one came into sight.
Antennae twitched and mandibles clacked as a dozen monstrous ants pushed their way into the medical tent. Without a word or a sign, they split up and moved about the tent, each headed to a different wounded. One came right next to Enid and brought its antennae down on the dying lad. When Healing Mana began to flow down the antennae and into the boy, Enid could hold her tears no longer. As life came back into his face, so too did hope blossom inside her.
She did not know where this strange colony had come from, but in that moment, she had to admit that Beyn was possibly onto something. How could they not be heaven-sent?
134. Croc Around the Bloc
“Hold the line!” sprayed Grant to the ants around her. “Don’t let these motherless scum over the wall!”
She faked left before biting down hard with her mandibles on a clawed hand that threatened her. The dirt wall defences of the ants had held firm so far. Only by voluntary retreat had they been taken by the enemy. As each consecutive wall had been surrendered, the ants’ defences had become concentrated and more sophisticated.
Now on the sixth wall, the greater preparations were bearing fruit. The moat was deep here and filled with Biomass. Sharpened stakes dotted the face of the wall where many monsters lost their lives pushing into them.
Spears of water erupted out of the moat and dozens of monsters fell back, pierced through their sides. Not far from where Grant fought, the Water Mage slumped to the ground, exhausted.
“Get back to the nest,” Grant ordered, her pheromones cutting through the myriad scents of the battle.
“I’ve got one more in me,” the Mage forced out.
“Denied. Get back in the nest and recharge. One spell here isn’t worth delaying your return to the field later,” Grant ordered, even as she fended off another attacker on the wall.
The Mage ant pushed her feet back under her, and with the assistance of a nearby healer, crawled away from the fighting.
The general assigned to this section of wall shook her head. The colony was pushing itself hard and the will to sacrifice themselves had risen. When push came to shove, each individual would rather die than allow another to die in their place. It had become harder and harder to get soldiers to take breaks, to make healers recharge their Mana Glands. Even the generals had become obstinate, some had even pushed into the fight themselves!
The generals were no larger than a juvenile soldier. All the evolutionary energy in their second evolution went into raising their Cunning and the Combat Aura gland. When it came to applying damage with their mandibles, even scouts were superior. Forget about the soldiers themselves.
“Get back!” Grant yelled.
The ants around her scuttled away from the wall just as a giant rotting toad monster opened its distended and grotesque mouth and unleashed a gout of putrid liquid that washed over the surface.
“Dirt! Go! Go!” the general ordered, running in with her mandibles filled with soft earth.
The green liquid bubbled and steamed as the ants scrambled to cover it with dirt. After a few seconds, the horrific mess was nowhere in sight and they leapt back to the edge of the wall to battle against the monsters who threatened to spill over the edge.
Grant cursed inside. Those stupid toads had become a problem ever since they’d first appeared at the fifth wall. If they weren’t spotted in the heaving mass of monsters before they spewed out their poisonous, acidic soup, a great deal of damage could be done to the ants in a short period of time. The wounds caused were excruciating and required a massive amount of Mana to heal. Almost every healer on the wall had been sent back to rest at one point, drained of their Mana after treating the burns.
“Hold the line!” Grant shouted, and her fellow soldiers, with their larger bodies and powerful mandibles, stepped up once more.
GROOOOOOWL!
The ground beneath Grant’s feet vibrated as a low growl from hundreds of throats shook the air. She stared out over the thronging horde, much smaller now than it had been at the start, and she saw them.
They pushed their way through the horde in packs of three or four. Standing upright, they towered over many of the monsters. Light glinted off their dark scales and razor claws. Some of them opened their massive jaws wide and flashed their teeth as their growls continued to rumble deep in their chests.
“THEY’RE COMING!” she roared. “The crocs are coming!”
All along the wall, the ants rippled with energy as the word raced down the line and back up to the nest. Excitement pounded in Grant’s thorax. Finally, the filthy crocs were prepared to show their faces. At last, the battle would move to its destined conclusion!
Since the smaller crocs had made their move, the big one couldn’t be too far behind!