I use every resource available to me to try and detect the Ka’armodo at work, or more likely, its slave attendants. Crinis also utilises her Mana Sense, though it has a much shorter range. As we approach, we sense nothing, so I make the decision to engage.
With Crinis on my back, Tiny and I draw closer to the horde until the masses of monsters are within twenty metres of us. The centipedes clack their claws angrily and the hounds growl a warning which we promptly ignore.
Not giving our opponents a moment to gather themselves, we charge straight into them, ploughing through the front rank with explosive force!
Tiny smashes the enemies around him with powerful sweeps of his fists, the kinetic force enough to shatter the body of any monster he hit. From my back, Crinis extends tentacles to the creatures beyond my reach and saws them apart in a gory and terrifying display of her alien physique.
For my part, I chomp, alternating between the two Skills I need to Level, piercing and slicing each monster as it comes within range.
Then, we flee!
[Get your hairy ape butt out of there, Tiny!]
Grumpy and discontented with the short burst of action, Tiny flings the surrounding monsters away and joins us in our exuberant flight from danger.
The fight lasted only seconds. We’d impacted hard, inflicted as much damage as we could, and fled before the horde could surround us. Using our superior speed, we hurtle back into the hills over a kilometre away from the road itself.
The monsters pursue us for a hundred metres or so before they fell back toward the main body of the horde, following the directives of the mind that suppresses them.
In order to prevent the colony from ambushing them as they had previously, it appears the monsters will no longer pursue away from the support of their fellow horde monsters. Which means the colony now has to expose themselves to inflict damage.
We’re trapped, in a way. We need to inflict damage. It is absolutely necessary that we reduce the numbers of the horde before they reach the colony. There is no way we can hope to fend off tens of thousands of monsters in one pitched battle. They’d simply roll over us.
Once the horde settles at the angle we’d attacked, and the monsters have consumed the Biomass of their fallen brethren, we wait to see if anything changes. After a half hour, I’m confident that no steps have been taken to prevent us from engaging again, so we do.
This is going to take a lot of time.
98. Planning is Hard
Our mission is divine. Passed down through the centuries from our forebears who were fortunate enough to hear the words of the Great One. To complete the circle, to finish the work that was begun but never completed. Only then can the path be opened and the way to a greater existence be made manifest.
What is this world, with its endless trials and monsters, but purgatory? This is not where we are meant to be. This is not a place where anyone belongs. Only at one point in history was it possible for our lord to reach out to us, to enlighten us to the truth. Our society was told many secrets which we recorded in the Book of Red Truth.
Since that initial communication, we have not heard from our master, but messages have been passed through intermediaries and we know that progress has been made.
Nineteen is not enough. Twenty are required. There are those with potential out there, we have seen them, found them. If we can raise one up, lift it to the pinnacle that is required, then the circle will close and the way will be opened.
We are everywhere, in all nations and amongst all peoples. It is only a matter of time.
Victor was struggling.
When she first evolved into a general, she’d thought it would be simple. Despite all the lessons the eldest had drilled into her and her siblings, about tactics and preserving lives, her instincts had been clear. Ants would fight as they had always fought: overwhelming through superior numbers and avoiding anything that tactic didn’t work on.
Even with her increased intelligence, it didn’t seem as if that generic plan had any holes. When the eldest insisted that every ant, every soldier and worker, be given the utmost opportunity to survive, she’d listened but not understood what that would mean.
You couldn’t throw ants at a fight until it went away if each of those ants needed to be preserved to the best of your ability. You couldn’t adopt attrition tactics when you were charged with preserving the lives of your soldiers at all costs.
And the thing that was most grating, the thing that gave Victor the most stress, was that she was starting to care. She’d seen it already in the others. In Wills most of all. Every ant in the colony would happily die for the sake of the family, but they were reaching a point where they weren’t prepared to sacrifice each other. This level of care and emotion was alien and strange to Victor. She feared it was only a matter of time before it spread throughout the colony.
Increased cognitive function had brought many blessings to the species, but it also meant a shift in behaviours and attitudes. Victor just wished they’d had time to learn these lessons without a crisis hanging over their heads.
“How’s the word from the front?” she asked one of her aides.
The large soldier ant shook her body slightly, intimidated at being in the presence of one of her seniors.
“Yes, General! There has been a message from the scouts delivered in the last five minutes! The Ka’armodo acolytes appeared at the front line and began a spell offensive against our skirmish forces. We’ve had multiple accounts of the acolytes appearing from thin air, the scouts suspect invisibility or teleportation magic is at play.”
Victor winced. They’d been worried about that.
“Casualties?” she asked, not wanting to hear the answer.
“Four groups were destroyed before the general retreat was effected.”
Victor sighed. That meant twenty ants lost, most likely in an instant. When each soldier had such potential, it was an incredible waste for them to die. That was the real shame of it. Their numbers would be replenished shortly. In fact, only twenty casualties meant their numbers would increase when the next wave of soldiers arrived. But Victor could no longer think of it as the dead being replaced. They couldn’t be replaced.
The eldest had started something strange in the colony, and Victor could only hope that they knew what they were doing.
“I need to speak to Wills. Do you know where she is?” Victor asked her aide.
“I haven’t heard, General. Last report I received had the scout leader making her way toward the front.”
Victor cursed. Wills had shown an increasing tendency to take matters into her own mandibles. It meant the scouts’ operations tended to work smoothly, but it also meant Victor could never get ahold of her sibling when she needed to.
“I’ll go find her. You hold here and inform me of any developments when I get back.”
“Yes, ma’am!” the soldier saluted with one antenna.
Victor crawled out of her chamber, with its increasingly detailed map of the terrain and the horde on it. The enemy would reach this forward base within the next twenty-four hours. The ants would have abandoned it by then. According to projections, the horde would take two days to make the final push to the nest.