“So, what was that back there? The ‘take down protocol’? This a change in the stated policy or something?”
She shifts uncomfortably.
“It’s been decided that we’ll be a bit more active from this point onward during combat. If we can end fights more quickly with a precision strike, and therefore cut down on the risk that you’ll be exposed to, it will be beneficial in the execution of our duties.”
“Not to mention it helps you guys get some experience and Biomass on the job,” I approve. “I like it.”
“It does mean we expose ourselves more often, which many of us are not happy about…”
I dismiss those concerns with a flick of my antenna.
“You can’t just sit idly by and hide whilst I get killed, right? You have to expose yourselves at points in order to perform your role at all. It’s just a question of working out when and how much. I think this is a sensible shift. Keep up the good work.”
Unused to being praised, Protectant stumbles a little before vanishing from my sight. I meant what I said, though; if they can be a bit more proactive, having these twenty follow me around won’t be as much of a pain. It’s nice to have more ants to talk to, for a start, something I can’t really do if they refuse to show themselves most of the time.
Speaking of other ants.
[Alright, Invidia, spit her out,] I sigh.
We’re joined by a rather bedraggled-looking hatchling. Brilliant gives herself a quick shake, much like a puppy would, to rid herself of the envy demon’s excess saliva before looking around.
“Ooo! What’s all this?”
In less than five seconds, she’s already spotted the carpet of demons crawling around our feet and pounced on one, holding down the struggling creature with her mandibles so she can inspect it more closely.
“Careful, you moron! These little things are dangerous to someone as weak as you!”
I almost spoke prophetically. An instant later the enraged little demon manages to free a claw and take a wild swipe at its captor, threatening to slice Brilliant’s face in two.
SPLAT!
With one emphatic stomp, Tiny flattens the offending demon, scooping Brilliant up with one arm and placing her firmly on his shoulder in one smooth motion. That was close!
“You might be tier three compared to their tier one or two, but these little guys have much better body parts than we do. Better muscle mass, harder and sharper claws, tougher skin and bodies. Despite the gap in tier, they’re still capable of slicing you up with ease.”
The little ant clicks her mandibles in shock.
“Really? That’s fascinating!”
“That’s the difference between strata at work,” I grumble. “Only by upgrading our bodies can we close the gap. All that means is that you should consider yourself a tier one for the time we are down here. Absolutely everything in the third can kill you. If you’re going to keep being stupid, then I’ll stuff you back into the interdimensional mouth until we leave.”
“I’ll try to keep myself under control!” She gives me a quick salute with an antenna that I can’t decide is sarcastic or not. I’m still thinking about it when Al pipes up.
[We’ve arrived,] the demon announces.
In the ground before us is something I wasn’t expecting to see, a break in the endless carpet of infant demons. Instead of the rolling melee, a wide crevice in the boiling black rock of the Plains of Leng opens, which the monsters seem to instinctively avoid, rolling away whenever they draw too close. The walls of the tunnel glow red as the potent Fire Mana in the veins running through the rock flows unceasingly. I can already tell it’s going to be absolutely boiling in there.
With a heaving sigh, I say, [Let’s head on in.]
At least we won’t get caught up in any more bizarre fights between cities whilst we’re down there.
127. What Lies Between
Not only do I believe the Ancients to be real, I believe they have gotten stronger over time, not weaker, as some have suggested. I understand the thinking behind the so-called ‘cascading Mana deprivation’ theory, but I consider it optimistic at best, and hopelessly naive at worst.
I can almost believe the great thinkers of the last age were simply never taught the concept of entropy. I suppose it isn’t a comforting thought, that one’s society and indeed world, are in a state of decay rather than growth, but the stubborn refusal to even consider this meta state of our existence is more than a little baffling.
If one accepts that monsters so powerful as to be near to gods exist, then a set of assumptions logically follows. More powerful monsters require more Mana to sustain themselves. This much is self-evident and there are none who refute this fact of the Dungeon. The Ancients therefore live in the area of the planet with the highest concentration of Mana. This also follows logically.
It is possible, though dreadful to contemplate, that more powerful monsters exist, sleeping on some deeper level beyond our experience, but we have no evidence that such may be the case. In the absence of such evidence, we must move forward with what we have.
It is here that the denialists stake their reputations. They believe that since the Ancients have not been able to rise from that place a second time, locked inside their own realm since the Rending, that Mana levels globally have fallen to a point that does not allow them to do so. They argue that the peak concentration of Mana on Pangera occurred during that dreadful event and has since fallen to the ‘normal’ or ‘ideal’ levels. In essence, they argue that the Ancients peaked too early in life, and now they lie in a weakened state in the heart of the Dungeon without the strength to move.
It is true that, according to the records we have, Mana levels appear to have fallen before stabilising in the time since the Cataclysm, but I believe there is a different cause. I believe the Ancients, the most powerful creatures on Pangera, evolved. During the Cataclysm, they rose to the surface and destroyed, between them, millions of beings, pushing them past the threshold to evolve to a new stage of existence. This necessitated their retreat to the centre of the Dungeon and explains the lower level of Mana we have experienced since.
There is not less Mana being produced in the centre of Pangera. Those nineteen individuals are soaking up so much that it has affected the concentration of energy on a global scale.
I decide to take the lead in our descent through the crack and creep forward with reasonable caution. This is an unknown environment, and I don’t want to go too crazy before we get a clear picture of what we might run into down here.
Sure, I could ask Al all about it, but that would do two things. One, suck all the fun out of Dungeon exploration, and two, require that I answer a bunch of his questions, and frankly, I’m getting tired of explaining basic concepts of my pre-ant existence. The last time I needed to tell him something, I ended up going through half the plot of the Lord of the Rings before he would tell me what I needed to know!
Ain’t nobody got time for that!
The tunnels are much like I’ve gotten used to during my time in the Dungeon, with a few major differences. The Mana veins here are like molten lava, but not the cooling stuff. None of that pansy dark red lava, oh no, the veins are white hot, almost literally. The Mana inside is so thick it almost seems to flow like lava as well, oozing through the veins before seeping into the air. The rock itself is different, mainly in that it’s pitch-black and steaming hot. There are visible heat waves in the air every time the tunnel stretches any sort of distance. Then, of course, there’s the lava. The stuff flows like water down here. The farther we go, the more of it I find.