“We won’t let it happen,” Theresant promised her sister, then turned to the search party behind them. “Bring your sisters, we need more antennae for the search.”
Five minutes later, the single largest gathering of Brood Tenders outside their chambers ever witnessed descended on the Biomass farms like a storm, scattering all before them in their hunt for the grub. Chaos reigned wherever they went as more and more ants were forced to join the hunt until thousands upon thousands of ants flooded the tunnels, searching high and low, tracing the faint scent of a single grub that seemed to crisscross everywhere throughout the territory until none could be sure where the trail began or where it ended.
As the Tenders grew more distressed, more ants abandoned their work to assist them, which rapidly grew out of control, and all industry in the Colony ground to a halt. Even soldiers were dragged into the mess, pulling the generals with them. Before she’d even realised what was happening, Sloan found herself organising the central command post for the search, directing no less than fifty different search parties as they tore the territory apart in search of the grub.
Advant herself led a charge to the very edge of the Colony defences, following a faint trace that led right to the outer wall before doubling back, toward the farms. Eventually the pattern began to emerge, Sloan having pieced together the movement of the grub and organised the searchers into a wide net, cast out to surround and constrict the territory in which the elusive larva could move.
With hearts pounding in chests, the ants converged, turning over every rock and leaf so as not to let their prey slip past. Creeping step by step they advanced, drawing close the strings around the target and blocking off escape routes.
Emergency walls were constructed, an army of carvers working without pause, walled off tunnels and built emergency watch stations. Every ant passing in and out was inspected head to claw, lest they unknowingly smuggle the grub through a checkpoint.
Florence and Theresant felt joy surging in their hearts as the web drew ever more taut. They would not lose the larva, and their sisters would know joy when this lost lamb had been returned to the fold. They placed themselves at the forefront of the search and none were more diligent than they. The two siblings checked every rock, every fold in the stone, and left no shadow seaweed uninspected in their advance.
Eventually, the multitude of search parties gathered around a single point, an intersection of tunnels close to the edge of the Colony’s territory. Hearts were in mouths all around as the thousands of ants gathered within sight of each other. Somewhere ahead, in this innocuous patch of rock, the grub was hiding, they’d made sure of it. All trails led to this point. Escape was impossible!
“Ahh! What a nap! I’m feeling good! Oh. Ah. Hello, everyone?”
At that moment, the Eldest stood up, right in the middle of the multitude of spectators, stretching after a period of torpor.
“Eldest? What are you doing here?” Theresant asked.
The giant ant turned to cast their eyes over the tense antennae of the gathered crowd.
“I was resting here. What the heck has been going on while I was resting? Actually. Don’t worry, I think I have it.”
The Brood Tender tilted her head, unsure as to what the Eldest meant when they moved forward, ducked down, and seemingly from nowhere plucked a grub from the ground with their mandibles, holding it up for all to see.
“This what you’re after?”
There was perfect stillness, then, the gathered throng burst into wild applause, clacking their mandibles as waves of pheromones rolled through the tunnels. The Brood Tenders were almost overcome with emotion as the long search finally came to an end. Theresant and Florence walked on shaking legs to approach the Eldest and inspect the larva for themselves.
“Finally, we’ve found her!” they cried. “We can take her back to the chambers and tend to her needs properly.”
The little grub wriggled viciously in the Eldest’s grip, but the mighty ant had no problem maintaining their grip without hurting the little one.
“I’m not sure that’s a good idea,” the Eldest said, shocking the two of them. “This one reminds me of Vibrant. She’s the only other grub I’ve seen with this much energy. If you take her back, she’s only going to escape again. You might as well leave her with me. I’ll bring her up personally.”
A chill ran down the Tenders’ carapace.
“You? T-teach her personally? A-are you s-sure that’s… safe?” Florence stammered.
The Eldest eyed them, an aura of irritation rising.
“What are you implying?”
So quick, they almost missed it, the hovering demon guardian of the Eldest appeared, a giant mouth splitting the air beneath it and opening wide. Quick as a flash, the Eldest turned and flung the grub straight into the waiting maw, which closed and vanished from sight.
“ELDEST!” Theresant shrieked.
“Calm down,” the Eldest groused. “He’s not going to eat her. If she’s going to be a pain and send the entire colony into a tizzy, she can have a little time out. In this case, time out means being held in a demon’s interdimensional mouth.”
Then they laughed. Oh, how they laughed.
Scarred and frightened, the two Tenders retreated to the brood chambers to reassure their sisters and comfort each other from memories they would rather forget. An hour later, the Colony was back to its normal industrious self, as if nothing had ever happened.
76. A Brand-New Pain in the Neck
The first time I met Anthony, I honestly didn’t think much of them. Insect type monsters were weak, such was common knowledge. In fact, that knowledge was so common, that it was some time before I realised I didn’t actually know much about that branch of monsters. I’d simply dismissed them out of hand based on the collective poor disposition toward them.
After working with him and sensing his potential, I spent a considerable amount of time digging through the archives and studying the material we had on the subject, which was pathetically little. There were many records of ants, but mainly of the historical sort, detailing this outbreak or that, the types of individuals encountered, and how they’d been exterminated. Extraordinarily little work had been done exploring the branching evolution trees, common mutation types, or any of the rigorous research the Cult of the Worm was renowned for.
Why? Why was this branch of monster, more than any other, disregarded in such a total manner? It was baffling to me, and yet I had little choice but to admit that I myself had done the same. Despite garnering a reputation for delving deep into monster archetypes that were typically looked down upon by my contemporaries, I never considered looking into ants in any sort of depth
I suppose I can understand the bias, ants are a despised monster archetype. General Dungeon dwellers hate them for the damage they cause and the rather terrifying manner in which they attack, tunnelling through walls and bursting into vulnerable areas with a flood of chitinous bodies, whereas my fellow scholars had little use for such individually weak monsters when trying to craft the apex predator that is an Ancient.
Thus, I set out to gather all of the knowledge I could to rectify this mistake. By pulling and cross-referencing studies on every hive-type insect monster I could find, I began to build a profile of what may be possible, not only at the lower tiers, but also at the higher.
What emerged was a picture quite unlike what I had predicted. High tier insect monsters are very rarely seen, but without exception, they are powerful. High tier ants, other than Queens, are never seen. It stood to reason that they too would be just as strong.