In fact, would it be fair to say they are targeting me more than Tiny right now?
A barrage of weapon strikes flash through the darkness at me, carving gouges in my carapace and knocking my weight around. My nerves allow me to make precision, last-second dodges that keep my legs attached to my body and protect my eyes from being punctured. The battlefield truly has descended into a complete mess, with fanatical ants literally throwing their bodies at the enemy, crawling over the roof, and dropping onto the Legion from above.
More and more ants join the fray until the entire tunnel is a seething mass of ants. Once the numbers get high enough, Tiny and I can finally relax, since there aren’t enough soldiers with a clear shot at us to cause significant issues. Once they realise they can’t claim the major prize, the enemy begins a fighting retreat. When they group together, the Legion soldiers are adept at layering their shields and combining their strikes to sweep away a number of ants at once, giving themselves breathing room to try and free more of their allies.
I push forward, attempting to stay on the front lines in order to protect my siblings, but there’s so darn many of them, I’d have to crush them in order to get through. After ten minutes of shoving and snapping whenever I can, I suddenly find myself alone in the field.
Did… did we win?
“FOR THE COLONY!”
“CHARGE!”
“GET ’EM!”
The colony has clearly not had enough of chomping on the Legion. The ants surge, hungry to extract their full measure of vengeance now that they finally have the upper mandible.
[Crinis! Block them! Don’t let the colony pursue them!]
The Legion has been diligent in seizing our strongholds and bringing their line forward in unison. I’ve no doubt that if we chase them down the tunnel, we’ll run into traps and reinforcements. If we aren’t careful, they’ll flip this victory into a defeat before we can blink!
The horde of ants give chase, but the shadows deepen beyond black in front of them and a mass of tentacles rises from the floors. In the blink of an eye, a forest of dark, writhing limbs have risen in front of them, blocking the path of the charge.
“Get back!” I call. “Get back to our walls!”
With persistent calls and the odd THWACK! I manage to get the colony turned around. I get that they’re excited, but I sure as heck don’t want to lose any more of them. Indeed, the battlefield is littered with wounded and fallen ants. They may have managed to pile on and get within biting range of the Legion for a change, but that doesn’t change the fact that those armoured soldiers pack a ridiculous punch in a small package.
The healers are already out in full force, gathering up the wounded and providing emergency treatment. Nutritious Biomass is delivered to those in most need to help kick-start the natural healing process and get them back on their feet faster. I ask Invidia to help out where he can as I wearily survey the battlefield. It was a short and sharp conflict, but I’m completely exhausted. I might actually need some torpor after that one.
I wander around and find Tiny slumped against the wall with a satisfied smile on his face and his body covered in wounds. I almost call Invidia to take care of the ape, but I stop myself when I realise most of the injuries are already closed. Even so, he must have come close to losing all of his HP multiple times in that fight. I swear at one point, I saw him with one arm barely hanging on. Even with Invidia in his back pocket, he still isn’t protected enough to make it out of engagements like this in one piece.
[You dumb gorilla,] I sigh at him. [Fighting is good and all, but you need to make it out alive or it doesn’t count.]
[Harr,] he scoffs and then winces as his wounds flare up.
[You deserve that. Rest, you big lug, I’ll try and get some food for you.]
Unsurprisingly, his eyes light up at the mention of food and he nods at me with vigour. Predictable.
“Quite the unexpected fight, eldest.”
Gah! I didn’t even notice Wills creep up on me, I was so preoccupied.
“Don’t blame me,” I say. “I had nothing to do with it. Tiny decided he wanted to fight today.”
“Turns out it was a good thing he did. The real question I have, though, is what we’re going to do with all of that.”
With a flick of her antennae, the scout indicates the two dozen or so suits of armour being dragged away toward our own walls.
“I can think of an ant who might want to take a look at those…”
112. RnD
The hammer of anvils and the searing heat of metal surrounded Smithant on all sides and she couldn’t be happier.
“How do I manage this part?” another carver asked, scuttling up to her.
“Ah, the folding? It’s like this…” She explained the process with care and demonstrated some of the techniques on her own workbench as the other ant watched with laser-like focus.
“I understand,” the carver nodded. “I’ll make an attempt and return to see what you think.”
So saying, the ant ran off to her own workspace, another anvil soon ringing in chorus with the others. It felt so nice to have helpers! It was only weeks ago when she was labouring on these projects by herself. Only weeks? It seemed like a lifetime ago. After breaking through with her Skills and forging the first suit of enchanted ant-armour for Leeroy, she’d managed to receive the blessing of the eldest and, suffice to say, the word of the most important ant in the colony went a long way toward getting approval.
With more resources at her disposal, and the help to make use of them, the armour workshop of the colony was now a small thriving community of armoursmiths, dedicated to their profession with the sort of unflinching fanaticism that came so naturally to the ants.
Filled with pleasant feelings and eager to return to her own work, Smithant was more than a little irritated to hear a clamour as a horde of ants descended into the workshop, taking up space and hauling what appeared to be heavy sacks filled with the unmistakable tinkle of metal on metal. At least they were interrupting her for something worthwhile, she grumbled. As long as there was metal involved, she was interested.
“What has got you lot so riled up?” she demanded as the cavalcade of ants flooded into her workspace, covering every inch of the walls and ceiling, taking up defensive positions.
“Sorry for the trouble,” came a recognised scent. “The generals are a little nervous about this stuff and wanted a full security detail. Forget that the largest soldiers won’t even fit in the workshop area.”
“Tungstant?”
The carver council member skittered into the room, poking and prodding at the bags on the ground with her front legs. It was quite rare for the council members to show up here, especially right now.
“I thought you were working on the defences of the three nests… What are you doing here?”
The council member shook her antennae and kept prodding at the bags.
“Because of this stuff, obviously. I’ve been told what we have here, but I haven’t actually seen it. Come on over here and let’s have a look, I’m so curious.”
“What could they possibly bring in that would need this kind of attention?” As curious as she was, Smithant kind of resented having so many of her siblings crowded into her private work area. Nobody bothered to come in here before, why were they so desperate to jump in now?