From somewhere deeper, though it felt not that far away, an inaudible thump rippled outward, like a silent thunderclap. The wave of invisible pressure swept through the rock and darkness, swept through the chasm, and continued on its way, outward through the stratum.
Silence reigned once more.
For a few moments, it seemed nothing would happen, but this was merely the calm, the storm was sure to follow. And follow it did. The Mana in the area drained away rapidly, thinning to less than half of what it had been only a few moments ago, then it came roaring back.
Like the tide which retreats, only to crash back in fury as a tidal wave, Mana flooded outward with a tangible roar, suffusing every rock, every twig with a dizzying amount of power.
Then there came a stir. Slowly at first, then with growing speed, the great chasm began to close. There was a cracking sound as hundreds of tons of stone shattered into pieces, the two walls finally crunching together with a deafening crescendo. Then, after a moment, they parted once more.
Visible here and there now that the dirt and rock had begun to fall away were massive, triangular ridges, each one stained a deep red. If an observer stood back far enough, it would be easy to guess what they were—teeth. Hundreds and hundreds of teeth.
An aura filled with a terrible madness exploded outward, driven by one, insatiable urge.
HUNGER.
151. The Siege, Part 29
When the gates fall, they fall with a resounding BOOM that echoes from the walls of the tunnel.
Might seem a little excessive to knock the damn things off their hinges, but that’s what the Legionaries decided to do anyway. Perhaps they felt the width of the nest entrance was a reasonable width for them to engage in, and I have to agree. The tunnel approach to the nest narrows as it nears the gate, then stays the same for a short distance before it opens out into the chamber beyond. To be honest, they’re probably just happy not to see yet another gate waiting for them.
Once the gates are down, it takes the Legion a few minutes to reorganise their formation before they once again begin their approach.
Boom!
What the heck was that? The vibrations of a colossal impact roll through the rock beneath my legs and my antennae waggle through the air in confusion as I try to pick up the source. It didn’t happen within the nest, that’s for sure. Whatever it was that caused that, it surely originated outside the gates.
“Eldest! Can you sense what that was?” Burke rushes up to me.
“I’m trying to work it out,” I reply distractedly as I focus on watching the approaching soldiers whilst reaching out with my mind.
The distance is too far for me to reach, even with my relatively high Skills, but there are definitely fluctuations in the Mana farther down the tunnel, behind the approaching force.
“I can’t be sure,” I respond tersely as I set my mandibles. “But it seems like something is happening at the rear of the Legion forces.”
“Like what?” Burke is baffled.
“How the hell am I supposed to know, Burke? Maybe put a scout on it?”
“There’s an army between us and that location!”
“I noticed!”
The two sides have already begun to accelerate toward each other, and I join my brethren, using all three pairs of legs to synchronise three separate Dashes to achieve maximum speed.
CRUNCH!
The two fully braced armies smash into each other, both sides activating everything they have at their disposal. Armour and carapace are dented, cracked, and splintered as neither side holds back any of their strength. The Legion on the precipice of victory, the colony on the edge of annihilation.
My carapace absorbs numerous blows in the first few seconds as weapon light blooms all around me. Only my future sight and heightened reflexes keep my antennae attached to my head as my body makes the minute adjustments necessary to absorb all the strikes with my diamond exo-skeleton. Precious Diamond Carapace. Where would I be without you? If I could, I’d kiss that precious stuff, but thankfully for my dignity, such a thing is impossible.
By this point, my sub-brains are fairly cooked, and I’ve released the Omni-elemental Construct, opting instead to deploy a simple Gravity Domain over as wide an area as I can, hoping the already tired Legionaries will suffer under the added weight of their armour. It’s hard to tell what sort of effect it’s having, but then again, it’s hard to get a good visual of the battlefield when I’m doing the dirty work here in the front line. Shields and the flashes from enemy attacks are pretty much all I can see at any moment!
The fighting is savage and relentless as I chomp everything in front of me until my jaws ache with a constant throbbing pain, and the barbs on my mandibles begin to crack and splinter. My regeneration gland is running dry again, and my helpful healer friend had to pop up and top me off within the first five minutes of the conflict.
“For the colony!” the cry rises from somewhere behind me.
“FOR THE COLONY!” a thunderous wave of pheromones crashes through the battlefield, stunning my antennae with its intensity.
Within the egg-laying chamber, the Queen pushed herself to the forefront of the battle, shouldering aside the children who tried to block her way. She would not be denied by them, not this time. Unwilling to put up any real resistance to their mother’s advance, the soldiers and generals gave ground the moment they felt her push against them. If she wanted to go to the front, none were prepared to go all out to stop her. What were they supposed to do? Fight their mother and drag her from the front whilst also fighting the golgari?
So it was that the Queen reached the place she wanted to be, right by the side of the bear who appeared to be on the brink of death. Covered in wounds, her fur matted and dark with her own ichor, the friend of the colony fought on as if she felt none of it, a seemingly never-ending roar bellowing from her maw. The giant ant reared back, her antennae bursting into light so bright it chased away the shadows in the chamber before she unleased a vast pulse of Healing Magic that swept through the ant forces, though a great chunk of it was absorbed by the bear.
Wounds visibly knit before her eyes as the body of the raging beast soaked up the healing power and regenerated itself, but the bear didn’t seem to notice. No change came over her at all.
The golgari certainly noticed. They’d been on the verge of finally bringing down this monstrous entity, only for it to get a sudden boost of health. Despair gripped their lines, which was only made worse when the Queen activated her war form. Drawing energy from every ant in the room, she grew in size until she loomed over the enemy, who shrank back from the mighty visage before them.
The Queen had changed from her fight with Garralosh. Unable to protect her children in that fight, she’d taken steps to ensure she would not be found lacking in strength. Her daily hunts had helped to Level her combat Skills, the extra Biomass she’d taken in was spent to improve her body for fighting. Never again would she allow the enemy to bully her children.
“GET OUT OF MY NEST!” she roared.
Her mandibles glowed bright and manifested two enormous jaws that extended from her own before slamming shut, crunching the font rank of the golgari.
With the Queen returning to the battle, the tide shifted in the colony’s favour. After having matched the strength of the demonic bear for so long, and grinding out the battle against the endless ants, the sudden appearance of a powerful tier six monster was too much for them to handle, and they began to pull back from the front, drawing their forces into the tunnel through which they’d come.