That’s when things changed.
Sarah’s endless roar of mindless rage had only grown louder as the fight had gone on. Now, she found nothing in front of her to rend, so she turned and lashed out at the first thing she saw.
Claws raked down the side of the Queen and carved deep gouges in her carapace. Taken by surprise, the Queen was slow to respond. Before she could turn her gigantic body, another swipe ripped a chunk of exo-skeleton away, spraying the air with ichor.
“DEFEND THE QUEEN!” The colony became frantic at seeing their mother attacked and rushed in to protect her.
“GET BACK!” the Queen demanded as she faced down the maddened bear. “She does not know what she is doing!”
With her mandibles between them, she was much better able to ward Sarah away, lunging forward to ram the bear and put her off-balance. Whilst it prevented her from taking any more serious wounds, everything the Queen did only seemed to drive the bear deeper into her rage, increasing her strength until her claws ignited with a murderous red light that practically tore at the fabric of reality, as well as filling the Queen’s mind with gibbering voices of anger with every swing. The colony watched, paralysed, as the Queen struggled to fend off the mighty creature, and the golgari, sensing a change in their fortunes, stopped their retreat and waited to see what might happen.
152. The Siege, Part 30
Grove Keepers were unreasonably strong. How exactly they were born, the Legion wasn’t sure. They weren’t monsters, as such, none of the bruan’chii were. They were not spawned of the Dungeon, and unlike the ants, they weren’t created by a ‘parent’ monster through the traditional means.
This was why the Legion didn’t really have a problem with the wood people per se, but rather their murderous, meddling parent. Naturally, the bruan’chii were unwilling to sit by and allow the Legion to destroy the source of their entire race, and so conflict had ensued. Throughout the decades of battle, the Legion learned many lessons, one of the most important being: Grove Keepers were unreasonably strong.
The gigantic tree creature brought one ponderous wooden fist down in an overhead smash that could collapse a house, but Titus was undaunted. Timing his footwork perfectly, he Dashed to one side before pivoting and Dashing forward, his axe raised to strike.
The Keeper moved with deceptive speed and grace, pulling his left leg back and rotating his body to sweep his left arm in a wide arc to catch the commander before he could unleash his blow.
Without pause, Titus brought the axe down, using the enormous power of his wrists to divert the blade to the side where it collided with the offending arm, releasing a shockwave that rumbled the stones around him.
“Haaaa,” the tree rumbled with its impossibly deep voice. “You are a strong one.”
Titus reset himself, his eyes absorbing everything in an instant. The blow had been shallow, without the full weight of his Skills or Might behind it. Even so, he’d carved a deep wound through the bark of his opponent from which leaked a thick, golden sap. The commander breathed deep, soaking the Mana surrounding him into his body and sending it circulating through his Mana channels at a furious pace.
As if awakening to a craving he’d long put behind him, no matter how much energy he poured into his body, it still wanted more. The amount wasn’t the problem, but the purity. Once he’d become acclimated to the Mana in the deeper strata, the thin stuff this high up would never be enough to truly top him off. Nevertheless, he would make do with what he had.
He approached the tree with caution, unwilling to be caught off guard. With a flick of his wrist, his axe ignited with red light, a powerful aura rising from the blade. In an instant, the vines and growth around his feet lashed out from the wall, and a thousand barbs reached for his flesh and sought to twist within his armour.
“HAH!”
With a mighty roar, energy exploded from Titus’ body and the vines were incinerated to ash before they could reach him. Seeing the green growth burned ignited anger within the eyes of the Grove Keeper for the first time, and his body suddenly illuminated with thousands of runes shining with green energy.
“This place has been claimed by the Mother Tree!” the giant roared, pushing forward with both hands.
A surge of energy erupted from the Keeper, and the plant life around them went mad as it drank in the power he emitted and exploded with growth. Twisted shapes of flowers filled with fanged jaws and vines as thick as a man with barbs that dripped with virulent, orange poisons erupted all around Titus within seconds, yet he did not retreat. He took a deep breath and poured his energy into the axe in his grip, then swung it in a wide, circling arc.
A wave of force erupted from the edge of the blade that annihilated the growth in a ten metre radius, centred on the heavily armoured Legionary. The Keeper hummed out a low growl and stepped forward, drawing his hand back for a mighty blow. Titus’ face bore no expression, still carved in lines of iron as it always was, and he watched the strike come before he shifted his feet and prepared to intercept it. The demon sealed within his weapon howled with glee as he slashed, putting the weight of his armour behind the blow, and grunted with satisfaction as he felt the weapon bite deep.
Still, Grove Keepers were known for their potent regeneration, and Titus knew it would take too long for him to bring down this bruan’chii to stop his Legionaries from falling at the hands of the others. Instead, he delayed and hoped the battle within the nest went well for his people. Determined, he raised his axe again and waited for the other to make the next move.
Within the egg-laying chamber, the Queen was stuck in a battle for her life. The enraged bear, though smaller than the Queen in her war form, was still significantly stronger, the power of her rage driving her Might to incredible heights.
Whilst the giant ant was permanently on the defence, unwilling to unleash any bite that would deal significant damage to her opponent, Sarah did not hold back, attacking in an endless, mindless rush that never ceased. The Queen knew this couldn’t go on forever, there was only so much ground she could give, only so long she could drag out the fight, before her larger form expired and she would be reduced to her normal size. Without the bonus stats she gained from drawing on the strength of her children, she would fall quickly to the bear.
“Whatever it is you want to do, you need to do it fast, Mother,” Brendant warned her from nearby. “We will not sit by and watch her destroy you, friend of the colony or not.”
“There must be something we can do to reach her,” the Queen argued. “Haven’t you done so many times before?”
“We have, but never have we seen her so far gone that she would attack us. It is what she feared would happen, but we were unable to persuade her from battle for long.”
The soldier shook her head with genuine grief. Sarah had been a loyal friend to the ants and had bled for them many times during the invasion. Without her, the golgari would have done far more damage, and advanced far more quickly. It pained her to see the bear lost to the madness she feared for so long. Even so, she hardened her heart. There was no life, except perhaps that of the eldest, that she would put before the Queen’s.
“Get a mage!” the Queen demanded. “Connect my mind to hers. Let me try to reach her.”