His eye exhausted of its strength for the time being, Invidia returns to flinging detonations while the Legion’s mages attempt to reinforce their barriers. The little demon doesn’t give them a reprieve, working magic as quickly as only a hyper-specialised monster can.
“Bring the artillery!” I call to the ants around me, causing them to shift.
The Legion is still outside the range of most soldiers, but the scouts who’ve evolved for range will still reach with their acid at this point. Anything we can use to put the heat on them will help, even if only a little. In a few seconds’ time, the acid barrage begins to fly over my head, forcing the Legion to defend against the sizzling liquid as well as Invidia’s magic.
I don’t have the minds to pay attention to them anymore, all of my focus is invested in the slowly rotating sphere of Gravity Magic. It has darkened almost to black as I pour every last drop of Mana I can get into it, until I feel as if I’m trying to squeeze a brick inside another brick, or a thought into Tiny’s mind.
All four brains are aching, screaming even, but I keep forcing. I need this one to be big, I’ve no doubt the Legion will be more capable at repelling magic than even the ka’armodo and its servants. Once I can’t take any more, I open my mandibles wide and unleash the beast.
I immediately get a surprise. Turns out even the second stratum can get darker. When the ball of magic appears, that familiar, spine-tingling shriek fills the air.
HOOOOOOOWLLLLLLLLLLLL!
All the air in the tunnel is pulled into the sphere as it travels, vanishing into the impenetrable depths as it goes. Drained as I am, I can see the wall of Legionaries concentrating as they tighten their defence to prepare for the storm.
Prepare all you like. If that thing hits home, you’re going to be in trouble.
The moment I release the Gravity Bomb, the tension rises in the enemy. They could feel the build-up of the spell, they could tell what sort of thing I would be throwing their way. But I highly doubt they could have predicted just what the bomb can do!
I grip the floor tightly with my claws, making sure I’m not sucked forward, and Tiny has to snatch Invidia out of the air, lest the demon be dragged into the maw. The pull of the sphere is so strong, and it hasn’t properly detonated yet!
I’m almost a little fearful of the effect.
Almost as if to allay my fears, I feel a host of minds reach out to break down the spell, ripping into the Mana and dispersing it as best they can before it slams into their ranks. Good luck to you, I know as well as anyone how hard it is to break apart compressed Mana. Still, they manage more than I expect in the short amount of time they have. They frantically tear away at the Gravity Bomb, reducing its power by half when it finally impacts.
There’s a flicker in the darkness and the ball is gone, replaced with a large sphere of slowly rotating pure black that begins to drag in everything it can touch. It lasts for only ten seconds before the mages disperse the spell, but the damage is done. When the bomb is gone and some light returns, the Legionary line is left in shambles. Heavily wounded soldiers are being picked up and dragged away, whilst others step forward to brace their shields toward our position.
I’m almost tempted to try and launch an offensive as they retreat, but I resist the urge. We aren’t prepared for that, no need to snatch a defeat from this victory. The Legion pulls back to nurse their wounds and adjust their strategy as the colony clacks their mandibles. They won’t be so bold as to advance right into my face without properly accounting for my spells now, which means a slower advance, which means more time for the colony.
I’ll take it.
102. Mind Games
The following day proves that the Legion is being more careful with their approach. I received two experience notifications from the first Gravity Bomb, giving me another Level, but the next assault isn’t as bountiful. More mages, tighter shield walls with more layers. It means they can’t spread themselves out as thinly as before, and their overall forward progress is slower, as they have to sit and wait whilst the magical barrage is underway.
The extra time means a lot to the colony. Every day, around a thousand more ants graduate from the Academy to reinforce our numbers, our Skills improve, and we draw closer to cracking the many technological challenges we face.
The only issue is that we’re running out of territory. The Legion has pushed at us hard, and even though they’ve slowed down, they’ll eventually be knocking at the gates of the nest.
The more I see of them, the more convinced I become that there isn’t much a tier three ant is going to be able to do to these Legionaries. Even in tremendous numbers, I worry that the Legion would be able to cut them down just as fast as they appear. With enough ants, we’d drag them down with us eventually, but I’m not happy about engaging in a strategy that will result in so many deaths. This is my family we’re talking about! The lives lost already are too much!
“Eldest, are you ready?”
“Huh, what?” I snap out of my thinking to find Ellie looking at me.
“Are you coming to the meeting? Sloan wanted to talk to us before she leaves.”
Oh, right.
I follow along in her wake, my pets and babysitters trailing behind. A minute later, we come to a hastily dug out chamber to find the council members present, including Wills, who appeared over the last day.
“What’s happening, people?” I wave an antenna as I enter.
Sloan looks confused, then shrugs and ignores what I said.
“Thanks for coming, eldest. Are all ready?”
Present in the chamber are Sloan, Vibrant, Ellie, Bella, Frances the healer, Wills, and myself. Not a bad showing, all things considered. Each of us nods and settles in for the discussion.
“I wanted to check with you before I head back to the nest and start making decisions about how to deploy our forces. The main idea I want to hear from you on, is a change in our overall strategy on this front.”
That gets my attention.
“A change in what way?” I ask.
“In my opinion, we need to be less passive,” she says. “We haven’t been able to slow them as much as we wanted, and so far, we haven’t seen any sign of them being worn down by our harassment. If things keep going at this pace, we’ll be forced into a battle at the gates of the nest without getting the full measure of our opponents.”
“It’s too risky!” I protest. “So many ants would perish if we did that!”
Isn’t this exactly what I was thinking about before? How come I came to the opposite conclusion that Sloan did?
There’s silence, except from Vibrant, she’s bouncing from side to side clacking her mandibles in a rhythm.
“Eldest, we have to accept that there will be casualties, no matter what we do. There’s no way for us to fight against this Legion without putting our lives on the line.”
“Sure, I get that, but we aren’t talking about just a few, here. If the colony goes hard at those Legionaries, it’s going to be a one-sided massacre!”
All of the ants shift on their legs.
“Eldest… You’re being too protective of us,” Ellie tells me gently. “You can’t fight all of our battles for us. You need to step aside and let us do what we need to do.”
Geh. Are the children all grown up? No! Papa refuses to accept it!
“I hardly think you’re giving me credit. Plenty of our siblings have fallen already! Too many!”