Probably the only entity more surprised than me to see a giant ant rocketing up above the plate is Brixin. Her face is a twisted mask of pure rage as I reappear before her in the air once again. It’s tempting to reach out with my mind and say something pithy, but I suspect she might use that link to obliterate my consciousness. Resisting the urge, I unleash a barrage of magic directly into the faces of the demons before they have a chance to act.
Condensed Gravity Bolts fly out with pinpoint accuracy at the same moment a domain snaps into existence, encompassing all three of the tier seven demons.
Down we go!
Taken by surprise, they fail to dodge the initial barrage, and once the domain expands to encompass them, they find themselves suddenly so much heavier than they were a moment ago. I can practically feel the confusion that rolls through them as they encounter Gravity Magic for likely the first time. The bolts that hit them did no damage, but then there’s this other strange effect. Do they defend themselves or not?
Their hesitation allows me to land a few more bolts before my upward momentum spends itself completely and I start to accelerate faster and faster toward the ground. With focused rage, Brixin extends an arm toward me that erupts in a jet of ashen fire that licks against my left-side carapace.
“YEEOUCH!”
Thank goodness for the Vestibule. I trigger my healing gland again as I continue to blast out Gravity Bolts, holding onto the domain as long as possible to apply as much pulling force to them as I can. The moment I drop out of range of Brixin’s flamethrower, the other two join the party, flinging a horrendous array of spells at me, which I find myself in a poor position to dodge, so I don’t.
I once again pump my mandibles full of Gravity Mana, exhausting my reserves in the process, reach out to the three figures, and YOINK!
Already so much heavier than they had been mere moments ago, the additional force of the mandibles pulling them has a much larger effect that staggers the powerful tier sevens atop their discs.
I manage to pull them down. Not by much, not nearly all the way to the ground, but as I sail out of their reach, peppered by the few spells that manage to find my falling self, I can tell I’ve done enough. How do I know? Because of the absolute torrent of firepower unleashed by the Colony that sails past me.
Suddenly, the sky is alight with fire and acid that engulfs the demons above in a never-ending stream of death that rises from over ten thousand mightily ticked-off ants far below.
38. Landing is the Best Part
Watching Brixin and her two chumps being bathed in the combined firepower of my siblings is certainly entertaining, almost entertaining enough to make me forget that I’m about to land in a world of hurt. Luckily, I come back to myself fast enough to roll over and look down at my waiting pets. To my joy, and somewhat to my surprise, Tiny is looking up at me, arms out and face creased with concentration as he repositions himself to attempt the catch.
Please don’t stuff this up, big guy, I do not want to end my second life scattered across the rock like an ant that got stepped on. I’m too young and certainly too shiny to go out like that!
To my relief, Invidia is on the ball. The brainy demon spins together a series of shields, each one layered atop the other with a metre between. I can even appreciate that he’s managed to adjust the strength of each shield so I’ll hit the weaker ones first before smacking into something stronger, thus bleeding off a little more speed each time. The ability of that eyeball to do this at the speed he did it… absolutely astonishing. Just another reminder that the distance between me and a truly dedicated spell-slinging monster is rather wide.
Thanks to my efforts with Gravity Mana, I don’t weigh half as much as I normally would, and I have far less force. Even so, I crash through the first of Invidia’s shields without even feeling them, and the following ones begin to get harder and harder, drawing out a wince of pain with every smack. To minimise potential injury, I roll onto my uninjured side and allow the carapace there to take the force, the inner carapace plating doing a lot of work to disperse the impact. Despite all that, my HP still takes a hit, much like my insides, as I effectively run into wall after wall.
After a dozen of these, the ground looms large in my sight, and so too does the hairy chest of Tiny—which I crash-land into, sending the two of us tumbling over the stone. When we finally come to a halt, I’ve rolled out of the big ape’s grip and come to a stop a few metres away. Tiny has a wide grin on his face and gives me a bold thumbs up, looking so pleased that it takes me a moment to realise his other arm is hanging uselessly by his side.
Why are you looking so happy when your arm is broken?!
With a sigh, I spin together some more Healing Mana and apply it to the big ape. It’ll be enough to get him through the short-term and kick-start the healing process. I’m not nearly as good a medic as someone more dedicated to the art.
[Thanks, Tiny. And thank you, Invidia. You both did great. Looks like we were successful.]
Above our heads, the air is still packed full of explosions, acid, fire, ice, bursts of steam, and all sorts of things as the irate Colony continues to unleash their wrath. To be honest, I don’t think Brixin is even there anymore. She probably managed to lift herself above it all a little while back, but just being exposed to that barrage for a second or two is going to strip the hide off even a tier seven.
In other words, I doubt she’s dead, but wherever she is up there, she’s not doing so hot.
Which is fine by me; I need a little time to recover. Becoming Anthony’s Flying Circus not once but twice in a day is quite the unexpected event, one I’m in no rush to repeat. Around me, the ants are beginning to move on from their unending assault on the air above to conquering the city more generally. As the moments tick by, more and more of my siblings stop slinging their anger and ordinance upward and begin to file into Orpule.
“Move in your teams! Follow the trails! Move quickly to secure your checkpoints! And somebody tell Vibrant to slow down!” a blast of pheromones billows out from nearby, stinging my antennae with their sharpness.
A few moments later, the source becomes apparent as Advant walks toward me, her antennae still swinging wildly as she blasts out orders to the surrounding ants.
“I thought Victor was in charge here?” I say.
“She’s further back. We didn’t want to risk exposing our top generals to attack when we arrived on the plate. She should be up here before too long, so long as nothing else goes wrong. I take it that was you I saw soaring through the air?”
“I think you’re imagining things.”
“Right… Just another story to add to the legend of the Eldest, eh?”
“What’s that?”
“Nothing. Are you going to be in any state to move anytime soon?”
I flex my legs a little.
“Give it a few minutes and I’ll be able to move about. Won’t be all that fast, but I’ll be mobile.”
“That might have to do. We haven’t finished dealing with Brixin yet. I believe she’s been weakened, along with the two tier seven demons who are supporting her, but they aren’t dead, not by a long shot.”
Focusing upward, I can see that some of the Colony is still hurling spells into the air. Visibility is beginning to return, and so far, the ruler of Orpule is nowhere to be seen. Former ruler at this point, I suppose. The Colony has flooded into the city and Vibrant has been running rampant in there, along with Sarah, for some time. If there’s much resistance left, it’ll be in the plate beneath us, which we haven’t invaded yet. If Brixin wants to take this place back, she’s going to have to nuke the thing from orbit; there’s no getting rid of us now.