“Uh, no? Did she come through?”
“Yes, she did. Give me a second.”
Damn that ant, where the heck is she this time? Scanning through the Vestibule takes me a little while but I eventually find a small group of ants digging their way down alongside the roots of the tree. Luckily, they’d only made it a hundred metres before I found them.
“Brilliant,” I declare as I snatch up the little ant in my mandibles, “trying to get yourself killed again I see.”
She wiggles and thrashes in my jaws, but it’s hopeless, she’s sacked her physical stats to the point she’ll never be able to contest me once I get a grip on her.
“I want to see the point where the roots vanish,” she cries as she continues her hopeless struggle for freedom. “I need to see, I need to see, I need to see! Let gooooooo!”
THWACK!
“Nope. We have no idea where the termites might be tunnelling, so get your butt back to the safe zone until we’ve locked it all down.”
“Noooooooooooo!”
“And you lot, don’t encourage her!”
“Sorry, Eldest.”
It’s amazing how quickly these Champions can attract others to their cause. Already, she’s got a few willing helpers who’ll listen to her crackpot schemes. After delivering the little mad scientist back to the main concentration of the Colony, I meet up with Sarah and we begin a tour through the tunnel network that winds around the Mother Tree’s roots. The system is vast, covering kilometres of ground, and there are signs of termite activity all over the place. Nibbled roots here, a trace of scent there, it’s enough to get my mandibles twitching all over again.
[Hey, Sarah, how’re you finding the fourth stratum?]
The giant bear twitches in surprise. [Ah? Fine, I suppose. I’m kind of intimidated, to be honest. I never expected to be down here, especially not so soon.]
[I agree with you. I’m kind of worried about it, actually. The Colony has taken on a lot this time, especially when we still haven’t even started to expand in the third.]
[It’ll be fine,] she tries to cheer me up. [They’re smart, they know what they can and can’t do. I’m just glad to get away from it all, I was driving myself crazy up there.]
[Still worried about Jim?]
The giant bear grows silent as we walk side by side through the tunnels. Then she nods.
[I’m worried what he’ll do next. I feel like he’s got a grudge against the Colony and he’s doing whatever he can to damage us.]
Heh. You think I didn’t notice you say ‘us’? Think again! But I keep that little thought to myself.
[You know my view. He wanted you to depend on him, but you came to rely on the Colony instead. In his eyes, the ants need to be removed, then you will be forced to run back to him for support.]
[But I wouldn’t!] she protests. [After everything he’s done?]
[Hey, I know that, and you know that, but Jim? He’s crazy. Not that I can blame him too much. According to the Dungeon, we’re all crazy.]
The big bear’s head sinks to face the ground.
[That’s true.]
81. The Rush
[These filthy termites have been busy…] I complain.
[I’ll say,] Sarah agrees. [They’ve dug all through this area. I’m not sure ten thousand of us is going to be enough.]
[It’ll have to be. The Colony has sent the best and brightest down here, which is going to make us more vulnerable to retaliation from the ka’armodo in the third stratum and slow our expansion there. Sending any more is out of the question.]
[I suppose you’re right. Hopefully, we can hold with what we have.]
[Hey, we have the mighty Asura Bear! Able to squash a million termites on her own! What could go wrong?]
[Shush, you.]
She swats me with one paw, and I brace to prevent myself from flinching as she rocks my carapace with one swipe. Dammit, Sarah! How the heck did you get so strong? Is this the kind of power that Garralosh would have been capable of had she managed to escape into the second stratum? She might not have even needed to evolve in order to display a far greater power than she did, simply having enough mana to properly fuel her core might have been sufficient. If she’d stayed in the Dungeon rather than rising to the surface, then I might never have won that fight.
Bah! Who wants to think about that croc now? We’ve got termites to slay! I turn to the Grove Keeper who’s been leading us around.
[Surely, this is all of the sites? We’ve been to dozens already!]
[Hmmmm. This is the last one. Well done; there aren’t any active incursions at this time. Mother is pleased that her roots are not being gnawed on for the first time in many weeks.]
The plant life around us rustles in agreement, but this time they lack their usual vigour and spite, as if the Mother Tree is fatigued. Perhaps the constant nibbling of the termites has had more of an effect than I thought. I suppose it only makes sense, she pulled her children back from the front and took on an enemy designed specifically to defeat her usual methods. It was only a matter of time until they wore her down. No wonder she was so desperate for us to get here as quickly as we could.
[Not to worry,] I broadcast as widely as possible, [your useless mother can be mothballed in an aged care facility now. We’ve got some competent monsters on the scene at last.]
[Anthony!] Sarah gasps.
[Be respectful. For your own good,] the Grove Keeper warns me.
A vine streaks down from above, aiming for my head, but I zip to the side before it can strike.
[Too slow, old bag!] I taunt.
Rumble.
My antennae stir like crazy as the walls of the tunnel around me begin to vibrate as if something truly ridiculous were coming. I switch over to my mana sight and clack my mandibles in admiration at what I behold. The stupid tree is shifting her main roots to squash me for my impudence, truly an impressive level of vindictiveness. However…
[If you weaken yourself too much, you’ll leave the bruan’chii vulnerable.]
The shaking stops.
[Not to mention you need me to defeat the termites! Bwahahahaha! What are you going to do about it, you old bag? You might be the biggest plant on the planet, but I have you in the grip of my claws! Take that, and that!]
I poke a nearby leaf savagely with one leg, watching as the vegetation around me trembles with rage.
[I ask that you do not push your luck too far.] The Grove Keeper steps between me and the leaf, forcing me to cease my relentless attack. [My mother has been known to make reckless decisions in the past. If you do not relent, I fear she will crush this tunnel, no matter the consequences.]
[Fine. Just go and rest, Mother Tree. We’ll take care of you and your children for a while. Once we have the strength, I’ll personally ensure that the termite nest is wiped from the face of the Dungeon.]
With my assurance, the plantlife settles down, though I can tell she still isn’t happy about it. I’ll have to be careful she doesn’t get back at me once her children are finally safe. Countermeasures will have to be put in place. Having dealt with the incursions, the Colony can now get down to the business of properly fortifying our position.
“It’s going to take a crazy amount of work, Eldest,” Cobalt warns me when I meet back up with her. She’s already established a construction headquarters, and her team is busy establishing a scale model of the work zone. “Even just in terms of soil reinforcement and compressing, we’re talking about hundreds of thousands, possibly even millions of tons of material. We’ve got a lot of talented mages and carvers here, but it’s still going to take a long time, and we have no idea when the termites will detect our presence and begin to launch a counter offensive. I get the impression they dislike us just as much as we dislike them.”