“Give thanks!” Nearby villagers echoed his roar and raised their hands toward the ant hill in the distance.
Wide-eyed, Morrelia looked from the suddenly animated priest to the villagers and back.
What the heck was happening here?
“Just who is the great one? And your saviours? Some delving team?”
“No!” Beyn yelled, full of the wonder of this miracle. He leaned close toward his audience, his face only inches away from hers, his eyes afire with faith.
“They are monsters!”
A leather gloved fist crunched his nose before he said another word.
The following melee was short and thankfully deathless. When the people saw their beloved priest go down bleeding the refugees were incensed. Full of wrath they descended upon the five strangers, punching and kicking in a frenzy. The new arrivals were no slouches, their skills put on full display as they fended off the angry mob with fists and movement skills, until Enid arrived on the scene and shouted for everyone to calm down.
“How can you be sure you are safe from them?” Morrelia demanded, not for the first time.
Enid sighed once again. These people were exhausting, and she had a list of jobs as long as her arm that needed to get done. Instead, she was here trying to talk to one of the most stubborn people she’d ever met.
She raised her hands from the crude wooden table in front of her to rub her temples and try to soothe her building headache. They were seated inside one of the few completed buildings, used by Enid and her helpers.
“We are safe here. The ants have protected us numerous times. I’m surprised you didn’t run into them if you were out there.” Enid gestured in the general direction of the woods. “They’ve been in and out of there killing the surface monsters for weeks.”
The young woman before her shifted uncomfortably.
“We did notice the pressure from the surface monsters had decreased lately. We thought we might have finally been having an impact on their numbers.”
“You’ve been trying to reduce the monster population here? Just the five of you?” Enid asked incredulously.
Morrelia turned her head to one side. “Fighting monsters is kind of my family business, and I’m damned good at it.” She brought her forceful stare back toward Enid. “And I don’t trust them. Dungeon monsters are killers, always have been. You want me to believe a colony of monstrous ants is peaceful? It’s insane!”
Enid readily nodded. “Yet it’s true. Their nest is right over there. You can see it from the edge of the village boundary. We are unharmed. Not only that, the monsters have provided wood and materials to the village to help us establish housing. I witnessed one of the ants fight to repel invaders from Andron. I have spoken with their leader, using Mind Magic. They mean us no harm.”
If Morrelia was shocked before, she was gobsmacked now.
“You’ve spoken… with a MONSTER! You could have been bewitched! If it can use Mind Magic it could have twisted your thoughts!” she exclaimed.
“I am extremely confident that is not the case,” Enid firmly denied.
The younger woman stared, unable to believe what she was hearing.
“They’re monsters,” she said, “they kill people. They always kill people. How can you trust them?”
Enid could only shake her head. “They have proven to be trustworthy, so we trust them,” she said definitively. “While you are here, you must respect the rules. If you cross the boundary and are attacked by the ants, you will defend yourselves, and the villagers will not take kindly to any casualties amongst their protectors. If you cannot accept this, then I suggest you leave.”
“What about this leader ant? Can I speak to it?” Morrelia asked.
“It’s gone into the Dungeon for a while,” Enid replied warily. “I’m not exactly sure when it will be back. It isn’t particularly talkative, but you could try for an audience.”
The warrior rested one hand on the pommel of her sword.
“I think I shall.”
112. The Push
After the discovery of the wondrous Dungeon aphids, we spent two more days pushing into the Expanse. Monsters became more and more common the deeper we went. Hippo-turtles, double-crocs, bewitching flowers, a tree that tried to eat Tiny and got punched to pieces, all sorts of stuff.
I didn’t care about any of it.
APHIDS.
They represent something incredible to me in this world of Dungeons and monsters. A way to get Biomass without fighting. The possibilities boggle my mind. You could have newborn ants fed from the aphids until they have achieved a decent level of strength. They’d be under no risk whatsoever as they collected food, from trees and leaves of all places!
I’m hungry for the details. To what level can these creatures be pushed? Can the stuff they excrete be improved in some way? Is it an organ they have? Can they mutate it? Can we breed them? They’re almost like fuzzy little dogs. Would the ants be happy to care for and defend them?
I need to know so badly! I can’t, however. Until the Expanse has been purged of our foes and made safe for ant-kind, I can’t afford to be sidetracked by anything.
So, we keep fighting.
The constant fighting and eating has been good for my little group. Crinis in particular continues to feast and take in more Biomass which I demand she spend during our rare breaks. As a result, she’s been able to gain several more mutation advancements, including her Durable Shadow Flesh +5 and Disintegrating Void Maw. The first upgrade made her rubbery Shadow Flesh tougher and harder to damage. The second caused her mouth to achieve a disintegration property. From what I understand, anything she can get her impressive maw around will slowly start to crumble out of existence.
She was apparently frustrated that her tentacles weren’t up to the task of tearing the Water Pig down and wanted another avenue of attack against monsters with tough defence.
With that, she’s achieved +5 in all the body parts she is currently able to spend Biomass on. Having already evolved once, her limit is presently +10, so she’s pushing to upgrade her tentacles, getting them to +9 so far.
Almost all of her skills have advanced also. The murder ball of infinite darkness is certainly starting to come into her own! At Level 16, it won’t be long until she’s ready for her next evolution.
Tiny has continued to feast, as usual. He managed to get his Iron Bones to +10 and took the Unbreakable mutation, making his reinforced skeleton even stronger. I suspect this is only so he can try and attach on even more explosive muscles, making his punches stronger.
Most of his punching skills have improved also. Not enough to go up a rank, but I can tell they’re getting sharper just by watching.
Vibrant has also been improving. Her Robust Inner Carapace Plating has improved her defence, and her +5 Enhanced Speed Aura Gland is giving all of us a significant speed boost. Nothing crazy, though certainly enough to make a difference.
My own improvement has been modest by comparison. I’m still biding my time and testing out my bag of tricks. I want to have plenty in the tank by the time we get to the big bad hiding in the middle of this swamp.
For now, I’m just storing up my Biomass and continuing to hone my magic attacks.
We’re perched up a tree at the moment. Not one of the nearly impossible to climb large ones, but rather a more regular specimen less resistant to climbing and not quite as hungry for giant ape flesh.