Sprinting forward at top speed, not caring that my rapid movement has jolted my two passengers awake, my six legs eat up the remaining distance. Tiny seems to detect my rising panic and rumbles after me, his long arms reaching out and seizing the ground.
With every step my heart is pounding and a scream is rising in my head. Not my family! Not my family! Not my family! NOT AGAIN!
The sickening sounds of weapons crunching through monster flesh are enough to bring tears to my eyes. I mean, if I had tear ducts. Just let my colony be safe!
After a few moments that feel like hours we burst onto the scene. The anthill rises like a small mountain to my right, dominating the centre of the clearing. Workers pour out of the top, mandibles clacking with rage, antennae twitching angrily, no doubt sensing the call to arms pheromones that have summoned the workforce to battle!
To my left are ten humans, each equipped with glittering weapons and armour, intricately adorned with insignia and embossed filigree. Two mages stand at the back, wielding ornate staves and flowing robes running over their shoulders. These are some of the most elaborately equipped humans I’ve ever seen.
And they are massacring the ants.
The workers swarm mindlessly, desperate to defend their home, but they cannot get close enough. The magicians have conjured some type of shield that pushes the workers back, allowing the warriors to swing freely and unleash their sword skills, sending waves of sword light slashing through the ants. The acid fired from above is likewise blocked by magical means, scattering harmlessly and running down the invisible barrier.
In the centre of my view is the most horrifying sight of all. The queen has come out! Her huge frame is shuddering with rage as she tries to heal her children and push forward to rend her enemies at the same time.
My family is dying!
[Tiny, KILL!]
I’m barely coherent enough to roar the words to my companion before my mind goes totally red. My precious siblings are being torn apart like paper right before my eyes. I have to save them!
In one movement I vigorously shake off the two little ones and sprint at the enemy. They dare to attack my family! I’ll bite them to pieces!
Blinded by rage, I act without any sort of plan. Closer, closer, closer! When I’m just a few metres away, one of the spell casters turns his head and almost contemptuously flicks his wrist toward me.
Immediately I feel an impact on my face, as if an invisible barrier just rushed at me, trying to bounce me away.
Not today, Mr Mime!
I dig in with my claws and crunch down with my mandibles, trying to rip this wall to pieces with sheer physical force. At the same time, the blow to my head has returned some of my senses. Charging blindly into an unknown force may not be the best idea, Anthony, but if it saves the ants it’ll be worth it!
Even as I wrestle with this barrier, I engage my sub-brain to begin construction of a Gravity Spear, if any one spell is going to disrupt their formation, this’ll be it. The mage seems a little confused at first by my stubborn resistance to his spell, somewhat surprised that I wasn’t simply knocked back, possibly even killed by the impact of the barrier. I glare at him as he studies me a little closer, taking in my advanced size and mutated body parts, then he smirks and thrusts his hand forward, doubling the pressure on me in an instant.
Not enough!
Determined, I hold my ground, refusing to budge. I don’t have time to waste with this idiot. Every moment that passes, those swordsmen cut their way through the workers like wheat, getting ever closer to the queen!
[Where the hell are you, Tiny!]
At that moment a thunderous screech blasts the ears of everyone present. The sonic wave so intense it feels like my ear drums have been punched directly. Charging with all of his might, Tiny takes a huge running leap, raising both fists over his head to hammer down on the barrier.
The mage facing me pales in fright when he sees this massive ape monster burst out of the trees, leaping toward them in just a few seconds. He screams something in their language and the second mage, a woman, turns, and the two of them raise their staves in one motion as Tiny descends from above.
The extra pressure on me is released.
Infected by my own desperate rage, Tiny’s eyes are completely red as his massive body descends, lending all the weight of his mass to his strike. His fists hammer down like meteors, slamming into the defensive barrier with a colossal impact.
BOOM!
26. Monster Unleashed
Under the impact of Tiny’s mighty fists, the barrier flickers in and out of existence, on the verge of total collapse. The two mages physically recoil from the power of that strike, one of them is even driven to their knees. Still, their eyes are burning with determination and they keep their staves raised to the sky, reinforcing the barrier with everything they have.
To resist that full bodied strike from Tiny, the shield up there must be incredibly strong.
The shield down here near me however…
Infused Mandibles!
Still desperately constructing the Gravity Spear within myself, I start to charge my mandibles as well. The strain on my mind is so immense I would have blood flooding out of my nose if I had one! Straining with all of my spirit, I desperately control the Mana, directing it into my mandibles while leaving as much of the load as possible to the sub-brain. It feels as if both brains are on fire, cooking themselves with the strain.
As the traces of Mana flow out of my core and into my mandibles, they begin to emit a glow that grows stronger every moment. My face is pressed against the barrier, its invisible resistance pushing back against me. My mandibles are spread wide, digging in but not penetrating. As the Mana flow grows from a trickle to a stream, and the light emitted grows more intense, I begin to feel the tiniest bit of give.
Yes! With Tiny distracting their attention, they have reinforced the barrier above but it has grown noticeably weaker below. This is my chance!
Straining with every muscle fibre of my face, I push my mandibles to the limit.
Break through, dammit!
The barrier gives a little more under my assault, then a little more. Seemingly sensing something, the closest mage turns from Tiny to me. Noticing my fiercely glowing mandibles, he tries to redirect his attention to stop me from breaking through, raising his free hand at the last second.
Too late!
Tearing through the barrier, my mandibles close with a mighty snap! The invisible shield before me cracks and dissolves, the pressure I’d created with my legs sends me flying forward, tumbling inside the dome.
Snapping one section of the barrier has a visible impact on the mage and he wilts under the strain. I don’t have much understanding of barrier spells, so I’m not sure exactly how this recoil works, but I sure as heck am going to take advantage of it!
Snapping to my feet, I use all of my mental power to complete the Gravity Spear. Cutting off the flow of Mana to my mandibles relieves a lot of the pressure on my mind and the spell construction continues at a blistering pace.
Before the mage can recover, I dart in, mandibles wide open.
Shattering Bite!
With all of my strength, I bring my jaws shut upon the mage, I don’t even rely on the manifested mandibles, instead ensuring I’m close enough that my mandibles crush him directly.
CRUNCH!
With a sickening noise the pulverising force of my mandibles closes on the mage before he’s able to recover. When I release him from my bite he collapses and doesn’t get up.
[You have defeated Level 43 High Mage.]