My freakin’ leg feels like it’s been put in the deep freeze! As I continue to move toward the heat source, it directly shatters. I don’t even care, keep moving, every second counts.
Behind me, the battle has continued at a ferocious pace. Tiny and the human soldier are continuing to batter at each other, and it’s becoming clear that Tiny is gaining the upper hand. He still doesn’t have a full tank of electricity, but there’s enough for him to wreath his fists in lightning and punch against the shield.
Every time his fists batter the shield, lightning rips through it, leaping onto the warrior’s body and shocking him with every blow. The warrior appears to have formidable resistance, but each mighty fist wears him down that little bit more.
Not that he hasn’t been able to strike back. Tiny is sporting cuts all over his body, bleeding profusely where the blade has managed to flash out like a striking snake between blocks. The difference between the two is that Tiny isn’t running out of strength. His huge frame is able to sustain this much damage, at least for now.
I really need to get the big guy to invest in a Regeneration Gland. His Might stat must be out of this world, but I’m beginning to suspect his Toughness is in the tank. If he doesn’t have much on the defensive side, then the Regeneration Gland would really help him out in a situation like this where he isn’t able to defeat his opponent in just a few strikes.
What really worries me is the warriors against the queen and the rest of the colony. The scene is so chaotic I can’t make out what’s happening. I hope to heck they’re ok over there!
Whatever this mysterious heat source is, it had better help resolve this situation. It has to be something good if that mage was willing to die for it.
The closer I get and the further my antennae regenerate, the more clearly I can sense this heat source. It’s starting to feel more and more like a person, on the ground, crawling away from me.
I can’t see a single thing in front of me!
Don’t tell me… Invisibility?
Pouncing, I land over the top of the heat source. Whoever this person is they’re collapsed beneath me now. I can sense their hands are raised to protect their face.
I don’t think this person is very good at fighting.
A sneaking suspicion is starting to tickle the edges of my mind.
I can’t hesitate, my family is being killed every second!
Using my antennae to rapidly tap here and there I manage to locate what I think is this person’s neck and I reach forward with my mandibles, bringing them closed just enough that I can force this invisible person to move without harming them.
With this done, I raise the invisible form up from the ground. Whoever it is, they ain’t heavy!
With the chaos battle ringing in my ears, I turn back toward the fighting and shake my prisoner slightly. Thankfully, whoever I have ahold of manages to get my message.
The invisibility falls away to reveal my mandibles gripping the neck of an elderly lady dressed in simple but elegant robes. Most importantly, her head is decorated with a seriously expensive looking crown.
Somehow, even with a monster’s jaws gripping her by the neck, this lady manages to maintain a solemn dignity, appearing neither upset nor fearful in this critical moment.
The solider battling against Tiny is the first to notice and screams something in a despairing tone, drawing the eyes of every human to me. He tries to turn from Tiny and rush at me, but I flex my mandibles, holding my prisoner threateningly before me.
He seemed stunned by my display of intelligence and backs up, turning away only when Tiny attacks again, threatening his life.
“Everyone back, off! Step away!”
[Tiny, back up a second!]
I shout at my allies until they accede to my request, giving both sides a little breathing room. The soldiers all face me, their faces filled with panic and fear as I threaten what I can only presume is the life of their ruler.
What the hell are these people doing in this forest in the first place?
When I finally get a chance to look, I can see that many ants have been destroyed by these warriors. Even the giant form of mother is leaning to one side, heavily wounded.
Rage is ignited in my heart. These people will pay!
29. The Path Forward
With the human queen locked between my jaws there is little the soldiers can do to prevent me from giving her a her a fatal haircut if I so choose.
The power is in my hands—claws!
Unfortunately for these soldiers, the rage in my heart is burning furiously after witnessing the damage they’ve done to my family.
I demand vengeance!
The soldiers are talking amongst themselves now, faces tight with worry as they try to work out how to deal with this situation. I don’t want to give them enough time to formulate a plan. If they decided to threaten the ant queen, then we might end up in a stand-off instead of this situation where I have the clear advantage.
I step aggressively forward, the human queen swaying in the grasp of my mandibles, her feet dragging on the ground as she tries to keep her feet under her. When the soldiers see me treating their royalty so poorly, they react angrily, clutching at their weapons and yelling at me in their language.
In response, I flex my mandibles around her neck. In an attempt to communicate my demands, I use one of my antennae to point several times at the ground.
Put your weapons down!
The soldiers look back and forth between themselves, confused by my gesture. I don’t think they expected to be able to engage in any sort of dialogue with a monster, and I don’t really blame them. I get the impression that intelligent monsters do exist, but the feeling I have is that those monsters wouldn’t want to play nice with any creatures on the surface. From what I’ve seen of monsters, I can only imagine they put that higher intelligence to the task of inventing ways to kill people more efficiently.
Clearly in this situation, they don’t know what to do.
Once again, I flex my mandibles forcefully and point several times to the ground with both antennae this time.
Put your weapons down!
There is real fear in the faces of these soldiers. Not for themselves but for the life of the person I hold between my mandibles. They know there is very little chance they can find a positive way out of this mess.
They talk back and forth for a few seconds before the soldier who had been battling Tiny shouts at the others and then lies down on the ground. Seeing his example, the others reluctantly comply, lying face down on the ground.
Ok, sure. That works too.
[Tiny, calmly walk over to them and take their weapons and shields away.]
With them lying down, we can reduce them as a threat by removing their equipment. This will help bring everything even further under my control. Perfect.
As I’m congratulating myself on my chess-like moves, I eventually notice that Tiny hasn’t obeyed my orders. Focusing my attention on him, he’s still just standing there, looking at me with a confused expression.
[What are those?] he asks.
Oh boy.
[Take away the pointy metal things, like what that guy stabbed you with, and their big metal boards which he used to block your punches!] I try to explain.
He stares at me with incredible intensity, the thoughts ticking over in his mind with excruciating slowness. Come on, man!
He stomps toward the soldier he’d fought with, probably the leader or captain of these men, looking at me all the while. Then he slowly bends down near the nervous soldier and grasps the sword between two of his thick fingers, glancing back to me like a child wondering if they’d done the right thing.