Actually, looking closer, the words have been stitched into the robes of the priest also. Lines and lines of them in an impressive golden thread. I hadn’t noticed at first, but as the light shifts over his robe, the texts glitter.
They really go all out here in this church. Intricately carved statue, skilfully made stained glass, expensive robes and a high vaulted ceiling. The full treatment!
“What is wrong?” the queen asks.
I must have been still for longer than I thought. The queen’s become concerned.
“We’ve reached the surface, which is good news! We’re surrounded by humans though, which I’m not sure is ideal.”
“What is a human?” the queen asks.
Err…
“A living creature… that, isn’t a monster?”
“Hmmm,” the queen ponders. “Can we eat them?”
Now that is a question. Regardless of whether or not I feel comfortable eating people, it’s something I’m not sure I want to make a call on at the moment. Would they even give Biomass, seeing as they aren’t monsters? Do they give experience?
I wonder how much—
No! Those are living, breathing people, Anthony! There are women and children in this crowd. Don’t think about them as juicy sacks of experience.
Even if they think about you that way—
Wait.
Don’t pursue that thought.
Shaking my head, I refocus on the humans, trying to formulate a reply to the patient queen.
“I’m not sure if we can eat them or not. Wait down there with the family, I want to make sure we’re safe.”
Hesitant to make any large movements, I begin to slowly push myself out of the hole I’ve dug through the floor.
It just so happens my movement seems to correspond with the crescendo of the priest’s impassioned speech. The middle-aged looking gentleman has gone completely red in the face, struggling for breath as he continues to raise his volume somewhat beyond what I imagine is normal human capacity.
Face completely twisted with rapture, he raises his hands high to the heavens, apparently exhorting them for something.
My antennae nervously twitch, slowly creeping out of the hole, bringing my legs up one by one.
My movement doesn’t go completely without notice, unfortunately, and the priest once again fixes his burning gaze upon me. The crowd has become completely captured by his blazing rhetoric. I really wish I could understand the words coming out of his mouth. These people are seriously gripped by a potent religious ecstasy, as if the arrival of a monstrous ant from beneath the floor were the second coming of someone really important.
I’m not sure I’m ready for that sort of pressure!
As the priest begins to gesture at me, the crowd focuses their now uncomfortably hungry eyes upon me, all traces of fear gone. As I pull myself out, an older lady nearby begins to tear up and falls to her knees, hands clasped together in praise.
Uhh…
Are you misunderstanding something?
Out of nervous habit I start to clean my antennae, running my forelegs over them, much like a person would wipe sweat from their brow.
I’m really not sure how to take this!
My discomfort goes unnoticed by the congregation. The old lady’s started a trend, as several more people are overcome with emotion and sink to their knees. That seems to settle the matter, as within seconds the entire audience has collapsed to the floor with an audible thunk!
Fully emerged now, I stand in the centre of the church, rows of pews on either side as all along the walls, people are kneeling, hands clasped in prayer, facing me.
I mean… uh… err… Hi?
I don’t think this is what you guys think it is?
I really need to learn mental magic… Didn’t think I’d need it this soon!
The priest completed his sermon and a peace falls upon him, the tension gone from his body. He almost seems to be radiating an acceptance of heavens will as he too clasps his hands together.
He doesn’t kneel though. With great dignity, he turns to the altar standing before the statue. From behind the altar, he gathers what appears to be some kind of ceremonial mace, which he holds before himself, hands gripped around the haft.
Why a mace though?
Is it an incense stick or something? It does seem to be quite delicately made, too ornate to be a practical weapon. Curiously, I flick on my Mana Sense, getting no response from the item. Doesn’t seem to be enchanted or anything. Is he going to knight me with it? Tap me on the shoulder as a blessing?
I’m starting to get more and more worried.
I don’t want to offend these people or start a fight. Even if these people aren’t able to defeat us monstrous ants, they might be able to go and bring people who can! Those soldiers in the tunnels were no joke. I’m not sure I could match up to them, even now.
Just play it cool, Anthony, don’t do anything stupid.
The priest continues to hold his apparently ceremonial mace reverentially before him as he slowly begins to walk down the centre of the church toward me. With every step, someone from the crowd is overcome with the power of the moment and raises their hands to call out powerfully before sinking back into respectful prayer.
These outbursts become more frequent the closer the priest becomes, until he stands before me, the shouts of the congregation raining down upon him.
Uh… Hello?
I’ve grown large enough now that I’m basically looking this person in the midriff, which is a great change from when I was born. The hatchlings would only be looking him in the knee. It really is a ridiculous size for an ant, considering how much longer we are than tall. I would certainly be longer than this guy if he were to lie down.
I wonder how much I weigh these days?
Unknowing of my internal jitters, the priest brings his mace before him, face filled with rapture. He raises it in offering to the heavens as the crowd becomes even more frenzied.
Then he brings it crashing down on my head.
And I bite his arm off.
8. Whoops
So caught up in the strange energy of the moment, it takes a moment before I even realise what it is I’ve done.
Uh… Whoops?
I mean, he hit me on the head with his stupid mace! What exactly did he think was going to happen? I’ve been living a violent life in the Dungeon. Some things are just becoming instinct, you know? If you whack me on the head with your stupid mace, then you can’t really blame me for retaliating, right? It’s self-defence!
The priest also takes a moment to process these events. He looks down at his now severed limb before a new expression gradually takes over his face. He falls backward clutching at his arm and screaming loudly in horror.
This triggers the stunned crowd, who had been locked in place with shock, to erupt with fear, people climbing over each other as they attempt to run for the door.
Oh boy…
This is not what I intended. Why the hell did we have to dig up into a freakin’ human building anyway!
Did they think the Dungeon delivered some free XP as an offering? You seriously expected me to just stand there and get killed? Even if I were to let you bash my head in with that ornate mace for half an hour, it wouldn’t have been able to damage my Diamond Carapace in the first place. All I’d get is a headache!
Since it has come to this, I have to try and limit the damage. My plan was to have the colony hide somewhere on the surface so we could ride out the worst of the wave in relative safety. If we manage to draw a human army down on our heads, we may as well go back down into the Dungeon and try our luck. If these humans run away and bring back soldiers, we’ll be in a real pickle!