Wind blade! Tornado! Wind speed! Wind blast! GAH! I'm exhausted. Every inch of my mind is devoted towards creating gas mana and whipping it into spells. The target for the spells is naturally the stupid armoured forces, the Legionaries, I suppose.

The experience notifications finally unveiled just who this enemy is. I can only assume this is the Abyssal Legion that Morrelia and others have spoken about. Her father was a prominent member as I recall, which probably explains why she's here. What a mess she's gotten herself into, sent to kill the Colony. Traitor! Well, I haven't seen her on the battlefield since that first encounter in which she actually saved my life, so I won't be so fast to judge. Let Morrelia worry about Morrelia, she can handle herself, we ants have enough on our plate at the moment!

PA! PA!

My barrage of wind spells is little more than an irritation to the oncoming Legion. Their powerful armour and mages are more than enough to deflect my efforts. I mean, I could be throwing rocks, fire, spears of ice or even blobs of lava at them right now! Instead, I continue to attack them with a stiff breeze. And why, do you ask? Because I only need one more level! One more measly level!

Sitting there in my status menu: [Gas Magic Affinity (IV) Level 39], it's taunting me! I've been spamming these damn wind spells until my mind is an aching mess. All of my minds! An enormous amount of brain matter has been dedicated to blowing wind at these invaders, all for the sake of this precious rank up. And it's so close!

The Legion advances at a steady pace, as they always do. Their front rank of shields an impenetrable barrier to our attacks, even the barrage of acid failing to eat away at them. At least we haven't seen that axe wielding demon again for the time being. Even without that freakin' superhuman, they've been managing to push us back on all fronts. They've spread out, creating a wider and wider front, attempting to corral us back to our nests.

Still, time is being bought, the war of attrition continues! You think you can be more determined than ants?! You're out of your mind! Every day our numbers increase and our Skills improve! Except for this damn Gas magic!

Come on!

POW! POW! POW!

More blades, more balls of concentrated wind, more spinning dervishes of blade wind. My brains are on fire. Only the regeneration provided by the whispering vestibule has sustained me to this point. Without it, I'd be a quivering mess on the ground, unable to think or function from sheer mental fatigue.

I'm not even finding the many whispers of the Colony inside me much of a burden right now, since they want me to be doing basically what I'm doing already. Namely, throw everything and the kitchen sink at the invaders who dare to encroach on our territory. Mind you, if I listened to them totally, I'd be charging forward to rip into the enemy with my bare mandibles and most likely die in the process.

It seems more than a few ants in the Colony still harbour a secret desire to end themselves in glorious sacrifice. Apparently some 're-education' is necessary, the academy hasn't done enough to stamp out this heresy.

Still on the Legion marches, several hundred of them in tight formation. They are methodical to an absurd degree when it comes to Dungeon combat, yet try to counter us at every turn. Once they push us out of a tunnel, they defend it to the hilt, even to the point of monitoring the surrounding earth for any digging attempts. When we try to tunnel behind them, they detect it early and try to close our tunnels around us. We almost lost many ants that way.

"COME ON YOU STUPID TIN CANS!" I yell at the approaching wall of armour, "at the very least, give me my damn level!"

[Gas magic (IV) has reached level 40, rank up available.]

AT LAST! AT LAST!

My time has arrived, my suffering is finally over! I've been grinding away at this damn fusion for so long I can't even bear to think of it! At that moment, the approaching Legion break their ranks and begin to charge, weapons ablaze with light.

"Fall back!"

We have never intended to defend this position to the death. For the moment, our strategy isn't to engage these Legionaries in close combat, rather to try and wear them down as we give ground. I hear the fighting is far more fierce on the other front. At some point we'll have to engage here too, but for now retreat is the order of the day.

[Let's get out of here, gang.]

Following the order, my pets and I turn along with the rest of the Colony and make our way back down the tunnel. I'm more than happy to follow, I have a Skill fusion to explore.

First, I purchase Advanced Gas magic (V), which sets me back one Skill point, not a big deal. The tickling feeling of knowledge spreading through my mind begins immediately, sinking in and becoming a part of my magical repertoire.

As desperate as I am to fuse immediately, I wait. Only when I've retreated to a safe location will I dare to engage in that fusion. There's a chance that the fusion might soak up my attention and render me immobile for an extended period of time.

"Eldest, how did the defence go?" Vibrant pops up next to me.

"Gah! Vibrant, sheesh. You need to let people know you're creeping up before you start talking."

"What are you saying? You can see in every direction! Although I do move fast, was I moving too fast? I'm superfast. On the other mandible, I'm not fast enough! More speed is better, don't you think? I know I think so. When I evolve again, I'm considering more legs. Would that be weird? It'd be weird. Six legs is best. More muscle would be better. Speed muscle! That gave me an idea! I'm gonna go think about it! Bye-bye!"

Zoom! She's off!

That hurts my head sometimes.

"I am interested in hearing how the defence went, Eldest."

I spy two other council members approaching, Ellie and Bella. I shrug.

"Pretty typical, I have to say. We shot at them, tried to slow them down, they pushed forward and we left. I think your caste is in there now, harassing and being annoying as much as possible until the next time they push forward."

The core shapers are perfect for the task, able to risk their pets in ways we would rather not do with our own members. They harass from range and make probing attacks whenever they get a chance, constantly pushing to prevent the Legion from being able to settle.

"Alright, I need to back off the front for a bit, not sure how long. Keep things steady for the next few hours, alright?" I say.

The two core shapers look a little confused, but readily agree to my request. Full of glee, I scurry away with my pets in tow, keen to put some distance between me and the front. After ten minutes of sprinting, I'm both tired and way too impatient to wait any longer.

FUSION!

[Do you want to fuse the Skills: Advanced Blue Fire Magic Affinity (V) Level 2; Advanced Stone Magic Affinity (V) Level 1; Advanced Gas Magic Affinity (V) Level 1 and Advanced Ice Magic Affinity (V) Level 2? This will cost fifteen Skill points.]

Fifteen!? Whatever, who cares? Paid.

Immediately, my brain comes alive with a trickling sensation that soaks into every crevice until I can't feel anything else.