By Gandalf I'm tired.

BAM!

Stop hitting me, dammit!

DOOM CHOMP!

Just like every time I activate the Skill, a team of Legionaries with heavy shields leap forward, activating a host of abilities and anchoring against each other.

CRUNCH!

Despite my mandibles biting deep into the metal slabs these muscle heads call shields, I once again am not able to penetrate through and deal real damage. Stupid tin cans! Eat acid then! I drop my thorax low and raise my abdomen so I can blast the a-team in front of me with a face full of burn juice before resetting my position in the formation. The ants on my left and right depend on me to protect their flanks and if I extend too far or drop back a bit I expose them to unnecessary danger, something that's happened a fair bit over the course of the battle.

"Need a heal?" I scent the pheromones of my designated healer friend behind me.

"You've recharged already?" I'm a bit shocked.

"Nope. But I've found another healer who can top you off if needed."

I find it a little suspicious how capable and seemingly high level the healer who was placed behind me in the battle line turned out to be, and now, when healers are needed desperately all along the line she just so happens to have another of her caste waiting in reserve?

"I'm totally fine," I lie, "get that healing where it's needed."

I can almost hear the shrug of antennae behind me and the little ant burrows back down into the soil as the fight rages on. A few more exchanges and I see Tiny off to my right getting battered in the chest. A salvo of fireballs and charged arrows strike him right in the chest plate, knocking him off his feet. The big ape howls with rage but he's so exhausted he can't keep his feet any longer and topples over, scattering the Colony members beneath his feet.

[Invidia! Crinis! Make sure Tiny gets out of there in one piece.]

Desperate to make a distraction, I charge forward into the ranks of the Legion once more, shoving them back with my bulk. Only this time, I don't retreat quickly, instead, charging out again, snapping my mandibles for all I'm worth and blasting everyone I can see with gravity bolts. It's been a miracle that Tiny made it this long, he's not exactly built for endurance. Without the armour protecting him, I'd have ordered him out of the fight ages ago. If I actually survive long enough, I'm going to find Smithant and personally thank that little genius. I'll have to see if she can find any see-through materials when I get my own armour. I can't have my magnificent carapace obscured for any reason!

BAM!

Although, I could probably do with some extra shielding now… The Legion forces are quick to capitalise on my poor position and close around my flanks faster than Vibrant eating breakfast. My senses sharpen to their finest point as my antennae, reflexes and muscles move in perfect synchronisation, deflecting and dodging every blow I can and diverting others to clash against my carapace. Precious diamond carapace, saving my bacon once again!

Truth be told, the Legionaries are moving a bit slow, certainly they lack the oomph they usually do. The battle has been long as just as the ants have grown weary, even these indomitable humans have grown tired of the constant effort. Trying to fight your way through tens of thousands of monstrous ants is going to take it out of you, no matter who you are. Although the gravity domain and bolts that I'm firing out might not seem like they have much of an effect, I'm confident they are keeping me alive right now as the soldiers targeting my life find it that little bit harder to move and swing their weapons.

Chomp! Chomp! CHOMP!

I thrash around desperately and I'm pleased to see that my distraction has done its job. A chance to put down the indescribably attractive ant that I am has lured the Legion away from the area Tiny fell and the Colony has rushed extra numbers to shore up the line as Crinis drags her fellow pet away whilst Invidia heals him out of any immediate danger.

[Great work!] I call back to them. [Once Tiny is safe, please come and rescue me…]

[MASTER!]

I'm going to get told off pretty bad by Crinis after this. Perhaps death is the answer. No! Can't think like that, need to live!

From behind the lines Victor watches the surge offense of the Eldest falter as they are quickly surrounded. The loss of the great ape guardian has been keenly felt in the lines, but there is nothing for it, the Colony has no choice but to press forward!

"Get in there and fight!" she orders every ant in reserve forward. "Follow the Eldest and battle for the Colony!"

"FOR THE COLONY!" comes back the roar as the ants, only recently healed from their injuries plunge back into the fray once more.

Unwilling to be left behind, Victor herself runs forward to join the conflict. What does it matter if she were to fall here? After this, there are no more plans or strategies that she needs to look over. Either they stand here, or perish. Sensing the frantic energy of these final moments, the human allies join with the surging ants as they charge forward with their final gasp of strength. All the while, the Eldest rampages throughout the Legion ranks, throwing their weight around and absorbing an absurd amount of punishment as they seek to disrupt the enemy’s battleline.

"Break through!" Victor roared as she lunged forward, her mandibles chomping as she hurled her body into the soldiers in front, buckling their line as the next wave ran over her back to crash in again.

Every available ant had joined the charge and all along the line the scene of fresh troops surging into the Legion shields and swords was repeated. Soldiers, scouts, mages, healers, every ant present on the field of battle had joined this final assault in the hopes of finally breaking through. The enemy realised quickly what was happening and redoubled their efforts, fighting as a cohesive unit to stave off the wave of ants who had arrived.

The ferocity of the battle had reached a frenetic peak. Neither side was willing to take a backward step and in three short minutes Victor had witnessed hundreds of acts of selfless courage, skill and sacrifice from both sides. In the middle of it all, the diamond ant burned bright, like the flare of a candle on the verge of going out. No matter how the ants pressed, or how much ground they gained, the Eldest remained always beyond reach. As if psychically linked with the Colony itself, every time Victor surged along with her siblings, the Eldest would also plunge deeper into the sea of Legion troops. Unable to reach their progenitor, the first of their kind and most selfless defender, the ants of the Colony only grew more frenzied, charging again and again into the enemy line to shove them back, heedless of their own injuries.

Victor could see the Legion's strategy play out. They wanted to absorb the charge, give ground and let the Colony's spirit break along with their momentum. In that moment, they would seek to return the pain they had endured a hundredfold with a counter charge that would shatter the ant formation and break open the nest once and for all. Even knowing this, there was nothing Victor could do. All they could do was follow in the footsteps of their progenitor, the first of their kind, and charge into the blades of the enemy.

Suffused with the boost of their human allies, who roared and screamed as they raised their shaking arms and ran on unsteady legs, the Colony unleashed its true ferocity on the Legion. For one moment, one shining moment, Victor thought they would break. The Eldest was unstoppable and no matter how they tried, the Legionaries could not bring them down. Wherever they went, the Legion formation buckled and broke, opening gaps through which poured hundreds of giant ants within seconds as they bit and crunched whatever they could find in their need to reach their saviour. After driving so deep, and causing so much disruption, Victor saw the line on the verge of collapse and felt hope surge from deep within her core.

But like an illusion, it rippled and was gone, the gaps closing over before her eyes and the wall of shields re-established itself and the ant's charge finally faltered. A moment later she saw why. The Eldest had collapsed, one of their legs finally getting caught and had been severed at the joint and their momentum had brought them down with a crash. In just a few moments, the Legionaries would descend on the prone form of the strongest ant and there was nothing Victor could do about it.

And that's when it came. A tidal wave of mana that tore through the tunnel like a scream. The Dungeon veins latticed through the stone seemed to pulse and writhe as the walls began to shift as monsters took shape within, soon to be spawned and emerge.

Both sides stopped instantly and Victor could almost curse as the joy surged within her. Now?! The wave comes NOW?! Even ten minutes earlier and he wouldn't have had to endure this mad rush of disaster. Without a word, the Legion forces pulled back and marched a brisk pace, their fatigue only showing in rare places as they vacated the battlefield, taking their wounded with them. After a second, Victor rushed forward to support the Eldest and soon the giant ant was hoisted onto the backs of a few strong soldiers so they could be transported back to the nest.

"Just like that?" the Eldest echoed Victor's own thoughts, "they pick up and leave?"

No one replied for a long moment as the mana continued to surge around them, filling the tunnel with an intoxicating level of energy. Then the Eldest began to laugh, both in scent and in thought as mind magic spilled out of them and into every ant and human in reach. It was as if a bubbling wellspring of relief and gladness had burst into being within all of them and none dared to speak lest they disturb it and snuff it out. So it was that Eldest was silently escorted back into the nest, laughing joyously all the way.