Chapter 613: A Determined Enemy

They’re digging in for the long haul, and I hate it. I hate it! I don’t want them to be this sensible! Constructing a fortified position? Securing their supply lines? Pushing forward with caution? No! This isn’t what I want to see! I want them to charge ahead, frothing at the mouth and underestimating us to the point of stupidity!

I can wish, can’t I?

After digging our way out of the tunnel and healing up our injuries, my pets and I retraced our steps until we met up with the relay scouts. After sending word back to the Colony, I decided we’d be best served here, keeping an eye on this new threat, determining how severe it was, and sucking up all the XP in the area. The more we take for ourselves, the less that they’ll get. Not to mention, the number of levels I need to complete my fusion, my next big power spike, is getting lower and lower.

But spying on this mystery army is proving to be a right pain in the rear-zone. We can’t get anywhere close to them. Their guard is up so high I can’t even see over the top of it. Those stupid monster detecting crystals are in place, they have mages in every patrol around the outside of their camp, a camp they built with almost ant-like efficiency, I might add. It seems as though they have every method of monster detection I know of installed already, as well as a few I don’t. When I sent one of my babysitters to go investigate as best, they could, even they were detected before making it much past the guards.

How the heck were they able to detect them?! There must be some method I haven’t heard of yet… Since then, they’ve been relatively quiet, but it’s been less than a day. They send out patrols to investigate the nearby tunnels, but they don’t go far. Certainly not far enough that I feel comfortable trying to engage them, they’re just too close to the reinforcements.

Their numbers are another thing we don’t know. There’s more of them than I initially thought, and the camp that’s been set up certainly seems like it would hold hundreds, but I just don’t know enough.

And Morrelia. I’d kind of hoped that she’d come out here I’d have a chance to talk with her, ask a question or two. Like, “Hey Morrelia, how have you been? Why are you with these armoured murder-bots who are trying to take my head off?” When was this something that happened?!

Too many questions and I have no answers.

I find myself seated in a disgruntled tangle of legs, my senses focused on the tunnel ahead which twists and turns and after three kilometres leads to the zone inhabited by those tin cans when a fresh scout approaches.

“Eldest! Word has come from the Colony!”

“Finally! What’s happening up there?”

I’ve been waiting a long time for this! Although, I have to admit that the relay system the scouts have worked out is lightning fast. These poor scouts have run a heck of a long way to the Colony and back.

“The Golgari invasion force has been sighted, and preliminary engagements are taking place.”

“Holy moly!”

“Indeed. Only indirect combat is the information I have at this time, Eldest.”

“Do we have a picture of the strength of their force?”

“I’m not aware of it if we do, Eldest.”

Dammit.

“Alright, thanks. I appreciate your hard work.”

The weary scout tips her antennae to me and stumbles back to her waiting post, clearly on her last six legs. So much to think about. Thinking isn’t my speciality! To be honest, I’m not entirely sure what my speciality is… I can work that out later! Gah! I’m going crazy just standing around here cleaning my antennae, watching this mystery force entrench themselves whilst I can’t do anything about it. I need to move.

Problem is, the place where the Colony is clashing with the Golgari is ages away. If I were to rush there, it’d take hours to get there, and then what if something terrible happened here whilst I was on my way?! We have two areas of conflict, and as far as I know, I can’t be in two places at once! I didn’t think it was possible, but my irritation at Morrelia’s new goon squad has risen to an even higher pitch. I address the team.

[Let’s get going. There’s no point sitting here banging our heads against the wall. We need levels and Biomass, and if these punks are going to give us time to get it, I’m not going to say no.]

My pets are ready to go in a moment, stepping forward (or floating, or just hanging onto my carapace) eager to go into battle once more.

“I’m going to keep grinding,” I tell the scouts nearby. “If something happens, come and get me, I’ll leave a pheromone trail, but I want you all to be very careful. We don’t know enough about what’s happening here, and I don’t want to see my siblings waste their lives.”

The ants acknowledge my scent and go back to their careful monitoring of the tunnels, and I head upwards, ready to dig into more Biomass and harvest some experience.

Nearby.

“Keep focused you daft boy! Things are happening!”

Donnelan shook his head slightly to clear the cobwebs and refocused his attention on the array. Braxis nodded in satisfaction, not taking his eyes or mind from the enchanted device.

“We have movement,” he muttered, “but who, and where?”

The younger mage worked hard to sync his mind, not only with the crystal monster detection array in front of him but also on his own mage-armour. The enchantments and cores woven into the bulky metal and stone plates enhanced his ability to direct his thoughts and control mana, but only if he properly harnessed them.

“What are you sensing, boy?” the grizzled senior mage asked the young man.

Donnelan pushed his mind harder, right to the point where

pain spiked through his brain before backing off with a sigh.

“The big one. The signal is fading, I think it’s rising, along with a lot of others. I’m not sure how many.”

Braxis grunted.

“Yeah well, they’re pretty damn hard to find with a field array, even for me. Almost all of them are moving out, in five minutes they’ll be out of range. There’s still a few around though. Must be keeping an eye on us, the cheeky buggers.”

The old man chuckled at his own horrible joke, whilst Donnelan forced out a weak grin. Braxis was a veteran mage of the Legion and certainly a far higher level than new blood like him. It paid to not get on his bad side.

“All right then. I’ll keep an eye here, you go report to the commander. I get the feeling he’ll want to know what’s going on.”

Forcing down his nerves, Donnelan gathered his courage, saluted his officer and made his way out of their tent and into the darkness of the frenetic camp. Legionaries ran every which way, carting stone, shifting supplies, getting ready to patrol or organising the rapid expansion and construction. In only a few hours a random section of tunnel had been transformed into a proto-base. He and the other mages had worked themselves to the bone shaping stone, flattening areas, raising others and blocking off the entrances. The moment he’d finished that shift, he’d been dragged in to help man the monster sensing array. His head was pounding after so many hours of continuous spellcraft.

Hopefully, the commander would let him rest soon.

He pushed through the camp and made his way to the command tent, the centre of activity in the camp. After making himself known to a legate, stating his business and waiting in line for ten minutes, he stepped inside to find Titus looming over a table, a crude map of the tunnel structure around their location spread out before him.

Donnelan crashed his fist to his heart in a brisk salute, and the commander glanced up at him and nodded. Behind that powerful figure, hulking in his massive armour, stood his personal guard. He got the unnerving feeling that each of them watched him, and somehow every corner of the tent at the same time.

“At ease young Legionary. What has old Braxis got for us?”

“Movement from the enemy, sir. The first ant we’d spotted, the high tier one, has moved upward, taking the pets and stealthed ants with them. He expects they’ll be beyond our range in five.”

The commander grunted, his eyes dropping back to the map as he traced his finger along a tunnel above their current position.

“Any of them still here?” he asked without looking up.

“Yes, sir. A half dozen, not many.”

“Keeping an eye on us. Watching and waiting.”

Titus straightened to his full height.

“Good work Donnelan. Go get yourself some rest, you’ll be needed on rotation in five hours.”

The relief that had risen within the Legionary at the word ‘rest’ barely had time to grow before it was ruthlessly crushed by his commander. Five hours?! What was he, a monster? Grumbling to himself, Donnelan turned neatly on his heel and walked out, then staggered the rest of the way to his own bunk. He didn’t even bother unstrapping and powering down his armour when he got there, he just collapsed into his roll, asleep before his head touched the blankets.

Back in the command tent, Titus was disturbed. These ants didn’t behave as ants should. Even the presence of an abomination wasn’t enough to fully account for it. He had a gnawing feeling in his gut that wasn’t going away. He’d learned to trust that feeling over the years, he wasn’t about to ignore it now. In another six hours, he’d have contact with the Golgari, and he intended to ask them some very pointed questions.

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