I only have one more test before I can determine the best way to enter the tunnel that will hopefully lead to the nest.

You have received two messages. The first is from city defense headquarters. They request your advice on whether a heavily armed fire team could seal the tunnel. . .

[Definitely not. They would simply make new ones or use other existing ones. I find it highly unlikely this is their only entry point. Advise to stay away and await an update once I reach the nest itself.]

Sent. The second is from Honor who asks if you feel it would be possible to capture one alive for study. . .

[Also highly unlikely. If it was captured it would likely feel it heavily threatened causing the corruption to force a short hot burn and turn it to ash. The only option would be to encompass it in darkness and keep the Magica going indefinitely.]

Sent. . .

Back to my test. I envelop myself in darkness like back at the prison and slowly but silently walk forward towards the large tunnel mouth spewing out hundreds of ants every minute. A large unicorn-like warrior standing by the entrance turns in my direction and twitches its antennae but does nothing else. It then turns back to clicking and chittering at the other ants in the area. I walk right by it and approach just to the right of the tunnel entrance. I stand there watching brown flaming ants scamper by in mass. None of them even so much as twitches an antenna in my direction.

[I can’t believe that worked.]

According to Ranger Bob, normal ants mainly act based on scent, hearing and touch. So the logical question is, what would happen if I had no scent and made no sound and never touched them? The answer is, I would not exist in their world. Darkness Magica once again for the win.

I cling to the wall and climb so I am at the very top of the tunnel. The ants run along the bottom and cling to the sides as they run out, but not the top for whatever reason and it gives me the freedom to darkness cling and make my way in. I engage another new skill and I can see perfectly, as if it was a normal bright day in the tunnel when Darkness Vision triggers for the first time. My original plan was Shadow Melding into the tunnels, but then I realized there is no light in there. No light means no shadows means that skill is useless. So here we have, plan B.

I crawl forward silently, occasionally stopping to avoid an ant that decides to cross over. Once I had to drop darkness on an ant as it was crawling straight at me along the ceiling tunnel. I scooted by it quickly and released the darkness. Looking back, I saw it drop to the bottom of the tunnel and be torn apart by the corrupted ants. Oh.

[Add that to the record. That was a miss on my part; I should have tested one at a time in addition to everything else before coming in here.]

Affirmative. . .

Another 20 minutes of careful crawling, dodging, and yes, killing, I eventually arrive in a large chamber the size of one of the old ruins of a sports stadium with literally thousands of flaming ants crawling all over. I find an indent in a wall where ants seem to have little interest and crawl to it, having to kill a few ants on the way using darkness Magica. Well, I disable them and the other ants kill them, but I’m the cause.

Now that I am in a relatively safe location, I scan the large chamber in more detail. There must be a hundred other passageways in and out of here. Not a single ant is ever still. The entire corrupted colony is constantly on the move. There are a few things that stick out as different though. Four tunnels, including the one I just existed, swarm with a mass of ants that just continue exiting out of and none enter from. I would wager those are the attack tunnels. I activate another of my new skills and withdraw a mana explosive from my [Inventory]. I immediately use Darkness Infusion and the object vanishes from existence as far as the colony is concerned. I work my way over and press is into the earth just inside the tunnel mouth. Then I crawl to the second and repeat the process. And again with the third. I leave the fourth because, one, it is easier to control a beast breakout when you know its source and two, I need an exit.

Crawling back to my little cubby of dirt, I watch for patterns. In particular, I am looking for the larger warrior ants or any other ants besides the workers and warriors. I am attempting to discern if certain tunnels are used more often by the larger ants or a potential third kind, but I do not see any others besides these workers and warriors.

[Alright, Jo. Blow em.]

Activating remote detonation. . .

Three consecutive “whoomp” sounds and bursts of air blast through the large chamber followed by screeching ants, innumerable flashes of black fire and the rumbling of crumbling earth as the tunnels collapse. Now I just watch.

Ants are scrambling everywhere, declaring their unhappiness with the mess I made by chittering and examining the tunnels with their antennae and “feet”. There. That is the eighth warrior to examine one of the tunnels and then crawl back to enter a particular tunnel. The problem is that entire area is swarming with workers and many warriors.

This is not going to go well. Ah well, sometimes subtle just isn’t the right way to approach a problem. I pool mana into my hands until darkness begins to leak out. I then release it with my target tunnel in the middle. A massive cloud of blackness swallows the area around the tunnel and fifty meters around it. I engage [Mana Sight] and sprint to the tunnel, placing a darkness bubble on any ant that approaches or even might approach my path to that tunnel. I crawl into the black maw, immediately darkness bubble the warrior trying to leave. Running by him, I leap up and attach to the ceiling and continue my path forward; or more precisely downward. The angle is not excessively steep but sufficient that I have to concentrate to not slide down, even clinging to the ceiling. I release all the darknesses I placed behind me resulting in the sound of ants battling, screeching, the crunching of carapace, and whooshing of black corrupted fire blazing forth.

Finally reaching the end of the tunnel, silently bypassing a number of warriors and even a few workers, I come to another large chamber, about half again as large as the last, where I see a veritable army of warrior ants, piles of white eggs and larvae, and a third kind I have never seen before. And it is absolutely hideous.