“Formation, 2-A!! On the double!!” [Command LV 7] activates.

Without hesitation and with the swiftness of the wind, the ants scuttled into the called formation. In unison, every ant halted and from it two large arrowheads formed. During our training days with Tsuwo, since she also carried the command skill, I had her teach me how to use Command. I was used to playing RTS and RPG games like Liam Rey’s Colonization and Japan’s Reincarnation of the Old Gods. So getting a feel for how Command works almost came naturally. My style of RTS play is usually keeping at range and making sure everyone comes out alive if possible. Playing at high difficulties in-game was an arduous journey. And I would reset every time I lose large amounts of troops or my favorite characters, but now I don’t have that luxury anymore. The 2-A (Two-Arrowheads) formation is specifically made to be versatile. The range units lining the front of the arrowhead, with the cavalry just behind their line and the bulk of it all is the infantry. That way the far-range ants have an open view of the battlefield. While the close-combat ants can cover them quickly enough if the enemies come close. Plus with the help of Gyoma, Azuwei, and Saku, we prepared various special units and functions in order to have an edge against any enemy in any situation.

If I’m gonna come out of anything with little to no causality, I’m gonna have to use everything that I can!

The size of the battlefield is expansive with hills lining across directly in front of us. Pulling up [Map], I see that the areas we’ve gone through are shown, but only a small portion of the battlefield has been colored in. It appears that when I or anyone in my colony explore an unknown location it’ll reveal the areas hidden in the black. There were 609 red dots, including me, at the far east end of the destroyed village with the other 400 on the western side. The only advantage our enemy sects have is the hills and their staggering numbers, but since they are pushing us they’re gonna be fighting us on fair grounds.

My first taste of an actual battle… outnumbered and overpowered… with a slight advantage in terms of location… retreating east we’d face the Grivels and it’s Elder… there’s a slight opening southwards from where we came, but we still need a considerable force to push through the Elder guarding that position… hmmmm… I should call over the 400, regroup then push through that small opening.

“It’ll take some time before our reinforcements arrive, your highness. For now I suggest we hold them off then retreat once they regroup with us.”

“T-thank you, Gyoma. I see that you’ve already made contact using Mina and her recon team.”

A few of our soldiers and Mina, under the care of Gyoma, managed to learn the active skill [Intel LV 1] (Mina [Intel LV 3]). Because of the skill being LV 1 for the regular troops, range and use is very limited. Until then, Gyoma was the only one with Intel. It was a one way street with only her gathering information from other’s minds within the colony. But now with a few other users of Intel added to the ranks, they can communicate freely within reasonable distances. Which is extremely crucial for when I need to relay information and command from afar.

“If this is the first half of the force of 5,000… I assume there’s at least 2,500 of them. Even if we’re stronger than the common soldiers, they still vastly outnumber us… and if their second half were to arrive...”

“M-my queen… please don’t give up hope!” Worried about how I was feeling, Azuwei perked herself up waving her front legs standing on her hind legs being a cheerleader.

“Ack!… Hehe, don’t worry about me. I don’t ever plan on giving up, especially now that I have all of you.” I gently pet, Azuwei as she squeaks in joy. Everyone in the near vicinity of her couldn’t help, but ‘Awww’, even Gyoma showed some adoration for her.

With top 4, three younger sisters and I, plus a few specially-made teams, we act as the command center controlling from behind our army. Just from looking, all I can see is four towering elder sects spread out and standing in front of at least 1,000 of Sviens. They are essentially long-legged spiders with minuscule bodies, standing almost as tall as a two-story house. As Gyoma and her documents stated, they are weak individually, but in large groups they become a menacing threat. Here’s their stats (Document cost: 1,000 shinies):

Sviens

Race: Spider

Class: Grunt

LV 3

HP: 300 / 300 (green)

MP: 50 / 50 (blue)

SP: 500 / 500 (orange)

Offense: 500 Defense: 500 Magic: 50

Skills: [Hard Skin LV 2] [Strength LV1] [Life LV 1] [Touch Sensory LV 5] [Smell Sensory LV 3] [Movement LV 5] [Bite LV 3] [Evasion LV 3] [Skewer LV 4] [Pile LV 5] [Iron Legs LV 4]

I can tell that one of the elder sects is a Sviens, while the other three are different. There’s a mantis-like Elder, a stick-like Elder, and an Elder that’s bright orange with a large round-ish body.

Kind of looks like an orange aphid… don’t tell me these plant bats are carnivores in this world?!

Strangely enough they haven’t made their move, they stood there. Viciously clicking their jaws, roaring and growling at us from a distance.

Good chance as any to prepare, it feels like they’ll make a move once I make a move… Game Start!!

“Diggers up, barrier! Ready, Ammunition!” Just for flare and style I raise my arm pointing in the direction of the enemies. [Command LV 7] activates.

I’m not waving it in a way like that one evil dictator in our world! It’s all about looking chic even when commanding!

A line of ants, standing right behind the frontline ants, move 10 meters ahead. Expeditiously digging a fairly-sized ditch, about 7 meters deep and 7 meters wide, lining a trench in front of the two formations. Picking up and clumping the dirt and rocks together they create boulder-size earth balls. After a few minutes of preparation, they retreat back into the formation holding their dirt boulders just behind the line of ranged ants. With the help of Saku, we trained a group of soldiers to learn [Dig LV 1]. She was thrilled to have more sisters know the skill in order for them to help her whenever she needs, but the real reason I wanted them to know is because of the versatility of the skill. With the speed and efficiency of our soldier ants, making defenses almost anywhere in a short amount of time greatly puts us at an advantage. Plus with the use of their Strength I can turn even the dug-up ground as throwing weapons.

This is permadeath mode, no game resets… I’m gonna have to pull every bit of tactics I’ve learned through playing video games. I’m sure that if I do this right, we can get out of this with no losses!

Another minute passed after the trench was made and not a single action had been taken on the enemy’s side.

It’s unnerving that they haven’t charged even after I set up my first set of defenses… Are they… being controlled? Or is the Elder sects that smart? With all that I’ve seen so far in this world… I wouldn’t be surprised by either situation. The range of my fire-flingers nor my ground-sluggers won’t reach that distance… but… if I use the potion now I’ll be able to get some shots in and hopefully provoke them to attack first.

“Azuwei, hand me the range potion please.”

“Y-yes, my Queen! Here it i-is!” She hands me a small bottle filled with mucky green liquid.

Bottoms up! Ugh. Strong and bitter… is this how alcohol would taste?

Upon drinking the liquid a green-ish glow envelops my body. With Azuwei’s Science skill she was able to concoct a potion that increases one’s range. Although, we only managed to make 3 weak range potions out of the scarce materials we had. The increase in range is just enough for me to hit the sects from the far distance and the effects would only last 10 minutes at a time.

Hitting the big guys would only agitate them… so let's take care of the fodder!

Planting my legs, I open my jaws, taking aim. [Fire-Breath LV 7] (Range Increased) activates.

Zzzzzrrrr! Zzzzrrrrr! Zzzzrrrr! Zzzzzrrrrr! Zzzzzzzrrrr!

“Woo! Weeee! Get em! Ya Majesty!”

“...Booom!…”

“Y-yaay! My Queen! I-I believe in you!”

Initiating the beginning of the battle I shoot down rows of the Sviens standing behind the Elder sects, their ear-splitting screeching rung out. Even then, the looming Elders didn’t care to react. Instead to answer to my far-ranged fire attacks a massive chunk of the Sviens finally charged. Their stampede rumbled the ground as their iron legs clang against one another ringing like bells. With movement being a little faster than us along with their long legs they were already halfway towards us. Taking them down as they came closer, the front row of ants shot off their fire-breaths in efforts to stop the large advancement. As the force of the Sviens dwindled they became more and more harder to hit. While charging in fewer numbers their small bodies were able to dodge our breaths with ease. Reaching the first line of defense some of them trip over the trench, ultimately being met by the rain of fire afterwards. Only 10 meters out, there was still a reasonable force to be reckoned with.

“Calvary, Attack 1! Charge! Fire-flingers support!”

Attack 1 for the cavalry is a hit-and-run strategy, focusing on their Charge skill. To make it quick and easy for us to react to situations, for each of the three categories of my soldiers, I instilled 3 different attack plans along with simple commands.

“Chaaarrrgggeee!” [Charge LV 2] activates.

“Hraaaaaaah! Raaaaahhh!”

“For the Queeeeen!”

“Shoot them while they're down!” [Fire-breath LV 2] activates.

“Fiiiiiiiireeee!”

Zzzrrr! Zzrrrr! Zzrrr! Rumble! Rumble! Sccreeeech!

Shooting out like an arrow, the calvary ants charge through the Sviens. Ramming and biting at the legs of the spiders causing them to lose balance and fall over. The long legs still managed to get hits on the dashing attackers, punchering their backs as they ran through. Slowed by the storming assault, fire rains again on the spiders, taking almost all of them out. It wasn’t long till the cavalry unit circled back to finish the rest of Sviens off before returning back to our ranks.

“Take the injured to the back!”

“Cough! Cough… cough… ngh!”

“Ngh…! My… ngh… I’ve been wounded…!”

“Gahh!... ngh!”

“Quick, they’ve been critically injured!”

“I-I’m on it! B-bring them to me!” [Heal LV 6] & [Heal LV 1] activates. Azuwei and a few others took care of the healing. Knowing how tough it’ll get without any form of healing, I had a few capable soldiers learn Heal from Azuwei. Looking at my [Colony] tab, I see that most soldiers that attacked the Sviens had leveled up to LV 2. Since Mina, Mai, and Suzu faced the Grivels alone they are now LV 3. In some games there is a feature where leveling up would fully heal you as well as raise stats, sadly this isn’t the case in this world. And from what Azuwei told me, healing doesn’t replenish SP or MP. Only crytikes were only able to do that, but we’re in limited supply.

“Let me heeeelp tooooooo!”

“S-suzu? B-but… I haven’t taught you how to heal.”

“Commander Azuwei, please allow Suzu, Mina, and I to help you.”

“...I can carry the injured too…”

“I… I wanna help like Suki did when us and our other sisters were hurt. Soooooo please count on meeee, Commander Azuwei!!”

“O-oh! Then please carry all the injured to me and m-my unit, we’ll heal them a-as soon as we can!” Fire burning passion in their hearts the three young sisters gave it their all to help Azuwei and her team.

We managed against the first massive force to charge… But now most of the force of 100 cavalry is injured… And in our reinforcements, I have the 200 calvary with 100 range units and 100 infantry on the way but… I need to keep this a distance battle as much as possible. Seeing how the Sviens were able to attack a ramming assault, my 200 infantry is at a big disadvantage in close combat! I’m saving my crytikes for the healers and the fire-flingers. Maybe I should replenish the calvary?… but I can’t wait too long on the healing either… Hmmmm... What should I do?…

“Your Majesty… Might I suggest using the legs of the Sviens?”

“Hmmm… Huh? Using their legs…? For wh- ...Oh!” Gyoma's suggestion resonated in my head, and I hastily waved my arm out to the troops.

Use everything I have. That also means…!

“Infantry, On the double! Retrieve Sviens’ legs! Use some as spikes and prepare the rest as weapons!”

“Yes my Queen!”

The sea of red infantry fluidly sprung out to recover the fallen Sviens’ iron legs. Torn from the deceased bodies, a lot of the legs were stabbed into the ground not too far from the trench, as defensive spikes, while the rest were brought back as weapons.

Good. Now that we have a second line of defense and weapons that can keep enemies at a distance we have a better chance!

SSSSSSSZSZSZSZSZ! SSSSSSS! SSSSSSZSZSZ!

“An Elder sect and a second large force is advancing!”

“Tch! Crap. Change formations! Swarm-Evasive! Weapons ready! Fire-flingers, Ground-sluggers aim at the Elder Sviens’ legs!”

At the head of the charge is the Elder Sviens. Instead of the wide line of the last charge, the Sviens lined themselves in a triangular formation with the Elder as the tip of the spear. This high LV spider elevated to the sky with it’s ridiculously long legs, it’s body even tinier than its weaker counterparts, but it moved using only six of it’s legs. At the halfway point, the ranged ants’ skills activate. Fireballs and earth clumps flung at high speeds towards the leading Elder sect.

Boooooom! Kaboooooom! Bwoooossshhh! Booom! Boooom! SSSSSZSZSZSZSZ!!

Humongous charcoal black smoke and dirt clouds covered the lands, but the rumbling of the ground and clanging of iron hasn’t silenced. Bursting from the bubble of the colored fog, the Elder sect waved around it’s two spear-like front legs.

“Tch!”

So the front legs are it’s sword er... lance and shield. Mobility, hybrid offense and defense, plus a body smaller than us and harder to hit nonetheless… the type that’ll mow down crowds. We’re gonna have to tank it and keep it in one spot so we can attack from all angles.

“Change targets! Thin the herd! Saku, Gyoma, Tsuwo. I need you three to lock down the Elder sect. I need some time to get everyone else into position.”

“Understood, ya Highness. You can trust me, my tough shell an’ jaws to hold it down!”

“As you wish. I shall advocate that at your signal, I’ll be able to cut one leg.”

“I will see to it that my duty is fulfilled without fail. My Queen!”

“Hmmm… cut the last hind leg on the left side. I assume that’ll cost me… again.”

“With pleasure, your Highness. And we shall discuss ‘that’ at another time.”

With the ant’s new targets, the smaller Sviens are promptly felled left and right. But their spearhead formation never broke as they continued to fill in its own gaps whenever one of their own gets taken out. It would seem that they were aiming straight for me since the tactic being used is for breaking through and going for the command center. Simple, but proven throughout mankind’s history of war to be effective. My counter to that is to be like water. The formation; Swarm, broke the 2-A into smaller groups forming ‘orbs’ in a loosely condensed formation. Range units would be in the middle of the orbs guarded by the infantry and cavalry. The command; Evasive, put emphasis on keeping away from the enemies and only engaging at distance.

“Separate the normal Sviens from the Elder! Spread far North and South!”

Now my army can safely break away from the Sviens’ charge while keeping the heat of the range attacks on them as they pass through. Passing over the two lines of defenses, one-fourth of them fail to make it through. Once they got past, most of the Sviens’ start breaking their formation to follow the ants, many dying in the rain of fire. While pulling the attention of the grunt spiders, the orbs of ants slowly break away leaving a large path down the middle. The Elder sect kept pushing forward on its own. Its attention locked on to one thing in the entire battlefield. Three of the top 4 were already in position to intercept it. Saku and Tsuwo stood side by side with Gyoma behind them.

Right on the mark! That big boy is aiming for me… I went out with a heartache and I don’t plan on being impaled like an ottoman sultan.

[Guard LV 7] x2 activates. [Strength LV 7] x2 activates.

Whaam!! Claaaaaang!!

Colliding with the two top physically strong ants, its charge is stopped momentarily.

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!

It swung its spears with incredible speed. Sparks flew off their tough shells as Tsuwo and Saku held their ground against the rapid fire attacks.

“Ngh! Damn pebble-body sticks-for-legs! Gyoma give it a good wack will ya?!”

“On it, darling.” Jumping high into the air she falls from above, straight for the Elder sect’s tiny body.

Catching the oncoming attack it retreats a few steps in order to thrust its front legs at Gyoma in the air. Narrowly dodging the lick of death, she spirals straight down her front legs crossed forming an X. [Blade LV 7] & [Strength LV 5] & [Fire-breath LV 3] activates. Essentially Blade turns any swiping motion of her legs into a cut or slice; it’s more of an ‘air/force’ type of cut so the legs aren’t coated in any type of metal or anything of that sort. Using Strength she is able to put more power into her Blade skill, making it her surefire way of finishing enemies. She shoots out fireballs as cover as she aims for the body. [Fire-breath LV 5] & [Fire-breath LV 3] activates. Tsuwo and Saku waste no chance to throw in their attacks to overwhelm it. [Fire-breath LV 7] (Range Increased) activates. The minute they stopped the charge from earlier, I took the short time to move the command center more south to face the Elder sect’s right side then seized my chance to provide support fire. As if a leaf in the wind, the towering spider briskly evaded our combined efforts. Zig-zagging its small body side to side to escape the closest fireballs then it rapidly steps to the side to make Gyoma miss her mark. Without even turning it swings its right front leg to slice away my mortar attacks with precision.

Damn it! Does this thing have super instincts?? This thing easily dodges and blocks all of our attacks… it’s literally the incarnation of “float like a butterfly and sting like a bee”

Looking over the rest of the battlefield, I see that the orbs of ants are keeping a good distance from their enemies, and some would surround groups of Sviens to slay them all in one swoop. If it weren’t for the synchronized coordination of each individual troop then there would have been a considerable amount of casualties in our end. Thankfully, ants in this world had the same amazing cooperation skills as the ants in my world.

My troops need a little more time to finish off the regular Sviens before we can start overwhelming this big guy with more firepower… hmmm… The reinforcements are about 7 minutes out… 3 minutes left on my range increase… and around 10 minutes for Azuwei and her healers to finish healing the injured… we need to get into position to finish this Elder off in 5 minutes tops and escape right when reinforcements get here.

“Azuwei, please take command for now okay? Mina, Mai, and Suzu... please carefully watch over this hu- two-legs for me.” I untie the ropes to gently lay the man on the ground by the three sisters.

“M-my Queen? Do you plan on going in y-yourself?” Pausing her healing she approaches me.

“Yes, for this plan I have to work… I’m gonna have to do something myself. Don’t worry you have Suzu, Mina, and M-” Azuwei clung to my front leg, burrowing her face into my body.

“I-... I-... I’m very sorry m-my… my Queen f-forgive m-my disobedience... but please… please reconsider!” Despite her shaky voice it was a little louder than before. Stuck to me like glue, I look down to softly caress her head with my other front leg.

The trauma from what happened to her and the previous queen then… I guess she hasn’t been able to move on from it like Rei has…

“Azuwei… listen to me. I have Tsuwo, Gyoma, Saku, Mina, Mai, Suzu, the rest of my children, but most importantly I have you.”

“M-my Queen… A-ariki?” She looks up with her teary puppy eyes.

“Urk… W-with you watching over my back, I feel safe. And I don’t doubt that you’ll be able to take command well, Azuwei.” I smile as I still caress her pale red coat.

“B-but… I can barely speak louder than a-anyone here… wouldn’t Mai be a better pick than me?”

“Azuwei, I chose you because I believe in you. Soft spoken or not, I believe you have the potential for this!”

“Ah… um… okay... i-if you believe in me so m-much then… then… I’ll have to believe in myself too…! I’ll d-do as you ask and take command for you, my Queen!” Piping up, she softly smacks her face with her front legs then stands tall as she states her new resolve.

“That’s the spirit!” Feeling the courage from her, I smile. “Now, my plan is to keep the attention of the Elder sect with the top three. Have the troops gather around for an all-out attack once they finish off the regular Sviens, okay?”

“U-understood! I will d-do my best to get everyone in p-position!”

Nodding I take a look at the three sisters. Suzu, Mina and Mai curiously looked over the man laying on the ground.

I just hope they don’t do anything weird to him…

I turn finally speeding off into the fray. Passing through, [Fire-breath LV 7] activates, I shoot down some Sviens along the way. [Strength LV 7] & [Blade LV 2] activates. Following Gyoma’s example, I slice at the legs as I go by allowing my soldiers an easy kill on the unbalanced spiders. Weaving my way through the skirmishes, I skid across the open field joining the top 3.

“My Queen! Why have you come?”

“Ya Highness? Here to get your legs dirty too? Ngh! ... Damn Elder sect!” [Guard LV 7] activates.

“Your Highness, I see that you’re trusting Azuwei to take command. But… Will you be able to handle this?”

“My Queen… You plan on testing ‘that’ on this Elder sect?”

“Yes, I won’t know my strengths and weaknesses if I don’t try this. Please, bear with my selfish request and watch my back okay?”

“Don’t know what ya’ll talking bout’ but, we always got your back ya Highness!”

“Thank you, Saku.”

I take my stance, facing the heavens-reaching-spider. [Guard LV 7] x2 activates. With me in front of it, it goes into a frenzy with it’s ironspear-leg thrusts.

Clang! Clang! Clang! Cling Cling Clang! Cling Cling Clang! Clang!

SSSSSSSSSZSZSZSZSZSZSSSSSSS!!

Going mad from not being able to get in a single attack on me it finally stands on four legs, pulling out two more of its spear-like legs. [Blade LV 7] & [Strength LV 5] & [Shadow LV 5] & [Vampry LV 3] activates. Jumping out in front of the two, Gyoma utilizes her whole body and arsenal of skills to keep off the gale of spear thrusts. Shadow allowing her to shift in and out of the shadows for faster movement, and Vampry giving her slight health steal from blocking against the spider’s legs. Zipping around as she holds away most of the speedy attacks. Tsuwo and Saku continue to guard the rest of the attacks and blast fireballs at its body. Evading the fireballs with ease, its persistence kept on its barrage never letting off the pressure of death as it tunnel visions me. I take a deep breath.

Back during the days of Tsuwo’s Training Camp

“Haah… Haah… Woo… Almost ran out of… haah… stamina.”

“My Queen…? What… was that?”

“I… I don’t know, but I think I gained a new skill. I’m quite surprised it worked, hehe.”

“Hmmm… very interesting in all my years in this world, I’ve never seen a skill nor movement quite like that.” Gyoma pulls out a scroll and dots down some information from what she just witnessed.

“Eek! Oh… Gyoma you were watching the entire time? Almost forgot that Shadow skill of yours…”

The way she uses it to come and go, is eerily similar to how that one bat guy in the TV shows appears and disappears as he pleases…

“My Queen, if you’ll allow… May I ask how you did come up with a skill such as that?”

“Hmm? Oh… well um… how should I explain this? I just sort of got a feeling for it… Like… the feeling for the beat!” My legs holding a ‘thinking pose’ as I try to explain to Tsuwo.

“Feeling for the… ‘beat’...?” Tsuwo tilts her head slightly as she blankly stares at me.

“Hmm… interesting, ‘feeling for the beat’.” Gyoma continues to write my weird explanations down.

I’m not sure I can find a way to explain this clearly to them… back when I was a high-school girl, there were other types of games I’d play a lot... and with Aisaki. Dancing rhythm games. I wanted a fun way to keep my beautiful figure in shape and to help Aisaki get in shape so we compromised on our love for video games. Whether it’d be Rhythm Sword on the VR or Moving to the Groove or MTG in the arcades, we’d play for hours.

“…Y-yeah feeling for the beat…” Looking at the ground, I couldn’t help but think about Aisaki.

“Are you alright, my Queen? Shall I bring Azuwei to heal your bruises?”

“Noo… No it’s alright. I’m just thinking about things, I appreciate your concern Tsuwo. If it’s alright, I’d want to try out this skill more before the night comes.”

“As you wish, my Queen. And as you ordered… I won’t show any mercy.”

“Thank you, I won’t hold back either!”

Taking a stance as I face Tsuwo, I take a deep breath. Hearing the rhythmic thumps of the electronic drums, I feel the bass of each beat shaking my entirety. Overtaking my mind, I bop my head in rhythm as the symphony of synths, plucks, and noise build up the song in my head. My jaw opens slightly as I still feel the way I used to sing with my human lips. Lyrics flood in and I sing.

Can you hear me?

Through the music and the crowd.

All this dancing!

Makes my thoughts not seem so loud.

I’ve discovered...

How to silence what’s inside.

With the rhythm!

Wash away, what I can’t hide.

[Dance-beat LV 2] activates. As soon as the drop hits, I take off. Moving my body to the fast and steady beat. Swerving around Tsuwo and Saku, gliding past Gyoma, I take to the stage with my flashy entrance. [Fire-breath LV 7] (Range Increased) & [Blade LV 2] activates. Using the momentum and the flexibility of my dancing body I effortlessly intercept the Elder’s gatling spears. Throwing in a few blasts to its legs.

Blinding strobe lights! Make me see!

There’s a new reality...

In the beating of the drums.

All my senses start to hum.

Clang! Cling Clang! Cling Cling Clang! Cling Cling Clang! Clang!

Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump! Unz! Unz! Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!

As if the world around me moved to the beat of my song I was able to block each hit in sync with the thumps in my head. But because its iron legs are much more stronger than my Blade LV 2, each contact whittled down my health and stamina.

“Ngh! Gah! Okay, let’s kick it up a notch!!”

Can you hear me?

Through the music and the crowd.

All this dancing!

Makes my thoughts not seem so loud.

I’ve discovered...

How to silence what’s inside.

With the rhythm!

Wash away, what I can’t hide.

Pushing the limits of the current LV of my Dance-beat, I speed up the tempo allowing me to perform my dances slightly faster than it can strike. Dancing and moving with elegance I twirl, skip, and glide across the ground. Swinging my arms like I’m playing Rhythm Sword on the highest difficulty; Swordmaster mode. Dance-beat allows me to time my moves to the beat of the music of my choosing. Sort of like an actual rhythm game, there's a brief window where only I see neon orbs and depending on the color of them I bust a move accordingly.

Red orb! Swing!

Thump! Clang!

Purple orb! Dodge!~

Swoosh!

Green orb! Make my move!~

SSSSSSZSZSZSZSSSSSSS!

Due to the evasiveness of my dancing it starts wildly swinging two of its legs while continuously jabbing with the other two.

Purple, purple, purple, green, red, red, green, purple, purple!

Warning SP and HP low.

Lightening the brunt of its attacks, Gyoma counters some of its swings, nicking its legs some more. Tsuwo uses her strength to throw clumped earth that Saku dug up, at the body of the Elder Sviens. Saku fires a few fireballs at its legs and tanks some hits.

“W-what to… do?... H-how do I get everyone's attention?” Fiddling with her legs as she watches the battle with the Elder heat up.

“Ohhh… come on Azuwei… you got this… Queen Ariki believes in you… mmm… Everyone! H-hello?!” Flailing her arms around hoping to get some of the soldiers attention, but no one answers her call.

“Come on… I got to… or e-else… o-or…she'll…!” Thoughts flood her mind as she sees Ariki and the three struggle against the overly powered spider.

“Someone! Heeey!! W-we need to support the Queen!!... O-our Queen needs… Needs help!!” Jumping as high as she could, flailing about, trying her best to scream out to the battlefield.

“M-my Queen… I-I can't… I'm… I'm not fit for this… my voice is never loud enough… please… n-not again…” Feeling numb she plops to the ground covering her face. Cowering, she couldn't bear to witness losing her queen and sisters again.

“Heeeeeeeeyyyy!!! Heeeeeeeeeeyyyy!!! Liiiiiiisteeeeeeen!!! Oooourrr Commandeeeerrr is commaaandiiiiiing!!!”

“Sisters!! Please listen!! We need to get into positions to support our Queen!!”

“...Queen Ariki needs our help!...”

“Suzu?... Mina?... Mai?...” Looking besides her the trio yelled their lungs out. Azuwei stands up and smacks her face.

“T-that's right! I'm not alone! Soldiers!!! P-please get into positions!!!”

The soldiers were already close to finishing off their enemies. Taking notice that its troops are almost wiped, the Elder stops its attacks.

“Haah… haaah… D-.... Did it run out of stamina?”

“... Ngh. Highly unlikely your Highness, I suspect that it's changing its tactics.”

“My Queen!!”

“Ya Highness!!”

SSSSSSSSSSZSZSZSZSSS!!!

Eight legs came piercing down from the sky. The Elder relentlessly stabbed all its legs into the ground like multiple jackhammers pounding the earth. Dust and dirt kicked up from its spear-raining onslaught. Slowing to a stop it hisses again claiming victory over the four ants that tried to oppose it.

SZSZSZSZSZSSSSSSSSSS!!!

“My Queeen!!”

“...No!...”

“Nooooo! Nooooooo!!”

“No… not again… My…M-My Queen…” Azuwei shut her eyes as the events from the time the humans attacked them swamp her mind.

“No… no… not again... Not Again!!!” Clenching her jaws she opens her eyes and stands as tall as she could. Taking in the biggest breath she's ever done. Snapping her arm forward, she points directly at the Elder Sviens.

New skill learned [Command LV 1]. [Command LV 1] activates.

“Everyone, finish the troops and switch targets!! Get into position and surround the Elder!! Aim for the Elder Sviens' body on my commaaand!!!”

“Yes Commander Azuwei!!”

“You heard her!! Move into position!!”

“Take out the last Sviens!! Aim for the Elder's body!!”

Finally, moving at Azuwei's command the soldiers swiftly end the normal Sviens and close in to circle around the Elder. Seeing that the ants are starting to surround it, it prepares itself. The dust cloud covering the legs finally settles down. A single voice slowly rings out.

Telling stories of the past

Making friends that might not last

A faint green fairy-like glow shone, forming a thin protective bubble over the 4 ants.

On the dance floor slide away

Till I see the light of day

“NOW GYOMA!!”

[Blade LV 7] & [Ambush LV 5] & [Strength LV 5] activates.

SSSSSSSSSSSS!!

The Elder’s hind leg gets sliced clean off, causing it to writhe and twitch in pain.

“Fire!!!”

[Fire-breath] multiple activations.

SSSSS- Boom! Bang! Pshhh! Kabooom! Pssshhff! Bwooosh! Whisssh! Bang!

With explosions from all sides rivaling a nation’s new years firework event, the Elder’s cries were sucked out. For a brief moment there was silence.

Crackle Creeeeek! Whaaaam!

Its small body smacked the ground legs sprawled out onto the floor.

“HURRAAAAHH!!”

“YEAAAHHH!”

“You did it, Commander.”

“...They heard you, Commander… Yay!...”

“Coooommaandeeerr Azuuuweeii! Coooomaandeerr Azuuuweeii!!”

“COMMANDER AZUWEI! COMMANDER AZUWEI!”

Cheers of victory shook the earth.

“Would ya look at that… our lil’un got her voice out there!”

“I highly commend Azuwei. Never expected a small born to have such potential.”

“Your Highness, I’m glad your little gamble paid off. Hmmm… even I’m surprised our little Azuwei was able to learn and use Command.”

“Hehe… I just had a hunch, plus… I believed in her.”

“Reinforcements have arrived!”

Our forces of 400 came right on schedule from the west side joining behind the command center.

“Ngh…”

Warning HP and SP low

“My Queen, here please use this.”

Crytike used. SP replenished, 175/500.

“Thank you, Tsuwo. Now-”

“Wait, your Highness let’s retrieve the Elder’s body and legs. It’s important, but I’ll have to explain once we escape the sect army.”

“We did spend our energy to take this big guy down… okay! Infantry! Convey the Elder’s body! We’re escaping South! Pyramid!”

Our army forms a giant pyramid with the command center and the infantry carrying the body filling the middle portion. While the outer layer is lined with the calvary and the inner layers lined with the ranged ants. Now that one fourth of the enemy troops were wiped along with the Elder, the rest of the army moved in to surround us. Luckily with our quick repositioning and smooth coordinations we make a hastily break for the opening southside. The only thing standing in our way was the large bright orange Elder Aphid. Despite the large army it came along with, it was alone.

KIIIKIKIKIKIKIII!! KIIIKIKIKIKIKIII!!

As we approached it vigorously shook its butt. Spots of the bright orange came off, in the hundreds, as if it was shaking dirt off itself. Upon closer look it wasn’t shell pieces nor any of the sort that it flung off, but smaller bright orange aphids.

“Protect the Queen!!”

“Spears out!! Pierce through!!”

“Fire!! Take down the enemy!!”

Wasn’t long till the two forces collided. Like a fish cutting through the currents we mow down the river of aphids.

“Gah! Ngh!... Ugh!”

“Keep pushing! Ngh!”

“Ahhhh!”

We were easily moving through the wave of small aphids, but since our line of cavalry are taking the brunt of the collision and charge they were quickly being snuffed one by one. The Elder hasn’t stopped shaking its butt either, increasingly spawning more and more aphids.

What’s up with this damn baby factory?! Fuck! All we can do is push through, stopping now would get us destroyed by the rest of the army! Fuuuck! Please, please hang in there cavalry!

“Keep going everyone! Full speed!”

“My Queen, we’re starting to slow! The aphids numbers are growing and pushing us back!”

The force of the aphid current gradually gained traction against us slowing us down significantly.

“Fire at the Elder!”

Booom! Bang! Bwwooosh! Psshhf! Wooosh!

An orange barrier appears blocking out the barrage of fireballs. Unaffected by the shockwave of blasts it continues to dump out blotches of small aphids.

“Ngh! W- … We must protect our Queen!”

“Chaaarrrgggee!”

“For our Colony! For our Queen!!”

“Waaaiiiit Nooo!-”

With ourselves pressed between death from the sect army and the Elder, the calvary lash out. Charging with all their remaining might against the mothership aphid.

“Come on you Highness this is our chance!”

“Tch… My Queen, let’s escape while we can!”

“Bu-”

KIIIIIKIKIKIKIKIIII!! KIIIIIKIKIKIKI!!!

Distracted by the ramming force it focuses its spawn to take down the ants close to itself. In that decisive moment the rest of us push through and out.

“Protect the- Gah!”

“Make sure they don’t fo- Ahhh!”

“Ngh! Ugh! For- Ngh!”

Unable to stop or turn around, I briefly look back, catching glimpses of my children protecting the rest of us and ultimately being chowed down by the aphids. Hearing their final moments shook my core. Clenching my jaws as my eyes quiver, I force myself to face forwards and continue with our swift escape.

I- I could have prevented this… I know I… I had some sort of plan…

“Your Highness, they did this for us to escape. If they hadn’t we-”

“I-I know, Gyoma…”

“We’ll make it home by the night, my Queen.”

By the time the enemies were out of sight, we slowed to a march on home.

“Reporting, your Highness. 754, including us, survived. 200 in calvary, 30 in range, 15 in infantry and… Suki has fallen.” Opening up a scroll, she jots down the information she reported.

“...”

“Your Highness?”

“Thank you, Gyoma. Let’s... just focus on getting home soon as possible okay?”

“Understood, but if I may… I’d like to speak about the two-legs you decided to save.”

“Hm..? Oh him… Yes you may.” The two-legs was tied to my butt by the ropes.

“Are you… aware of the situation of our colony regarding the two-legs? Especially of the top four, your Highness?”

“I’m well aware, Tsuwo was hesitant to follow my order to not kill the two-legs.”

“Care to explain your reasoning, your Highness? There will be difficulties regarding it.”

“... Not all two-legs are bad. It’s not… the best explanation, but one I can stand behind. Whatever the responsibilities that come with him, I’ll fully accept. I ask that you put trust in me about this decision.”

“Hmmm… interesting… Well it’ll have to do, I see no fault within your words. But... I Will do any means necessary in the best interests of our colony. Your Highness.”

The tone of her voice and the choice of her words sent chills inside the shell of my body.

“T-thank you, I’ll keep that in mind, Gyoma.”

Even with our steady march we had just escaped our first open-field battle. Some ants lost a few limbs or antennas, others lost bits of their jaws, shells or even eyes been gouged. Most of the critically injured were currently being treated by Azuwei and her small team.

“My Queen?”

“Hmm, Yes? Is something the matter, Tsuwo?”

“Forgive me, but… this is the nature of war. This won’t be our last.”

“As much as I hate to agree with ya on that but yeah. Ain’t gon’ be easy outside our hill.”

“I... understand… Since… this is my first time experiencing it… especially with all that’s happened… It’s a lot to really take in.”

“For… your first time, you did brilliantly, my Queen!” Marches tall besides me.

Saku nudges Tsuwo giving her a certain look. Tilting her head and returning a blank stare, Tsuwo moves aside letting Saku walk besides me.

“What she’s tryin’ to say is… We made it, and that we’ll be alright. Since we ‘ave you standing strong and guiding us, we were able to grab a big catch and escape.” She rubs up against me as a way to comfort me.

“I-... I couldn’t have done any of this without any of you, from the bottom of my heart I am grateful for you all.” A slight smile cracks as I softly nudge Saku in response to her comforting words and gesture.

The young trio followed behind, Tsuwo, Gyoma, Saku, and I. Glancing back at Suzu I see her head pointed down, eyes following the ground, silent, and still carrying Suki’s head.

the death of Suki… for a highly-spirited ant like her to go through something like that…

I slow down to walk with the three young sisters.

“Is everything alright, Suzu?”

“O-oh! Heeey Queen Ariki! I-I didn’t see you thereeee… Sorry I was a liiiittle busy looking at this graaass.” We met eyes for a second then she darted her attention around as if avoiding my concerned face.

“You… know I am here for you. Not just as your queen… Suzu I am still your mother… A- and… Suki-” Without death breathing down on all of us, and time to recollect, the pushed back emotions I first had seeing Suki hit me.

“Su- Suki…” My voice cracking as I utter her name re-realising that many of my children, my daughters, lost their lives in combat.

“S-suki… Yeaaaah I know I cried a lot, but you don’t have to worry about meee. My Queen I’ll be fiiii-”

I take full embrace of Suzu, already letting out all the tears I held back during battle. Suzu burst into a bawling mess within my arms. The marching came to a halt. Most of the other sisters watched in silence, while a few joined in our open-mourning. Mina, Mai, Saku, and Azuwei came in for an emotional group hug around me and Suzu. It was sundown, and the final flames of light slowly dimmed. Our crying wails rode the soft winds.