“Sigh”

I say go and take out that Mosquito hive, but to actually do so is going to be a serious pain…

First, we need to think of how to get up that tree.

It would probably take less than a minute if we were going with just our claws. But this situation isn’t that simple, those Mosquitoes will not let us go unchallenged.

We hold a serious numerical advantage. Aren managed to devastate their numbers without even releasing a limiter.

“Muuunuu…”

That idiot, why did he let himself get so hurt… did he seriously avoid using it in case I was in a situation where I needed it?

No, I can’t let myself get saddened here, after all, if I do well enough, I get Aren all to myself!

Hehe!

Right! Let’s see….

“Arol, fetch me Selena, Trell, and Macremore. I need to develop a plan for dealing with the remaining Mosquitoes. Tell the others of the 15 that are still standing, I know Bruton is heavily wounded. Jarix, see to it that the wounded are passed on to the supply units for treatment. It’s easy to treat our damaged flesh, but it’s impossible out here in this mess.”

---Arol bows and makes his way off without a word

(Jarix) “Of course my Lady. From the current reports from the warriors, there were four casualties from Aren’s persona guard as well as 11 wounded from those that had been cut off from the rest of the main group. Bruton collapsed shortly after Sir Aren was moved underground for treatment and has since then been taken underground with the other wounded from his division. The first warrior division has succeeded in halting further Mosquito attacks, they received 4 wounded, no further wounded warriors to report thanks to my Lady’s efforts.”

“Wonderful Jarix good work. I didn’t even need to make this request then. It’s a shame about the four casualties from Aren’s party, but we certainly weren’t expecting that we would get attacked after we had fully moved out. It was targeted to when our guard would be at it’s lowest after our initial search.”

(Jarix) “Don’t feel down over this matter, it’s thanks to your efforts that the casualties weren’t much higher after all”

---Alaine pauses and glares at Jarix for a moment before suppressing her obvious killing intent and smiles

“Jarix, of course you also intend to praise Aren’s extreme efforts and sacrifice. After all, nearly single handedly without anyone brave enough to risk their lives to help him, fought off more than half of the Mosquito’s number. If it weren’t Aren’s own order to not assist him, I would be most displeased with many of you. It’s because Aren is in the state he is that it’s even possible to consider an attack on the Mosquito hive.”

---A chill runs down Jarix’s back as he feels almost crushed under Alaine’s aura, her killing intent may be hidden, but the weight of her emotions were suffocating

(Jarix) “M….*Gasp* m..y… apo..log..ies.. my… la..dy.. fo..r..giv..e.. me *Gasp*”

“Yes, yes, now go and do as I had ordered you and oversee the wounded until I return.

Oh, and one little thin Jarix…”

(Jarix) “Yes, Lady Alaine?”

---Alaine’s killing intent surges forth in a sweeping wave that dominates every warrior within a great distance around her, her eyes colder than the darkest abyss

“If anything happens to Aren while I’m gone, I will have to punish you severely.”

---As if his entire body was stolen from him, Jarix merely nods and begins walking away towards the tunnel below the base. After entering the tunnel, Jarix regained his senses and dropped to his knees in total fear.

***

“Right, Selena, Trell, Macremore, you three have a certain tact when it comes to martial tactics. As such, let’s come up with a strategy for defeating this force of Mosquitoes. As it stands, thanks to Aren, there are less than half of their forces remaining while our side has only suffered four casualties. Normally, Aren would be the one to take care of this situation, but simply because he is the one with more of the mind of that man within him than myself, does not mean i’m helpless in matters of war. So, share with me your thoughts as to how we might deliver the final blow to these Mosquitoes given they will not attempt further attacks on the ground until reinforcements arrive.”

(Trell) “My Lady, only should you grant me the permission to speak.”

“There is no need for me to give any of you permission for anything, all of the firebreed are equal when it comes to the future and security of our race. Speak without worry of offense, for no plan you could suggest can cause harm since no one has suffered should it be a poor plan. Better to share all possibilities first rather than waiting until that path can no longer be accessed.”

(Trell) “You have my thanks my Lady.

Given the current situation, our current attack force numbers a near 600 in number. If we were to go off of rough estimations from what we could gather from the warriors in unison to yours and Sir Aren’s estimations, there should only be 20 to 30 Mosquitoes left within the hive while there would be less than a dozen of the Horsefly variants.

In comparison of forces, we hold the upper hand, the only problem is the risk of this turning into a siege, or even worse so, the Mosquitoes gaining reinforcements and holding up in their hive above. If that becomes the case, then it will become near impossible to fully expel them from their position. Thus making our attempts to create a settlement in this region nigh impossible.

My suggestion would be to simply take advantage of the fact there are so few of the Mosquitoes and take advantage of a show of force and climb straight up the tree and destroy the hive. Without that, the Mosquitoes will lose their position and resting place and have to retreat.”

“And what would you estimate the casualties to be for such a bold tactic Trell?”

“Given the time to scale the tree and with their current numbers, i’d put the casualties to be in the rough estimate between forty and sixty warriors in total. There also will probably be close to the same number of wounded.

While the number is high, there should be no doubt that we would be able to gain victory using this method.”

(Macremore) “Ridiculous, that number of losses are totally unreasonable given our total number. To lose nearly tenth of our total number in an engagement against less than thirty Mosquitoes is horrendous and will certainly lead to our destruction at the hands of the other races.

Remember that we are alone against all of the other insect races. The firebreed had been demoted to that of prey rather than a competitor, you need to get the ideas of the past where the sacrifice of numbers is acceptable. To me, the four warriors we lost today are far more than I would want to pay for this minor victory.

The Mosquitoes number in the thousands, if we were to lose a tenth of our species to destroy a single nest, how the hell do you expect us to survive? We don’t even know if we can ever reproduce again with Lady Alaine or any of the male and female warriors of our species.

Given this, I suggest that we hold off on the attack and wait until Lord Aren recovers.”

(Trell) “That’s impossible, you know full well that Sir Aren would take over an hour to recover his stamina to recover from those wounds. Did you not see how hard he had to fight for so long? He destroyed HALF of the Mosquitoes while we as an entire group could only kill 8! Not even, Lady Alaine put down two of those for us and prevented at least 6 more casualties.

The fact is that currently we are just not used to our bodies yet. Sir Aren and Lady Alaine are the only two that have any real combat abilities besides us of the sentient 15 of Ant Queen. They inherited the combat abilities of Lord Aristocles himself, of course Sir Aren gained the majority of such knowledge.”

---Alaine puts her head down and wraps her arms around her knees

It’s true, if anyone were to be able to come up with a strategy to deal with this situation it would have to be Aren…

I’m mostly a diplomatic type with a good head for stewardship type tasks mixed in with high organizational skills.

The little martial ability that I got from Aristocles was mostly basic combat techniques and basic tactics using large scale war organization and management. I’m more or less literally designed for the sake of supporting Aren from behind… What should I do…

What should I do…

“mmmmuuuuuu…”

---Alaine makes a dissatisfied pouting face

(Selena) “Why not just let Lady Alaine take the front? Her ability to deflect all damage would be perfect for scaling the tree and destroying the hive.

Of course we all know that there should be a limit to the power even Lady Alaine possesses. As such we should prepare a method to ensure that Lady Alaine has some sort of support as well.”

(Alaine) “Before you continue Selena I must say that I will not accept any further notion about risking the lives of my children.

All of the warriors of the firebreed are my children, and I will not allow them to come in harms way needlessly. I can understand the reasoning behind your plan Trell, however, I will never accept such harm to befall my children.

If you are not aware…”

---At this moment, Alaine’s veil turns a sapphire blue, her skin growing slightly more red as veins appear on both her arms and neck

“The requirement for the third inhibitor is defending my children when we are in crisis. I’m certain whatever risks to my being that Selena’s plan may have for me will be acceptable.

Now then, let’s create a strategy to defeat these Mosquitoes, I want their nest destroyed before the next time Aren leaves the underground!”

(Trell, Macremore, Selena) “Understood my Queen!”

[Ant Tensei - Chapter 12 End]