Chapter 626 - Short ... and sharp (Patreon)

With Crinis' announcement, my entire carapace tenses (metaphorically). It's time, I'm ready for action, y entire spirit is primed and filled with ire. These tin-people have hurt my family and now I'm going to give the pain back to them.

[Steady, Master. Control the mana.]

My ever faithful Crinis provides a timely warning and I check myself. My emotions had begun to get the better of me and my mana disguise was fluctuating. Cursing myself for my carelessness, I sink deep into the mediation Skill, pushing my distractions away and sharpening my minds to their limit. No mistakes, no emotions. 

My main mind runs a quick check of preparations. Gas mana construct is ready to go, my first spell already constructed and held in waiting. My legs are flexed, like coiled springs, ready to leap from the hiding place in half a second. All I need is the word.

[How long, Crinis?]

[They're coming. I don't think they sense me, or if they have they're pretending. I am ready to strike at any time, Master.]

[Wait for the rest of us.]

[Yes, Master.]

A tense silence.

I feel another mind intrude on my own.

[Fight?] Tiny asks.

[Almost.]

[Fight…] he responds, despondent.

[Just wait ten seconds you thick ape! Just how badly do you want to punch something?!]

He looks at me seriously, a thoughtful expression on his face as he considers my question. After a second he holds up ten fingers and nods solemnly. 

[A ten. Is that out of ten?]

He nods again.

[So you reaaaaaally want to fight?]

Another nod.

[I have just one more question. Just a quick one. If I were to ask you the same question another time, do you think you'd ever, under any circumstances, give me an answer other than ten?]

A slight pause, then a slow headshake.

This idiot.

[They are slowing down. I think they sense something! Master!]

[Attack!] I send the mental roar at my pets as my legs fire and I rocket out of the hole.

Still fifty metres away stand five heavily armoured figures, their weapons up having sensed something was off about this stretch of tunnel. Too late!

With a thought I unleash the spell I had prepared, blasting out a fierce tornado toward the soldiers. The sharp winds cut into the rocks, sending stone shards into the air and destroying visibility. Not that I minded. 

[Tiny! Move it!]

The ape was slower than me at getting out of our crammed in little hole, but once he finds his feet, his wings unfurl and he bounds forward, hands outstretched, Invidia riding on his back. The soldiers respond quickly, barriers forming as they raise their shields and activate their defensive Skills to fend off my spell. It's all the time we need to close the distance.

POW! POW! POW! POW! BOOM!

Acid flies and explosions ring out the moment the wind dissipates. The noise is sure to bring attention down on us swiftly, but I've decided that we will hold nothing back in order to achieve a swift victory. We close the distance in a flash, my mandibles wide open and the Doom Chomp already forming.

CRUNCH!

The soldiers are disciplined and show no fear, slashing out with their weapons and attempting to get into formation, but we don't let them. I've noticed that these people are far more powerful when they work effectively together, which means disrupting their teamwork is our top priority. This is the role Tiny is playing to perfection as the enraged ape lashes out with lightning coated fists and smashes everything in his way. His absurd strength is on display as he crashes through the soldiers as they attempt to dodge and duck out of the way, treating him like a bull.

CHOMP! CHOMP! CHOMP!

My sub-brains continue to pump out wind blades, firing them every moment I can find a target. The only thing I really have to be careful of is hitting Tiny. Not that he'd notice, he's way too pumped up. In the frenzy of battle, all of my minds are razor focused on the task of destruction.

Two soldiers have taken a position in front of me, their powerful armour deterring my mandibles, for now at least. The Doom Chomp isn't to be underestimated! This powerful rank five Skill, along with my heavily mutated mandibles are more than capable of punching through this armour…

Eventually.

"Get in here and help already, Protectant!"

I yell.

I detect the whiff of a sigh from above me before all twenty of the hidden babysitters materialise on the ceiling. After a brief moment they launch from their perches to strike at the soldiers, neatly dividing themselves between the five enemies, four ants for each. They don't try and defeat them on their own, but instead disrupt and distract, acting much like ants on Earth would, grabbing at limbs and trying to pin the enemy down. It's an effective tactic and the pressure on us eases for a critical moment.

"We need to hurry, Eldest," Protectant warns me, "let's finish this quickly and hurry back to the Colony."

She's right, this is taking too long already.

I turn my sub-minds away from the wind construct and instead draw on my gravity mana, flooding my mandibles with the powerful energy and forming multiple bolts at a time.

POW! POW! POW! POW!

In the next ten seconds I smash the soldier in front of me with gravity bolts until they can no longer move effectively, only releasing them from my mandibles when I'm sure they can no longer fight. Distracted and separated, the others can't prevent me from using the YOINK ability of the gravity infused mandibles to pull them to me. 

One by one, I bring all of the armoured soldiers down in this way, the baby-sitters club, Tiny, Crinis and Invidia keeping them off balance and unable to retaliate. No longer able to defend themselves, the soldiers strain to lift their weapons and activate their Skills, still desperate to fight for their lives.

[The magic will wear off if we don't act soon, Master. Do you want me to--- ?]

[No,] I say, [I'll do it myself.]

Using my mandibles, I take their helmets off and end them in one swift bite. They stare at me with hatred and rage, not an ounce of fear in them as I do it. Sunk deep into the meditation Skill, there is little emotion, except the whispers that echo throughout my body that trickle through the Vestibule. They tell me something I need to hear. They tell me something that pushes away the tremors in my heart.

They say: "Good Work."