Chapter 998 - Give Me a Reason (Patreon)

Still no idea what to do for chapter 1000. How much a truth bomb do you want? I could do a Gandalf chapter, but that'll uncover some secrets. I'm kind of nervous to drop the lore, I was planning to save most of that stuff until right at the end. Might be fitting to put it here at the halfway point though.

Victor can feel a headache coming on. She paces around the model the carvers had made, studying every intricate detail over and over again as she ponders the upcoming battle.

The models itself is a work of art. Over twenty metres tall, it shows every twist and turn of the tunnels beneath the Mother Tree and every connection shared with the termite nest. The issue is, there's a lot. The invaders have been hard at work for a long time building underground links between the two mountains, the termites being almost as adept at tunnelling as the Colony itself. The number of connections is one thing, the huge area they cover is another. The front between the two opposing colonies has expanded dramatically and keeping track of all the work going on is more than her brain can handle on its own.

"I need to evolve," she says quietly, "more brainpower would be so helpful right about now."

"More brainpower? You want to be a mage?" comes a potent scent from nearby.

Victor turns to see Propellant wander into the war room. The fire mage looks mighty pleased with herself after lighting up huge swathes of tunnel while driving the enemy back. Fortunately no-one has told her just how combustible the termite fungus is yet. She'd be insufferable.

"For some reason, I suddenly remembered that more brain power doesn't necessarily mean smarter."

"Hah! Don't be snide. You're just jealous of my crushing intellect and burning passion! What do you need to be smarter for anyway? Maybe this grand mage ant can help you out."

"I need to create a battle plan across dozens of fronts involving hundreds of thousands of combatants."

"… maybe Coolant is somewhere nearby? That sounds a little more like her thing."

"I thought as much."

The general can only sigh and turn back to her careful study of the model. Having this level of detailed information was a massive help, but for this battle, it couldn't be trusted. Scouts had done their best to map the enemy tunnels as far as they could, but with an enemy so adept at shaping the earth, and driven by such a cold intelligence, there was no saying what traps could be in store for them.

If she sent ten thousand ants down one tunnel, they might get flanked by twenty thousand termites leaping out of a concealed entrance! Or new passages could be dug after the scouts went through. The very thought of being outmanoeuvred in a tunnel war was unthinkable!

Curse these termites! So similar to the Colony, and yet so… so evil!

The instinctive hatred between the two monster types affected her thoughts in odd ways. She'd be glad when this was over and the termites were exterminated once and for all. How anyone could tolerate their existence at all, she had no idea.

"Have the scouts managed to find the Queens?" Propellant mused as she began to wander about the model. "If we can find them and burn the place down, we'd have solved our problems, no?"

Victor flicked her antennae with derision.

"You think they just leave their Queens out in the open? Do we? Obviously they are going to be held in the heart of the nest, as secure and safe as possible. If we could get there so easily then I wouldn't be so worried about this battle."

"That's not quite true though, is it? A normal monster termite nest might do that, but isn't a normal nest. This colony is controlled by the ka'armodo, who want access to the queens in order to modify their cores and control the population."

Her mind ticking over, the general turned back to the model, her antennae swaying in thought.

"So there's a chance that the queens aren't being held in the depths?"

"I'm just guessing," the mage shrugged, "this could be right or completely wrong. I just think it something to consider."

"You make a good point… but unless we can confirm it, then I'm not sure what we can do with it."

Fighting through the tunnels beneath the nest would be painful, but it might take even longer if they had to then fight up higher into the above ground nest. The size of the termite mound was truly impressive, even if she said so herself. From the bottom to the top, it was over ten kilometres according to their scouting reports. A truly vast amount of space that needed to be explored and conquered before they would be able to win.

At that moment the Eldest strolled into the war room, their massive frame looming over the other ants without even trying. Thankfully the space was built large in order to accommodate the model, so they fit well enough.

"Hey there, squad! Propellant, how are you? Looking forward to burning the place down?"

"Of course!"

"Victor, nice to see you hard at work. Holy moly, that model is nuts! Are there really that many connections between us? They couldn't just build one big tunnel and be done with it?"

"Greetings, Eldest," the general said. The presence of the strongest and oldest of them was always reassuring and she felt a little less pressure around them. "Yes, it's a tangle down there. I've been trying to figure out the most efficient battle plan for our invasion, but it's proving difficult."

"I'll say… what a mess."

The giant, glittering ant circled the model, stepping over the smaller siblings with ease.

"Yeah, that's not going to happen," they finally declared. "Too many unknowns. I'm guessing if we come through there, the ka'armodo will just collapse the mountain on our heads. They don’t care how many termites die, after all. As long as they get rid of us, then they can repopulate and get back to attacking the tree."

It was true, but Victor was frustrated.

"Then how are we supposed to assault them? Dig our own tunnels? Reinforce and protect them against collapse? It's hard but we can do it…"

"What? Heck no," the Eldest said, "we should collapse all these tunnels and compress the stone to lock them off. We should be attacking over land. Build a bridge between the mountains and we go in from the top."

"From the top? But that would leave us wide open!"

The Eldest looked at her for a second before patting her on the head with one leg.

"Victor, you've gotten too focused on winning the tunnel war. Yes, they're a colony of digging monsters, just like us, but that doesn't mean we have to fight them in the tunnels."

She was confused.

"It doesn't? If we don't enter the tunnels, then how do we defeat them? They won't come onto the surface to fight us will they? Not with the ka'armodo controlling them…"

"Oh, they'll come up," the Eldest assured her with a pleased clack of the mandibles. "If we give them a reason, they'll come boiling up and straight into our jaws."