Antelligent Design

82. The First Ambush, Part 1

I huddle beneath the earth with my brethren. The narrow tunnel is claustrophobic to say the least. The ceiling hangs low and knowing just how thin it is doesn’t help my space issues. My digging Skill conveys to me the awareness that the tunnel is structurally sound, but for some reason, it doesn’t help.

Perhaps I’m just nervous about the upcoming ambush, and that nervousness is looking for an outlet. The scouts on either side of me don’t appear nervous in the slightest. Calm and composed, they’re rock-still awaiting the signal to begin.

It’s taken two days of solid effort to prepare for the first ambush. We had to run hard to get out here, only to find that the workers who’d been sent ahead had already been hard at work for hours, and their progress was staggering.

We assumed the horde would continue to follow the road south, and with that thought, the generals planned for the first ambush to take place as far from the home nest as possible, whilst still allowing the workforce time to prepare the ground. The ants had been especially motivated. My siblings had torn into the digging work with such zeal that, by the time my pets and I arrived, the ground was already littered with pitfalls.

The workers and soldiers got to work on the forest nearby, taking branches and cutting down trees away from the sight of the road and cutting them into stakes using their razor-sharp mandibles. They then took them to the pitfalls and buried them in the bottom.

Others had been busy tunnelling out our ambush avenues. The area had looked feverish with activity. Ants running all over the place and dirt flying into the air in dozens of places at once. It had been such a mess, I genuinely thought there was no chance we’d manage to get everything prepared and cleaned up before the horde arrived.

I was a fool to doubt my siblings. Before I’d taken my place here inside the tunnel, I’d been able to cast my eye over a spotless stretch of cobbled road and idyllic forest. No sign of the dozens of spiked traps or murderous ants hiding above and below the ground.

“Begin charge,” comes a whispered message from behind me, and I immediately commence focusing my three minds on my Gravitational Mana Gland.

I’m hoping that Garralosh and the Ka’armodo lizard won’t be able to sense the build-up of Mana if I’m concealed beneath the soil. It is for that reason I’m positioned several metres back from the covered entrance of our tunnel, in an attempt to place a good chunk of dirt between the enemy and me as the Gravity Bomb takes shape.

Claws crossed, it works.

I pull my Mana out at a steady pace. I’m not worried about depleting my core since the colony has extended a tunnel from the closest Dungeon entrance toward the forward HQ. It isn’t much, but it’s enough that Tiny, Crinis and I were able to top up after our trek to the north.

The Gravity Bomb grows dense as time passes and I continue to feed Mana into it at a steady pace.

“No change, continue charge,” comes another message.

No change in behaviour from the horde, no sign my spell has been detected. All good so far. I hope the ants keeping watch from above ground are keeping themselves hidden. Without knowing exactly how scrying works, we’ve tried to make sure all of our colony members are as hidden as possible. Each is tucked into a burrow or foxhole of some sort, hidden from above in such a way that a view looking down from the sky would be unable to find them.

The greater the density of the Gravity Bomb, the more of my attention it demands and the less extraneous thoughts I can allow. I don’t want to give away the ambush by blowing myself up. That would be less than ideal.

“Release when ready.”

The words and their meaning whisper around the outside of my awareness. My attention is drawn into the potent spell I’m weaving as if it were the black hole it resembles. Due to the Meditation Skill, my focus is strong enough that the meaning of the words registers and I can act.

The enemy is in position. The timing window is quite tight here, so I have to move with haste.

One leg at a time, I push myself forward, drawing nearer to the disguised entrance. On either side of me, scout ants push up, ensuring they remain slightly behind me at all times, lest they be caught in the release of the spell.

The rotating black mass of the Gravity Bomb consumes me now. The roiling energies threaten to spin out of my control and only my iron will and powerful minds working in tandem are able to contain it.

With a sudden lunge, I propel myself out of the opening, the grass and branches used to disguise the entrance burst outward, and no sooner do I lay eyes on the enemy, than I unleash their doom.

HOOOOOOOOWL!

The Gravity Bomb flickers into existence and announces its presence with the now familiar shriek of wind. The very air around us thins as the spell streak toward the masses of monsters that make up the horde.

With the spell released and no longer requiring my constant focus, I turn my attention more fully to the array of approaching monsters. Monsters who are about to have a very bad day.

Like a blanket of zombies, the soundless ranks of Garralosh’s horde are advancing at a slow pace. From my vantage point, poking out of the low-roofed tunnel we dug into a low hill, the horde is spread before me across the plains. I can’t make out the beast herself; I assume she’s toward the back, and I’m grateful for it. If the regular soldiers had to deal with her crushing aura, I’m not sure how they’d fare.

The Gravity Bomb crashes into the massed ranks of the horde and expands to its full size. The furious pull of the magic drags monsters to their soundless deaths and they’re crushed in an instant. The sound of Gandalf uttering the System notifications rings in my mind over and over again.

[You have defeated…]

[You have defeated…]

[You have gained XP.]

[You have gained XP.]

[You have defeated…]

Twisting in place, the Gravity Bomb continues to drag more unwilling monsters into its depths, all sound dominated by the endless howl of the wind. Before the spell dissipates, the ambush is sprung. Called out of their hiding places by the piercing sound of the air being devoured by my spell, soldier ants pour from tunnels dug into the surrounding low hills, and as one, present their business districts to the enemy.

This is a business convention!

While the spell continues to wreak havoc amongst the foe, jets of acid are unleashed from hundreds of ants, burning every monster they touch.

The scouts around me are super impressive. Their acid blasts have tremendous range, arcing far beyond those of the other soldiers, raining their fearsome acid payload deep into the horde.

Oh, right! I’m meant to be doing that too!

Gandalf continues to natter in my ear with notifications as I present the fearsome battery I keep in my back pocket and unleash liquid death.

POW! POW! POW! POW!

My own acid rains down as the Gravity Bomb flickers and vanishes. The enemy seems to shake themselves awake, blinking at our assault. They recover with a roar and charge.

Then Tiny and Crinis appear.