Antvance into the Unknown

83. Getting Damp in Here?

With the pupa safely ensconced within Tiny’s muscular arms, we move at speed through the nest and back out to the front lines. I’ve been doing this walk a great deal lately and I swear it gets busier every time. The vast farms that have been constructed are still teeming with ants, collecting enormous quantities of Biomass and cores that flow endlessly every day.

How on Pangera we manage to consume all of it, I have no idea. There must be a ton more hatchlings being trained in the stratum above than I think there are, if most of it is going up there. Just thinking about the rapidly growing population of the Colony puts a hop in my step. It won’t be long until there are just too many of us to be dealt with easily, especially considering how strong we all are.

More and more tier fours are appearing all the time, to the point that within the second stratum, there are more tier fours than threes. Even more exciting than that, is the increasing population of tier fives! Almost exclusively soldiers and scouts, these powerful warriors are the vanguard of the Ant Age! It’s a shame that, since we’re monsters, there’s no other way for us to Level up and evolve other than to fight. The surface races don’t have this problem, their farmers can grow crops and Level up just from performing their duties, but not us! No matter how little suited to combat the carvers and Brood Tenders might be, it’s the only way they can accrue the experience they need to evolve. Hopefully, some of the creatures from the farms are also being used to funnel XP to these more peaceful castes.

Just because they don’t fight doesn’t mean there aren’t benefits to evolving them! I can scarcely imagine how useful a tier six Brood Tender would be, every ounce of her evolutionary energy given over to auras and glands that nourish and aid the larvae and pupae. Knowing the System like I do, I wager the young would have all sorts of benefits from being raised by such a Tender, higher stats, greater Skill Levels, perhaps even body parts and organs that perform above their usual specs.

Now that I think about it… that would be so damn useful!

If I can think of it, I’m sure the rest of the Council can also think of it. No doubt this project is already under way. When the first tier six Brood Tender is born, I want to be there to find out what they can do. That’ll be insane!

For now, it’s back to the relentless fight. The only thing allowing the Colony to make the incredible strides it’s made over the past weeks has been the stalwart defence at the borders, and it is our duty to help with that, being the strongest group of fighters the Colony can draw on!

After a brief conversation with yet another supervising general, we take our positions and drive into the face of the wave the moment the garrison pulls back. Except Tiny, that is, since he’s been relegated to pupa-sitting duty. He’s strangely alright with the decision to leave him behind, cradling the cocoon as if it were a baby as he fell asleep against the side of the wall. I think it’ll be fine, since if the ant is wrapped in his embrace, there is zero chance she’ll be able to fight her way out of his grip.

For the rest of us, it’s business as usual.

I continue to train my Mind Magic whilst Crinis performs her dark work and Invidia detonates everything he can, radiating glee with each explosion. When we run into the tougher monsters, we team up to take them down, harvesting their cores and scarfing down the Biomass as fast as we can before getting back into the thick of it. Unsatisfied with just guarding the entrance, I direct the pets to advance down the tunnel with me, hoping to clear out the bulk of the monsters plaguing this section of the defence.

All goes smoothly until Crinis notices something is a little different about the atmosphere.

[Master, isn’t it a little more… damp, than usual, for the second stratum?]

My mandibles freeze in the act of biting, and my minds flash to my sensory input. She’s not wrong, there’s an unusual amount of water for this section of tunnel. The second layer of the Dungeon might be called the shadow sea, but there isn’t that much liquid water down here.

[You aren’t wrong,] I tell her, feeling a little tense. [Eliminate everything nearby, something doesn’t feel right.]

If something weird is going to happen, then I want every other threat in the area neutralised. Only too happy to comply, Invidia picks up the speed of his detonations, spinning his magic at an incredible rate. Which is precisely when a bolt of solid water flies out of the darkness and smacks him right in the face.

[Invidia!] I cry.

I leap over to check on the demon to find that he’d protected himself at the last moment by weaving a shield in front of his face. The speed he works at, simply incredible! But where the hell did that water come from? I peer into the darkness, sweeping with all of my senses. It’s faint, but I can detect a strange ambient Mana in here that I can’t quite put my finger on.

[Ssssss. Irritating…]

The little envy demon flutters his wings and lifts himself back into the air, the impact clearly having done some damage.

[Heal yourself up and stay alert,] I warn, still watching the place where the water blast originated.

Imagine my surprise when I get hit from behind by a blast of water coming from the opposite direction! Dammit! Even my advanced warning wasn’t enough to dodge the strike, I was so focused the other way. My legs stagger under the force of the blow, though my carapace absorbs the shock. This isn’t any ordinary blast of water. It’s heavy, and the water was moving fast.

Failing to penetrate my carapace, the pressurised water creates a fountain of spray that drenches everything around us in freezing liquid. That does it! Irritated by the attack, I spin together my Omni-Elemental Construct and start churning out Blue Fire Mana. As soon as I get a hold on some, I whip up a Fire Domain that expands from my position, roasting the area around me and instantly drying me off.

The moment the domain flickers into life, I hear a strange gurgling roar echo from all directions, as if the flame had offended some creature simply by coming into existence. Which is when I notice the water flowing together, trickling from the walls and across the ground, gathering speed until it forms a flood. In mere seconds, thousands of litres of water have coalesced into a really cheesed off-looking wall of water that stares down at us like I just pooped on its rug.

Water… monster?