The Antventure Begins

68. Drawing a Line

It doesn’t take long to catch up, since the soldiers are moving cautiously, attempting to avoid the notice of the thronging monsters in the forest.

Every now and again one of them looks up, doubtless keeping an eye out for the gargoyle monsters that nest in the roof. There haven’t been any signs of those things for a while now, but I don’t doubt they’re still up there somewhere.

Fingers crossed that when they do show up, they decide to swoop down on someone else.

The two soldiers move with practiced ease, avoiding pitfalls and reading the signs of monsters being nearby.

I’m honestly impressed by their level of knowledge. They seem to know precisely where every monster nearby is without having to lay eyes on it. I’m desperately hoping that doesn’t include me.

Or Tiny.

The way they move seems to indicate they know where they are in the open space and exactly where it is they want to go. How are they doing that? Are they able to track their locations based on familiar features of the rock up there?

That makes so much damn sense I’m shocked I never thought of it before. After the thought occurs to me, I start to glance up, using my Focused Eyes to pick out obvious features to try and recall later.

After an hour of travel, we arrive at what appears to have been the destination the soldiers were heading for.

A large hill rises from the forest floor and on one side a tunnel has been cut, leading down into the hill. At the entrance to the tunnel, two more soldiers are standing guard, longswords on their hips and large shields across their backs, attempting to appear inconspicuous, not wanting to draw too much monstrous attention.

The two I’d followed salute at the entrance, hands over hearts or some such and then enter the tunnel. Their dark uniforms blend into the shadows as they move out of sight.

Dammit!

If only I had mind reading or telepathy or something. How am I supposed to glean information from these people? They must know so much I couldn’t possibly find out on my own. A veritable goldmine of information is sitting right there and I can’t access it in any way. Gah! This is maddening.

I decide to stay and watch this apparent human camp for a while. There isn’t anything more threatening to the colony than an attack by these damnable soldiers. In my capacity as a scout, it is my duty to observe until I’m satisfied they pose no threat.

Two hours later, my dedication to the cause has somewhat faded. Tiny has grown completely bored and is having a nap behind me. Thankfully there’s enough background noise to wash out his gentle snoring.

The two guards out the front were rotated and replaced by almost identical guards. The new guards were not the two I’d followed, so there are at least a minimum of six people within this camp.

Their boots are fairly distinctive, made of black, stiff looking leather and laced from the heel to halfway to the knee. The breastplate also appears to be made of some kind of stiff leather, dyed black and stitched with a gold embroidery. I think there’s an insignia on the armour, but I can’t quite make it out.

The arms borne by each soldier appear to be slightly different. One has two short swords strapped across the back in an X. The second uncased a crossbow from their back when they came out, slotted a bolt, and cranked back on the shaft before taking up his post.

Seems like a bit of an odd army. Almost every individual is armed with a different weapon.

After some thinking, the light armour they wear makes a lot of sense. At first, I’d expected they’d be loaded up with massive plate armour like a medieval knight. Except, when considering the size of some of the monsters, their potential strength, and how sharp some of their limbs are… What the heck would a suit of metal armour do? Absolutely squat!

I could probably punch straight through metal armour using a Piercing Chomp. Other than slowing down the wearer, I can’t imagine armour achieving much at all. Unless they have something better than steel to work with.

Eventually, two more soldiers return from the forest, joining up with their fellows and entering the tunnel. Shortly after, the whole crew emerges, ten soldiers wearing that same identical armour. At least, I imagine it’s the whole crew. They talk to each other but I can’t understand a single word of it. Though I am able to hear it well enough that I’m confident they aren’t speaking any language I’ve ever heard before.

Fantastic. This makes the dream of communication ever more distant. Not only can I not vocalise, I can’t even understand the language.

Several of the soldiers appear to be carrying heavy packs. Seems they’re moving out of this hill and heading to another campsite. It isn’t long before the soldiers group up and start to move. I hesitate. The direction they’re travelling is still directly away from the colony.

I’m already over an hour away from my home nest, do I really want to travel any farther than this?

Not to mention, following these humans is still exceptionally dangerous. There are ten of them now. I assume they could annihilate Tiny and myself in a heartbeat were we to be found.

Best to play it safe.

I’ve learned a fair bit of information already. I know where their forward camp is, that they’re here, and I’ve managed to witness some of their skills in action. That’s not insignificant.

I consider trying to head into the tunnel and investigate their little base, but in the end, I reluctantly dismiss the idea.

There is way too much risk involved. These people look like professional soldiers, not ragtag mercenaries like the last camp I invaded. Also, I wasn’t able to witness the defences being set up like I did before. There could be any number of traps inside and I’d have no idea.

I’ll back off.

After the humans have departed, I start to journey back towards the colony with Tiny. Keeping my eyes on the roof of the cavern, I try to follow a few of the landmarks I remember from my way here. Despite getting muddled a few times, I manage to get back to the general area. Why the heck didn’t I leave a trail?

I need to be extra careful when I’m out scouting now that I know human soldiers are moving through the cavern. I honestly thought I was free of those killers. The way they moved, exterminating every monster they found without mercy still sends a shiver down my spine.

Only one thing can be done to be safer, become stronger and evolve! If I can evolve and help grow the colony even further, hopefully we’ll be able to live free of human interference by being too much of a pain to deal with.

For now, my priority is to hunt and get Levels. Just two more Levels are all I need!

Once Tiny and I made it back in the general vicinity of the nest I climb up a tree and start scouting out possible prey. Any target needs to be chosen carefully. I get more experience from taking on evolved monsters. Though some of them are a lot stronger than others. I’d rather fight three evolved centipedes at once than have a titan-croc get the jump on me.

I must choose my prey wisely.

My core still throbs inside my body. Hopefully it won’t be long before I can release all the potential held inside. I wonder what I’ll become?