Upping The Ante

4. Raid

I’m so damn hungry!

As a human, I never would have expected that digging would be so tiring. Although, unlike when I was human, I’ve been able to move a hell of a lot more dirt. With my Excavation skill targeting my instincts, and my mandibles acting as a movable super shovel, I can really smash out some tunnel space.

And all that work is really putting a strain on my empty stomach. When Tiny awoke, I had him collect my monster cores, then put him to work compacting the dirt at the rear of the tunnel. Despite having eaten relatively recently, my ape buddy was also starving.

I can only imagine how the queen is feeling. She appears to be fine. Cheerfully chomping away at the earth and encouraging the workforce with her seemingly endless positivity.

Admittedly, my mind isn’t completely focused on the digging. As often as possible, I activate the Mana Sensing skill, desperately searching for some sign of a source of food. On the positive side, my constant scanning and digging has raised my skills. Mana Sensing by two Levels and Excavation by one. On the negative, I’ve yet to find anything.

In my Tunnel Map, the escape tunnel continues to spear upwards and outwards into empty space. I’m somewhat worried about where exactly we’ll surface. Best I can say, at the very least, it will be several kilometres away from that guarded entrance.

Growing more and more depressed with the failure to locate anything, I finally get a response.

At last! A bite on the line.

As the skill Level has risen, the range I can successfully detect Mana has likewise increased. Which is lucky, since I doubt I would’ve been able to find this response otherwise. Very faintly, on the edge of my awareness, are ripples of Mana. Strong or weak, I can’t tell from this distance, the only way to get a more accurate reading would be to get closer.

It’s been several hours since the last time the colony had access to any sort of food. Not to mention, if I pass up this reading there’s no guarantee another one will come within range of my Mana Sensing before we reach the surface. The entire colony could starve to death by then!

I won’t risk it. The tunnel needs to be diverted. I turn to the queen.

“I’ve found a source of food! We have to divert the tunnel slightly in order to reach it.”

The queen pauses in her digging to turn her face toward me. I take it as a sign of politeness since, as an ant, she doesn’t need to turn to see me—compound eyes—nor to speak to me—pheromone communication.

“Do you know what you have found, child?” she asks.

I can only be honest here. “I have absolutely no clue. But we may all starve to death in a few days if we aren’t able to secure some food soon. If we pass up this chance, we might not get another.”

The queen ponders this for a moment before waggling her antennae in agreement. “You speak sensibly, child. Tell me where to dig.”

After a little prodding with my antennae and trying to feel out the ground with my Excavation skill, I adjust the angle of the tunnel and start to curve it toward the Mana source.

If we adjust the direction of the tunnel as we approach, we should be able to arrive above the source. Then it’s just a matter of digging a small distance down, allowing myself and Tiny to infiltrate without having to risk the workers unnecessarily.

The Mana source is roughly two hundred metres away. Tunnelling through two hundred metres of solid earth and rock is not a casual endeavour by any means. Even for a colony of monstrous earth moving machines like us.

All in all, it takes us around five hours to advance the tunnel where we need it. I continue to sink my consciousness down into my core and reach out with my senses to detect the echoing ripples.

As we draw closer, the form of the Mana I detected becomes clearer. It isn’t long before I know just what it is we’ve found—a tunnel, and a fairly narrow one at that. Joy blooms within my ant thorax when I confirm the shape of the source. This is perfect! A tunnel, covered in Mana veins, is sure to be packed with monsters, aka lunch, and due to its narrow width, the size of said monsters should be fairly manageable.

After repeatedly sweeping the tunnel, I can detect only a few small cores moving about before they shift out of my range. The best possible result. We may be able to harvest a few cores while we’re at it!

When the tunnel has been dug to the correct position, I inform the queen of the correct angle to get the tunnel back on track. Now it’s time to start digging a short passage of my own, pushing my way down toward my meal—I mean the tunnel…

[Tiny! Come up here and get ready to eat!]

I swear it takes less than ten seconds for Tiny to get from one end of the tunnel to the other, drool running down his bat face as he gently pushes his way through the workers to where I’m digging.

Maybe I shouldn’t have called him over… This ape is way too excited. The burning hunger in his eyes feels hot enough to incinerate all life in this tunnel. I’ve invited him to fight and eat; I should have known this was going to happen.

It takes me ten minutes to dig my way down to the prey-cave. The entire time Tiny is hopping from one foot to another, ripping away at the side of my tunnel to widen it enough for him to fit more comfortably.

The soil gives way from in front of me and the thick scent of monster assaults my senses.

[Tiny, time to eat, buddy!]