Well, Morrelia has gone back to the Legion, Brendant has said they won't be launching any more tests for the ti being, and the subjugation of the lower tunnels is almost done. So… I find myself kind of rudderless and without purpose for the ti being.
Which ans, of course, there's nothing to stop from tickling the grubs! Muahahahaha!
My precious stress relief, it's been so long! Now that Mother is present in the fourth, there's an active Queen down here, which ans grubs!
Filled with joy, I race upward from the forward base, which has been expanding by the hour, and head into the shortcut network the Colony is still in the process of constructing.
It's always a bit of a risky business building these sorts of extended 'highways' in the Dungeon. Sure, it allows us to travel much more quickly from the nest to the entrance of the fifth, but the reverse is also true. When the next wave occurs, the monsters of the fifth and their toxic mana will have a direct road straight up to the base of the nest.
Naturally, the Colony is aware of this, which ans a copious number of defensive emplacents, walls and forts are also under construction, each of which only face the downward slope. This network of direct tunnels is going to be the main focus of all the fighting in the next wave, and it's clear the carvers don't intend to employ half asures.
There's a lot of ants moving down the shortcut, in addition to the huge number of workers busily building away. Clearly, the troops are starting to move down to the staging ground. Hopefully soon, the invasion will be ready and I can start taking on the fifth properly. Those stupid slugs are going to have no idea what hit them.
Gweheheheh.
With joy in my heart, I burst into the inner chambers, ready to engage in a wonderful bout of tickling! Where are those grubs?
"What are you doing here, child?" A deep and warm voice calls to .
"Going to play with the grubs!" I declare happily.
THWACK!
"Yeeouch!"
I was so preoccupied with my opportunity to indulge myself in harmless gas with the grubs, I didn't even realise it was Mother talking to !
"H-h-hello there, Mother! How are you doing?"
It's still weird to realise that I'm larger than her now. For most of my ant life, she's towered over . I can still rember the first ti I saw her, when I was… what? Tier two? She was huge, looming over all of the ants in the Colony. The past, present and future of the family, all bound up in a single carapace.
Despite being larger than her, The Queen is still an intimidating presence. There's sharpness to her gaze that seems to pierce straight through my exo-skeleton, no matter how many layers of diamond I have!
"I'm well, child. I am very busy, as all mbers of the family are. How is it that you have ti to play with the brood? Surely, there are many tasks that you could perform?"
Well.... Probably? The lower tunnels aren't completely clear of monsters, how could they be? It's not like we're removing the Dungeon veins from that area, so there's a constant stream of new spawns. Not to ntion, every ti we find a local, high tier monster who's carved out a little territory for themself over the years and take them out, other monsters start to move into the area, looking for new turf. These skirmishes have played out hundreds of tis down below and will go on for a while longer yet.
I could also help with the organisation of the troops heading down to the staging grounds. I'm not all that good at logistics, to put it mildly, but I'm aware enough to say that just having around would help lift the spirits of the troops. After all, I'm the oldest and strongest, who doesn't want their big reliable older sis-BROTHER. Reliable older brother around.
Sheesh.
"You're right, Mother," I admit with a heavy sigh, slumping with defeat. "There are plenty of things I could be doing right now. I suppose I'll head out and… get back to it."
My Mother watches gather myself slowly with an amused glint in her eye.
"You really are the most troubleso of all my children. Whether you are coming or going, there is always so difficulty."
I'm not exactly sure what to say to that. She already thwacked , do I need a scolding as well?!
"As you say, Mother."
I can only agree with her in the hopes of avoiding more sharp thwacks of the antennae. As if sensing my sowhat cowardly ntality, The Queen's antenna twitches once more, but she doesn't lash out.
"There is nothing wrong with playing with the grubs, Child," she tells warmly. "I do so at tis myself. I only ask that you make sure to balance the needs of the Colony against your own."
That… is an odd thing for Mother to say. I an, she's an ant. Not just any ant, she's as ant as it gets. What does she an, balance the needs of the Colony against my own? The needs of the Colony are the needs of the individual, to just about everyone in this family, and especially to her. I turn to look at her directly, but I can't get a sense of what she's thinking. Does she see differently from the others for so reason? Does she know that I wasn't always an ant?
Does it matter, considering she gave permission to tickle the grubs?!
"I'll have you know, Mother, that it has been ages since I entertained the brood. I've been busy all over the place, doing all sorts of stuff for the family!"
"That is good," she says, and reaches out to pat on the carapace encouragingly.
"I've even been taking part in the test assaults on the fifth stratum!" I boast.
Complints from Mother are rare; it doesn't hurt to fish for a few more. She hesitates, confused.
"What assaults on the fifth stratum?" she asks, puzzled.
At this mont, I realise just how badly I ssed up. She's not supposed to know about those! She's not supposed to know anything about it at all!
"Oh, you know… just… a few exploratory missions to see what's going on down there. Test out the waters… sort of thing."
If she were capable of narrowing her eyes, that's exactly what she would be doing right now.
"I don't like it when my children keep secrets from ."
"What? What secrets? That's… a perfectly… perfectly reasonable thing for you to say… of course. I an… there's so much going on in the Colony at any given ti… how could you possibly know about all of it? Nobody knows about all of it! Except maybe ."
The Queen remains still, as if processing what I said, so I take the opportunity to just… slide a little toward the brood chamber.
Then slide a little more.
I think I got away with that….
Smooth!
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