Chapter 363 Wrestling with the core (1/2)

Down into the nest we plunged. Is it just me, or is the opening a lot wider than it used to be? Even Tiny fits into the main shaft quite comfortably now. I wonder what that's all about. As usual, my antennae are a.s.saulted by a plethora of pheromones. Trails that paint the way to each of the different sections of the nest are mixed with an overwhelming number of more short term messages from ants coordinating the many tasks that they've been given.

”We need more wood! Follow this trail for the worker teams heading to the forest!”

”Food! Get on it! You think the colony feeds itself?! Hunting parties are leaving from the Dungeon staging area now!”

”Got nothing to do? What the h.e.l.l is wrong with you?! There's always earthworks going on, report to the Carver headquarters to join a work team!”

”Hey! Stay positive and work hard! :D”

… Not sure what the point of that last one was… just trying to keep spirits up around the place I guess. I hardly think it's necessary, the ants I can see look as if they could hardly work any harder. In fact, the only ant I can see standing still for any amount of time is … me. Dangit, better get moving before I start to look conspicuous and lazy.

We clung to the wall and made our way straight down, innumerable ants rus.h.i.+ng in and out of smaller side tunnels constantly. I feel as if the population has definitely lifted whilst I've been gone. If we managed to hatch and graduate two hundred a day then the colony would have gained 1400 new members in the time I've been gone. Some of that would have been offset by losses at the front, but even considering that, there would have been roughly one thousand more ants in the colony than there had been before.

If only we'd had another week! Then I'd be far less concerned.

When I reached the Queen's chamber I was quite confused to find that, apart from a few guards, it was empty! No Queen, no retinue of attendant soldiers and tenders, nothing! Where has she gone? Curious, I led Tiny and walked down the walls and followed the main shaft beneath the Queen's chamber into my own room.

Even this s.p.a.ce has been widened, at least double the s.p.a.ce it was before, but other than a couple of soldiers who sit around the outside of the room, keeping watch for sp.a.w.ning monsters so that they might leap on them the moment they emerge, the chamber is empty.

[Home sweet home] I told my pets.

[It's nice to be back] Crinis a.s.sured me.

[Hrrr] Tiny let his actions do the talking as he threw himself down onto the ground to rest.

That was fair enough. Our run back to the nest had been exhausting. Matter of fact, our entire last week had been exhausting. The entire colony must be tottering on its feet unless the mandatory rest has kicked in. The amount of work that had been done was staggering. I know it's almost impossible for the ants to admit they are tired, but I hope that the council will start forcing the family to rest before the final battle. Even just a couple of hours of torpor could make all the difference. Especially now when the horde was only four hours away!

OK. No more stalling. Time to get that rare core out.

I've been dreading this experience for months. I've already pushed my core beyond the System Imposed limit and even though gaining some levels and Bioma.s.s combined with a bit of time has helped ease the pain, it hasn't ever gone away. Even now my core aches with a dull throb, an inexplicable tightness that I can feel twinge every time I breathe.

Now where is that stupid thing? I know I left it here somewhere…

Ah!

Flipping on my mana sense, my mind is momentarily blinded by the ever present glow of the mana flooding out of the Dungeon walls. After a second or two I was able to blink the background glare out of my mind and focus on detecting the glowing core I had buried in the wall.

There it is!

I scuttled over to the wall and extracted the gem with my mandibles before I retreated back into the centre of the chamber, the bright, spherical gem held in my mandibles.

[I might need your help with this Crinis. I'm a bit worried about how it's going to go,] I admitted.

[Anything, master. I'll be ready for your orders,] the sphere of cosmic horror and tentacle death a.s.sured me.

[Thanks, Crinis.]