“Eldest! What are you doing up here?” Leeroy complained.

“Hah. Thought you had a nice final stand setup here, did you? You thought you’d run far enough from the rest of the Colony that we wouldn’t be able to catch up and keep you alive? You should know better by now, Leeroy.”

“But don’t you need to rush deeper into the nest, Eldest?” she asks, hope still alive in her scent. “We can hold this position… against overwhelming odds, even! Yes! We can stay here, battling to control the mouth of the nest to protect you… until we fall one by one, tragically!”

Wow, she worked that up in her head quickly.

“No chance, Leeroy. I came up here strictly to keep you and all your followers alive. None of you are going to die while I’m here,” I tell her firmly.

“Dammit.”

“This sucks!”

“Ruining everything…”

“I was feeling good about today…”

“Hey! Shut up over there! You think I can’t hear you? Don’t make me walk over there!”

“Would you kill us if you did?”

“What? No!”

“Dammit...”

“... you people need help. I’m going to get on that after this battle, you’ve had your fun. Now get back to fighting termites already. You’re slacking.”

“... fine,” the Immortals grumble and turn back to fighting, but it's easy to see that the fire has gone out of them, which is madness.

Here we are, deep in the entrance to the termite nest, their scent trails are all around us, along with literally tens of thousands of them all around us, climbing up the walls, and there are for sure thousands upon thousands more beneath us.

If you aren’t pumped up for this then what the hell are you after?!

I mean… I know what the Immortals are after, but I can’t comprehend it, so I can’t understand their lack of gusto. It’s not a problem though, I’ve got enough pep for all of us!

Let me at ‘em!

Turning my back on the sulking corps of Immortals, I rush toward the outer edge of the formation and run right over the top of the armoured soldier in front of me, throwing myself into the waiting jaws of the frothing termite horde like a billionaire duck launching into a money collection.

Even before I land, the dark purple mana expands around me, the gravity domain revolving into existence to pull the termites down before I even land. WIth plenty of brain power to spare, I pour all of my mental energy into compressing the mana as tight as possible before I release it and it’s pleasing to see the insects beneath me wobble under the additional pressure.

And then I’m there, crashing into their lines, my jaws snapping and crushing as I raise my business district high and blast the surroundings with a healthy dose of the Colony’s finest produce.

Eat acid you suckers!

As much as I want to let rip with my elemental magic, I have another use for that, but I won’t get the chance this soon in the fight. I’ll have to get a bit deeper before I can extract maximum value from those spells.

For now, it’s up close and personal termite squashing action.

An exterminator is required and I am here to answer the call! Unrestrained, I unleash all of my pent-up rage upon the enemy, channelling the intent of my entire family into my mandibles as I rip my way through the bugs in front of me.

With the sheer volume of energy flooding through me I can void chomp regularly, every bite enough to smash ten termites at once. In the distance I can see the rest of the Colony pushing forward, grinding down the enemy and rolling them back towards where the Immortals and I are fighting.

I don’t understand quite why the ka’armodo had their slave monsters build the entrance to the nest so wide, the wide path and high ceiling only narrow deeper in as the opening fades into darkness. Down there somewhere are the queens and brood chambers and we won’t leave until they are naught but ruins.

I bite and bite as the termites throw themselves against me, climbing atop one another to take their shot, but with a hundred thousand members of the Colony in the area, I cannot be denied.

No matter how long I fight, I don’t tire, and no matter how many small wounds they manage to pile up, I can heal them. In fact, the more I fight, the more energised I feel as the Colony seizes the upper hand and triumph surges in every member of my family.

As I chomp, I keep one brain sifting through the impressions I get from my siblings through the Vestibule and I can tell that the battle is one sided so far. Against the might of this many ants, supported by their loyal militia of sentient buff givers, our enemy is completely out matched.

This is the Colony in its strongest form, you wood chomping morons! Did you really think you could stand against us?

Muahahahahahaha!

I keep merrily throwing myself into the thick of the fighting, as the main Colony force continues to draw closer. Just when I think I’ll have another five minutes to keep chomping away, I turn around to find a large pack of ants have arrived nearby.

“Wha- where the heck did you come from?” I demand, surprised.

“OhheyEldest! Hi-hi! Howarethingsgoingoverhere? Wethoughtwemightpopovertoseehowyou’redoing?”

“Wait, what? I thought you came over because it was part of the plan, I was just shocked you managed it without me noticing.”

She stares at me. I stare back.

“You… are here because of the plan… right?”

“OfcourseIamSenior,don’tevenjokeaboutitanywayI’mgoingtofightsomemorebyeeeeeeeee”

“How do you manage to accidentally follow the plan?!”

I shake my head in despair. I worry about this family sometimes. Most of the ants are straight down the line, but every now and again we get a completely nuts one and they lead a heap of others astray.

It would be great if I could find the root source of the issue and stop it from happening anymore, but no matter how much I think about it, I just can’t identify where these nutters are taking their lead from. The leadership at the top of the Colony is rock solid… for the most part.

Could it be mother? She is a bit of a weird one… perhaps she’s passing on those strange instincts to the eggs?

I should ask her next time I see her. For now I have a battle to win.