It doesn't take long to organise my pets and let them know what we've been tasked with. What takes a little longer is explaining to them exactly what is going to happen as a result of the 'allies' that the Council has decided to dump on our laps. The heavily armoured soldier in front of me looks a little nervous, which is ridiculous considering she's a behemoth of an ant weighed down by hundreds of kilograms of metal.
"Are you going to make this painful for me, Leeroy?"
"No… Eldest. Just going to charge out and defeat… the enemy?"
"Why does that smell like a question!? What else were you hoping to defeat? You know what, don't answer that. I'll just make one thing perfectly clear, not a single one of you is going to die on this charge, alright? Not a one! In fact, I'll make it my personal mission that you all return with fully topped off health, not a single scratch on you."
She slumps a little, dejected.
"Alright, Eldest," she mutters, "have it your way."
"Why are you giving me this attitude, huh?!" I poke her with an antenna, "I'm talking about keeping you alive! Is there some reason you aren't happy about that, Leeroy? Anything you want to tell me? Hmm? You surely aren't going against the very first lesson I taught you, are you?! Because that might influence me to get you back into training with me for a little while. I might want to make sure you brush up on the basics…"
"No, Eldest! I treasure my life, and so do all my followers!"
"Wait," comes a scent from behind Leeroy, "we do?"
The council member studiously ignores her follower and stares at me, antennae twitching outside of her control. I sigh.
"Immortals… a fine joke. Alright, this is how we're going to do this. I'll go in front, you guys go behind. We mow them down and let Crinis and Tiny deal the bulk of the damage, we just need to use our mass to push them back and crush them against the next chokepoint. Clear? Any questions?"
I direct my question to the lines of armoured soldiers behind their leader and one enterprising individual raises an antenna.
"Yes, you at the front."
"Hi, Eldest… doesn't this plan seem a little safe?"
"You're at the very back of the formation now. I'll have shields and healing magic on you for the entirety of the mission. Anyone else?"
Predictably, none do. The ant in questions clanks her way dejectedly to the back of the line.
"Alright then, form up behind me, we'll push through when we get the signal."
[Tiny, you know what to do?]
He gives me an offended look.
[No, I don't need to ask Crinis, because she listens, and you have not answered my question.]
He grunts angrily.
[Good. I just have to check, alright?]
Touchy ape. He gets moody when we have a pre-fight briefing sometimes, too eager to get to the smashing. We file forward in two narrow columns as the sound of battle grows louder. Up ahead, the ants are defending the third chokepoint like a well-oiled machine, striking, dodging, moving and rotating like the gears in a clock. And who do I spy calling the shots out here, but Sloan herself.
"Ready to open up a gap?" I call to her, waving.
"Be ready for my mark!" she says, watching the battle unfold intently.
I do a final check over myself, making sure I have myself in top condition before doing the same for my pets, one by one. I keep a sharp eye on Leeroy as well, the closer we get to sallying out the more intense the energy I'm getting from her becomes. In fact, all of the immortals are starting to emit some eerie vibes. Beneath the line of their helmets, their compound eyes are filled with a strange light. It's almost as if they can only truly feel alive the closer they come to danger.
"Mark!" comes the call.
"WE SEEK!" comes an overpowering wave of pheromones from behind.
Holy smokes! I start dashing instantly, not because it's the plan, but because if I don't I'm worried I'm going to get run over by the morons behind me! I might be far larger than they are, but when put together they are packing a lot of weight.
[Let's go guys!]
"HUURRAAAAAAA!" Tiny's reverberating roar of joy and rage shatters the air and pierces straight through the din of the fighting.
Sloan and her troops pull back from the opening and we lunge through. I go first and a veritable wall of enemies looms in front of me, ravenous and mad they claw at each other and anything else they can reach in their desperation. I've been slowly levelling my charge Skill and I utilise the information it gave me now, timing my run and bracing my body to absorb the impact as best as possible.
CRUNCH!
With a sickening noise I slam into the leading monster, my shoulder angled to drive straight into the creature, and I keep going, the weight of the Immortals behind me driving me forward.
CRUNCH! CRUNCH! CRUNCH! CRUNCH!
Head down, legs pumping, I push onward without stopping, running right over the top of the monsters as they fall before the combined might of our charge. Then Tiny is there, bounding forward and blasting all before him with concentrated lightning, roaring his challenge and defiance. Crinis rises from her place on my carapace, a nightmarish visage of three bottomless mouths set within an inky form of pure darkness. The two wreak havoc as the charge continues, driving forth all before it.
I can see why the Immortals and Leeroy get so hung up on these assaults. This is exhilarating stuff! Rushing forward into the enemy, running them down and motoring onward gives such a feeling of power, of strength! This must be why they got addicted to this sort of offensive. I did sort of say to Smithant that I'd get a set of armour when I evolved… I'm very, very reluctant to get anything that's going to cover up my magnificent carapace, but I could be tempted, if the right materials were found…
My legs do not tire, my muscles do not ache, thanks to the Vestibule, and I keep rushing forward, chomping with my mandibles and shoulder ramming every shadow beast and demon that dares to place itself in front of me. Gweheheheh! Nothing is going to stop us!
