The days of the wave rolled on and the mana level continued to rise, increasing the spawn rates of monsters throughout the Dungeon to an absurd rate. Every hour, thousands of newborn monsters clashed in the tunnels around the Colony, warring and fighting, the losers feeding the winners who grew rapidly in strength, feasting on their lessers. A hundred thousand tales of victory and death were woven every day in the area just outside the Colony's defensive line.
Not that it mattered. The monsters from the deep were rising, crushing those from above and pressing onward, desperate to escape those from beneath who drove them from their territories. They savaged those weaker than them, absorbing their power and seeking more until they inevitably ran into the iron wall that was the Colony.
Hundreds of defenders manned fortified chokepoints, bombarding the encroaching beasts with acid and spells until they fell on the ravenous jaws of the soldiers. They never fought an even numbered fight, always dividing the enemy and destroying them with overwhelming force before turning to the next. Should the pressure become too great, they would fall back, retreating to another prepared position, with a fresh wave of troops ready to fill the breach. After gathering their strength, the ants would shove back the wave and retake the outer wall, reinforcing it again within the hour.
On and on it went. The wave was relentless, but so was the Colony, and every day that passed, their numbers grew. And grew.
Organising it all had been enough to drive Victor to the brink of exhaustion, but as the days ticked by the Colony defence practically ran itself. The local generals were intelligent and capable, experienced in the ways of the caste after fighting off the siege, they hardly needed input from herself or Sloan to run their checkpoints. As new recruits graduated the academy, they slotted into the existing structures with barely a ripple, the size of each garrison growing every day.
Which is why she found herself on the front line, providing buffs and taking her turn in the line to fight. Without the need for her at central command, what other choice did she have? Sit around and do nothing? Don't even suggest it!
"Big push coming!" she called back to the line of mages and scouts behind her, "Brace! Brace! Brace!"
The massive soldiers, with their thick carapace and huge frames, packed themselves tightly together, covering the narrow entrance they defended from every angle until she could barely see past them. Activating her aura gland along with her commanding presence Skills, she did her part to coordinate the troops, make those last second adjustments before contact.
With a deafening roar, the crush of monsters beyond the wall made their last second charge, smashing into the ants with concussive force that rippled through the air and blew back the general's antennae. The soldiers absorbed the punishment without flinching, sparks flying as the enemy tried to scr.a.p.e and bite at their chitin shells.
"In three! Two! One! PULL!" she called.
In one coordinated motion, the soldiers drew back to clear the opening which was immediately bombarded by the waiting scouts and mages. A huge volume of acid, fire and shards of ice were hurled into the teeth of the horde who recoiled from the barrage, all except one. Working together, a few of the strongest soldiers darted forward, latching onto a monster and dragging it back through the gap where the rest of them fell upon it, chomping with controlled fury until it was no more.
"BRACE!" Victor ordered.
In a flash the soldiers were back in position, blocking the entrance as the endless monsters pressed back against them once more. They endured the hammer blows of the enemy as the mages and scouts prepared their next spells and readied their acid.
"On my order we will pull, rotate and heal! Be ready!" she shouted, watching the narrow chokepoint with an intense focus.
"In three! Two! One! PULL!"
This time, as the soldiers pulled back in perfect coordination, they also rotated their position around the opening, moving in a clockwise direction. As the scouts and mages poured out as much damage as they could, a team of healers rushed forward to minister to the wounded, pouring their healing energies into them to help them recover in as short a time as possible. Despite the constant stream of acid and magic being blasted through the narrow gap, monsters still manage to press closer to the opening, only to be dragged through and set upon by the waiting mandibles of the ants, including Victor herself.
After ten seconds, she roared out her order again.
"BRACE!"
And so the cycle repeated, over and over, until their team was finally relieved by another group and was able to fall back to eat and rest. Several of the Soldiers sported semi-severe injuries, their carapace unable to hold up to the constant beating. They'd need a day of healing to be back to full strength, most likely, which meant Victor would be short a full complement of Soldiers for the next shift. A problem she would work to solve after she had some time to recover. The toll of having to concentrate so fiercely for hours on end was great and she was keen for some torpor. But first she had to report in.
"General," she snapped out a quick salute to the general in charge of this checkpoint.
"General," the officer snapped one right back, "come to report?"
"Indeed."
She went on to give details of their shift, had the concentration of mana and monster spawns gone up? How many demons had been seen, what types of demons, any sighting of tier five or above monsters, injuries sustained and so on.
"Seems a successful shift," the general in charge observed, "you might not have killed as many monsters as some others, but your injury rate is much lower."
"We are in for the long haul, general," Victor sighed, "the experience will come, but only if our people are well enough to fight."
"Right you are," the ant nodded, "go get some rest. You've earned it."
From there it was off to the recovery area to be checked for injuries, then into the prepared chambers with the rest of her unit to huddle together in torpor. In six hours, they'd be back to the wall, putting their bodies on the line to try to fend off the never-ending press of the wave, only this time, with three less soldiers. Perhaps she would be able to take the place of one of them? She wasn't as durable as the soldiers were, not even close, but she was certainly tougher than most generals thanks to her better evolutions. Maybe if she rotated with a few of the larger scouts…
Enough, she scolded herself, get some rest.
And so she stilled her thoughts and allowed her body to drift off into torpor whilst only a hundred metres away the fierce battle continued.
