Chapter 1418 – Flow

Really. I mean really.

“You want me to what?!”

Solant clicks her mandibles irritably and my antennae twitch, but given our current crisis, I can’t exactly go thwacking the general in charge over the head. The command post is positively crawling with activity as orders are given out and reports come in constantly. It’s so crowded in there that Solant had to come out to speak to me since I won’t fit inside!

“We have to know what is happening outside the zone of purified mana,” she explains to me with all the patience she can muster, which I appreciate. “If the vents are sucking in toxic mana from nearby and venting it into our safe-zone, then the mana outside will be thinner and we will be a little safer as we deal with this crisis. But if the vents nearby are also venting toxic mana…”

“Then the mana nearby will thicken and begin to press in on us, shrinking the safe-zone.”

Nards.

“Alright then, I’ll get to it. Try to keep everything from falling apart while I’m out.”

“Of course I will,” she replies with utmost confidence. “Who do you think I am?”

An uppity little general… who I will not thwack… yet.

Leaving the command post behind, I pick my way through the crowded tunnels. Despite everything that’s happening, the Colony is still racing forward with its plans. Construction is happening everywhere, even if the steady flow of supplies from above has been cut off. Soldiers race this way and that, responding to attacks on a case by case basis.

Our organisation has taken a hit, every squad of twenty ants is operating on their own, apparently, but heck, we’re ants. It’s not possible for us to not coordinate. One squad lays down trails toward an ongoing attack, other squads decide to follow it and help out. The main point of difference is just how defensive everyone is being, and I can understand why. Not a single ant can be lost to the Krath, and this breakdown of order would be the perfect chance….

Well, I have to trust that everyone can take care of themselves for a bit. If Solant is right about the vents we haven’t reached, then things are going to get worse before they get better.

With a little luck, perhaps the nearby vents are sucking in mana and the area nearby will be a little less toxic and easier to deal with. Trying to think positive thoughts, I keep moving forward until I reach the multi-layer deep wall of ants guarding this section of tunnel from incursions.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

The border between the blue and the sickly yellow/brown of the fifth is always a sight to see. Two warring forms of energy, each trying to consume the other. There’s an audible fizz in the air, and my mana sense goes crazy every time I get close. Both types of mana are self replicating, making more of themselves even as they consume each other. Mana is destroyed and created at such a rapid rate, it’s like a constant static noise that presses into my senses.

Nothing else for it but to stick my incredible, shiny self out into the muck and investigate.