Chapter 1465 – It Begins

Solant stood, as always, in the command centre. She was, as always, calm, centred and focused.

Around her flowed the organised chaos of the HQ, a constant stream of pheromone conversations, scouts coming in and out, generals discussing, theorising and carvers planning, plotting, working through construction issues and tracking logistics. It was a confusing, chaotic and neverending barrage of information that would have completely flattened most ants, or even most individuals around Pangera, but she wasn’t just anyone, she was Solant.

She was, quite literally, built for this.

Her brain, or brains, to be more accurate, filtered and allocated information through a precise network of channels, her Logistics Matrix able to funnel the right information to the right processing centres, which then synthesised the information, weaving together the relevant pieces to create a coordinated whole out of the chaos.

Solant had designed herself very carefully, ensuring every drop of evolutionary energy was wisely spent to turn her into the best general she could possibly be. Her mastery over the battlefield had increased dramatically, but the need for her to be on the frontlines managing the fighting herself had gone down just as much.

It was a shame. She missed it, but to operate at the level her Senior had demanded required sacrifices, and she had adjusted her evolutionary priorities accordingly. There would still be chances for her to put her true speciality to use, of that she was sure, but for now, she was responsible for so much more than a single battle: an entire campaign, with millions of ants, thousands of generals and hundreds of different battlefields. She had changed herself to become a vessel, a receptacle that could receive the necessary information, process it, and apply it to her tactical and strategic framework.

What seemed like chaos, what appeared to be a messy cacophony of pheromones, was, to her, a symphony, one that only she could understand.

And now, there were discordant notes slipping in here and there, burrs in the data that threw the balance of the whole composition out of order. Of course, she knew who was responsible, the Krath weren’t even being secretive about it, they wanted her to know they were out there, playing games. They’d been poking and prodding for days now, ceaselessly.

The mana levels in different tunnels were beginning to fluctuate wildly as the Krath utilised techniques outside the Colony’s sphere of influence to manipulate the flow of energy. Thankfully, they couldn’t control the mana completely, as that would allow them to starve the wuffers by cutting off the supply, then bringing it back all at once, crushing the Colony’s weakened safe-zone.

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Well, they hadn’t done it yet. Solant had, of course, planned for such an eventuality, but those countermeasures weren’t in place yet.

Unique and challenging monsters were beginning to appear, driving deep into the blue mana and disgorging bile, mucus and parasites, heedless of their own lives. They weren’t intended to succeed, Solant knew that much; the Krath were merely testing what they could get away with, how long it took the blue mana to cleanse the corruption.