Chapter 1692 – What Solant Wants, What Solant Gets

“Isn’t it obvious?” I say waving an antenna. “I’m heading to the fourth and dealing with those chumps who’re sniffing around our territory. Our siblings are in danger of being captured! Haven’t you heard?”

“Yes, of course I’ve heard about it,” Solant says calmly, “but why are you going to deal with it? So far, the delvers have failed to capture a single one of us. They are hardly a threat. Meanwhile, we are battling the Krath on multiple fronts right here in the fifth. We need your help.”

An ant has no facial muscles, and is therefore incapable of frowing… or having any expression at all, but you’d be amazed what you can communicate with antennae. I wave them in a pattern that suggests ‘what the heck are you on about, you nutter?’, while prodding Solant and her crew to start moving up the tunnel.

“I haven’t got all day, let’s skitter and chat. Come on, get moving.”

It takes a bit of prodding, but I get them moving and start crawling along behind them. This tunnel really is a tight squeeze.

“Are you struggling against the Krath? How bad is it?” I ask.

“So far, we are holding on,” the general replies. “We’ve made progress and our territory has expanded greatly, but the further we go, the more Krath come to fight us, the more area we have to defend. The fighting is intense. It didn’t help that your guardians refused to be too far from your side during your evolution, so we’ve been without their strength as well.”

“So… what? You want me to ignore the situation in the fourth stratum and get straight into the fight down here? Is that what I’m hearing?”

Solant remains calm in the face of my rising irritation. Cool and collected, she is, as ever, a logical, unruffled calculator and decision-maker.

“I am in no position to tell you what to do, Senior,” she tells me. “I only ask that you prioritise our area of greatest need. So far, we have lost nothing and no one to the delvers in the fourth. Every minute there are casualties in the fifth. Allowing the capture of our siblings in the fourth would be tragic, allowing the capture of our siblings in the fifth would be catastrophic for all of Pangera. It is clear where you can serve the most good.”

She isn’t wrong, not in the slightest. The logic is fairly unassailable, I can’t deny that, and I certainly have a bone to pick with the Krath. Staying here and heading straight to the frontlines to smash slug faces in is undoubtedly the correct thing to do. But I’m not going to do it.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

“Solant, one of our sisters was taken by the Church of the Path, you know that, right?”

“I do.”

“And you know what happened to them?”

“I do.”