One of the most annoying parts of dealing with underground hives is the fact that the tunnels down there can turn into a maze.

If it wasn’t for the fact that our AIs can just whip up a map lickety split, we’d have to have a statistic for Samurai deaths caused by lack of navigation ability.

-Shadowtag, 2054

The roots were just small spindly little things that dove in and out of the walls. Nothing too big yet, but there were a lot of them.

And that worried me for reasons more than the regular size of the hive.

“Pyri, how important are the roots to the structure of these tunnels?”

While hive tunnels normally are given a small coating of a resin like substance to prevent accidental collapses, this tunnel has been left bare, which either means the resin hasn’t been applied yet, the antithesis plan to expand the tunnel in the near future, or the roots here will eventually become large enough to not allow a collapse without intervention.

In short I do not advise disturbing the root structure unless you are prepared for a cave in.

I groaned, “Well that’s just perfect. Do I just follow the roots to the source then?”

Yes.

Shooting the walls with a distrustful look, I picked up the pace a bit. I didn’t want to get buried alive whether my armor would protect me long enough to buy an emergency item or not.

The tunnel continued for a bit longer before I ran into more resistance. A small room with multiple tunnels held a pack of Threes and Fours with some monkey-like antithesis running around poking at various roots and part of the wall.

Several of them look up at my arrival, and I just couldn’t help myself. “Heya! Nice place you got here! Nice black soils and all. Shame you’re getting evicted though.”

My shotgun was up and spewing electrified pellets everywhere as the antithesis scrambled to recover from the attack.

What should have been a quick and easy to clear room turned into a fifteen minute slug fest as reinforcements kept pouring into the room. I eventually had to start regularly throwing a few incendiary grenades into the room just to keep the corpses down. The VED was flooding the room with electricity every time I needed to reload, or throw more grenades into the fire.

Honestly the only reason I wasn’t pushed back out was the bright blue flames cooking some of the antithesis before they even got to a point I needed to shoot at them.

Eventually the antithesis wave petered out, and the fire along with it. Retreating back into the entrance tunnel, I crouched down and took my helmet off. The heat was oppressive even with the suit on.

“Pyri, can you get me some water?”

I can, yes.

A jug dropped into my hands and almost instantly began to collect condensation. Raising it to my lips, I was met with ice cold water. After chugging down some for a bit, I looked back towards the room, the glow of the fire putting on its own gentle light show on the tunnel walls.

“Fire was the best thing to use right?”

It wasn’t the best option, but it won’t collapse the tunnel network on you. That room actually had resin on the walls. The fire won’t have made it so brittle that it will collapse, and the roots it was protecting will hold the ceiling up.

Taking another swig, I looked at the roots lining the walls. “Those monkey looking things, what were they?”

Model Tens, they’re hive tenders.

“What were they doing all the way out here then? Especially with all of the antis around them.”

They seemed to be encouraging new hive growth. For that room in particular.

“Why?”

I can not say, I have a few ideas, but nothing conclusive enough to get into.

I stood up with a groan, the jug of water finished off and laying on the dirt empty.

“Might as well get you some more information then.” I stretched before putting my helmet back on, and moved back towards the room.

Now that it wasn’t flooded with antithesis, I saw a circular room with what looked like a depression in the center of the room.

“Pyri is the center actually deeper than the rest of the room? I can’t tell with all the ash.”

It is, unfortunately the antithesis only just started whatever project they were doing here so I can’t tell exactly what the reason for it is.

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I continued to look around, the vines going deeper into the tunnel system also seemed strange. They were much larger than the tunnel we entered from.

“Admittedly I’m not experienced with growing antithesis hive matter, but these roots have a massive size discrepancy.” I kicked at the end of a root that looked like it cauterized itself. “It almost looks like they stopped growing for a bit and then restarted.”

An excellent observation! Hives generally will extend their roots the same way a normal plant will. That is to say, they will expand semi evenly until they hit an obstacle. Which they will either grow through or around.

I looked at the room again, “I refuse to believe they did all of this just to remove a boulder. They’re up to something.” Sighing I turned, sweeping my hand across each tunnel. “The immediate question is which way do I go?”

Pyri seemingly wanted me to figure that out on my own since she didn’t respond. Thinking about the trick she used earlier, I looked at the roots again. They occasionally had large leaves that were all perfectly still and starting to droop as if cut off except for one.

“This one, the wind goes this way, and the rest of the tunnels are completely still and show signs of damage despite me not touching them, they have to be blocked off, or dead ends.”

And what will you do about the rest of them?

I grinned, “Do I have any sort of aerosolized explosive or gas toxic to antithesis hives?”

You could use fuel-air explosives, but considering you might not survive the heat generated, I recommend advancing your Vulgoran Military Technologies catalogue to Class II and purchasing MK IV Hive Busters.

“What do those do?”

When triggered they release a gas payload that the antithesis can not detect. And is completely harmless. Once the air is saturated the canisters will release a surge of electricity that will supercharge the air, electrocuting anything the gas envelops, which if done correctly, will be the entire hive structure. It will also be hot enough to burn out the roots.

I couldn’t stop myself from excitedly hopping in place. “How much does something like that cost, and can releasing the gas and detonating the thing all be done remotely?”

It’s five points minimum, and goes up based on the size of the canister. And yes the entire thing can be done from the surface.

“I’ll trust you to buy me canisters as I go up to a limit of fifteen points per canister.” I let a cruel smile slide over my face. “It’s only proper for me to help the new neighbors with the electrical problems after all.”

In that case, put these canisters at the mouth of each tunnel.

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A decently sized bag popped into existence in front of me. Scooping the bag up, I followed Pyri’s directions, each of the seven entrances got a canister including the way I entered from.

I will drop the most efficient size-to-cost ratio possible as you go forward, take care not to trip on them, or damage them too much or you will trigger the detonators

“Understood.”

With the plan decided on, I walked deeper into the cave, where the roots changed once again. I found that they were growing much larger for some reason, while also seemingly increasing in number, covering every spare surface other than a small path in the floor. Looking closer, I realized that they almost looked like they were pulsating. Pressing down on one revealed what was going on; They were pumping nutrients towards the surface.

“What are they pumping this stuff for?”

Antithesis created nutrient fluid is the primary way active hives boost the extremities growth rate rather than waiting on the roots to pull nutrients from the soil. It is regrowing what you destroyed earlier.

Another canister dropped to the ground as I walked forward. “So where I’m walking towards is where the main hive structure would be?”

Most likely, yes.

I didn’t get a chance to think on that too much, considering the flicker of antithesis stealth began popping up on my glasses.

The tunnel was practically crawling with Nines.

Pretending I hadn’t seen them, I raised my shotgun and then started firing wildly into the root covered tunnel. Multiple parts of the root structure instantly split away and started rushing towards me. Of course that just ended with them getting even more buckshot pumped into them, but this almost felt different. Even more desperate than whenever I killed the first antithesis in a group of them. Looking at the walls I saw the problem, I had punctured a lot of the roots and they were spraying fluid all over the place.

Already knowing the answer I asked anyway, “Pyri that fluid won’t attract the antithesis will it?”

It already is doing so, remember, your location is technically upwind in this cave, so anything you do in the near future will be picked up by the antithesis via their sense of smell.

“Well shit,” I muttered while firing, “I guess I was going to fight them anyway.”

Be careful. Now that the hive has been directly threatened, it will begin producing Models in faster numbers and higher tiers. Not to mention hive guards will likely begin making their way towards you.

As Pyri was talking, I had reached another intersection. This one was only a small crossing between three pathways. Letting the VED clear the area, I Looked at the roots to see if I could get an idea of where the source of the fluid was coming from. Only to lose track of the vines I had been following in the tangled mess.

“Pyri which tunnel is feeding towards where I came from?”

Marking the roots you’re following now.

A few of the roots heading into the tunnel to my right lit up in blue. Showering the intersection in more pellets, I pushed for the tunnel as quickly as I could.

It wasn’t very long, or full. If anything it was barely a hallway.

On the other end was a large room with a massive pit full of gunk in the middle surrounded by Tens, and a Model Eight. On the walls were a few large lumps of plant flesh with tendrils covered in sacs of fluid branching from them.

“I thought the main hive would be larger.”

This isn’t the primary one, it’s just a digestion pool surrounded by proto-hives.

The Tens all turned to attack, my Trench Stormer coming up to meet their advance, while the Eight kept spitting up gunk into the pool.

“Then why is it even here?”

Because the hive has spread out to the point it’s beginning to create new ones to bolster itself further.

Spark, you’re in a multi-hive network.