“Having a good second in command, let alone a proper command hierarchy, is essential to running any kind of operation where the work alone isn’t motivating enough to captivate your workers. In the case of war especially, nobody wants to actually fight and die if they can help it. So if the leader is rendered incapable of performing their duties, unless there is someone to take their place, things will descend into chaos or some state of inaction.
Take the Johovian Conflict from some time ago. A very common strategy of the Shostran army was to target their leadership, or more specifically, their army leaders. It was discovered early on in the war that apparently, many of the Johovian troops were drafted from uninterested civilians, and thus weren’t all too keen on fighting.
Thus to combat this, the Johovians had specialized [Control Commanders] leading their battalions. These commanders had Skills dedicated that fit their Class namesake, in keeping their troops under control and preventing insurrection. Thus, when one of these [Control Commanders] were taken out, their troops would inevitably rebel or surrender to us! What a war, if you could call it that!
The Shostran army, on the other hand, prides itself in its chain of command! We learned the same embarrassing lessons we taught the Johovians decades earlier, during the Vanara wars. It was not a war many of our troops wished to fight, due to it taking place in the dense, hot, and humid jungles of the West. Not to mention it was a war of pride, rather than necessity. Of course the king who declared it was eventually deposed by his son and… oh right, where was I?
Our own generals and commanders pushed our troops past their limits, to the point some of them decided that if death was inevitable, they had might as well target the real enemy. We lost many officers as a result as the chain of command fell apart. In response, the king at the time instituted a much stricter hierarchy that still exists today, though I believe that the real lesson here is to treat your subordinates well.”
-Excerpt from an interview with Magnus Silvershell, retired general of the Shostran Army
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Poke
An errant leg jabbed Click on the side, and the spider ignored it.
Poke Poke
Click was pretty sure that the leg wasn’t so errant after all.
Poke Poke Poke
Alright! The lead spider shouted in their head while waving the jabs away.
While the [Spider Army Commander] had leveled [Command Subordinates] enough that they could keep the remaining spiders under full control near-indefinitely without running out of charge, the Skill couldn’t control how the others felt.
And right now…
Poke
They felt bored.
“Oh my gods, I’m so bored!” came a shout from below them. One of the intruders threw their arms in the air with a growl before taking a deep breath. “Seriously, you’d think they’d all be done by now?”
[Skill level up! Decipher Language (3)]
Click was starting to wrap their head around the idea that these intruders communicated through the complex noises they made, and their newfound Skill allowed them to piece together the general meaning of what they were talking about through context clues. Which was quite strange to the spider, considering that those context clues were just as foreign to them.
But from what Click could understand, they agreed with the intruder. It was probably the only thing they agreed on.
“If you’re so bored, then find something to fight or something. There are still a few baby [Dungeon Hounds] running around.”
“And give you the chance to let me get killed so you can make Dungeon Ossium out of my corpse? As if!”
“For the last time, I can’t get away with doing that, and even if I tried getting at it, I’d go to jail for life! Or even executed!”
The other adventurer scoffed and looked away, moving their hand closer to their sword.
[Skill level up! Decipher Language (4)]
Click rolled their eyes, or at least the spider equivalent. These two were beginning to get as annoying as-
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
Poke
Alright, fine! Click shouted to themselves while raising their front two arms in the air, mimicking the intruder below. These eggs can’t hatch on the ceiling if we don’t want all of our niblings to go splat as soon as they hatch, but we can’t lower them while these two idiots are walking around.
The spiders looked at their leader with curiosity. Maybe they’d finally gotten through?
[Command Subordinates]! Click called over a [Webslinger Spider] and had them take point at the edge of their web.
The particular spider had a talent for aiming, no thanks to their [3D Move Sense] no doubt, but there was more to it. They were just natural at aiming.
Shoot some webbing into the fur on top of its head. It seems to groom it a lot, so that should be a bit of a bother. But don’t go making contact, or anything. Just shoot a single glob.
The [Webslinger Spider] followed through without complaint, and launched an orb of webbing at the adventurer. It landed on her hair without her noticing, and after a few moments, she brushed at it.
“What the thousand? Did you put this in my hair?” she accused the other adventurer.
“Put what? And it doesn’t matter, because no, I didn’t.”
“This spider web! Was it from the nest that those three burned down yesterday?”
As the two continued to bicker, Click felt a twinge of inspiration. The [Excretion Launcher] Skill said that it could launch any bodily substance, and all of the [Webslinger Spiders] were instinctually using it to shoot webbing. But what about venom?
Shoot some of your venom into its mouth.
The spider complied, and landed a light stream of the toxic substance right on top of her tongue.
“Well, you were- bleach!” The adventurer began to cough and try to spit it out. “Was that a fly or something? That tasted awful!”
The other adventurer just shrugged and took the opportunity to end the conversation.
A few moments passed, and the intruder began to look a little pale. “I don’t think my stomach feels too great… Wait, I think this is poison. Hey! Did you try to poison me?!”
“What? How could I even do that from over here?!”
“I know you did! Maybe some kind of poison sprayer? That would explain that weird taste in my mouth!” She pulled out her sword. “I’m not letting you kill me, let’s go!”
“Woah, what are you-”
The intruder charged.
Click and the other spiders watched with mild interest as the two idiots fought. Weapons collided and blood was drawn, but both were evenly matched. It wasn’t so much the raw skill of the combatants that brought everyone entertainment than it was that it was a couple of nuisances getting themselves hurt.
Sadly, the fun didn’t last long. A series of loud footsteps echoed out from just beyond the corridor to the second floor, and a small group of people ran in while shouting.
“What do you two idiots think you’re doing?!” shouted the one in front, a woman with orange hair tied into a tight bun.
“He poisoned me!” shouted one of the combatants.
“Did not! I was minding my own business, and she just accused me!”
“I don’t care who did what, you both had a job and you’re trying to kill each other instead of doing it! Get out of here, head back to town and stay put until the rest of us are done.”
“But-” “But-” both of them started.
“How are you two supposed to be on the same team? I… Just- No more words, get out. You didn't deserve to be put on punishment detail, you should've been kicked out of the guild.”
The two gave the woman a crestfallen look and slowly trudged their way out.
“By the gods,” she sighed as soon as they’d left, then looked to the small group behind her. “You three, you’re taking over for them. Guard the floor and call us if you’re attacked or anything strange happens.”
The trio nodded and took their places, standing far enough apart from each other that they could cover the most ground with their sight but still rush to each others’ aid if needed. They looked to be much more attentive than the previous duo, and now Click was certain they couldn’t get away with the same stunt.
While the other spiders fell back into their depressive stupor, the [Spider Army Commander] only lit up.
They got replaced so quickly? And where’s the short one, they didn’t give any orders, just that taller one over there! There must be some kind of chain of command, with this new intruder in charge of matters that aren’t important enough for the short one.
Click looked over to the other spiders on the web, and then back to the intruders’ apparent second in command. The spider let out the equivalent of a shrug and looked to the dungeon exit, and the angry shouting that could be heard from outside, then finally back to the other spiders.
Yeah, it’s going to take some time before they’re ready to lead. Maybe if they take some kind of leadership-oriented evolution soon, or at least one that increases their Intelligence.
[Skill level up! Decipher Language (5)]
[Class level up! Anthropologist (3)]
Well, I doubt these new intruders are going to leave for a while, so maybe it’s time for another trip? I’d might as well continue observing the rest of the intruders and hopefully find a way to get them to leave sooner? But in the meantime, I could at least try to learn more about their organizational structure and how to eventually apply it to my own tribe. Having some sub-leaders would make things much easier for me.
[Command Subordinates], come on! It’s time for another ‘hunting trip’!
The spiders all perked up and lined up to follow their leader down deeper into the cavern.