As the ant was about to crash against the shield, Silvano used his power and made a portal right in the middle of the air. He waited until the last moment to make sure the ant couldn’t dodge the portal.

He couldn’t send him too far, but he only needed to throw him back at the entrance of the cave. The ant leader was half across the portal when it exploded, and as such, about half of the force of the suicide attack detonated in front of Nathan’s shield.

The other ants exploded along with their leader and fused into a wave of poison and power. The ceiling partially collapsed, and torn pieces of ants' heads and legs flew everywhere. On the other side of the cave, the entrance was buried in stone, and several houses were ruined.

After the smoke settled down, Silas looked at Nathan and Silvano. The shield was still standing, but it had cracks, and parts of the wall were destroyed.

"Are you okay, Nathan?"

"Yes, that last explosion was big, but thanks to the portal, I only had to take half of it. Still, it was good enough to break my defense, and some of the poison got inside." He was covered in the venom that was melting his arm and face.

The sizzling of his flesh being melted was like the fat and meat of the worm he cooked a few hours ago. Rebecca ran to his side and started the treatment.

"Stay still; I need to remove the venom and regenerate your flesh. Even a drop could pierce your skin all the way to your organs." Her shadow moved fast, and with special instruments, it took the poison away and then began to heal the flesh with one of its strange concoctions.

Silvano was breathing with relief after surviving that explosion; if the timing had been wrong, he would have failed. He looked back at Silas, who was watching him with judging eyes.

"Sorry, I took a risk I shouldn't have, but I couldn’t let you sacrifice your life."

"Instead, you chose the hard and risky option. That was pretty dumb; you could have failed and all of us would have died for your little idea to take the fall." Blunt and direct, he had no intention of hiding his opinion.

"You’re right; I can’t say anything else."

"I’m not done; it takes a lot to make a good choice, especially when other people's lives depend on it. That’s something I learned this past year." Silas walked to his side and gave him a pat on the shoulder.

"Good work. You had a good idea, and you were able to act according to the situation."

There was no hidden meaning; Silas gave him a genuine compliment, and he wasn’t the only one. Silvano heard everyone else's voices around him saying thanks for saving their lives and at the same time making suggestions for the next time he tries to do something like that.

"Thanks, but don’t try to chew more than you can bite, kid."

"Good thinking, Silvano, but you could have asked me for help; with my power, you could have an easier time calculating the moment to open the portal."

"If you have a good idea, then tell me first. I don’t like to presume, but I’m the best strategist in the guild. I have a lot of experience."

"You’re just mad that you didn’t think of it first, hehe. Huh, it hurts." Nathan teased Silas with a smile as his face was being healed back to normal.

"I told you not to move; give me two more minutes."

Silvano was still surprised after hearing their praises. He felt strange, maybe because he put them in a different position than himself when he saw their powers. They fought against the tolgar and saved his life, and the offer to join forces to save the pix tribe and his other companions with an expedition was more than he could ask them.

Why? Why does this feel so familiar? It wasn’t like this when he was in the group with over one hundred people. Even during those first few days, he didn’t talk with anyone like this. He shook his head and decided this feeling was simple admiration.

Don’t get too friendly; they are just being helpful for the alliance. You can’t offer them anything of value; just focus on saving the other tribe; that's the least you can do.

Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

They investigated the area around the entrance carefully to avoid the poison. It was completely buried in the stone, but the rest of the tunnels seem fine. The Rock was full of tunnels and holes, so it wasn’t that surprising that this amount of damage didn’t change or cause a bigger collapse.

"We need to take another route. Silvano, you used your power to make the portal, so I assume you don’t have enough stamina to take us to the other village?"

"Yes, but I still remember the way. I can take us there through the tunnels."

"If we encounter more ants, we should avoid fighting. I can take their power, and we confirm we can make it across avoiding them, but that’s if we don’t encounter more of those ant leaders."

In a direct fight, they were at a disadvantage; regular soldiers were not particularly strong. Franco could easily kill over fifty of them, but if one of the leaders with horns used the pheromone to increase the heat in their bodies, all those weak soldiers would turn into mini bombs.

"If we see one of those horned ants, we retreat immediately. We need to go to the last tribe and see if they are still alive. Before I forget, if we have to fight them again, we’re going to use the same strategy. I’m counting on you, Silvano."

They resumed their march in the dark tunnels. It wasn’t too long before they encountered more scouts, but Silas killed them and used the pheromones to keep the rest away. The last village wasn’t very far; that could be a blessing or a curse.

Where the pix there alive or devoured long ago? The only way to find out was to go there and see it with their own eyes. After passing a corner and a twisting path, they saw a bunch of dead bodies.

It was a tunnel full of ants' body parts. Most likely, the result of a fight. They kept walking deeper into the tunnel and saw a barricade of ants.

"What is this? Did a bunch of ants die here, or someone put them all together?" Nathan asked.

"No, think about the previous battles; the body parts and remains were scattered all over. This was made by someone intelligent. Silas got close and tried to push the pile of ants, but it was solid like a wall. "Probably more bodies are blocking the way inside. I was thinking about it, but this should confirm it. Tell me, Silvano, do the ant colonies eat others of their kind?"

"Yes and no; they eat and kill other colonies, but they don’t attack their own kind. The way they do that is with pheromones. Each queen has her own scent; I can't confirm it, but it's the most straightforward explanation."

"I see, they're using dead ants to hide their presence; as a last resort, they're trapping themselves inside unless..."

"They have another way to get out." He snapped his fingers. "I remember this village had another path, but it was very small, so they used it only as an emergency exit. Over here!"

He took them to the small passage; it was long and hidden behind some rocks. It was barely big enough for a person to fit inside, but a pix had no trouble using it.They didn’t have another option, so they made a line and entered the cramped tunnel. Nathan and Silvano, who were in the lead, noticed the guards standing near the exit.

"Intruders, sound the alarm!" one of the pix yelled to his partner. The other shook a small bell, and soon more reinforcements came.

"Wait, is me, Silvano. I’m the one who found your village with my maps!" He waved his hands and pointed at his face after they called the chief; he recognized him.

"Silvano, the human, but those others behind you. Are they your tribe?"

"Well, it's a long story, so can we talk in your house? Or maybe the storage room for the time being?"

***

They explained their circumstances and a little bit of context about Dawn and the Pix-Dawn alliance, as well as why they came here to help. The chief took it well.

"So, you were attacked by a strange group, and after using your power, you found another world. I can’t say it is easy to believe, but we aren’t in a position to deny help. My name is Puy, and I welcomed you to our village, I don’t need to say that these are hard times."

"How did you kill so many ants to use as a barricade?" Silas went straight to the point. "Using their smell against them to hide your village was very smart."

"I can’t say we did it on purpose. After our warriors failed to return, we prepared for the worst and dug some holes in the entrances to the village. Our paranoia turned real when they attacked and destroyed the outer walls. We lost a lot of warriors, but the trap worked."

"What was the trap?"

"Bombs. The secret our ancestors left us was the preparation of bombs and other explosives. We put a bunch of bombs in the holes, and when the ants attacked, we detonated them. The tunnels collapsed, but we have the small tunnel to exit; we aren’t trapped, but the ants can’t find us now."

"What about the food? The fields outside are unattended. You can’t live without food." Silvano said.

"I already told you, we lost a lot of our people during the attack. We can’t tend the fields, and ants probably ate it all. We have the provisions of this storage room; we can last for some months and wait."

"Wait for what?"

"For other colonies to kill these ants, and that they forget our presence."

It wasn’t an impressive plan, but Puy was the leader for a reason. They had no chance of surviving another attack. He saw with his own eyes the power of those ants and the deadly poison they spat. Many of his people would perish and starve, but the tribe would survive.

"You don’t need to stay still and wait for a slow death. We can help you." Silas interrupted.

"How? Are you planning to give us your food?"

"No, with the members of Dawn here present, we all agree to help and make you part of the Pix-Dawn alliance. We’ll give you food in the future, but we'll all so gain control of the Rock and everything inside."

"You speak with confidence, but those things can take a lot of punishment before going down, and one bite is almost a death sentence."

"We already killed several of them, and if you give us some of those explosives, we’re going to kill their queen."