While she was perfectly capable of fighting from space, and indeed in some ways more effective there if her arrows were bulky enough, Nthanda chose to fight on the ground for one reason. Void ants. They were a continual problem, but if she provided a target it was easy enough to distract them from other targets.
At least, until they realized that they could do nothing to her. Technically, she had natural energy that they were able to devour, and that lasted all of a few moments before they realized that they couldn’t actually hurt her. But by then, a good portion of their forces would have latched onto her, able to be squashed en-masse.
There were a few reasons Nthanda was willing to kill the void ants, besides having many as friends. First, they were dangerous to others. Second, many of them weren’t quite people. Even those that might have developed to that point were kind of jerks. They should know better than to attack random people who were clearly at war with their captors. But every time, upon being broken from their confinement, they went after every available source of natural energy.
Had Everheart somehow stumbled upon particularly tame void ants, or had the Exalted Quadrant turned them particularly aggressive? She wasn’t sure. All she knew was that she was covered in ants and they were getting in the way of her vision.
Different colonies tried different tactics. Some immediately abandoned attacking Nthanda upon realizing she couldn’t be harmed, aiming for other targets. Others tried various ways to kill her. It wasn’t actually pleasant, but Nthanda was so far being damaged by standard void ants that she didn’t have to do anything. Though she could always crush them all by squeezing a hand tightly around an arm and sliding along.
This colony was persistent, and was using the most unique method she’d seen. They couldn’t hurt her… but they simply began to pile on greater and greater numbers. Now she was something like ten ants deep. Frankly, though it was original, Nthanda didn’t find it particularly practical. They seemed to be trying to crush her with weight. She supposed they might actually succeed if it was a normal cultivator. They were up to a few hundred kilograms now. The colony seemed to be extremely numerous. Far more than she expected that anyone would let them grow, in fact. This wasn’t just millions of ants. Maybe tens of millions? Hundreds?
A portion of them died every time she fired her bow, but so far they weren’t really slowing her down. But they were quite useful in case anyone launched an energy attack… if a bit impractical. Her own training to modify her skin to absorb natural energy was sufficient.
Nthanda let them continue to come. She did determine she had something they could damage- her communicator. So she had to call for aid- not because she was in danger, but because she would prefer not to kill so many all at once. They had ways to contain them, all she needed was to detach them all at once. It was easier than it sounded, if a bit uncomfortable.
Though any of that was better than when they tried to climb into her nose. Even if they couldn’t hurt her from the inside it was weird, so she put a swift end to any trying anything like that by blasting them away with high force winds. A colony that merely wanted to crush her was much more acceptable, though clearly poorly informed. Then again, it wasn’t like the Exalted Quadrant shared any information with them.
-----
Deploying void ants with projectiles was a threatening prospect, but clearly the Exalted Quadrant didn’t check to make sure it actually worked. Various attempts were either too slow to hit any of their ships or too fast for the void ants to survive.
Despite her best efforts Nthanda could only be in one location at a time so the void ants were still a problematic factor for terrestrial combat… and they were currently dealing with some sects that lived in caverns. Fortified caverns, so they couldn’t just collapse them from space. Or at least nobody currently in attendance.
Nthanda was fine… but others with her or in other locations were not. These sects had void ants too, and even with flamethrowers and other specifically engineered weapons some slipped by and were causing casualties. They were also quite adept at getting around behind… and that was where they ran into danger.
It seemed they missed a small crack a kilometer back, and now were being pressed on both sides. Taking everything into account, Nthanda made a snap decision to collapse the tunnels in front of them. That wouldn’t perfectly seal off the direction, but should slow the void ants. But they still had to deal with behind.
Invincible as she was, she couldn’t stem the tide alone. Each ant had to be crushed in bunches, but she could only cover so much area. Nthanda didn’t mind flamethrowers including her in the area, since they were relatively low intensity, but since they didn’t function off of natural energy their ammunition was limited.
“Their numbers seem infinite!” cried one of her soldiers. “We have to run through!”
Nthanda grabbed the soldier as he tried to run past- better than letting him get himself killed. “You should at least wait for orders,” she said. “They’re only so fast. I can tell their numbers don’t continue endlessly. We move forward together.”
What she didn’t tell them was that she was fairly certain they couldn’t make it all the way. They sprayed the walls with fire, but they couldn’t use poisons in confined corridors or their own people would suffer. The air quality was already bad enough that people were using what natural energy they had to refresh it- but since it couldn’t be used against void ants anyway, they might as well.
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The first few colonies seemed like they might have been exceptions, carefully contained for experimentation. However, they’d seen so many more that it was clear these sects had been building them up for a long time. Perhaps as a form of retaliation against the lower realms, or perhaps they were meant to influence the upper realms eventually. Though the fact that they drew attention to themselves implied the lower realms might be the first targets.
Nthanda wanted to run ahead and try to seal the cracks, but the void ants were already out by the time she noticed. There probably weren’t more, so she’d just be abandoning her people. Her presence might not make much difference in who survived, but there was nothing more for her to do.
Then she noticed something new coming- flying through the air. An arrow whistled through the air, piercing a dozen meters into the wall behind as her target dodged. And then signed at her. “And hello to you too.”
Once she was close, Nthanda could recognize the form of the Great Queen. There were a few scars, she was far larger than most, and most tellingly the way she flew without wings revealed her. “I didn’t expect to see you,” Nthanda said.
“That’s why I came first,” the Great Queen signed. “Tell your people to leave the second wave alone. It will be obvious.”
Void ants dropped from the ceiling towards the Great Queen, further along the hallway into their mass as she was. They recognized her as from a different colony… but they far underestimated what they needed. With a single sweep of her jaws she clove a thousand of them into bits.
“Reinforcements are on their way!” Nthanda said. She looked at the Great Queen. “Our own allied void ants. You’ll be able to recognize them.”
Nthanda really hoped that was the case… because as much as the void ants didn’t mourn their individual losses, there would still be some with potential. Especially among such numbers. As for how long it would take… Nthanda fortunately didn’t have to wait.
It was obvious. First was the way they rolled together as a number of separate masses, but also the fact that they had a line of reflective silver paint down the middle of their bodies. Clearly, they’d thought about this. Both the dangers of friendly fire… and how they would fight other void ants en masse.
The ‘local’ void ants tried to fight back- and indeed, they killed many. But where the Alliance void ants were bigger, they used their mass to their advantage and where they were smaller they used more complex tactics. Then of course there were the Royal Guard, carving out large paths ahead of them.
From a hundred meters of tunnel, it was barely a minute before the incoming tide of void ants was half dissipated. Just in time, as the flamethrowers were beginning to sputter. That meant the cultivators simply had to withstand the void ants for a short time before their allies arrived and took care of the rest.
“... How many deaths?” Nthanda asked.
“Looks like twenty or so,” the Great Queen said.
“... among yours?”
The Great Queen tilted her head. “Maybe the same. But in millions. Few had practical experience against their own kind, except in training. But I am proud to see they did not hesitate.”
“I didn’t expect you,” Nthanda said. “I hadn’t heard about reinforcement ships.”
“We arrived in the days since you’ve been in the tunnels. We are here, of course, to stop these ruffians from giving us bad names.”
“Their numbers…” Nthanda began hesitantly.
“Won’t be a problem. Aside from the Unified Cluster, the Lower Realms Alliance has plenty of void ants. We might run out of paint, though. That was a last minute thing.”
-----
The Lower Realms Alliance void ants had come to join the battle in a single ship- a single long distance cargo vessel. And while some of the Alliance had been concerned about the number of void ants the enemy kept releasing… the Great Queen had brought enough followers to complete their goal. Specifically their goal was that humans should not concern themselves with void ants.
If the enemy released them onto the battlefield? The Alliance ants would take care of them. Anywhere people had to land they would go. While there were a few concerns at first due to possible confusion, their zealotry was not to be questioned.
“We don’t want you to look and think ‘is that an enemy?’ Of course not.” The Great Queen shook her head vigorously in her speech, being broadcast to the fleets. “If it is an enemy, fear not for we will take care of it. Step without caution as we root them out of their dark hiding places.”
Perhaps it should not have been surprising since the Great Queen’s leadership had been continuous for more than eight centuries, but the Alliance void ants were far more effective than the others. And it seemed they weren’t lacking in numbers, either. The various planets had been growing colonies in containment- meanwhile, throughout the rest of the alliance the void ants moved freely. They just didn’t look like they took up much space, because they used places humans couldn’t.
Aside from battlefield tactics, the Alliance ants had the one advantage holding the others back- cooperation. Specifically, ships that could transport them. The Exalted Quadrant had to worry about keeping them contained until they got somewhere. The Alliance just had to worry about not stepping on them- except of course the void ants were smart enough to make trails that were safe.
Everywhere that enemy void ants had been seen, the Alliance ants scoured the area… but that wasn’t all. They also established a colony to watch the area. It would take them some time to build up proper numbers, but the Great Queen was adamant that nothing would slip through their mandibles.
As for the previously captured void ants… they were quite intimidated by the Great Queen’s presence. Not understanding speech and only recognizing her scent as different, they were quite aggressive until the first few thousand died- mostly by her own jaws or the cutting insights of her Royal Guard.
After some initial trouble, they recognized that the sign language was a form of communication. Some of the colonies calmed down when the Great Queen didn’t press the attack. Any colonies’ queens who were willing to back down or at least tried to communicate continued to have necessary food and water provided. A few colonies were riled up by their queens and then completely eliminated. As for fruitful communication, that would take more time.