Less than a single kilogram of matter entering a planet’s atmosphere at once was something that would have to be specifically anticipated to raise alarm bells. Otherwise, it would be easy to mix up with the much larger quantities falling towards a planet. The difference between the size of the Great Queen herself and the Great Queen plus a few hundred other void ants was negligible- both given her relatively larger size, and the margin of error they had available before there was a serious chance of them being detected.
In the worst case scenario where they were spotted, the Great Queen could flee by herself. To humans, the potential of hundreds of their number perishing on a single operation would give them pause. Void ants didn’t quite see things the same way. Of course, they would do their best to avoid death to begin with.
The ants spread out in a wide net to maximize their drag early on- while the Great Queen manipulated the energy flows around them to greatly reduce their relative momentum to the planet before they hit too much atmosphere. Otherwise, they might just burn up from their entry, which would be an ignominious way to die.
Once they got to a certain low enough speed they separated, floating down over the chosen city to numerous different positions. It was a large area to cover even with so many of them, but they had a few particular locations they were gunning for. The Great Queen was headed towards the highest priority target- the Void Scrying Sect- but there would be others at the same facility as well.
Unlike most other void ants- even other queens- the Great Queen herself was more visible than others due to her size. But she could also move quickly enough to avoid most opportunities to spot her. That speed and her experience would be necessary.
She landed on a roof and began to climb in through ventilation shafts. Just one sort of security risk cultivators couldn’t help but have, as those used to luxuries didn’t like stuffy rooms. And the sort of people here weren’t the kind given to ascetic lives.
Though the Great Queen had gone in with a vague idea of her goal, they actually had little knowledge of the facility. In such a situation, it would be best for her to follow her nose- the source of the most concentrated energy. And if she got a whiff of ascension energy, she would undoubtedly prioritize that over anything else.
To the Great Queen, the various formations protecting the area weren’t a source of danger but instead appeared more like tantalizing food. Though in an unintended way, they were a trap- because people would notice if she ate from them. At least too much.
Her infiltration was practically flawless until she ran into a local disciple. He happened to be involved in an accident where he slipped and fell on his own dagger, piercing into his neck. Admittedly, that wasn’t very convincing- but it was better than leaving a severed jugular with no explanation.
The second and third disciples that spotted her would be harder to explain. And the Great Queen was beginning to think it wasn’t a coincidence. Yet they turned, one after another, to look directly at her.
She might have overestimated her stealth skills a small amount, but this was ridiculous. Clearly they had something to sense her in particular. Was it simply that she had grown too much, and was now a more obvious blank in the world?
Unclear. What she did know was that she had to hurry. Obviously her intrusion wasn’t completely unnoticed. But she sensed something she had to confirm. Along the walls and the ceiling she scurried, rounding corners and occasionally leaping towards over-inquisitive individuals. It was no longer a coincidence by the fourth time, and she imagined someone had to have sensed the bodies now.
But the vault was just ahead. Next to two Life Transformation cultivators, the auras around them indicating their readiness for battle. But what were Life Transformation cultivators without their energy? They would die as easily as random humans. The Great Queen would be more worried about going up against a crowd of children than two ‘powerful’ cultivators.
Though she wasn’t foolish enough to imagine they couldn’t kill her. One of them even augmented the speed of his slash to a stupendous degree. Perhaps they were a bit better than a crowd of children after all. The force of such a weapon would certainly kill her, if it connected.
But the Great Queen was as aware of her own weaknesses as anyone else. She’d not sat idly and assumed herself invulnerable to anything a cultivator could throw at her. Her body twisted easily, and the weapon itself was diverted off course as she devoured nearby natural energy. The precision of a cultivator to hit a small moving target required that their own energy be able to redirect the attack, but she could devour such energy from the length of a room easily enough.
The other cultivator had already fallen, his spear perhaps the worst option for combating a void ant. The swordsman had a single chance with that sweeping attack, but then the Great Queen’s mandibles cut straight through his jugular… and then his spinal cord from behind. No sense in risking something to a last ditch effort to kill her while he died.
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A wave of energy blasted out from both of them, but it could do nothing to her.
The same was true of the defensive formation on the door. She bit at the energy, tearing it away rather than swallowing it simply because she didn’t have time to properly digest. The guards didn’t have a key to the door… but the keyhole itself was sufficiently sized for the Great Queen to mess with the inner workings. Without the benefit of formation’s enhancements, the metal simply couldn’t stand up to her jaws.
She found herself vindicated as she saw a lump of metal. It didn’t look like much to the eye, but the dense energy radiating from it was a powerful scent. If the Great Queen didn’t know the origins of this metal, she might have thought it a pleasant aroma.
Unfortunately, for all of her strengths, carrying huge lumps of metal wasn’t one of them. Ants might be able to carry quite a bit relative to their size, but something measured in tonnes or perhaps tens of tonnes was beyond even the Great Queen. Especially if she wished to move at speed.
From here, her plan was to simply escape. The goal had been revealed… though she could reveal it a bit more. Every formation along the way she tore through, both the flow of energy and the physical components. Disciples of the Void Scrying Sect began to flood the corridors, but the void ants who had come to the facility began to converge on the Great Queen. Even with only a few tens of them, they were able to form together into tumbling rings that allowed them to move faster.
The Great Queen was not the right size to fit with the rest of the void ants, and quite functional alone. The ring of ants might have a few wiped out on their way to a target, but they would then swarm over the cultivators that attacked them. And they knew very well where the best weak points were.
Tearing through the outer formation of the sect was the most important. Not only had the Great Queen and her brood confirmed the information they needed, but they could reveal the aura to the rest of the city. That alone wouldn’t be enough… but it would be difficult to keep an attack on their sect completely secret. People would ask questions. And anyone who knew about worldhearts would know about that chunk of metal. It was amazing how little a whole planet had been reduced to… stripped of all the things that mattered about a planet like its population. All that for a hunk of metal.
Once outside, the Great Queen grabbed her underlings. She could fly through her own methods, and bringing along a tiny bit of extra weight was no issue. Attacks flew after them into the city- but the vast majority of them had no chance of even scratching the void ants. Some were of a powerful enough energy that they could have harmed newborn void ants, but the Great Queen had brought those with proper development for such an important mission.
The others should be able to tell what was happening, with the great surge of energy. There would be a window to meet up in their appointed location, even with the attackers following. The Great Queen wanted to leave with all of her people, if she could. Just because they could be replaced didn’t mean they were without value.
The Void Scrying Sect had been the most obvious option. They could have predicted the assault on Zunrose, and whether or not they knew about the harm they would cause to Varghese in particular, they could have seen how they were shifting the course of the war.
But one thing they would have trouble predicting was the Great Queen. The ‘void’ in void ants and Void Scrying Sect were not the same thing. They relied on the flow of energy from people to predict what would happen. Void ants had none of that. Most likely, she was spotted because they had other techniques for finding void ants. Word of their resurgence in the lower realms must have come to this group. Or perhaps they had never lost their precautions within their headquarters, such as they were. Good enough to make her job more difficult.
The Great Queen took with her all of the void ants that showed up to the meeting place in time. Beams of energy chased after them as they flew into the sky, but the void ants resisted the attacks together. The few arrows and thrown implements that could still reach them had their energy devoured before they could get close, which then subjected them to gravity and friction.
None of this was truly the plan. A secret operation would have been better. But the Great Queen had made the best of it. Confirmation of the worldheart was one thing, but revealing who had it was also valuable. She didn’t understand it from a personal perspective, but humans were bound for factionalism and internal conflict. And with people like the Void Scrying Sect involved, she understood why they might be that way.
Which is why they should have picked good allies to begin with. Then again, they were associated with a large faction of infiltrators and traitors- and while the former were perfectly fine and reasonable, betraying those you swore loyalty to was unacceptable. Perhaps even worse was never meaning the words to begin with.
The Great Queen continued up into the sky- most likely, the enemy had lost track of them already. But she wouldn’t slow until they were beyond the barrier and then into space beyond. Her subordinates would have to huddle up together and slow their bodily functions due to the lack of air, but Nthanda would be waiting with a pleasant little storage bag full of air for their return.
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A single ship entered the system. Varghese first thought it was likely a trap. His second thought was that it had to be a trap. The third thought was that if they could pull off a trap like that, they shouldn’t need the single ship. Unless it was only a distraction. He focused on everything else but the single ship as it slowly approached, just in case anything was hiding. But he couldn’t find anything.
Then he recognized the aura of the captain of the ship. Not just by sect, but by individual presence. Only vaguely, but this was the same captain Anton had spoken to in the fallen system, the group investigating while they were there. What was his name… Tor? Perhaps his presence was also a ploy. But Varghese also had to accept it as a potential opportunity. He wouldn't stop scanning the rest of the system, of course, but he approached the ship- which was flying at a very steady and slow speed angled towards the center of the system.