The tunnels continued with their ant-lined corridors for some time. By Duke’s guess they had traveled at least another two kilometers. “Aurelia, are we still in range of the Legion?”

“No, we’ve passed out of range for my Abilities, so we are more than two kilometers away.” She related. “Are you sure about this? We are absolutely surrounded by these giant ants and not by a small number. There are thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, of them just behind us.”

“We will be fine. No need to worry.” Duke responded, doing his best to project confidence despite the increasing oppressive feeling as the ants closed ranks behind them.

The tunnels became more stone-like the further they traveled. They had the appearance of chiseled stone rather than the packed earth that the previous tunnels had been. Duke began to wonder if these tunnels were here before the ants as part of some natural formation or if there was some sort of giant ant that could work stone. The second possibility made him more concerned as that implied either some serious elemental Abilities or mandibles strong enough to work stone. Either way, it was a concern.

Finally, the trio arrived in the largest chamber so far. Duke had sensed it coming for a while as he was getting more and more used to how the world looked in his DUNGEON SENSE. Even now, he still couldn’t use it at its full potential range that had grown to over six kilometers. The Ability may have been at the Adept rank but his own mastery over it was far lower – it was still to alien to his mind. With all the ants choking the passageways, Duke was happy that he had been able to get his range out to five hundred meters and maintain the clarity of sense that he wanted. The Ability wasn’t designed for the human brain, and he knew it would take a long time to adapt to it. Despite all that, he was proud of the progress he had made so far.

This new chamber stretched beyond Duke’s current DUNGEON SENSE. He pushed his personal limit with extra focus on the Ability to be able to see across the full kilometer span of what he now knew to be the queen’s chamber. The queen waited for the group in the center of the chamber surrounded by the largest ants Duke had seen yet. Her royal guard stood ten meters at the shoulder and exuded a palpable menace even at this distance. Aurelia and Eihlen tensed up at the feeling.

“Can you feel that?” Aurelia asked.

“Yes, it’s super-creepy.” Eihlen responded.

“It’s the presence of the queen’s royal guard. They are still about two hundred meters away, but they exude an imposing presence. I expect the queen to have an even greater aura, but I believe she is suppressing it for us. I have no idea what is going to happen when we get to her so be ready to defend yourselves. I am hoping that this will be a friendly meeting and I don’t have to destroy the queen and the whole nest.”

“Do you really think you could?” Eihlen asked with trepidation filling her voice.

“Yes.” Duke responded with cold confidence and finality.

The corridor of ants led them straight to the queen and her royal guard. As they approached, they became confused. The queen stood as tall as Aurelia, in a nearly human form. She was still clearly not human as her skin was chiton and her eyes were overlarge with myriad black facets. But beyond those features, she could be mistaken for a bald, naked human woman in the right light. As they approached, she spoke.

“Greetings and welcome to the Supreme Nest. I am Mandibra, Queen of the Nest and I welcome you. And no, this is not my natural form but one that is best for interacting with you.” Her voice had an odd buzzing sound to it that triggered Duke’s XENOGLOSSIA. He realized that she spoke in a multi-tonal language that carried commands to her guards. In addition to what he and his companions heard. He relaxed when the translation of her words processed. “Stand down, oh my beloved guardians. I shall treat with these humans so that the Nest shall be preserved, and the evil one will never enslave us again. I have read this human’s Life Scent and I am sure that he will deal with us fairly if not provoked further.”

The immense royal guard ants stepped back away from the group and the Queen continued. “My apologies for not having furniture for you to sit upon. It is not a custom to sit on furniture in the Nest as it seems to be in your own homes.”

“Do you mind if I produce some furniture for us all?” Duke asked.

“Oh, by all means. Please do so but I would ask you to introduce yourselves first. I would know with whom I speak.” The Queen responded.

“Thank you, Your Majesty.” Duke responded. “I am Duke, this is Aurelia, and finally Eihlen. We are well pleased to meet with you and perhaps find a path towards mutual understanding instead of conflict.” There, that’s the most fucking diplomatic thing I have ever said in my life. Hope it works because they would be a better ally than enemy and it took a lot of effort to put that word salad together.

Duke proceeded to pull four overstuffed chairs from his INVENTORY and arranged them in a circle. He smiled at the curious look he received from Mandibra at seeing the chairs appear. The three waited until the Queen sat before sitting themselves.

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Duke started the conversation which would have been a terrible breach of protocol in a humanoid kingdom but his Abilities had showed him that he held the advantage here – they feared him. “Your Majesty, we came here in response to an unprovoked attack. If you wish to cease hostilities, I would have your explanation. You well know that I, even by myself, have the power to destroy your nest. You do not know what my companions are capable of.”

He read the body language of the Ant Queen, his XENOGLOSSIA firing with his intent. She was nervous and unsure of herself. This became even more clear when she responded. “The explanation is simple but terrible. I and my nest are residents of the underworld and do not have experience in dealing with denizens of the surface world. There have been some significant stirrings among the residents of the underworld in recent years and I have been sending my scout workers to dig paths away from the increasing trouble spots. They eventually broke through to the surface world. There they encountered the Deceiver.”

Duke raised an eyebrow in interest at the name and nodded for her to continue. His emotions were mixed in dealing with her. Her soldiers had attacked the Legion, dragging as many as three thousand Legionnaires to their deaths. But he also knew that it was likely not their own choice. His anger seethed below the surface, and he was doing his best to restrain himself.

She continued. “This surface dweller, this man, spoke our very own language of scents and vibration. Because of this, he was brought to speak with me. At first, he spoke of harmony and growth and even blessed some of my eggs, making them stronger than ever before. It was a beneficial relationship as he only helped us. Then things changed. He cast a spell of some sort on me, and I felt my mind retreat to be replaced only by his instruction. He took me over and by doing so, took over the entire Nest. The latest thing he made us do was attack your walking Nest.”

Her story fit rather well against Duke’s suspicions, and he read honesty and sorrow in her body language. Even her scent spoke to the truth of her words. He decided to let the matter drop. “Your Majesty, the tale you have told us about the Deceiver would not sound genuine to many people and would be treated as a flimsy attempt at excusing one’s actions. But I see the truth of your words and know this attack was neither your intention nor your will. I also know this because this Deceiver of yours is now my prisoner. He will answer for his crimes.”

She did not immediately respond but her body language spoke volumes. She was shocked and relieved at this turn of events, even elated at the Deceiver being captured. “This is news of the greatest caliber. You have my thanks for removing this evil from my Nest. There is one more matter that must be brought to light before we speak any further.” She then issued a command in her language of scent and vibration. “Bring them out safely and gently. They are being released.”

A great stirring of motion from a far corner of the chamber was heard and when Duke focused his DUNGEON SENSE on the area, he saw something that he could barely believe. More than a thousand Legionnaires were being escorted into the chamber. They were unarmed, but still wore their armor. Before he could say anything, the Queen continued.

“They were being held as hostages against any aggression on your part. It is not how I wished to conduct our interaction but my first and foremost loyalty is to the Nest, and I will do whatever is necessary to protect it. As you have been so reasonable with us, we release them back to you. We will find other food for my children.”

The trio gaped, truly taken by surprise at this turn of events. Not only were there more than a thousand Legionnaires that had been taken by the ants, they were being kept alive to be food for the ant larvae. Duke took the lead in response. His XENOGLOSSIA had kicked in and he knew how much Mandibra was waiting on his reaction and response. And respond he did. “Thank you for returning our Legionnaires. That saves me the trouble of retrieving them myself.”

Duke gestured and, after pouring nearly his entire Mana pool into his Ability, TELEPORTED the Legionnaires back to the Legion. It was the Queen’s turn to gape. Duke smiled inwardly as she stumbled over her response. “How…how…what just happened?”

Duke allowed his smile to turn outward. “A mere touch of my power. I sent my people back home. Was that truly all of them or do I need to look beyond the walls of this chamber?” Duke was feeling pumped after that display of power and decided to push it a bit further despite needing time to regen his Mana. He had reserved a bit over 30,000 which was easily enough to get his party out if needed. He was getting his Mana back at a rate of almost 4,000 a second, so he wasn’t particularly concerned.

Mandibra took a moment to compose herself, realizing how much her reaction had given away. “I assure you, that is all of your people that I was holding. With the Deceiver gone, I wish nothing more than friendly relations with you and yours.” She was not able to hide her emotions from Duke – she was absolutely terrified of him now.

“I am inclined to move in that direction. But the fact remains that you did attack my people and kidnapped a number of them. We need to address this before we can move on to any talks of freindship.” Duke replied, applying all the political pressure he could think of. This was, after all, not his strong point. Point me at a target and I’ll obliterate it. Put me in a contest of political wits and I’m a fucking bull in a China shop.

“Your point is well made. You suffered losses because of this unfortunate attack, as did the Nest, but we were the unwitting aggressor here. I will offer you thirty thousand of my warriors to assist you when you reach your foe. Is that sufficient to replace your losses?”

“A generous offer. Make it fifty thousand and we can call this matter resolved.” Duke responded.

“Agreed.” Mandibra responded quickly. Duke realized immediately that he could have upped the number significantly but still it was a lot more than he had expected.

“Now, let’s move on to other matters, such as an alliance between my people and your Nest.” Duke responded. After several hours of negotiations, an agreement was reached for mutual defense and trade. Duke was more than happy to take his leave of the Nest and return to the Legion with his companions. I need some fucking ambassadors. There is no way that me doing all this shit buy myself is a good idea.