Chapter 53:

Ants piled in from all directions, and Alice stood by Titus's side as they watched the battle. Despite Titus's wishful thinking, things weren't necessarily going as well as he had hoped.

She watched as the Fungus Wartling swiped one of its appendages across the ground, knocking countless ants out of its way. The effortlessness displayed in its motion made Alice doubt if the ants' tried and true strategy would have the normal effect here. Those who did latch on with their mandibles were dragged along for the ride without slowing the movement by any detectable amount. Still, the numbers in the colony never let her doubt their eventual victory. The possibility of the ants taking care of the problem eventually was almost a certainty, but that wasn't to say it was a good outcome. It might take days, or they could destroy everything around them in an effort to bring the monster down.

Alice looked nervously at the building behind the fungus. Unfortunately, the situation wasn't any different anywhere else. All other entrances they could possibly use faced the same situation: a massive fungal monster being ineffectually swarmed by an ever-growing number of furious ants.

"I don't know if we can wait," she whispered to Titus.

He indicated the mass of ants in front of them. "I don't think we can get through that," he countered. "And I don't know how much to trust the pheromones if we charge in to help."

Alice could see where Titus was coming from, but they couldn't sit there and do nothing. The ants were proving a good distraction, but that distraction was a massive ball of fighting, acid sprays, and bites right in front of the entrance, blocking their path.

"I don't know if they're going to be able to win soon enough," Alice argued.

There were numerous ants, and some of the more powerful soldiers were arriving. Still, was it enough to shift the balance? They were large, but level-wise…

Well, I remember what it was like to be level ten against a level 35 monster. She and Titus had been extremely lucky a couple of times, but they were thinking beings with magic and mana, not a mindless horde of ants.

The ants were dying by the dozens, attacking all the different fungus through the room. There was only so much space in the room, so the numbers advantage was limited. The other options they had were also questionable. She wasn't sure if the acid sprays would do anything to the fungus, and with the enclosed area, friendly fire was maybe a concern. She wished she knew more about the ants; were they vulnerable to their own acid?

The Wartlings could kill half the colony of ants by the time the fungus was brought down. Of course, they were in the ants' nest, so the ants would throw everything at it. But did they have time? Would the building be destroyed? Would they? Would this room be nothing more than packed ants, corpses so densely piled that the ants can't even attack anymore, and the fungus can eat the antibodies and then grow stronger?

There was also the concern that the fungus would be leveling up slowly, unlike before. The ants constantly throwing waves of disposable soldiers at an enemy wasn't wearing the enemy down. Not really. It took a significant amount of effort to kill each ant. If anything, it just provided a slow trickle of experience.

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All this ran through Alice's mind quickly as the ant pile in front of them continued to grow.

"I'm open to suggestions," Titus said after thinking as well.

Alice racked her brain but couldn't find any obvious solution that didn't involve them diving into this mess and killing it themselves. But if they showed too much aggression, would the ants recognize them as not members of their colony?

Just then, Alice noticed a flash of orange amongst the writhing mass and looked down. She looked down in shock before turning to Titus, "Hey, Titus! Where's Tony?"

---

Tony smelled danger. Gnashing his mandibles together, he waited for his friends to charge in with his family, but they sat there paralyzed as if they did not smell the danger. Clearly, there was danger in front of them. Even with his blurry vision, Tony could see the threat to the colony. As much as he wanted his good friend and the other friend to act, Tony couldn't wait.

Tony gripped the ground underneath him with all of his little talons, quivering as his antennae flicked, but still, his friends did nothing. Tony didn't have to move his head to see his friends, as his eyes covered nearly everywhere and everything around him. Clearly, there was danger. After even more time, it was evident that his friends did not see the danger. So Tony would have to protect them from it.

And so Tony did the only thing he could. Tony charged.

His newfound speed sent Tony catapulting past his family. When his mandibles clacked shut around the intruder, they pierced very deep. So deep that he didn't get a hold—they sliced through the spongy flesh in one bite and didn't allow him to grab on. Still, Tony didn't give up. There was danger in the colony. His family was fighting, and his friends were unaware of the threat.

Lunging forward again, Tony's mandibles gnashed repeatedly. He attempted to grab hold like so many of his sisters, who were overwhelmed by the danger with sheer tenacity and the weight of numbers. All of his sisters screamed through their pheromones that they would give their lives for the colony. One by one, they latched on, dragging down the monster that had gotten to the most sacred parts of the nest—the part where they grew the food.

They all chewed, but Tony was still unable to grab hold. Mandibles clacking, Tony dug deeper and deeper. Even as he bit down, he had to use his frontmost set of legs to clear away the pieces he was chewing off as he chased the monster further. As it tried to shift away from him, he paused, burying deeper into the flesh.

Tony wasn't sure what to think of the new decorations on his carapace. It was odd to look different than his sisters. But honestly, appearance wasn't something he really thought about. It was still impossible for him to ignore the fact that they looked interesting. That was something that only crossed his mind for a moment. Whatever his new friend had done had made him faster and stronger than his sisters.

So once he had fully given up on latching on and dragging the monster down with his body weight, he pushed to the front, shoving aside many of his family members attempting to sacrifice themselves for the colony. He led the charge, burying himself in the mass of the monster, ripping it into pieces bit by bit. Still, despite his new speed and strength, he was only one small ant.

And that was when his friends joined in. The smaller friend, the slightly less large friend, pointed her stick, and the monster slowed down again. Holes were blasted near Tony. Tony was glad that she had good aim and didn't blast any of his sisters or him. His best friend, the even more ridiculously large friend, charged with a long stick held in his jaws. As he slashed with his legs, the tip cut wide swaths, even larger than Tony's mandibles.

Now that his friends had recognized the danger, Tony felt completely satisfied as he began to chomp even faster. Soon, the colony would be safe again. But until then, he, his sisters, and his friends had a grueling job to do.