When Mitchell came to, at first he thought he was dead, for he could see nothing. Shortly after accepting that it was over for him, a faint golden glow suffused the area, just enough that he could see Sarah’s bloody face leaned over his torso, poking and prodding at something he couldn’t feel. The room spun and his head felt fuzzy.
Sarah said something, but it didn’t sound clear. She grimaced, then gained a glint of determination in her eye, casting another spell on him.
The pain caused by the state of his body pierced through the haze like a blinder had been ripped away from his sight, and Mitchell screamed. He hadn’t felt pain like this before, as if a million blades were scraping away at the very tips of his nerves, mainlining sheer agony into his brain, and he passed out.
When he woke up again, there was a faint bit of ambient light, and still Sarah leaned over him, bags under her eyes and sweat pouring down her face. When she spoke now, it was not clear, but he could still piece together some words. They were words he didn’t like, the semi-rational part of his brain said, words like ‘third-degree’ and ‘skin graft’. The pain was muted, and he realized that the scraping from before was a light breeze that now felt cooling against his skin. He breathed in, and pain sprouted from deep in his throat, commencing a coughing fit.
Sarah lifted an oddly shaped bowl and pushed it to his lips, tilting it back to force him to drink. The scent was nasty and dank, but Mitchell knew he needed water and so he took a large gulp.
The liquid was immediately spit out as its acrid, vinegary taste filled his mouth. Sarah looked at him in disapproval, lifting the bowl again. Mitchell eyed it with fear, still trying his best not to look - he was okay with cuts, but for some reason burns made him queasy. Eventually, though, he relented and allowed her to raise the bowl again.
Despite the taste, Mitchell chugged the substance back and felt it course down his throat, past what had to be burnt tissue and into his stomach. From there, a cold feeling spread outwards, and with a popping sound, his hearing returned in full.
He could hear Sarah mumbling under her breath. “Please don’t die, please don’t die, please don’t die, please don- oh!”
Mitchell had managed to raise an arm to nudge her, only to realize that it was the one with no hand. Sarah quickly stood up, wiping at her bloodshot eyes and activating her new, upgraded Analyze skill: Diagnose.
Mitchell LeFleur
HP: 24/40
Conditions:
Burned (Major)
Amputated (Left Hand)
Shock (Minor)
Determined (Remaining TIme: -:--:----)
She breathed a sigh of relief. Over the past 4 hours, she had been working on him non-stop, slinging her spells as soon as she had the MP for it and using the First Aid kit while she waited for the points to regenerate. Now she could finally focus on the battle going on around her.
The carpenter ants exhibited profound levels of intelligence for their species. They appeared to hold some sort of gratitude towards the pair, and had stood guard over Sarah while she had healed Mitchell. It was good, as soon enough the fire ants had sent reinforcements, and there was fierce fighting at the tunnel leading further into the dungeon. One fire ant worker fell for each 3 of the carpenters, but the warriors were closer to an even match. The fire ant warrior had much hotter flames, but the carpenter ants carapace let it cut through those flames with enough time to kill the fire ant before itself succumbing to the burns. The stench in this chamber was rancid and horrid, the nooks and crannies starting to pile up with carcasses.
She’d gathered up the equipment, the melted remains of Mitchell’s shield gradually reshaping itself, and had set about trying to fix burns that covered an entire body. With a small, sharp mandible and liberal usage of her disinfectant spell, she’d cut away the skin that couldn’t be saved, and used a suite of three spells to rejuvenate the skin then mend it back together where it had grown tight and cracked. She could only do about a square inch each minute, and the conundrum of dealing with what lie underneath his clothes was a minor point of hesitation for her, but her Diagnose had let her know he was still going to be losing HP over time so long as the burns remained Severe. That had pushed her past any thoughts of prudishness.
Finally, the terrible oozing wounds were labeled as just Major, and she could relax, taking back the bowl from her patient. The ants had pushed the bowl full of the odd, viscous liquid towards her multiple times until she’d diagnosed it as some form of natural medicine her skill was too low to get the details of. It smelt like death and tasted like the most curdled vinegar, but its healing and nutritional effects could not be denied.
Sarah blinked her vision back into focus upon hearing a sharp intake of breath, and to her absolute shock, Mitchell was actively attempting to get up. “What the fuck is wrong with you?” She let out without thinking, and even after a moment didn’t apologize or take it back. That was warranted.
Mitchell turned to speak, but something must have caught because instead he curled up and began coughing. Dirty hacks echoed through the cave, a final hawking revealing a coagulated mass of blood that he spit up. He lay on the cave floor, groaning, even as the black carpenter ants scuttled past him to the front line of their battle. “I can’t stop trying.”
“Yes, you can. In fact, it would be much smarter to start thinking of a way out.”
Mitchell turned to her with a glare. “No, I can’t. I got a quest this morning.”
Sarah frowned at him. He’d had a quest all day, and told nobody. “What kind of quest?”
Mitchell spit again, clearing his throat. “The kind I’m forced to do, let’s just leave it at that.”
She scoffed. “No? You’re forced into a qu-”
“The System Chooses. That’s the name of the quest.”
Sarah stopped in her protest, as Mitchell genuinely looked on the verge of a breakdown. “What… what is the quest, Mitchell?”
He snarled, animalistic, and pushed himself to his feet through the knives of agony that scraped across raw skin. “It doesn’t matter, Sarah! I’m not going to do it!”
She placed a hand on his shoulder, not pushing, but stopping him from rising. It wasn’t subtle, but she cast a Calm Mind, and his shoulders visibly slumped. “You might not plan on doing it, but it clearly bothers you. Give me ten more minutes to keep working on those burns after a break, and then we’ll push through and beat this dungeon - or find a way out? Either way, we’re going to talk about this. I want to know why we’re risking our lives. That’s only fair.”
He grunted, and the two of them sat in silence for a moment. Eventually, Sarah began to work on the wounds and after a couple minutes of hissed breath and twitches, Mitchell spoke.
“‘Integration is a tumultuous time, but also one of great opportunity. Be the last one standing at the end of the tutorial, and be rewarded greatly.’ This system wants me to kill thousands of people.”
Sarah was quiet for a moment. “You could just… not.”
“‘Rewards: Class Potential Boost, 50,000,000 XP, 500 C-Coins(500,000,000 Coins), Settlement Stone, -REP All.’ So It would make me rich, powerful, and hated. ‘Penalties: Class locked, 0XP, 1 Coin, Settlement Stone, permanently crippled.’” Mitch growled out.
Sarah’s mouth gaped for a moment. Even with her most basic of ethics classes, she could tell that was no choice at all. “That’s why you came out here?”
The injured man nodded slowly. “I wasn’t kidding. I’d rather be dead than be the last one left. We do this together, or not at all.”
“Together, then.” Sarah nodded blankly, knowing that showing her lack of worry about the revelation was the best way to heal an injured heart.
He looked at her with genuine surprise, then a grateful smile, before leaning his head back against the cool stone and closing his eyes.
Sarah did worry, though. She worried for herself, in this dank cave with a horde of ants standing between them and a fiery end. She worried for John, the big optimistic man, quick to trust and slow to anger. She worried for Miriam and for George, and for all of the people they’d yet to meet. She worried about the System, and what it might mean for them that it saw human life so cheaply.
She couldn’t stop thinking about the jagged rock next to Mitchells remaining hand, and debating whether she should use it on him before he used it on her. She hadn’t noticed it until he had shared his quest.
Troubling.
----------------------------------------
It took roughly two hours for Mitchell to become ambulatory, which was essentially a miracle by modern medical standards. Sarah zapped him with a disinfect spell every five minutes or so, and soon the skin had actually grown back, rendering Sarah’s skin graft attempts less medicine and more… well.
“I didn’t torture you.”
“Is that what you’re going to say in court?” Mitchell jested, in a much better mood than previously. “Your honour, I swear on my life, nuh-uh!”
“Court doesn’t exist, Stumpy.”
Mitchell whirled about with his mouth gaping like a fish. He tried multiple times to respond, but he couldn’t believe she’d actually- Oh. She was laughing.
He let himself chuckle uneasily, but turned forwards to keep following their guide - or honour guard? - of carpenter ants.
A few moments of uncomfortable silence passed, filled only with the occasional drip of moisture in the cave and the scuttling of ant chitin against the stone.
Eventually, though, Sarah broke the silence. “Mitchell, I’m sorry. With how you were acting about it, I figured it didn’t bother you that much.”
Mitchell pointedly waved it off with his handless arm. “I’ll deal with it later, when there’s less at stake.”
He thought to himself in silence for a moment before speaking again. “Why do you think they’re protecting us?”
“Couldn’t tell you,” Sarah replied honestly, keeping her focus on their path ahead. The carpenter ants led them deeper into the labyrinthine dungeon, a large warrior leading the way with others flanking them on each side. The chamber echoed with the occasional drip of moisture and the steady scuttling of ant chitin against stone.
The journey through the dungeon had taken its toll on both of them. Sarah’s spells had exhausted her, and Mitchell’s injuries still lingered, despite the initial treatment. He leaned on Sarah for support, his steps hesitant but determined.
As they proceeded, a fire ant suddenly scuttled out of a nearby tunnel. Before they could react, the carpenter ant guards surged forward with surprising speed. In a blur of mandibles and chitin, they overpowered the intruder and left its carcass behind, its mandibles ripped off as if in a ritualistic manner.
“It’s odd,” Mitchell remarked, watching the ants with fascination and unease. “Why would they go to such lengths to protect us? Why remove the mandibles?”
Sarah shook her head, equally perplexed. “I don’t know, but we should be cautious. There’s something deeper going on here. They’re clearly smarter than ants from Before.”
They continued deeper into the dungeon, the air growing warmer and more oppressive with each step. Soon, they arrived at a vast chamber with a ceiling that seemed to stretch into darkness. The walls were lined with intricate tunnels, some emanating faint glows from within—signs of the fire ants’ nest.
As they approached the center of the chamber, they spotted a contingent of fire ant guards guarding a large tunnel on the opposite side of the cavern. These ants were larger and more menacing, their fiery carapaces pulsing with internal heat. They stood in formation, mandibles clicking and antennae twitching as they assessed the intruders—Mitchell and Sarah.
The carpenter ants halted, forming a protective circle around the humans. The large warrior ant in the front chittered loudly, its antennae waving in what seemed like a signal to the fire ants. There was a tense standoff, neither side moving to attack nor retreat.
Sarah gripped her staff tightly, readying herself for whatever would come next. “Mitchell, be ready. We might have to fight our way through.”
Mitchell nodded, his gaze fixed on the fire ants. “Or negotiate. Maybe they’ll listen to reason.”
Before Sarah could respond, the chamber echoed with a high-pitched chittering. From one of the tunnels to the side, a figure emerged—a massive carpenter ant, easily three times the size of the warriors. This was undoubtedly the carpenter queen they had guessed about.
The queen moved with a regal grace, her antennae twitching as she surveyed the scene. Her eyes settled on Mitchell and Sarah, and she emitted a low, rumbling chirp that seemed to reverberate through the chamber.
Giant Carpenter Ant Queen
Level 15
Conditions: Determined (00:000:060)
Malnourished (Minor)
Resplendent (Major)
“She’s here,” Sarah whispered, awestruck by the sight of the queen.
Mitchell stepped forward cautiously, raising his hand in what he hoped was a gesture of peace. “We come in peace,” he called out, his voice echoing faintly against the chamber walls. As the noise faded, he swallowed his fear and bowed his head.
The queen approached slowly, her mandibles clicking in a rhythmic pattern. She stopped a few feet away, her compound eyes fixated on Mitchell and Sarah with an intensity that was both unnerving and curious.
Sarah took a tentative step forward, keeping her gaze respectfully lowered. “We seek your help,” she began, choosing her words carefully. “We need to reach the fire ant queen—to end this conflict.”
The queen’s antennae twitched, and she emitted another low chirp. The carpenter ants around them seemed to relax slightly, sensing their queen’s approval. The queen reached forward with one of her forelegs and rested the hard material under Mitchell’s chin, lifting his gaze.
Mitchell glanced at Sarah, then back at the queen. “Will you help us end the tyranny of the flames, your highness?”
The queen paused, considering their request. Finally, she emitted a series of chirps and clicks, a language that neither Mitchell nor Sarah understood—but the intent seemed clear.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
“She’s… agreed?” Sarah whispered, relief threatening to wash over her.
Mitchell nodded, a weight lifting from his shoulders. “Thank you,” he said softly, bowing his head slightly to the queen once more, this time in genuine thanks.
With a final chitter, the queen turned and led the way deeper into the chamber, her warriors falling into formation around Mitchell and Sarah. They followed cautiously, their hearts pounding with anticipation as they approached the lair of the fire ant queen.
As they ventured further, the chamber opened up into a massive cavern—the heart of the fire ants’ domain. Lava pools bubbled at the edges, casting an eerie glow over the scene. And there, at the far end, seated on a throne of obsidian and molten rock, was the fire ant queen.
The fire ant queen sat upon her seat of power, her presence commanding respect and fear in equal measure. Her fiery carapace pulsed with channels of internal heat, casting an ominous glow across the cavernous chamber. Her mandibles twitched with anticipation as she assessed the intruders—Mitchell, Sarah, and their unlikely escort of carpenter ant warriors and the massive queen.
Sarah felt a surge of apprehension but kept her composure, her fingers tightening around her staff. Mitchell stood beside her, his gaze steady despite the tension that permeated the air.
The carpenter ant queen led the way, her massive form moving with deliberate grace. Her warriors formed a protective circle around Mitchell and Sarah, ready to defend them if needed. The fire ant guards eyed them warily, their mandibles clicking in agitation.
Without warning, one of the smaller fire ant guards screeched and lunged forward, intent on attacking Mitchell. But before anyone could react, the fire ant queen raised her foreleg and with a swift flick of her antennae, unleashed a bolt of searing fire. The fire ant guard convulsed as the fiery projectile pierced its head, leaving a glowing, smoking hole between its large eyes. The carcass skidded to a halt, a stark reminder of the power and ruthlessness of the fire ant queen.
Mitchell and Sarah exchanged a quick, tense glance, silently reaffirming their resolve. They had come too far to turn back now. The fate of their quest—and the lives of their companions—depended on their ability to negotiate or, if necessary, to fight. At the least, this was proof that the fire ant queen was intelligent enough to punish a lack of decorum. She could be considered civilised.
The fire ant queen regarded them with a mix of curiosity and hostility, her antennae twitching as if weighing their presence. Sarah took a step forward, her voice steady despite the rapid beating of her heart.
“We seek to end this conflict peacefully,” Sarah declared, her tone respectful yet firm. “We wish to speak with you, Queen of the Fire Ants, to find a resolution that benefits both our peoples.”
The fire ant queen’s mandibles clicked in response, her eyes narrowing slightly. She emitted a series of chitters and clicks, a language that resonated deep within the chamber. The carpenter ant queen beside Mitchell and Sarah responded in kind, her own clicks carrying a sense of urgency and diplomacy.
Mitchell held his breath, watching the exchange intently. He knew that their fate hinged on the outcome of this negotiation. He hoped against hope that their plea for peace would be heard.
After what seemed like an eternity, the fire ant queen emitted a final, decisive chirp. The tension in the chamber eased slightly as she gestured with her foreleg, indicating that she would allow them to speak.
Sarah took a deep breath, her mind racing with the weight of their goal. “We believe that our conflict is not necessary,” she continued, choosing her words carefully. “There are greater threats beyond these tunnels that we must face together. Let us find a way to coexist peacefully, for the sake of our survival.”
The fire ant queen regarded them silently for a moment, her antennae twitching as if considering Sarah’s words. Then, with a deliberate motion, she emitted a single, resounding chirp—a signal that echoed through the chamber. Even Mitchell could translate the meaning of that one.
‘Not ours.’
The fire ant guards around them shifted uneasily, their mandibles clicking in uncertainty. But before anyone could react, the carpenter ant queen stepped forward, her clicks and chirps carrying a sense of urgency and alliance. From this distance, Sarah could finally recognize that they were getting hit by the pheromones that ants used to communicate.
‘All!’ The carpenter queen protested. ‘We are stronger. Must build stronger. Think stronger.’
The fire ant queen hesitated for a moment longer, then emitted another chirp—a subtle gesture of defiance.
‘Not strong enough.’
The carpenter queen almost vanished in Mitchell’s sight, its legs pumping fast enough to be blurs, and its mandibles crushed the back of the recently occupied throne. With a screech, the fire queen fell from where she had jumped, unleashing a stream of fire at the carpenter queen that missed but left the stone glowing with heat where it had impacted the cave floor.
That was all Mitchell had time to see before flares of flames and screeching, thrashing bodies surrounded him, and even Sarah was yanked away from him in the commotion. He was jostled back in forth like he was in a hard, smelly mosh pit - so a normal mosh pit - until a flash of red was in front of him, distractedly trying to avoid the snapping of a nearby mass of black, and Mitchell roared forwards, slamming the shield down on the joint and detaching a leg.
Sarah, on the other hand, was having a very easy time. She only had to cast one spell to heal one of her allies, though unfortunately if anything got through the chitin, she was unable to help. Either way, she was soon swept onto the back of the first guard she had healed, and that guard scuttled up and down the slowly forming line of battle, getting her to injured ants and bringing them back into the fight.
From her vantage point, she could see the absolutely brutal battle between the queens. All semblance of dignity, grace, and poise had been thrown off as soon as the battle started. They screeched and tore, burnt and slammed, and flickered around the room with the speed of their fight.
She saw Mitchell leap forwards, a snarl on his face as he systematically removed the legs from the guard that was against his part of the line. When that one fell, two carpenters were able to gang up on one fire ant, and soon after that one fell, the line began to crumble and individual fights broke out. Rather than assist with the mop-up, Mitchell sprinted forwards towards the throne.
Another ant guard tried to intercept him, removing yet another fire-ant from the line, and Mitchell gave a malicious grin, bellowing something into the cavern she couldn’t make out past the sheer noise. For a brief moment, she imagined being down there, face-to-face with something that was trying to kill her, and determined she would not be able to smile.
----------------------------------------
Mitchell couldn’t keep the smile off his face. He could feel it. If they could do this, he would get his class. He just had to push through. He had to endure.
Burns built up behind his metal shield. Scratches and scrapes turned to bleeding cuts and bruises. Yet through it all, Mitchell had lost himself in the heat of battle. At some point he had picked up a mandible and was using it to gouge eyes out, leaving the blinded ants behind for his comrades to finish off. After breaking through the initial defences of the fire ant guards, Mitchell forged ahead towards the chaotic centre of the chamber where the two queens battled fiercely. The air crackled with the scent of burning chitin and the intense heat from the lava pools nearby.
Sarah, mounted on the back of a healed carpenter ant guard, kept her staff at the ready, casting healing spells whenever she could to aid her allies in the skirmishes around her. She scanned the battlefield for Mitchell, her heart pounding with worry as she saw him darting through the fray towards the throne where the fire ant queen had sat.
Meanwhile, the battle between the two queens raged on. The carpenter ant queen fought valiantly, her larger size and strength giving her an advantage in the melee combat. She lunged and slashed with her mandibles, aiming to cripple her fiery counterpart. The fire ant queen, undeterred, retaliated with bursts of searing flames and swift strikes of her razor-sharp mandibles, forcing the carpenter queen to abort attacks and dodge. It was largely a stalemate, but with each passing moment, the carpenter queen got more wounded.
Mitchell’s path to the throne was not unchallenged. He clashed with fire ant guards along the way, using his makeshift weapons—be it a discarded mandible or his own sheer strength—to disable them swiftly. Each step brought him closer to his target, closer to delivering the decisive blow that could turn the tide of the battle.
With a final burst of speed, Mitchell broke through the last line of guards and stood before the throne where the fire ant queen reigned. She turned to face him, her eyes narrowing with fury as she recognized the threat he posed. Mitchell gripped his shield tightly, sweat mingling with the grime and blood on his face.
“You will not stop me!” Mitchell shouted, his voice echoing in the cavernous chamber. He lunged forward, shield raised to deflect the queen’s fiery attacks.
The fire ant queen unleashed a torrent of flames, aiming to engulf Mitchell and force him back. But he pressed on, using his shield to deflect the worst of the heat and pressing closer with each step. He could feel the searing heat against his skin, threatening to overwhelm him, but he pushed through the pain. He knew, deep down, that it was temporary. Sarah would fix it.
Sarah, from her vantage point, saw Mitchell’s determination and courage. She focused her magic, sending a wave of healing energy towards him, bolstering his strength and resolve. Mitchell felt a surge of renewed energy, his muscles tensing with determination and magically provided adrenaline as he closed the distance between himself and the fire ant queen.
With a swift, calculated move, Mitchell swung his shield low, aiming for the fire ant queen’s legs. The impact was jarring, knocking the queen off balance and causing her to stumble back, her mandibles clacking in surprise and pain. Mitchell seized the opportunity, pressing his advantage.
Dropping the heated shield before his chest, he pushed forwards. An uppercut pushed the fire queen’s head skywards, the torrent of flame still searing his skin from this distance. Lashing out with a leg, Mitchell was flung back by the queen’s strength, and Sarah heard an audible crack echo throughout the cavern when he landed with a groan of agony.
The fire ant queen shot forwards to follow up and Sarah's heart leapt into her throat. This would be it. The charge had failed.
A clanging sound and a burst of movement later saw the battered carpenter ant queen bodily check Mitchells assailant, a broken black antennae falling limply to the ground.
“C’mon buddy, we gotta help them!” She rapped her staff against the back of her guard, anxiety flooding her veins even as she cast Adrenal Response. She was no tactician, but she knew that without him and his reckless aggression, it was only a matter of time before the fire queen killed them all. They need to break formations and scatter plans.
With a screech, the ant powered forwards, another pair of guards flanking her. They reached the battle line, and the guards advanced, tying up a pair of fire ants long enough for her to punch through. She looked on the floor for Mitchell, only to hear a heavy, pained screech.
She looked on in horror as the fire queen finally landed a solid hit on the carpenter queen, an almost inconspicuous bolt of fire sinking into its abdomen. The form of the queen shuddered, then fell still.
“No!” Mitchell cried out, and she was shocked at the loss and pain she could hear in his voice. He staggered to his feet, limping forward - towards the fire ant queen. “You- Fuc- RAAAGGGHH!” Loss turned to rage, and his limping gait sped up even as his shielded arm swung injured at his side.
“I will KILL YOU!” He bellowed.
The fire queen sat back on her throne and looked down at him imperiously. With a dismissive wave of its hand, another small bolt flew out and-
Mitchell’s eyes glowed with a pale blue light, and his shield rose, slamming out against the bolt. Rather than splashing against and heating the shield, the bolt skimmed off to the side, slamming into the back of one of the fire ant warriors and piercing it from end to end. He did not stop his advance.
With a confused chirp, the fire queen shot two bolts of fire out. With a grunt of pain and a still limp arm, Mitchell rolled off to the one side to dodge the first and slammed his shield out again, sending another fire bolt unerringly towards a fire ant warrior. “That won’t work on me, tyrant!”
Sarah just gaped. Those fire bolts should be melting his arm, yet Mitchell’s eyes continued to glow with that pale blue, and when she focussed, she saw a flash of the same colour around his shield when it hit the attacks.
The fire-queen stood, almost looking insulted. Raising four of its legs towards the sky, it raised itself to two legs, and an orb of fire began to grow above her head. Even from here, she could feel the roiling waves of heat, so she could only imagine what Mitchell felt, even as she saw the blood from his wounds steaming.
In his mind, Mitchell was singularly focussed. A small part of his brain was screaming at him to stop, because he was causing too much damage to his body. Another small part was telling him to back off, to regroup with the carpenter ants and come up with some sort of trap or ambush. The last small part reasoned that even if he killed the queen, who knew how large the colony was?
The majority raged. How dare she kill his ally? How dare she stand in the way of him? Of his goals? Of the survival of humanity? Something clicked in his mind, and thoughts bubbled to the surface unbidden, his lips moving and words emerging almost automatically.
"We had conquered fire long ago. When famine came, we planned and endured. When tyrants conquered and killed, we defied. When disease ravaged the land, we persevered. When the very essence of the heavens themselves were laid on paper for all to see, mankind had looked at it and asked ‘are you sure that’s right?’"
"We built stronger metals than any in nature. We created containers and parts that would live long after our civilization had left its cradle. We discovered the secrets of space, the eternal presence of time, the unassailable force of gravity. We took dangerous plants and ate them for flavour. We are mankind, and we will move onwards, ever onwards, until the dark either takes us or is itself defeated."
A bolt of fire shot out from behind, not at him but above, dislodging a stalactite that he blocked with his shield. A red-hot wave of pain shot up his arm, and he almost felt his bones creaking in protest, but he mustered the strength to push the rock aside.
“You call yourself a Queen?!”
With a yell of effort and the crunching of an ignored injury, Mitchell slammed his shield with both hands into the fire queen’s face, shattering one of the dangerous and sharp mandibles. He felt sizzling on his head as his hair caught fire from the ball of flames above, but that pain was forced down like so much else. He was more than himself now. He was the vengeful spirit of those who spat defiance at nature, at the way things were in favour of the way things should be.
“You try to hinder our path?”
The words spilled out of his lips unbidden, some force in his mind guiding him through some ritual of combat and death.
“We refuse! In the name of mankind, of all of our species, step aside!”
The Queen screeched, and slammed its raised limbs down with a malicious motion. Rather than raise it to protect himself from the impending, Mitchell reared his shield back. Even as he felt the skin on the back of his neck bubbling, and his eyes drying out, he felt even more the rush of power and knew how to succeed.
A million varied voices echoed over his in a chorus of angry determination.
“You shall not stop the March!”
The shield crunched forwards even as the fireball hit the ground, and the cavern exploded into a conflagration of light and heat. Smoke filled the air, choking and unmoving in the dank air of the cave. A figure stood among two gigantic carcasses, briefly surrounded by a golden light before the gold faded and all that remained were the flickering fire-lights of burning ant parts.
The figure collapsed, burying his face and sobbing gently.
Sarah felt more than saw a glow around herself as well, but disregarded it as she made her way forwards. She could check out any levels later.
Sarah moved forward, slowly, diagnosing him once she could see him and sucking in a breath at the result.
Mitchell LeFleur
Page of the March, Level 8
HP: 3/150
Conditions:
Burned (Major)
Blessing of the Condemned Queen (000:00:003)
Even as she watched, the timer ran out and Mitchell stiffened in pain. “Help. Please.” He sobbed through his hands.
Both of his hands.
Sarah rushed forward.
“No!” He shouted, voice hoarse. “I’m fine. Her. Please.” With a wavering hand, he pointed over to the queen. She turned back to protest, but even as she watched, his health ticked up by one point. With a growl, she listened to him and began her first foray into veterinary science.
----------------------------------------
BLOOPER!!
Amid the chaos of battle, the two queens fiercely tore at each other with no regard for the rest of the conflict. Each blow was calculated and powerful, a stark contrast to the messy brawls happening among their soldiers. Suddenly, a piercing screech echoed through the cavern as the fire ant queen landed a decisive hit, an almost inconspicuous bolt sinking into the carpenter queen's abdomen. The form of the carpenter queen shuddered, then fell still.
Mitchell's cry of despair cut through the din, but Sarah's attention was drawn to something unexpected. Mitchell, despite his injuries and pain, was laughing—a deep, almost maniacal laugh.
“Mitchell, what’s so funny?” Sarah shouted over the noise, her voice edged with concern and confusion.
Mitchell, struggling to catch his breath between bouts of laughter, managed to choke out, “Guess she just couldn’t... handle the heat!”
Sarah groaned and whacked him with her staff.
BLOOPER!!!
Narrator: As the fire ants swarmed closer, Mitchell frantically looked at his guidebook.
Mitchell: flipping pages Uh, excuse me, these ants aren’t in the book.
Fire Ant: tiny voice That’s because we’re on page 404—we’re the error page!
BLOOPER!
After what seemed like an eternity, the fire ant queen emitted a final, decisive chirp. The tension in the chamber eased slightly as she gestured with her foreleg, indicating that she would allow them to speak.
Sarah took a deep breath, her mind racing with the weight of their goal. “We believe that our conflict is not necessary,” she continued, choosing her words carefully. “There are greater threats beyond these tunnels that we must face together. Let us find a way to coexist peacefully, for the sake of our survival.”
The fire ant queen regarded them silently for a moment, her antennae twitching as if considering Sarah’s words. Then, with a deliberate motion, she emitted a single, resounding chirp—a signal that echoed through the chamber. Even Mitchell could translate the meaning of that one.
‘Fuckin’ nerd.’