“How did you find us?” I ask my daughter, her eyes brimming with excitement.
We were only a few hours into the trip back to the fork, where we encountered not humans, but some of our own. The mountain scouting team I had given my daughter permission to lead had tracked us down and followed us all the way here from the mountain. At least that's what I think they did. I'm a bit embarrassed to admit that I almost forgot about my very own daughter.
She too is just as confused as I am about this confrontation, a mixture of surprise and relief on her face as she observes our posse. After all, she didn’t have so many siblings the last time we were together.
"When we came back to the fork in the road, we followed your scent down this path. I also smelled my sister, but decided to come to you. What…what happened?” She asks.
“The humans happened. They caught us off guard and ambushed us while we were away from the forest. Then I split us up so that your sister leads a group of her own in another direction. I can explain it all in detail later, but I am more interested in your findings. I need to know what you found before I determine our next move. The humans may attack at any given moment, and by courtesy of the humans, I’m sure that you saw we no longer have a home to retreat to.”
“Well, mother, you won’t believe it! There’s a huge creature in the cave, and it’s large enough to feed us all twice over and still have leftovers! It’s blue, scaly, and can fly, but we’ve learned its weaknesses and its routine and the cave has….”
"Slow down. I like the enthusiasm, but you’re going to fast dear. Tell me about it on the way back. Your sister should be done and on the way back so that we can reconnect with the other half." I explain, all of us resuming our journey back in the direction of the fork as one unit. My daughter in particular joins me on my shoulder, clearly eager to speak.
“Now where were we….yes, the big creature. What do you mean by big?”
“It’s massive, bigger than anything we’ve ever seen. You have to see it yourself. It eats the humans’ horses and their other four legged creatures as a snack!”
“The humans let it take their animals?”
“I think that it’s too tough and mobile for them to do anything about it. It walks on four legs and flies, and has strong and bright scales. It’s like a fast, giant, flying lizard.”
“If the human’s have left it alone with their numbers, then we don’t stand much more of a chance. What makes you think we can kill this thing?”
“I didn’t think we could, but if all of us work together under mother’s guidance, I think we can beat it. Through some...err...trial and error, we were able to learn about its vulnerable belly and rear. It’s simpleminded and slow to react to threats.”
“So that’s why your scouting party was missing a few members." Her two sisters that I sent with her are gone as well. "I will consider your proposition once I’ve heard from your only surviving sister, but what about the cave? Is it shallow?”
“No, no, it's huge mother! There’s a single entrance on the ground, but there are other entrances up and down on the sides of the mountain. There’s even a waterfall on the side. The caves themselves almost extend to the top of the mountain! It makes the treetops of the forest pale in comparison. The only problem is the lizard.”
"Hmm. You've done well, my child. It’s a shame I’ve got nothing to give except words. We've found nothing but uninhabited land and empty roads."
“But I can smell human on some of my siblings.”
“We had a brief run in with a band of humans, bandits. Some thieves with nothing better to do. They weren’t a threat, but they did speak of a “Bandit King,” a man named Barek."
“Should we be cautious of him?”
I nod in agreement. "Indeed. We must be cautious. But for now, we need to regroup with the others. They should be at the mountain or on their way back to the fork. I need information and a plan for our next move. Now, come along dear, we must find your sister."
***
We make our way back to the intersecting roads and meet up with the other half that came from the other mountain. Their numbers have waned by the slightest bit and a few are injured, but they are otherwise in great shape. Contrary to the half of us that are still miserable from a lack of food, they all seem rather uppity. Their leader, my other surviving daughter, had her own story to tell.
According to her the mountain is swarming with hundreds of humans, most digging shiny stuff out the inside to deliver it to the cities. A large portion of the labor seems to be forced, a good portion of the individuals bound in chains. Dozens of soldiers stand watch over the workers, while the entrances to the caves themselves are heavily protected by what looked to be adventurers. At the base of the mountain is what looks like a miniature city composed of several buildings, although most provide residence for the many workers and guards. There are crude wooden walls, but their purpose seems to be to keep people in rather than out.
While the caves themselves were protected, security on the ground was rather lax. My daughter led a raid in the early morning that caught the humans off guard, allowing my children to eat their fills until reinforcements arrived. They weren't able to bring anything back, but the mountain team was in much better condition than us.
All in all, between the human inhabited caves to the west and the monster inhabited caves to the east, there was hardly a difference. Both had their merits in becoming dark homes within a mountain. The only difference was that one was occupied by humans, and the other occupied by a giant lizard. One resident would have to be kicked out for good, except I didn't know which one to choose.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
With our current numbers, overrunning the humans might not have been a hard task, but I doubt they would lie down and cede us their territory. I don't think they would give up their shiny rocks so easily. They probably have reinforcements en route right now. Regular soldiers wouldn't pose too much of a problem, but if they were to work with adventurers and the hundreds of workers, they could easily put up resistance and even overwhelm us. The monster might be the better option.
At the very least, the benefit of fighting the creature to the east was that it was a truly fair fight. No threat of reinforcements, no fancy tactics or ambushes to outsmart the enemy. Just us and a giant lizard monster. The prospect of casualties didn't really matter given that both options would yield deaths, and so I decided to acknowledge the humans' formidability and push the human occupied cave on my list of things to eventually conquer. The giant lizard and the cave it occupied were our target, and onward we marched.
***
This lizard that my daughters reported was as big as I imagined, though she never really gave a description of how big it really was. Large was used to describe the horses that humans used, but this serpent was massive. Every step it took shook the ground, making us all a bit uneasy. It could clearly smell us, and it paraded around the entrance of the cave head held low in search of trespassers.
It's a rather good thing that we approached the monster from tunnels rather than land, the underground offering some refuge from the lizard. Despite us being a good hundred feet from the entrance to the cave where it resided it got awfully close to us at times, but would always retreat when it found the peeping hole we dug up to be completely empty. It took an entire hour for the creature to settle down and give up on its search, and only then was I able to peek out and get a better look at the creature's figure.
image [https://i.imgur.com/tZe8xKD.jpeg]
At full height its head reached twenty feet above the ground, and its body size couldn't even be measured appropriately unless I added in the span of its wings. It had bluish and greenish scales that reflected the sunlight, a missing eye, and a large scar on its face. No doubt a single swipe of this creature's claw could probably strike down tens at a time. It was fortunate that none of my children really acted on their fear. Everything they did was for me.
No matter how you looked at it, this battle was going to be gruesome, especially when you considered that our opponent could fly on top of its size and natural armor. We could attack its softer belly to bypass the scales, but if ever decided to retreat it could simply fly away and there would be little we could do to stop it.
Even now, there was little we could do as long as the beast was wide awake. I gave my children some down time to rest, at least until the creature decided to take shelter in the safety of its cave home as the sun began to set.
The moment the coast was clear I had my children dig a perimeter in the shape of a semicircle around the entrance, where they were to lie in wait for the time being. We needed to catch the creature completely off guard if we were to have any chance of winning. I thought we had an opportunity at night when the creature came out to get a drink of water from the nearby waterfall, but it was far too alert for us to take advantage. It seemed cautious, occasionally raising its head up to look around before returning to the river. Come to think of it, this river seems to run by the forest.
It continues its drink for an entire minute before eventually flying off somewhere to the east. I’m not sure what it would be going out for, or when it would come back, but more time to plan was appreciated. I gathered my two daughters and my many spider-like granddaughters together in the very cramped tunnels to explain our method of approach.
"We will fight a battle of attrition, but we will do so in waves to minimize our losses and secure a victory.”
“Attrition?” My beetle-like daughter pipes up.
“We will tire out our opponent to make it easier for us the longer we fight. No more than a group of 300 total will be in combat with the creature at any given time. To keep it simple, these groupings will consist of 140 newborns, 80 males, and 50 of your larger sisters at a time. The remaining 30 will be you guys, although I have a different job for you all. Every minute a new group of 300 will take the place of the old, allowing those of you left behind the tiniest bit of time to mend the injuries of those who survive.
We will begin the offensive with an attack focused on its stomach, but if it fails, the adult males should focus on damaging its remaining eye or wings where there is no shell. The younglings are to go after its limbs and belly, while your larger sisters keep it occupied from the front. I will try and create an opening, but I can't promise any results.
It’s important that you all refrain from grouping together so that you can avoid getting hit all at once by its claws. We are fighting to tire the creature and preserve our numbers, so inform your brothers and sisters that they are to save as much energy as possible when fighting. Given that the creature will be returning, if I deem it appropriate, the assault will begin when I give the command. Everyone is to stay Any questions?”
“What is our job?” One of my granddaughters asks.
“Ah, I didn’t say, did I? I need you all to work together and try to restrain the lizard’s wings. Do your best to tie its wings down with our webs, be it to the creature's body or the ground. If it flies away, this entire attack becomes a waste.”
***
After three hours of waiting, everyone is jolted awake from the flapping of our prey's heavy wings as powerful wind shifts the few trees enough to make them creak. The flying lizard has returned, and after it settles down a peek reveals that it has a creature with white fur and black spots in its mouth. A…cow? Where'd it get that from?
With a single chomp and a gulp, it swallows it whole before tearing a piece out of another one trapped beneath its claw. Blood flies everywhere, but the creature doesn't seem to care as it takes its time partaking in its morning meal in front of the cave.
If there was any time for an ambush, it'd be now, while it was eating.
“We are going to attack in twenty-five seconds. Pass the word around.” I tell those nearby.
Looks like it's time to claim a new home for ourselves.
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The Concept of the Insect "Hivemind"
A "hivemind" is a theoretical entity consisting of a large number of people who share their knowledge or opinions with one another, regarded as producing either uncritical conformity or collective intelligence. This is most commonly used to refer to behavior in insect colonies, given the property of apparent sentience in a colony of social insects acting as a single organism at times in regards to their behavior and goals. Of course, insects do not have a literal "hivemind" where all individuals share a collective consciousness, as that would be impossible. Instead insects practice collective cognition, which allows efficient decision making to emerge from chaos among individual members of the collective.
Directs: 2 Type A(Wasp): 0 Type B(Beetle): 1 Type C(Spider): 1 Type Z(Larvae): 0 Indirects: 2706 Type A(Wasp): 455 Type B(Beetle): 313 Type C(Spider): 155 Type Z(Larvae): 1783