They were the Infiltration-Collective, comprised of 230 fragment minds. Its purpose was only one thing, infiltrate the ant hive that has threatened the Sovereign Swarms interests and infect the queen. After infecting the queen it will use the units at its disposal to hold the line until the Swarm Toxin has done its work. All of the units are going to die, they knew it when they were placed into this collective, and the collective lived with that knowledge.
Infiltration-Collective did not know how to process this key fact about their state of being. So, they turned their attention to the mission ahead of them. The greater Swarm was watching them along with some of the other collectives within it, Infiltration-Collective felt it as they ordered the cockroaches and ants to coat themselves in the special musk provided by the Mucus Skunk Zombie.
A musk that would ensure that all of the units within the Infiltration-Collectives purview would register as members of the colony they were to infiltrate. When all of the units were coated the order was given and the units began moving towards the hive. They had the memories of the ants to guide them, as these ants were not young their natural duties would be further away from the queen. But it would hopefully not present too much of an issue.
As they moved towards the hive the infiltration squad was swarmed by nearby workers that scented them with their antennae, but beyond that greeting the ants let the group pass. Despite most of them being cockroaches, the infiltrators tried to mimic the behavior of the ants as they passed through them towards the hive entrance. With the initial greetings handled the squad went inside past the soldiers and immediately the collective realized that they were too few.
Millions of ants filled the tunnels of the hive and it was seemingly both orderly and chaotic. The entire hive was supremely organized and yet the insides of it were in a frenzy. Soldiers, Majors, and Workers all rushed down towards the breach in the hive where the Fungal-Floral Network had breached it. It seemed to be a focus of the present activities as there was relatively little attention paid to the topside activities.
The infiltrators passed through the bustling hive and towards the chamber of the queen. Infiltration-Collective had enough memories to lean on as a guide to be able to navigate through the corridors. As far as royal chambers went it was not exactly the most glamorous, just a circular chamber in the earth where a massive ant laid and produced thousands of eggs. Workers actively carried eggs out of the chamber and down to the egg chamber that was further down in the hive.
"So, we have two entrances and we are already outnumbered here. It will be up to us to hold the line and subvert the defenses of the hive."
Infiltration-Collective watched and tried to find a way to even the odds. All of the minds that comprised it were actively chiming in to one another as the collective identity came to a conclusion.
"We must remove one of the entrances from the equation. If we infect all of the beings in this chamber and then place our cockroaches as the vanguard holding the line at the only entrance. We should be able to hold the way until the queen and the eggs are infected."
Before that happened the collective sent one of its older ants down to the egg chamber to serve as a sacrifice. Its purpose would be to send out toxic clouds meant to infect the eggs in the chamber. After it had been sent down three of the cockroaches were sent up to climb onto the ceiling before the egg chamber entrance. Lastly, the Infiltration-Collective reached out to the Ant-General and the greater Swarm itself.
"Requesting a diversion, we are about to begin the second phase of the infiltration. We will need all the help we can get to survive against the forces of the hive."
"Affirmative"
"We will grant you the energy resources needed to use Reinforce Unit in addition to your standard allotment. Good luck."
With the requests done the Infiltration-Collective sighed as they prepared to discharge their reason for being. A mental command was sent and the fragments began to do their work. The digger cockroaches rammed into the ceiling of the entrance to the egg chamber. This was both to keep the workers and soldiers from it to come up and also to ensure that the eggs remained safe from any potential purges.
As that happened all of the remaining 227 units unleashed toxic clouds laced with infection at the same time. It didn't as much rain down as it coated the entire chamber and buried it in spores. The change to the ants was immediate as the entire colony went from a frenzy and into complete overdrive. Infiltration-Collective could feel the vibrations of thousands of ants rushing for the chamber of the queen.
Most of the workers and soldiers within the chamber were smothered by the spores, while the spores wormed their way through their chitin and began the work to convert them. So, they were unable to respond while the infiltration squad formed up to protect the chamber. No speeches were given, no thoughts were had, and no feelings were felt as the two armies met.
Infiltration-Collective reinforced the cockroaches in the vanguard, relying on their size and hardened carapace to serve as a living wall. The power of the Sovereign Swarm made the cockroaches largely immune to harm, or at least the harm that non-magical ants could dish out. Damage was not the principal concern in this conflict, rather it was that the Swarm would be overwhelmed and subdued by the superior numbers of the hive.
That is where the ant infiltrators came in, their job was to ensure that none of the vanguard cockroaches could be overwhelmed. Whenever ants would threaten to contain any one of the front line infiltrators, then the ants would be sent to break the endangered unit free. This was a battle of resources and the Infiltration-Collective knew it had almost nothing compared to the hive.
"Our advantages: superior intellect, coordination, and access to supernatural abilities. Their advantages: superior numbers, home ground, and constant reinforcement."
It was concluded that their only real hope of achieving their mission objective would be to conserve their resources for as long as possible until it was too late for the hive to undo their work. And that is what they endeavored to do, this was why they existed and they would ensure that the Swarms will be done.
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The battle raged on for hours as the magic of the Sovereign Swarm kept each unit in the fight long beyond what could ever be possible for a mundane insect. None of the Fungal Zombies could feel pain, that was part of the Swarms gift to those it converted. But the Infiltration-Collective could still feel the chitin of the cockroaches crunch as the reinforcement started to fail and heard the screaming dirge of the first fragments dying.
Compared to what the Sovereign Swarm itself felt when they lost fragments, the Infiltration-Collective had it significantly worse. Every dead unit was a 230th of their being disappearing and that fraction grew larger with each dead fragment. Where the dirge of lost fragments was a discordant but manageable song to the greater Swarm, the Infiltration-Collective felt themselves die more and more.
As time passed the ants grew more and more agitated and ferocious by being unable to reach the queen and the brutality of their onslaught intensified. They not only killed the infiltrators but actively strived to dismember them as brutally as possible, while they scrabbled to hold them off. The only thing that bought the infiltrators any kind of reprieve was the toxic cloud attacks unleashed on the swarming ants. It would take them time and effort to clean up their own ranks and in the meantime, the rest of them would die due to the poison.
Yet, the numbers did not lie. The hive outnumbered the Swarm with several millions let alone the small infiltration team. Magic, clever usage of the confined space, and the diversity of the group could not compare to the raging onslaught of the ants as they slowly carved their way through the defenders. Like a snowplow on a mild day, the ants moved through the compact group of infiltrators.
The infiltrator ants were the first to truly fall as they were picked off by their former compatriots as they darted in to protect the flanks of the cockroaches. By and large, they had been workers and regular soldier ants, whereas their opposition included majors capable of bisecting them in one bite. And when they were all gone the enemy began tearing through the cockroaches who were now largely defenseless as the ants swarmed over them.
Dozens of ants were needed to hold down a single cockroach as they thrashed about in their mandibles, using every bit of reinforcement for what they were worth as they fought against the tide. Infiltration-Collective had long since been lost to the dirge of death as most of its identity disappeared when the fragments were stretched thin trying to maintain the battlelines. They felt themselves dying and soon they had lost concepts such as tactics and goals to the void, all that was left for them was their single duty.
Hold the line. All of what they were and had been being focused on that order. The Cockroaches fought back with a savage ferocity that they had previously lacked as the final 40 cockroaches held the line against the horde of ants. Chitin met chitin and the two sides tore at one another without care for their own bodies. Despite the titanic difference in numbers between the two sides, the cockroaches still fought on and somehow weren't subdued. The power of the Sovereign Swarm had long since left them, the greater Swarm had other battles to spend energy on and this one had reached the end stages.
At this point, it should have been simple for the ants to hold down and massacre the remaining infiltrators. Yet, they didn't as the cockroaches managed to not only hold the line but push some of the ants back. Cockroaches fell now as well, but the tide was for once being pushed back not just held at bay. 40 became 30 and then 10 until finally there was only 1 infiltrator left to hold the line.
The single fragment that had once been part of a collective roared defiantly and its deaf cockroach host did not hear the chitter it created. It rushed into the ants that were busy trying to hold it down and tear it apart, chitin and flesh moved and molded as metal and plant matter grew through it. Where it had once been a simple Fungal Zombie it had now changed and become something more despite the fact that the Swarm had not used its powers to change it. Maybe something in the fragment had unlocked this potential or maybe it was because the infection process in the queen had finished.
It didn't matter to the final survivor as it just discharged its duty. The cockroach swelled up to become 4 times its former size and now it had protruding metallic spikes and a mixture of fungi and plant matter enhancing its musculature. No ant could harm it now as they couldn't penetrate the hardened carapace of the unit nor touch it without being stabbed with toxic spikes.
While the former collective had their final stand the Swarm reached out to the converted queen and began making their alterations to her. Giving her the ability to mimic the colony scent and hide her status as infected and more importantly make it something that she would pass onto her future spawn. The battle was won and yet the only thing the Sovereign Swarm could think about was the notification they had gotten right before the queen became a fungal zombie.
* Unit Added: Swarm Champion(Special)(1)
* Certain Fungal Zombies can either be combined or evolved with enough effort into a Swarm Champion. No longer a simple simulacrum wearing the flesh of a subverted creature, a Swarm Champion has made the flesh it wears entirely its own and has become a truly different being. Swarm Champions are stronger, faster, smarter, and more resilient than any Fungal Zombie. While in the presence of a Swarm Champion, Fungal Zombies will be more efficient and effective in their roles. Other abilities depend on the specific Champion creature in question
Somehow a mere singular fragment had reached into the depths of the Swarm and pulled out something that the greater whole had not known existed within them. And that was not the only notification that passed through the mind of the Swarm as the success of subjugating the ant hive had become a reality.