Heart of the Nest (1012)

Down in the darkness we plunge. It's strange. Normally this kind of environment would be so familiar, so welcoming to me, it's a social insect nest after all, but it just… doesn't. Instead, it feels alien, and twisted from everything it should be.

There are no comforting pheromones of my family spread across the walls and floor, no warm messages or encouragement or friendly reminders to get some rest or they'll come for you. Instead there's an omnipresent, suffocating stink that coats my antennae and makes me twitch in discomfort. The design of the nest is also not what I would expect. Despite being similar(ish) creatures, the construction of an ant nest isn't all that similar to a termite nest, depending on the variety of termite and ant you choose to compare.

The flow of air through the tunnels isn't what I would expect, the complex ventilation systems these cockroach descended mugs build are all about temperature control, ensuring that exactly two places inside their fortress are always kept at the perfect temp: the fungus garden and the queen's chamber.

Which means if I follow the warm air current… I should be able to find the royal family…

And of course, the other unwelcoming and disconcerting aspect of this nest is the neverending hordes of termites and their desperate attempts to rip me limb from limb. Naturally, that goes without saying.

The four of us continue our push, advancing steadily into the nest and refusing to allow ourselves to get surrounded. With the Colony warring on the surface, the termite forces are divided, allowing our small team, with its overwhelming, concentrated power, to dive deep without being overwhelmed.

[Crinis, do you sense anything?] I call to the writhing mass of tentacles flowing along behind me.

[I sense too many of them to be sure of anything. They're all around us, the disgusting filth! How dare they lay a single claw on Master…]

[I mean… we are trying to kill them.]

[Our cause is just!]

[Going to leave that well enough alone. How about you Invidia?]

[Thisssss wealth. I shall havesssss it all!]

[I mean… what wealth? Are you talking about the Biomass?]

That bulging eye glitters, darkly.

[Yesssssss.]

[We don't have time to eat! We need to find the queen's chambers, dammit!]

[I will havessss them too,] he assures me quietly.

[Just look for concentrations of mana, would you?]

I turn to Tiny. He looks back at me.

[Just punch stuff, Tiny. You're doing good,] I sigh.

He grins and continues to do just that. I know I can't depend on him for anything requiring any more brainpower than that. I swear to goodness I'm going to force him to raise his Cunning to 30 on the next evolution.

[Master! I think I have something, another hundred metres down, on our right.]

[Any idea what it is?]

[I can't be sure, but it feels heavily warded. I can't stretch my shadow sight into the chamber. Perhaps the ka'armodo have shielded it?]

Sounds promising. Maybe we'll find what we're looking for, or maybe we'll find the ka'armodo themselves. I'm totally happy with either outcome, if I'm telling the truth.

I've got words for those ka'armodo…

[Bomb out! Pull back, people!]

As the crew ducks behind me I unleash the gravity bomb i'd been preparing with a flex of my will. The small sphere of slowly rotating doom howls down the tunnel, dragging termites to their unfortunate crushing demise. That'll slow the speed of reinforcements from this tunnel at least.

[That's the last of the gravity mana for the time being,] I warn the others. [I spent almost all of it on the mountain thing.]

If only the Vestibule could help recharge my mana, but alas that would completely break the thing. Having virtually endless amounts of stamina and replenishing my other organs, such as acid and regeneration, is already bonus enough.

[Once the bomb vanishes, we'll need to rush forward. To try and get some depth. I don't want to be left hanging onto the wall here any longer than we need to.]

[We will have all their secretssssss,] Invidia purrs.

Down in the darkness, the mad shrieking of the air and the panicked chittering of mandibles can be heard. We cling to the wall, our claws, tentacles and fingers lodged deep into the stone to prevent being pulled down into the crush.

When it fades away, we leap down, throwing ourselves out into the almost vertical shaft and plummeting through the air. The termites behind us thrash wildly, but catch themselves before they join us in our fall, putting a gap between us and them.

We drop for dozens of metres before we catch hold of the wall again, our huge mass causing us to carve deep grooves into the rock as we arrest our descent.

When we finally stop, I look down and see the tunnel network below us boiling with termites. They're furious. They're desperate.

They're afraid.

I can practically smell it on them. I recognise that terror in their eyes, because it's exactly what I've seen in my own siblings when the Queen has risked herself in battle.

We're close!

[Go crazy guys, we aren't far from the target!]

In response to my call, my three pets unleash their best and most powerful skills upon the hapless termites. Even if some of them are tier five, even if they've been able to mutate multiple organs, none of the bugs can stand up to the power of a perfect tier six monster.

Tentacles lash, fists fly and explosions roar as the surging masses of termites are beaten back by a devastating barrage from my allies. With the limited time I have, I cast about with my most tenuous sense.

If there's one thing I know about termite queens, it's that they chonky, among the largest of all social insects. Interestingly, they aren't born that way, in fact termite queens are essentially a normal member of the colony, and when they die, they're replaced by another who takes up the role, unlike most ant colonies who die along with their progenitor.

But once they do take up the role, they undergo a transformation, their gaster swelling and lengthening to ridiculous proportions, over ten times the length of the rest of them. All that space is taken up with thousands upon thousands of eggs which are born at a rate of one every three seconds. If I understand the Dungeon and monsters at all, those queens are going to be even bigger than they should be compared to the soldier termites we see, and pumping out eggs even faster than that.

All of that concentrated heft must generate some potent gravity, and I'm gonna find it!

It's not easy. The walls around me are alive with gravitational pulses from hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of individual creatures. They pile on top of each other and swarm all over the place, sending out strong signals that muddy the waters…

Aha!

[I have them! It's close!] I tell the others.