Chapter 16:

Shane stood unmoving under the vast expanse of sky as he marvelled at the construct that stood before him. This truly was the epitome of colonies.

Shen had been following the Armoured war Ant, whilst maintaining a few hundred metres distance.

The Ant completely oblivious unhurriedly strolled through forest leaving deep ravine like prints. Its heavy body bobbed rhythmically as it continued forward whilst tending to its own injuries. Then almost instantly as the Armoured war Ant stopped Shane stood still marvelling at what he saw.

Through Shane senses he could see that before the Ant stood large cave entrance stretching 5 metres in height. This alone didn't surprise Shane but the bustling ongoing traffic beneath it did.

Ants streamed out endlessly from the mouth of the cave tottering of in different directions whilst their counterparts return with food. The food was dead soul beasts numbering in the hundreds.

Of course the scene would not be mesmerizing if not for the fact that each Ant stood 1.5 metres of the floor and stretching 2 metres in length.

The sheer size of the force moving to complete their tasks rooted Shane to the spot. The issue wasn't the thousands of Ants that moved mechanically in their process to gather food, but the fact that Shane had not sensed them till just now.

Shane only discovered this mountain of activity when he was 200 metres away, but he was able to see from 1000 metres so how was he unable to detect them before. That wouldn't be the case unless something was cloaking this place.

From what Shane new this had to be domain based ability and the only soul beasts capable of that where 100,000 year old ones.

Shane stretched his roots downwards as he took in the vast cave system coiling and twisting underground like snakes. From what Shane saw there seemed to be no end in sight as it continued down deeper and deeper as if the gate of hell.

Shane very quickly sensed strong spirit beast fluctuations. As he had evolved into a 1000-year-old soul beast his senses had vastly increased further added by the fact that the soul beasts emitting the spirit fluctuation took no measure to hide themselves.

Shane very quickly found 20 10,000-year-old soul beast, all of them being similar to the Armoured War Ant. It seemed these where the defenders.

Further down deep into the pits of darkness Shane found a truly monstrous presence. This was most likely the origin of the domain and the Queen of this diabolical colony.

"Long live the Queen"

As Shane was drawn to the powerful spirit undulation the Queen was releasing, he had to rethink whether stealing eggs from this nest of hungry savages would be worth the trouble.

The fact he stood this close undetected did mean his soul concealment was effective but going further may still prove dangerous. As Shane finished deliberated his choices, he firmed his resolve and prepared to enter the jaws of death or mandibles in this case.

First Shane prepared a nice deep warm hole, using his roots to excavate dirt where he gently placed the cocooned Lion in. Or so the Lion wished, Shane simply slung it into the hole before unceremoniously covering it with a few tons of dirt. Of course he did this outside of the Queen domain, he didn't want her to notice after all.

"Cant have my prize stolen after all"

Shane then continued to spread his roots deep into the undergrowth exploring the caves and trying to find a suitable entrance. Shane new the eggs would be in the brood room, and that was also the residence of the queen.

Nature so far was very similar to their counterparts back on Earth, just massively upscaled, more dangerous, and no longer the bottom of the food chain.

Shane slowly excavated dirt and moved in-between the layers before covering the entrance. Although the progress was slow, it was continuous and would allow him to travel safely without being detected.

Shane very quickly neared a room which had the least activity whilst being relatively close to the brood room. Shane still questioned as to how such a giant ant colony with a strong leader remained unknow in the novels. This made him believe this was during the first Novel or even before then.

Shane slowly removed the compact dirt which seemed to have been bonded with spirit energy and then slowly inserted his long tree shaft into the exposed hole, penetrating the surrounding dirt and causing it to fall down.

After a quick check to make sure it was safe Shane fully perched himself into the space before lowering himself to the ground accompanied by a squelching sound. Shane sent his roots to check the surrounding and quickly found what he was standing in.

A colony of this magnitude needed a lot of biomass to support itself. The question remained as to where the Ants would excrement the food after digesting and it seemed Shane found his answer.

"So Ants pooped after all"

Shane quickly spread his senses through the maze-like caves while activating soul concealment to the fullest. Feeling the drain in his spirit energy reserves he quickly moved knowing he would only be able to hold for a few hours.

Shane probed his surroundings as he moved between caves. Through his journey he found many glowing rocks. Upon closer inspection he found he could easily pass spirit energy through these rocks which would further lighten them up. Shane stored a few between his roots for future experimentations.

To avoid being detected by ants Shane made his own tunnels between the cave rooms and entered after confirming it was safe. After clearing five rooms Shane found himself at his destination. Behind the last wall was a significant presence far exceeding his own which even Shane dared not probe to avoid detection.

Shane very slowly made a small hole with minute movements before shifting himself in side. You may be wondering how Shane could see which was obvious. Shane was a plant and so he could not see light, simply put both Daytime and Night time looked similar besides the eerily sparse number of soul beasts that moved in the night and his dimmed vision.

Shane had accustomed himself to rotate through a 12-hour schedule which he roughly determined after observing soul beats. Why he observed soul beasts was due to the ample amount of time he had on hand. After a few years in this new world, he literally took to watching grass grow. That was how far he had fallen.

As Shane entered the monstrously sized cave, he found himself behind the Ant Queen. Looking over the Queen he found a truly monstrous creatures, this might even give him nightmares if he slept.

She stood 5 Metres in height with sharp barb like tendrils covering her carapace. Beneath her, six spear like legs stood unmoving as her head was lowered to the ground. He gigantic mandibles continued to open and close rhythmically if not for the sickening crunches it accompanied. Her blood red carapace simply furthered the terrifying image.

Beneath her imposing stature worker Ants bustles busily tending to her needs. Cleaning, grooming, bringing food and shuttling of the waste. Chose us for reliable fast service and you won't be disappointed is what they would chant if not for the tense atmosphere that hung over this place.

Dotted around the outer area, 10 Armoured War Ants all standing 4 metres tall with their imposing sword like extremities gazed over the worker Ants like generals to an Army. A rather impressive Army at that.

Shane slowly took in his surroundings holding his breadth afraid to alert the murder weapons or the Queen of his presence.

Determined to leave as quickly as possible Shane thoroughly scanned the surrounding for any advantageous position as well as looking for the eggs.

Shane quickly found the eggs in an accompanying room. The eggs wear neatly placed as if blanketing the soft earth, they were open. Each egg was around the size of a football with their white shells reflecting the luminescent stones around them. The eggs portrayed in the light looked as if they were each a pastel promise, each a new ant ready to learn how to dig and gather biomass. Each a new killing machine ready to serve the Army.

Amongst the hundreds of eggs stood two far larger than the others at 1 metre in height. They were surrounded by smaller eggs like a Shepard to a flock. They're shells far more robust and shaded a raven black.

Shanes gaze lingered on the eggs quickly formulating a plan to take these omled ehm eggs with him.

(A.N - Hey guys don't forget to leave your stones.

If you want to support me 5 advanced chapters are already available on P.a.t.r.e.o.n and will only continue to grow.

www.p.a.t.r.e.o.n.com/MSChowder )