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AR Chapter 355
🕑 Added 2025-03-29 04:00:05 +0000 UTCNew Nievtra’s walls were shiny with the carapaces of swarming ants. Hundreds of thousands pressed the attack, their bodies crawling over themselves as they fought to overwhelm the city. Strangely, whenever they got close to the walls, they seemed to become dazed, unable to continue pressing on. The enraged ants then came closer, pressed into the calmed ones, snapped angrily at them, then seemed to calm for a time. They milled about, half angry and half confused, and I felt like I should join them, but when I took a deep breath, I smelled the faint but unmistakable scent of the ants’ call to battle. Had Sybil declared war on the ants? If so, and there were this many of the creatures all together, I could see why there could be so many problems.
“You all stay here.” I commanded. “If there are any ants that start to attack, scream and fight them off as quickly as possible. If you get surrounded out here with them swarming like this, I’d suspect you all would die.”
Brutus grumbled, knowing what I was about to do. I flicked my tail as a shrug as I addressed him specifically. “Look, if you think you’ll be able to accompany me without getting swarmed yourself, you’re free to come along.”
The massive Hak’Tal didn’t respond. I grinned and pulled plenty of strength and speed to me through [Spear of the Many]. When I saw the bonuses to both climb over 300, I was ready and ran forward. The 1,500 keelish that we’d found and gathered over the past months were assembled on a bluff overlooking the flat space in the mountain in which Nievtra stood. With a careless hop, I leapt the 50 feet or so down to the flat ground that stretched between me and my city.
The grass underfoot blurred as I sprinted onward, and it was less than a minute later that I’d crossed the mile expanse between me and the ants. Uncaring for everything in front of me, I took leaping bounds of dozens of feet, occasionally crushing an ant’s carapace beneath me. I didn’t care, as it was mere seconds before I took a final leap and soared over the walls of New Nievtra and into the city behind.
The buildings within had undergone little change, though work had obviously been stalled with whatever was happening outside the walls. The city was home, and I was glad to see that it remained standing, regardless of whatever else had happened. I let [Spear of the Many] drain from me and the headache that came was almost blinding, though I’d only used the [Skill] for two minutes. I could feel my heartbeat behind my eyes, making the sensitive organs feel as if they were too small, and the smell of iron distracted me as a trickle of blood flowed from my nose. That [Skill] was a perfect secret boost, but it remained excessively dangerous to me.
“Welcome home, Zaaktif. I’ll show you to the Zaaktifi.” Yamal ran up to me. She was still a khatif, though that was unsurprising.
“Lead the way.” The unfamiliar title initially threw me off, but even with the spots swimming in my vision from the exertion, I put the context clues together. “Is there anything about the Zaaktifi that I need to know before I see her? Any news about this siege and how she plans to break it?”
“You’re merely a day early.” Yamal replied while continuing to walk forward. We both ignored the occasional keelish that wasn’t on the walls as they bowed to me.
“Then it’s soon to be resolved?”
“Forgive my hesitance to give you all the answers you’re seeking, Zaaktif. Foire and Trai should be en route, but the Zaaktifi should be better able to explain her plan and how it should work.”
“That’s fine, Yamal. How is the hope of the future generation?” I asked, teasing her about the meaning of her name that I’d given her.
“I am well, though I don’t dare to consider myself so rife with potential.” Yamal bowed as she led me up the walls to where Sybil watched the base of the mountains with rapt attention. As soon as I stepped nearby, though, she looked up at me. Her face was twisted with a faint sense of disappointment, though she did lean into me as soon as I was near.
“Welcome home, Zaaktif. How were your travels?”
“Nowhere near as eventful as what was happening at my home, it would appear.” I replied with a faint smile. “There are many more of our people who will soon be here to offer their strength, though.”
“That is good news.” Sybil answered. “Now, I believe that the ants’ exit is nigh at hand, if you would like to observe.”
Though curious about how that was going to happen, I retained my implicit trust in her words as I spoke and pointed. “All our people are up on that bluff there. Is their presence going to inhibit your plan at all?”
“So long as they do not begin slaughtering ants, they should be fine. The ants, when slain–”
“They communicate with smells and send a distress call, yes.” I answered for her. “We’ve learned many things from our more primitive people.”
Sybil flared her frills. “If they know that, then the plan should proceed without difficulty. I had hoped to resolve this issue before your return, but I suppose that this is for the best, to allow you to see that I can solve problems even of my own making.”
I chuckled. “Did you just hunt the ants, and then they started to get more and more of their number until there wasn’t anything you could do about it?”
“Indeed.” Though she didn’t inflect the word with frustration, it was obvious in her body language how unhappy she was with the current turn of events.
“How have you kept the ones nearest to the walls calm?” I asked, curious about the strange, roiling mass of ants.
“Joral and Shemira worked together with many of the ants from the colony below the city. They have convinced them that we are of no threat. After that, when the mass of ants was nearly at our walls, we three exerted ourselves to keep them from overwhelming rage, and then sent our pacified agents into the masses to spread the message. They’ve become confused, as they are simpleminded and being told conflicting things at the same time, thus, all we need to do now is redirect their ire. Here come Foire and Trai with several of the Kou’Tal to bring our scapegoat.”
I watched in silence, watching a faint pillar of dust in the distance approach. As I focused myself, I saw the keelish Sybil was talking about pushing a large herd of the thickfeathers up the path towards New Nievtra. After a couple minutes of watching, I saw as the keelish and thickfeathers ripped into the exposed flanks of the ants. It wasn’t for long, though, as though the birds were much larger than the ants, they were no predators and the ants turned and attacked their newfound foes.
Foire and Trai ripped as many ants apart as fast as they could before turning and bringing the thickfeathers back down the path away from the city. Once the ants’ attackers began to make their escape, more and more of the insects came together to follow their prey. The simplicity of the plan made me smile widely.
“Redirecting their anger to something we don’t care about, huh?” I asked.
“Of course.” Sybil flared her frills, a self-satisfied smile pricking at the corner of her mouth. “The ants are unintelligent and simply seek to vent their rage. If we provide them a target whilst muddying the waters, our people will be forgotten and left in peace, as the scent here should be of peace.”
“You are brilliant.” I smiled and nuzzled the top of her head. “Once they’re all gone, will we be ready to welcome the newest members of the Empire?”
“Your Empire will always be ready to do as you command, Zaaktif.”
“Thank you, my Zaaktifi.” I replied.
“I appreciate your legitimizing of the title. Now, there is something else that I must warn you of.” My mate answered me as she stepped back away from me to meet my eyes. My comfortable pride dissolved to a faint pit of anxiety as she looked at me.
Comments
Veldorn
She's pregnant, isn't she?
