Chapter 937: The Great Hunt

The Queen was having a great day. Her mandibles gnashed with joy as she rushed across the plains, the small demon larvae wiggling out of her way as she chased down her prey. It had taken some time to get down the pillar, avoiding the inhabitants of the plate city as her delegation made their way down below.

"Mother, surely now you've had enough. Isn't it time to return and see to your tasks?"

The Queen continued to munch on Biomass as she replied.

"Yes, I do believe you are right. This has been a most pleasant hunt, but I am nearly full. I thank you for allowing me to indulge myself."

She was acutely aware that she had inconvenienced her children with her demands, which was precisely why she didn't like to do it. The frustration she felt at being coddled had bubbled under the surface for a long time before she had finally had enough. With this outing, she felt her stress had been relieved. For at least a good while, she would be able to accept her children being overly protective.

"It's time to return to the nest," she announced. "Is everyone here? Make sure that none are left behind."

The guards reacted a little oddly as their roles were flipped from trying to shepherd the Queen to being shepherded by her in a flash. She rounded them up, thanking them for their hard work, ensuring that each and every one of them was accounted for before they began to make their way back to the pillar.

Half the distance had been covered without incident, crossing over the plains as the larval demons scurried out of the way, but before they could complete the journey, something changed.

The Queen sensed the danger first, her antennae swinging wildly as a faint scent brushed against them. She wasn't sure what it was she sensed, except that it felt.. wild and dangerous.

"Something is coming", she warned her children. "Get behind me."

"With respect, we won't do that," her chief guard replied. "You should get behind us, Mother."

The Queen clacked with irritation.

"I am far stronger than you children, do not be foolish."

Yet they refused to yield, the much smaller children rushing forward to take up defensive positions in front of the Queen. She repressed the urge to thwack them, they were only acting out of love, as her friend Enid had told her. Despite their actions being sub-optimal and a poor use of their available resources, she could only sigh and allow it to take place.

It wouldn't do to fight with her own protectors moments before they were engaged in battle. Instead, she braced herself, antennae beginning to shine with healing mana as she prepared for any eventuality.

The demons boiled up from a narrow opening in the ground, exploding upward like a plume of fire rising from a pool of larva. Frenzied bloodlust rolled from the creatures in waves, and the moment they laid eyes on the ants, they shrieked and rushed towards them.

Seconds after the demons had emerged, battle was joined, the two sides clashing against each other with total abandon, each knowing that in a fight between monsters, the one who hesitated was sure to lose.

The Queen unleashed a burst of healing magic that washed over her children as she charged forward, her great mandibles snapping around the first unfortunate foe to catch her eye.

All around her, the ants clashed with demons, a frenzied whirl of battle that was dazzling in her multifaceted eyes. There was no consistency or pattern among the attackers that she could detect. The demons came in all shapes and sizes, some gouting flames, others were dervishes covered in spinning blades, yet others were floating, pulsating things that laid about themselves with terrible spells.

The one thing they had in common was the frenzied nature of their assault. The higher tier the demon, the more capable of reason they became, yet these creatures seemed devoid of thought. Each one radiated a single-minded obsession with death and destruction, a need that had become focused on the present members of the Colony the moment they had come into sight.

Luckily, the ants outnumbered their foes. Suffused with healing light, they worked together to team up on the demons, lunging and ducking, latching onto legs, arms and whatever limbs they could find.

In the thick of it all, the Queen advanced. Her powerful carapace absorbed blows that would have crippled her smaller children, and her mandibles sheared through demons who were all but impervious to weaker bites.

She was the War Queen, and this was her element. With cold efficiency, she moved through the battle, chomping the enemy and healing her children until it was over and the ants stood victorious, though wounded.

"What was that?" her lead guard demanded as she tried to gather her thoughts. "They came from nowhere to attack us. Why?"

"I do not know," the Queen replied, "but they have been defeated. We should be on our way, more may come."

No sooner had she released that scent than her antennae tingled again as that faint wisp of danger brushed against them.

"Speak of the demons," she said as yet more ravenous monsters burst forth from the hole in the ground. "With me, my children!"