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Chapter 1369 - The Tribune Amongst the Colony
🕑 Added 2024-05-22 02:00:02 +0000 UTC“Be careful, Tribune. The monster may attempt to manipulate your thoughts.”
Morrelia frowned.
“I’ve receive mental fortitude training and raised my Skills to the commander level,” she said evenly, “I will of course remain vigilant nevertheless. Thank you for your diligence, Legionary.”
[What’d he say?] Anthony’s voice echoed in her mind.
[They’re still worried you’ll manipulate me,] she sighed.
[I mean… is it possible to communicate in any way without allowing for the chance of manipulation. I’ve seen what the brathian do to people with just words. It’s not pretty.]
[You know as well as I do that a mind bridge allows for more than just communication. How did you defeat Garralosh again?]
[Ugh… I’d rather not remember to be honest, that was nasty. Alright, this is the place.]
The ants forward operating base wasn’t anything special, yet. There were hundreds of carvers still working on it, and she knew full well what miracles they could accomplish.
[Are there really rooms in there for us?] she asked, a little sceptical.
[Of course! We’re an accommodating group of insects. Unlike your Legion.]
Morrelia felt a pang in her chest.
[Are you thinking of the bolts we shot at you?]
[Of course! While I was falling out of the sky as well. That’s such a cheap shot.]
She took a deep breath.
[I won’t apologise for it. The stated purpose of the Legion is to protect people from the Dungeon and to that end they’ve determined you shouldn’t be allowed to descend any deeper.]
The giant ant turned to regard her directly, the many lenses in his eyes gleaming at her.
[I don’t expect you to apologise or anything, you don’t run the Legion. I get that you lot are doing what you think is best to protect people, it’s the right goal, just the wrong target. But hey, I don’t think I’ll ever convince the people who run your outfit of that, so it is what it is.]
She sighed in relief. At least he wasn’t going to hold it against her personally, but he wasn’t done.
[What I’d like to know,] Anthony continued, [is what you think. Am I a threat to the peace on Pangera?]
It didn’t take long for him to put her on the spot, hitting right at the heart of her anxieties.
[I’m… I’m not sure,] she said. [The wisdom of the Legion has helped us stand firm against the Dungeon since the Cataclysm, there is tremendous value in it, yet… I still struggle to imagine the Colony turning on us.]
[Hey, you do right by the Colony, and we’ll do right by you.]
[Then what happened at the Silver City?]
In an instant, all the energy was sucked out of the massive monster and he slumped to the ground.
[Oof. Don’t talk about that… that whole mess was disturbing and depressing.]
[Was? So it’s resolved?]
[Oh heck no,] Anthony muttered darkly, [not by a long shot. But that’s not why you’re here!]
He recovered his bounce alarmingly quickly, springing back up onto the tips of his legs. To have such a large monster right next to her, moving so quickly was unnerving to say the least. It was hard to believe this was the same creature she’d fought alongside so long ago.
[If you get any bigger, you’re going to have trouble fitting into the nests,] she observed as they walked toward the entrance to the fifth.
[They’ll just make the tunnels wider,] he dismissed her concerns, and he was probably right. [This is what you came for, right? You want to know how we’re going down in the fifth?]
[That’s right,] she said, looking around curiously.
There were thousands of ants, hard at work on a myriad of tasks around her. It was clear the Colony was only beginning to muster the might of their industry to approach this challenge.
[How many are working on this above?] she asked. [I assume this isn’t everyone.]
[Of course not!] he barked a laugh. [The initial invasion force is being prepped above. It’s going to be around a million strong.]
[A million?!]
[This is the fifth stratum, Morrelia,] he told her condescendingly. [We aren’t going to make any progress being half-hearted about it. Here, take a look at these guys.]
He walked over to a separate area where a group of ants were tending to hundreds of… strange… wobbly creatures.
[These are the wuffers,] Anthony told her, [I love these guys. I don’t know why they turned out so happy, but they did.]
Indeed, the wobbly, jelly-like monsters chuffed and puffed happily, cheerful expressions on their amorphous faces as they contentedly wibbled back and forth. Morrelia stared hard at the… monsters.
They were cute.
How had they made such adorable monsters?!
[What is the point of these… creatures?] she demanded harshly.
[Whoa, don’t be so rough on them, these guys are amazing. This is the initial stage of our detoxification process right here. The wuffers are able to drink up fifth stratum mana and release a purified version. Our initial mission was just to see how well they worked when we put them to the test in the real thing.]
Wuff wuff wuff wuff, the creatures happily chuffed as the ants moved among them, checking them over with their antennae.
[And how well did they do?] Morrelia asked tightly, still unable to take her eyes off them.
None of them better have gotten hurt!
[They were fine! Did a great job. We held them in the middle of our formation and they maintained a clear, purified field of mana for us to operate in. Next time we go down we’ll have more, and higher tier wuffers to help us. The core shapers are still trying to perfect the design, but it’s looking good so far.]
With difficulty, Morrelia tore her eyes away from the cheerful creatures and put her back to them.
[When’s the next mission?]
Anthony scratched his head with an antenna.
[Uh… one week. Why?]
She glared up at him.
[Because I want to go down with you. Why else?]
Comments
Josh Turple
1372
Man_of_culture
I think Anthony is being too nice to the legion.
Gopard
Thanks for the chapter!
alt31415
It's more hate at the Legion, with Morellia caught in the crossfire because people don't know how to differentiate between people and the organization they're in.
LazyWizard
I don't get all the hate directed towards Morellia, like she's just doing her job and like we see she still wants good relations with the colony, right now she's trying to proof that they're great inventors and possibly potential allies, showing their good side and potential
alt31415
Not the contingent. Morellia.
Spaghetti And Meatballs
I cannot see any reasonable mental gymnastics getting the colony to trust even this small contingent of Legion to join them in the Fifth. With their relations it'd literally be like getting the fox to guard the hen house. There is absolutely NO WAY the legion wouldn't try something and if Anthony and the colony can't see that then I don't know how they'll survive any sort of espionage
Roombot
Gods I friggin love the wuffers. Give me more wuffers!
Roombot
Model-based character?
Rahsheem Reid
Amazing chap thank you 🙏🏽
Khajar
I don't think it would work... The 5th mana is so toxic, nothing short of absolute specialisation can, barely, manage it. The wuffers must be completely focused on purifying, all organs, mutations and skills, the rest is up to the ants.
due
Usually trying to kill Anthony more so annoys the colony. Killing and torturing members bad side. Hurting grubs they won’t stop until you’re erased.
DeadSlime
Edit Suggestion: “I’ve receive mental fortitude training and raised my Skills to the commander level,” she said evenly, “I will of course remain vigilant nevertheless. Thank you for your diligence, Legionary.” receive to recevied
Andrick
Wasn’t there a pre-chapter future exposition about people’s that get on the colony’s bad side? If I remember correctly it was something about the colony is great to societies that remain friendly but are an absolute nightmare to those that aren’t. The legion has already attacked and almost killed Anthony. What’s going on?
ZaneofBane
They don't have the power to threaten him.
Runaway_Cactuar
I disagree. The 5th is a big place. And I don't see a way the Colony could take all of it for themselves, certainly not without a bloody backlash from the Krath and other major players. Having the Legion go down there with them might take some of the heat off of their business districts~
Livingcog
I don’t see letting the legion going down to be safe. They have said that their goal with being here is to kill Anthony and have repeatedly attacked when him when he have been in a weekend position. Morrelia Is no different, she have been part to those attacks on Anthony’s life repeatedly and she now have said she believes in the wisdom of the legion.
xXChrisdogXx
Anthony should drop the Legion imo, they have done nothing but harm the colony and evem Morelia isn't exactly nice to Anthony. Now they even have the audacity to demand they go with him to watch them purify the 5th, probably to take their idea and do it themselves which may at the end of the day be better for the colony but imo they should let the friendlier nations help first so the legion doesnt get any more land/resources than they need to
alt31415
Not a chance. Remember, the 5th has been there for ages, but they're REALLY worried about an Ancient taking control of the Colony, especially with the increasing waves.
alt31415
How MORELLIA rides in. Morellia's cool.
alt31415
Morellia: Mom instincts activated.
Kiongku
We have our first wuffer guardian!
Anthony Romanov
I would say give Wuffers a single organ/skill to create Barriers tied to their ability to repurpose mana! The more mana Yeeted into shield the more stronger it becomes!
Roombot
AWWWWW she loves the wuffers!!
Markel Creek
I honestly strongly dislike model-based character and how Anthony lets the blatant discrimination slide.
saltyApple
Now we know the way to Morrelia's heart I guess. Just gift her a wuffer. I feel like Morrelia would have such intense cuteness aggression.
Joseph Dizdar
Morrelia's subconcious: Wuffers too cute. MUST PROTECT!!
Thunderhoof
I just hate how the Legion rides on the Colony's effort in purifying the fifth. They're just a bunch of asshats.
patrick n thomas
Can’t wait till they fully go down there
strainge guy1
All of them have been 1369 recently
Lonez Zhavec
Such a great chappy! Thanks?
Buck
Hopefully when she reports back to The Legion higher-ups how well The Colony is doing in purifying the 5th Stratum, they will leave The Colony alone to complete their task.
Gabus Deux
No need to rush to fill the chapter void author, take your time to properly recuperate!
Buck
Morrelia fighting with The Colony again? Good times!!
Cinnamon Toast
Woohoo I’ve been waiting for us to get too chapter 1369, cause nice
Briar
Yesss! First and happily so!
