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Chapter 1304 - Anthony On Tour - Within the Rock
🕑 Added 2024-02-12 03:27:35 +0000 UTC“You want me to go inside the mountain?” Isaac asked, surprised.
He turned and gazed out over the open waters toward the Legion fleet. It didn’t look like they were moving at all. Perhaps they had no plans to head ashore at this stop?
He turned back to the Eran.
“I’m good,” he said, smiling broadly and knuckling his moustache. “I like it out here on the water.”
But what if the Legion decided to dock later? It could happen.
“Check in with me again later though,” he suggested, his eyes sliding back to the other fleet. “The situation might change.”
Eran Thouris, leader of the trade mission and head negotiator of the Brathian Island Conglomerate, fixed him with a hard stare. This was the kind of look that Isaac had become accustomed to over the years. When you said ‘no’ to a person whom you were in no position to refuse, they tended to give you this kind of look.
“Anthony has ordered it,” she said with finality. “You and your fellow cavalry men and women are to accompany a small team of carvers within the mountain. You are to organise and lead them. Begin now. We disembark in ten minutes.”
Plops.
Finally he was close to Morrelia again, and she remained tantalisingly out of reach, just on the horizon, haunting his waking hours along with his sleeping ones. Sometimes he swore he saw her, standing proud on the deck of the lead Legion ship, like an all conquering Queen of old.
Irritated, he stomped over to Anthony, still sprawled in the middle of the deck, idly waggling his antennae and generally being huge. Isaac still wasn’t sure exactly how he could speak using the ants’ pheromone language, he certainly hoped his Class change hadn’t blessed him with a new organ, but it worked somehow.
Talking to Cavalant had ensured he was proficient, as well. That ant was one hell of a critic.
“Did you really order me to go ashore?” he demanded of the giant monster.
Anthony didn’t turn around, because he couldn’t.
“Yes. It’s the best way to keep our people safe.”
Isaac slumped. If Anthony had decreed it, then it was going to happen. The ants did whatever he told them to do, usually, even though Isaac had no idea why.
“Why are you in charge, anyway? I don’t really understand how it works.”
“I’m the oldest.”
“So?”
He could almost feel the mental sigh rolling off the giant ant.
“You aren’t an ant, so don’t worry about it, Isaac. Get your people together to get on shore. Help keep my siblings safe. Besides, the only reason you want to stay out here is because you think the Legion won’t go ashore. They will. In small numbers, but they will.”
“Why small numbers?”
“Because I’m out here. The only reason they came this far is to kill me, remember? The Legion didn’t sail a fleet all over the fourth for tea and biscuits.”
Isaac stroked his moustache and pondered for a moment.
“Do you think….?”
“I don’t know if Morrelia is going to go ashore or not! Holy moly, Isaac. I swear your brain has gone to mush. Get your act together man.”
The demon floating overhead thrashed and spat, no doubt saying something to Anthony via mental communication.
“You’re both weird,” Anthony huffed. “Try and focus, Isaac. I want my family to come back safe. That includes you. Now get going.”
Left without a choice, Isaac grumbled before turning around and heading below deck to find the rest of his squad. Cavalant was the first to detect something was different.
“New orders?” she asked, rapidly cleaning her antennae. “I don’t know why they bothered to tell you, the Eldest should just tell me these things.”
“We’re heading into the mountain,” Isaac sighed. “I think there’s going to be nothing but a road full of plops ahead.”
“Pessimist,” his partner dismissed his concerns too quickly. “The Eldest is here, things are going to be fine.”
All of the ants talked about Anthony like that, but Isaac struggled to share their confidence at times. After all, when their minds connected, the giant monster who towered over him, sounded so young.
It made sense, all the ants were young… but stil….
“Alright then,” Isaac announced aloud to the other riders. “We’ve got a mission straight from the big guy himself. The golgari aren’t letting many ants inside, so we are going in. Get your stuff together. We have five minutes.”
Just like that, Isaac found himself as part of the official delegation striding off the smaller landing ship across the wooden boards extended from the shore, and into a stone tunnel shaped into the side of the mountain. Within, the delegation found a welcoming party of golgari waiting for their arrival.
There were only five of them, which was a surprise, each coated in brilliantly gleaming minerals that formed their second skin. And of course, they were huge, each towering over Isaac, easily eight feet tall if they were an inch.
“We are representatives of the trading circle,” the central figure bowed at the waist in welcome, “my name is Gemmas. I extend our warmest welcome to the representative of the Brathian Island Conglomerate.”
Not a word of greeting for the ants of the Colony. Isaac felt compelled to share a message using his magical pheromones.
“Cavalant? This is plops, right here.”
“Shut up.”
“I’m telling you, this is going to go bad.”
“Based on what evidence? Now be quiet and keep your eyes open.”
Eran was replying, her tone rather more curt than one would normally expect from such a seasoned negotiator.
“I thank you for your welcome, we have felt the weight of it already. As you see we have brought only a hundred members of the Colony with us within Greystone. I hope that assuages any fears or terrors your people may have felt?”
If any of these insults were landing with Gemmas, it didn’t show on her rock-covered face.
“Please, this way,” she gestured for them to follow her further into the dark tunnel. “There are members of the Shapers circle, Warriors circle, and Noble circle waiting to greet you deeper within the mountain.”
Isaac’s hand tightened around the pole of his spear.
He really didn’t like this.
Comments
Gopard
Thanks for the chapter!
fair3238
Do you remember which chapter talks about this?
Rahsheem Reid
Y’all wana see Anthony get mad… It’s been a while. This is going to turn into them fighting their way back to the colony. Either they dig in somewhere and wait for rescue or b Line it back that will be hard with the legion on their ass. Ahh it’s a mess.
Elmithian
They are ants. It Solent is likely doing double duty on both.
Nathan Quitugua
So...finally actually gotten around to reading this and while you bring up some valid points, and for most guys it would be absolutely true. BUT, Issac fits into a category of three tropes...Himbo, tsundere relationship, and being a yandere. Himbo, because hes a simple man with simple tastes. A very no nonsense attitude and a splash of apathy. Easiest way to equate it would be a millenial. All vibes, no thoughts. Tsundere - which is a japanese trope because Morrelia is very ornery and judgy. She's been through alot near as I can fathom and considering who her parents are, she can't exactly have a normal relationship if any due to a number of factors that make dating for her extremely difficult if not impossible. So instead of getting her heart broken every time...she just pushes everyone away. Might be a berserker trait if you ask me cause Sarah does the same thing. And then the most problematic trope...Yandere...which means he's crazy in love. Which, to be honest is kind of deserved. They first meet when Garrolosh is stomping around up top and wiping out everything and everyone. He's stuck in a warehouse with other villagers with a horde about to close in and slaughter everyone with no chance of rescue in sight. Then in waltzes Morelia and Anthony who singlehandedly turn the tide. Now he cant exactly fall for Anthony cause obvious reasons...but Morellia is available, she's selfless, strong, she literally saved his life, then hung around and helped the villagers of Renewal get back on thier feet. So while he may come off as creepy...the intent behind it is that she literally saved his life and now he's essentially courting her. Just the manner of their courtship is unconventional. ALSO and my final point is this isnt earth or even earth adjacent, so you cant use earth rules of etiquette or the like. The culture is completely different and as such, you could be seen as being insensitive for not respecting the local culture. People have systems and receive system messages, gain classes, and levels with death around the corner at almost every turn. So you can't judge his actions based off of earth standards. He's also not a reincarnator at all and was born and raised in that environment.
alt31415
Jesus dude, take a chill pill.
Koala Man
I understand what you’re saying , in reality it’s not ok to keep asking a woman out if she has said no the first time . In this situation tho she’s been clear that if he comes near her with his nonsense that she will smash him in the face and does so , repeatedly . I find it hilarious and to be honest she’s so focused on being an op killing machine that nearly every single person around her is either terrified of her or incredibly overpowered themselves . I kinda think it would take someone slightly mad to approach her romantically and nothing less than full commitment and determination would ever be enough for her. Since she is so like that . He brings her flowers and she smashes him , it’s their thing and it seems like a fair trade tbh
Desmond Cheong
Eastern courtship script mindset vs western feminist script minset….
Koala Man
Damn that would be funny as , not sure how that would go down as that would possibly mean she’d be rescuing cavalant too
Gardor
Hey so just to be clear, you're saying it's ok for him to continue to harass this woman who doesn't want any involvement with him (romantic or otherwise), because he's physically weaker than her? That's kind of a weird take. "If he was strong enough to sexually assault her, then it would be too far, but because he can't actually do that, he can continue to make his unwanted advances towards her." Yeah, I know I just took this to the extreme ends of the hypothetical. Still tho, she's told him to fuck off, and he hasnt fucked off. He should fuck off. "Just stalk her a little bit until you eventually wear her down and she begins to love you" isn't very romantic to me, but it does seem to be one of the templates for fiction romance. Anywho, back to original point of these comments, I hope Isaac dies and Morellia doesn't even notice.
Mason Jones
Be first to say morrelia is going to rescue Issac from the Golgari
LazyWizard
Well I think it's fine like he doesn't really pose any threat to morellia, sure it's a little out of hand. Besides I think morellia isn't all that out for romance anyway so any romantic interest in her person would be met with cold shoulder
The Retryer of Worlds
Would be cool. Some of the passages on the colonies history say that they are benevolent, but will utterly destroy their enemies to put an end to them. Factions like the golgari, kaarmodo, legion, or that nation wrecked by a crocodile haven't really been very.... nice.
Gardor
Really? I was just thinking "this dude's courtship involves repeatedly annoying a woman who explicitly told him to leave her alone, if it ends up working out for him I'm gonna be very disappointed". And I don't think a rapid character change is in his future, where he becomes aware of how much of a creep he's being, so I assumed the only two ways this will end is either his death, or his unearned happy ending.
ShadyDemoness
down oh dark one. down i say
Nathan Quitugua
If you kill off isaac...I swear to god I will be very miffed
Callum Macmillan
As much as I hope nothing will happen to the Colony members on this expedition, I also really hope for the Golgari to give Anthony a reason to show just how right they are to be frightened of them #RiseOfDarkAnthony
BelligerentGnu
Isaac, your cousin Mutphy applauds your wisdom.
Roombot
He's a great soldier, but he's thick as a brick and twice as dense when it comes to Morrelia.
Roombot
I thought Solant being born just in time referred to their imminent invasion of the Fifth
Dan K
I’m looking forward to the giant pseudo black hole that’s gonna be sucking in their fancy pillar city soon. Curious how big it will be after emptying the entirety of his gravity mana gland and his altar pool into it. Probably enough to make the city nothing but a smooth crater if I had to guess.
KRY
Solant, I think her name was
CentaureHeart
This is going to go bad
Ether's Blessed One
Tomorrow, We A(E)nts march to war.
Kiongku
Technically, it’s not 100 members of the Colony. It is 100 ants and some more of the Colony.
Synthia Mayhem
It’s a trap!
Ibuks5
Hype!! But also sad
Grey Knight Lord
Plops, this is the start of the wars for the dungeon spoken in past chapters. Also I remember saying that the general Ant who I forgot about was born just in time. This will be terrible
Koala Man
Damn for someone so thick Isaac seems to have some awareness after all
