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Chapter 1058 - Fame and Fortune pt 5
🕑 Added 2022-10-15 10:48:35 +0000 UTCIt's really kicking off up here. Expected to lose power tomorrow. If I don't get another chapter posted tomorrow, I'll put it up the day after. Stay safe out there folks!
Rillik watched as the dense pack of mercs floated over the water on a shield toward land. He shook his head.
“Do you think they’ll be alright?” Elly asked, uncharacteristically soft-spoken.
“No,” the golgari said, his voice flat.
“I find their tactic questionable,” Lacos noted, a hint of curiosity in his tone. “If they did not find success yesterday when attacking in numbers, why try again with an even larger group?”
The leader of the crew unclenched his hands from the railing that lined the deck and rolled his shoulders, trying to ease the tension there.
“Let’s head down into the boat. We can talk on the way.”
The other two nodded and together they checked their gear and climbed down the rope ladder into the waiting dinghy. Once they settled in their seats, Rillik picked up the oars, pushed off the ship and resumed his speech.
“There’s two schools of thought when it comes to tackling weak monsters in large numbers. One way is to split wide and pick at them from the edges. If they try to swarm you, there’s space to just pull back to prevent getting surrounded. It’s slower, but much, much safer.”
“And the other way?”
Rillik grunted.
“Go all in. Ball up in numbers and dive into the middle. The theory goes that the number of enemies doesn’t really matter beyond a certain point. With enough people, you can layer shields, support and firepower to the point where the weak monsters can’t touch you. It can work well enough under normal circumstances.”
“Normal circumstances?” Lacos asked.
“The monsters are dumb and unorganised. It’s possible that people have run into intelligent swarm monsters before, but I’ve never heard of it. The group up strategy is just not going to work.”
“They obviously disagree.”
“They’re too greedy. They got a few kills yesterday and the cores were better than they expected.”
He shook his head.
“The potential haul is so huge they aren’t thinking about what it cost to get the little they got.”
The meeting of crew leaders had been a disaster. Most crews had been cautious, as he had, poking and prodding to assess the monsters before they went in, standard delve tactics. A smaller number had been more reckless, diving in headfirst against the ‘weak’ ants. Those crews had lost people and gotten little in return, but what they had recovered had turned heads.
Greed was the leading cause of death amongst mercs, Rillik was sure of it.
“I think they’re all dead,” he said quietly, “unless they retreat early. The moment they go underground, I think that none of them come back alive.”
Elly’s eyes teared up and Lacos nodded soberly. Rillik felt his frustration rise but he tried to let it go. He’d said his piece in the morning, Drake was a man grown, he could make his own decisions.
Even if they got him killed.
—----------------------
“Look lively there lad!” a voice bellowed.
“Y-yes, sir!” Drake replied as he raised his blade and sent another slash streaking through the air.
The ants nimbly dodged to the side, allowing the blade light to scatter across the terrain. He grit his teeth as they clacked their mandibles, sure they were mocking him.
“Damn monster,” he grated.
They were money waiting to fall into his pockets, nothing more. Even so, the sight of so many closing in around them was unnerving. The ants were huge. Heavily armoured beasts, the frontline insects were durable beyond the mercenaries expectations, shrugging off a lot of punishment and retreating when they took serious wounds.
“It’s fine!” Hartos shouted. “Ball up, stay together, and we’ll be fine!”
There were almost a thousand mercenaries in the group, using their Skills and magic to push back the waves of ants who blasted them with acid and spells of their own.
“They don’t want to commit,” Hartos observed, clapping Drake on the shoulder, “scared of our numbers. Notice that we haven’t been surrounded yet? If they get in front of us, they know we’ll fight through them, so they don’t.”
“Are they trying to invite us deeper?” Drake asked, a hint of uncertainty in his voice.
Hartos grinned savagely.
“If that’s what they want, then more fool them. We’ll smash them to bits and grab the rewards on the way out.”
The large crew leader turned to roar over the din of the battle.
“Earth manipulators! Get to the front! We’re going in!”
It took a few minutes to gather the spell casters required as the mercenaries continued to exchange fire with an ever growing number of ants. The monsters never pushed too hard against them, preferring to stay back and hurl attacks from range. Every now and again a surge of insects would rush forward, chomp on the shields and then fall back.
They may not have done much damage, but every charge sent Drake’s heart pounding. Soon, the mages had opened up the side of the mountain, revealing a warren of tunnels and pockets within.
The mercenaries charged forward with a shout. Inside this mountain hid enough monster cores to make each and every one of them rich beyond their wildest dreams.
With a little luck, they may even uncover the mythic. If they returned with that core, and the carcass of the beast, they could add a king’s ransom on top of the fortune.
They pushed forward, and the ants closed in behind them, scurrying over the walls and roof, skittering over each other in a constant wave of motion that was dizzying to the eye.
Drake cursed low under his breath as he tried to watch in every direction at once. Mages lofted balls of fire into the air as the environment grew darker the deeper they went. Mandibles flashed in the dark, bursts of light stabbing out of the rock to bite deep into the shields. Drake stabbed and slashed whenever he saw a clear line to a monster, but his opportunities grew fewer. Packed in underground, there was little room to move and the mercenaries didn’t have much space between them.
“Hold the formation!” Hartos bellowed. “Don’t spend your money before its in your pocket! Focus, damn your hides!”
It was good advice, and Drake heeded it. He brushed the sweat from his forehead and blinked to clear his vision. It was hotter in the tunnels, and the fighting was growing more intense.
CRACK!
A piercing sound rang out from beneath his feet and Drake leapt to the side, pulse hammering in his temples. Directly beneath where he’d stood, an ants mandibles gnashed against the bottom of the shield, scraping like a blade across glass. A few seconds later, those terrifying mandibles disappeared, shrinking back into the darkness.
If the shield hadn’t been extended beneath his feet….
Suddenly, despite the hundreds and hundreds of mercenaries here with him, Drake no longer felt safe.
Comments
Gopard
Thanks for the chapter!
Sarah Stillman
Well, the time doesn't need to be exact. They didn't mention being attacked and needing people to defend the eldest during that chapter, I feel like their responses would be a bit different. They wanted to keep as many in the 3rd as possible as they're really protective over Anthony and hate the idea of him being defenseless while in slumber.
Aertheron
Yes it's happening at the same time. It was mentioned they sent as many as they could to help in the 3rd. While keeping enough to protect the eldest.
Grey Knight Lord
These fools don’t know what they just did. They were lured in by the Colony where they hold the advantage. They will get slaughtered.
Brandon14754
Also brilliant detected the seer so from the ants perspective there was a spy that got away and within 2+ days at least 1000 armed to the teeth sapients show up and charge straight towards their mountain. I think at that point you know they don't want peace.
David Burchfield
There is always another Drake. Different context I know but I can't get it out of my head.
Octaeon
Then the moment the expedition returns will be all the more epic - The tide of the strongest ants the Colony has to offer will just overwhelm the mercs all of a sudden.
Folke Wester
Yeah why should they they talk to a bunch of invaders, who come bearing arms to attack at their most vulnerable moment of protecting the Eldest from anything and anyone. Btw they're not humans, humans is just one of many races attacking and are probably not even a majority. Also this is the fourth floor, different from meeting a friendly farmer on the surface. Biggest concern though is how fucking stupid it would be to announce that they are fighting extremely intelligent and organized swarm monsters instead of stupid weak af ants like the mercs see them.
Omer Segal
I think the mercs are just shielding against all magic, so any attempts would not succeed. Additionally, as Eldest is asleep, it's possible that the ants didn't really consider talking to these humans who came to kill them.
LuffyBR
If I was the colony, I would let some of the merc's alive to extract information, about general life, war tactics, how society works and ect, maybe in change of their lifes being saved, because the Colony lacks knowledge about the world and they need to learn from someone or something. They could even use mind magic to forcibly extract the info or something similar, I don't know if it is possible, but it would be cool if it was (maybe the ant seers, like Brilliant could do this job?). I would also kidnap all their ships, I don t know, maybe it can be useful, not for wars but for trades like exchanging the ships for some place's currency or giving the ships for the human and other sentient species territories that support the colony like Renewal.
crusaderstar
Surprised there's no mention of the ants talking to mercs over mind bridge, I assume if they saw a bunch of humans approaching they'd warn them off.
MrrC
Actually just realized that the Mercs have no one watching their back. The carvers can literally close up tunnels behind them and use preset tunnels to push them deeper to the layers where the fires are still burning....trying to go back when the way has been barred will be insanity
MrrC
Agreed..... I assume some Mercs can be captured and turned into info sources for the 4th layer...likely the Golgari merc leader and his surviving team
MrrC
I think it's mainly Carvers and the immortals..... The most experienced soldiers and mages went on the mission for the queen's rescue
MrrC
Greed will get all the Mercs killed. Both those that went in and those on the boats waiting for them.....a single gravity blast will sink the ship and then they have to swim to shore where the ants will welcome them
Greyg
This chrysalis chapter and the merciless chapter from BOD aren’t under their own categories so the chapter counts didn’t raise
Quyan640
I can imagine the ants tunneling underneath the large group of mercenaries and surrounding them in hordes. Similar to the city conquest chapter.
Koala Man
I just can’t see the ants taking the merc’s seriously , it’s a ship load of ppl against a specially built fortress full of thousands of ants . I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s over 100k still at that nest
Dan K
We saw the ant response when the queen was just over extended… imagine the response when the colony learns that they are trying to kill the eldest… also it’s cute how pleased they are with killing a couple ants when the colony is pumping out thousands a day.
Sarah Stillman
They killed some ants... they deserve death. All of them... Also, I wonder if this is going on at the same time of the queen rescue. That could mean that the mercenaries got lucky and they're pretty weak right now.
Patrick
Bye bye drake🫠🫠🫠🫠
Cindermoth
Dragon or Drake, the colony devours both.
Frank Moore
Stay safe and dry! Silly Drake.
Brandon14754
Sounds like they haven't seen a river of acid yet. It feels like they got in too easily like the ants are planning to drown them in acid. Poor poor stupid drake.
