Chapter 49: Rot vs. Order (1)

Chapter 49: Chapter 49: Rot vs. Order (1) The tunnel is bigger than I thought. Fester looked smug at the praise and showed off more features it had erected inside. Similar to the first circle design, it had left random holes along the walls. These could be used to set up ambushes in case a foolish soul decided to explore the tunnels. On top of that, there were some tunnels that led to a dead end, and some led to strange traps. Blaze was surprised Fester did all of it itself, considering its low intelligence. Fester copied the lair’s layout, but even copying requires intelligence. Blaze then looked ahead. Three skeletons were leading the charge, each holding a bone club. It might not be much use against the ants, but they’d be better than his claws. An ant’s exoskeleton was quite tough, even before the apocalypse. Blaze assumed they had only gotten stronger afterwards. Hence, his claws might not be of much use against them. Comparatively, bludgeoning weapons, like the club, would still be useful against them. If the tunnels had been bigger, he would have taken Raven and Breaker with him. But that wasn’t the case. I need to get some weapons for the horde as well. So far, the undead had an edge over the living because the humans lacked effective weapons. Blaze suspected that would change with the upcoming updates to the game. He didn’t think the Collective would be generous enough to give weapons to the undead as well. That’s why he wanted to get his hands on some makeshift, but effective weapons beforehand. They could steal it from the humans, but that would be difficult. It was better to make their own tools like the primitive humans. That was something he’d worry about later. For now, he had to focus on defeating the ant queen. The plan was simple. Instead of taking the ant colony headfirst, they would sneak inside through the tunnels. First, Fester would locate the ant queen. Then Marrow would then use her ability to kill her, and finally Blaze would convert her into a horde member. With the ant queen under control, the ants would naturally submit to them. Blaze would then infect them and complete the lair’s quest. However, this plan had a glaring fault. By killing the ant queen, they were essentially ending their bloodline. Since only the queen laid eggs, the ants wouldn’t reproduce, unlike the frogkins. It would be much better if I could get a mental infecting skill. A skill that would infect only the target’s mind, not their bodies. That way, the queen could carry out her tasks, all the while being loyal to him. But even thinking about it was ridiculous. Such a skill would be too broken to exist. Especially since everything was under the Collective’s control. Nature’s solution to the issue was to make another queen. However, having another queen would ruin the purpose of killing the queen in the first place. The best solution Blaze could think of would be to raise an ant since birth. Help her become the queen and hope she’ll stay loyal to him. While he was lost in his thoughts, Fester stopped. The skeletons followed suit as Fester raised its nose and began sniffing. "Skree!" We’re here. Marrow nodded as the skeletons positioned themselves. Blaze looked at them and shook his head. The skeletons were flimsy at best. It wasn’t surprising since they were made from the bones of unawakened individuals. It made him wonder how long they could hold against the ants. Hopefully, long enough for me to infect the queen. With that, he gave the signal, and Fester began digging. The wall collapsed and the skeletons charged in. The rest of them were about to jump in when a skeleton’s skull flung past them. We’re in the queen’s chamber, alright. Blaze jumped in and the sight shocked him. He had planned to take the queen by surprise, but they were the ones to get surprised instead. Hundreds of ants awaited their arrival. However, what surprised him more was their size. Every single one of them was at least three feet long, with some touching the six-foot mark. Yet none of them could even compare to the monster behind them. The ant queen... A ten-foot-long monstrosity stared at the invaders. He had expected them to mutate, but this was unlike anything he expected. Blaze’s first instinct was to run away and not look back. He would have followed through if not for Marrow. Fester, protect Marrow. Skeletons form a wall around them. Marrow was the heart of the plan, and Blaze couldn’t let anything to happen to her. As for him, he didn’t care about infecting the ants. For the moment, killing the ant queen quickly was more important. With the queen under threat, it wouldn’t take long for the entire colony to show up there. Marrow, get to it! She nodded and shot her tendrils towards the nearest ants. They died within seconds, but she couldn’t keep up with it for long. There were too many ants, and her ability couldn’t keep up with them. To make things worse, the skeletons wouldn’t hold on for long. As for Marrow’s raise skeleton skill, it wouldn’t work against the ants. Because the ants were invertebrates, they didn’t have skeletons to raise. It was a match made in hell. Thankfully, she wasn’t there alone. As the ants collapsed, Blaze jumped onto one of them. Honestly, the ant’s bigger size was working in his favor. Their massive size made it easier for him to locate their neck, or petiole, as they’re called. In simple words, it made it easier for him to infect them. There’s no need to make them a horde member. Blaze thought as he bit into an ant’s neck. He didn’t wait and jumped onto the next ant, repeating the process. An ant colony’s strength was its unity and order. Blaze always wondered what would happen if those two things were to disappear. Now, he would have his answer.