Chapter 678: [Wave 3 – Bloodcarver Ants]

[Wave 3 – Bloodcarver Ants]

Another message appeared in front of Kael. His face turned solemn as he prepared himself. The Hive trembled again, however, this time, the tremor was different.

It didn’t come from the beasts outside, it came from the Hive itself.

Far away, in the deeper tunnels, thousands of sharp legs began moving at once. Kael felt them through the Swarmmind.

Yes, he could connect to them with the Swarmmind because this time, the enemy wasn’t beetles or mantises—

They were ants.

Enemy ants.

Kael focused on what he was seeing.

A red-black tide appeared in the far tunnels. Their mandibles were shaped like blades, their bodies covered in scars.

These ants were different from his ants. His ants had order. Even when they were afraid or angry, even when he couldn’t connect to them as well as he could now, they still had loyalty inside them.

But these ants—

They did not.

Let alone loyalty, these ants didn’t even have a fixed purpose. They moved like a broken army, kind of like the mindless army Kael faced back in the Heights.

Of course, to Kael, this only made them easier to deal with.

So he focused.

There were tens of thousands of them and they were coming from many tunnels, the north one, the east one, the ceiling roots, the old cracks near the Brood Chamber—

They attacked from everywhere at once.

And Kael—

He was prepared.

The first group of Bloodcarver Ants crashed into Imperia’s ants.

The sound made was horrifying. Mandibles struck shells, claws tore through legs, bodies were crushed.

Ants fell.

Be it the enemy, or his own ants.

Kael’s mind took the brunt of their deaths. Hundreds of ants, dying in an instant. The pain was becoming unbearable.

Kael clenched his teeth, still keeping control, barely.

He looked at the map inside his mind. This time, he divided the ants by zones.

North Tunnel.

East Tunnel.

Lower Burrow.

Ceiling Root Path.

Brood Chamber Gate.

Five different fronts.

Five purposes.

And with that, Kael began to command.

"North Tunnel.

Hold."

A large group of shield ants and soldier ants moved into position. They didn’t rush forward, they only locked themselves together and created a thick wall of bodies and shells, just like Kael told them to.

The Bloodcarver Ants slammed into them.

The wall shook.

Some shield ants were cut apart instantly, but the line stayed.

"East Tunnel.

Delay."

Kael gave another command to the other front. The ants there did not fight directly. They fell back slowly, dropping stones, blocking paths, and forcing the Bloodcarver Ants to push through narrow turns, leaving traps behind with every step they took.

"Lower Burrow.

Collapse."

Burrower ants moved under the ground, their claws tearing into the tunnel supports. The moment the Bloodcarver Ants rushed into the lower path—

The roof fell.

Hundreds were buried instantly.

"Ambush the ones above."

Ants hidden among the upper roots dropped from above, attacking the enemies’ backs, biting their joints, and pulling them down.

As for the last front.

The Brood Chamber Gate.

Kael personally moved there.

He wasn’t going to let anyone hurt his little daughter.

Of course, he wasn’t foolish enough to face thousands of ants alone. No, this was where Imperia was, so Kael had always surrounded this place with his strongest ants.

Shield ants.

Soldier ants.

Acid ants.

Heavy ants.

All of them formed a final line around the amber chamber where Imperia was evolving. The Bloodcarver Ants kept coming in terrifying numbers.

Kael himself attacked them, killing groups of them in a single blow, however, the more groups he dealt with, the more groups appeared.

Again, Kael couldn’t help but think how much they resembled the enemies he had faced before, not slowing down even when he burned their allies to ashes. They had no fear of death.

"Acid ants, second line."

The acid ants moved behind the shield ants. Kael himself stepped back, letting his ants do the work while he recovered a little. After all, he still needed to clear two more waves. He couldn’t exhaust himself here, especially when the Trial didn’t give him any time to rest or recover.

"Open."

He instructed. The shield split apart for a moment, the Bloodcarver Ants rushed through the gap and just then—

"Release."

Acid sprayed from both sides.

"KRRIIIEEEKKKKKKKK!!!!"

The Bloodcarvers screamed as their shells melted.

"Close."

The shield ants closed the gap again.

"Soldiers."

And the next second, the soldier ants rushed forward and tore through the weakened enemies.

Just like that, Kael continued giving commands. At this point, he stopped speaking, he simply sent his intent through the Swarmmind and the ants moved accordingly.

His ants continued pushing the enemy ants back, killing them faster than they could. The Bloodcarvers’ numbers were falling at a dangerous speed, then, something different happened.

Suddenly, the Bloodcarvers changed their path.

A large group suddenly pulled away from the north tunnel and rushed toward the ceiling roots, trying to break through from above.

Kael, because it was all connected to his Swarmmind, noticed it instantly.

He told the Ceiling Units to retreat. The Bloodcarvers chased.

The worker ants then cut the smaller hanging roots. The roots fell with dozens of Bloodcarvers with them. The moment they hit the ground, waiting soldier ants surrounded them, ready to tear them apart.

The Bloodcarvers tried out a few more ’tactics’. They were oddly simple-minded and none of them worked.

What did overwhelm Kael, however, was how even when he was winning, even when his ants killed the enemy ants, he felt the pain.

It was overwhelming, mind-numbing even.

He remembered how he once passed out from it. It was a pain no human should go through, but right now—

Kael took it all, and he took it with as much endurance as possible.

With that, the last wave of the Bloodcarvers finally ended. Kael’s ants won and just then—

[Wave 3 Cleared.]

He saw the message.

A message that momentarily made him sigh in relief. The pain he constantly felt all this time, while commanding his own troops—

It was a miserable experience.

A torture, honestly.

And the worst part?

[Wave 4 – Ghostveil Ants]

It still wasn’t over.