Chapter 292: Chapter 292. Leading an army (2)
"Did it work, young master?" Clara asked after coming back to the safe zone, all drenched in sweat.
Theo chuckled. "Somewhat. It is still adamant on fighting alone."
"I see..." Clara seemed a bit sad hearing that, making Theo smile.
"But it’s not like this was a total failure. I know where I stand right now, and I know why it is doing it too," Theo spoke and continued explaining. "The mantis defeats these beasts faster than me, and when it’s done and I still have five in front of me, it comes to my side to get them done in impatience."
"I just need to be faster and keep up with it," Theo explained and pointed. "Look at that glutton. It takes a bite off the enemy first and then kills them before moving to the next," he said with a chuckle.
When Clara saw that, she got the creeps after a long time.
"Maybe that spatial awareness evolution will help you with it... I have heard about some beasts with the spatial element, and it’s said that it’s tough to hit them with any attacks. They dodge no matter what," she spoke while thinking, making Theo’s ears perk up.
"Really? Then I guess we need to go and find that gate sooner than planned."
Clara nodded and started walking back to the fight. Theo saw her throw a knife she had just cleaned toward a crawler, only to miss and go fight with embarrassment.
Theo laughed so hard that many of the crawlers noticed him and tried entering, only to feel the jitters and stop before reaching anywhere close to the aura.
He checked how much EXP was needed to get him to level 7 and smiled.
’The mantis has been getting EXP for as long as I can remember since we came here. I get 40% every time, while when I kill something, it gets 40%,’ Theo thought and then started calculating how far it was.
’It’s still quite far... and I am forgetting one variable that is also as important...’ Theo thought of the ants.
’Can they really start fighting now? Are they ready?’ Theo asked, and it went directly to the bond between him and the ant queen.
The ant queen sent a few images that took Theo some time to understand, but soon, he realized it.
’You think they are ready? Get you here and you will take care of it?’ Theo asked, and the ant queen approved the explanation.
Theo felt like they were still not ready but did well to hide that thought from the bond.
He went back to the camp and saw his father sitting in the same place. It felt weird that he had been sitting there for so long.
But he was not one to judge, and since the baron wasn’t talking right now, he just went to the ant colony.
The ant queen had already told the whole ant army to get inside the colony, while the large spiked ones were left to stay stationed all around the block of dirt.
"Hmm?" When Theo looked at them, he saw a difference that wasn’t there before.
Reinforced Shardjaw Worker Ant
Common
Level 2
Type – Insect
"????" Theo felt like he was dreaming.
’What the heck does reinforced in an ant mean?’ He thought before going to the bond.
’Where did these ones come from, ant queen??’
Theo asked through the bond, and while there was no response for a while, a few images were sent to his mind.
It showed how the ant queen ate a lot of those crystals, insects, and other kinds of food Theo provided her.
Then it showed images of the new brood in front of the old ones, and that’s when Theo finally got it.
’You mean to say you made the newer generation bigger because you ate better food?’
The emotions that could be compared with a nod came from the ant queen, and Theo realized that he might just have been a little too far away from the ants than he needed to be. He had not seen their development for a while, and it showed in how little he knew right now.
He focused on himself and the mantis so much that such a thing went unnoticed by him.
’Let’s go then. Show me what you are going to do.’
Theo started dragging the trolley with him to the outskirts of the safe zone.
He felt something moving on his hand and tickling him. When he looked down, he saw the spider crawling up his arm.
Soon it was on his shoulder, the same place the mantis always sat.
Theo smiled, seeing it patiently sitting there. They started moving forward, and soon, the small war zone came into view.
Theo halted right at the edge of the safe zone. He couldn’t get them directly into danger; their plan was still unknown to him.
Soon, in a matter of a minute, all the ants marched forward and started getting into the formation that Theo had taught them.
The Aquamandibles were at the back, meant to shoot jets of water forward.
The Embermaws were small, so they perched themselves on top of the spiked ants and the new reinforced worker ants, ready to use their ember resin when the time came.
Theo was surprised looking at such a good formation, but the problem still persisted, they were just too small compared to a single crawler.
The ant queen, who was a lot bigger now, moved forward with the help of some ants all around it.
When it reached the gate of the colony, she halted and sent images toward Theo.
They were requests to send a few crawlers her way.
Theo was hesitant, but he still shouted, "Let some of them come here!"
Both Clara and Elias looked at him and the colony near him before nodding.
The ape smacked some of them toward Theo, while not a single one came from Clara’s side. Yet Theo didn’t mind, enough of the crawlers were already there.