Chapter 1181: Anthony On Tour pt 33

Chapter 1181: Anthony On Tour pt 33

"What are the lizards playing at?" Morrelia growled.

Commander Chyron chuckled humourlessly as she watched the activity in the port city with unblinking eyes.

"Trying to slither back into our good graces, I don't doubt. Leadership is still furious with them, to put it mildly. It'll be decades before relations get back to anything like what they were."

"Decades. That's not much to them."

"True. Hardly even a blip. They may even view it as a worthy tradeoff for the 'experimental' action they took."

"Are we really withholding support during the waves?"

"Completely. Thanks to that, we've got more resources freed up for trivial, 'save the world' type actions like this one."

From the top of the old Legion fort they currently occupied, the Colony could clearly be seen. The ants were as industrious as ever, putting up their nest in a staggeringly short amount of time. Morrelia felt she could barely blink before the construction was done and hordes of ants ran in and out through the main entrance, carrying in goods from the ships down on the docks. Blink again, and the fortifications had improved, soldiers were patrolling, lookouts were positioned high up the nest and mages had begun controlling the flow of mana in the vicinity.

The Commander noticed the direction of her gaze.

"They'll be a terrible enemy," she nodded toward the still-growing mound of dirt and rock. "They've spun that entire thing out of thin air. Imagine how quickly they could fortify in a Dungeon tunnel and how effectively. Dislodging them will be a nightmare."

"No, of course not! We've been cleaning up everyone else's mess for hundreds of years. Not enough recruits, not enough funds. We can't possibly be in all the places we're going to be needed. Which means some parts of the Dungeon will be let go, perhaps as soon as the next wave. At least our resourcing is getting better as the danger grows closer. People are starting to wake up and remember their old promises."

She hadn't thought it was this grim. She'd known it was bad, that was an inescapable fact, but this bad? There were places in the Dungeon that leaned on the Legion for their defence. If the troops were withdrawn they would surely fall to the monsters. How many thousands, tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands, would perish were that to occur?

"Is there a chance the Colony could be used to block some of those gaps for us?" Morrelia wondered out loud. "I've seen the reports, just as you have. They've held against the waves remarkably well, defended every city they've taken and regulated the Dungeon to an incredible degree. They could be a weapon we can use to blunt the waves."

The Commander gave her a warning glance.

"Using monsters as weapons is precisely the reason why we are mad at the lizards in the first place. You're a tribune now, so it's important that you learn and think about the big picture, but I caution you against this line of thought. Aye, I've read the reports. The ants are doing extremely well against the waves, because they're monsters. An endless flood of Biomass and cores. What they did on the third? Those massive demon farms? The waves are strengthening them. If we use the Colony to blunt the waves, we only sharpen the sword that will inevitably come for our own neck."

"The brathians seem confident that the ants are resistant, that they won't turn against us."

Chyron rolled her eyes.

"And did they test them against an Ancient? We have to assume the worst case scenario. Besides, this is all over our heads. We are here for one reason and one reason alone. There is a prospective Ancient over there in that nest and they must not be permitted to descend. That is the end of it."

"Yes, Commander," Morrelia snapped out a brisk salute.

"Good. Now get below and sort out the troops. This isn't shore leave, I want them doing drills and gear maintenance on double shifts. If we're going to be sitting around on our backsides, we may as well ensure our own blade receives a little sharpening."