From the floor of the third stratum, four giant pillars were rising. Compressed stone, marked with grooves, rotated upward from an enormous base of gathered material. Around the base of each laboured a thousand earth mages, combining their will to enable the great working, shifting thousands of tons of rock with their minds alone.
Hundreds of metres above, lashed with the burning wind and flecks of ash that filled the air of this layer of the Dungeon, yet more thousands of ants gripped tight to the sides of the columns as they drew ever closer to the plate above. A barrage of spells fell toward them, deflected by shields and broken apart by yet more mages, but some fell through, crashing into massive soldiers who absorbed the blows with their hardened carapace.
Atop glittering platforms of pure energy, teams of demons battle in the air, flinging magic and their own bodies at each other for control of the sky, such as it is, around the outer edge of the plate.
Yet more ants mass around the base of the assault columns, grouping together in teams before they begin to ascend. The stone will make contact any moment now, they need to be in position for the final assault.
The air is filled with flashes of magic, smoke and fire, making it difficult for Sloan to see, but she can grasp enough of the situation from her position on the command hill to make a snap judgement.
"Move out the healer teams, we want them coming in right behind the assault crews."
"Yes, general!"
"Bring the artillery scouts to the forward firing position. I want the edge of that plate covered in acid in one minute."
"Understood!"
She fired off orders and the messenger scouts positioned around her dashed away to deliver her instructions to the dedicated relay stations. A mixture of mind magic and enchanted pheromone projectors would be used to spread the word over wide distances in a short time frame. In thirty seconds her instructions could hit any point on the battlefield.
The demon city above loomed ominously. Iritel, a smallish settlement by the standards of the third stratum, only slightly larger than Roklu had been when the Eldest had found it. The petty lord who ruled over it had been the unfortunate recipient of the Colony's eye and now faced an assault the scale of which could not have been foreseen.
Fifty thousand ants and hundreds of demons had massed against the city and it could not possibly hope to stand against their combined might. Brixin commanded the gathered demon forces, her demonic heart pounding with glee as her territory was set to expand once more.
Iritel rested half way up a world pillar that stood dozens of kilometres from Roklu, on the opposite side from the contested land with the kaarmodo. For now, the Colony had decided against antagonizing their neighbours any further, but that situation remained volatile.
"Contact!"
A faint rumbling could be heard resounding from kilometres above their heads as the slowly rotating pillars crunched into the bottom of the stone plate. The moment they did so ants rushed up the connected pillar, a living carpet that covered each pillar began to spread along the underside of the demon city, the ants clinging to the stone as they made their way to the edge, an enormous drop to the ground below them.
"Get the human teams in position. I want those aura buffs to hit the moment our teams rush over the edge. Tell the demons to unleash their maximum firepower. Are those artillery squads in position yet!?" Sloan bellowed.
"Artillery firing!"
There was an extended series of low thumping sounds as four separate batteries of specially evolved scouts launched their enormous payloads of compressed acid into the air. Huge streaks of sizzling fluid arced through the sky before they fell upon the plate. The demons in the landing zones, trying to hold off the encroaching forces are forced back from the edge, lest they be overcome. No sooner does the first barrage land that the second is in the air, then the third.
Once the fourth lands, it's time to move.
Ants flood over the edges, gnashing and biting at everything they see as roaring priests accompanying fiery eyed human warriors leap from their specially prepared floating platforms onto the plate to fight alongside them. Enervated by the potent aura buff of fighting alongside their allies, the ants push forward aggressively and overrun the outer defences of the city.
The landing zones rapidly expand as more ants reach the upper side of the plate, splitting off in teams to reach their predetermined holding points. Brixin landed on the plate alongside her handpicked team of assistants before she pushed hard toward the centre of the city. It was up to her to put down the tier seven city lord. The ants could defeat them, but not without sacrifice. Better to leave it to their demon ally and play safe.
With their forces already running rampant through the city, the battle was over and Sloan sighed. She didn't allow any sign of her draining tension to show, but internally she allowed her mind to wander. Iritel was only the first city that would fall to the Colony this week, three others were lined up and preparations were already underway, resources gathered.
After several weeks of preparation, the time of expansion through the third stratum had finally begun. A hundred thousand new recruits had poured down into Roklu over the last few days, bolstering the Colony's numbers before the offensive had begun. Land, resources, an increase in the number of demon allies that they could draw upon were the goals the Colony had set for themselves.
Higher level hunting grounds were also essential if they hoped to raise yet more tier six members that could assist in the conflict that raged even now in the fourth stratum.
Things were getting busy.
Ten minutes later, word came back to the command tent that Brixin had emerged victorious, the city was subdued. Onto the next.