"Vulcan. Lucius. On me, we're spearheading this operation and I need your teams to be ready when we rush into the damn place," he called out as the crowd of more than 200 adventurers followed suit. The massive gathering garnered cheers from the citizens of the town along the way. Shops offering food came out, handing out ready-made meals for the protectors of the town. Word had easily spread among the masses about what was going down. No one tried to evacuate or skip town; they held perfect confidence in their guardians. Only foreign merchants who were too cowardly left packing. The locals who witnessed these merchants made a mental note to blacklist them next time they came into town to sell their wares.
Walking all the way from the guild to the mines took about half an hour, and once they arrived, a small army of about 1,000 guards was present. They had set up several tents, some for supplies, treating the injured, and a command tent. While the adventurers took their own corner of the camp, the guild master, along with the two parties, went towards the command tent. Inside were several middle-aged men in officer uniforms and one older man with a grey beard. He seemed to be the one leading the operation, as the rest followed his every order.
"Esteban, join me old friend. We have much to discuss in the coming battle. I see you've brought your elites," the old man said as he took his eyes off the map on the center table.
"It's nice to see you too, Lucius," the old man curtously said as he noticed Endless Sun with him. When he saw Vulcan, he had a hardened look. Vulcan suspected the man to be wary of his group. They, after all, had just arrived in town in just a day and disaster struck. It was also their team who found the ant colony. Whether it was really a coincidence, the man had orders from the Marchioness to keep an eye on them.
"Belmont, I've checked them. They're clean, so you can quit giving them that look. If it weren't for them, we may have learned of this fuck-up by the mine management too late," Esteban said, noticing the way Belmont eyed Vulcan and his group.
"Their armor doesn't make it any easier on them. They could be agents of the Nyphili," explained Belmont, his face darkening. More insisting from Esteban that they were not any of agent of some sort made Belmont finally back off a little.
"Let's get this meeting in order. We will commence the operation in 30 minutes. We'll let the men rest for a while to get their bearings straight. Our scouts have found a branching mine that connects to the uppermost part of the colony," explained Belmont, pointing out the layout on the map. He then retrieved a vial of green liquid next to the table.
"We will break vials containing the dead essence of another ant colony to attract the majority to the surface. Along with killing some of their own and these things, will trigger their defensive protocol. Your adventurers will flank attack them from the entrance that was originally found. Our scouts have mapped three main tunnels leading to the surface from that entrance. You brake your forces into these three places, essentially sealing any reinforcements for the queen. That way, you will have less resistance when heading to the queen's chamber. Or a surprise attack from ant reinforcements. Once the queen and her royal guard are dead, the ants will become less coordinated. Making them easy confused prey. Finally, we will form parties of both soldiers and adventurers to roam every tunnel, eliminating any stragglers as well as egg hatcheries," he paused to see if everyone was paying close attention.
"Sounds easy enough, will you be joining us?" Esteban asked.
Belmont shook his head, "My place will be with the town guard. Who knows if any variants may appear. You and your teams should be sufficient for the mission."
With that said, Esteban bid farewell to his old friend. Checking their gear one last time, the attackers were in position. Esteban materialized large gauntlets made of a precious metal that covered to his elbows. Vulcan couldn't help but gawk at the spectacle. Noticing his gaze, Esteban smirked, "Storage rings, they can be quite handy when you have the coin for them," explained the large man.
Endless Sun then joined, now wearing their helms. Lucius donned one similar to a Spartan's but with a flowing white tail at the back. Vulcan didn't know its purpose, but it looked fashionable. Karters wore a similar helm, only his had the proper crest on top. As for Alicia, she was wearing some new red mage robes with gold embroidery stitched on them.
"Gather around, team. You have all been handpicked as the best there is in this town. We will be working as a temporary group, but make no mistake, this isn't a mission to mess around with. Inside the colony is where we will be fighting, not only for the lives of this town but for the lives of the people fighting alongside you. If I feel you are putting this team in danger as well as the whole operation, I will make sure to drag you to Helmar's Deep myself, where you will serve a lifetime. Understood!?" Esteban said, giving everyone the most intimidating glare.
As for what Helmar's Deep was, think of it like Alcatraz, but the island is literally floating on top of a massive ocean blue hole. Basically, a sinkhole underwater where it's dark, like an abyss. Jess only explained it briefly before, but somehow this island was able to float on the surface without any support? And the only way to get there and off the prison island is on one of those airships. Any ship that tries to go near is submerged by the many unknown marine creatures below the waters. They consist of enormous tentacles, and some say that something even bigger lives deep below.
Just when Esteban was going to go into more detail about the consequences, a loud horn blared in the town guard camp. Rows upon rows of guards, followed by their archers and mage units, began to move. "That's our cue! Adventurers, with me!" he rallied the large crowd waiting on standby. Funneling into the copper mine took a while since the mine tunnel only allowed so many to enter. But Esteban was at the front with Endless Sun and Dark Sentry. They had already sent teams to make sure the tunnel was clear and were making good progress until they reached the opening that Vulcan's team had found when rescuing the miners.
Esteban held up his large fist and everyone stopped on command. "Julian, Erik, and Giselle," he called out. A man in rogue gear, another in plate armor, and a woman holding a staff came forward. They had guild staff badges on their respective armor; they were the three underlings of Esteban and would lead the adventurers in three separate groups to attack the ants from behind while Esteban wasn't there. He hadn't given out orders yet until the very earth began to shake as if a tremor was happening. His earth affinity probably gave him insight on the origin of the trembling.
Esteban looked below the hole and noticed hundreds upon hundreds of dark silhouettes heading towards a specific upward direction of the colony. Jess hadn't noticed, but everyone had been holding their breaths waiting for the ants to pass by. As soon as it started, the shaking grew quieter, Esteban finally looked back and gave a firm head nod to the three guild staff.
Like the guild master explained to Vulcan's team, the other three had explained the plan to the rest of the adventurers. Esteban didn't jump down the hole; using his earth affinity allowed him some control. Not to the point of an earth mage, but enough to widen the hole and form a large slope for easier access into the colony tunnel.
Like this, the crowd split two ways, the guild master's team going right and the adventurers to the left where the ants went. They were briskly walking but once they haven't met with any ants, all of them broke out on a hard sprint. Entering the hatchery was uneventful, only a few worker ants that were dispatched easily. Taking the tunnel that led to the queen's chamber led to more resistance. A squad of main guard ants put themselves in the way of the team.
Vulcan was about to attack when Esteban called out, "let me handle this, it'll be a quick warm-up." He sped ahead and stopped a few meters away. Vulcan felt a large amount of energy then gather on Esteban's fists. The earth around him bent to his will and formed two massive fists. As if to confuse the ants, the fists went back into the earth but reappeared below the first two ants; it lifted them up as if they were tiny in comparison to the fists. The fists closed creating a loud crunching noise; he didn't stop there he stomped his right foot down, and a column of rock rose below another ant and smashed it against the ceiling. The last ant who watched the terrain change at will was confused. Until Esteban palmed the air down as if he was smacking a fly. The ceiling above the last ant fell down and crushed it like the rest. Once they were all dead, the rock that formed the fists and pillars disintegrated back onto the earth.
Vulcan now realized that when Esteban had dueled him, he didn't use any of these attacks, and now he wondered who would win next time they fought while using their full strength. Knocking him out of his daydream, the rest of the team moved when the guild master signaled to keep moving. As they ran, the tunnel became wider until they entered an enormous chamber. Some sort of luminescent moss clung to the top of the ceiling and had lit everything up with a soft glow of blue light. It was the squelching and loud clanking of mandibles that first attracted them to view one of the biggest insects they have ever seen.
The ant queen wasn't like any ant queen seen on earth. This one was still connected to an enormous round abdomen at the end which was producing white gooey eggs that were collected by worker ants. But the rest of its body was humanoid in shape. It was sitting on a large white fungus-shaped throne as it screeched at the intruders. Its royal guard on the other hand were also humanoid shaped and bipedal. Using two insect legs to walk forward and with 3 arms on both sides. Large clear wings could be seen tucked behind their backs as well. A total of seven of these dark carapace royal guards protected the queen.
Esteban then glanced at them before they charged to the center of the place. "Ant queen royal guards, about low silver stage each. The queen on the other hand is peak silver stage like predicted. I'll take on two of the guards. Lucius, your team will take on two, and Vulcan. You can take on the rest since your team has more manpower." He looked around at everyone giving out orders and making sure everyone agreed with the plan. "This is it, let's get the queen's head last. RAAHH!!" with a final war cry, Esteban led them to the boss fight.