I look around and see the caves still trembeling. Feeling a bit like I am holding my breath, I hold of on collecting the mana around me. Just a short time later the left tunnel collapses without any ants getting through.
None of the ants are moving towards me yet. With the passage behind me closed off as usual I only need to think of the small holes on the left and the big tunnel in front of me. As soon as I take a breath it will all start.
Taking my first breath the ambiant mana is quickly sucked into my core, signaling the start of the ant swarm. I hold the huge (Blade ant) from my phantom vision in my mind, but find myself lacking, as if tryng to lift a boulder the size of myself.
I think of the dangerous looking sword ants with huges blades on their carapace, and feel like my I will pull a muscle if I keep this up. Wondering if I had to could only summon the baby version of the (blade ant) I felt it click. The larva was taking shape and getting more solid. Ajusting as fast as I could manage, I ended up with a young sword ant, still showing some white on it's back.
It looked nearly the same as the first ant I summoned. Except that I could now somehow feel that it was nowhere near fully grown.
Looking closer, the small white potrutions on it's back hinted at the arrival of new blades that would grow heavier, sharper and longer with time.
With every breath my domain grew, giving me more and more vision of the area around me. It seems the ant also became aware of our first visitors.
Unlocks the (Ant), (Blade Ant) template
In the beginning the soft blades of the young ant broke a few times. A small price to pay for decapitation of it's opponent.
Unlike my own breath of ambient mana, the ant only seemed to pull in mana from a defeated ant.
Visibly growingevery time it gets more mana, all but the last of it's blades are baby white.
As I try to hold the image of another ant in my mind, it's transparent form wobbels and breaks apart.
Some of the strands of my vision are pulled apart and fly towards the the large tunnel before I breath it in again.
Figuring that's where the mana wanted to go I tried to hold a vision of a new ant in the large tunnel.
With a splitting headache the new vision burst apart and I loose all of my mana to the approaching wild ant. Glowing brightly that ant halts it's movement.
That pauze was sorely needed and used to catch the sneaky white baby ant, sneaking out of the left tunnel and on it's way to my crystal.
The last attack cost him his left mandible, but the giant wild ant was clearly wounded now.
Telling my (Blade ant) to ignore the shouts and bright flashes of fire deep down in the tunnel, it slowly takes the giant down piece by piece.
As the giant takes it's last breath I feel like I am taking my first in a while.
This time the vision of my new ant holds. As soon as the vision of my second ant hold I am awarded with a new vision of my 2 ants exchanging liquid mouth-to-mouth.
The system whispers to me and cals it [Trophallaxis], I call it nasty.
Their moment together got interrupted by shouting and a burning (Deer) running in and collapsing in front of them.
Something seems off about Dave who is running ahead of his classmates.
In a furious red-eyed rage and a reckless dive he goes for my ants
The last thing I see is Dave loosing the lower half of his body while bashing on my (Blade ant).
A piece of it's carpace chipping off and flying into my core.