Chapter 189 - 189: What's Going on with the Trinity Hive
[ Rubedo, ] Sylara spoke softly, her voice carrying the faint rustle of dry leaves. [ Do you require my hive-mind to march on the capital as well? I can mobilize the eastern fungal colonies immediately. ]
Red rested his chin on his palm and looked at the Rank 18 deity. She possessed the raw power to compost entire forests in a matter of seconds.
[ Keep your forces stationed in your own territory for now, Sylara, ] Red instructed. [ Your units emit highly toxic spores. Marching your fungal colonies alongside the standard infantry would unintentionally poison our own armies before we even reach the ships. ]
Sylara ducked her head. A few of her silk-moths flew up in a frantic swarm to hide the lower half of her face.
[ I understand, ] she murmured. [ I apologize for the biological hazard. ]
[ We are currently focused on repelling the invasion and reclaiming lost land, ] Red explained, dismissing her apology. [ When the true war against the gods of the Fourth Continent finally begins, I will unleash your hive-mind to rot their forces from the inside out. Keep them perfectly preserved until that moment. ]
Sylara nodded quickly in agreement. The prospect of an all-out biological slaughter always terrified her pacifist nature, yet she remained utterly loyal to the Sovereign who guaranteed her absolute safety from the global server.
[ I have a different task for you right now, ] Red continued. [ You possess a brilliant tactical mind. I need your strategic expertise to plan our naval defense and map out the Third Continent's invasion route. You must remain available for direct consultation. ]
A faint, bioluminescent blush spread across Sylara's translucent cheeks. The sudden praise flustered the reclusive deity completely. Her silk-moth dress fluttered to match her racing thoughts.
[ Oh, ] Sylara squeaked quietly. [ I... I can come over to the sanctuary anytime you need me, Sovereign! Just send a summons and I will be there! ]
Red offered a rare, genuine nod of approval.
[ I will contact you soon. Prepare the canopy defenses in the meantime. ]
The transmission abruptly ended. The final pillar vanished, leaving Red alone in the dark void of his sanctuary to prepare for the coming global war.
Red tapped his Sovereign interface to coordinate the upcoming naval transport logistics. Then, he shifted his primary view to the western chasm to inspect his biological siege weapons.
The management of the Trinity Hive required constant oversight to ensure their hyper-evolution did not completely consume the surrounding planetary crust.
A glowing text box populated the center of his screen.
[ SYSTEM ALERT: TRINITY HIVE DAILY METRICS. OVERALL POPULATION: 1.4 BILLION ACTIVE UNITS. ]
[ NEW GENETIC STRAINS STABILIZED. ]
Three years of constant feeding under the one-hundred-times growth multiplier had forced the swarm to develop a highly complex and terrifyingly efficient society. They possessed their own unique dialect and structural literature encoded through bioluminescent pheromone-script, allowing them to formally communicate with the other vassal factions of the Seventeenth Continent.
[ INCOMING MISSIVE: TRINITY HIVE LOGISTICS CASTE ]
[ Report: Daily caloric intake of 40,000 tons achieved. Subterranean magma-vein tapping successful. Obsidian dreadnoughts have successfully integrated the captured storm-wyvern scales into their carapace matrices. Now awaiting transport coordinates. ]
Red opened the live visual feed of the chasm to verify the report. Down on the canyon floor, the Obsidian-Carapace caste stomped through the lower tunnels in perfect unison. They had grown into walking dreadnoughts the size of armored transport vehicles. Their black glass exoskeletons gleamed with assimilated star-iron weapons and deep-earth steel.
Red watched a massive boulder fall from a higher ridge and strike one of the dreadnoughts directly on the back.
The kinetic energy rippled visibly across the ant's metallic shell and dispersed harmlessly into the ground, proving their newly developed kinetic-absorption plating functioned perfectly.
High above the marching infantry, the Caustic-Mandible caste clung to the sheer canyon walls. Their glowing orange abdomens pulsed with intense heat to illuminate the massive underground empire.
They had completely mastered their internal chemistry over the past years.
Red observed a squad of artillery ants perfectly recalibrating the pH levels of their internal sacs to produce highly pressurized bio-plasma. They weaponized their biology to launch concentrated payloads capable of melting straight through magical fortress walls and arcane energy barriers in mere seconds.
The live feed panned across the sprawling golden neural network coating the entire floor of the chasm. The Parasitic Amber-Hive functioned as the central intelligence and genetic laboratory of the swarm.
The intelligent oozes piloted the reanimated, skeletal remains of colossal siege beasts to haul massive carcasses into their digestive pools.
While the Amber core actively broke down the DNA of fallen enemy generals and synthesized those stolen traits to spawn heavily mutated, hybrid worker grubs.
A frantic, overlapping broadcast suddenly flooded the golden neural network before he could speak. The collective voice of the Queens vibrated with violent urgency across the digital link.
[ Sovereign! ] the Trinity Hive broadcasted. [ An apex aerial anomaly has breached the upper canopy of Sector Seven. Target identified as a mutated Elder Storm-Dragon. Our Caustic artillery cannot pierce its atmospheric pressure barrier. The Obsidian dreadnoughts are completely grounded. We request immediate orbital bombardment to ground the prey! ]
Red quickly swiped his hand across the interface to shift the live visual feed toward Sector Seven.
A massive, jagged cavern opened directly into the stormy sky above. A colossal dragon with crackling blue scales hovered just out of reach of the canyon walls. The beast unleashed devastating torrents of chained lightning down upon the swarming ants below.
The Caustic-Mandible caste fired concentrated bio-plasma into the air, but the dragon's hurricane-force winds violently deflected the acidic payloads against the rock face. Down on the canyon floor, the massive Obsidian dreadnoughts roared in absolute frustration, entirely unable to reach the flying beast.
"Where are they coming from? Are they migrating from another continent or what?" Red let our an annoyed sigh.
Suddenly, a massive shadow of dark green muscle and heavy star-iron suddenly plummeted from the highest precipice of the canyon.
The figure crashed directly into the back of the Elder Storm-Dragon with the force of a falling meteor. The sheer kinetic impact shattered the beast's wind barrier instantly.
A towering Troglodyte stood atop the thrashing dragon, wielding a massive, war-axe forged from pure obsidian and steel.
"I am glad I didn't travel the sea with them. I have been having so much fun here killing the dragons!" Gorak said as he swung the axe.
He drove his axe repeatedly into the base of the dragon's wings, tearing through thick scale and heavy bone with terrifying, unadulterated brute strength.
The crippled dragon shrieked in absolute agony and plummeted from the sky. It crashed violently into the canyon floor, sending a massive shockwave of dust and crushed rock into the air. The moment the beast hit the dirt, a tide of millions of frenzied Trinity Hive ants swarmed over the grounded prey to begin the feast.
Gorak ripped his axe from the dragon's severed spine and leapt clear of the acidic swarm. He wiped a splash of glowing blue blood from his scarred snout and looked directly up at the Red's camera feed. A savage, entirely psychotic grin stretched across Gorak's face.
Red lowered his hand and let out a dark chuckle inside his sanctuary. Iron-Scale had asked about his fellow commander's deployment. Red had specifically dropped Gorak into the deepest, most dangerous sectors of the Seventeenth Continent's wild zones to hunt apex predators and forcibly evolve his combat classes through raw slaughter.
[ Threat neutralized, my Hive, ] Red projected smoothly through the network, watching the ants rapidly devour the dragon. [ Share the meat with the Warlord. ]