HC:Pacifist | Ch. 149 - Illusion

As Roth brainstormed locations where he could find twenty unemployed ants to recruit, an ant bumped into him.

“Excuse me,  human. Can you step aside, please?”

He turned around and saw an ant carrying plump larvae filled with fresh silk. She was in a hurry to replenish the glue guns of one of the crews. “Sure, sure. Sorry about that.” He got out of the way and inspected the ant.

Annie, the Big-headed Ant

Description: Annie is a hardworking porter-nanny who helps take care of the babies of Antioch.

Lvl. 47

Hp: 50,000

Ep: 3000

Skills: [Soothe]; [Mental Shield].

He chuckled. Porter-nanny. Only in Antioch could there be such an occupation. He watched Annie grab five babies as if they were bags of cement and take them back for a well-deserved nap. Seeing her go down to the queen's chambers, he paused. Twenty unemployed ants? Aren’t there millions of baby ants down there? Maybe he just needed to strike a deal with them before they grew up. Perhaps that’s how he could form a team and learn the tailoring techniques of Antioch!

The more he thought about it, the better it sounded. He already had so many things to ask the Lord, anyway. He would throw this question in as well. He had to make the most of his unique relationship with the treeants. He already knew telepathy and had a deep connection with the creatures. Other players who visited Antioch in the future would die to have this kind of advantage. Roth rushed out of the chamber, seizing a moment when a turtle ant had just moved its giant head and strolled down toward the queen’s chamber, following after Annie.

The contingency of soldiers guarding this chamber was as impressive as ever. There were thousands of soldiers stationed at each gate. They carefully inspected every ant that entered the chamber. Now that he could see them with his own two eyes, he could also appreciate their armor and equipment, something he had been blind to when seeing them through his mind’s eye.

Some were clad in armor made of resin-hardened leaves, and others wore strong chitin armor. He also spotted some with squared, sparkling armor, which he guessed was crafted by mineralsmiths down at the mines. Every single one of the soldiers had blades tailored to their mandibles.

Not much time had passed since Roth had come here for his first audience. The guards inspected him, and after waiting a few moments, two turtle ants stepped out of the way to let him and a group of worker ants through.

Even though visiting the Queen Chambers had been very impactful before, he couldn’t help but feel awed again now that he could see the Queen Chambers with his own eyes. What a spectacle. Mounds of countless eggs were scattered everywhere. It gave Roth the impression that he was on the lake beach of New Lisbon, with its coarse pebbled sand. Some eggs were hatching, others were already broken, and others protected the babies growing within them.

Thousands of workers ran frantically tending to the thousands of babies. Some larvae were still small and fragile. Others were now plump after being tended to by the workers. They were almost ready to spin their silk, not to produce fabric for the colony, but to build a shelter to complete their transformation into workers, soldiers, queens, or males.

Like before, the most impressive sight was the queens. Ant queens were as remarkable to his actual vision as his telepathic one. They were huge, much bigger than any other ant he had seen in the colony. The queens were all draped in beautiful cloaks and clothes made of pure silk fashioned by the weavers.

Roth decided to play a little game. Before inspecting the queens, he tried to guess their species by comparing them with the workers and soldiers he’d seen many times in the tunnels. The first one was easy. He could see this was the mother of all turtle ants, the gatekeepers of the colony. It didn’t have a massive dish-like head, but its armored shell gave it away. He inspected it and celebrated his victory.

Turin, the Turtle Ant Queen (Elite)

Description: The mother of the turtle ants and a treasure of Antioch.

Lvl. 55

Hp: 200,000

Ep: 10,000

Skills: [Summon the Guard]; [Shield Head]; [Shield Rain].

He gave himself 10 points for this one. He moved on to the next one. This queen was darker and much bigger than the turtle ant queen. He studied her for a few long moments before marking her as the queen of the carpenter ants. He inspected her and smiled. Two for two!

Karen, the Carpenter Ant Queen (Elite)

Description: The mother of the carpenter ants and a treasure of Antioch.

Lvl. 56

Hp: 200,000

Ep: 10,000

Skills: [Summon Tree Roots]; [Branch Field]; [Razor Leaves].

Just as he was about to guess the third queen, he caught something out of place. There was a massive caterpillar where an ant queen should have been. The creature didn’t belong with the rest of the scene, yet it had gone entirely unnoticed by Roth until he looked directly at it. How could it have blended into its environment so well? And why hadn't Roth felt its presence before, when he had first visited?

The ant workers seemed utterly oblivious to the caterpillar’s presence. The ant workers were even attending to it and feeding it as if it were a queen. How could they not see the caterpillar? Roth gulped. There was something fishy or caterpillarly going on in here. He tried closing his eyes and saw the chamber only through his mind's eye.

As before, in his mind, he saw a powerful sun similar to that of the other queens in the chamber. Many smaller lights orbited it, like asteroids caught in a star’s gravity. He interpreted that as worker ants feeding the little larvae at the feet of the queen ant. But as he opened his eyes, he saw that what was happening was that the ants were feeding the caterpillar itself, leaving the young to starve.

The illusion was so convincing that Roth was left speechless. He tried catching any imperfections in the mental projection cast by the caterpillar. He closed his eyes and saw an ant queen. He opened his eyes and saw the caterpillar. He closed his eyes and opened them multiple times.

You’ve seen through a suspicious illusion.

+1 insight.

He had discovered what was harming the colony. A predator had infiltrated the treeant colony!

[Supercolony’s Survival] has been updated.

Supercolony Survival’s (Epic)

Description: The tree ants have noticed that their young ones are dying off at alarming rates. You’ve discovered that the reason for this is that a blue caterpillar has infiltrated and is hoarding much of the food that should have been given to the young.

Quest objectives.

Expose the phony ant queen.

Roth studied the update to the quest carefully. Had he not come here blindfolded, he would have started the quest with much more information. He could have asked all the ants of Antioch and would have learned nothing. It was a good thing he had returned here after unlocking the [Creature of the Night] title.

This quest was more straightforward than it looked! All he had to do was to summon the Lord of the Woods and tell him what was happening. Soros had taught him that it was impossible to lie using telepathy. There was no way they wouldn’t hear him out. Just as he was about to summon the Lord of the Woods to tell on the caterpillar, he stopped himself.

How was it impossible to lie telepathically if this caterpillar was clearly capable of doing so? How else could it have fooled all the ants? Even if Roth spoke telepathically to the Lord of the Woods, in the end, it would be his voice against the caterpillar’s. He could already imagine how that would go. Between choosing one of their own and a foreigner, there was no question that they would side with their phony ant queen. They wouldn't believe him. What should he do then?

The colony was very protective of the queens. The fact that queens had developed a propensity for sterility only made each of the fertile queens priceless treasures. When every ant looked at this caterpillar, all they saw was one of the mothers of the colony laying eggs. Its illusion was flawless. If Roth started to cry wolf, the ants wouldn’t understand. Perhaps he would lose reputation with them, or, worse, he would be seen as an enemy to the colony.

Then how could he convince the ants that this was no ant but an enemy? Roth felt a headache brewing. He was beginning to understand why this quest was given an epic grade. He massaged his temples as he thought about these new developments. Completing [Supercolony’s Survival] wouldn’t be easy. Thoughts raced through Roth’s head. Whatever plan he devised ended up with the caterpillar having him cut to pieces by the soldiers’ mandibles.

Instead of making any rash decisions, Roth decided to walk away and collect his thoughts. The first thing he would do was to get out of view of the caterpillar. He didn’t want it to know he was onto it. The last thing he needed was for it to sabotage his stay here.

He stayed longer, admiring the beauty of the queen's chambers, and even asked a few passerby ants about their work. After a few more minutes, Roth excused himself and left the chamber. Once outside, Roth put his thinking cap on and weighed his options.

How could he convince the ants that one of their beloved queens was eating all the food that should have gone to their babies? Roth looked at his inventory. There was a hydrogen grenade there. A rush of images of the sewers burning and the scorched corpses of infected ratans and snakes flashed in his mind. He shook the thought off immediately. Just looking at this grenade made him feel guilty. The last thing he wanted was to blast all the queens to smithereens with a careless nuclear explosion.

What else? He was flying blind here. He had to glean more information somehow. How could he find out more about the nuances of telepathy and how the caterpillar was capable of lying mentally? And what about the impact that it had on the collective mind of the colony? Was the caterpillar just one neuron, one cog in the machine? Or had it completely corrupted the colony?

Roth paced back and forth. Evidently, the caterpillar had a measure of influence over the colony, but it was just a neuron in an enormous brain. Otherwise, it would have prevented the collective mind of the colony from issuing Roth this quest. The only question was: how much control did the caterpillar have over the colony’s thoughts?

He had to find out before making any decisions. What questions could he ask without raising suspicions with the caterpillar? He had to think about this. Roth decided to go for a walk. He walked past the weaver ants, the fungi farm, and a larder. By the time he reached a treesmith workstation, he was confident he had all the questions he wanted to ask.

He marched back into the queen’s chamber. The thump of his heart was ringing in his ears. He took a few deep breaths and, once he felt calmer, mentally summoned the Lord of the Woods. A soft breeze started blowing, and the distinctly regal and benign voice came to him.

“Martyr, the word in Antioch is that you’re impressed with the wonders of our city.”

“Immensely. Your city is incredible.” Roth meant his words. It was a fantastic city. A gentle upward wind conveyed the Lord’s elation at the compliment. “Lord, your wisdom knows no bounds. I have a few questions only someone as insightful as you may answer.”

Ch. 148 - A Crowded Inn

INDEX

Ch. 150 - Scorched Clearing