LATEST UPDATES

Rise of the Antanoid - Chapter 33

Published at 21st of October 2022 06:02:52 AM


Chapter 33

If audio player doesn't work, press Stop then Play button again




Caro stood as proudly as possible in front of the rest of her family and received the queen's hug. She knew that the queen would like to be more affectionate to her children, but for them getting her attention and affection was the biggest honor they could receive during their lives and Caro was determined to live up to the expectations that her majesty had.

The queen released her from the hug and took a step back before she regarded the group with a worried expression. "Be safe out there okay? Your lives are a lot more valuable to me than any ressource you could find, you hear me?"

Caro and her three sisters all saluted by slapping their fists on their chests. The queen's words were law and they would follow them. “As you wish, your majesty!” 

She couldn't quite manage to keep the smile off her face when the queen rolled her eyes in response. They were lucky that their majesty wasn't a different person and such a nice and caring person. Caro would treasure that until the end of her life.

They all waved their antenna to say goodbye one final time before the group turned around and jogged into the forest at a measured pace. The success of this mission could be the difference between life and death for some of them, so failure was unacceptable.

Caro gripped the hilt of one of her axes searching for something reassuring and looked ahead. Her sisters fanned out to get into the planned formation. Erin would scout ahead and look out for any dangers while Sharri and Helen guarded their flanks. Caro was the middle of the formation and technically also responsible for their backs, because she didn't have a bow and was honestly not talented in shooting either.

The four of them reached the river and turned right to follow it along its path for about a day. Then they would have to leave the river or they would enter unknown territory to the south. While this was not the most optimal thing to happen concerning the transportation of wood, tools and other stuff, it was still a lot better than having to carry the goods the whole way from the outpost to the hive.

Caro sweered right to evade a small thorny bush. Her task once they arrived at the location the queen had chosen, was to build up rooms for the group and start to chop down trees afterwards. Her sisters would help her during the building, but would start collecting more information about the forest once the housing was secured.

The group ran on for a few more hours before they took their first break at a nice spot next to the river. They couldn't stay for too long however and had to continue. The changed behavior of the hell moths forced them to get as far away from the hive as possible during the day. The closer they were to the hive the more dangerous the night would be.

Caro made sure she stayed vigilant for most of the time and was on the lookout for possible dangers as well as food sources. The group only had vegetables and fruits for one day and would have to provide for themselves afterwards. 

The queen had told them that that shouldn't be a problem though. The forest seemed to be a lot richer in possible food sources than the titan forest. They would only be careful not to poison themselves with anything.

Half an hour later they met with the second drone squad that had been scouting the river before and stopped a few minutes later to greet them properly. You just couldn't do without giving them some pats and head scratches, they were too cute for that.

Caro took a look at her minimap. They were a bit ahead of the queens travel estimations, a good sign. If they continued like this they would reach the building location early the next morning. 

She took a glance at the drones that were currently grooming each other. The little ones should be able to keep up with them, their bodies were built for such activities.

The group continued their travel with the drones now taking the rear. The next few hours were uneventful except for them leaving the river and the only thing that made itself moticable was Caro's exhaustion. She still kept going and just forced herself to keep up with the others.

When the sun began to dip behind the horizon and it started to get darker a loud whistle came out of Helena's direction shortly followed by a shout. "We have enemies inbound. A pack of 7 cat snail lizards is coming in our direction."

The cat snail lizards, very informative. Caro sighed. They really needed to name the animals in the near future. Calling them out like this every time took too long and didn’t provide one with the image a name could deliver.

Her two other sisters whistled an acknowledgement and things turned silent for a moment again. The only thing Caro could hear were the drones behind her and her heart beating wildly to keep up with the oxygen demand of her body.

The silence was interrupted by the twang of a bow string a minute later that came from Caro's right. The sound was shortly followed by the pained outcry of one of the wild cat thingies. She looked in the direction of the cry and was able to see the predators some 40 meters away now. They weren't much larger than the drones and only dangerous when they outnumbered you or managed to surprise you. Neither of the two things were true for this pack however so Caro wasn't too worried.

One of the animals had an arrow in its side and promptly received another one, which by some fluke of luck managed to hit its eye, killing it immediately. A second arrow impacted the shoulder of another cat, making it stop abruptly. The pack, now being able to see Caro and the drones too, stopped shortly after the other cat-thing and seemed to consider the situation for a moment. Helena's arrow missed its target because of that. Sharri and Erin however had free targets now and both of them hit their shots, killing another one of the predators.

The death of another cat even before they were able to reach their prey seemed to scare the surviving five wild cats off and they turned around to run away. Predators had just turned into prey.

Caro's three sisters immediately stopped shooting more arrows however. Two of the things were enough of a meal for the drones for two days and carrying more of them would slow the group down unnecessarily so killing more would be a waste.

Erin and Helena picked up one of the things each and the group continued onwards, actively searching for a good hiding spot for the night. It took them nearly an hour to find a field of ferns they could hide in that was large enough for them all to hide in. The only bad thing about this was that they would have to check themselves for ticks the next day.

The group ate dinner in the ferns before they lay down as deep underneath the plants as possible. They could already hear the cries of the moths in the distance and there was no way that any of the four sisters would be able to sleep tonight.

After a while the first moth reached their area, but it didn't stay long and moved on quite fast. Caro did not move a single inch during that time and it was getting really uncomfortable. A bit later her muscles started aching too and added to her burdens. The situation required her to stay still however, because the moths could hear really well.

A few other moths came and went during the night, sometimes carrying their prey with them, but the activity of the insects wasn't even half as high here than at the hive. Despite this, time stretched itself in Caro's perception and she could only breathe out in relief when it started to get brighter again.

She stood up and stretched her aching body, popping quite a few knots in the process. Her three sisters did the same and Erin moaned out in relief after an especially loud pop. "Nnng~, that was the worst night in my whole life."

Caro rolled her shoulders to get her body going again. "Yeah, I can only agree to that."

She let out a dreamy sigh and petted her own tail. "Nothing beats our soft silk."

Helena yawned loudly. "That's for sure."

Sharri finished stretching and jumped a bit to get her legs warm and ready for the run again. "Allright sisters, let's eat something and get going again. I could use some sleep." A very good plan that got the murmured approval of everyone else.

They had a quick breakfast before they continued. The group was a bit slower than yesterday as they were all exhausted from the long run and neither of them had slept.

Luckily, nothing interrupted them and gave them a hard day, so they were able to reach the beginnings of the forest in the late morning. Another 10 or so kilometers and they would reach their goal, where the other drone squad waited for them.

Over the next half an hour more and more undergrowth got in the way of the group's travel and they passed a lot of plants none of them had ever seen. 

For Caro however, the different variants of trees were the most exciting. She couldn't stop dreaming of all the things you might be able to build with them and imagined herself riding a cart pulled by an animal she had seen in the queen's memories.

She could smell that her sisters were excited too, but none of them said anything. They didn't want to risk getting out of breath and to get thrown out of their running rhythm. Without that they would have to take a break for a rather long time.

During the next two hours the undergrowth got worse and worse and Caro had to start using her axe to open a way for them occasionally. All the vines, bushes and other large plants next to the trees were really annoying and she could safely say that she preferred the titan forest for its open areas. 

Unknown to her she was the only one in the group that was annoyed by the many plants. Her three sisters were excited by the challenge they offered and by all the different animals that lived within this. For them this was a new and in some regards more difficult playground.

Caro took another swing with her axe, splitting a thick vine that was hanging in her way and ran through a barrier of loose plants before she emerged on a small clearing. A small stream was on the right side of the clearing and four drones were sunning themselves next to the water under the open sky.

She smiled in relief and fell on her but. Finally they were here.





Please report us if you find any errors so we can fix it asap!