Glitched

Guess what? I made a mistake. The new prologue has been scrapped bcs it was bad.(MB). Working on a new one that actually is a rewrite of the original prologue like most people wanted. 

Burrowing underground, taking to the skies, and crawling on the ground, there was no hiding as we marched on the north-most path of the fork in the road. Along the way, a single, well armored human comes into sight. He's rather small compared to most human adults. If anything, this one seemed to be an adolescent. 

His strides are filled with confidence as he marches in our direction. A young male with ambition on his face. He stops in his tracks as he looks up and sees our army in the sky. He draws his sword and seems to think about standing his ground, but upon seeing the sheer numbers, he takes a step back and starts to flee. Futile. 

I thought the humans always traveled in groups, but I guess not all of them had a party they traveled with. That or this boy was an idiot. 

As far as I knew, the older humans never went out alone, so this individual was sort of an outlier. Regardless, I wasn't going to let him escape, not only because he was food, but because he would likely warn the humans while he was at it.

The young man flees for his life as he watches the entirety of my colony chase after him, and immediately they surround and rout him. I can hear the despair and fear in his voice as he screams for his life. At my order, they leave the kill for the youngest children, forming a sort of makeshift cage around the panicked boy. He's screaming for help at this point, practically bawling his eyes out as he recognizes there is no way out. His pleas stand out among the usual dying screams, tinged with a once hopeful spirit now shattered by harsh reality. It's rather refreshing to be honest. 

Finally twenty larvae emerge from underground and deal the killing blow. Like all before him, only bones remain, while these twenty will mature before the day is over.

Most humans had died a pretty subtle death from what I had seen, especially the older ones who had resigned themselves to their fate, so the lively and youthful screams were like music to my ears. He was just one however, one of many who were to become the hive's nourishment. Onward we marched, following the desolate road that would hopefully lead us to an abundance of food.

At some point we pass through a dense forest and stop to take a break, where we are able to partake and feed upon whatever we can find in the gathering of trees. It's nowhere near as big as our forest home, but it served its purpose as good temporary cover.

We continue with our journey and find another split in the road, although this one only goes to the left or right. There's another sign I can read, but the engraving of a larger building makes me choose the left. 

As we travel further and further away from our home, human traffic becomes more common. More merchants and their guards as far as I'm concerned. The same strategy of swarming does the trick, and dispatching them was easy since their weapons weren't able to penetrate the shells of my eldest daughters. It was honestly a little too easy, and watching humans pathetically struggle to fight for their lives with no way of winning was starting to get boring. 

Thirty more bodies were added to the human death toll, most of which were adults and a few children. On the other hand three hundred more younglings would undergo metamorphosis as we drew closer and closer to our target.

***

Then, after a long week since our departure, early in the morning, we saw it in the distance. The capital.

There was no way it couldn't be. Walls as high as the sky. Not crudely made of wood or dirt, but of some fine material that gave color and design. Walls that stood far higher than the one back at the village. Though it looked small at first, the fact that I could see it from where we were proves that it was incredible. It had to have stood at least twenty meters high with massive gates, watchtowers everywhere, and a massive inner building that stood highest. The sheer size of their walls and defenses would make them impossible to scale. 

In front of the open gates are hundreds of humans, though small and tiny, standing at the gates for entry. There are dozens of carriages, most stuffed chock full of content too small to make out. Merchants maybe?

Clearly, breaching their defenses upfront was impossible with our numbers barely over half a thousand. It almost seemed pointless to have come this far. 

But I wasn't going to waste everyone's time and let them go hungry after we had come all this way. The city might've been impenetrable at the moment, but that didn't mean we couldn't have our fill of the humans seeking to enter. The question was how were we to approach and kill dozens of humans in plain sight without any complications.

It was quite the dilemma with so many different variables to deal with. The whole avoid human view part was even harder considering the vast plain ahead of us. But I had an idea. One that I probably shouldn't have acted upon. 

***

All sixty of my spider-like daughters and granddaughters huddled around me, ready to listen to the plan I had devised.

"Today we will perform a thievery. Err, heist. Wrong word. Simply put, we will steal the humans in front of the capital that we want to use for food.”

“Won't the humans see us coming?” One of my granddaughters pipes up. 

“Now, now dear, I've already thought this over. Let me explain. The humans cover a lot of potential attack angles given their knowledge and experience. But the one thing we have over them is their lack of experience handling us. The humans will never expect an attack from below, and definitely not one on the scale I have planned for us to execute.”

“But the humans will try to protect themselves right? The carriages are always guarded by fighter humans.” One of my daughters retorts.

“Precisely. Which is why we will subdue them before they have the chance to fight back. All of you will bury underground and dig up a sizable tunnel just large enough for a human to pass through. Pass through horizontally that is. Small enough that the humans would have little to no wiggle room if turned sideways. We will use said tunnel to carry our prey back here out of the human's view.”

“But how will we kill and capture the humans?” Another asks. These guys sure loved questions.

“Patience my dear. We will create a pitfall. Similar to the ones we laid out in the forest, albeit on a much, much larger scale. The tunnel is simply for transport and avoidance of the human sentries up above. You will shallow out the entire area beneath the humans, and collapse it when everyone is in place. Then, you will work together to drag the stunned humans back through our convenient little tunnel. It should buy us some time and prevent the humans from tracking us down.

The most important thing to remember is that we're not trying to kill as many as possible, but rather bring as many as we can back here via the underground passageway. This means that the humans who show the least resistance and those stunned the most by the sudden fall should be prioritized when picking victims. I am trusting all of you to select the prime candidates for your siblings to take in the heat of the moment.

It doesn't matter if they are dead or alive when they are transported, given that it will be practically impossible for them to fight back in the narrow tunnel. In general this plan depends on how fast you can make this work. Efficiency is key if we want to maximize the size of our temporary food supply. The conditions for retreat are complete extraction of all reasonable kidnapping targets, or when the humans inside the capital retaliate. 

Any questions?”

For once they are all silent, heads shaking as they finish going over my words.

“Good. Now tell your siblings to come down from the sky, and begin work immediately. Time is of the essence, so make sure to return occasionally and give me updates as you work.. The faster the tunnel is done, the faster we can kidnap humans, and the more humans we kidnap, the more food each of you gets to have. number of humans you can bring back.”

Down a pyramid chart, they fly off to notify the rest or the hive of my plan. Soon, all my children are gathered on the ground, where they immediately get to work making my master plan work. Within minutes, all six-hundred and eighty-six of my children have burrowed beneath the ground in a single hole a little less than a single meter wide. I probably couldn't fit if I tried, so I laid low in the nearby grass after covering my children's hole with just enough dirt to hide its presence from any potential passerby.

Just about every hour one of my daughters returns to give me an update, and it turns out that they have been progressing much faster than I anticipated. Within the span of just two hours, they've already reached the humans. They travel underground just as well as they do on land. That or the prospect of nearly unlimited food has them working extra hard. 

Another hour and they've finished hollowing out the ground, now ready to execute phase two on command. If I'm being honest, their efficiency was pretty scary...and impressive. I'm rather proud of my capable offspring.

All it takes is a single command, and the entirety of the human line vanishes in the blink of an eye. As a matter of fact, the entire plot of land in front of the gates sinks into the ground. The sudden change in topography can be heard all the way here, and I'm sure the humans in the wall were starting to become aware of the situation outside.

In just two minutes, my first few children emerge from the tunnel, two or three each dragging a human through before they dive back in for more. Like I asked, some of the victims were alive in one piece, albeit disoriented, some were heavily injured, and some were simply dead. Whatever the case, they were all gathered in a pile and encircled to prevent escape. In just five minutes, we've accrued a pile of at least two-hundred humans, and a retreat is soon in order as the humans sound a loud horn that I can hear all the way here.
Just a minute later, humans run out of the gate and take in the sight of the devastation lying in front of their capital. I can't tell if they are soldiers or not, but their route is clearly blocked by the massive hole in front of their gate.
As the last of my children evacuate the hole, my daughters come up to me and let me know that the ploy was a success. Apparently, they were able to snatch every human there except for the few that were simply too heavy or too large to fit in their route of escape. I had been worrying for nothing.

Following my theory of combat leading to growth, the eldest of the hive circle and surround the helpless humans, allowing the younglings to fight and take the killing blows. With so many of them, not even the armed humans stood a chance. A small plateau of my children swarm the few live humans within the encirclement. Once they've had their first share, the adults swarm in for a feast.

About a third of the human supply is consumed, leaving us with what looks to be around 200 corpses. For the first time in what feels like forever, my children are fed, and we could finally rest easy. 

Or so I thought.

Athleticism in Insects

Insects are able to exhibit incredible speed and agility on the ground that seems impossible. Their small size and lightweight exoskeleton allow for rapid movement with far less energy expenditure compared to larger animals. Because their muscles have less mass to move, they have quicker response times and faster locomotion.

Additionally, insects have specialized body structures and mechanisms that enhance their speed. Multiple pairs of legs that are jointed and segmented enable them to move with great flexibility and efficiency. Their leg muscles are also highly developed compared to the rest of their body, allowing for swift and precise movements.

Glitched

Now that the hive has 500+ members, the ends of each chapter will include a very brief table that details how many children Kyraa currently has. Until they are given names in-story, they will just be referenced by detail and given a temporary "type". In larger scale battles with losses, I may include tables as well. But they will always be very brief.

Directs: 19	Type A(Wasp): 9	Type B(Beetle): 7	Type C(Spider): 3
Non-directs: 666	Type A(Wasp): 333	Type B(Beetle): 233	Type C(Spider): 100