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Again the Overlord had busy weeks. But this time, it was the kind of business that enjoyed him. Finally he had some result to show regarding his adepts to build his realm. Thanks to the input of his new mistress Isota Mautilda Ancret he had now the gold necessary for his project.

A lot of it went into pouring into towns with confirmed stone mazes, to gain the materials, mostly stone and metals, to repair, rebuild and extent the tower as far for the overlords plan goes. For the rest he went into each town of the territory once belonged to the Ancrets to announce himself as their new ruler, set up the laws and guards, telling how the taxes are running from here on and of course pouring money into their economy, ensuring that they will recover from the out bleeding taxes they had to endure before. And also he had used money. Also the outfits of the already existing guards were ordered to be changed into the Overlord colors of black and green, with his insignia painted on the shields and put on the flags of the cities… a crest with two black axes with a blade, whose handle lies on the spot where the two axes crosses. And the blade is piercing a skull.

Also he set up a new set of farms to Isotas input… breeding farms to get high numbers of four certain kinds of bugs. These bugs are bred to release as much life force as possible upon being killed...They would once they are existing in satisfying numbers, these bugs would begin to be the backbone of the minion production. And the Overlord also learned since the fourth Overlord, the Ancrets had employed different alchemists and mages to find out how to produce and collect amounts of life force without the Overlord being in the near, so he could his numbers constantly having been raised. After all one of the problems previous Overlords faced, where they had to spend considerable amount of times to farm the Life Force by themselves.

The mage Isota is employing is a bright young man named Laurent, who has made quite a few of interesting findings in his research. Even the Overlord found some of them quite amusing and told Laurent he can research on how to utilize these findings but the research of Life Force Gathering is top priority for now. Laurent didn’t complain as he understood how important it is for the Overlord to have results.

Currently Laurents lab was back in Isotas mansion, which is now considerable empty as she has moved to the dark tower and most of her belongings were moved as well to outfit the Tower. However for the future research a smaller tower is under construction at a reasonable distance/reach towards the main tower in case… things go wrong.

Right now the Overlord was sitting in his newly outfitted office with his armor off and studies maps and books to plan for his next steps. The problem was that while he had a good reputation right now under the people, especially since he took a lot of their worries off, he cannot go into an open conflict with one of the neighboring holds without everybody rallying against him. And even if he could, right now his forces are spread thin due bringing into each town and settlement worth to mention at his ears he brought in a considerable numbers of minions to guard the town and secure the position. Also it serves to encourage the towns to stay loyal to him and discourage any treachery towards him.

So, he is often out to take care of executions and problems which are either bandits or monsters by himself in order to raise his minion numbers.

After finishing a round of planning he leans back and mused to himself “While no options for expanding my territory, securing my position and ensure I won’t have any betrayers in my ranks are also something I had to do sooner or later”

“Right you are my league” told Gnarls voice as he got in “Securing your territory a good idea but you cannot rest too much. Many artifacts still missing, two tribes yet to retrieve and territory to expand”

The overlord sighs and turned to the old Minion. While he had a point and they found at least some of the artifacts, nothing for the overlords’ direct use were found. All found artifacts are only useful for the minions. Producing some champions and elites among his ranks. And two artifact whose use are yet to be discovered and were by Laurent for that reason. “As much you are right, you know that we do still not know where the other artifacts are. Also the locations of the other two tribes are still at lost. And expanding is not an option as we lack forces right now. And of course we lack the means to even safely declare war to anybody. The fact we send numbers of minions as guards for the various towns and villages, made our available forces thin in numbers. Once recovered we can move to do actually find a reason to declare war against our “Neighbors” Until then we try to not provoke anybody. I may be the Evil Overlord but I am not stupid”

“Forgive me if I suggested such a thing” told Gnarl “And I can see the wisdom of your words”

“Good! Anything you have to report. Else go and do whatever you do when I am not looking at you” told the Overlord.

“Actually… here is a matter my league.” told Gnarl “The town of Darkbury has send somebody who is requesting an audience for you. It is regarding trouble they face. But also a high reward if you do something.”

The overlord put a hand on his chin to think about this for a moment before telling “Get my armor! I am going to see this guy”

“Of course my league” told Gnarl.

Only a short time later sat the Overlord on his throne with Isota on his lab, caressing his armored chest. The portal opens and a man appeared. Kneeling in front of the overlord, the man began “My Lord… I thank you for giving the honor of hearing my words.”

“Cut the case.” told The Overlord “Why are you here?”

“A hive of Chicant have taken place in the Shadowwood ruins” told the man “They are a danger to our people and animals, as they hunt everything without any morals. The guards and minions can keep them at bay… but sooner or later we will fall due have the trouble to take care of our food by ourselves”

“Chicants?” asks the Overlord, pretending he knew about them and if that they were bad news “If this is true, then I have to go. I will take care of them once I prepared to take care of the hive”

“Thank you my lord” smiles the man “I hope, at the time you successfully took care of them, you will come to our town so we can celebrate your victory”

“I will think about it” told the Overlord “Now leave! I have to prepare a pest control” the promise it would be worth for the Overlord isn’t interesting him anymore if here is a pest that could cause serious trouble for his territory.

The man nodded and left to tell his people that the Overlord is taking things into his own hands. Then he looked at Gnarl and Isota and asks “What are Chicants?”

“Chicants are an insecticide species of human size and form with four legs and two arms… and can be compared as giant ants with semi-human like intelligence” explained Gnarl before he continued “And they have the same hive mentality… to defeat them you need to take care of the queens. All of them. When they are all death, then the hive self will die out with the time as the workers cannot reproduce on their own.”

“Very well” told the Overlord “Anything I need to know about how to fight them?”

“They don’t like fire” told Gnarl “Take the Reds and they will be burning like leaves”

“Anything else I should know?” Asks the Overlord while looking at his weapons to see which one he should take to dish out most damage on these oversized bugs. And he took the mace for it.

“Not that we know” told Gnarl

“However,” began Isota “I will take Laurent to the library and we look if we find anything useful” The Overlord nodded to this idea and gathered a good bunch of reds, some of his browns to defend them and of course a few blues to keep his troops alive. After getting the horde for this job together, he went to the portal and teleports over to the town of Darkbury. And there he was already expected by the people… he wasn’t sure if he should be surprised or having any other reaction towards this. They cheered on for his coming success and praise him for dealing with the trouble they face by himself. And also a company of the local guards were ready for his command. While the Overlord didn’t mind additional forces, humans have one problem compared Minions: They are not so easy to replace like a minion and they cannot be resurrected.

However instead of refusing to take them with him, he looked at the troops and told “if you wish to follow me into this fight, I want you to change your weapons to something that bashes! With a blade or spear you won’t harm the natural armor of these creatures at any Rate”

The guards looked at each other and looked embarrassed… they all took their best equipment but didn’t consider that spears and swords were not the best choice in dealing with the dangers they are about to face. So in their great shame, they went back to the armory and took weapons like hammers and clubs or whatever they could use to bash upon their enemy. Once they were back, the overlord placed his mace over the shoulder and told in a proud matter, "Very good! With that the Chicant won't stood a chance! No before we go listen up: We won't try to kill them one by one! We go after the principle, "Take the head and the body follows." Speak we go in, fight our way towards the queen, deal with it, and get the hell out of there. Without a queen, they won't be able to grow in numbers and this hive will die out with the time, due their natural live span and with you dealing with any of them that gets too close to the town. Any questions?"

While naturally expected, that none of the minions would ask, none of the human guards asked either, as the principle of the idea was simple. The problem lies with the execution, or more exact finding the queen and fight it. And even then, the Overlord faces with the simple problem, while he has a considerable force with him, he feared the unknown facts. Namely how many are down there? How much of fighters are there? Is here one or several queens? How long would the town have to handle the aftereffect?

While a part of him would prefer to wipe out the hive completely, he didn't want to risk anything due the first question not answered. And since doesn't know where the nest lies, he called for a scout to lead the way. And the scout began to lead the force on old roads, which are properly aren't in use anymore through the forest which really fit the name of Shadow wood... The tree are all black and shadowy, even their leaves. According to the scout this was due the waters that runs underground the forest. That is Alps why the ruins bear the same name... The original name was lost through time, but some explorers still dig interesting and valuable stuff out. If they survive the fact that this place was min a dangerous shape. That why it was such a surprise for them to discover the Chicants, that began to harass their town roughly two months ago, came from this place.

Isota made contact with the Overlord and told "if the attacks began two months ago, then the nest isn't that old. At best only two years with a queen in at least of thirty years of age."

"How can you tell?" Wondered the Overlord as he thought about the information from his mistress.

“In the library I found a book of a researcher who had studied the species over many years.” Explains his mistress, “And from the research, while a worker or warrior is grown up within a year and lives from 20 to 30 years, a queen is grown up after 12 years and can as old as 60 to 70 years. And they have multiple queens. One Alpha Queen and several other ones. If too many queens exist within a hive, the oldest, which normally is also the current Alpha, leaves the hive with a part of the old hive to build a new one. At the new one, they only hunt in the near in order to protect the queen until enough new workers and warriors are grown up. That is roughly two years… and this is also the time where the first new queen is born”

That made the Overlord stop in his tracks “Are you telling me, here is a risk that a second queen is down there?”

“Yes! Thought the book ends here… I need to find the sequel first before I can tell more” replied Isota “The minions put the books in quite a chaotic order.”

“Do that,” told the Overlord “I just realized I need to hurry up a bit… I have a mad idea and if this works… things get interesting”

And they moved faster towards the ruins where the hive was residing, and reached the place after some time. From the shadows of the forest the Overlord scanned the ruins and spot that the Chicants were moving constantly in and out, showing huge activity. While it means that not all of them would be inside the nest during their raid, it also brings the problem: Getting in without being seen is much more complicated. And if they are like normal ants, then they would have been busy to make a tunnel system. So does it mean that perhaps a few other entrances exist? Perhaps one which was not in use right now or perhaps just less used? Then getting in would be much, much easier.

Or they could just try and get their typical pheromones somehow and spray over their bodies. But that idea was thrown away by the simple fact that they have NO way to get pheromones without being noticed. And not knowing how to retrieve them… they are not like two ultra smart boys who would build the highest tower of the world in just one afternoon because they feel like it.

The Overlord sends some of the guards out to find alternate entries into the place without being noticed. And soon he heard sounds of fighting as they tried to force their way in from the back entrance of the ruins and the Overlord muttered: "Why did I bother to ask the ones who should have naturally more brain than a minion?" and he went forward to use the distraction the send guards brought to slip past the fighting Chicants.

The scout with them turns to his master and told "I am sorry… but… only a few of us are actually thinking beyond just hitting the problem with a weapon until it is gone"

"And you are one of them?" asks the Overlord and the scout told "The reason why I found this location in the first place and got back alive."

"If you survive, I think about a promotion for you" told the Overlord and the Scout nodded at the information while they went into the deeps of the nest.

At first they were ignored by the Chicants but then the first seems to notice that they were invaders and tried to stop the Overlord but the brown minions and guards were quick to attack them. While the first were simple workers, warriors were soon joining, making the situation quickly a problem but while the guards and minions just hit wherever they can, the Overlord and the scout went for the weak points, namely the head but also the arms to render them unable to grab them or use their simple weapons. And the red minions… they burned the Chicants very well, thought the Overlord to himself.

As they ventured into the deeps of the nest, while some guards drive off to look for the queens chamber, the Overlord went to find the warmest spot of the nest. And in his mind, he writes the left guards off… no way they would survive this nest completely on their own.

As they slowly got to the spot where the Overlord believed the Queen would be, and thus of course the breeding chambers. Then Gnarl quipped in "Milord! We have found the book and after reading part of it, we need to consult you about the queen!"

"Perfect timing. I was about to encounter the Chicant queen." Told the Overlord "What are you information?"

"You should know that Chicants queens have an own chamber, just before the main brood chamber once the cocoon of a first new queen has formed. And they are larger than the workers." Explains Gnarl

The Overlord rolled his eyes and asks "Which type of insect queen isn't larger than the rest of her hive?" while walking into, what he believed to be the chamber. And stopped right in his tracks as his eyes fell on the queen.

"I just wanted to warn you, that some Chicant queens can rise up to three times of a workers size at good health" told Gnarl

And the Overlord quipped "And you are telling me this NOW? How the heck did they got this giant in here in the first place?"

"When a Chicant hive builds a new nest, they first dig the new brood chamber for their queen and make two tunnels. One for the workers and one where the queen can enter and seal the royal entrance off." Came the explanation, this time from his mistress.

"Next time I take on something unknown, I inform myself very well first," muttered the Overlord before turning to the guards "You make sure no workers or warriors get in here! I deal with the queen and the workers that are already here!"

They were more than eager to do this job after seeing the queen for themselves and the Overlord only wondered how they managed to keep the temperature in the correct highs. Well right now the overlord diverted his current horde into two troops. Into a recovery and a strike group. The Recovery group are the blue guarded by browns and have the job of keeping the horde alive. The strike group were the red and browns with the simple job of hitting the Chicant queen. Both are told to keep themselves in the move and told the scout to take control of the Recovery troop, with telling the minions he had temporary the right to order them around while he went with his strike troop in. The Overlord hit the queens’ legs hard to get her attention on him while he send the strike group at the workers which wanted to help their queen. While Chicants are formable fighters if necessary, in the chamber were no warriors and no weapons, aside from the ones brought in by the Overlord, the guards and of course the minions.

And right now, he noticed something… are some of the minions wearing body parts of the Chicants as helmets, armor and/or weapons? The overlord had the urge to hit himself for not remembering sooner about the tendencies of the browns to pick up everything up they thought to be useful for either themselves or their master. Not that the overlord complains, because this told him that these Chicant bodies are making better armor/helmets/weapons than what his blacksmiths are currently able to make. While it gave him mixed feelings regarding the quality of his blacksmiths, it gave him a few ideas regarding the fate of the colony.

The Overlord kept hitting the Queens legs while avoiding the kicks and swings of the said female, and also hits her large back part as he knew she needs it for the reproduction, enraging her more. To his surprise she now tries to hit him with stingers and sprays a liquid. A part of the Overlord armor got hit by the fluids and reveals to be acid. The overlord got rid of this part of his armor as it was eating through it like nothing. The scout has seen it as well and made sure he and his part of the horde kept behind the Queen to ensure they won't be hit by the acid, while sending off blues to get the killed Minions back to action.

The Overlord on the other hand kept on attacking these spots to prevent the Queen to help her workers. But then he was kicked and he flew at one of the walls and the queen got closer, getting her stinger ready and was about to impale the Overlord as the female screeches as fire balls hit her body, and she moved in adept to stop the pain and face the fire using aggressors. The simple mind of the Minions understood somehow they were facing trouble and scattered, most of them avoiding being sprayed by acid. Only two were hit and the Overlord could see the Minions literally melting before his eyes. Then the queen stomps and swings her stingers around while spraying more acid in adept to deal with the intruders. The overlord stood back, groaning as the kick had bended his armor and it was pressing hard on his chest. He moves forward with his mates and smashed with a loud shout the back of one of the legs. The queen screeches and tried to keep her balance with the other three legs but the Overlord also bashed the second one and she falls down. However, as she falls. She manages to swipe her arm and hit the Overlord once more, sending him off and he shouts in pain. This time he obliviously got himself something broken. The minions rushed to their master as their instincts told them to protect him but he ordered them to attack the queen, not giving her a chance to recover from the down fall. The minions rushed eagerly in and hit and burn the queen who screeches and struggles to get back on but failed miserably. She faced the Overlord and tried a last time to spray him with acid but the Scout had picked up the heavy mace of the Overlord and used all the strength he could muster to slam it into the Queens head, ending her existence.

The overlord grinned as it means this part of the battle was won. But now they had to deal with the new queen. He ordered the minions to help the guards; while two of them should carry him… he wants to see the new queen by himself. The switch was quickly but cost the guards a few steps in line of defending themselves of the still coming mass of workers and warriors who tried to secure the chamber. And they seem to do so more furiously at the very moment where the queen was dead… properly to protect their defenseless only queen. The guards got their lord into the chamber and he looked through it. Here are many larvae, cocoons and… little chicants?

"Ah! That is something else: The larval state is very short for Chicants and hatch into their final state as a sort of baby and depending of worker, warrior or queen grow up in different pace by shedding their skin regularly. Worker are grown up within a year, warriors within 13 months and a queen after 12 years" explains Gnarl while reading from the book if the sounds of changing pages are indicators

Isota added in "The queen should be bigger than the others, even in their child like state"

Really helpful thought the Overlord as he looked around… here are many in different sized but then Isota told "The children are moved into different brooding chambers after hatching from the cocoon state to make space for more eggs."

THAT was useful as he only needs to find the largest of them. Most of the "kids" were very small. In fact they are only at the size of a minion head. The overlord was almost about to call a couple of reds to burn them all down as he saw one large cocoon. Larger than any of the others. Which means… the queen hasn't hatched yet!

Freeing himself from the guards he moved pained but determinate towards the cocoon and the scout came to give the Overlord his weapon. Looking down at the cocoon, the Overlord mused "Just one little action and this hive is done for…"

Just as he was about to reach for his weapon, the cocoon began to crack and he looked in surprise as the queen began to hatch. For some reasons neither the Overlord nor the guards, nor the Scout dared to move as the little queen freed herself and made sounds.

The overlord kneeled down despite the pain and picked the queen up, which was at the size of an human baby and chuckles "So… you are supposed to be the next queen of this hive huh? Too bad tha-" but couldn't speak further as he coughed after the baby queen unexpected breathed a sort of pheromone at him. Then here was a crashing and the small group turned, seeing that the workers and warriors managed to get in, sizing the surviving guards and minions and prepared to execute them. The overlord called "Stop right here!" out of an instinct and the Chicants stopped their actions, turning towards the Overlord. Said lord cursed himself for acting without thinking and was sure they would now deal with him, the leader of the invaders…

But then one of the workers came closer and spoke to the Overlords surprise: "Queen Carer. Orders?"

The overlord, guards and even the minions were looking odd before Gnarl explains "The author of the book mentions that if the queens are death before a full grown up is available, the caretaker of the oldest unmatured queen, take over the hive until the queen could fulfill her duties. He also theorized on that way one could take control over the hive, thought he couldn't prove it for various reasons. Looks like you just took over this Chicant hive."

The overlord looks at the young queen and told "So you gave me this hive? Well… then we will do good use of it!" and he began to chuckle thought it was a pained chuckle… due his wounds and dented armor.