Chrysalis

The Legionary camp is a hive of activity. Patrols come and go in a steady stream under the watchful eye of the officers. The monster suppression has been difficult on this expedition, preparations for the wave are not going as smoothly as the brass had expected.

Tribune Aurillia was concerned. Her experience and expectations were continually being defied, the situation at hand refused to conform to historical norms.

Every day squads left the outpost and moved into the expanse, exterminating monsters and hunting down spawn locations. Whenever a spawn point was found the Legionaries would trap it, killing the monsters the moment they were formed from the Dungeon.

This was the typical procedure employed by the Legion when preparing for a wave, the goal was to reduce the number of monsters before the wave broke as much as possible. Trapping the spawn points in normal times would drive mercenaries and Dungeon explorers insane, effectively reducing their ability to earn income, but the Legion took no chances when it came to a wave. Every monster they could reliably kill they would.

Something was different this time. For every spawn point they were able to identify and neutralise, another four would pop up the next day. Despite martialling more resources and bringing reinforcements down from the surface they were simply unable to kill monsters quickly enough to meaningfully thin them out.

Even the commander had acted, entering the Forest Expanse on his own and emerging several hours later covered in gore with a small bag full of cores on his belt.

Aurillia chuckled at the memory. Several trainees had asked who was going accompany the commander as he was preparing to leave. The senior Legionaries had just looked at them as if they were insane. If anyone could keep up with him they would be welcome to go.

Emerging from the woods came the ten person strong trainee unit, returning from their scouting assignment. Aurillia knew they’d be sent to do reconnaissance on the far side of the expanse. Locating the ant nest remained a priority of this expedition, despite the unusual circumstances propagating each day.

The weary soldiers marched single file through the gate, shoulders slumped under heavy backpacks, eyes red from little sleep. Their uniform leather were scuffed and stained in several places, indicators of battle and combat.

The tribune approached the squad. When they saw her coming they stopped and snapped out salutes, their discipline bringing a smile to the weathered features of their officer.

"What do you have to report?"Aurillia said.

this particular squad. She stepped forward to

were especially nervous around their superiors on this expedition. The centurions, tribune and even the commander himself found every opportunity to find fault with them. Uniform dirty? Go run laps. Poor form when saluting? Two hours in the training yard. Make a mistake in the training yard?

It was almost a relief when they’d been sent out as a squad to scout the far side of the expanse. Fighting their way through hordes of

cleared her

ago. We identified four spawn points in the surrounds and

from her waist bag

an eyebrow as she accepted the case. Clearly the trainees were starting to realise just how exacting the standards would be for them

unrolled the parchment within, casting her eyes quickly over the lists and numbers her experience allowing her

she asked as she stowed the parchment in its case once more. The paper would go to the administration auxiliaries, the bean counters who tallied all of

all of their searching. What concerned them most was the punishment that awaited them if the tribune decided to view this as another ’failure’ on

and efficiency" she paused before continuing, "it

gone pale. Their minds were spinning with the possible penalties that would be heaped on their heads for not only failing but admitting they’d found it too difficult and recommending another squad

they disagreed with what Mirynn had said, they’d just hoped it could have

"Trainee Mirryn, you may dismiss your squad to recuperate and then

smiles as they made their way to the tents reserved for resting. There wasn’t much recreation

officer. Tribune Aurillia had the reputation of a

women worked to process raw materials harvested from monsters. There was little priority given

the Dungeon, preferring to give

greeting with the hard working auxiliaries. These men

raised her hand to cut off Mirryn when she saw the other was about to speak, "no, not because of any failure on