Chrysalis

Tiny can sense it too. I have no idea how, but he begins to stare hard at the walls, electricity crackling in his eyes alongside the rage. He really seems to be working himself into a frenzy!

Dropping off the Larvae I'd been carrying I return to the Queens chamber which is growing brighter by the moment, the light is nearly blindingly bright, my legs are soaking up mana so quickly the floor feel hot to me, as if I were standing on a hot plate.

So much energy! It's almost unfathomable just how much mana is rippling through the walls. Just what could someone do with all of this power?! If this scene is being replicated throughout the entire Dungeon, thousands of square kilometres… I just…. I can't bring myself to think where it all comes from.

There has to be a source, right?!

Unease and fear shift in my heart as I think of it. Something that is capable of a feat such as this….

With just a tiny fraction of this energy I can create an all devouring sphere of death…. With just the smallest taste of the mana that is thumping through the walls in just this one chamber.

I shudder to think what the expanse looks like right now.

As the heat signatures bloom all around me I can't help but turn constantly to stare hard at one and then the next, never knowing exactly when one was going to burst into life. The tight packages of blazing heat I can feel don't grow at a constant speed, one of them will flare brightly, making me turn to look only for it to fade back slightly whilst another suddenly explodes with growth, making me turn. Over and over it happens until I'm dizzy from spinning.

I almost feel as if I want them to start leaping out of the walls, just so I know it has started.

The ants continue their constant shuffling, bringing the brood into our escape tunnel before leaving and returning to bring more.

The escape tunnel itself remains blessedly dark, untouched by the veins of light the flare brighter and brighter each second.

*Scratch* *scratch* *scratch*.

What the heck was that?!

of the chamber I can hear a faint scratching sound, like claws… or teeth… on stone. I can't be certain but… I swear that sound

Then:

*scratch* *scratch* *scratch* *scratch* *scratch* *scratch* *scratch* *scratch* *scratch* *scratch* *scratch* *scratch* *scratch* *scratch* *scratch* *scratch* *scratch* *scratch* *scratch* *scratch* *scratch*

every side, from up the shaft, from the brood chamber and from everywhere in the Dungeon the

my antennae feel like they are practically on fire and my heart is pounding in my

clench my mandibles to stop them

stupid monsters …. You … you want some

to come in here and

ON THEN, SHOW THIS ANT

*CRASH*

an arm punches out of the dirt, sending a shower of loose earth flying throughout the room and into my eyes. I

electricity and his lips are drawn far back in a ferocious screech as the ropes of muscle in his shoulder shift and send that fist cannoning

muffled by

he has gripped the monster between his thick fingers. The beast looks nothing like anything I'd seen before, ink black with

natural design, I've never seen anything remotely like this

writhes in his grip, tentacles and clawed hands lashing at Tiny's long arm. The rage in the great

and stronger until electricity is coiling around the monsters body like crazed snakes. The creature shrieks higher each moment until, with

Tiny….

it… With lightning?! That is so

*CRASH**CRASH**CRASH**CRASH**CRASH*

Some ants get caught as they run with the newborn charges in their mandibles, limbs appearing from the walls and floor to tear and scratch at

Dammit!

the walls break to pieces around me the dirt explodes