Chrysalis

This stupid wave! Just how threatening does it have to get? I'm already a wrecked heap. A heap I say!

Now the veins are extending into the escape tunnel, which will surely cause monsters to spawn right under our feet!

An addition we have to deal with these unknown threats from below? It's enough to drive an ant crazy!

Ok.. Think Anthony, what are you going to do?

Stay and fight? Against what!? We have no idea what sort of horror is going to ascend up that tunnel, eager to eviscerate our most sensitive zones? There is absolutely no way we stay here and battle it out against whatever is coming up. One of the first things I learned about in this Dungeon is not to pick a fight you aren't sure you can win.

Run?

Run where? The tunnel isn't complete! All we can do is run up towards a dead end! They don't call 'em life ends for a reason!

Only one choice remains! Hide!

"Quick! We need to cover up the entrance and seal this tunnel!" I shout to the workers around me,

The workers respond to my call to action rapidly, as they usually do. This is a family that can be relied on in a pinch!

A hundred workers leap into action, hauling dirt up to close off the remaining open section of the tunnel entrance, quickly shovelling dirt with their mandibles.

From beneath us the sounds of bloodcurdling screams and the wild gnashing of teeth, grinding away at the bones of still living foes echo endlessly, certainly providing ample motivation to my own digging efforts.

down there? Actually, I'm not confident that I

experiencing a kind of existential terror that I wasn't sure the beasts I'd seen had a

the deeper layers below just to know,

echoing from below have somewhat cured me of that feeling, I have to say. To the

reach further into the escape tunnel. The speed is still slow, perhaps only as much as thirty

moving in this way? There is still

about it!

the workers to move faster as the dirt flies, ants crawling all over each other in

louder we quickly seal off

vibrations that pass through the loosely packed soil are enough motivation

that dirt, fellow workers! Start bringing it from the other end

fellow workers to keep piling dirt against the entrance, trying to put an amount of earth between us and the horrors that will soon

the sounds of monstrous combat have receded and we've managed to pack the dirt far enough back that even the gradually extending tendrils of the mana veins on the wall have been covered over. Any monsters that spawn in those walls will claw themselves out

out into the tunnel they'll be easy pickings

dirt cylinder. As the rest of the Dungeon is plunged into blood and madness these ants and I exist in

air monstrous ants require in this world, monster live

is constant. Without being able to charge out and secure Biomass every few hours we will eventually

long will

him asleep for now, if I can

with the sounds rippling out from the Queen's chamber growing more and more muted until barely the slightest of vibrations can be felt I decide to head to the front of the tunnel to check on our

been furiously ripping into the soil and rock the entire time Tiny and I have been occupied with the defence. A lot of progress has been made! According to my tunnel

out of the

the tunnel are still vibrating with enthusiasm, fawning over their mother and,