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.

there? Actually, I'm not confident that I

kind of existential terror that I wasn't sure the beasts

know, just to see what it was like down there, what sort of creatures inhabited that

To the surface my fellow ants (and Tiny), maybe find a mountain to climb when we get

pile the dirt high I can see the gradual progress of the mana veins slowly extending their baleful reach further into the escape tunnel. The

they are moving in this way? There is still too much that I don't

think about it!

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

we quickly seal off the escape tunnel, plunging ourselves into near

the loosely packed soil are enough motivation for me

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

to put an amount of earth between us and the horrors that will

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

into the tunnel they'll be easy pickings for

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

much air monstrous ants

the need for sustenance is constant. Without being able to charge out and secure Biomass every few hours we will eventually starve

long will Tiny last without

can put off

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

and I have been occupied with the defence. A lot of progress has been made! According

is still diligently digging, her massive mandibles ripping huge chunks out of the solid ground

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