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.

Actually, I'm not confident

the monsters down there are experiencing a kind of existential terror that I wasn't sure the beasts I'd

know, just to see what it was like

of that feeling, I have to say. To the surface

can see the gradual progress of the mana veins slowly extending their baleful reach further into the escape

are moving in this way? There is still too much that

think about it!

to move faster as the dirt flies, ants crawling all over each other in their eagerness to complete the

horrific noises from below continue to grow louder we quickly seal off the escape tunnel, plunging ourselves into

that pass through the loosely packed soil are enough motivation for me to continue stacking dirt against the entrance. I want to get some

bringing

my fellow workers to keep piling dirt against the entrance, trying to put an amount of earth between us and the horrors that will soon enter that chamber that I'll feel comfortable we

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

actually dig themselves out into the tunnel they'll be easy pickings for

entered a strange state now, completely sealed within a dirt cylinder. As the rest of the

air and food. I'm not exactly sure how much air monstrous ants require in this world, monster live up to 10000 km under the surface

The colony has a voracious appetite, the need for sustenance is constant. Without being able to charge

how long will Tiny last

if I can put off letting him know then I

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

have been occupied with the defence. A lot of progress has been made! According to my tunnel map,

of the

end of the tunnel are still vibrating with enthusiasm, fawning