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.

the heck is going on down there? Actually, I'm not

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

always had a urge to investigate, to explore the deeper layers below just to know, just to see what it was like down there, what sort of

me of that feeling, I have to say. To the surface my fellow ants (and

see the gradual progress of the mana veins slowly extending their baleful reach further into the escape tunnel. The speed is still slow, perhaps only as much as thirty

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

think about it!

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

to grow louder we quickly seal off the escape tunnel, plunging ourselves

motivation for me to continue stacking dirt against the entrance.

stacking that dirt, fellow workers! Start bringing it from

of earth between us and

constant hauling 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 only to find they are still encased

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

of the Dungeon

much air monstrous ants require in this world, monster live up to

is constant. Without

will Tiny last without

him asleep for now, if I can put off letting him know then I

chamber growing more and more muted until barely the slightest of vibrations can be felt I decide to

and I have been occupied with the defence. A lot of progress has been made! According to my tunnel map, which has reached level two, the tunnel still

mandibles ripping huge chunks out of the solid ground in

still vibrating with enthusiasm, fawning over their