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,

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

a urge to investigate, to explore the deeper layers below just to know, just to see what it was like

sounds echoing from below have somewhat cured me of that feeling, I have to say. To the surface my fellow ants

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

mana concentration still growing?! Is that why they are moving in this way? There is still too much that I don't

think about it! Just

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

horrific noises from below continue to grow louder we quickly seal off the escape

The muffles noises and vibrations that pass through the loosely packed soil are enough motivation for me to continue stacking dirt against the entrance. I want to get some width between me and

Start bringing it from the other end of the

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

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 in

dig themselves out into the tunnel they'll be

of the Dungeon is plunged into blood and madness these ants and I exist

are air and food. I'm not exactly sure how much air monstrous ants require in

voracious appetite, the need for sustenance is constant. Without being able to charge out and secure Biomass every few

long will Tiny last

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

rippling out from the Queen's chamber growing more and more muted until barely the slightest of vibrations can be felt I decide

been occupied with the defence. A lot of progress

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

enthusiasm, fawning over their mother and, vigorously transporting the loose soil