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

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 creatures inhabited

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

into the escape

why they are moving in this way? There is still

think about it! Just

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

louder we quickly seal off the escape tunnel,

the loosely packed soil are enough motivation for

Start bringing it

an amount of

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

actually dig themselves out into the tunnel

state now, completely sealed within a dirt cylinder. As the rest of the Dungeon is plunged into blood and madness these ants and I exist in a

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

sustenance is constant. Without being

long will Tiny

I can put off

muted until barely the slightest of vibrations can be felt I decide to head to the

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 map, which has reached level two, the tunnel still has

lines the Queen is still diligently digging, her massive mandibles ripping huge chunks out of the solid ground in front of her as she

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