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.

going on down there? Actually, I'm not confident

existential terror that I wasn't sure

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 that

say. To the surface my fellow ants (and

veins slowly extending their baleful reach further into the escape tunnel.

are moving in

think about

to move faster as the dirt flies, ants crawling all

louder we quickly seal off

enough motivation for me to continue stacking dirt against the entrance. I want to get some width between me and that

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

the entrance, trying to put an amount of earth

minutes of 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

the tunnel they'll

of the Dungeon is plunged into blood and madness these

ants require

constant. Without being able to charge out and secure Biomass every few

will Tiny last

I can put off letting

a period of time helping the digging, with the sounds rippling out from 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

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 a

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

smaller workers at this end of the tunnel are still vibrating with enthusiasm, fawning over their mother and, vigorously transporting the loose soil further