Chrysalis

Only now do I remember my two passengers that I’d thrown off in a rush. Poor Crinis! The little thing can’t even see!

[Crinis! Crinis! Where are you?!] I frantically yell in my mental channel.

Turning quickly I unceremoniously drag the Queen this way and that until I notice some movement in the grass on the forest floor. Rushing over I see several little tentacles extended straight up, wiggling frantically.

There it is!

I carefully place one of my legs so that it is just touching the seeking limbs.

[It’s me! Climb up!]

Moments a later a much more relaxed blob is resting on my back and a very small worker has emerged from behind a nearby tree to climb up onto my head. Mini crew assembled I return, Queen in tow, to the scene of the carnage.

Surrounded by the remains of her own deceased children the Queen isn’t looking good. A horde of workers are rushing about her, their anxiety is plain in their disjointed movements, darting backwards and forwards, unsure what they should do to help the situation.

The human Queen seems rather unhappy about being this close to such a massive monster but I hardly care. Her people are what caused this problem, if she gets uncomfortable I’ll shed no tears. If she tries to harm the real Queen then she will very quickly regret it.

"Mother! Are you ok?!" I cry.

In my mind I hadn’t imagined she could be injured this badly, she’d always seemed so indestructible that even if I worried about her getting injured, I hadn’t really believed it would happen.

Her super hard carapace met its match in those devastating sword skills today, numerous cuts and gashes mar her body, some of them very deep.

"I will ... be ok" she replies, her usual calm voice strained to the limit.

"Can you heal yourself? Cast some magic?" I urge her worriedly.

She doesn’t reply for a moment, her great body heaving as she labours to draw in air.

Strength" she manages

strength!? What the heck does that mean? She can’t concentrate enough to cast the spell? Does she not have enough mana?! This is

and down her wounds with my antennae almost without thinking about it, my ant instincts kicking in

Holy heck!

a deep and wide wound has opened in her

Is that her core?!

Had that skill gone any further then it might have damaged the core directly, something I feel

of a dim ember right now. Why is her core so weak?! It should be full of mana and packed with energy! Is this why she seems so weak? Is there something wrong with her

core and sending it in a stream of mist towards the Queens. Without knowing if it will help in any way I persist until my core has almost been tapped completely dry of mp before I flick on my mana sense again and anxiously seek

slight different I think? The response I

enough mana in

all of the surrounding workers, "rush in there and destroy everything and then take mother

the farm is going to be the best place we can find in the short term. If the workers pack in there tightly enough then there is practically no chance that a monster will be able to spawn and

to heal yourself!" I urge

bothers to

assembled to help her, many workers walking straight under her and using their own backs to lift up their parent, trying to help her take the weight

watch her go,

right now though. I’ll have to trust that

his way back to the battlefield to complete his task. He has already transported the officer to the top of the anthill where several workers have surrounded him, tapping him with antennae and taking the odd nibble as he resolutely lies face

move", I tell the workers as I move past, dragging the human

to be

onto her toes. Eventually she reaches up to grab my mandibles with her hands in order to help carry her weight, rather than have all of her body weight

we don’t need to go far until I can stash the Queen in my

inside I lower her to the

second I do, a Titan-Croca smacks me

forth within my head as if it were a bell that had been struck by a hammer. Gritting my mandibles hard I try to shake

BOOM!

been hit. Despite being disoriented I can tell that my body hasn’t been hit. Something is attacking my mind! Darkness threatens to overwhelm me but I barely