Chrysalis

Down into the nest we plunged. Is it just me, or is the opening a lot wider than it used to be? Even Tiny fits into the main shaft quite comfortably now. I wonder what that's all about. As usual, my antennae are assaulted by a plethora of pheromones. Trails that paint the way to each of the different sections of the nest are mixed with an overwhelming number of more short term messages from ants coordinating the many tasks that they've been given.

"We need more wood! Follow this trail for the worker teams heading to the forest!"

"Food! Get on it! You think the colony feeds itself?! Hunting parties are leaving from the Dungeon staging area now!"

"Got nothing to do? What the hell is wrong with you?! There's always earthworks going on, report to the Carver headquarters to join a work team!"

"Hey! Stay positive and work hard! :D"

… Not sure what the point of that last one was… just trying to keep spirits up around the place I guess. I hardly think it's necessary, the ants I can see look as if they could hardly work any harder. In fact, the only ant I can see standing still for any amount of time is … me. Dangit, better get moving before I start to look conspicuous and lazy.

We clung to the wall and made our way straight down, innumerable ants rushing in and out of smaller side tunnels constantly. I feel as if the population has definitely lifted whilst I've been gone. If we managed to hatch and graduate two hundred a day then the colony would have gained 1400 new members in the time I've been gone. Some of that would have been offset by losses at the front, but even considering that, there would have been roughly one thousand more ants in the colony than there had been before.

If only we'd had another week! Then I'd be far less concerned.

When I reached the Queen's chamber I was quite confused to find that, apart from a few guards, it was empty! No Queen, no retinue of attendant soldiers and tenders, nothing! Where has she gone? Curious, I led Tiny and walked down the walls and followed the main shaft beneath the Queen's chamber into my own room.

Even this space has been widened, at least double the space it was before, but other than a couple of soldiers who sit around the outside of the room, keeping watch for spawning monsters so that they might leap on them the moment they emerge, the chamber is empty.

[Home sweet home] I told my pets.

[It's nice to be back] Crinis assured me.

his actions do the talking as he threw himself down onto the ground

mandatory rest has kicked in. The amount of work that had been done was staggering. I know it's almost impossible for the ants to admit they are tired, but I hope that the council will start forcing the family to rest before the final battle. Even just a couple of hours of torpor could make all the difference. Especially now when the horde was only four

No more stalling. Time to get that rare

beyond the System Imposed limit and even though gaining some levels and Biomass combined with a bit of time has helped ease the pain,

where is that stupid thing? I

Ah!

ever present glow of the mana flooding out of the Dungeon walls. After a second or two I was able to blink the background glare out of my mind and focus on detecting the glowing core I had buried in the

There it is!

gem with my mandibles before I retreated back into the centre of the chamber, the bright,

Crinis. I'm a bit worried about how it's going to

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your orders,] the sphere of

[Thanks, Crinis.]

bonding between a monster and his devoted pet was only

Alright then, here goes…

[Compatible rare core detected!]

you like to absorb, or reconstitute this core? Warning! Your core has pushed beyond the allowed limit for your evolution. Further absorption will prove fatal. Do you wish to

But if I don't push myself beyond the limit, how can I possibly hope to match up to powerful creatures like Garralosh and the

been bubbling away inside me,

finally have a family. I finally feel accepted. I don't want to lose it all now that things are getting better

time, that fear of losing my family is what is driving me forward. If I don't go this hard and risk it all, I might not be able to defend the colony that has come to mean so much to me. How would it feel, to lose the colony knowing that I didn't do all that I could

it! Absorb

PAIN.