Chrysalis

"Vibrant! We need to get to the Queen!" Grant punched out her pheromone message with all of her strength.

"Wha? To Mother? Why?" The fast moving ant slowed down for just a moment to respond.

"Garralosh is coming to the wall! We need to bring her back a bit closer to the nest. Heal her if we can!"

"Okay! :D" Vibrant replied.

Grant was frustrated by her sibling’s seemingly flippant attitude but bit back her anger and tried to focus. For the colony to have the highest chance of success, the plan needed to be followed. Draw the Queen back to the eighth wall and she can fight against Garralosh there.

If they did that, then maybe they would buy enough time for the Eldest to awaken and then perhaps they might just survive.

"How fast are you?!" Vibrant asked.

"Fast enough," Grant grit her mandibles and replied.

"Then let’s go! Follow me!" Vibrant chirped before she turned around and ran toward a member of her squad.

"Give us a boost!" She called and the soldier in question ducked her head to allow Vibrant to race up onto her back.

Bewildered, Grant had only a moment to think before she threw herself forward and she too leapt from the poor soldier’s back.

"Gogogogogogo!" Vibrant cackled as her legs flashed at impossible speed and she took off across the backs of ants and monsters alike, racing toward the place the Queen was fighting.

Grant could only sharpen her mind and race forward, trying to maintain her balance as she dodged

with delight and began to fire acid into the crowd of monsters beneath her as she

the other ant, this only made keeping

from a monster and onto the still glowing carapace of the Queen, followed

pushed out, exhausted. "Garralosh herself is coming! The colony is going to pull back to the eighth wall. You need to come

can see the creature already, child." The

What?

The entire battlefield was a mess. Biomass, broken walls spread before her like a carpet. The ground was pockmarked with holes, traps and to her right she could see the human wall beset by Garralosh spawn. The fighting was fierce, but it didn’t hold Grant’s eye for long. The slow approach of the titanic

grin, Garralosh stomped her way forward. Every time one of her feet came down the ground groaned beneath her weight. Any Biomass she stepped on was crushed to paste. The giant crocodile looked inevitable, like a mountain of scales and teeth. Her claws gleamed, each looked hard

they supposed to

at those teeth! They’d chop me in half with one bite, no doubt! I wonder how

the wall, Mother! The colony will be able to support you from there, and you can get healing!" Grant

The Queen’s antennae drooped.

"Very well, child."

time as she stomped her way through the field, stabbing down with her legs to spear monsters on the way. The closer she came to the wall, the more ants

were the first to pull back, followed by their younger siblings and then the horde monsters. The prepared barrage of the artillery spells and interference tactics of the shadow beasts were almost unnecessary as the colony enacted its

to tend to her wounds and try to restore her energy. A dozen of the small ants climbed over her,

core and sighed. She had begun to run low on mana. Her infused carapace put a great deal of strain on her core and it wouldn’t be long until she

their acid barrage from the top of their final wall. The encroaching Garralosh spawn suffered from the rain of acid, the numerous traps and the sneak attacks from Shadow Beast pets launched from hidden tunnels in the

CRUNCH.

dirt and muscles bunched as the mother of crocodiles pulled her massive frame over the seventh wall. She slowly swung her head to regard the final layer of defence, as well as the towering nest behind it, before she pulled the rest

Garralosh spawn shrank back in the presence of their parent. Whether through fear, respect, or if they were cowed by the crushing aura that she emitted. The ants grew still as their nemesis drew closer.

see that Garralosh towered over the Queen. Even without standing up, the Croc was far more massive than the largest ant in the colony. It was clear the