Chrysalis

[DAMMIT CRINIS! I can't see!]

[It's fine!]

[How is it fine?!]

[IT JUST IS!]

[No! How the heck can I fight if I can't see the enemy?! What is even happening?!]

[I'll fight for you! You don't need to do anything!]

[Are you kidding me?! There's no way you can take them all on by yourself!]

[Watch me!]

[I CAN'T!]

I'm currently entombed in a shell of Crinis after all. Not only is she covering my eyes, she's covering all of me! How is she even doing this? She sent her entire body through my shadow in a flash! So much faster than she was able to use the Shadows before. This can only mean one thing…

[You've evolved!]

[Of course, Master! Did you think I would rest before coming back to your side?]

[Well… no. I didn't.]

My Vestibule tingles with energy, causing panic to spark inside me.

[Wait, Crinis! What's the Colony doing?!]

[Oh, they're coming! They'll be here any minute.]

Through the liquid shadow flesh of Crinis' body I can sense the ongoing battle. Thuds and impacts ripple through her form as she takes damage that had been directed at me.

coming?! They need to

to want to stop. I

let me see what's happening! That's

mass of flesh and tentacles rises from my back like a pillar, three separate mouths gaping and gnashing at the air as she sends her limbs twisting through the air toward the Golgari. For their part, the Warriors and Shapers are firing a literal barrage of strikes her way,

[Crinis! Are you alright?!]

me, Master. I'm here

to get off me, Crinis. We need to end this fight

a

"LEEEEEEROOOOOOY!!!!"

antennae despite being almost totally covered by Crinis, the war cry of the dumbest ant in the history of the species floods the tunnel as a HUGE soldier bursts through the wall and dives headfirst into combat. The Golgari are dumbfounded for the smallest of windows before they move to respond. That's Leeroy?! She's big! Some of the Colony members must have hit tier four whilst

the heck are you doing?!" I scream, but since my pheromone

fix this! NOW!] I

moment I was captured. Once Leeroy has made her entrance, a dozen similar holes open up from all angles of the tunnel and hundreds of ants swarm out of them. The Golgari are overwhelmed in seconds, buried under an avalanche of insects. Only a few have the intelligence to flee the second an ant is seen, the rest fall victim to the relentless crush of the Colony. Before I can

Dammit.

has been

"West tunnel, clear!"

"East tunnel, clear!"

Scouts every hundred metres for a kilometre in

the emergency tunnels! Earth mages at

council

"They're on the way!"

around me once more. The Vestibule is completely alive now, whispering to me the needs and desires of every ant within range.

has pulled back a little after I yelled at her, but she's still clinging

Crinis, Invidia. We need

[Yes, Master!]

[Harrrr.]

[Yesssss.]

respond in their own way and gather around me as I begin to march

me where my friend Jim went?" I

metres down the

"Thanks."

of the battle, the number of ants congregating actually increases. More and more of