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

this close, they didn't seem to want to stop. I think they're

least let me see what's happening! That's

pitch black Crinis had inflicted on me. She appears to have gone through a few changes whilst I was gone. A writhing 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

[Crinis! Are you alright?!]

me, Master. I'm here

We need to end this fight before the

to my right crumbles as a huge pair

"LEEEEEEROOOOOOY!!!!"

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 I was away. What

heck are you doing?!" I scream, but since my pheromone gland is covered,

fix this! NOW!]

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 count to ten, the tunnel is awash with ants

Dammit.

has been

"West tunnel, clear!"

"East tunnel, clear!"

Scouts every hundred metres for a

emergency tunnels! Earth mages at the

council

"They're on the way!"

grip, I feel the welcome buzz of my family wrap around me once more. The Vestibule is completely alive now, whispering to me the needs and desires of every ant within range. It's overwhelming at first, but

still clinging to my abdomen, stuck to me like putty from

Crinis, Invidia. We

[Yes, Master!]

[Harrrr.]

[Yesssss.]

their own way and gather around me as

Jim went?"

him a few hundred metres down the tunnel. Take a left at the branch," a scout

"Thanks."

was a scout. Judging by the long antennae and sleek carapace design, it would be weird if they were a soldier. As time passes and I move further away from the site of the battle, the number of ants congregating actually increases. More