Chrysalis

Chapter 604

When the itching finally fades away, Crinis peels herself off the walls and regroups back onto my carapace to reveal something I didn't expect to see. Protectant, her cover dropped without me having to drag her out of the shadows for once, stands right in front of me, in the centre of the room. Exposed to my senses, she wears a nervous air, as if the simple fact of been able to be seen makes her uncomfortable.

"Didn't expect to see you, Protectant. What's up?"

Her antennae twitch in surprise.

"The rest of the nest? The surface nest? The surface? About two hundred million tons of rock and soil? I don't understand the question, Eldest."

Sometimes I forget the ants aren't up to speed with the lingo.

"I just mean to see what's up with you. I mean - forget it. Why are you out of cover? I assume you have something to say?"

"Where have you been?"

The question is more direct than I expected, but it's pretty much what I thought she'd say.

"Right here," I'm still not going to bow down to these babysitters.

"We couldn't see you."

"I know, that was the point of Operation Blackout."

go crazy with barely suppressed excitement. These damn

need

away in order to focus on the point at

a little privacy. You'll just have to deal with

makes it hard for us to do

was going to happen to me here in the nest? Forget it, you'll just need to cope. We're heading out to do some grinding deeper in the strata now. I want to make sure you and

keep ten on you at all

hate the idea of getting stronger for

should probably hunt in teams of five, or ten depending on the level of the opponents.

he does his little gorilla boxing shuffle, throwing mini-punches into the air. The ape is pumped up and ready to fight. In fact, even

race through the nest, taking the fastest route through the mighty gates (still being reinforced) and taking new paths deeper into the strata. It's hard to move too quickly in the second strata, what with poisonous little barbs attached to almost everything we see. By now we've become far more comfortable traversing the tunnels and we need less breaks

the air like tar. I swear that it's getting thicker. Is there going to be another wave soon? Somehow I get the feeling it'll be harder to deal with this time, exposed to the second strata, and the third beneath it as we are now. If we can

a time frame. We need dat sweet, sweet experience! Elemental constructs whizzing with mana, I step forward and unleash all the mana I have into our foes as we press forward. Slowly but surely, the levels

In the third strata.

what we're going up against?" Myrrin asked

resisted the urge to

don't even know where we are. I don't think anyone does. The commander is

their full Legion as they awaited permission to exit the citadel they had arrived in. Even though the Runic Armour shielded them from the elements, the searing heat scalded their skin and the taste of ash filled their mouths. Morrelia had never been in the third strata before, and she wasn't particularly enjoying it now. That was understatement.

was thoroughly drilled, to the point that when the commander strode back into the hall in which they waited, not a one of them moved. But the tension in

The Novel will be updated daily. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

Comments ()

0/255