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."
These damn security guards are as bad
did you need to hide
away
a little privacy. You'll just have to
makes it hard for us to do fulfil our
out to do some grinding deeper in the strata now. I want to make sure you and
on you at
idea of
others should probably hunt in teams of five, or
he does his little gorilla boxing shuffle, throwing mini-punches into the air.
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
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
me, my pets, my babysitters, and the need to smash as many monsters in as short as possible a time frame. We need dat sweet, sweet experience! Elemental constructs whizzing with mana, I
In the third strata.
know what we're going up against?"
resisted the urge
the third strata, I don't even know where we are. I don't think anyone does. The commander is keeping his cards close to his
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
strode back into the hall in which they waited, not a one of
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