Chrysalis

When word finally came back from the satellite nests the sense of relief in the Colony was noticeable. Burke herself was the first to receive the message and made sure to pass it on as quickly as she could. The smaller nests had held up well, suffering no more than a few probing attacks intended to keep them in place. They hadn't been able to stock away Biomass as the main nest had though, the lack of food growing into a real problem over the course of the siege. Now that the wave was underway, that problem was in the process of rapidly rectifying itself.

The Eldest and their pets continued to guard the most vulnerable points of entry into the nest itself whilst a flurry of activity continued behind them. Burke and Wills where everywhere, running messages, coordinating scouting parties and doing the legwork that kept the Colony running as one efficient unit. The two bumped into each other sprinting in opposite directions down a long tunnel and decided to take a short break to catch up on news.

"I heard about the satellites, that's good news," Wills told her, "from the sounds of things, the Queens haven't been able to maintain production over there. Our need for graduated hatchlings is dire."

"We could double the number of scouts and I'd still have work for them to do," Burke agreed, "but there's little we can do about it right now. Once the nests are secure, we can move forward from there."

"Agreed. Have you seen what the mages are up to in the brood chambers?"

Burke indicated to the negative and Wills quickly filled her in on the new technique and the massive scale of the earthworks taking place in the heart of the nest.

"That's a big deal," the scout clacked, "if they can do that for the entire nest…"

wall right between the two. Reflexes and instincts highly trained, they both turned as one and snapped at the

a lot easier to

Wills nodded.

it. The constant spawns are making it almost impossible to do any sort of industrial work. Their workshops are crowded

being 'driven mad'. Workshops were being upended as monsters crawled out of the floor under their work stations, screamed out of the walls and generally made a mess of the place as the soldiers and scouts charged forward to battle them. The only group of production style ants that weren't too perturbed by the whole thing were the core shapers. Maintaining their concentration was hard, but the never ending monster spawns provided an endless stream of experience and biomass for their

generals working together in teams. The enormous scale model of the section of Dungeon they were in had been expanded to include every piece of new territory the Colony had explored and the two council members were busy identifying potential choke points, trying to anticipate problems

gate?" Sloan asked

still there, very little has managed to approach the gate itself," came

level one, tier one creatures springing into the tunnels the moment they were spawned. Although the constant 'waves' of spawns were draining, disrupting and all around irritating, the Colony had grown to a point where even in the second strata, they weren't much of a threat. The real danger of the wave had only just begun to take shape and was yet to appear. It was the survivors, the winners, the monsters who, for whatever reason, were able to survive and thrive in the mess of the Dungeon. Be they newly spawned, fresh out of a wall, or perhaps had already had a few evolutions under their

Perhaps even saving their lives. This time, there would be no such protection. The creatures from the third strata would come screaming up from below and begin to batter against the Colony in earnest. It would take a little while before they arrived, but

Sloan indicated a particular section of

Victor leaned closer.