Chrysalis

With her incredibly enhanced vision, it wasn't too hard for Wills to make out the details of the demon city far, far below. Any ant who wasn't a highly evolved scout would find it impossible to see what she could, but for her, it was simple. The advantages of evolving to tier five. Being able to see clearly at long distances generally wasn't something that scouts needed in the regular course of their duties, but with knowledge of the third stratum, she'd known that it would be a necessary trait for some of her caste to have. Unwilling to leave the experimentation to the new generation, she had been the first to develop her eyes in this way and it was paying dividends already.

"What in the world is the Eldest doing down there?" she wondered.

Smoke was rising from the city in several places, forming a long trail around the outer edge of one side. She could see several buildings had collapsed completely and tiny figures swarmed over them like… ants. The ants would be swarming over there soon enough.

"What do you think?" Advant asked, her scent tense with worry.

Wills chuckled.

"Looks like the Eldest has kicked up quite the fuss already. A good section of the city is on fire already and no I have absolutely no idea why. It's a mess down there, not going to lie."

"Is the Eldest trying to soften their defences before we make an assault? We aren't ready yet!"

"Considering we haven't consulted with them in any way on this plan, how could they possibly be aware what we're going to do, let alone when we plan to do it?"

"That’s… a good point."

"Personally, I think the Eldest is just doing what they always do. Making a mess of wherever they happen to be at any given time."

a … bold way to state your opinion of the

Wills smirked. "Wherever they go, there is always something interesting happening, something that pushes the Colony forward. It's impossible for us to

she was forced to give up, her eye mutations were dedicated to better track motion in the thick of battle, peering over the edge of the bridge did nothing for her. "Let's

and began the climb back up into the second stratum alongside their escort. It wasn't long before they encountered more of their kind, a lot more. Carvers swarmed over the area alongside soldiers and scouts as the ants restructured the area around the top of the pillar to better suit their needs. If this was

"Tungstant! How goes preparations?"

several work crews to see her fellow council members approach. Judging by the slant of her antennae and the irritable

they going? They're going, I suppose. What else can you

to be the issue?" Wills asked, a humorous tilt to her

the tirade before it started, but she

and build new nests, you want us to fortify a massive section of Dungeon, you want to construct new farm zones, upgrade the main nest, plan further expansion sites and THEN you want us to come all the way down here to build a fortified position and staging ground the size of the main nest again! Are you outside of your minds! The work is sloppy! It's rushed! It's a disgrace! You think

you've done incredible work," Advant tried to soothe her sister. She truly believed what she said. What the carvers and building crews had achieved in a short amount

tempering, not enough time used for the enchanting! The stone

done and what she'd learned is that it was a lot harder than it looked. The frame itself had to be designed and built to specification to start with, then had to include tolerance for the stone being compressed around it. This meant the framework had to be designed to squeeze and shrink without breaking as the ants did their best to condense the stone as hard as possible

storm she had willingly unleashed. "The soldiers are doing all the heavy lifting, the generals are helping coordinate crews, the advance build teams the scouts have put together are

several teams of scouts had side specialised in basic construction skills, allowing them to make basic

was already looking to establish new nest sites a

grumbled, "we're just really busy

good thing?" Advant laughed. "You don't