Chrysalis

Thank goodness for amorphous blobs of terror! The tentacles twist through the air beneath me, creating a dense noodle stack that I plunge into like a boulder that fell off a cliff. Everything melds into a blur as I plummet the last fifty metres and then -

BANG!

Oof! In an organ rattling collision I smack into the hard stone of the plate with nothing but the tentacles of Crinis to cushion my fall. Predictably, my legs fold like a house of cards before my carapace is rocked by the impact and my head starts spinning. Yikes. Not a fan of that.

[Thanks Crinis! You're a life saver…]

[I almost didn't make it in time!]

[But you did. That's all that matters.]

I trigger my healing gland and sigh in relief as the cooling fluid rushes throughout my body, mending everything that was damaged in the fall and beginning the process of once again restoring my legs to full usefulness. Luckily they haven't been ripped off this time, merely shattered in several places, so I should be good to go before too much time has passed.

BOOM!

I must have been falling slightly faster that the spell since at this moment a cataclysmic detonation resounds from the side. My antennae scream of danger and I use my mandibles to sweep as much of Crinis behind me as I can whilst my brains throw out the fastest barriers that I can. They're flimsy as heck but the best I can do on such short notice and certainly better than nothing. Thank goodness I already triggered my healing gland.

The heat is immense as the fireball unleashes its remaining payload of doom but there is more at play than pure fire magic. The spell was always miscoloured, flecked with darkness where one would expect fire mana to be bright and I can feel the difference now as the flames seem to eat into my carapace even as it burns me. This must be a combination of ash and fire magic, putting the two most prominent elements of this stratum together into one horrific concentration of death!

How nasty.

My HP drops steadily as the fire rages and I find myself fighting on two fronts, trying to utilise my magic to hold off the worst effects of the spell, eating into the mana and countering with renewed barriers once my old ones are shattered whilst at the same time I fight against Crinis as she tries to wrap her limbs around to protect me.

weak to mana like this, you'll just melt in

protect you, let

sit

[Never!]

[I'm ordering you!]

being to force

my turn to save you,] I tell her firmly

this point, I see that after everything I just endured I've been chunked down to just under half of my pool. Considering I had

lingering effect of ash mana? I don't know enough about the stuff to say for sure, but I have a sneaking suspicion

the sights as my eyes gradually lose the glare I can see that my siblings have not escaped unscathed from the blast. Closer to the centre of the gathered ants they were safer, having the full benefit of the

of that I have

also echoed by the Colony who bristle with outrage and

magic, to try and get me back on my feet again. Far above our heads, the magic oriented tier seven demons that Brixin reserved to defend her seat of power float, looking down on the remnants of their failed strategy. Doubtless they had hoped to triumph here in one fell swoop, but it

their next play will be, but I have the utmost confidence that we shall sweep that

roar using my pheromones and waggling my broken legs at them. "I'll bite your ankles

by a squad of ants who are going to try their level best to keep her from

of squads following me

You lot

A short pause.

shadow portals that we can't follow you through in future," comes a clipped

I was worried that they'd gotten themselves baked in