Chrysalis

[Run, run, run!] I holler at the others as we continue to sprint through the mould covered forest.

It really is obnoxious to run through this mess. There's mould beneath us, beside us and crawling up the trees to cover the canopy above us. It's like being in a suffocating winter wonderland except far more horrifying. Especially now that some of it is on fire.

[I don't think more fire will be a good idea, Master!] Crinis suggests as we race through the terrain.

[We might need another distraction soon. Starting a small fire will get the termites off our trail.]

[Won't it just bring more of them?] Sarah demands.

[I mean, yes. But also, yes…]

They be distracted though…

Perhaps that's still not good enough.

[No more fires,] Sarah tells me firmly, [we can think of something else.]

[Hmph. You're just worried about the fungus spores getting inside you,] I mutter.

[I hadn't even thought of that! Anthony!]

[Breathe it in deep. That's the sweet smell of fungus country.]

come

termites are defeated we can remove the mould from this area and return

the aphids are

another aspect of ant superiority. Even if we started fungus farming, we wouldn't let it run wild

you still have the trail?] Sarah asks, sounding a little panicked as we continue to

have it,] I confirm, [it's getting stronger even. Wherever they are, we're catching

she heaves for air. She may be a somewhat delicate flower internally, but externally she is all beef. Her legs are thicker than a person and positively bulging with muscle underneath all of that fur, much like her shoulders. In fact, the shoulders are even larger. For all

I tell her,

snaps, [that usually

Oh, right.

and now,] I hastily assure her. My antennae waggle furiously as I follow the trail. [The trail is starting

termites on our trail, but I can't really tell how many. Tiny bounds along in my wake, suffering much like Sarah is in this long distance sprint, Invidia perched on his back like a nightmarish bat, green eye blazing with energy as he surveys the land. We rush through a cluster of trees, blasting away the mould that had grown up to fill the space between them and showering ourselves in the horrible stuff before we pull up

but it seems as if our opponents had a different concept for this landscape. In front of us a vast yawning chasm has been carved into the rock, the trees cleared for hundreds of metres in all directions. Like a passageway into the pit of doom, the

termite nest. The whole damn mountain is

fit the main

by a host of termites, which is bad enough, but watching from above are five kaarmodo with their attendants in tow. In a flash I

pinning them here, using shields and spells to lock Vibrant and her group into a fight

Not. Acceptable.

to Tiny who is only too

his legs and thumps his chest with his enormous palms, bellowing his rage in an ear shattering roar that shakes the trees around us. Then he's off, bounding across the mould covered stone, his

him alive and blow up everything I don't

[Even the lizardsssss?]

[Especially them.]