Chrysalis

From the floor of the third stratum, four giant pillars were rising. Compressed stone, marked with grooves, rotated upward from an enormous base of gathered material. Around the base of each laboured a thousand earth mages, combining their will to enable the great working, shifting thousands of tons of rock with their minds alone.

Hundreds of metres above, lashed with the burning wind and flecks of ash that filled the air of this layer of the Dungeon, yet more thousands of ants gripped tight to the sides of the columns as they drew ever closer to the plate above. A barrage of spells fell toward them, deflected by shields and broken apart by yet more mages, but some fell through, crashing into massive soldiers who absorbed the blows with their hardened carapace.

Atop glittering platforms of pure energy, teams of demons battle in the air, flinging magic and their own bodies at each other for control of the sky, such as it is, around the outer edge of the plate.

Yet more ants mass around the base of the assault columns, grouping together in teams before they begin to ascend. The stone will make contact any moment now, they need to be in position for the final assault.

The air is filled with flashes of magic, smoke and fire, making it difficult for Sloan to see, but she can grasp enough of the situation from her position on the command hill to make a snap judgement.

"Move out the healer teams, we want them coming in right behind the assault crews."

"Yes, general!"

position. I want the edge of

"Understood!"

around her dashed away to deliver her instructions to the dedicated relay stations. A mixture of mind magic and enchanted pheromone projectors would be used to spread the word over wide

ominously. Iritel, a smallish settlement by the standards of the third stratum, only slightly larger than Roklu had been when the Eldest had found it. The petty lord who ruled over it had been the unfortunate recipient of the Colony's eye and now faced an assault the scale of which could not

it could not possibly hope to stand against their combined might. Brixin commanded the gathered demon forces, her demonic heart pounding with glee

dozens of kilometres from Roklu, on the opposite side from the contested land with the

"Contact!"

be heard resounding from kilometres above their heads as the slowly rotating pillars crunched into the bottom of the stone plate. The moment they did so ants rushed up the connected pillar, a living carpet that covered each pillar began to spread along the underside

to hit the moment our teams rush over the edge. Tell the

"Artillery firing!"

they fell upon the plate. The

the fourth lands, it's time

gnashing and biting at everything they see as roaring priests accompanying fiery eyed human warriors leap from their specially prepared floating platforms onto the plate to fight alongside them. Enervated by the potent aura buff of fighting alongside their allies, the ants push forward aggressively and overrun the outer defences