Chrysalis

It was almost as if Leeroy had died and entered some sort of paradise. Except, frustratingly, she still clung to her mortal shell, along with the other Immortals. Despite this, she revelled in her current existence. The release she sought, the glorious end she strove to experience, had never felt as close as it did now.

As she strode back and forth before the massed ranks of her followers, her chosen sisters, the massive weight of her armour was a comfort bearing down on her carapace. The Immortals were almost shivering with excitement to the point the joints of their armour rattled. They had fought recently, a glorious battle that had pushed them to their limits. The Colony had pulled them back and forced them to wait until their Phoenix Fire organs had recharged, and now they were ready to be sent out once more.

"Are you ready my sisters?" she demanded of the waiting armoured troops. "Are you prepared for the fire that is to come?"

"YES!" they roared as they slapped their antennae against their armour.

"Will your charge never falter? Will you crush the ranks of the enemy?"

"YES!"

"Will you fight until you collapse? Will you fight until the last breath leaves your body?"

"YES!"

"Then, when you are engulfed in cursed flame, will you rise? Will you do it all over again?"

"YES!"

roared, her pheromones

"WE SEEK!"

MASSED RANKS OF THE TERMITE YOU CAN FIND YOUR

"WE SEEK!"

that final, suffocating roar the Immortals began to advance. There were almost two hundred of them now, each tier five or six, each armoured with a custom, fully enchanted suit of the finest armour the Colony could provide. Every individual represented multiple tons of pure, righteous ant fury. Their charge began as a walk, the

Boom. Boom. Boom.

the urgent beat of Leeroy's heart. Every time she had sortied over the last weeks, the

So close.

she had yearned for from the moment she'd hatched had been within her reach numerous times. Even now, the scent of desperate battle hung heavy in the air. The acrid tang of

the ground and the column behind rose to match her pace. No longer did their tread create a steady beat; instead the noise had elevated to a constant rumble, more like

up ahead. A horde of ravening termites threatened to overwhelm the ant defenders through sheer weight of numbers. A desperate struggle had

their unknown methods they'd been able to guide their insect slaves through twisted and convoluted paths in the rock, evading detection and penetrating deep into

rather than three, and their beady, near sightless eyes. They were unnatural and did not belong in this world. She firmly believed that, how else could she explain

column accelerated to full speed. The avalanche was no longer in the distance, now it was right here and the ground trembled under the force of their

capable of as her Dash and Charge skills combined to elevate her speed.

out of the way, unleashing potent blasts of acid and mana to create whatever distance they could before the steel

larger and larger in her vision

of impact was like the