Chrysalis

Rassan’tep watched with cold, reptilian amusement as the armoured shock troops of the Colony dove forward, seemingly at random. He had hoped the stand off between the two sides would last longer so he might further study the ants and the disposition of their forces. Knowing what he did now about them, it was far easier to recognise the amount of thought and effort they put into all they did, and the selflessness with which they acted.

Even at rest, the column had been busily working. Vast flows of mana were constantly being channelled, energy sucked in to replenish the stores of mages who never ceased to manipulate the earth and stone around them.

Wary of ambush, they firmed the ground in stages as they had marched, the front ranks performing the initial hardening, the second condensing that, the third starting a new layer, and so on down the line. By the time the final ant had crossed a patch of ground, ten metres of compressed stone were left beneath them.

When they had stopped, face to face with the termite forces, the practice had only intensified; even now that the two sides were starting to converge, thousands of ants continued to work on the rock beneath them.

Despite the somewhat surprising initial charge, the rest of the ant column moved with incredible coordination and efficiency. All along the formation, large groups of ants broke off and advanced to a new position. The giant ka’armodo was fascinated to see some groups simply flow through each other and it took him a moment to realise the ants had simply climbed over each other without breaking stride, something his people would certainly struggle to do.

In fact, having even a single ka’armodo step on another would be such a breach of protocol the entire concept was almost entirely alien to them.

Before the armour-clad heavy ants had reached their target, a massive volley of acid and magic was on its way. The termites seethed with blind rage under the direction of Rassan’tep’s people. He knew they wanted to attack, to boil out of the nest and destroy the insect army that had appeared before them, but he also knew they would be prevented from doing so.

acid fell upon the packed ranks of termites, burning their carapace and

been protected against acid damage, but

firing

ants in front, followed by those behind, all the way back through dozens of ranks, separate volleys of acid rising high into the air and arcing

of loose droplets in the air painted an almost artistic picture, the sheer volume almost enough to summon a rainbow

field of battle. A top down perspective that gave him an enviable seat for the upcoming spectacle. Of course his role was to provide

he reluctantly called his allies in this conflict, he was convinced the fight was lost. Indeed, his main priority in the battle was to witness a potential

turned his mind’s

exploded into the air as carapaces were simply shattered under the force of

own acid barrage fell on them, so

confused. Were they