Chrysalis

Sloan watched the fighting from the backlines, though she desperately wished she could surge forward to battle alongside her siblings. As the general in charge of the field, she couldn’t afford to be so selfish, but with the hated nemesis of the Colony so close, it was hard to hold herself back.

Her mandibles itched to crush the termite foe.

Alas, she was more in control of herself than some idiot like Leeroy. Her fellow generals had to bake a reckless charge from the Immortals into every plan. In fact, it was getting to the point that if they didn’t dash forward blindly, the entire battle plan would be ruined.

Luckily they’d timed Vibrant’s assault to bail out the heavy armoured ant brigade before they were in too much danger. Even the Eldest had rushed forward to ensure they wouldn’t come to harm, another show of just how much the most powerful ant cared for even the dumbest members of the family.

With a flick of her antennae, the general pushed such thoughts away and focused on the struggle.

The front continued to advance as the Colony and their allies pushed into the jaws of the termite horde. The enemy packed the entrance to their nest, uncounted thousands of them and more arriving from the depths every passing moment. However, it didn’t seem to matter how many termites arrived at the front, the concentrated power of a hundred thousand ants was simply too much to be overcome.

Overlapping auras from the generals supported the frontline troops who utilised their well drilled techniques to form an unbeatable wall of mandibles. Frontline healers kept the troops fighting in top condition, or pulled the heavily injured back for emergency treatment.

Teams of mages and scouts laid down an irresistible barrage of fire support, a rain of spells and acid that wreaked havoc deeper into the nest. In the second row, the humans with their spears and the robed ones who accompanied them spread their buff across as wide an area as possible, reinforcing the Colony’s advantage in quality over the enemy.

Protected in the heart of the ant formation, a dedicated core of carvers, the most expert earth mages in the Colony, worked tirelessly to reinforce the ground on which the ants stood, burning through mana at a furious rate.

“I like what I see,” she announced to the team gathered with her in the command post. “We are grinding the termites down quickly enough, we should hold the mouth of the nest within the next thirty minutes.”

in weaponry and tactics, it would be foolish to rush in and overextend themselves. The disciplined ranks of soldiers

our concerns? Threats?” she demanded of the

from the flanks,” one general

formation can absorb it,” she

as to leave the weakest ants in the

“Tunnel collapse,” another said.

turned to her chief

replied. “They would need to collapse half the mountain to destabilise the ground we stand

She nodded, satisfied.

“Anything else?” she asked.

from the

batteries standing by?” She turned to

waiting,” the mage replied,

termite variant?” another

be accounted for at

holes in the strategy as the battle continued. There was a chance they might spot something they had

minutes ticked by. Two hundred metres in front of her the soldiers ground on, biting, shoving, grappling, taking hits and giving them

gaps and inflict whatever wounds they could. In truth, their presence was far more valuable for the aura provided by the priests,