Chrysalis

Hartos looked around and was satisfied with what he saw. The mercenaries had managed to penetrate the mountain in good order, and despite the intensifying attacks from the ants, they had maintained their formation.

He couldn’t help but sneer. Those fools who’d refused to join him would be crying bloody tears when they saw the haul he returned with. Thousands and thousands of ants surrounded them already, and soon enough they’d be dead, just waiting for their cores to be extracted.

But it didn’t hurt to be careful.

“Artis!” he barked.

“What?” his long-time crewmember replied, sounding harried.

“I need you for a second.”

“Make it quick,” she snapped, “this shield doesn’t maintain itself.”

He frowned, both at her tone and the implication of her words.

“Are we really being pressured that hard?”

The mage glared at him.

“Of course we are! Look around you, the bugs are endless! No matter how much firepower we pump out, they keep coming.”

“But you can hold?”

“Yes, we can hold. It’s just very difficult work!”

He nodded.

“Good. I want you to check and make sure the mythic is still asleep. We don’t want to be in here when the damn thing wakes up.”

“That’s the truth,” the mage muttered.

She fumbled about in her robes and removed the array from one of her dozens of pockets. She stared at it intensely for a few moments.

“Well?” Hartos demanded.

“There’s tens of thousands of monsters in this mountain, wait a damned second.”

He turned his eyes back to the struggle along the perimeter as the mage continued to study the device.

said finally. “It’s

“You’re sure.”

many cores between the mythic and us, but a signal that strong is hard to miss. I’m sure. Now can I get

“Go for it.”

scenario could be avoided, the leader let his mind dwell on the best

harder!” he roared to the surrounding mercs. “We get a little deeper and we can set up

as the insects continued to press in on them from all sides,

them, on the surface or in the heart of the nest.

the more experienced fighters closer to the edge. Hartos walked forward and clapped him on

make a

turned around, he noted how tense he

ready,” he

him with a firm grip on his

is still sleeping and we’re holding off the insects just fine. We’ll start pulling them into the shield and harvesting cores. You’ll

a deep breath to settle

forward to

spirit, lad!” Hartos roared. “Another ten metres and we’ll start! Listen to your crew leaders and keep your eyes on the prize!

they came in large numbers. They were everywhere, climbing over the roof, on the walls, even walking on the shield itself or lunging up from beneath. Along with the rising heat the deeper they went, it was an oppressive, suffocating way to fight. It

they coming with more?” Drake asked as he flung another slash through the shield. “They could hit us with ten times

Hartos chuckled.

they’re protecting something and don’t want to leave their posts, or they’re fighting other monsters, or a hundred other reasons. Besides, even if more came, it wouldn’t make

Artis called from amongst a cluster

get to

bellow his orders to the hundreds of gathered mercenaries, but before he said a

only thing in his

through his thoughts of mandibles scraping and scratching at the shield below

wildly with his arms, trying to grab hold

around him as

it finished, the mercenaries thudding to the ground heavily. Drake crashed into the stone floor, landing on his side. He managed to brace himself and prevent his head from smacking into the rock just in time,

Hartos bellowed from somewhere nearby. “Sound off! Get the shields up! Are you trying to get us killed?

authoritative, but with an undercurrent of tension that sent a chill through

the light?!”

existence, casting their surroundings into stark relief. Drake almost sagged back to the ground in relief when he didn’t see any ants nearby. His mind had conjured a

later, he realised how strange that was. Where were they? They’d been everywhere around them only a

Something shifted behind him.

no,” he