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.

she said finally. “It’s still

“You’re sure.”

cores between the mythic and us, but a signal

“Go for it.”

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

a little deeper and we can set up a perimeter. Then we can

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

ants couldn’t use the full weight of their numbers, it didn’t matter where they fought them, on the

still doing what he could to support the more experienced fighters closer to the edge. Hartos walked

to make a fortune?” he

turned around, he noted how tense he looked. The pressure

I’m ready,” he

him with a firm

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

firmed and he took a deep

forward to it,”

metres and we’ll start! Listen to your crew leaders and keep your eyes on the prize! Efficient killing and harvesting

put out. Twice the size of a human, the giant soldiers were intimidating beasts, especially when 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 was a good

as he flung another slash through the shield. “They could hit

Hartos chuckled.

to understand a monster’s mind. These ants may be smarter than the average, but that doesn’t make them as clever as you and me. Perhaps they’re protecting something and don’t want to leave their posts, or they’re fighting other

called from amongst

to get to work then,” Hartos

gathered mercenaries, but

magic trick. He didn’t have time to be afraid, the only thing in his mind was confusion as the ground beneath his feet simply disappeared and he began to fall into the

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

his arms, trying to grab

cries rang out around him as the entire expedition plunged

it started than 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, a

bellowed from somewhere nearby. “Sound off! Get the shields up! Are you

but with an undercurrent of tension that sent a chill through the young mercenary. Something had gone terribly

the light?!”

stark relief. Drake almost sagged back to the ground in relief when he didn’t see any ants nearby. His mind had conjured a thousand ravenous mouths ready to descend on him and the other members of the

been everywhere around them only a moment ago, so what had

Something shifted behind him.

no,” he heard