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.

finally.

“You’re sure.”

but a signal that strong is hard to miss. I’m sure. Now can

“Go for it.”

could be avoided, the leader let his mind dwell on the best case scenario. If they managed to dig in deep enough and snag that mythic

he roared to the surrounding mercs. “We get a little deeper and we can set up a perimeter. Then

back as they redoubled their efforts. The fighting was thick along the edge of the shields as the insects continued to press in on

the full weight of their numbers, it didn’t matter where they fought them, on the surface or in the heart of

young lad Drake was nearby, still doing what he could to support the more experienced fighters closer to the

make a fortune?” he

around, he noted how tense he looked. The pressure was clearly getting

I’m ready,”

steadied him with

The mythic is still sleeping and we’re holding off the insects just fine. We’ll start pulling them

gaze firmed and he took a deep breath to settle

to it,” he

leaders and keep

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,

slash through the shield. “They could

Hartos chuckled.

to leave their posts, or they’re fighting other monsters, or

the mark!” Artis called from

to get to work

gathered mercenaries, but before he said a word,

felt the floor shake, then it vanished, like a 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

his thoughts of mandibles

he cried as he flailed wildly with his arms, trying to grab hold of

out around him as

sooner had 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

from somewhere nearby. “Sound off! Get the shields

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

is the light?!”

dozen bright fires flared into 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 thousand

strange that was. Where were they? They’d been everywhere around them only a moment ago, so what had

Something shifted behind him.

he heard