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 still

“You’re sure.”

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

“Go for it.”

leader let his mind dwell on the best case scenario. If they managed to dig in deep enough and snag

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

efforts. The fighting was thick along the edge of the shields as the insects continued to press in on them from all sides, but so long as the mages held the

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

the more experienced fighters

make a fortune?”

noted how tense he looked. The pressure was clearly getting to

ready,”

mercenary steadied him with a firm grip on his

insects just fine. We’ll start pulling them into the shield and harvesting cores.

he took a deep breath to settle

forward to

and keep your eyes on the prize! Efficient killing and harvesting

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

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

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

the mark!” Artis called from amongst a cluster of

to

the hundreds of gathered mercenaries, but before he said a word,

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

mandibles scraping and scratching at the shield below

he flailed wildly with his arms, trying

him as the entire expedition plunged downwards.

into the stone floor, landing on his side. He managed to brace himself and prevent his head from

nearby. “Sound off! Get the shields up! Are you trying to get us

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

is the light?!”

a 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 ravenous mouths ready to descend on him and

was. Where were they? They’d been everywhere around

Something shifted behind him.

he heard