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. “It’s still

“You’re sure.”

but a signal that strong is

“Go for it.”

dwell on the best case scenario. If they managed to dig in deep enough

little deeper and we can set up a perimeter. Then

edge of the shields as the insects continued to press in on them from all sides, but so long as the mages held the barriers in place, they would hold

ants couldn’t use the full weight of their numbers, it didn’t matter where they fought them, on the surface or in the heart of the nest. In fact, the nest was better, since

more experienced fighters closer to the edge.

a

how tense he looked. The pressure was clearly getting to

ready,” he

older mercenary steadied him with a firm grip on his

We’ll start pulling them into

took a deep

to it,” he

Hartos roared. “Another ten metres and we’ll start! Listen to your crew leaders and keep your eyes on the prize! Efficient killing and harvesting is what we’re here for.

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

aren’t they coming with more?” Drake asked as he flung another slash through the shield.

Hartos chuckled.

protecting something and don’t want to leave their posts,

mark!” Artis called

to get to work

his orders to the hundreds of gathered mercenaries, but

trick. He didn’t have time to be afraid, the only thing in his mind was confusion as the ground

flashed through his thoughts of mandibles scraping and scratching

with his arms, trying to

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

bellowed from somewhere nearby.

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

is the

sagged back to the ground in relief when he didn’t see any ants

They’d been everywhere around them only a moment

Something shifted behind him.

no,” he heard someone