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

“You’re sure.”

and us, but a signal

“Go for it.”

the best case scenario. If they managed

mercs. “We get a little deeper

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 the nest. In fact, the nest was better, since that’s

more experienced fighters closer to the edge. Hartos

make a fortune?”

how tense he looked.

I’m ready,”

him with a firm grip on his

just fine. We’ll start pulling them into the shield and harvesting cores. You’ll be drowning in them soon

gaze firmed and he took a deep breath

to

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

when they came in large numbers. They were everywhere, climbing over the roof, on the walls, even walking on the shield itself or lunging

Drake asked as he flung another slash through the shield. “They could hit us with ten times

Hartos chuckled.

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 monsters, or a hundred other reasons. Besides, even if more came, it wouldn’t

is the mark!” Artis called from

get to

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

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

of mandibles scraping and scratching at the shield below

wildly with his arms, trying to grab

cries rang out around him as the entire expedition plunged downwards. What

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

somewhere nearby.

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

is the

to the ground in relief when he didn’t see any ants nearby. His mind had conjured a thousand ravenous

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

Something shifted behind him.

no,” he heard someone