Chrysalis

Again?! I have to say, I’ve had enough of these waves. Each one is worse than the last. I mean, the Colony has been able to grow rapidly thanks to the injection of experience and Biomass, but the risk rises exponentially each time. This time, we’ll be fighting across four strata at the same time!

What a nightmare.

At least, if we can find ways to block off the ascent of the monsters here in the fourth, we lessen the pressure on our territory above.

Ugh. I just realised that this means I’ll have to take on more of those scum from the fifth. That poison is no joke! Countermeasures will need to be put in place… but I’ll leave the thinking to the smarter ants. When they work out where they want me to go, I’ll go and help as best I can. In the short term, that’ll mean taking on multiple tier eight demons, which is going to suck, but that’s the challenge I took on when I picked the evolution I did.

“Sloan! What the hell is going on up there?” I demand as I burst into the central planning chamber of the new fortress nest.

There’s a swirling vortex of generals, mages, carvers and shapers centred around the council member in the middle of the space. The moment I burst in, everyone freezes, staring back at me, their antennae drifting slowly from side to side.

“Ooookay,” I say. “Don’t let me… uh… interrupt.”

“Bit late for that, don’t you think?” Sloan said. “Welcome back, Eldest. I assume you’re talking about the situation on the third?”

“Y-yes.”

They’re all still staring at me, like mice looking at a cat, hoping they won’t be spotted if they don’t move. It’s unnerving!

“Uh. Brilliant popped out of nowhere and gave me a quick update, but I thought I should talk to you to get a clearer picture.”

way to move information between strata, but far from the

not so sure about that. She’s a mad scientist. There’s a certain level of genius there, but there’s a whole lot of… gaps? She’s going to be an amazing help for the Colony, but she definitely needs us to put some rails in place to keep her on

going to be turning herself inside out in some

all over the place. Even some ‘settled’ tier six demons in the cities are going

the cities still

demon allies to try and keep

to

to be an underlying cause. If we can work out what it is, then maybe we

clue. We’ve been too busy making preparations and fighting up there to do

Good point.

wave coming, that’s not

especially deadly. The spawn rate of demon larvae skyrockets and the plains

of the place is a

and do our best to hold the

the tier eights?” I

general clacks her

seem to gather for reasons we don’t understand. The general consensus is that they’re