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.”

from the most reliable. She tends to miss details, or gloss over them, which is strange considering how intelligent she

level of genius there, but there’s a whole lot of… gaps? She’s going to be an amazing help for

turning herself inside out in some dumb

“demons are fighting all over the place. Even some ‘settled’ tier six demons in the cities are going rogue and lashing

cities still

had to increase our garrisons and lean on our demon allies to try and keep the

to

be an underlying cause. If we can work

a clue. We’ve been too busy making preparations and fighting up there to do much investigating. More to the point,

Good point.

wave coming, that’s not likely to

waves on the third stratum are especially deadly. The spawn rate of demon larvae skyrockets and the plains become

spawn rate of those ankle biting little demons to get any higher? The entire floor of the place is a literal living

plains and do

the tier eights?” I

general clacks her mandibles in

the general insanity that’s going on. They don’t always move together, but every now and again, the three of them seem to gather for reasons we don’t understand. The general consensus is that