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.”

between strata, but far from the most reliable. She tends to miss details, or gloss over them,

Brilliant? Intelligent? I’m 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

going to be turning herself

short, the situation is chaotic,” she tells me, “demons are fighting all over the place. Even some ‘settled’ tier six demons in the

cities still

had to increase our garrisons and lean on our demon allies to try and keep the peace, which isn’t easy because they might

idea as to

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

there to do much investigating. More to the

Good point.

that’s not likely to get

understand, waves on the third stratum are especially deadly. The spawn rate of demon larvae skyrockets

little demons to get any higher? The entire floor of

do our best to

tier eights?” I

general clacks her mandibles

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