Chrysalis

Leeroy’s heart was afire.

“Onward, sisters!” she roared, her pheromones rolling across the battlefield like a wave. “Surely today, we will find that which we seek!”

“We seek!”

Her own call was obliterated by the reply of the massed Immortals. They numbered five thousand now, and for Leeroy, charging at the head of their ranks was like being locked to the peak of a collapsing mountain.

The reliquary of the fallen Immortal covered all of them in its blessed light, and Leeroy felt her soul singing as the massed enemies loomed ever larger in her eyes.

As the wave had gone on, the number of powerful monsters who descended from the sky, or rose from below the ground, or emerged from the depths of the lakes, never ceased to swell. The defences of the mountain had been as well constructed as the Colony could manage in the time they’d been given, but even with all their preparations, it proved impossible to clear the monsters from their mountain fortress fast enough.

So the number of rampaging monsters grew. And grew. And grew.

They fought each other, mostly, but the Colony strove desperately to push them away from the mountain-nest to prevent damaging it. Now that they had secured a safe haven on the fourth stratum, they would do anything to keep it.

Including letting the Immortals loose on the battlefield.

“We Seek!”

The tidal wave of pheromones released by the armoured column was so thick it hung like a fog over their heads. As they charged, that fog was caught by their legs and frames, swirling around their feet until it appeared as though they ran atop a cloud.

In the field ahead, Leeroy could see an immense pack of monsters thrashing and fighting before the gates of the nest. To many, it would have appeared like a nightmare brought to life, a whirlpool of death and destruction. Powerful monsters battled there. Sinuous lizards that swam through the air like eels, emerald scales glittering in the light; spirits of wind, water and earth towered a dozen metres into the air, manipulating the elements to their will. Horrific, bloated creatures of the deep, thrumming with a powerful aura and overwhelming life, forced themselves onto the land, fanged maws a bottomless pit of hunger.

To Leeroy and her followers, it was like a glimpse of heaven.

down. These were powerful, tier six and seven beasts, fat from feasting on the abundant weak prey the wave produced and desperate for something more satisfying. Some of them looked as if they could squash Leeroy with

her mind, please

mountain they charged, gaining speed until she felt sure her legs, even as reinforced and mutated as they were, would snap from the strain. They held, but only just. As her spirit screamed for release, Leeroy braced herself, angled her carapace,

smashed into them like an Ancient’s fist. To Leeroy, this was the moment she lived for. Ahead, monster after monster

scream as it warped under the pressure, felt her carapace buckle and crack as she was compressed between an unstoppable object and an immovable obstacle. This time, she hoped, it would be enough. This time, the enemy would stand firm and she, at the head of the formation, would be broken. No chance for the Phoenix Fire to build up and

ever, she was

charge, pierced through by the metal-clad spear of the Colony, as did the second, as did the third. The Immortals trampled over the battlefield, running wild through and over their opponents until they finally ran out of steam, more than half of the

Then the fighting began.

that even the mana crazed monsters could not hope to match. They battled recklessly, leaving themselves wide open, throwing themselves on their opponents’

layered and enchanted metal the forges of the Colony could produce, that it simply didn’t

she leapt, flinging herself into the open maw! Bright green fire licked her armour, burning her antennae, but she crashed into the

Not enough!

raised up a portion of

its peak momentum and rushed forward, taking the

NOT ENOUGH!

hotter within her, preparing to unleash its cleansing fire. If

That didn’t seem likely.

has to

saw a leviathan hauling itself out of the water. Surely, a tier seven beast, its open maw was the size of a human house, and its writhing tentacles

This was perfect!

she screamed, and rushed forward, her

this strong? Impossible, not even the Eldest could fault her for making a flawless sacrifice play! Deep down, she knew the Eldest would tell

lunged forward, and Leeroy was there. Without hesitation, she flung herself into the creature's mouth, kicking with