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.

powerful, tier six and seven beasts, fat from feasting on the abundant weak prey the wave produced

begged within her mind,

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

this was the moment she lived for. Ahead, monster after monster stood, so closely packed together they may

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 activate,

she

of the Colony, as did the second, as did the third. The Immortals trampled over the battlefield,

Then the fighting began.

the Immortals fought with a frenzy that even the mana crazed monsters could not hope to match. They battled recklessly, leaving themselves wide open, throwing themselves on their opponents’ fangs and claws, intercepting projectiles with their bodies, paying

Their carapaces were so thick, further protected by the finest layered and enchanted metal the forges of the Colony could produce, that it simply didn’t matter if they protected

her sisters, trying to ignore the sour feeling building in her gut. A long serpent raised itself high, jaws open, a burning light flickering within, and she

Not enough!

one of her sisters had pinned down a writhing elemental of earth. The creature raised up a portion of itself, hardening the shifting stone into a shining spear that plunged down

reach its peak momentum and rushed forward, taking the blow at the perfect moment. The stone shattered, showering her

NOT ENOUGH!

growing hotter within her, preparing to unleash its cleansing fire. If she wasn’t struck down

That didn’t seem likely.

has to be something….

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

This was perfect!

rushed forward, her heart igniting with

making a flawless sacrifice play! Deep down, she

she flung herself into the