Chrysalis

Chomp! Chomp! Chomp!

Ah, the satisfying feeling of having my face hands clapping fools. The monsters of the fourth stratum are tough, there’s no doubt about that, but these are all spawned during the wave, without enough evolutions or mutations to really threaten a highly developed monster like me.

A mass of boulders rumbles towards me, acting in harmony as if connected by some invisible force. An earth elemental?

Chomp!

I shatter it.

“Skreeeeee!”

A feathered worm bursts out of the soil in front of me.

Chomp!

Not today, worm!

A weird, dinosaur-looking thing charges at me, waggling its little arms.

Chomp! Chomp!

Needed two that time!

me. Part of that is likely my ant nature, and the other is probably down to the circumstances of my birth. Fighting in tunnels was my first experience in the

all these monsters one by one, which is why Gandalf brought us awesome

VOID CHOMP!

spells I haven’t juiced up with the Altar to see their full effects, and this is merely one of them. Infused with the Will of the Colony, the spell is so searingly hot,

Neat.

the next layer of walls at this rate, but if I pour

a clearer head on their shoulders can make those sorts of decisions, my

retreat back to the defensive line, exchanging ant high-fives with the stout warriors of the Colony as I pass through. I have to be careful with those now. My antennae have become so large I can cause some real damage if I’m not careful, especially when I’m thwippy-thwapping with smaller castes, like

gang. “After you’ve evolved again, you lot will be able to

assume that’s why we don’t seal the tunnels and close off the nest?” Solant

worth it. The Colony has only grown as fast as it has thanks to our successful defence against, and harnessing of, the wave. How many thousands upon thousands of Biomass are being harvested in the second and third

nods in understanding, but I have more

every wave, we supercharge the development

to the command centre only to find a horde of reinforcements rushing down a

“I assume–?”

“Hurry up!” Victor yells.

a little bit,

bouncing between different tunnels, helping to roll back the encroaching monsters and allowing the Colony

and her broodmates watch everything like insectile hawks, especially their leader. They study everything, discussing amongst themselves as they develop ideas and strategies together. When I feel it’s safe, I bring them forward and give them a taste of the fighting, along with a taste

would expect during a wave. No matter how far back I push the hordes of ravenous beasts, they return in

make our way back to the central hub this time, the activity inside is even more frenetic than usual. In fact, I’d go so far

hard to work out why,