Chrysalis

The Krath. What can be said of the vicious nightmare creatures of the fifth that hasn’t been said already? The earliest records are confused; so close to the Rending, much was lost in the frantic expansion down into the Dungeon. The Empire of Stone and the chal were amongst the first to settle at this depth, but progression stalled like it had run into a brick wall. The fifth was incompatible with life in almost every conceivable way, even the air was poisonous to breathe.

The chal were the first to solidify their position in the fourth, and perhaps greed took hold of them as they made a strong push to extend their empire ever deeper. Harnessing the immense strength of their empire, they invaded the fifth, only to fail. They met the Krath, and within twenty years, the chal had fallen to ruins; even their holdings within the fourth were lost. According to scholars, the chal are the only one of the Old Races to be exterminated from Pangera.

With this example, none have been willing to follow in their footsteps. Instead, they content themselves with their holdings in the fourth, only making slight incursions below and fighting off the slime whenever it tries to rise.

- Excerpt from ‘The Wall That Lies Below, Fear of the Fifth’ by Kallor.

Ah, how wonderful. Tedium of an all new kind. Before, I’d planted myself in one tunnel and fought off the monsters who came my way. It was repetitive and dull, as much as fighting against giant monsters can get dull, I suppose, but now I have an all new problem. The stupid slugs just won’t stop coming. My days have devolved into sprinting from tunnel to tunnel and savagely annihilating whatever monstrosity I find there using a no-holds-barred combination of Void Chomps and gravity bombs.

After I burn back the sludge and toxic mana, I return to the central chamber, only to be called out again ten minutes later.

And so on, and so on. Of course, the Colony is getting better at fighting against these horrible monsters, but taking them down without significant injuries is difficult for anyone without overwhelming firepower.

Vibrant can get the job done, but her followers can’t. Leeroy has been desperate to sortie against them with her braindead brigade, but the generals won’t let them. As heavy and cumbersome as they are, those idiots will just get bogged down in the slime and be unable to extract themselves. Which is exactly why they want to go, obviously.

determination to fight and win flowing into me and signalling the danger. I lift myself and get to running, speeding my huge frame through

another incursion

can’t you see that?! Look at

“Better than resting!”

“Is it, though?”

resting in the central chamber. Sheesh! Can’t an Eldest get five minutes to take a load of their legs without some smart-ant poking their nose in?

tell that this battle is a little more serious than the previous ones. Multiple monsters from the fifth

see the bulbous

back and fortify,” I tell the army of ants. “I’ll take responsibility

“Understood, Eldest!”

to their limits before I fire off an unenhanced gravity bomb. With careful aim, I shoot for the maximum distance, and the dreadful ball of doom

HOOOOOOOWWLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL.

unleash the Dragon Breath, burning away the offending mana and slime, advancing behind the jet of absurdly hot flames as they scorch the rock clean. If I’ve learned one thing fighting against these monsters, it's that you can’t rush things. They’re so toxic, so poisonous, that if they manage to infect you, it’ll take hours for the healers to purge the offending mana.

the Colony, but it’s a serious pain in the thorax for me! And it stings like

before tearing them apart with overwhelming force. I’ll