Chrysalis

Zluth could hardly believe what his eyestalks were seeing. Just to be certain, he extended them up from the pool of muca-sludge he’d currently flattened his body into a little further. The same sight met his gaze.

The ants from above… had descended?

And not just descended… they were… attempting to taint the fifth!

It was so absurd it almost made him want to laugh. It was so infuriating it almost caused his slug flesh to boil. How dare they? HOW DARE THEY?!

No, no. It wasn’t time to let the rage run loose, this was a time for cunning, stealth and schemes. As much as he wanted to scrape these filthy insects to shreds with his radula and gulp them down, he needed to be patient. After observing, he would report back to the tribe and they could plan together how to deal with this… incursion.

The thought of the joy the tribe would soon experience as they tore these invaders apart… it was almost enough to slake the endless rage that burned within his kind.

Zluth controlled himself, applying his iron will and pulling in any sign of his mana, holding himself tight and small. When he was convinced his own energy signature was indistinguishable from that which surrounded him, he began to move. Compressed flat, his slug body was only a few inches thick, and he undulated over the ground like a sinister puddle. Amongst the mould, slime and sludge that coated every surface in the fifth, he was impossible to see.

After covering a dozen metres, he extended his eyes once more to take in the surroundings.

were putting in all their effort. Such organised and pretty ranks. A neat and clean army, polished and prepared for the task at hand. It was

it? It offended his senses on a fundamental level. The primitive Dungeon spawn were already drawn to it, seeking to eradicate the unwelcome mana in which they could not live. With little effort, Zluth could direct many, many more spawn

energy? As all the Krath knew, the mana of the fifth was special. It nourished them, but was anathema to any creatures from elsewhere in the Dungeon. To the Krath, it was their greatest defence, and their most valuable weapon. Time had proven over and over again just how difficult it was for outsiders

thought, he excreted a layer of slime to coat himself, matching the colour of his

from Royal Road. If

a giant,

he’d seen it before! He pulled all sense of his

trace the movement of the massive creature was through the vibrations in the mould beneath him. After a minute, the ant moved away, travelling closer to the area of foul mana. Heading back for a breather, perhaps? No matter the reason, it relieved the pressure on the hidden Krath, and once again he dared to take a look

stalk rose from his mass, taking a rapid glance in all

ant had retreated, a powerful monster, that one, a prime

mana through enchanted channels of some sort. Hidden deep in the middle of the ant formation, they were relatively safe, and seemed perfectly

was the virulent

once they heard of this. With the full might of the tribe, they would crush this incursion and throw the ants into the sludge pits. These creatures seemed industrious; they would

retracted the stalk and began to flow over the landscape once

slight tremor in the air,