Chrysalis

Morrelia gripped the hilts of her dual blades tight, but knew she wouldn’t get the opportunity to use them. Ants were watching her at all times, and she’d been instructed not to participate and throw off their carefully laid plans. The Colony moved with incredible efficiency, every member knowing where they needed to be at any given moment. On the surface, it looked like chaos, giant insects crawling all over each other, working here and there, carrying, moulding, enchanting, digging, but when she followed a single ant, there was always a purpose to their movements.

In almost no time at all, the… oddly innocent-looking ‘wuffers’ had been installed inside a formation, channels were dug, and a steady flow of fifth stratum mana was being fed to them. It was remarkable looking at them. The creatures seemed to be completely immune to the toxifying effect of the mana, absorbing a constant stream of it and releasing a dense, blue, cleansed energy in its place.

All the while, they wobbled back and forth and released those short chuffing noises from which she assumed the Colony had derived their names.

They were… oddly compelling. She found it difficult to tear her eyes away from them, but she forced herself to. There were more important things to focus on at the moment.

[Are those creatures really unaffected by the mana of the fifth?] she demanded of Anthony.

Not because she was concerned for their safety, she simply wanted to know.

[The wuffers? I don’t know, I didn’t design them. I’d have to ask Ellie or Bella. Probably after we complete this mission, they’ll be monitored and checked for wear and tear.]

The giant ant was resting now after running wild out in the poisonous atmosphere of the fifth. Without him fighting off dozens of monsters by himself, it would have been impossible for the Colony to establish such an effective beachhead so quickly.

[And how badly are you affected?] she asked him.

[Who, me? Oh, it sucks. The acid burns me constantly, I have to regenerate myself all the time or else my joints will dissolve to nothing. The mana invades at every opportunity and I have to keep it away from my core, but it seeps into my body anyway and starts eating me from the inside out. Bottom line? I hate it.]

chuckled at his frank dislike for the environment in which he found himself. It wasn’t all that surprising. She’d been out

so amusing, tribune?” Marcus asked

they’d expected when first embarking on this trip. Neither of the two seemed all that comfortable here in the fifth,

this narrative has been

to note that the ants are struggling just as much as we do when entering the fifth,” she told them a

not sure yet if this stratum is living up

made Morrelia laugh out loud, a short and sharp

an ignorant comment,

she agreed, “you

gestured to the bubble of safety in which

this blue mana for a few seconds, you would be dead. No if’s, no but’s, no healing, no saving you. The mana of the fifth is self-propagating. Once it gets a hold, it’ll make more of

of little ants crawling over him which he tried to poke away with his antennae, but they seemed inordinately skilled at

there for an extended period, has to be checked

Squelching roars from the distance, echoing up the tunnel toward the

sighed loudly in her

Try to keep your head down for the moment. We’ll be setting up a separate

smaller ants scuttling, several of them appearing

are they hitting