Chrysalis Chapter 1757 - Unstoppable

Just ten minutes had passed when the ant managed to break through at last. A huge mass of stone crashed down all at once, producing a thunderous rumble that caused clouds of dust and fungal spores to surge into the air.

Zullz grew tense, bracing for a swarm of threatening bugs to erupt from the opening, yet nothing emerged.

Silence held until a massive ant head thrust through the breach. Its eyes sparkled like precious gems, and the creature's form was sheathed in what looked like dazzling, multifaceted purple diamonds. Fierce, elongated mandibles jutted from its head, while its antennae, capped with crystalline strands, swayed in the atmosphere.

For an instant, the Krath’sizz stood frozen in shock, just like the other Krath. Zullz shifted back ever so slightly.

“Now!” Suzzil roared.

The intention had been to hold back until the ant swarm appeared before triggering the ambush, but their chief seemed rattled enough to activate it early.

Zullz derived no satisfaction from his foresight being proven right.

Before the ant could even stir, cleverly hidden devices above its head sprang apart, pouring out a torrent of vivid green slime. Laden with the strongest goo-spores, this ranked among the deadliest mucus varieties the Krath could produce in bulk.

Noticing the approaching danger, the ant acted in a way Zullz hadn't anticipated. Instead of withdrawing to evade the poisonous sludge, it simply ascended, as though the slime posed no concern at all.

In a flash, the material coated it entirely. A ghastly hissing, intense enough to drown out all other noises, saturated the surroundings. Pungent billows of thick vapor ascended as the corrosive fluid dissolved the beast's shell and assaulted its joints.

“Hah!” Suzzil gurgled in delight, though Zullz lacked that same certainty.

Why hadn't it attempted to evade?

He received his explanation shortly after. A enormous bug limb protruded from the muck, trailed by a second. Moments later, the fiend's torso became visible, shedding bright ooze and fuming like it was aflame.

In a derisive fashion, the beast clacked its mandibles in a sharp, rhythmic pattern.

Then it spewed flames.

“Attack!” roared the Krath’sizz. “Bury it in acid, it’s already wounded!”

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Every Krath fighter followed the command, hurling their fiercest acid volleys fueled by the powerful slime they nurtured inside. The chamber's heat surged dramatically as blistering flames erupted from the ant, scorching the heavy slime coating the walls and even directing the blaze toward its own body to purge the corrosive residue.

Zullz spotted areas of its armor that had turned matte and eroded, damaged by the trap, and targeted those vulnerabilities as best he could, presuming the others noticed them too. It made little impact. The ant ignored their efforts while it lumbered ahead, unleashing a scorching torrent of blazing fire from its mandibles.

This wasn't any regular fire. Whenever Zullz thought the warmth would plateau, it only intensified, reaching levels where his own hide started to parch.

“Spread out!” Suzzil roared, striving to command the chaos. “Don’t let it get close to you!”

At this pace, proximity wouldn't even be needed; the Krath would just bake in their own Slimeground, but Zullz didn't require a second warning. As the abomination pushed forward, the slugs retreated, forming a circle around it and relentlessly pummeling with their lethal spells and acid streams.

The ant didn't appear bothered in the slightest.

At last, the flames halted, and Zullz savored a fleeting sense of ease. Regrettably, it proved short-lived.

By swiveling its head, the ant seemed to monitor them all simultaneously as the Krath hurriedly scattered, frantic to steer clear of those brutal jaws.

Still, the ant made no move to snap at them. Such action wasn't necessary.

Mana throbbed, light flared, and then a globe of profound purple energy ballooned outward with the ant fiend at its heart. It expanded with such speed that Zullz had no opportunity to flee before it engulfed him, and its darkness was so profound it drained the illumination from his sight.

Weight. Dreadful, suffocating, demolishing pressure weighed upon him. At once, he couldn't sustain his vertical stance. The regurgitated bile lodged in his throat, bubbling and burning since he could no longer expel it. Confronting that unyielding power, he couldn't preserve his typical form, involuntarily flattening as the force compressed without mercy.

He could shift, but just scarcely, inching along at a snail's pace while striving to break free from the realm the ant had summoned. It proved pointless. Though he couldn't glimpse it, unable to lift his eyestalks, he sensed the monster trudging toward them.

What manner of being was this? Some covert tool the ants had forged to deploy against them? Did it resist or defy the fifth's corruption? Preposterous—nothing could!

And yet….

Anger and hopelessness warred inside Zullz, with no side prevailing. He understood escape was impossible. Clenching his jaws, he strained to stretch an appendage so he could plunge it into his own flesh and burst his acid sac.

A consciousness imposed itself upon him.

[Oh, no. None of that. I’ve been asked to bring in a few prisoners and you seem like a decent sort of slug.]

The ant communicated with him in a relaxed manner, devoid of any hostility or fury in its voice. It had genuinely been toying with them. It glanced about.

[A few more to hunt down, I see. I’ll be back, don’t go anywhere.]

It snickered at him.

Zullz pondered what they could possibly achieve against such a monster.