Chrysalis Chapter 2 Retreat from danger

This ridiculous wave! How much more of a threat can it possibly become? I’m already a broken mess. A total wreck, I tell you!

Now those veins are stretching right into our escape tunnel, which is bound to make monsters spawn directly beneath us!

On top of everything, we have to worry about these mysterious dangers from the depths? It’s enough to push any ant over the edge!

Alright... Think, Anthony. What’s the plan?

Do we stay and fight? Against what exactly!? We have no clue what kind of nightmare is climbing up that shaft, ready to shred our most vulnerable bits. There is absolutely no chance we remain here to duel whatever is approaching. One of the earliest lessons I picked up in this Dungeon is to never start a fight unless you're certain of the win.

Should we run?

Run to where? This tunnel isn't even finished! The only path leads us toward a dead end! They aren't called 'life ends' for a reason!

That leaves only one path! We hide!

"Hurry! We have to block the entrance and seal this tunnel off!" I bark at the nearby workers.

The workers react to my command with their usual speed. This is a family you can truly count on when things get desperate!

A hundred ants spring into action, dragging soil to block the remaining gap of the tunnel mouth, their mandibles working like frantic shovels.

From the darkness below, the echoes of bone-chilling shrieks and the savage grinding of teeth against the skeletons of living prey ring out, giving me plenty of incentive to dig even faster.

What on earth is happening down there? Honestly, I’m not sure I even want to find out.

It sounds as if the monsters below are feeling a level of existential dread I didn't think these beasts were capable of feeling.

I’ve always felt a nagging curiosity to explore the deeper strata just to see what they were like and what kind of things lived there.

I have to admit, those horrific sounds rising from the deep have mostly cured me of that desire. To the surface, my fellow ants (and Tiny)! Maybe we can find a nice mountain to climb once we get out of here!

As we stack the dirt high, I notice the mana veins gradually lengthening, their ominous reach creeping further into our escape route. The pace is slow, maybe only thirty centimeters every hour, but seeing them grow with my own eyes is deeply disturbing.

Is the concentration of mana still rising?! Is that why they're expanding like this? There is still so much I don't get!

Stop thinking! Just keep digging!

I keep pushing the workers to speed up as the soil flies, ants clambering over one another in their desperation to finish the job.

With the ghastly noises from below getting louder, we finally seal the escape tunnel, plunging ourselves into total darkness.

I’m still uneasy, though. The muffled sounds and tremors vibrating through the loose dirt are enough to keep me piling more earth against the entrance. I want a massive buffer between me and that chamber!

"Keep moving that dirt, workers! Start bringing it from the far end of the tunnel!"

I continue to urge my siblings to pile more earth against the opening, trying to put enough distance between us and the horrors entering that room so that I can finally feel safe.

After ten minutes of nonstop labor, the sounds of the monster brawl have faded. We've managed to pack the dirt back far enough that even the growing tendrils of the mana veins have been buried. Any monster that spawns from those walls will have to claw through solid earth just to get out!

If they actually manage to break through into the tunnel, they’ll be easy targets for the waiting ants.

The colony has entered a strange state, completely enclosed within a cylinder of soil. While the rest of the Dungeon is consumed by blood and insanity, these ants and I are tucked away in a sealed pod.

My main concerns now are air and food. I'm not entirely sure how much oxygen monster ants need in this world; after all, monsters live as deep as 10,000 km below the surface here.

Food, however, is a different story. The colony’s appetite is massive, and the need for fuel is constant. If we can't head out to harvest Biomass every few hours, we’ll eventually starve.

How long can Tiny go without eating?

I'll let him sleep for now. If I can delay telling him the bad news, I will...

After spending some time assisting with the digging, and once the vibrations from the Queen's chamber have become almost imperceptible, I decide to check our progress at the front of the tunnel.

The Queen and her loyal group of workers have been relentlessly tearing through rock and soil the whole time Tiny and I were busy defending. They've made incredible progress! According to my tunnel map, which has reached level two, we still have a long way to go before hitting the surface.

At the front line, the Queen is digging tirelessly, her massive mandibles carving huge chunks out of the earth as she happily cheers on the workers around her.

The smaller workers at this end are still buzzing with excitement, doting on their mother and energetically hauling the loose dirt back down the tunnel.

Have they even taken a single break?

The escape tunnel has essentially become a moving air pocket inside the earth; soil taken from the front is moved to the back and packed tight.

It's a very strange situation, to say the least.

Taking my spot beside the Queen again, I begin to attack the dirt furiously, sending a storm of soil flying back toward the ants who eagerly gather it up.

Even though we aren't fighting monsters anymore, I feel like the pressure of the wave is increasing. The growth of the mana veins and the migration of monsters from below has me on edge.

First, those monsters from the depths. Why are they moving? It only makes sense that they’re being pushed upward by even more powerful monsters beneath them. Is it possible this migration continues until those high-level creatures reach us? Would even the surface be safe if that happened?!

Second, the speed of the mana veins. I can only assume the mana intensity at this level is spiking. If it keeps rising during the wave, what will things look like in a week?!

I figure the wave has only been going for about a day at this point...

There’s still a long road ahead.

Pushing my anxieties aside, I start activating my mana sensing skill every so often as we work. Our best bet for food is to stumble upon another tunnel and raid the monsters there for Biomass.

We’ve moved far beyond my previous explorations, and my tunnel map is a total blank in this region. The escape tunnel looks like a lone line stabbing into the unknown on my mental map.

My best shot at finding a tunnel is detecting a powerful monster's core or sensing the flow of mana through the veins so we can dig toward it.

I just hope it doesn't take too long.