Chrysalis Chapter 1757 - Unstoppable

Just ten minutes passed before the ant managed to break free. A massive amount of rock tumbled down all at once, creating a thunderous crash that stirred up clouds of dust and fungal spores rising into the air.

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

Silence reigned until a huge ant head thrust through the breach. Its eyes shone like precious gems, and the bug's body gleamed with what looked like sparkling, violet diamond facets. Fierce, elongated mandibles protruded from its skull, while its antennae, ending in some kind of crystalline threads, waved in the atmosphere.

For an instant, the Krath’sizz froze in shock, along with the other Krath. Zullz inched back slightly.

“Now!” Suzzil bellowed.

The plan had been to hold off until the ant swarm appeared before triggering the ambush, but clearly their commander felt threatened enough to activate it early.

Zullz found no joy in his foresight proving correct.

Before the ant could even stir, hidden devices above it sprang apart, pouring out a torrent of vivid green slime. Infused with the strongest goo-spores available, this ranked as one of the deadliest mucus varieties the Krath could produce in large quantities.

Noticing the incoming flood, the ant acted in a way Zullz hadn't anticipated. Instead of pulling back to evade the poisonous substance, it simply pressed onward, as though the slime meant nothing to it.

In moments, the viscous material coated it completely. A ghastly hissing erupted, so intense it drowned out every other noise, filling the space. Bitter fumes of thick vapor rose high as the corrosive liquid dissolved the beast's shell and assaulted its limbs.

“Hah!” Suzzil chuckled gleefully, but Zullz harbored less certainty.

Why hadn't it attempted to avoid it?

He discovered the reason shortly after. A enormous bug limb pushed out from the muck, then another followed. Quickly, the creature's form emerged, oozing the bright goo and steaming like it was ablaze.

As though taunting them, the monster clacked its jaws in a sharp, rapid beat.

Then flames erupted from it.

“Attack!” the Krath’sizz shouted. “Drown it in acid—it's already hurt!”

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Every Krath fighter complied, spewing their strongest corrosive, tapping into the powerful ooze they nurtured inside. The room's heat soared as scorching blaze shot from the ant, incinerating the heavy slime on the surfaces and even directing the fire inward to burn off the biting residue.

Zullz noticed patches of its armor had turned matte and corroded, damaged by the snare, and aimed his shots at those weak spots, figuring the rest spotted them too. It made little difference. The ant ignored their efforts as it marched ahead, unleashing a blazing torrent of fire from its jaws.

This fire was far from normal. Each time Zullz thought the warmth had peaked, it surged hotter, until his own hide started to parch.

“Spread out!” Suzzil yelled, attempting to command the chaos. “Keep your distance from it!”

At this pace, proximity wouldn't matter—the Krath would just roast in their own Slimeground—but Zullz didn't hesitate to obey. As the beast pushed on, the slugs retreated, encircling it and pelting it relentlessly with their lethal spells and slime.

The ant appeared utterly unconcerned.

At last, the blaze ceased, and Zullz experienced a fleeting sense of ease. Regrettably, it vanished quickly.

Twisting its head, the ant seemed to track them all simultaneously as the Krath hurried to evade those brutal mouthparts.

However, the ant made no move to chomp at them. Such action proved unnecessary.

Mana surged, light blazed, and a globe of intense violet power ballooned outward from the ant's core. It moved so swiftly that Zullz had no opportunity to flee before it swallowed him, and so shadowy it drained the glow from his vision.

Pressure. An awful, smothering, grinding force weighed upon him. Right away, he couldn't hold his standing posture. The bile rising in him burned and bubbled in his gullet, unable to be expelled. Under that relentless push, he couldn't even retain his usual form, spreading flat involuntarily as the burden squeezed relentlessly.

He could shift, but scarcely, crawling at a torturously slow speed while striving to flee the ant's field. It proved futile. Though he couldn't glimpse it without raising his eyestalks, he sensed the fiend striding closer.

What manner of being was this? A hidden arsenal the ants had crafted to counter them? Did it resist or shrug off the taint of the fifth? That idea was ridiculous—nothing could!

Yet somehow….

Rage and hopelessness clashed inside Zullz, with no victor. Escape was impossible, he realized. Clenching his jaws, he strained to reach a limb toward his core to burst his acid sac.

A consciousness invaded his mind.

[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 addressed him casually, free of any hostility or rage. It had truly been toying with them. It glanced about.

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

It chuckled at him.

Zullz pondered what they might possibly achieve against such a monstrosity.