Chrysalis Chapter 2 Retreat from danger

This ridiculous wave! How much more of a threat does it intend to become? I am already a broken mess. A total wreck, I tell you!

Now those veins are stretching deep into our escape tunnel, which is bound to trigger monster spawns right beneath our feet!

On top of that, we have to contend with these mysterious dangers rising from the depths? It is enough to push any ant over the edge!

Alright... Focus, Anthony. What is the plan?

Do we stay and fight? Against what exactly!? We have no clue what kind of nightmare is climbing up that passage, desperate to shred our most vulnerable parts. There is no way we are sticking around to duel whatever is crawling toward us. One of the earliest lessons I mastered in this Dungeon is to never engage in a struggle you aren't certain you can win.

Should we run?

Run to where? This tunnel is unfinished! All we would be doing is sprinting toward a dead end! They aren't called "life ends" for a reason!

That leaves only one path! We hide!

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

As per usual, the workers react to my orders with incredible speed. This is a family you can truly count on when things get dire!

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

From the darkness below, the sound of soul-chilling shrieks and the savage grinding of teeth against the bones of the living echo without pause, giving my own digging pace plenty of motivation.

What on earth is happening down there? To be honest, I am not sure I actually want to find out.

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

I have always felt a nagging desire to probe deeper, to scout the lower strata just to satisfy my curiosity and see what kind of beings live there.

Those horrific noises echoing from the abyss have pretty much cured me of that urge, I must admit. Let's head for the surface, my fellow ants (and Tiny); maybe we can find a nice mountain to scale once we arrive!

While we pile up the earth, I notice the steady advancement of the mana veins as they slowly stretch their sinister reach further into our sanctuary. Their pace remains sluggish, maybe only thirty centimeters every hour, but seeing them grow with the naked eye is deeply disturbing.

Is the mana concentration still rising?! Is that the reason for this movement? There is still so much about this place I don't grasp!

Stop thinking! Just keep digging!

I constantly push the workers to move faster while the dirt flies, ants scrambling over one another in their desperate race to finish the job.

As the terrifying sounds from the depths grow louder, we finally seal the escape tunnel shut, casting ourselves into near-total darkness.

Even so, I am not satisfied. The muffled vibrations and sounds traveling through the loose earth provide enough incentive for me to keep piling dirt against the entrance. I want a massive buffer between me and that chamber!

"Keep stacking the soil, workers! Start hauling it from the far end of the tunnel!"

I continue to urge my siblings to heap more earth against the entrance, trying to put enough distance between us and the horrors about to enter that room so that I can finally feel safe.

After ten minutes of nonstop labor, the sounds of beastly slaughter have faded, and we have packed the dirt back far enough to cover the creeping tendrils of the mana veins on the walls. Any monsters that spawn in those walls will have to claw through solid earth just to get out!

If they actually manage to dig through to our side, they will be easy targets for the alert ants.

The colony has entered a peculiar state, trapped entirely within a cylinder of dirt. While the rest of the Dungeon descends into slaughter and insanity, these ants and I exist inside a separate, sealed vessel.

My main concerns now are oxygen and food. I am not entirely certain how much air monster ants require in this world, especially since monsters survive up to 10,000 km below the surface here.

Food, however, is a different story. The colony possesses a massive appetite; the requirement for nourishment is unrelenting. If we cannot venture out to harvest Biomass every few hours, we will eventually starve.

Just how long can Tiny survive without a meal?

I will let him sleep for now. If I can delay breaking the news to him, I will...

After spending some time assisting with the excavation, and with the noises from the Queen's chamber fading until only the faintest tremors remain, I decide to head to the front of the tunnel to inspect our progress.

The Queen and her loyal group of workers have been relentlessly tearing into the rock and soil the entire time Tiny and I were focused on defense. They have made incredible progress! According to my tunnel map—which has now reached level two—there is still a long way to go before we hit the surface.

At the vanguard, the Queen is digging with diligence, her massive mandibles carving huge chunks out of the earth as she cheerfully motivates the workers surrounding her.

The smaller workers at this end are still buzzing with energy, doting on their mother while vigorously hauling the loose debris toward the back.

Have they even stopped for a break?

The escape tunnel has essentially become a moving pocket of air within the earth; the soil removed from the front is moved to the rear and packed as tightly as possible.

It is a very strange situation, to say the least.

Taking my spot beside the Queen once more, I begin to attack the earth furiously, creating a storm of loose soil that showers the ants behind me, who eagerly collect it and carry it away.

Even though the monster battles have stopped, I feel as though the pressure of the wave has intensified. The expansion of the mana veins and the migration of monsters from the depths have left me rattled.

First, those monsters from below. Why are they ascending? It stands to reason they are only moving up because they are being pushed out by even more powerful monsters beneath them. Is it possible this upward migration will continue until those apex creatures reach this level? Would even the surface be safe if that happened?!

Second, the growth speed of the mana veins. I can only assume this is happening because the mana at this level is becoming more intense. If that intensity keeps rising throughout the wave, what will the conditions be like after a week?!

I estimate the wave has only been going for a little over a day at this point...

There is still a very long way to go.

Pushing my anxieties aside, I begin to pulse my mana sensing skill periodically as we dig. Our best hope for food is to stumble upon another tunnel and dig into it, launching a raid on whatever monsters are there to secure Biomass for the colony.

We have moved far beyond my previous explorations, and my tunnel map is a total blank in this sector of the Dungeon. The escape tunnel looks like a lone line stabbing into the unknown when I check the map in my mind.

The best way to find a tunnel is to detect the core of a powerful monster or sense the mana surging through the mana veins; then we can dig toward it.

I just hope it doesn't take too long.