Chrysalis

The charge of the Immortals took place immediately beneath my feet and the force of it was quite staggering. In a literal sense. The wall I stood upon rocked beneath my feet as those armoured behemoths took their short runup and launched themselves into a literal mound of termite bodies.

The effect was immediate and stunning as the termites in front of me are launched back, their support being blasted away with an almighty CRUNCH. Then I see them, the brightly shining armoured figures of Leeroy and her followers mowing through the massed termite army like a plough through a field. In just a few short seconds they've pushed the enemy back over ten metres as the sheer weight of their combined charge hits like a battering ram.

"Artillery forward! Mages forward! Fire! Fire! Fire!"

With the pressure relieved for a precious but brief window, the Colony moves to take advantage as swiftly as possible. The soldiers step to the side and allow the mages to come forward even as the scouts step up and begin to unleash their firepower directly into the horde below, heedless of whether the Immortals are struck or not.

I mean, with Leeroy and her crew, they'd probably be insulted if we tried to avoid hitting them. May as well just unleash hell.

With so many family members around me, I still feel fresh as a daisy as well, my muscles rejuvenated and my body humming with energy. I eagerly take a step forward and start to unload my machine gun flurry of magic on the enemy.

Peeking over the edge of the wall for the first time in a while, the scene laid out before me is one of madness. A writhing carpet of termites, some living, many injured or reduced to oozing piles of Biomass, stretches from the base of the wall to the tunnels hundreds of metres away. The termites are still four or five deep for the entire distance, it's insane. And the reinforcements are still coming!

Just how many of these damn things are there?! Did the kaarmodo work out that we are here and decide to throw everything at us at once? Or even worse, is this just a taste of what they have at hand?

Perhaps the Mother Tree has been dealing with waves similar to this over the last few months? If so, she really should have told us!

I contemplate winding up a gravity bomb but I shelve the idea. The Immortals might not mind if the acid rains down on them, but if I start flinging black holes on their heads even they won't be able to survive. And I refuse to give them the satisfaction!

"Push! Prepare to charge!"

When the order comes from the general behind me, I prepare along with every other soldier by moving forward and gripping tight to the edge of the wall. Now that Leeroy is out there amongst the mess, the pressure has been relieved from the edge and we need to get out there to support them before they get overwhelmed. Leeroy might be a pain in the backside, but that doesn't necessarily mean that I want her soul sucked out and consumed by a monster that descended from a cockroach.

"CHARGE!"

"FOR THE COLONY!"

Filled with the exultant will of my siblings my heart is filled with righteous fire as I lean forward until my head is facing down and begin to rocket down the face of the wall. When I come to the gap that the Immortals charged through I release and freefall for a frightening moment and then latch back on, my claws screaming with the effort of holding my weight up. Not willing to risk landing on my face I trigger the strengthening mutation of the Vestibule and immediately feel my body fill with power. I feel so mighty! Bring it on, bugs!

As I charge down the face of the wall, I continue the barrage, my multiple brains making it childishly simple to fire acid and spells constantly even as I manoeuvre my body. Heck, I still have the spare mental space, I start to flood raw mana into my mandibles to increase their cutting power as we dive headfirst into the mass of foes.

The moment I hit I begin to chomp like there's no tomorrow. Even with this many ants around, I can't afford to be too wasteful with my stamina, so I don't throw out doom chomps willy-nilly, but with the mana infused into my mandibles they shear through the termites well enough.

From above the rain of firepower continues from the mages and scouts as the soldiers pile in.

"Heal coming."

"Ah, forgot you were there."

"That's the idea."

The healer gripping my underside sends a wave of healing mana through me, closing over my superficial wounds and letting me save my regeneration fluid for a more dire situation. This is a more bold application of the healers, one that they pushed hard for, bringing them into battle attached to those who need the most healing. It's incredibly brave of them and I hope that they don't suffer for it. This is going to be a long campaign and the healers are going to be the most important caste of all by the time this is done.

Once again my eyes are filled with nothing but the enemy and all of my attention is taken by the constant fight in front of me. It's impossible to know how the fight is going and I have to trust that the generals and other leaders know what they're doing. Heck, they do a better job than I do, no matter the result I'll still believe that. Even so, I can't help but be worried for my family.

[Bring the noise guys. No more holding back.]