Speaking of old friends, let's check in with one. I assume its been going great.
The air burned as Torrifex strode past, superheated by the seemingly endless energy that rolled off the massive demon in waves. Omen had not been able to determine exactly what species the tier eight monstrosity was, but it clearly had some root in a fine affinity. The demon had many other weapons he could deploy, Omen had witnessed this, but the oppressive heat that ignited the ...
2021-10-07 05:38:26 +0000 UTC
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I can't believe how close we are to the 1000 chapter mark. This is insane. That would be roughly the halfway point of the story. Scary to think about a time when this might actually be done!
The council had thought long and hard about the potential of bringing Brixin on as an ally. Whilst she was an enemy in one sense, that wasn't really how demonic society functioned. She was expansionist by her very nature, she needed conques...
2021-10-05 10:15:44 +0000 UTC
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How does one tier of monster stack up against another? It's a difficult question to answer, contrary to the expectations of many. "Bigger numbers are better, surely" is a sentiment I have heard repeated far too often and from those who should know better. It's amazing the places you can find idiots. Walk into the highest centres of learning in all of Pangera and I assure you that there will a blithering idiot occupying one of their most prestigious seats.
This is why I seld...
2021-10-04 10:03:36 +0000 UTC
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Watching Brixin and her two chumps being bathed in the combined firepower of my siblings is certainly entertaining, almost entertaining enough to make me forget that I'm about to land in a world of hurt, but luckily I come back to myself quickly enough to roll over and look down at my waiting pets. To my joy and somewhat to my surprise, Tiny is looking up at me, arms out and face creased with concentration as he repositions himself to attempt the catch.
Please don't stuff this up, big g...
2021-10-01 11:08:07 +0000 UTC
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With the demons high overhead the only way the Colony could reach them was to unleash their best spells and acid blasts, doing everything possible to force the demons down, or at least drain them of mana so they were no longer a threat.
As I watch, it seems to be working. The demons use shields to block attacks as they move their stupid discs around, dodging the worst of the largely untargeted barrage, but there's just so much stuff being thrown at them that they can't possibly dodge it...
2021-09-30 10:59:06 +0000 UTC
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Thank goodness for amorphous blobs of terror! The tentacles twist through the air beneath me, creating a dense noodle stack that I plunge into like a boulder that fell off a cliff. Everything melds into a blur as I plummet the last fifty metres and then -
BANG!
Oof! In an organ rattling collision I smack into the hard stone of the plate with nothing but the tentacles of Crinis to cushion my fall. Predictably, my legs fold like a house of cards before my carapace is rocked by the i...
2021-09-28 11:45:42 +0000 UTC
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Nearly there.
All of the power in this world flows from the Dungeon. Cores are its greatest wealth, experience is its greatest power. For this reason one might think that the bulk of the population would dwell within the Dungeon itself, pursuing all that Pangera has to offer to its people, but this is far from the truth. In reality, the majority of the citizens of this world live on the surface, leading much more mundane lives under the sky, farming, fighting the we...
2021-09-27 09:51:23 +0000 UTC
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When the tide turns, it turns quickly. Sarah has taken immense damage with her reckless fighting style but all that happens is she goes harder. With literally dozens of healers lined up behind her it doesn't seem as though she's going to have any trouble maintaining her HP either, no matter how much pain the demons try to rain down on her. Unable to stand up in front of her, unable to bring her down, the line eventually cracks as the enraged bear slashes and tears at everything she can reach....
2021-09-24 11:20:10 +0000 UTC
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I watched in surprise as Sarah, of all the monsters on this ramp, sailed through the air and crash landed on the plate, soon followed by Tiny. Luckily the Colony wasn't as distrated by their antics as I was and utilised the distraction to extend the ramp in a rush, crashing it into the side of the plate as the demons poured their fire into the two monsters.
"Get in there!" I roar and Dash straight across, activating my Charge Skill and ramming into the first demon I see.
Behind me...
2021-09-22 10:57:37 +0000 UTC
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The Immortals thundered through the wide streets of Rolku, a tidal wave of chitin and steel that seemed to rattle the foundations of the world itself as they ran. How many tons massed their combined charge? Who could say? Certainly not Leeroy, who ran deliriously at the head of their flying wedge formation.
"This is it my sisters!" she roared, blasting her pheromones wide as they ran. "We run in the darkest hour! We run to bring glory! Immortal no more! WHY DO YOU RUN?!"
"...
2021-09-21 10:17:50 +0000 UTC
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Sloan looked out over the seemingly endless open space of the third stratum with trepidation in her heart. Everything that could be done had be done. The city had been rebuilt from the ground up, it's defences strengthened, over ten thousand valiant ants were in position to act as the garrison and fend off any assault, as assault that they knew would be coming. She just hoped it would prove to be enough. The Colony was still untested against the demons, one surprise attack was not enough to d...
2021-09-20 08:43:32 +0000 UTC
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Sarah paced back and forth on the ramp as she strove to keep her bubbling anger from rising up. Though she put a brave face on it, she was still scared. Scared of this battle, scared of what the Colony was attempting to achieve, scared of being so high up on a ramp with no rails and scared of herself. The battle against the golgari back at the nest had taught her a lot about herself, about the kind of person she'd been when she first arrived in the Dungeon and the kind of person she was now.<...
2021-09-17 07:24:54 +0000 UTC
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The defensive strategy of the Colony is a brutal one. Though they shy away from attrition warfare in principle, they have been known to engage in it when the grim calculus of war is sufficiently in their favour. If you are losing ten soldiers for every ant you kill, then that isn't a fight that is will go well for you. However, committing meat to the grinder is often the only avenue that the damned insects will leave open for you. The records are filled with example after example of the s...
2021-09-16 08:40:59 +0000 UTC
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Published the wrong chapter. SORRY FOLKS.
Ah mutating. The subtle joy of making some selections within your mind and then having your body literally transform into a better and more capable version of itself. Not only is it mega-convenient, it's super addictive. The feeling of constant improvement is just fantastic. So it's with a giddy joy in my heart that I start perusing the menus and looking over my status, trying to decide which of by many organs and body parts nee...
2021-09-14 07:44:17 +0000 UTC
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Fire iron. Magma crystals. Ash shards. Pyrestone. Along with cores of the demons themselves, these make up just a few of the precious resources that make the third stratum such a hotbed of conflict. For as long as the powers of the world have known of the demon layer, they have fought over it. Territory secured here has always been precious, especially in those areas where the mana flows thick and the treasures are abundant. Due to a number of factors, such as the difficult of coexistence...
2021-09-13 10:24:31 +0000 UTC
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It was a tired and bedraggled group that I led out of the tunnels after a few days of hunting. Trying to track down the groups of demons that had escaped from the city proved to be a massive pain the business district, much as I expected it to. Nevertheless, when we finally made out way to the plains outside of Orpule around which Vibrant and her gang were still running laps, we returned triumphant! Seven out of ten groups successfully annihilated! It was rough going, especially toward the en...
2021-09-11 10:33:44 +0000 UTC
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I have seen many things, dear readers, been to many wild wonderful and dangerous places, but even I felt a moment of trepidation as we passed between the legs of a giant carved statue of an ant and the hard stone closed around us. My two guards and I had now left the world of the sun behind us and delved within the nest of the Colony. I have to admit that this is the first time in my long life that I've willingly plunged within a nest of monsters, though my apprehension was somewhat molli...
2021-09-09 08:12:59 +0000 UTC
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The Colony was like a boulder rolling down a hill. The moment the wave ended they had exploded outwards, and their momentum had only grown as time had passed. The more they expanded, the more nests they created, the easier it was for them to continue the process. More Queens allowed more eggs to be laid, which grew the workforce which meant more nests could be constructed. Only months ago the Colony which had been confined to a single nest now boasted six satellite nests with four new main ne...
2021-09-08 08:36:01 +0000 UTC
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[I really sorry about that.]
[Hey, don't worry about it. You've apologised already, I'm fine, your fine, we're all fine.]
[I mean. Sure, but I still feel bad. Is there anything I can do?]
[No, seriously, its already healing. There's no issue here.]
Calming down the rampaging Asura bear turned out to be easier than I thought. She might be an unstoppable killing machine when she gets going, but she's still limited to the strength of her tier. Between Tiny, Crinis and mys...
2021-09-07 08:29:38 +0000 UTC
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In that brief window of stillness, as Sarah stood soaking and burned in the tunnel, the demons heard something that they would later wish they had never had the misfortune to hear. It started as a low growl in the back of the great bears throat, a rumble that shuddered through the air and rattled against my carapace. But it didn't stop there, it quickly grew in volume and intensity until it became an endless bellow of rage and madness that drowned out every other sound.
Her claws hand t...
2021-09-07 08:29:09 +0000 UTC
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With a mighty bellow Sarah burst around the corner with myself and Tiny right on her four heels. The demons responded quickly, the two closest, both of the slaughter demons turned towards us in a flash, transforming themselves into a spinning whirlwind of death before I could blink. I should clarify that I mean very fast there, some human idioms will take longer than others to go away.
Behind them the more spell oriented of their group get to work, the grudge and envy demon putting thei...
2021-09-04 06:06:47 +0000 UTC
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As we move through the narrow and boiling hot tunnels, we start to see evidence of the demons' passage in the form of littered Biomass and visible signs of damage on the walls. Claw marks, deep gouges in the stone and even scorches along the floor, not an easy feat in this lava filled place. Whoever we're tracking must be packing some heat, in the literal sense.
[Tiny! Try to keep it down!]
"Harrr?!"
[Shhh you damn ape! We're trying to be sneaky right now!]
"Ooooorrrr....
2021-09-03 10:57:27 +0000 UTC
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"GRRRRRRRRRR. GARRRRR!"
With another stone shattering roar, Sarah brings the full weight of her body behind a vicious slash of her right forepaw, rending the sorry ghast that had risen in front of her to pieces. Far from her valiant and intimidating voice, her thoughts are rather less impressive.
[AHHHHH! I hate these damn things!]
I can totally sympathise.
[It's the way they float right? Sends shivers down my spine.]
[And the look in their eyes! It's so freaky!]...
2021-09-01 10:18:35 +0000 UTC
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"Have you seriously been running this entire time?"
"Yep-Yep! I don't feel right unless my legs are moving. You feel the same, yeah? You have to move! Standing still is like dying, I can't stand it! Being still is just - "
"Enough! No matter how fast you talk, I don't have enough time to sit around and get chattered to death!"
I shake my head slowly. Vibrant has been evolving into more and more of a speed demon to the point where it's getting hard to interact with her ...
2021-08-31 10:47:35 +0000 UTC
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When Morrelia awoke her entire body was screaming in pain. This extent of muscle soreness wasn't something she'd experienced many times in her life, even in the worst of her training sessions as a trainee legionary. She grit her teeth and forced herself to rise, forcing her protesting limbs to yield to her will, the pain she shoved down deep into her chest and fed it to the fire that constantly burned there. She'd known that hell awaited her if she chose this direction and she wasn't going to...
2021-08-30 10:16:50 +0000 UTC
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The shadow falls like clouds, like rain;
Creeping dread begins to stain;
Shudder the heart, freeze the brain;
Ring out the laughter, again and again;
Call of you lover, daughter, son;
Sinks into your ears, your will undone;
Forward you step, your soul is wrung;
Cannot resist, Gon has come;
Who can defy that fateful call?
Who can escape the shadows pall?
2021-08-28 11:09:56 +0000 UTC
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It didn't take much longer for the hatchling to complete her evolution. The jump from tier three to four isn't nearly as large as that of four to five. I imagine that my next evolution is going to put me out of commission for days, perhaps as long as a week! That does make me wonder about the further evolutions. Will going from tier nine to ten take a year? What about the ancients? If they evolve from where they are now, will they end up sleeping for a thousand years or something? Absurd!
...
2021-08-27 08:02:38 +0000 UTC
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While the hatchling is sleeping through her tier four evolution, the rest of us take a break to strategize a little with Granin and co before we rest. Sometimes it's easy to forget that the others need break a lot sooner than I do, at least, whenever I'm within range of the Colony. There's just something about never getting tired that seeps into your subconscious, before too long you start thinking of fatigue as abnormal. While everyone else is getting some shut eye, I keep my minds spinning,...
2021-08-26 03:57:01 +0000 UTC
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Enid looked down at her tea with a slight smile on her face. Not only had the ants secured a source of truly delightful tea leaves, they had also managed to procure sugar, goodness knows from where. In the same manner in which they tackled every issue, namely head on, they had begun cultivation and experimentation of the substance the moment they had the free resources to do so. One would have assumed that the ants would care little for such frivolous items, instead concentrating their effort...
2021-08-24 10:43:22 +0000 UTC
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When we returned to Roklu and made our way up the plate on which the city was built, the changes that had taken place were clear to see. Not ones to mess around, the Colony had clearly gotten to work to an extent that left the remaining local residents' heads spinning. Around the central pillar, the carvers had clearly decided 'forget this' and just gone ahead and built an ant hill circling the base. What had once been Grokus' compound was now an elegant tower of stone and dirt, already displ...
2021-08-23 10:54:39 +0000 UTC
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