RinoZ

Chapter 757 - Tree Talk

[Hmmmmmmmmm] the big tree blinks at me slowly a few times, as if surprised that I still exist rather than focusing on the question that I asked it.

I wait patiently whilst he inspects me but my patience is quickly running by the time he finally gets around to talking again.

[You look different,] he observes.

[Obviously, I've evolved!] I explode at him. [Can you explain to me why your plant-based parent is sprouting willy-nilly and soaking up gross mana around the place?! Do ...

Chapter 756 - Clean Up

The gravity bomb finally fades away, leaving behind a compressed ball of ex-frog, stone and various other detritus, I pick myself up and let my strength boost fade away. The energy of the Vestibule and Nave once more returns to its normal cycle, nourishing my body and washing away injury and fatigue. Although it can't seem to do anything about that damned toxic mana eating away at me! Cursing irritably, I direct my exhausted sub-minds to get cracking breaking the stuff down and turn my attent...

Chapter 755 - The mind has gravity of its own

… or at least it would be painful if I was going to end up landing in it.

[Invidia!]

Using this prodigious mind powers, the demon condenses a shield out of pure mana and air, snapping it together before I reach I the ground. Placed horizontally, the barrier acts as a stable landing platform for my large frame and I grip the edges as I land heavily on it, ensuring I don't slide off.

How about that, frog-face!? Didn't expect me to have this sort of trick up...

Chapter 754 - The first of its kind

Turns out that, whilst the fire was indeed crispy, the monster did not enjoy it. The only unfortunate thing was that it didn't not enjoy it sufficiently enough to immediately perish. Having missed its initial bite and then been bitten and burned, the toad creature snarls, its lips pulling back from those horrendous teeth and grinding out a sound like nails on a chalkboard combined with bones snapping. It's quite distressing.

I allow the flames to dissipate to get a better visua...

Chapter 753 - The Stench of Decay

The monster is question cannot detect my pheromones, at least I hope they can't, so I'm not entirely sure why I bothered to taunt it. Probably to hype myself up for the fight, because just looking at this think is intimidating. All of my senses scream that something is wrong and the closer I get to it, the more my body protests. My antennae ripple with the sensation of pain, as though the air itself had become toxic. To my mana sense it appears as if the energy surrounding the creature were b...

Chapter 752 - Something stopped us

Our charge continued unbroken until we reached the second defensive line, the monsters in our way were unable to stand before our might. Once we reached that point, I sent my three pets forward to defend the chokepoint as the Immortals and I collected ourselves. Unlike me,. Most of them were exhausted after the mad run and in need of a breather.

"Are you guys going to be alright for the second charge?" I ask Leeroy. "We can do it without you if necessary."

"We'll be fine!" she rep...

Chapter 751 - The Charge

It doesn't take long to organise my pets and let them know what we've been tasked with. What takes as little longer is explaining to them exactly what is going to happen as a result of the 'allies' that the Council has decided to dump on our laps. The heavily armoured soldier in front of me looks a little nervous, which is ridiculous considering she's a behemoth of an ant weighed down by hundreds of kilograms of metal.

"Are you going to make this painful for me, Leeroy?"

"No… El...

Chapter 750 - The Return

I highly enjoyed my time on the surface with Enid, taking a look about the place, enjoying the sun on my diamond carapace and taking in the open air. It's amazing how quickly you get used to the narrow tunnels of the nest and Dungeon, although that may just be due to me being an ant monster. It reminded me of how resilient people (and ants) really are. It wasn't long ago that the Colony and every person living in Renewal was knocked down onto their knees, their backs against the wall as we fe...

Chapter 749 - Visitation pt 2

That damned priest has continued to infect these people with his nonsense, I see, judging by the reaction from the townsfolk. Although, there is a faint chance that they think I'm the Queen, given that they've never seen an ant of my size before. As nice as it is to think that these people might be paying homage to Mother, the thought is only faint, deep down I know exactly what these people are thinking. Should I strike a pose? No, too tasteless.

I walk down the side of the anthill, ta...

Chapter 748 - Visitation

As the days of the wave drag on, my pets and I maintain the same routine. We fight, eat, rest and then repeat. It's pretty obvious after all this time why pet obsessed Dungeon dwellers like the Sophos are so rare, getting a monster to tier six is a massive pain the butt. Let alone two. Obviously what I'm doing isn't all that similar to what the Formo and his kind do, they raise their monsters over a period of decades, caring from them and pouring all of their time, energy and designing every ...

I am le-sick. Meanwhile: Dungeon

I have a serious case of the man-flu right now people. Been tested for covid which has come back negative thank goodness, just good 'ol flue.  I don't have the wherewithal to post properly today, so no Chrysalis this evening. (Boo).

As compensation, I put up two chapters of Dungeon in the google doc found in the pinned post. Sorry for the delay, hopefully three thousand words of side story is enough to stave off your wrath. I'm going back to bed. :(

1000 Patrons hype post!

Noticed this morning (and a few people messaged me) to say that we'd hit 1000 patrons! Whoo!

I'm super excited to see that the support for the novel continues to grow way beyond anything I expected it to. Welcome to all the new patrons and thank you so much to all the old soldiers who've been here a long time, this wouldn't be possible without you.

It's been nice to finally stabilise at five chapters a week and I've been finding time to poke away at the side stories in the back...

Chapter 747 - City Livin' pt 2

Wallace was an old soldier and he knew enough about himself that he could be fairly confident of judging his own state of mind. He was pretty sure that during the invasion, he'd gone ever so slightly mad. Perhaps more than slightly. That wasn't what he thinking about though, having your mind crack a little on the edges wasn't all that surprising given the stress and near certain death he'd thought he was about to experience. What he was reflecting on was the sneaking suspicion that he was 2021-03-26 06:22:27 +0000 UTC View Post

Chapter 746 - City Livin'

"What I want to know, Captain, is when you and our new oppressors will settle the matter of reparations!" the old man sneered.

Wallace Dalton, former Captain of the Rylleh City Guard and now the appointed military adjutant to the Rylleh branch of the Colony, suppressed the urge to spit and continued to grind his chew between his teeth, hoping the repetitive motion of his jaws would help burn off his irritation.

"Citizen Alliornus…" he began.

The old man's eyes bla...

Chapter 745 - A general battles

The days of the wave rolled on and the mana level continued to rise, increasing the spawn rates of monsters throughout the Dungeon to an absurd rate. Every hour, thousands of newborn monsters clashed in the tunnels around the Colony, warring and fighting, the losers feeding the winners who grew rapidly in strength, feasting on their lessors. A hundred thousand tales of victory and death were woven every day in the area just outside the Colony's defensive line.

Not that it mattered. The ...

Chapter 744 - Upgrading

Trawling through the list I see tons of interesting but niche Skills that would be useful but would contribute to Skill bloat that I pass over after a glance. Do I want to have a digging active? Sure, it might sound nice to have Shovel Mandibles to work in tandem with the Dig Skill, but it's just way too niche. I bet a lot of the carvers focused on construction have it at a high rank though…

There’re actually a few sensory passives that I spy which would probably be exceptionally ha...

Chapter 743 - Look within thyself

Examining Tiny and Crinis' status reminds me that I really need to take a good hard look at my own. I've stacked up a reasonable supply of Biomass, certainly enough to start investing in upgrades to the two most expensive organs I have, the Vestibule and Nave. I've brought my antennae up to +15 since the reset, but to this point I'm yet to even have a look at the options those two new(ish) additions. In the past I expanded the range of the Vestibule, but that was due to a rather specific reas...

Chapter 742 - Status Update

It's been a long, long time since I took a gander at the cores of my two longest serving companions. All in all, a little inspection is probably overdue, but I've grown to feel that poking at their status too often is probably a bit invasive, although they've never complained about it, so I've hesitated to ask. But the time has come! I can no longer shy away now that the momentous moment of evolution is approaching. After a bit of wavering back and forth, it's Tiny who winds up first on the c...

Chapter 741 - Surf's up!

[Get him, Tiny! Hit him with the left! Then the right! Ooooo, here comes the C-C-C-COMBO!]

The big ape flashes a grin, more than a little happy with my ongoing fight commentary as he duels with the latest demonic offering from the third strata, a particularly nasty, snake-like creature with a huge number of clawed hands rising from its back to form a hood similar to what a cobra would have. It's the first of its kind that we've come across and I sent Tiny out to have the first crack at ...

Chapter 740 - The one true path

Alir cocked an eyebrow.

"What sort of insect?" he asked, his interest piqued.

It wasn't unheard of for an insect swarm to get out of control and pour into the second strata, their numbers making up for their generally weak individual strength, but that's usually where things would end. Generally speaking, the surface and upper layers of the Dungeon had far more to fear from swarming monsters than deeper down. For them to make it to the lower parts of the second strata was already ...

Chapter 739 - Bubbling from beneath

The power I held, it was so great I couldn't see the whole of it, couldn't grasp the scale, so vast had it become that I didn't have a reference point for it, something to help me see its true nature. As it was, I came to understand it far too late to make a difference to the final outcome. I cannot blame myself. Nor do I blame us. What were we, except the victims of our conditions, living our goals and ideals as best we could?

I weep for those who were left behind, but I d...