RinoZ

Chapter 317 - Advance

We lay low in the Dungeon for hours. The dirt and stone that surrounded us meant that we heard nothing of our pursuers, even if they passed within ten metres of us. The constant warfare amongst the regular monsters remained constant, as it always way when they weren't brainwashed by some fat ass Croc.

Haaa. I really need to get back to the colony, all of this stress is giving me a potty mouth. Some down time might be nice.

[We need to get back ...

Chapter 316 - The escape

As if the hounds of hell were on our tail, or perhaps the crocodiles of the damned, we fled until my poor ant legs ached with the strain and my antennae drooped low from exhaustion. Into the village, up into the church and then down in the still open Dungeon entrance the colony had opened what seemed like a lifetime ago. 

Due the wave still ongoing, the tunnel was packed full of monsters and we were forced to pummel and slice our way through the...

Chapter 315 - Flight from Liria

I can't be exactly  sure but the shape of the basin and the terrain around the robed figures' feet  gives the impression of liquid being brought up from below ground and running  downhill to be collected. If they are bringing a liquid up from the Dungeon, what  could the liquid be but mana? I mean, I've never seen liquid mana, but unless  they are bringing up some sweet natural spring water in order to give the  biggest ...

Chapter 314 - The beast itself

The city was in ruins. Forget about a hurricane, earthquake or other natural disaster, this level of destruction was far beyond that. It looked as if a meteor hand landed on the city, or if a god had stamped down with its heavenly foot. If the latter had occurred then that god had supremely flat arches because the city was just gone. 

It looked as if no two bricks still stood one atop the other. Every building had been flattened, the op...

Chapter 313 - Over the Wall

After a long period of stop-start running through the forest we eventually made our way clear of it and into the open fields. The once neat and organised fields that had been planted with crops or contained docile herds of animals were gone, trampled into the muck by monstrous feet. I didn't expect the sight to effect as much as it did. My heart experienced a definite pang when I gazed upon the sheer destruction and human misery that had occurred here.

Chapter 312 - Conversations with a Berserker

After we left our little slice of Dungeon, cores fully charged and feeling fresh, we began to make our way toward the capital in earnest. We'd done a few sweeps out this way before but had resisted the urge to push too close to the city in the event we attracted the wrong type of attention whilst there were still people that could be saved and roving bands of monsters that could be cleaned up toward the south.

Those things have been cleared up now an...

Chapter 311 - Approaching Liria

Here now at the end of the world, what do we have to say to those that we destroyed? I'm sure it's not something that would cross the mind of most on my side of the divide. Would we even say anything, if given the chance? I don't believe so.

We saw this path as inevitable. The moment the truth was learned, our feet were marching on this road. Others would not, could not accept this reality. It is no fault of theirs. They are not built as we ...

Chapter 310 - Settling in

I think we are back to regular programming folks. I'll behind a bit, but I hope to catch back up shortly now that i can move my fingers again! :)

Since leaving Midum, Isaac and his fellow survivors had made good time. Isaac found it was easy to motivate folks when they were escaping a literal horde of savage monsters that had killed almost everyone they knew. Glad to have survived, worried that it wouldn't last, the townsfol...

Chapter 309 - Making motions

Once Tiny, Crinis and I had refilled our cores and Morrelia had snacked on her travel rations we set out once again, this time moving slower and taking more care as we moved. We weren't trying to chase anyone down and stumbling under the eye of big momma Croc was not something we wanted to experience. I made sure I was training my external mana manipulation as we moved, putting those sub brains to work and making them earn their keep. This had the...

Lack of updates this week

Hey folks, updates are going to be a little slow this week. I cut my hand and needed some stitches in it, which makes it a little tricky to type.

Bandages come off in a day and stitches out in five. I'm hoping to get a few chapters done over that time but we'll have to see how it goes.

Chapter 308 - Spending and patrol

I've managed to amass over two hundred Biomass since my last big spend, not a heap, not when compared to the last haul, but still healthy. With this I'll be able to get three more mutations to +15, bringing me so close to the perfect full mutation form that I want before my next evolution. If I'd been more patient and chewed my way through more Biomass at the early evolutions, I wouldn't have had to stuff my face so much during this one!

Les...

Chapter 307 - Return to the others

Around the scene of the battle I could see the oversized footprints pressed into the ground all over the place. It was clear that they approached from the direction we had pursued the commander, meaning they had come from the direction of the capital city, Liria. It was also clear that the creature who had come here had cleaned up all of the Biomass we had left behind. I'm not certain if Biomass could fade on the surface as it did within the Dungeon, I sus...

Chapter 306 - stealth ant rides forth!

Leaving behind my three co-adventures I made my way back along our trail as quick as I could whilst keeping a low profile. I was on my own this time, I didn't want to stumble into a fight that I couldn't handle. 

It felt unnerving to be exposed on the surface, I felt that lack of comfort pierce me right in the confidence now that I was here without any backup. In fact, no Tiny and no Crinis alongside me for the first time in how long?! Crinis ha...

Chapter 305 - Regroup

We ran as if the devil himself we behind us liberally applying a pitchfork to our most tender commercial interests. Tiny was significantly slowed by having to carry his Biomass burden but I didn't consider leaving him behind for long. We eventually made it back to the small Dungeon entrance we had used previously and dove inside, slaughtering the small number of spawned monsters before standing still, earls peeled for any sound of encroaching doom.

[...

Chapter 304 - The sound of the inevitable

That growl was so low, and so powerful, I could feel it rattle my external bones. What in the name of the ever loving ant queen is going on?!

Tiny, Crinis and I froze in place the moment we heard that unearthly rumble, still locked in our moment of triumph over the fallen foe. The Croca-Commander lies still beneath me, its neck torn asunder my mandible assault and I allow the mana to fade from my choppers. Morrelia is standing to one side of...

Chapter 303 - Don't mess with momma

Slowly at first, then with increasing speed, the Garralosh Commander tilted to one side before it came crashing down to the dirt.

BOOM!

The ground vibrated under the weight of its frame as it slammed down, rattling my legs and sending me scrambling to ensure I wasn't crushed as it came down. Ha, ha! That's how it's done! I hope Tiny saw that, he'll be irritated to no end that I managed to bring it the ground before he did. Gweheheheh!

"Ha...

New cover image

Not long ago I contacted the incredibly talented Kevin Glint (https://www.deviantart.com/kevin-glint) about producing a piece of art for Chrysalis and eventually I decided on asking him to draw a new cover for us.

It was a little bit of an odd process, his original sketch was badass and made Anthony look super cool! Only problem is that Anthony isn't cool, he's a bit goofy and silly and I wanted the cover to...

Chapter 302 - The fall

When my dish of curated agony arrived at its destination the Croc responded much as I would have expected, with unabridged terror and anguish. The sheer terror and pain of ones' core being drained is unique experience and I'm glad I had the chance to share it with this particular Croca-Commander. I feel gratified that I suffered for a noble cause. 

Stunned by the sudden arrival of such a dense and rich package of sensation through the mind bridg...

Chapter 301 - Mind War

Dazed, my minds went blank for a terrifying moment before clarity returned to me and I focused my awareness on the mind bridge that connected the Commander to me. What the hell had just happened?!

Somehow, in the midst of all that it was enduring in this moment, the damned Croc had possessed the presence of mind to detect the mental connection that I had created between us and use it to strike at me directly.

Really, you stupid Croc!? With a gi...

Chapter 300 - Leap of faith

I had to give it to Tiny, he'd tried. He'd given it a red hot go. His untameable hunger for battle is well known. I can still remember him as a not yet full sized ape when he threw himself onto a giant rabbit that reeked of the putrid scent of un-death. Even then, his face had been alight with the joy of battle.

I just wish that he'd be better at choosing his battles.

Tiny bellowed his rage at the giant Croca-Commander and smashed his fists int...

Chapter 299 - The stuff of nightmares

What exactly has my mana become? What is it that I have unleashed?! The Gravity Bomb that I unleashed is smaller than my previous efforts but is far more menacing. Reality itself seemed to groan under the weight of this, thing that I had made, this small rotating orb that drained the light from its surrounds as it moved through the air.

Even the monsters who were the unfortunate targets of my orb of death seemed to sense something wrong<...