Chrysalis

Chrysalis - Chapter 1884 - Not Sure I Agree With That

Fri, 16 Oct 2026 01:00:08 GMT

Well now… this isn’t the turn I expected the conversation to take. But hey, I’m all for it! I came out here looking for a fight, and if I’m not very much mistaken, those were fighting words.

[So you’re going to try and invade this land that’s been cleansed and claimed by my family?]

[Maybe… that’s one of the reasons I came up here, to have a look around and see what was happening.]

[Scouting out for a potential invasion isn’t exactly ‘coming in peace’, now is it?]

[Well… depends on your perspective.]

[Does it?! Look, as far as I can see, you’re right back into the enemy bucket, and therefore eligible for chomping. You want to come out and fight or what?]

[No, I don't want to fight! How many times do I have to say it?]

Sheesh… this guy. Tiny would be embarrassed to meet a monster this disinterested in fighting.

[Can we at least see each other? I’m tired of whispering back and forth through a tiny, thin little mind-bridge to someone I can’t even look at. It’s silly.]

[It’s safe. Monsters tend to fight a lot once they start sizing each other up.]

[I’m starting to wonder if you’ve ever fought a day in your life! Keep your distance if you’re scared.]

[Don’t insult me. I can feel that you aren’t any stronger than I am. Throwing out words like that is going to get you in trouble in the sixth.]

I can practically hear the teeth being bared in the other’s thoughts. Finally, a show of spine.

Chrysalis - Chapter 1883 - This is… Unexpected

Thu, 15 Oct 2026 01:00:07 GMT

We always knew it would be an advantage to have access to the sixth stratum earlier than anyone else. Access to new resources, new monster cores and materials. Our antgineers and researchers would be the first to examine them and plumb their possibilities.

Of course, we would also have the first opportunity to claim territory, fortify our hold and strengthen our claim.

Ultimately, we could never have foreseen just how great that advantage would become, nor what shape it would take.

- From the Private notes of Historiant

Super powerful monster, probably Mythic, tier eight for sure, rising up out of the sixth, and it's here to have a chat? There’s no way. What kind of monster wants to have a chat anyways?!

And this mind bridge they’ve connected to me, it’s so thin and tenuous. We couldn’t attack each other through it even if we wanted to, which I suppose is the point.

[Are you sure you don’t want to fight?]

[Yes I’m sure! Do you not understand what ‘I come in peace’ means? Please tell me you’re at least more civilised than the Krath.]

I’m confused.

[Wait a second… you are a monster, right?] I ask.

[Of course I’m a monster. You can sense me, I can sense you. We’re both monsters. You… you aren’t simple are you?]

[No I’m not simple! It’s just… this isn’t what I expected. I suppose… I was also hoping for a grand epic battle to help blow off some steam.]

Chrysalis - Chapter 1882 - Unleashing My Frustrations

Wed, 14 Oct 2026 01:00:02 GMT

What went on in the sixth stratum, nobody in all of Pangera could possibly have known. Now, we are aware that the Abyssal Legion maintained a presence there, for how long we still don’t know, but at the time that entire layer of the Dungeon was considered unexplored territory, untouched in the history of the world.

The fifth acted as a barrier, preventing anyone from passing through. With a crack finally appearing in that wall, who could be shocked at the unstoppable wave of delver spirit that was awoken?

What we found in the depths was certainly unlike anything that we expected.

- From the notes of the Magio-Scholar Eribus

I've been bullied by my own Templars. What did I do to deserve this, dammit?! Trying to look out for others was never supposed to be this much of a pain in the thorax. Nobody is grateful for my help these days!

After they get what they want, the Templars leave me alone for the most part. There’s always one or two of them hanging about, but they spend the rest of their time training and fighting against the wave, preparing for the descent to the sixth.

Just like that, I spend the next few days grinding away, practising my skills.

Tiny, Invidia and Crinis continue to spend their time out fighting against the wave and dealing with the powerful monsters who are increasingly rising up from below.

It’s all going nicely, they are getting valuable learning experience, Levels and Biomass, but there’s only one problem.

I don’t have a chance to vent my anger!

(...)

Chrysalis - Chapter 1881 - Arguing With Believers is a Pointless Exercise

Tue, 13 Oct 2026 01:00:05 GMT

“You want me to take children into the sixth stratum? That’s insane.”

“We aren’t children,” Emelia says flatly, “we’re Templars.”

“I don’t care if you’re the Child Emperor in disguise, you aren’t coming with me to the sixth. That goes for all of you! Even the old man!”

“I like to think I’m in my prime,” Bertran says with a smile. “Aged like a fine wine.”

“I know for a fact you only drink tea and the occasional hard cider, Bertran!”

“Just because I don’t drink wine doesn’t mean I can’t know that it ages well under the right conditions.”

“Well… that’s true.”

Damn him and his unflappable logic.

“We have to be around you in order to properly level our Classes,” Jern says as he sits down and leans into the wall, placing his axe across his legs. “And we can’t properly protect you from spiritual danger if we aren’t close. So it makes sense for us to hang around.”

“I agree, Eldest,” Protectant says, momentarily popping into existence on top of my head.

“Ah! Dangit! I forgot you were up there. Stop mutating that stupid organ, it’s getting too effective.”

“We won’t,” she replies smugly, once again fading from my awareness.

But not from my Vestibule. As long as I think to check on them, I can always work out where they are, it’s just that I forget about them more and more as time goes on and that stealth organ of theirs gets stronger.

So annoying! Why is everyone (...)

Chrysalis - Chapter 1880 - Something Unforeseen

Mon, 12 Oct 2026 03:34:35 GMT

Of Tiny, Crinis and Invidia, it’s easily the third one who I have the most faith in when it comes to battle. Tiny is the strongest by a long way, that’s not a question. The bat-faced gorilla has the utility of a stepless ladder, but when it comes to fighting, he is an absolute powerhouse. When he evolves to tier eight, he might even be stronger in a straight up fight than I am.

But he has all the subtlety and creativity of a brick being smashed into its own face.

If we actually fought, I’d win, because I have ways to mitigate his strengths and cover my weaknesses. Tiny’s only option when he comes up against hardship is to punch harder but with lightning. If he ever runs into an opponent that is lightning resistant and can’t be punched to bits, then he’s straight up out of luck.

Crinis is much weaker than Tiny, especially against tough, individual monsters, but she can always escape if things get too dangerous. She can slip into the shadow realm, blind her opponent, delay them or even just ball herself up and hide. There’s options there, and she certainly has the cunning and sneakiness to pull it off.

Invidia, on the other hand, is just smart. He won’t put himself into a situation he can’t get out of. He’s slow and can’t hide at all, but he knows that just as well as I do. With his powerful senses, he would have carefully weighed the odds against his opponent and only engaged if he believed he was going to win.

When I sense his return, slowly floating along on a platform of Force Magic that he’s manipulating with his mind, I’m unsurprised that he survived the encounter. Still diligently practising in my chamber, I wait until he finishes out his shift and returns to report before asking him any questions.

(...)

Chrysalis - Chapter 1879 - Mind Versus Mind

Fri, 09 Oct 2026 01:00:09 GMT

Friendship was a difficult thing to covet, Invidia had found. While he now considered himself to have many friends, his very nature as a demon demanded that he have more.

His obsession was an intrinsic part of his being and not something he could rid himself of even if he wanted to. Indeed, he couldn’t imagine living without it.

Yet when one began to exceed a certain number of friends, it became increasingly difficult to maintain them. Invidia had his duties to perform, which he did, gladly, and he enjoyed spending time with his master and his siblings, naturally, yet that left little time to cultivate friendship with others.

He had recently joined a bookclub, which was enjoyable and allowed him to spend time with some of his friends. Taking his Biomass in the mess hall with the third battalion allowed him an opportunity to spend time with others, and resting with the fifth battalion when they took torpor afforded him a chance to enjoy the company of yet more.

More and more, Invidia was a victim to the tyranny of time. There simply wasn’t enough time for him to spend time with his current friends, let alone make new ones!

Even worse, he found that if he didn’t spend time with his friends, then over time they would no longer be friends, deteriorating into nothing but acquaintances. This was intolerable to the demon.

He’d become so worried about his friends higher up in the Dungeon that he wasn’t able to see and possibly wouldn’t for a significant length of time that he had begun spending what precious little time he had remaining writing detailed letters to send to them. Via the exchange of such missives, he hoped to stay abreast of events in their lives (...)

Chrysalis - Chapter 1878 - Power of Practice

Thu, 08 Oct 2026 01:00:12 GMT

Who would have thought that diligent practice would actually pay off and make me better at casting magic? I mean… some might say that it seems obvious, but to those people I say… shush yourselves! Nobody asked you anyways!

I’m rapidly closing in on the next rank of my fused, Omni-Elemental Mana specialisation, which is exciting, but more than that, I’m happy that my mastery over the Singularity has grown more and more pronounced.

After breaking the spell into many, many segments and then practising each one ad-infinitum, I’m most of the way through the construct now and it is absolutely flying together. When Propellant demonstrated the effectiveness of this technique, she showed that she was not only able to cast a Fire Bolt much faster than I could, but pack in way more power as well. Her training had made the casting of the spell so second nature that she could not only construct it with incredible efficiency, but condense the mana as she did so.

Now, I have way more brain power than Propellant, who’s only tier six, so I should be able to replicate her efforts, but I’ve restrained myself for now. So far, I’ve put almost all of my energy into developing speed rather than power, since I really don’t think the Singularity needs to get any stronger. In fact, if it got any stronger, it might cause problems. It’s already hard to limit the things that I blast a hole in since the spell bores through most things in a fraction of a second.

As long as I can produce the damn thing quick enough to use in a fight, then I’ll be absolutely delighted.

“Eldest! How goes the practice?”

Well if it isn’t my two favourite fire and ice mages here to check in!

Chrysalis - Chapter 1877 - Rip and Tear

Wed, 07 Oct 2026 01:00:14 GMT

When the investment into the invasion of the fifth came, it came in a tidal wave. Almost overnight the entire world went from no appetite for the invasion to a seemingly infinite one. Once the Atreum Empire opened up their bottomless coffers, every major faction across Pangera followed suit.

Most fascinating was the manner in which the relatively stable alliances of powers began to shift and evolve as a result of this almost reckless drive to conquer the fifth.

A longtime ally of the Golden City, Forrensith, was reluctant to enter the race and dragged their feet, fearful of the catastrophic attempts of the past. As a result, the independent United Mountain Alliance were invited to join the invasion as a co-investor and did so with gusto.

Years later, who does the Child-Emperor favour? The answer is obvious to all.

- Excerpt from ‘Events and Ramifications’ by Xinci

Crinis wallowed deep in her misery. Two whole days without contacting her Master, or even being allowed to speak to her clone. It was torture. Agony! Even worse was that she knew she had brought all of this down on herself. If only she hadn’t gone behind her master’s back, then she wouldn’t have to suffer like this.

Trust had been broken, and the fact that it was entirely her fault made Crinis furious at herself and even more depressed.

All she could do with her bottomless sadness and frustration was take it out upon the hapless monsters who found themselves in front of her.

DIE! DIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIE!!!!

(...)

Chrysalis - Chapter 1876 - New Beginnings

Tue, 06 Oct 2026 01:00:13 GMT

It feels like it’s been too long since I’ve seen some honest to goodness hatchlings. Obviously, these two aren’t hatchlings, they’re tier four at this point, newly minted graduates of the antcademies, but they’re still so teenie tiny compared to everyone else I’ve been seeing.

The ants down here in the fifth are tier six for the most part, even the healers and carvers are a decent size so they can fit in the brain power and organs they require to do their more mentally demanding work.

“Still, two new Champions at the same time, that’s rather different,” I say looking at the two little ones who huddle down before me, their Brood Tender standing behind them protectively. “And they were born from the same clutch of eggs?”

“These two were born almost one after the other and raised in the same group of twenty. I was looking after both of them,” Demetant tells me.

“Well, isn’t that something?”

Apparently there hasn’t been a Champion born in the Colony for a while, and now we have two come out at practically the exact same moment. There must be some sort of rhyme or reason about it, but I have no idea what it is. As I understand it, Champions are exceptionally rare amongst species like us, which seems to have borne true. There are millions and millions of us at this point and only a handful of Champions.

Honestly, I wonder just how many of us there are right now? At some point we have to cross over the billion mark. A billion members of the Colony is a sobering thought. That’s a heck of a lot of siblings. I’ve got no chance of remembering all their birthdays….

“What are your plans for these two from now (...)

Chrysalis - Chapter 1875 - Oldest and… Wisest. Apparently.

Mon, 05 Oct 2026 05:01:54 GMT

Travelling safely through the fifth stratum during a wave was easier said than done. Despite the network of fortresses and the vigorous defence against the Krath, the tunnels were still unsafe due to the regular behaviour of the Dungeon. Strange and never before seen monsters were spawning in absurd numbers, fighting and consuming each other with wild abandon, growing stronger at a phenomenal pace.

Of course, the Colony had long been at work creating a network of vertical shafts connecting their forts to move through the fifth, but they weren’t all complete. It was necessary to move through several long stretches of tunnel, and they only did so under heavily armed guard.

By the time they finally made it to the bottom of the fifth stratum, nearly three hundred vertical kilometres deep, they came to the final fortress of the Colony. Descending from above, they avoided the worst of the fighting, but they could hear it. Their antennae shook with the force of the vibrations emanating from the never-ending battlefield, fighting off the hordes from the depths.

Demetant, for one, was quite relieved when they finally completed the journey.

“Apparently the gate network is going to be up and running soon,” she said to the hatchlings. “So we should be able to use that to get back.”

The first hatchling was quite excited by the adventure they’d been on and was perfectly happy to return the same way. Her enthusiasm wasn’t shared by the second, who was impressed that the Colony had been able to get them here safely in the first place.

After travelling such a vast distance, they thought they might have a chance to rest and refresh themselves, possibly over tea, before they went to see (...)