One of the things I learned from the human Queen is the value of monster cores to their society. They use them for enchantments, magical engineering, powerful weapons, armour, training magicians, jewellery and more. Cores are an integral part of industry on the surface, their ability to absorb mana from the atmosphere and then channel it cannot be replicated. In …

It took hours to interrogate this Queen and the flow of new information left me staggering. Despite my pounding headache I pushed forward with all of my strength! Who knew what could happen in the future? This old lady might fall over from a heart attack, every ounce of knowledge must be extracted this very second! By the end the …

Nothing was happening and Vibrant was getting hungry. Since she had snapped at the pink creatures ankle her senior and the creature had been very still, looking at each other for several Torpor worth of time. The young ant worker could somehow tell that there was something happening though she couldn’t say how she knew, or even what it was …

The energy in the village was electric. The events of several nights ago, when Beyn had led the villagers to heroically defend themselves from the feared monstrous ant invasion had stoked the fires within the villagers hearts to unprecedented heights. The story had grown and been embellished with every telling, from one ant, to five, to fifty! The villagers had …

The Queen was just as mentally invested in our contest as I was. With the sudden bite of Vibrant she has completely lost her focus freeing me from her mental assault. I can’t waste this chance! I leap forward immediately, mandibles wide open, ready to deliver the fatal blow. I’d originally wanted to keep this Queen alive for a few …

Only now do I remember my two passengers that I’d thrown off in a rush. Poor Crinis! The little thing can’t even see! [Crinis! Crinis! Where are you?!] I frantically yell in my mental channel. Turning quickly I unceremoniously drag the Queen this way and that until I notice some movement in the grass on the forest floor. Rushing over …

With the human Queen locked between my jaws there is little the soldiers can do to prevent me from giving her a her a fatal haircut if I so choose. The power is in my hands/claws! Unfortunately for these soldiers the rage in my heart is burning furiously after witnessing the damage they’ve done to my family. I have no …

Seeing that unwilling flicker of eye movement I’m reminded of the mysterious heat I’d detected a few moments ago. I still can’t see anything occupying that space but even though one of my antennae is still in the process of regenerating, I can still detect that there is some random heat emanating from that space. What the heck is it?! …

I can’t afford to let the mage attack Tiny, if she is able to disable him or even heavily wound him with her magic then we might lose our best chance to deal with those deadly fighters. Not to mention the terrible possibility Tiny might be killed! Quick as a flash I spin around to present my b-zone towards the …

Under the impact of Tiny’s mighty fists the barrier flickers in and out of existence, on the verge of total collapse. The two mages recoil physically from the power of that strike, one of them is even driven to their knees. Still, their eyes are burning with determination and they keep their staves raised to the sky, apparently reinforcing the …