Chrysalis

This place is amazing! I mean, wow, ingenuity and all that good stuff is on display in copious amounts right here. The city itself is nestled inside a gigantic egg-shaped cavern, with some sort of humungous crystal light source on the ceiling? What the heck is that thing!? Are they powering it with cores? Holy heck that must **** up a lot of mana. My entrance comes out about halfway up the side of the egg and from that point down the buildings begin to appear, built right into the walls of the cavern itself. All sorts of impressive stone constructions poke out, fort-like citadels and graceful mansions gradually give way to more humble living spaces and markets. I wonder how they find the vertical living here on the side of the cavern? Must be a little awkward getting up and down. I hope for their sake that there was something other than stairs to get up here, that would have been painful.

The most stunning aspect of the city and one that I only noticed after entering the main chamber, is the total lack of Dungeon veins! How the heck have they achieved something like this?! I've not seen such a thing done before, not even by the Sophos! This secret must be unlocked for the Colony! As we expand deeper into the Dungeon, this could make our nests invulnerable fortresses during a wave and ensure the safety of the precious brood! If nothing else comes of this raid, then this technique must be uncovered!

I don't get so distracted by gawping at everything new around me that I neglect to pay attention to the defenders of the city, such as there are. It appears that the citizens are being herded into the city centre, I can see an inner wall there where I assume they hope to make their final stand. There also seems to be a terrific amount of screaming and running going on as my siblings flood into the chamber.

[Hey, Crinis. What was that scream thing all about?]

[I am letting them know what they are dealing with!]

[It looks like you got quite a strong reaction.]

[Naturally I did, Master! I wanted to ensure they ran away… in accordance with your plans, of course!]

…

Suspicious. Not that I have the time to deal with it right now.

[Come on Tiny, let's move up and see if anyone comes to try and deal with us. Stay alert, they may attempt to ambush us from amongst the buildings, so be careful.]

Attempting to follow my own advice, I stick to the middle of the pleasingly wide roads as I rush down the side of the cavern. Judging by the winch and pulley systems I see about the place, these sections aren't really for walking on, but they suit me just fine!

BOOM!

"What the heck, mother?!"

Rather than follow my example, the Queen simply smashes through the first building that gets in her way, sending the stone tumbling down and damaging a few more houses on its way. She looks even larger than usual, I assume she's activated her 'war queen' form.

"What is it, child?" she asks as she continues to barrel forward.

If they were planning on lying in wait within the buildings, I'm going to assume they aren't considering it anymore.

Within a nearby building.

From the third story window, Sylvin was able to see the onrushing horde of monsters, led by two truly colossal insects.

"What do you think, boss? Should we leg it?" a voice asked him nervously.

Sylvin sneered but managed to wipe the expression from his face before he turned back to his nervous compatriots.

"Run?" he said, "why would we run away when a literal fortune is rushing forward to meet us!"

There was nervousness and anxiety in the air inside the Mercenary Union of Rylleh, that was a smell that he knew well, but rising above that fear was a more powerful motivator: greed.

"Jessim, do we have any more union members coming in?" he asked.

"No sir, we got about half the membership in here, the others must've headed to the square."

"More for the rest of us then," Sylvin chuckled and a few others in the room picked up on his energy and laughed along. Glancing around the room, he could see the rising tension in his fellow merc's faces. It was a familiar scene, one didn't make a living hunting monsters in the Dungeon without being familiar with pre-battle jitters. His people just needed a little push.

"What we've got out there," he pointed out the upstairs window to the masses of ants creeping into the city, "is money on legs. A horde of low-tier, low stat monsters with no Biomass. If we stay in our teams and hold the line, we can kill a million of them."

There were rumblings of agreement as people hefted weapons and tightened their fists.

"Over there," Sylvin now pointed to the two enormous ants leading the charge, "is the real payday. Tier five, maybe six. Sounds scary, but remember, these are ants. The tier may be high, but the stats are low. You'll never get a better chance for experience than this. And don't forget the cores. We get our hands on them, and we're set for life."

Grins and eager faces began to appear amongst the gathered men and women of the Union. These people were hardened monster killers and they weren't about to run and hide like the guard at the first sign of Dungeon spawn. After all, this was how they got paid. Sylvin shot an assessing glance around the room. He'd worked out of the Rylleh Merc Union building for years and he recognised many of the faces he saw, but there were still many he did not. At least his regular team was here, he trusted them to watch his back.

"Make sure you've got your gear organised, people. This is going to be **** work today and don't think otherwise. We've only got a few minutes to prepare before they reach us, the big two need to go down first. Let's get moving."

All around the room, hardened mercenaries began to organise themselves into teams, checking their equipment and a dozen muttered discussions began at once. Sylvin moved to one side and indicated with his head for his team to join him. The troops were all fired up and it was time to work out how to seize the prize when it hit the deck. They were mercenaries after all, sharing just wasn't in their vocabulary.