Chrysalis
chapter-969

Detonation after detonation rings out in the narrow tunnel as Invidia weaves his intricate tapestry of death. With my enhanced mana sight, I can see ever more clearly just how absurdly overpowered his mental gifts are. A hundred individual strands of mana writhe through the air at any given moment, pouring into the spells at a dizzying speed as the grinning demon produces magic at an absurd pace.

This is the power of specialisation! He even has time to be weaving shields in-between explosions whenever he thinks Tiny is going to get bitten. This is the real big-brain play. In fact, this is the mega-brain play.

Large clumps of termites are not spared from his attention. With overwhelming force of will, he drives his mana forward and unleashes enormous concussive blasts that rend the air with fire and smoke. Truly, a demon of the third stratum.

Even so, despite our overwhelming power, the termite foe is able to endure far more than they ought to be able to. With their toughened carapace and hardened bodies, the insectoid enemy have been redesigned since the arrival of the Colony. The Ka'armodo wasted little time adjusting the focus of their shock troops from being specialised anti-tree to enduring soldiers capable of fronting up to the firepower of the Colony.

As I pelt them with spears, as Tiny unleashes his almighty fists, and despite the explosions and the cruel ministrations of Crinis, the termites continue to advance. It takes a lot of effort to put them down, and when one falls, another three climb over its remains to draw ever closer. At this rate, it won't be long until their mandibles are able to reach me, and we can't have that!

Too bad this tunnel is far too narrow for a Gravity Bomb, otherwise I'd wipe them out in the thousands, but this is up close and personal, just the way an insect likes it.

Bring it on, termites! You think you can possibly defeat the Colony in our favourite battleground? You must be blind!

Actually… they pretty much are blind, but that's beside the point!

Time to get serious.

I continue the Force Spear barrage, but divert a chunk of mind constructs to other tasks, directing them like a conductor does a symphony. In moments, more mana flows and is woven, followed by the ever impressive Gravity Domain taking shape around me. Pre-compressed, the crushing force exerted by the purple sphere of doom isn't enough to squash a termite flat, but given how heavy they are, it's more than enough to slow them down. Buying that little extra time is all I need.

Heart burning with the pure fire of passionate youth, my mandibles draw back and lock into place as I brace my legs and zoom forward.

In an instant, I appear before the closest termites, my speed surprising even me! This new dash is quick, like, super quick! The strain on my legs is a serious issue, and the stamina drain is immense, but holy moly, it's fast! But that's only the entrée, now comes time for the main dish! The termites react quickly to my appearance, every inch of their large frames screams of their hatred for ant kind as they snap forward with their wide mandibles.

Not fast enough!

VOID CHOMP!

The moment I activate the skill I feel my stamina plummet into the dirt. Such a precipitous drop! It’s not as if it just takes twice as much stamina to use as the doom chomp, this is more like five times! What the hell? I'm not going to be combo-ing this sucker any time soon, that's for sure.

The result, however, is enough to bring tears to my eyes.

The dark mandibles of pure energy manifest as they did before, though darker and more menacing. Beyond that, a sphere of annihilation appears several metres before me, tiny at first, but swelling as my jaws slam shut.

I watch it happen as if it were in slow motion. My jaws close, and extended beyond them are the pitch black mandibles created by the Void Chomp. Twice as long as before, they extend almost five metres in front of my face. The tiny sphere of pure black flickers and grows the closer the mandibles get, drawing in the unfortunate termite in front of me, warping and curving it as it's pulled in.

When the mandibles touch the sphere, it's as if a bomb has gone off, an explosion of dark light that blinds me for a moment. When it's done, the termite in front of me, and those near it, are… gone. All that remains are chunks of Biomass on the ground.

T-… too powerful! Too damn awesome! The Void Chomp is everything I dreamed of! Too bad I can't use it all that much, but with a bite that strong, I'll be able to do some real damage to my enemies with nothing but my jaws! I'm so excited by the possibilities!

I wonder what the next rank of bite is like…

No time to think of that now, Anthony! You've got a battle to win!

Thankfully, my numerous brains are all over it and my body ducks and weaves with preternatural grace, dodging and deflecting no matter how many bites come at me at once. I can't use the Void Chomp recklessly, but with so many members of the Colony nearby, I'll be able to charge my stamina up pretty quickly. I just have to rely on weaker skills until then.

A steady barrage of spells and acid fly forth from me as I liberally apply normal bites to my enemies whenever I can. Just like this, we establish our formation, with me acting as the front line, Tiny standing behind, unleashing his fists and lightning, then Crinis and Invidia bringing up the rear. Until the termites manage to tunnel around us, we’ll hold this position, no matter how many of them come at us.