Again?! I have to say, I’ve had enough of these waves. Each one is worse than the last. I mean, the Colony has been able to grow rapidly thanks to the injection of experience and Biomass, but the risk rises exponentially each time. This time, we’ll be fighting across four strata at the same time!

What a nightmare.

At least, if we can find ways to block off the ascent of the monsters here in the fourth, we lessen the pressure on our territory above.

Ugh. I just realised that this means I’ll have to take on more of those scum from the fifth. That poison is no joke! Countermeasures will need to be put in place… but I’ll leave the thinking to the smarter ants. When they work out where they want me to go, I’ll go and help as best I can. In the short term, that’ll mean taking on multiple tier eight demons, which is going to suck, but that’s the challenge I took on when I picked the evolution I did.

“Sloan! What the hell is going on up there?” I demand as I burst into the central planning chamber of the new fortress nest.

There’s a swirling vortex of generals, mages, carvers and shapers centred around the council member in the middle of the space. The moment I burst in, everyone freezes, staring back at me, their antennae drifting slowly from side to side.

“Ooookay,” I say. “Don’t let me… uh… interrupt.”

“Bit late for that, don’t you think?” Sloan said. “Welcome back, Eldest. I assume you’re talking about the situation on the third?”

“Y-yes.”

They’re all still staring at me, like mice looking at a cat, hoping they won’t be spotted if they don’t move. It’s unnerving!

“Uh. Brilliant popped out of nowhere and gave me a quick update, but I thought I should talk to you to get a clearer picture.”

“Good idea. We’ve found that Brilliant is by far the fastest way to move information between strata, but far from the most reliable. She tends to miss details, or gloss over them, which is strange considering how intelligent she usually is.”

I shake my antennae. Brilliant? Intelligent? I’m not so sure about that. She’s a mad scientist. There’s a certain level of genius there, but there’s a whole lot of… gaps? She’s going to be an amazing help for the Colony, but she definitely needs us to put some rails in place to keep her on the right path.

Otherwise, she’s going to be turning herself inside out in some dumb experiment.

“In short, the situation is chaotic,” she tells me, “demons are fighting all over the place. Even some ‘settled’ tier six demons in the cities are going rogue and lashing out.”

“Are the cities still safe?”

“Relatively speaking, but we’ve had to increase our garrisons and lean on our demon allies to try and keep the peace, which isn’t easy because they might turn violent at any moment.”

“Any idea as to what’s causing it?”

If this chaos is stratum wide, then there has to be an underlying cause. If we can work out what it is, then maybe we have a shot at fixing it.

“So far, not a clue. We’ve been too busy making preparations and fighting up there to do much investigating. More to the point, I don’t think anyone knows where to look.”

Good point.

“And with a wave coming, that’s not likely to get any better….”

“Indeed. From what we understand, waves on the third stratum are especially deadly. The spawn rate of demon larvae skyrockets and the plains become almost impossible to navigate.”

How is it even possible for the spawn rate of those ankle biting little demons to get any higher? The entire floor of the place is a literal living carpet! I guess we just get several layers of carpet? Each trying to consume the other?

I guess we just abandon the plains and do our best to hold the cities. What a nightmare.

“And the tier eights?” I ask.

The general clacks her mandibles in irritation.

“Reports are mixed,” she says. “It’s hard for us to track them, considering the general insanity that’s going on. They don’t always move together, but every now and again, the three of them seem to gather for reasons we don’t understand. The general consensus is that they’re gradually rising, though that may accelerate as the mana levels rise. We just don’t know enough to be able to predict when or if they’re going to reach us.”

Such a pain. This is why they sent Brilliant to put me on notice. I could be called up any time.

“Alright. This is going to suck, but I think I’m going to head up through the Tree gate. We have to find out what’s going on if we want to have any hope of getting a handle on it.”

The general raises an antenna.

“You think you have a lead? Some source of information?”

“You could say that. You can call him Al.”

Next thing, we make our way over to the gate, and this time, Invidia and Crinis have to pitch in to help toss my tier seven bum through the gate. We do of course send someone through to warn everyone on the other side.

I crash to the ground and slide a little, already experiencing a sharp rise in the pain caused by the Call.

Ooooooooooof. Stupid Ancients. I hate those guys. This persistent, throbbing ache that just worms into my mind, demanding I go deeper in the Dungeon, calling me to descend.

It sucks. It seriously sucks.

I take a few minutes to gather myself, then put my feet under me and push myself up. Time to head to Roklu and see if we can find our old friend, the flaming eyeball. He always seemed to know more than he should, and if he hasn’t gone mad, then perhaps he can shed a little light on our current situation.