Chapter 1481 – A Breather

Sarah wanders off to get armoured up, as does Odin, the weirdo. Fully suited up, the truly enormous bear is even more deadly-looking than before, which is hard to believe. The specially crafted gear will enable her to operate out in the toxic zone for half an hour at a time, which isn’t half bad.

[Any advice for me?] she asks, sounding a little nervous.

I can’t blame her; the fifth has a reputation for being unrelentingly awful, and it’s hard to grasp just how terrible it is without seeing it for yourself.

[Be careful. Very careful. The Krath are clever, they strike from the shadows, from camouflaged positions in the moss and beneath puddles of mucus. They can squish themselves into tiny gaps to attack and then flee into the rock before you can get to them. They’ll be looking to try and capture you if they can, but they’ll also try and harm you in a bunch of different ways to see what works. Expect acid, clouds of toxic gas, parasites that will try to dig into your body, venom, mental assaults… uh what else….

[They used a nearly invisible sentient cloud of spores on me once, tried to get in my mouth and burn me from the inside out, watch out for that one. There was another time when they tried to paralyse me with these little rock eels. Little critters burrowed through the ground, then launched themselves up at me. They had these needle-pointed noses that were crazy sharp. Didn’t make it through my carapace, but you’ll be more vulnerable to that than me.]

By this stage, Sarah has lost a significant portion of her previous cheer. She’s starting to look a little wild around the eyes as my list goes on.

[Is that all?] she asks.

[Not even remotely. That was yesterday.]

[I’m not sure I can do this….]

[You’ll be fine. Talk to the generals in the tunnels you go to, they’ll give you good advice. Have a word with the medical team on things you need to look out for, they’ve been treating all the ants, so they’ll know what’s causing the most problems. Other than that, just be careful. Remember that nearly every monster will pop or release deadly parasites after you destroy them, so get out of the way after you bite something.]

[It sounds disgusting.]

[It is,] I assure her. [But you’re doing something amazing for the family. We really appreciate it. Everyone in the Colony is happy to have you for a sister.]

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[Sh-be quiet!] She snaps, embarrassed. [I’m just here to help out a little. It’s not that impressive. Alright, off I go. Wish me luck!]

[Good luck!]

She turns around and waddles off, a giant amongst the smaller ants. As she moves, Odin is revealed, standing behind her and staring at me.

[Perfection,] he whispers in my mind.

He’s been armoured up a little. I guess he’s also going to go out and fight? He’s like an assassin demon or whatever, so I suppose that makes sense. I just wish he wasn’t such a weirdo. I wave him away with a flippy motion of my antenna and then contemplate for a moment.