IWUAaDNW: Growth 3.9

Atlas was waiting for them at the opposite end of the circle, staring at them with his huge black eyes. Making him a boss had caused him to grow a lot. Whereas beetles were normally the size of a greyhound––the dog, not the bus––he was about half the size of a Greyhound––the bus, not the dog––with all the strength and mass that implied. He was about twenty-five feet long and stood at a height of about eight feet. Somehow, in spite of the square-cube law, his legs had no problem carrying his enormous weight. Otherwise, he looked much like a larger version of my beetles, with its shiny blue carapace, wicked mandibles and huge antennae, still as long as his body and as thick as a torso at their base.

[...]

I started pulling back Atlas's left antenna, which had still been extended from the hit that had broken Cirys' spear, but found a sudden snag. Nedagg had been moving toward it the whole time and, as it passed above its head, it surprised me and reached up to grab the antenna about three quarters down its length. It pulled itself to the floor––those legs had to have some kind of magical sticking power––then started tugging hard on the antenna. It wasn't quite strong enough to hold on against my beetle's full strength, but it was doing an incredible job for its size, even as its legs skittered across the ground and dug thousands of tiny grooves in the hard dirt.

[...]

And I couldn’t turn him around to present the uninjured side, either, because Nedagg was still holding on and pinning my boss’ antenna in place.

[...]

I made Atlas step forward. Nedagg immediately started stepping backward, keeping the antenna taut and preventing me from actually getting to Horzel.