Chrysalis

Looking at the thick trunk of the large tree before me I flex my mandibles cautiously. Hopefully these infused mandibles are up to the challenge.

Ignoring the deafening noise of the little chimps above me I wander up to the base of the tree. The aggravation of the monsters only becomes more intense as I approach, the small creatures look almost comical with their faces twisted in incandescent rage, completely infuriated that a single enemy would dare approach their territory.

Turning my head I can see three workers have followed my trail to the area where I had finished it, about fifty meters away from the tree. Once they arrive there they muddle about, turning here and there, looking for the location of the food which the trail had indicated to them existed in this place.

Not to worry chaps, I'll be serving it up to you shortly!

Infused mandibles!

As soon as I activate it with a thought, mana begins to flood out of my core, rushing through my body and into my mandibles. The build of energy becomes more and more intense until I almost wonder if there is anything I can't bite through with all this power.

Combined with the strength generated by my active skills I can pack a tremendous force into every bite.

Under the bewildered and disbelieving eyes of an entire tree full of monstrous apes I rear back my head and then darting forward I unleash the full force of my might upon the tree trunk.

Piercing bite!

Crunch!

The sharp edges of my mandibles sink deep into the strange wood these trees are composed of, sending splinters flying into the air and bouncing off my carapace. After this bite I don't cut off the flow of mana, letting it continue to pour out of my core and fuse with my jaws, vastly increasing their strength.

Again, piercing bite!

Crunch!

And again!

Crunch!

My mana is depleting at a furious pace, the power of these mandibles does come at a steep cost. For a monster with a poorly developed core they would be almost completely useless but thankfully I've been able to reinforce my core a quite a few times and I'll only continue to improve it further in the future!

Crunch!

foaming at the mouth in their anger. I think they may have finally realised what I'm up to, some of them are starting to descend the

But it's too late.

Crunch!

CREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAK!!!

Oh! Here we go!

from the tree, moving across the path of descent and turning my head so I can watch

huge tree, with all of its shocked occupants

their world literally starts to fall around

TIMMMBEEEERRRRR!

CRASH.

increasing speed the tree tilts and then falls to the ground with a tremendous boom, the sound of whistling leaves and shattering branches resounds through

indignant howls of hundreds

at the bizarre spectacle of a horde of injured apes pouring out of the wreckage of their tree

For the colony!

forward into the gathering throng of ape monsters, Tiny hooting and roaring on my back like an enraged

bouncing off

the ants immediately turn and sprint back towards the colony. I'm not shocked by this, they aren't running away in fear or anything like that, these workers know no fear, but are instead

battle alongside me, latching onto the nearest ape

mission now is to delay and keep this one worker alive until our brethren arrive for the

apes are screeching mad as they rush to slay the would be attackers, punching and kicking at me, some of them even picking up improvised weapons

Muahahahaha!

Useless!

of your efforts are

is the perfect defence against these sorts of impacts, my HP isn't even dropping at all! The small monsters physical strength is surely far beneath my toughness to begin with, when the advancement of my carapaces against physical damage is also taken into consideration then there is very little that

them from before me with large swings of my mandibles. The anger and fury on the monsters faces only grows more intense as I play with them and they redouble their efforts, grouping up

…

all

It barely tickles!