Chrysalis

The Queens’ Guard and I charge down the cobbled roads. I depend on the guidance of the soldiers to point me in the right direction when we occasionally have to turn. The citizens are screaming and fleeing out of our way everywhere we go. To be honest, even if there wasn’t a monster here they would probably do the same thing when they saw the soldiers. The common folk don’t want to be anywhere nearby if the fighting is going to start again.

They had to put up with bloody street to street fighting in this city for a week. Even now I can see burned out buildings and collapsed walls. It must have been brutal in here.

I do have to wonder what happened when a supposedly savvy Queen (not sure I’m convinced) so dramatically underestimated her foes. She’d thought that with her preparations the foe would be quickly dealt with but after an whole week of fighting in the city, the castle was breached and the Queen forced to flee! It seems unlikely a collection of Dungeon fighters were able to take it to the army to that level.

From what I’ve been told, those who regularly fight in the Dungeon tend to have higher levels, better equipment and greater individual strength than regular line soldiers. After all, the bad Dungeon explorers are very quickly dead, leaving the strong core behind. The army tends to have more discipline, coordination and better training. Not to mention that with the resources of a nation it isn’t hard to build up a collection of elites, giving them gear and privileges that most Dungeon explorers can only dream about.

That would be the Queens Guard.

These guys and gals are packing serious heat, enchanted blades, double forged monster shell armour and each and every one of them has been on gruelling level grinding expeditions into the Dungeon. The Queen is rather confident in their strength. Still, there aren’t that many of them, not enough to storm a whole city.

From a side street twenty mixed armour warriors burst forth, two mages in their midst wielding staves. When these fighters see me charging forward they aren’t intimidated in the slightest, reacting only with mild surprise. These are Dungeon Mercenaries! It’ll take a lot more than one ant monster to intimidate them!

After this experience that may change however....

Gravity Spear!

Expecting to be attacked at any moment I’ve pre-woven myself a spell and had it charged, ready to fire for a few minutes already! Holding a spell in place isn’t easy and wears on my mind but it’s totally worth it in these scenarios!

Before they can even prepare themselves and spread out to attack the spear slams home on a massive warrior in the middle of their formation. With a hostile spell suddenly flashing into their midst the enemy displays their experience by not panicking. They each drop into a defensive stance and try to move apart, only to find that their movement is becoming more restricted with every passing second.

Stay nice and bunched up for me folks. No need to separate. Muehehe.

out a delighted roar

of my xp

mercenaries struggle to wield their weapons properly as the potent gravity constantly tugs at them, forcing them to divert

light and he slams it down into the ground! As if transformed into water, the surface of the road ripples outward from that foot, the ripples growing larger as they travel until

they quickly crumble, as if their foundations were suddenly embedded in quicksand! Several of the charging soldiers have to cancel their dash skills as their footing becomes unsteady. Nimbly they reposition themselves to

spear imbedded in his chest unlimbers a huge great sword from his back. His knuckles crack as he prepares a two handed grip before bringing it down with blinding speed. With a flash a

Woosh!

the blade flashes past me before crashing into a house. When the dust settles a huge slice has been cut into

nearly lost an

down big guy! Need a

I fire off my next spell which I

Gravity Bolt!

see how you enjoy flight! Hopefully more than you

as they thrust them forward to block my spell. The Gravity Bolt smashes into the heads of their combines staves

This technique again!

want to learn it,

act as the vanguard and charge into the midst of these clearly experienced monster killers. Instead I take a little

good to have Tiny here right now! He would leap right into the middle and create a huge distraction, allowing me to safely operate on the edges. Or if Crinis was grown, the havoc she could reap here, with the enemy bunched up together.... Gah! I bite back my frustration. I didn’t bring them for a good reason, they have their own work to

from the Queen that humans and other surface races were capable of some fearsome abilities, but I hadn’t seen anything quite

show was

words and a spherical shield of fire blooms around him, the scorching heat radiating off is enough to make my antennae numb! The

a moment before they