Chrysalis

We had to delay our escape for a few minutes until Crinis had come back to herself, but we didn't dare allow her the extra time to evolve right now, we needed her fighting strength to help us in the tunnels. If we managed to break free and make it to the surface then she could probably evolve whilst riding on my back if it came to it, but until then we needed her alert.

Once everyone was prepared we enacted our plan, such as it was. Bust out into the tunnel, kill everything we see, bust back into the escape tunnel, kill everything we see, break out to the surface in the church, kill everything we see.

There was a sort of simple elegance to the plan that quite appealed to me. At any rate, we were successful. Relying on the simplest and most direct methods, we chomped, stabbed, punched and tore limb from limb everything that came our way. We were lucky though, the seemingly bottomless horde of monsters that had been sent after us was nowhere to be seen. In fact, it felt as if the zombie monsters had done us a favour by killing the spawned monsters that had crowded the escape tunnel. We had to contend with far less monsters on the way out than we did on the way in. So that's a plus!

Things were a little less simple when we reached the surface.

I'd like to say that it was me who anticipated the ambush and foiled it with my brilliant tactics, a lie I don't even believe Crinis would have been able to swallow. It was unfortunate, but it Morrelia was the one who made us pause in our escape, not one hundred metres away from the surface entrance beneath the church.

[You know they'll have an ambush in place, right?] she asked as she eyed me askance.

[Of course] I lied.

She nodded to herself as if relieved. Not having a human face helped a lot when deceiving humans, I decided. My antennae had waggled like crazy as I'd spoken the obvious lie, my face, which was literally a part of my skeleton, had remained silky smooth.

My own pets were a little more wise to my deception. Crinis shifted uncomfortably on my back and Tiny looked at me with slack jawed astonishment. Stupid pets! Don't give the whole game away!

[So how do you think we should deal with it?] I prompted Morrelia, hoping to keep her distracted.

some serious jaw genes going on. Morrelia was a solid unit for a woman already but

you could rustle up another one

my jaws with

…

level

[You have gained experience]

have reached

have reached

reached level

of your fancy tricks this time

degree once more, I unleashed it at the entrance from a safe distance

the Garralosh Commander had been prowling right next the opening in the hopes of catching us the instant we exited the

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA!

THE POWER!

in the blast. Taken aback by the devastating strike that had instantly killed the most powerful monster amongst them, they were completely unprepared for the savagery of our follow up assault. I took my time tormenting the weaker monsters and squeezed a couple

As an active skill it was even more horrifying, allowing me to slice off monsters limbs from range. Crinis' seemed delighted

perform core surgery and manipulate the outcome, I'd inevitably have to ask her how she wanted

evolution, that Gravity Bomb had helped push me closer than ever before to my

time in the event that Garralosh herself

and we fell upon what