Chrysalis

The classic deer in the headlights trap! I should have seen it coming a mile away!? Since when is a monster that helpless ever left alive in the Dungeon for more than a minute? This is the Dungeon for goodness sake! An ecosystem with more competition in it that this one surely doesn't exist! It's so dark here I can't see the individuals that have leapt forth from the shadows, and I don't mean to stick around until I can.

[Move it, Tiny! We are NOT sticking around to say hello,] I order my unruly pet.

The giant bat-faced ape was flexing his fists, eyes glaring wild and fierce as he sought for something to pummel. I'm not having any of it. Unknown enemies? We are getting out of here! I can feel Crinis writhing on my thorax, desperate to attack those who would do me harm, but I act quickly to reel her in.

[Crinis! We're leaving!]

[But, Master!]

[No buts!]

Thankfully, Invidia is smart enough that I don't have to order him to retreat from a disadvantageous fight. The demon is already moving and I follow his spherical, winged form as we rush back the way we came. Which still leaves me with one problem.

"Get the hell out of here, Protectant. I want your people ahead of me as we run! And don't you dare go against me here! If one of you dies, I swear I'll resurrect them so you know you can't escape my wrath!"

The threat is completely hollow, I'd never desecrate the remains of my siblings, but it seems to work. No member of the secret brigade appears and throws themselves in harm's way, so I assume they are running ahead of me.

CRACK!

an explosion of light, an incandescent beam of sword light blasts from the shadows and flashes toward me, carving deep gouges in the stone floor on its way. Holy heck! Dodge! My antennae blaze with future

and rocketing forward as I sense more shapes emerging behind me. Whoever they are, they're fast. Not to mention, hot! Not in a physically attractive way, though I haven't seen them yet, but in a literal sense. My antennae are

cooking themselves from the inside out

information as I flee, my brains whip together a fire elemental construct and I hastily craft a flame thrower, powering it with weak, uncompressed mana. I'm not interested in damage,

rip with the fire.

I've seen enough!

and

like stonessssss!

I cry but the little demon doesn't

brief glimpse I got, I could see runes and the tell-tale signs of mana flowing through the materials. Whoever they are, they are rocking some high end tech! I think

CRACK! BOOM!

try and kill her on sight, that

are we

[Almossst!]

a freak! What's going on! I let my other constructs disintegrate and pull together some mind mana as I scrabble my way around corners, using the deadly vegetation of the second strata to cover my retreat. Once the mana is ready, my sub-minds weave together a