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!

its way. Holy heck! Dodge! My antennae blaze with future signs of severe danger and my nerves fire, throwing my body

up speed in an instant and rocketing forward as I sense more shapes emerging behind me. Whoever they are, they're fast. Not

They'd be cooking themselves from the inside out at those

by some sort of lava people?! I wouldn't put it past Pangera to have lava people! Desperate to gain information as I flee, my brains whip together a fire elemental construct and I hastily

slightly, and let rip with the fire. A jet of pure orange flame roars out behind me, pushing back the darkness for a brief second. I see glimpses, flashes of detail.

I've seen enough!

I need barriers and mental distractions! Pile

mindsssss are like stonessssss! I sssshall take

demon doesn't answer, already pouring his considerable mental might into

joy. Rather the opposite. Large bodies wrapped in steel and stone. Some sort of armoured suit? In the 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

CRACK! BOOM!

kill her

are we looking,

[Almossst!]

pull together some mind mana as I scrabble my way around corners, using the deadly vegetation of the second strata to