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!

on its way. Holy heck! Dodge! My antennae

I sense more shapes

can't possibly be people! They'd be cooking themselves from the inside out at those sorts of

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

behind an outcropping of stone to dodge yet another of those fierce blade lights, I rotate my body, ever so 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. Then the dark

I've seen enough!

I need barriers and mental distractions! Pile

stonessssss! I

you mean, stone?!] I cry but the little demon doesn't answer, already pouring his considerable mental might into slowing

I got, I could see runes and the tell-tale signs of mana flowing through the materials.

CRACK! BOOM!

and kill her on

are we looking,

[Almossst!]

to magical mind warfare, this demon is 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 bridge and