Chrysalis

The death of the spider, along with all the 'cleaning' my pets and I had done on our journey was enough to push me to level 76, tantalisingly close to the goal. I was keen to get back out and hunting for experience, but the remains of the big spider were right in front of us and I refuse to let Biomass go to waste! This is a tier six monster after all! The four of us dug in and in a short amount of time, all signs that the giant arachnid had been here at all were gone, vanished without a trace. I decide I can spare a little time and explore the rest of the tunnel in which we'd fought. There's a chance that hideous creature had some good stuff hidden in here, perhaps a Biomass store tucked away in a cupboard, or some cores that we could seize upon. Instead, I find something a little disheartening.

At the end of the tunnel, bundled tight in protective webs are eggs. Hundreds of eggs. After the Colony had swept through and depopulated the area, it was clear that the spider mama had been determined to re-establish the dominance of her family over the strata in which we found them. Although it brings me no joy, I can't allow these spiders to hatch and compete with the Colony, so I get Invidia to destroy them.

I copped out, alright?! I didn't want to go around destroying eggs!

With the deed done, I make sure Crinis grabs the core and we back out into the regular tunnels and start sweeping our way deeper. The longer the wave goes on, the faster the monsters will spawn, and already they're piling up quickly! From what I understand after talking to Granin and the others, the mana never returned to 'normal' levels after the first wave, which is something highly unusual. What's even more unusual is having waves this close together. According to the Shapers, this may point to something rather nasty occurring where we experience a series of waves, each longer and more potent than the last. If that's the case, the Colony has little choice but to level up as fast as possible if we're going to survive. We've grown to the point we can handle the second strata well enough, but what about monsters from the third? Or fourth? If a wave is strong enough, and long enough, then they're going to get here eventually.

In fact, they're going to get here right about now.

After burning my way through a mass of tentacled shadow monsters, my pets and I find ourselves standing in a strangely clear section of tunnel that ought to be occupied by more fighting monsters. Instead we can see the signs of recent battle and the rather obvious remains of some creature messily eating what was left of their foes. Not a great sign. Following the tunnel around a corner we come face to face with the culprit, who strikes me rather immediately as not being a shadow creature.

The monster has four grotesquely muscled limbs that each end in a hardened, flesh coloured point. It's body is a bloated, constantly writhing mass of pink … something whilst its head appears to be little but a mouth. As we watch, it finishes its battle against a large shadow centipede by leaping forward with incredible speed and landing on all fours, one of the forelimbs spearing the arthropod straight through. Not even waiting for the creature to pass away, the hideous monster shrieks a piercing, rage filled scream and starts tearing into the centipede with that enormous mouth, its spear-like limbs dug deep into the floor.

What the heck is that thing!?

idea what

notsssss. I have

from this strata! It must be from the third!

memoriesssss of that place… I have no memoriessss before you reconstituted

to meet the exact specifications of the Shapers. If my memory serves me correctly, a demon isn't considered fully down until it reaches tier six, like the eyeball has. So this thing is tier five at most? Yikes. It's larger than me already and if I'm not mistaken it might be able to drive one of those damn pointy hands it has straight through me just like it did to that shadow creature. That's exactly the sort of weapon best suited to penetrating my

you had a big enough sword you might be able to bash your way into breaking some bones or getting a cut in, but generally speaking, the way you used a sword against armour was to stab. You puncture through the protective layer by putting the maximum amount of pressure on the smallest

down all!

fight as Crinis slunk through the shadows. Not wanted to have the experience stolen from me, I instruct Invidia not to go on the offensive and instead focus on protection and healing duties. For my part, I spam gravity bolts at the monster in the hopes of slowing it down as I gradually close the distance, keeping one wary eye on each of those four limbs. The monster screams that piercing, outraged shriek when it notices us engaging with it and turns to face us. It moves on all fours and every time it shifts

mouth! You haven't got

with blindingly fast lefts. The tight, compact punches are so unlike what I've gotten used to from the giant ape that I almost stumble

Tiny! Master the left, master

under the pinning assault. Not one to back down from an opportunity, I pepper the beast with a few more gravity bolts as I close the distance with a flicker dash, my form blurring from the high speed manoeuvre. When I'm close enough to engage my Doom Chomp I notice that Crinis has also arrived, a forest of her dark limbs twisting out of the

much the poor demon can do to resist as we continuously chomp away at its health. That grotesque mouth snaps and bites at us constantly and I almost lose an antennae when it suddenly extends its jaw a metre out of its face. Whoever heard of

have slain level

[You have gained experience.]