Chrysalis

I mean… he's fat. Like. Really fat. I probably shouldn't focus on that too much, considering that this demon is almost certainly seventh tier, the first that I've ever seen. But still, he's like… a mega-chonker.

Atop that bulbous mass of flesh, split through the middle with a grotesque mouth that even now is stuffing itself full of Biomass from trays heaped with the stuff on either side of the figure of the city lord, the shockingly humanoid upper body looks down on us with thinly veiled contempt.

"Why have you entered my city, Insect?" he demands, staring hard at me.

Why is he singling me out? Is it my carapace? The precious diamond that I carry? You can't have it! This carapace belongs to me, certainly, but also to the world! I am merely it's caretaker, shepherding this glorious form through the Dungeon so that uncultured swine might gaze upon my magnificence and achieve enlightenment!

"This is one seriously pompous fatty," I complain to Brilliant, "not to mention rude. The least he could do is offer some of that Biomass to us."

When I don't scent a reply from the little ant, I focus a little more in her direction and only then do I realise that the poor thing is frozen in place, totally overwhelmed by the dominant aura of malevolence rolling off the powerful demon in front of us. A tier three monster standing in front of a tier seven, it's to be expected. I myself haven't experienced that sort of disparity since the first time I laid eyes on Garralosh.

I really need to ask Granin about this strange manifestation of power as I understand very little about it. Is it simply the difference of intensity in the core that causes this effect? Is it a biological sense that's inborn in monsters so that we can tell the more powerful specimens when we come across them? A curious thought. I reach out to the grotesque mound of flesh in front of us with my mind.

[Mind retracting your aura a bit? My sibling here is still young.]

High above the heaving flesh, the demon's eyes glitter with malice.

"I will not," he replies.

I shrug my antennae.

that this might be construed

Those eyes narrow.

me? In my

a way? I suppose if you wanted to interpret it

gobbets with the wave of

to put your food down

us stare at each other for a long moment before I decide to try and

My sibling and my friends here have climbed down from above to take a look at your lovely city and experience the delights of the third stratum. Are visitors welcome in the city of Roklu? That's the name right? If they aren't, we can just as easily leave back up the pillar the way we

have near three-sixty degree vision! My change in tone seems to have taken this ruler by surprise and he regards us in silence for a moment. I'm hoping this is a good sign. Spirit of adventure is all well and good, but I'd much rather I didn't plunge

my city. Visitors from above are even more rare, there are few who would brave the dangers of

distinctly hear the lack of a capital when he referred to my family.

on my territory will be met with extreme force. I have struggled long to gain my

I shrug.

frozen in place by the presence of the large demon, [I can't imagine that a city full of big bad demons has much to fear

at me with one

you

and wave away

normal for us to be somewhat cautious. I for one, have never set claw in a demon city and had no idea what to expect. I certainly didn't realise that

his core a little more closely. It's clear that his core holds more energy than mine, but not by that much. Clearly he hasn't benefited from a maxed core at each stage of his development. That doesn't mean I'm