Chrysalis

[How's it going over there Tiny? Crinis?]

[We'll win, but it's going to take time!]

[Take care and make sure of it, we don't need to rush!]

I don't think… although, looking at Grokus as the massive demon looms over me, that I'll be able to finish this quickly. If the gravity bomb doesn't manage to inflict massive damage on him, then I have no idea what will! I pull back a little from the city lord, giving myself room to plot my next manoeuvre. The area where I bit him has already healed, if I damaged him at all.

[You're actually a tough nut to crack, aren't you Grokus?]

The huge demon swings his body around to face me head on.

[Food is strength in this world. How can anyone be stronger than me? I've been consuming hundreds of Biomass a day for longer than you've been alive, and you want to challenge me? You're weak! Just another snack!]

[Why don't we find a tier eight demon and you can impress them with how much you've eaten over the years? I wonder

his Skills instead of sitting on his backside eating. He'd be so much more powerful, pushing his abilities to a

shaking with every step, [all that food that you've wasted will be going to a better cause soon enough. How many thousands of ants will we raise from what

come over here and we can see if I wasted

claws flex in the air as we circle one another neither one willing to make the first move. This suits me down to the ground, every second that passes makes my gravity bomb

the city lord's mouths he rumbles closer, once again moving with that deceptive speed. I lower my centre of gravity and prepare to dodge, waiting for my antennae to tell me how he's going to reach for me. The closer he gets, the sharper the pain in my stomach becomes, the acid boiling away as thoughts of food swim in my head, threatening to drive my consciousness away and turn me into a ravenous beast. I resist it, but I can tell that the longer

move until my antennae give me the glimpse that I'm looking for. I hold off until he's almost on top of me, only then do I realise, he's not going to grab! That's why I can't see anything! The moment I make the realisation I shift my

for a mass of my size isn't easy and my

make it, Grokus' claws scratch down my left flank as he snatches at the air I occupied only a moment ago. It's only a glancing blow, but deep grooves have been cut into my diamond carapace. This is first stratum versus third after all, I can't expect too much. As close as it was, this is still an opportunity. With his left arm extended, I have

again, dash closer, ducking low under that arm and locking my mandibles into

OMEN CHOMP COMBO!

is just about as much as I can manage at the

this guy made of?! He might be a tier above me, fine, but there's no way

realised your place yet, insect?] Grokus practically purrs in my mind, [if you're smart, you should crawl back up to