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!]

to make you invincible?] I scoff. [Why don't we find a tier eight demon and you can impress them with

to spend it on. I've no doubt that his mutations are all maxed out, but imagine if he'd spent all that time practicing his Skills instead of sitting on his backside eating. He'd be so much more powerful, pushing his

soon,] I taunt him as we once again draw closer to one another, the ground shaking with every step, [all that food that you've wasted will be going to a better cause soon enough. How many thousands

you come over here and we can see if I wasted it or

to the ground, every second that

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

closer. I wait and wait, watching his approach and refusing to 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

possible, shifting my direction by digging my claws into the ground. Shifting directions for a mass of my size isn't easy and my muscles and joints scream as I push them to their limits as that giant hand reaches for me,

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 a chance to slip closer to his body and unleash my jaws on

closer, ducking low under that arm and locking my

OMEN CHOMP COMBO!

five times in a second before I jump away, not giving the huge demon a chance to recover his balance and grab at me again. The five chomp combo is just about as much as I can manage at

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 where you belong. This is the land of demons.