Chrysalis

The first day in the third stratum was the worst. Along with Crinis, Tiny and Invidia, I rushed about trying to put out fires and help the Colony in every way that I could. We took part in the siege of a city, overrunning the defenders in spectacular style, leaping from a pillar that rose ten kilometres high. I left the duel with the city lord to our resident demon overlord though, I don't want to tangle with any more tier sevens if I can help it.

Bit of a silly thought considering there's even stronger demons running amok beneath us, but there it is.

Speaking of Brixin, I don't think I've ever seen a happier demon. With the territory that she controls expanding by the day, her smile was just as wide as her dial. The might of the colony was allowing her to indulge in her obsession for conquest and expansion to the fullest. It wouldn't last forever, or even much longer I think, but for the time being she was happy as a clam.

All well and good. With the city conquered, we didn't rest on our laurels, rushing back down and tearing off to find something else to fight. The Colony has continued to target demon cities that border along the area claimed by the Ka'armodo, which has only exacerbated tensions between us. Border skirmishes are becoming more common and both sides are exerting more pressure every day.

My family has been busy whilst I've been down below grappling with the termite menace. The number of cities seized by the Colony has reached twelve. Twelve! That represents a ridiculous amount of space within the Dungeon, a huge swathe of territory, along with the resources contained within.

The industrial arm of the Colony can be seen everywhere we go. Mines are springing up. Way stations are being constructed inside the mountain sized pillars that rise from the endless plains. Vast smelting operations are being established in the major hubs and every single city is getting its own nest constructed around the base of the pillar. None of them are quite as absurdly sized as the original around Roklu, the scale of that thing is utterly bewildering, but they are still massive.

If they actually get completed, I don't see how anyone is ever going to remove us from the land that we've taken. I mean, are you actually going to go inside those hills and fight us? You aren't coming out, I can guarantee you that!

No sooner we show our faces along the border than we run into a small patrol from the Ka'armodo side, two young lizards and their attendants marching back and forth on our side of the invisible line that separates our territory.

dispute that, but we've had enough of being pushed around by them. The proxy war that they've started on the fourth

doesn't take much for us to run this small squad off with their tails between their legs. A squad of tier six monsters is no joke. When all four of us reach

up here when I evolve? I think the mana level would be fine, tier sevens are fine here after all, but what about the Call? As it is,

BAH!

shall channel that spirit! The Call shall be

Anthony doesn't back down!

when the lizards come back with a patrol of ten Ka'armodo, several of them the older type with extra arms, and almost fifty Setsulah. In that case, I backed all the way down and high tailed it back

overkill dammit! Even if I tried to nuke them with a gravity bomb, there's a chance that they'd be able to break it apart before it could detonate. Even if they couldn't, with

crew hunkering down in a still under construction nest to get some shuteye, something that was exceptionally difficult for me given the

get a little open-eye, at least

a break at some point and look at my mutations and skills. I've fallen into a poor habit of not bothering to check my status page on a regular basis, but the upgrades to my

remember a time when every skill point, every little crumb of Biomass felt like a