Chrysalis

No more mucking around. I want to power up my allies, and we’ve been dithering around on the plains and in the tunnels. Why bother?! There’s an enormous feast of experience just waiting for us to go and claim it!

I’m of course talking about the rampaging demon army.

We rush down into the caverns below Roklu, heading deeper and smashing everything in our way. Tiny is hopping up and down like a kid on Christmas morning, anticipating the fight to come. When we break down to the second layer, little sparks are flying off his fur. He usually isn’t too keen on the long climb down the pillar, but he literally jumps at it this time. This ape is just too simple.

The city we pass through, I never bothered to learn the name, is starting to fall apart at the seams. There’s rubble all over the place and a number of tier six demons are running wild, causing absolute havoc.

I’ve no idea who the city lord is, they’ve never stuck their nose out when I’ve been passing through, and that continues to be the case now. Whoever they are, they really need to get their act together.

Aside from a pride demon who runs up to challenge Tiny, we make it across the plate without too much trouble so Invidia and I make a platform to take us down the rest of the way.

It’s hard work considering all the extra mass I bring to the table now, but the two of us working together are able to handle it. Once we reach the plains, rather than moving in the opposite direction from where mother encountered the horde, we head straight for it.

[Got an entire stratum full of crazy monsters who want nothing more than a fight. Sounds like a perfect power levelling opportunity to me.]

[A-aren’t there too many of them, Master? Also, there are many tier six monsters as well….]

[Yeah, the three of you couldn’t take on the lot of them by yourselves. I mean, I could.]

Probably.

[So what we’ll do is hit and run. Smash and grab. We dive in, hit the horde as hard as we can, then scadoo out of there as quick as we can. If it looks like they might catch up and tangle us, I’ll drop a gravity bomb to create some space. Sound good?]

them nod in

away your drool,

sheepishly as he drags one thick, furry arm across his face, but the fire in

armour,] I warn him, [if it gets too battered, then we’ll need to pull back and get it repaired. There’s way too many demons that can hit a lot harder

make the glass cannon a little bit harder to crack. His bones have proven to be absurdly strong,

find signs of the hordes' passage. They aren’t bubbling up from the layer below anymore, at least not here, but we catch signs of them in a

It’s on like Donkey-Kong!

pillar and crowded around the base, though it appears they’re leaving

tell the others, [we need to rotate around and hit them from the other side. We can’t retreat toward the Colony, otherwise we’ll just be dragging them back into conflict

bit of wisdom, from me?

arm and physically drag him at one point. The demons are already starting to trail away, looking for a new

about to get one, you

[Alright, Tiny. Get ‘em!]

“AAAAAARRRRRRRRRRR!!!!”

stone-shattering warcry, pounding his chest with his open palms. When he leans forward and smashes

If he gets more than

I’LL GET

and splashes into the stone. A moment later, a wave of slithering shadow flesh is rolling across the plains, three enormous mouths appearing now and again,

Well, that’s horrifying.

keep Tiny alive, but I want you to make sure you get

I ssssshall havessss

you want it,