Chrysalis

The death of the spider, along with all the 'cleaning' my pets and I had done on our journey was enough to push me to level 76, tantalisingly close to the goal. I was keen to get back out and hunting for experience, but the remains of the big spider were right in front of us and I refuse to let Biomass go to waste! This is a tier six monster after all! The four of us dug in and in a short amount of time, all signs that the giant arachnid had been here at all were gone, vanished without a trace. I decide I can spare a little time and explore the rest of the tunnel in which we'd fought. There's a chance that hideous creature had some good stuff hidden in here, perhaps a Biomass store tucked away in a cupboard, or some cores that we could seize upon. Instead, I find something a little disheartening.

At the end of the tunnel, bundled tight in protective webs are eggs. Hundreds of eggs. After the Colony had swept through and depopulated the area, it was clear that the spider mama had been determined to re-establish the dominance of her family over the strata in which we found them. Although it brings me no joy, I can't allow these spiders to hatch and compete with the Colony, so I get Invidia to destroy them.

I copped out, alright?! I didn't want to go around destroying eggs!

With the deed done, I make sure Crinis grabs the core and we back out into the regular tunnels and start sweeping our way deeper. The longer the wave goes on, the faster the monsters will spawn, and already they're piling up quickly! From what I understand after talking to Granin and the others, the mana never returned to 'normal' levels after the first wave, which is something highly unusual. What's even more unusual is having waves this close together. According to the Shapers, this may point to something rather nasty occurring where we experience a series of waves, each longer and more potent than the last. If that's the case, the Colony has little choice but to level up as fast as possible if we're going to survive. We've grown to the point we can handle the second strata well enough, but what about monsters from the third? Or fourth? If a wave is strong enough, and long enough, then they're going to get here eventually.

In fact, they're going to get here right about now.

After burning my way through a mass of tentacled shadow monsters, my pets and I find ourselves standing in a strangely clear section of tunnel that ought to be occupied by more fighting monsters. Instead we can see the signs of recent battle and the rather obvious remains of some creature messily eating what was left of their foes. Not a great sign. Following the tunnel around a corner we come face to face with the culprit, who strikes me rather immediately as not being a shadow creature.

The monster has four grotesquely muscled limbs that each end in a hardened, flesh coloured point. It's body is a bloated, constantly writhing mass of pink … something whilst its head appears to be little but a mouth. As we watch, it finishes its battle against a large shadow centipede by leaping forward with incredible speed and landing on all fours, one of the forelimbs spearing the arthropod straight through. Not even waiting for the creature to pass away, the hideous monster shrieks a piercing, rage filled scream and starts tearing into the centipede with that enormous mouth, its spear-like limbs dug deep into the floor.

What the heck is that thing!?

[Invidia, any idea what the heck that is?]

[I do notsssss. I have never sssssseeen it before.]

[Are you sure? It sure as heck doesn't look like something from this strata! It must be from the third! That's your home isn't it?]

[ have no memoriesssss of that place… I have no memoriessss before you reconstituted me.]

Huh. I guess I hadn't really thought about how Invidia had come to be in the place I fought him. I suppose it makes sense. He was captured by the golgari at the earliest stage of his growth and then reared to meet the exact specifications of the Shapers. If my memory serves me correctly, a demon isn't considered fully down until it reaches tier six, like the eyeball has. So this thing is tier five at most? Yikes. It's larger than me already and if I'm not mistaken it might be able to drive one of those damn pointy hands it has straight through me just like it did to that shadow creature. That's exactly the sort of weapon best suited to penetrating my diamond carapace!

It's like a sword versus armour back in the ancient days. Someone wearing plate armour or even chain mail is not going to get cut if you slash them with a blade, they just won't. If you had a big enough sword you might be able to bash your way into breaking some bones or getting a cut in, but generally speaking, the way you used a sword against armour was to stab. You puncture through the protective layer by putting the maximum amount of pressure on the smallest point, piercing like a needle. It's almost as if this damn demon was designed to perforate my precious diamond coating. I won't allow it!

[Take it down all! With extreme prejudice!]

Tiny didn't need to be told twice, eagerly leaping into the fight as Crinis slunk through the shadows. Not wanted to have the experience stolen from me, I instruct Invidia not to go on the offensive and instead focus on protection and healing duties. For my part, I spam gravity bolts at the monster in the hopes of slowing it down as I gradually close the distance, keeping one wary eye on each of those four limbs. The monster screams that piercing, outraged shriek when it notices us engaging with it and turns to face us. It moves on all fours and every time it shifts its position those legs rise out of the stone floor of the tunnel and then pierce back through it like it was jelly. It makes moving a little awkward for the monster since it has to send almost half of a limb into the floor before it can find purchase, but it appears to just muscle through the problem and is remarkably fast as it repositions to meet our assault.

Four against one, big mouth! You haven't got hope!

Tiny dances forward, light on his feet with his hands raised ready to strike. Once he finds his range, he starts peppering the creature with blindingly fast lefts. The tight, compact punches are so unlike what I've gotten used to from the giant ape that I almost stumble in place. Has he ranked up his ape boxing skill? What is this textbook orthodox boxing style?

[That's it Tiny! Master the left, master the world!]

With each impact of the light exploding from Tiny's hands, the monster is knocked off balance and its anger builds to a terrifying crescendo. I don't think it's taking much damage from the blizzard of punches, but it's finding it hard to move out from under the pinning assault. Not one to back down from an opportunity, I pepper the beast with a few more gravity bolts as I close the distance with a flicker dash, my form blurring from the high speed manoeuvre. When I'm close enough to engage my Doom Chomp I notice that Crinis has also arrived, a forest of her dark limbs twisting out of the shadows on the floor to wrap themselves around the demon's legs and begin to saw away at the tightly packed muscle.

Assaulted from all sides in this way, there isn't much the poor demon can do to resist as we continuously chomp away at its health. That grotesque mouth snaps and bites at us constantly and I almost lose an antennae when it suddenly extends its jaw a metre out of its face. Whoever heard of an extendable jaw?! What the heck! Soon enough we finish it off and the experience is enough to push me up another level.

[You have slain level 31 Luvenis Avarita Daemon]

[You have gained experience.]

[You have reached level 77. One skill point awarded.]

Awwww yeah! Three levels to go baby! We chomp away at the Biomass and I take a quick moment to study the profile, curious to learn more about the demons.

[Iuvenis Avarita Daemon: Young Avarice Demon. Perpetually hungry, always angry and spoiling for a fight. Beware the destructive power of the hardened flesh spears that tip its limbs].

An Avarice Demon huh? Nasty. Once we finish our meal, we scoop the core and continue to hunt, finding a few more of the Avarice demons prowling the tunnels, crushing everything that they find. After we clear out all that we can find over the next four hours, I finally reach my target.

[You have reached level 80. One skill point awarded.]

[Maximum level reached. You may now use the evolution menu.]

Whoo!