Chrysalis

Sometimes, a horde just gets out of control. It can happen to anyone, who am I to judge? Call in the professional barber service, give a little snip here, a little snip there, and voila! Your rampaging army of feral demons is suddenly that much more manageable.

We've cycled through assaults on the horde four times now, and it's honestly a bit of a laugh. There's no coordination amongst them, and they aren't quick enough to catch us when we try to run, especially not when I drop a gravity bomb on the frontrunners.

Now, there's no need to fear. I know that this isn't the majority of the demon army, or even a significant percentage. If it were, there would be tier eight demons trying to stomp on my head.

Where are the rest of them? No idea! But while this group is out here going wild, we may as well do our bit to reduce their numbers.

[How are you doing, Tiny? Ready to go again?]

He gives me a grin and a confident thumbs up. I'd expect nothing less from him. In fact, why the heck do I bother asking? If he had no legs and only one arm, he'd still give me a grin and a confident thumbs up!

[Invidia, how's the mana situation? Make sure you don't run low.]

[I am taking it allssss,] he tells me smugly.

Of course you are, I'm letting you recharge your core from the ambient mana, you eye-goof. Well, he's performed admirably so far, I won't begrudge him his little triumphs.

[Crinis, how's the shadow flesh stocks? No need to recharge?]

[I'm ready to go, Master!]

[Excellent. Make sure you eat at least a few of them every time we go in. It's important you keep yourself topped off. All right then, let's go get 'em!]

And we're off! With an explosive upper-cut, Tiny blows the top off the impromptu burrow we've been hiding in and we emerge to find the horde has moved yet again during our down time. They found a second city not that long ago, and we hit them twice during their assault. Now it appears they've moved on. Not to worry! Tracking a giant army of crazed demons isn't as hard as it sounds.

Just follow the obvious trail of wanton destruction!

It's a little depressing, though. When we do finally catch up with them, it appears as though they've managed to replenish their numbers from the city that they smashed. Clearly, the frenzied assault is followed by a vigorous recruitment drive. Hopefully, there weren't too many non-demons in that city.

I imagine there's a whole lot of folks taking gates and getting the heck out of here. Which is exactly what Arconidem is looking for, I suppose. If he thinks the Colony is going to up and leave, he's got another think coming!

[Right, now that we've caught up, go get 'em!]

Aaaand they're off!

Tiny in the lead, Tiny rounding the bend in first place, and it's Tiny taking the prize! What's he won? The opportunity to pound an entire army into submission, of course!

Not that these demons are likely to submit. I don't know what it is that their 'god' is doing to them, but they have gone completely loco. The intelligent, obsession-focused monsters are gone, replaced by these slavering hounds, desperate to enact his will. It's depressing if I'm honest. The demons might be a bit nuts most of the time, but I like them. They're weird.

Ah well. I entertain myself as usual, keeping to the background, grabbing some snackage when I get the chance while my three friends go absolutely nuts on these demons. As long as they operate at full firepower, it's too hard for the demons to surround them, but obviously, they can't maintain it for that long, hence our need to retreat.

I mean, I wish they were strong enough to fight an entire army by themselves, that would be awesome! Maybe after they've evolved….

Alright then.

[Just about time, guys. You've got about a minute left, then we'll retreat that way, through that other army over there.]

Nice.

Wait….

Something seems off about what I just said. The time? No, that's right, one minute remaining. Hmmm.

Ohhhh, the army. The second army.

When the blazing heck did they get there?!

[Holy moly, guys! Change of plans, we need to run… somewhere else. Uh, that way! Get cracking! I don't care if you have thirty seconds left, Tiny! Get moving, NOW!]

Ordered directly, they don't have any choice but to comply, rushing off between the two armies as they move toward each other.

Guess I'm going to have to be the bait to give them a little time to get ahead of the curve. I can manage that, this seems like as good an opportunity as I'm likely to find for a little testing.

Gravity mana flows from the gland deep within my carapace. A trickle that rapidly grows into a now familiar flood that curves and swirls down on itself to form my most devastating spell.

I've been flinging out pretty weak ones during our hit-and-run escapes. There's no need to go nuts after all. But with a second horde running at us, I think this moment calls for something a little more… spectacular. Condensing the mana as I go, I pack more and more in, letting my sub-minds take over my legs and running me away as I focus the bulk of my attention on cramming as much as I can into this spell. At the pace I'm working, it doesn't take long until I've got quite a potent bomb ready to go, and rather than force every drop of mana I can into it, I let it fly.

Only after triggering the Altar, of course. This should be interesting.

HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWL!