Levi didn't stop running. He cleared the entrance and leaped out at the truly massive flying crustacean, swords held in overhead stabbing grip.

Level 18

(Roc-Lobster)

Health 92%

The creature had smooth shell coating its head and back, feathers down its chest and wings, and both a set of bird claws and lobster pincers - though the former had chitin plating and the latter the occasional tuft of feathers.

Overall, it was a truly bizarre creature, but one large enough and fast to be suitable for his purposes.

Packrunner was doing a good job keeping himself out of reach of the snapping claws while continuing to claw and bite at his captured wing, but he still hadn't fully recovered from how low his health had been dropped when they tamed him.

Lash had reached them in time for Bolt and Packrunner to leap out and tear the flying lobster's attention away from its intended prey, but his health was still desperately low and his mana all but empty.

With a horrific screech, the lobsteroc turned its claws on the two kalvex in retaliation. They'd done significant damage to its health total even in just that first clash - not a great sign, given how much Levi's plan relied on this creature, but at least it meant this fight should be less desperate.

"Taming, remember!" Levi called even as he flew through the air, blades ready to slam down into the lobsteroc's chitinous back. The Destruction blade sliced through easily, but the Beast sword skittered along the shell with an echoing shriek, leaving a deep gouge but not piercing through.

Not quite as fragile as he'd thought, then. Just not fully armored.

Before he could shift to make another attack, the lobsteroc twisted its eyestalks around to glare back at him, one claw slapping away Packrunner, the other reaching back with impressive dexterity to snatch at Levi's head.

Levi dropped his Destruction attack and slid away, the slick shell aiding him in slipping out of reach before it could crush his head. Up close, the lobster claw was heavily serrated, with four rows of heavy teeth ready to crush him into mincemeat if it got a hold of him.

With another squawk, it jumped into the air, wind bursting out and sending dust flying.

Bolt hadn't let go of its wing, however, and its attempt to escape was short-lived. Unbalanced by the weight of the kalvex hanging from its left side, it veered around in a tight circle before thudding back to the ground.

Irate, it swung its claws on Bolt, but Packrunner and Levi were there to intercept. Packrunner sprang into the air, grabbing the descending arm and shoving it off course with sheer weight and momentum, Levi slashing down with his Destruction sword to carve deep into the claw.

Another burst of wind blasted out, this time focused and targeted directly on Bolt, but the kalvex was far too stubborn to give up so easily.

Level 18

(Roc-Lobster)

Health 49%

Over halfway. Levi doubted they'd end up needing any help from the others at this rate. He doubted they even needed him. By the looks of things, the two kalvex were more than capable of bringing down the lobsteroc between them.

Twice more it tried to break free and regain the advantage of height, but the three of them kept it pinned down, held it to the ground and refused to let it gain the upper wing.

One claw was mangled almost beyond recognition by kalvex gnawing and Levi's stabbing and slashing, its wing thoroughly broken, and its fury grown loud despite remaining utterly ineffective.

Then Lash's mana reached the point where he could cast Controlling Gaze, freezing the flying lobster in place.

After that, it didn't take long at all. The two kalvex obliterated its health long before it could escape Lash's mental attack.

Level 18

(Roc-Lobster)

Health 5%

"Tame," Levi cast, but it seemed even with Lash's mental attack in effect its resistance was enough to hold him off.

That was fine. He had enough mana and stamina to try again.

"Tame."

The fight came to an abrupt halt, and just like that Levi had himself a flying mount.

"That was easy. Good thing only one of them followed you home."

Lash made a big 'can I keep it' face, somehow, his single eye growing wider as his tendrils held together in front of him pleadingly.

"You can already fly, what would you need it for?"

Lash's tendril-waving was as incomprehensible as always.

"I'll think about it once we're done here. Right now, I'm going to need it first, okay?"

Lash considered this a moment before shrugging and floating off to the corner to pout.

Levi very carefully did not roll his eyes at his minion, turning his attention to the new addition to their team.

Level 18

(Roc-Lobster)

Strength: 7

Health: 13/210

(+11/min)

Psyche: 6

Mana: 40/260

(+10/min)

Spirit: 5

Stamina: 41/465

(+9/min)

"Could be worse."

Barely over 200 health though... that was going to make things much more risky than they needed to be.

Next he searched for its growth stats, which... maybe he was just getting too used to the insanity of plus and special cases, but they looked very unimpressive.

Strength: +10 Health, +1 H-Regen Psyche: +15 Mana, +1 M-Regen Spirit: +45 Stamina, +1 S-Regen

Decent stamina gains, so at least it could keep flying for a good while. If he was going to have a fragile flyer he'd rather it have stamina than mana, at least. He wished the harpies were big enough to ride, they had insane amounts of health, but they were too small and easily weighed down.

"Can't have everything. You'll have to be good enough."

He quickly learned that a frestly-tamed lobsteroc wasn't well suited to being flown on. Despite his best attempts he kept sliding off its back, often before it even took off, though by grabbing the edges of the shell around its neck and burning stamina he managed to stay in position through takeoff. Then it tried to turn, at which point his shifting angle and unsteady grip colluded to send him tumbling off onto a wing, destabilizing their flight and forcing an abrupt landing.

A few more abortive attempts and he concluded that riding bareback was not currently an option with the lobsteroc.

"Alright, new plan: Phase 2-B, make a saddle for this guy. Or girl?" He looked up at the reddish-brown bird-lobster in query. Said bird-lobster stared down at him with its eyestalks swiveling to one side. "Eh, not important right now. Skarm, help me measure this out."

By the time the others arrived to help, Levi and Skarm were fully occupied with assessing the new flyer for measuring out its back to see what size of harness he'd need to create in order to fly on its back safely.

Levi paused to look them over, pleased to see everyone was armed and ready for battle. They hadn't just rushed off without thinking. "A bit late, but good response. We've got this under control, so you can go back to what you were doing for now. I need to do some test flights before I can initiate phase three, and we'll meet then right before I go."

That was good enough for most of them. A few of them hung back. Peter and Mark, one of the other tamers they'd rescued, were quite taken with the llobsteroc. Both proclaiming their intentions to get one for themselves.

Levi mostly ignored their discussion, fully absorbed in the question of how best to remain aboard his sleek-shelled monster bird. In the absence of proper leather straps or anything to affix them with, his options were limited. The manasteel chains in the prison cells might have worked, but he'd need a higher crafting proficiency to reforge them properly. He couldn't afford to trust slapdash repairs in such a dangerous environment. Once he set things off, if he fell he died.

Which left the more... organic option.

"Lash? You're up."

Though Levi expected a fight, the soul-seeker didn't resist acting as seatbelt. Lash settled in front of Levi, two tendrils around the lobsteroc's neck, two around Levi, and two more down across their flying mount's feathery chest.

The mighty crustacean raised its feathered wings, took a few quick hops, then pushed up into the air with a heavy thrum that vibrated through Levi's whole body. This time he didn't slide off, Lash holding him firmly in place.

Despite having fought alongside Tamers and Summoners alike - and even one Necromancer - Levi had never been in a position to ride a flying creature. He'd been in planes before the world fell apart, the occasional helicopter before they were all mana-fried, and had jumped off his fair share of high places, but this flight was nothing like any of those.

With Lash's fuzzy tendrils holding him in place, Levi was free to focus on other things. The swooping feeling in his chest as the lobsteroc dove, the echo of its wingbeats, the ground growing distant behind them as they climbed sharply...

It was a different kind of breathtaking, the kind he'd almost forgotten about. Not like a desperate fight, not like the triumph of a close-fought victory. More like the feeling of realizing he was in the past, that he could still save someone. Something unexpected but liberating. Empowering.

The skies were open to him.

"What all do we need before I go?" Levi pondered aloud, as they banked and spiraled downward, then abruptly reversed and flapped hard to regain altitude. He'd already revived Tink, they hadn't lost Firelord, and they had two kalvex more than they'd started the day with. Things were going very well, despite the close calls.

He still couldn't quite forgive himself for losing people already, people who unlike his minions couldn't be brought back, but however he calculated their options he couldn't do this alone. At least not within the time constraints they were working under.

He still needed some crafting supplies to make a proper flight harness. He remembered all too clearly how having a killable minion as part of a mechanism could backfire when things went bad, and as much as he hoped Lash would survive the entire trip his plan couldn't rely on things going exactly as hoped. He needed contingencies if he were going to actually pull this off.

Ideally, he'd like to also get some more restoratives to have to hand. The escape plan would work out much better if he could survive its execution. And if they were going to make a raid on one of the treasure piles anyway.

"I'm going to need Lash." The soul-seeker currently acting as a seatbelt tilted his giant eye up to stare at Levi. "Being able to temporarily paralyze any pursuer that gets close is going to be key. There will be faster flyers out there and I doubt we'll be able to stay ahead of the whole pack without you. Which means we need get you leveled before that. If you're going to be any use once I set things off, we can't rely on getting lucky."

Lash's abilities tended to succeed maybe half the time against the overleveled creatures here, which was much better than nothing, but not reliable enough to depend on. Being behind by a full three thresholds left his power too low. Levi hoped that by pushing him up to level 10, the threshold boost would let him better affect even the level 20 adversaries.

"Well, no time like the present." Levi grinned. "We have air control, and we have a kobold full of fireballs. Let's go pick up Firelord and get Lash his next level."