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?]

The three of them nod in agreement.

[Tiny, wipe away your drool, man, that’s disgusting.]

He grins a little sheepishly as he drags one thick, furry arm across his face, but the fire in his eyes never goes away.

[Keep an eye on the condition of your 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 than you can take, so watch out.]

His current suit isn’t as complete as what he was wearing before, but it still gives a lot of protection to his chest, upper arms and neck. Anything to make the glass cannon a little bit harder to crack. His bones have proven to be absurdly strong, which is a win, since he doesn’t mind blocking a lot of shots with his face. That skull has had a workout since his last evolution.

With that, we set out across the plains, and it isn’t long until we 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 nearby city. When the pillar emerges from the darkness, we can see the fires burning, smoke billowing into the ash-filled sky.

It’s on like Donkey-Kong!

We rush forward to find the demons still all over the pillar and crowded around the base, though it appears they’re leaving rather than coming.

[Hold up,] I 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 with the family.]

A little bit of wisdom, from me? Gweheheh. I mature!

So we circle around, although I have to latch my mandibles around Tiny’s arm and physically drag him at one point. The demons are already starting to trail away, looking for a new fight.

You’re about to get one, you poor, poor idiots.

[Alright, Tiny. Get ‘em!]

“AAAAAARRRRRRRRRRR!!!!”

The massive gorilla, unable to contain himself any longer, unleashes a stone-shattering warcry, pounding his chest with his open palms. When he leans forward and smashes the ground with his fists, propelling himself forward, I swear I hear thunder.

[Go on, Crinis. If he gets more than you, I’ll be disappointed!]

[AHHH! I’LL GET ALL OF THEM!]

Crinis dives off my carapace 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, gnashing at the air.

Well, that’s horrifying.

[Do your best to keep Tiny alive, but I want you to make sure you get your share of experience, alright?] I tell Invidia, who remains hovering by my side.

[Your praissssse. I ssssshall havessss it!]

[Anytime you want it, you got it.]

With a green glitter in that giant eye, he turns and begins to flutter his way over to the fight. Tiny has already arrived, and the big lug’s roar almost sounds like laughter as repeated detonations and flashes of lightning explode in the distance.

This should be fun to watch.

I try to stay close and continue to work on my new Skills and abilities, testing my gravity magic and Altar out. I have to be a little sparing with the Altar, though, since there aren’t nearly as many ants in range down here. I mean, there’s still a ton, I can get all of them from the nest under Roklu, pretty much, but all the surrounding nests are well out of range. Occasionally, I yoink a bit of Biomass during the fight while keeping myself out of harm's way. I’m not here for experience, after all.

My three friends tear into the demons like forces of nature. Each of the three is a peak-performance creature, perfect mutations and evolutions straight down the line, with high-rank Skills to boot. Experienced in fighting together and with complementary abilities, they battle like a well-oiled machine.

So overwhelming is their assault that the demons don’t manage to even lay a claw on them for several minutes of fighting. Crinis’ ability to seek out juicy targets and turn them against their allies causes absolute chaos within the horde, and the big-hitting Tiny and Invidia have all the room they need to go to work.

I almost feel sorry for the demons, but eventually, the weight of numbers wins out.

[Retreat!] I bark at them. [That’s an order, Tiny! No stupid stuff today. Crinis and Invidia, grab onto Tiny and let’s get the heck out of here.]

They do as asked and the gorilla zooms past me, bleeding from several cuts and grinning like a lunatic.

The demons rush towards me, minds gone, desperate to kill.

Gravity Bomb!

HOOOOOOOOOWL!

Not like I’d give them a chance. See you soon, horde. We’ll do it all over again!