I don't know what’s up with these demons, but they are seriously feeling themselves at the moment. Every now and again, we’ll be out on the plains and some tier five Stab Demon will come sprinting at me from out of nowhere, leap ten metres in the air and come crashing down like a spear from the heavens… only to bounce off my carapace without me noticing.

Where is your sense of self preservation, idiot?! Life is precious, a miracle of mana and coincidence, don’t waste it like this. Alas, monstrous life is as cheap as it gets on the third, and the price is currently crashing through the floor. In fact, I’d go further. It crashed through the floor, through the basement and burrowed deep into the earth where it found a portal to a new reality, the EvenDeeperVerse, where it continues to plunge to new, mind-bending levels of depth.

The spawn rate for demon larvae is getting so out of control, they’re starting to scrape the bottom of my carapace when I walk over them. Usually this happens when one of the vicious little stabbers jumps too high, not from being stacked on top of each other!

The vastly increased number of larvae of course means a vastly increased number of higher tier demons roaming the plains. They hunt each other, or, if feeling particularly full of themselves, have a go at passing Mythic Monsters.

But something else weird is happening as well. Something I haven’t seen before.

[Over there, Master. Another group.]

[Where?]

[Tiny is pointing at them.]

[Ah, so he is.]

Hmmm.

[It’s still odd, no matter how many times I see it.]

[It is unusual, Master.]

[What do you think about it, Invidia? These are, at some level, your people after all.]

The eyeball blinks once, twice.

[It issss unnaturalssss,] he says with some distaste.

Oho. An usual amount of feeling was put into that, and he didn’t even demand something! My boy is growing up. I feel a tap on my carapace and notice Tiny has sidled up to me and poked me on the side.

What is it? What does he want?

[Do you… want me to ask your opinion as well?]

The giant bat-faced gorilla shrugs one massive shoulder nonchalantly, but I can see his ears twitching in excitement. Ho boy. This is going to be good.

[Alright then, what do you think about it, Tiny?]

At being addressed with the question, he snaps his attention to me, a serious expression plastered on his face. He narrows his eyes and nods slowly, just the once.

[Odd,] he declares.

Then gives me a solemn thumbs up.

[Thanks, buddy. I really appreciate it.]

Still with his large thumb jutting proudly into the air, he nods again, pats me on the back and steps to the side. The air coming off him is insufferably smug, as if he just achieved something incredible.

I want to say something, but I can’t bring myself to puncture this moment for him.

I’ve no idea what’s going on in the pea-seed brain of yours Tiny, but, good for you.

The source of our confusion roams the plains in the middle-distance, a pack of tier five demons going absolutely wild on everything they see. This is extremely unusual behaviour for demons out on the plains. They’re solitary hunters, preying on each other until they reach tier six, at which point they gain true sentience and seek out a city to take them in. Here we see a gathering that breaks that pattern. These demons should be trying to slice each other's faces off, but instead, they’re out here pallin’ around!

It’s not natural.

And this isn’t the first time we’ve seen this lately either. Ever since we broke off the assault on that demon horde, we’ve been creeping about hunting while looking for another horde to take bites out of and this stuff keeps happening.

My feeling is that these demons have become possessed by the will of Arconidem and are acting against their own natures. Should they come across a horde, they’ll probably join it immediately.

Which leads me to a scary thought.

[So if these guys meet up with others who’ve banded together, just like they have, in order to do whatever the Ancient goonball wants them to do… will they just group together?]

[... Most likely, Master.]

[Does that mean hordes of demons can just form… out of the blue? Like, if enough of them get together, that’s just a brand new horde that hasn’t come into contact with any of the others.]

[... right.]

[Well… nards.]

So even if we smash every horde, kill the tier eights, and scatter the demon uprising to the winds… it’ll never actually be over until Arconidem either catches these mandibles, or goes back to sleep? Things are going to get so much worse around here, aren’t they?

[Well, let’s go smash this group before they get into any mischief and then be on our way.]

Putting down a mob of tier five demons doesn’t take long for the three pets to achieve. They are the crème de la crème of tier six monsters, after all. Strong Skills, excellent evolutions and potent mutations. They’ll probably be stronger than me after they evolve, which will allow me to kick back and relax while they do all the hard work.

I mean, that’s not what I’m aiming for or anything….

[Right, then, off we go! There has to be another horde around here somewhere.]

We set off again around the plains, trying to stay close to the area beneath the Colony’s territory. I don’t want to wander too far away in case they need me, and I certainly want to notice if one of the tier eights comes up and tries to go higher.

If I can intercept them here, then that’s going to be the best scenario. Still in range for the Vestibule and without other ants nearby for them to threaten.

So we set off, the larvae continuing their eternal battle beneath our feet as they scatter out of the way, then roll back to cover the ground after we pass by.

Sure enough, we do find another horde not far away.

[I can sense some strong cores out there,] I warn the others, [so let’s be a little cautious.]

Not strong enough to be tier eight, but there may be a few sevens in this group. This could be interesting!