Chrysalis

Chapter 1040: Frantic

I skitter out of the way just before the ball of roiling flames detonates in a furious roar, scorching me on the back-zone rather badly. Despite sensing it coming, and despite using my empowered dash to basically teleport a hundred metres, I still got burned. That was one big kaboom.

Using the dextrous aim of my nozzle, I keep firing acid at Pyrixan to keep the pressure on her as I size up against Torrifex who looks like he’s positively boiling beneath his skin.

A steady stream of heavy-duty stone spears still zips through the air toward him, but he’s countered by enacting some variety of fire domain. As the spears draw closer to him, they twist, melt and warp, deflecting them from their path. He does occasionally get splattered with molten rock, but he doesn’t seem to care.

Might need to rethink the stone strategy.

[Your life ends here, little worm!]

[You really need to learn the difference between invertebrates. Especially when you stand in the presence of the strongest kind there is!]

No matter how you slice the pie, ants are the king, or more appropriately, queen of the insect kingdom. Other bugs, to ants, are just food. After all this time running around on the third and seeing the demons swarming as they have, they are seriously starting to feel like bugs to me.

Torrifex rushes towards me, his huge frame displacing so much air his appearance warps, four savagely clawed arms cutting down at once.

Four separate sets of slashes formed by his Skill slice through the air towards me. At the point they meet, I can feel an indomitable might, as if the power from all four slashes has been concentrated directly at that point.

Luckily, my antennae are on the job and I had an inkling this was coming a moment before it did.

My nervous system fires with impossible speed and I’m moving the second the big demon’s arms are moving forward, dodging to the right. As the cuts whip past me, they carve huge chunks out of the stone, digging a furrow as they travel, as if the rock wasn’t even there.

I need to retaliate, but I have to be mindful of my resources. Everytime I get a good angle, I unleash a fresh blast of acid at Pyrixan, but she continues to sit still and pump out ash like a Victorian factory. Can we get some air quality controls in here?! Sheesh!

If she manages to reach a critical mass of ash, there won’t be much I can do to slow her down. From what I can see, she can manipulate the stuff at will, which means she could chase me down and surround me unless I get far enough out of her range.

But I can’t devote the time I need to prevent her manufacturing process because I’ve got Torrifex, a massive, unstoppable demon, up in my grille, literally trying to grill me.

Thinking quick, I pressurise as much water mana as I can before I unleash a torrential jet of water at the huge demon. The second it touches his fire domain, the water evaporates, but I continue to pour it on.

Soon enough, vast clouds of steam are billowing out everywhere, blocking my view of the target.

But he can’t see me either, for the moment at least. Time to get Pyrixan!

I turn and dash, rushing the weird Ash-demon with my mandibles peeled back for another chomp. I’ve got a tiny window here, so I need to make the most of it.

VOID CHOMP!

Empowered by the altar, the chomp is once again ridiculously overpowered, but my stock of altar juice is really starting to run low. Even mutated to this point, it can’t keep up with the demands of these high level Skills, especially when it isn’t getting refilled!

No matter. If I unleash all of my altar power, I refuse to believe it won’t have an effect!

Surrounded by a growing mound of acid-coated ash, Pyrixan almost appears to have put down roots. She glares at me with her many eyes, but I’m resistant to her ire. What I’m not resistant to is the aura of destruction that emanates from her. Even without her ash cloud, it’s eating away at me!

Thankfully, my body is composed of seriously dense materials. It’s going to take you a while to chew through this carapace!

With a devastating roar, my mandibles slam shut once more, and I can tell she felt it that time. Without the same coverage from her cloud, she wasn’t able to block all of the ridiculous amount of force my chomp applied.

Stone shatters and the floor beneath us buckles under the pressure as the almighty void chomp is unleashed, and Pyrixan reels back. That hurt her!

Unfortunately, this next bit is going to hurt me….

Like a bat out of Hades, Torrifex streaks out of the steam, smoke trailing behind him and a look of pure rage twisting his face. Although, it has to be said, he looks super mad pretty much all the time. This guy needs a massage or something.

I sensed him coming, of course, but I had to commit to putting the hurt on Pyrixan while I had an opening. Looks like I’m going to have to take a hit in exchange.

Sigh.

Once again, his four arms slash, this time directly onto my carapace. I do everything I can to minimise the damage, shifting the angle of impact to maximise my defence, dodging at the last possible second, even using a smidge of force mana to shield from the blow.

It doesn’t help much.

Pain explodes in my side as I’m sent reeling through the air. Like an ant-shaped missile, I’m blasted away, flying hundreds of metres before I slam into a stone pillar, sending showers of stone and dust flying.

Holy moly! He just embedded me into the side of a mountain! Who does he think he is? Godzilla!?

Legs waggling, I pry myself out from the rock and drop down the plains below before I dash back toward the fight. I can’t leave Al there by himself. He’s been one on one with Somonax all this time, and as much as I’d like to believe he’s holding his own, I really don’t think that’s the case.

My side aches fiercely and I don’t hesitate to activate my healing gland to repair the damage.

It’s not super easy to look at the side of my body, but I can tell he managed to crack the gravity compressed diamond, a super impressive feat. If I’d skimped out and opted for a cheaper material, I may well have been cut in half in that moment.

Viva the spending!