Antvance into the Unknown

9. 80 Achieved

The death of the spider, along with all the ‘cleaning’ my pets and I had done on our journey, is enough to push me to Level 76, tantalisingly close to the goal. I’m keen to get back out hunting for experience, but the remains of the big spider are right in front of us, and I refuse to let Biomass go to waste! This is a tier six monster after all!

The four of us dig in, and a short time later, all signs that the arachnid had been here at all are gone, vanished without a trace. I decide I can spare a little time and explore the rest of the tunnel in which we’d fought. There’s a chance that hideous creature had some good stuff hidden in here, perhaps a Biomass store tucked away in a cupboard, or some cores that we could seize upon. Instead, I find something a little disheartening.

At the end of the tunnel, bundled tight in protective webs, are eggs. Hundreds of eggs. After the Colony had swept through and depopulated the area, it’s clear that the spider mama was determined to re-establish the dominance of her family over the stratum in which we found them. Although it brings me no joy, I can’t allow these spiders to hatch and compete with the Colony… So I get Invidia to destroy them.

I copped out, alright! I don’t want to go around destroying eggs.

With the deed done, I make sure Crinis grabs the core, and we back out into the regular tunnels and start sweeping our way deeper. The longer the wave goes on, the faster the monsters will spawn, and already they’re piling up!

From what I understand after talking to Granin and the others, the Mana never returned to normal levels after the first wave, which is highly unusual. What’s even more unusual is having waves this close together. According to the Shapers, this may point to something rather nasty occurring where we experience a series of waves, each longer and more potent than the last. If that’s the case, the Colony has little choice but to Level up as fast as possible if we’re going to survive. We’ve grown to the point we can handle the second stratum well enough, but what about monsters from the third? Or fourth? If a wave is strong enough, and long enough, then they’re going to get here eventually.

In fact, they’re going to get here right about now.

After burning my way through a mass of tentacled shadow monsters, my pets and I find ourselves standing in a strangely clear section of tunnel that ought to be occupied by fighting monsters. Instead, we’ve come upon signs of a recent battle and the rather obvious remains from some creature messily eating what was left of their foes. Not a great sign. Following the tunnel around a corner, we come face-to-face with the culprit, who strikes me rather immediately as not being a shadow creature.

The monster has four grotesquely muscled limbs that end in hardened, flesh-coloured points. The body is a bloated, constantly writhing mass of pink… something, whilst its head appears to be little but a mouth. It finishes its battle against a large shadow centipede by leaping with incredible speed and landing on all fours, one of the forelimbs spearing the arthropod straight through. Not even waiting for the creature to pass away, the hideous monster shrieks a piercing, rage-filled scream and starts tearing into the centipede with that enormous mouth, its spear-like limbs dug deep into the floor.

What the heck is that thing?

[Invidia, any idea what that is?]

[I do notsssss. I have never ssssseeen it before.]

[Are you sure? It sure as heck doesn’t look like something from this stratum! It must be from the third! That’s your home, isn’t it?]

[I have no memoriesssss of that place… I have no memoriesssss before you reconstituted me.]

Huh. Well, if my memory serves me correctly, a demon isn’t considered fully grown until it reaches tier six, like the eyeball has. So this thing is tier five at most? Yikes. It’s larger than me already, and if I’m not mistaken, it might be able to drive one of those damn pointy hands it has straight through me just like it did to that shadow creature. That’s exactly the sort of weapon best suited to penetrating my diamond carapace!

It’s like a sword versus armour back in the ancient days. Someone wearing plate armour or even chain mail is not going to get cut if you slash them with a blade, they just won’t. If you had a big enough sword, you might be able to bash your way into breaking some bones or getting a cut in, but generally speaking, the way you used a sword against armour was to stab. You puncture through the protective layer by putting the maximum amount of pressure on the smallest point, piercing like a needle. It’s almost as if this damn demon was designed to perforate my precious diamond coating. I won’t allow it!

[Take it down, all! With extreme prejudice!]

Tiny doesn’t need to be told twice, eagerly leaping in as Crinis slinks through the shadows. Not wanting to have the experience stolen from me, I instruct Invidia not to go on the offensive and instead focus on protection and healing duties. For my part, I spam Gravity Bolts in the hopes of slowing it down, keeping one wary eye on each of those four limbs.

The monster screams that piercing, outraged shriek, and every time it shifts its position, the legs rise out of the stone floor and then pierce back through like the ground was jelly. It makes moving a little awkward for the monster since it has to send almost half a limb into the floor before it can find purchase, but it just muscles through the problem and proves remarkably fast as it repositions to meet our assault.

Four against one, big mouth! You haven’t got a hope!

Tiny dances forward, light on his feet with his hands raised, ready to strike. Once he finds his range, he peppers the creature with blindingly fast lefts. The tight, compact punches are so unlike what I’ve gotten used to from the giant ape that I almost stumble in place. Has he ranked up his ape boxing Skill? What is this textbook, orthodox boxing style?

[That’s it, Tiny! Master the left, master the world!]

With each impact of the light exploding from Tiny’s fists, the monster is knocked off-balance and its anger builds to a terrifying crescendo. I don’t think it’s taking much damage from the blizzard of punches, but it’s finding it hard to move out from under the pinning assault.

Not one to back down from an opportunity, I pepper the beast with a few more Gravity Bolts as I close the distance with a Snap Dash, my form blurring from the high-speed manoeuvre. When I’m close enough to engage my Doom Chomp, I notice Crinis’ arrival, a forest of her dark limbs twisting out of the shadows on the floor to wrap themselves around the demon’s legs and beginning to saw away at the tightly packed muscle.

Assaulted from all sides, there isn’t much the poor demon can do to resist as we continuously chomp away at its health. That grotesque mouth constantly snaps and bites, and I almost lose an antenna when it extends its jaw a metre out of its face. Whoever heard of an extendable jaw? What the heck!

Once we finish it off, the experience is enough to push me up another Level.

[You have defeated a Level 31 Iuvenis Avarita Daemon.]

[You have gained XP.]

[You have reached Level 77. One Skill Point awarded.]

Awwww yeah! Three Levels to go, baby! We chomp away at the Biomass, and I take a moment to study the profile, curious to learn more about the demons.

[Iuvenis Avarita Daemon: Young Avarice Demon. Perpetually hungry, always angry, and spoiling for a fight. Beware the destructive power of the hardened flesh spears that tip its limbs.]

An Avarice Demon, huh? Nasty. Once we finish our meal, we scoop the core and continue to hunt, finding a few more of the Avarice Demons prowling the tunnels, crushing everything they find. After we clear out all that we can find over the next four hours, I finally reach my target.

[You have reached Level 80. One Skill Point awarded.]

[Maximum Level reached. You may now use the evolution menu.]

Whoo!