BOOM!
She angrily thrashed her tail, sweeping away a swathe of the forest in one moment.
The human had been incredibly strong. Their duel lasted hours until finally one of her arms had been smote from her body, the grievous wound forcing her to flee. Even worse, that hungering axe had cursed her flesh, inflicting an unending agony and preventing the limb from growing back.
Even now, many years later, the effect of the curse still lingered. A dull ache that refused to fade. The arm was still not completely healed, despite enormous efforts.
Her children watched her from a distance. She could feel them, hesitating to draw closer as they knew the danger of being caught within range of her jaws when the rage struck her. Unable to fight, tormented by the constant tugging at her core, she’d started to raise these children in earnest. An army to help her break the blockade and make her way deeper into the Dungeon at last.
Carefully, she’d nurtured the first generations, then allowed her children to roam free, letting the strong feast on the weaker monsters in the upper layers before returning to join the ranks of her army.
She had been prepared to wait. Wait until the tide of her crocodilic children was overwhelming before storming the black shirts and tearing them to pieces.
But the wave happened. The Mana surged, easing the painful drain on her core. Higher and higher she could rise in the Dungeon until she was close enough to the surface to direct her children out of the Dungeon to annihilate the cities of the humans that barred her way for so long.
The thought of those people crushed and consumed by her children filled her with glee. She wondered if the black shirts down below knew what she’d done? Did they cry? Gnash their teeth and weep with rage?
She hoped so.
Vaguely, a part of her wondered if she should feel any sorrow for the thousands she killed. Perhaps once, she might have.
When Garralosh tried, when she reached far back into the depths of her mind, she could remember a time when she wasn’t a creature of the Dungeon. She’d been something else, soft and pink, vulnerable and weak.
She could no longer remember if those memories were dream or reality. There were only vague memories of her first years in the Dungeon. The fear, the terror, the sheer exhilaration.
But even those fractured memories, of a softer world and a different her, they didn’t feel peaceful. Recollections of blood and her hand, without claws, but with a knife.
Garralosh shifted her weight slightly, then levered herself onto her feet.
Whatever she had been before, whatever she was now, she was extremely confident of one thing.
She had always been a monster.
GRRRRRRRROOOOWLLLLL!
The rumbling of air through her throat caused the trees to shake and the rock to crack. She turned to where her strongest children had been widening the tunnel for her. She could barely fit now, but it would be enough.
With a surge of Mana and her powerful strength, she rushed forward, every step carving huge gashes into the stone beneath her feet. The ground itself trembled, and she rushed past her gathered children, into the tunnel and then up.
The Mana had grown high enough now, impossibly high. Enough to open the surface to her, where she could see the ruined cities for herself. She would crush everything she found and devour the humans whole until their bodies quenched her hunger for vengeance. She would rampage and kill, harry and hunt until the cursed black soldiers abandoned their posts and rushed to stop her. Then she would destroy them. Feast on their remains, and finally, finally, she would answer the call and descend to join the Ancients.
Her lips drew back from her obsidian teeth in a crocodilic grin.
She would claim her rightful place at last.
6. Organise
Checking over my new mutations, I have to say I’m looking rather impressive. I’m particularly impressed with the coverage of my Diamond Carapace. The diamond coating is spreading further and penetrating deeper into my carapace, which is excellent. Not just because it’s shiny! Although I am looking delightfully sparkly. No, no, the hardness of the diamond, combined with my own carapace, which grows tougher with every +1, is adding up to some impressive protection.
I flex my mandibles, pleased with the feeling of strength and savagery I feel from them. The upgrade to +15 has made them longer, and they still look impressively sharp and barbed. They’ll do some serious damage when I clamp onto something, even if I’m not channelling Mana into them. This will be a good fusion. I’ll have a more powerful bite without using Mana, and an even spicier one when I do.
My legs are feeling good and responsive, the energy flowing through them is pouring into my core, giving me that slight buzz one gets from being over caffeinated. Naturally, a good chunk of that Mana is flowing into the Gravity Mana Gland to be converted, filling up that vastly increased capacity. Just thinking about the Gravity Bomb I’ll be able to launch with all of this juice is enough to give me shivers. Fingers crossed my fused cortex mutations are enough to give me the control needed to handle all that spice.
Going forward, I’ve got a lot of mutating that I need to get done if I want to try and perfect my body. At the very least, I’m pleased to be able to push my strength forward. Every little +1 I can tack on adds to the performance of the organ overall. It’s easy to get side-tracked by the big-ticket choices every +5, but even without those, a +10 carapace would be much tougher than a +1.
Looking at my numbers, I can’t say I’m not more than a little impressed with myself. Even getting a single body part to +5 was a massive achievement not that long ago, and look at me now! Gwehehehe. In the future, who knows how far I’ll go.
Overall, I’m super pleased with how it all turned out, but now that it’s done, there’s a ton of other things that need to be dealt with right now.
Sighing inside, I shift to another part of the cave to decide on my next moves. Tiny looks across at me before settling himself back into guard position.
Suddenly one of his hands lash out and smashes into the wall of the chamber, crushing a monster just as it was emerging from the stone. Without changing expression, the big ape grabs the Biomass in one hand, shoves it into his mouth, and repositions himself on the other side of the room. He must have developed a method for sensing where the next monster will emerge from and when, because he’s gotten so damn good at being ready for it.
Not that I’m complaining. I can sense them perfectly well with my heat detecting antennae, but I don’t want to spend my time cleaning up these small-fry.
There’s a heck of a lot more work to do. I think the next cab off the rank will be sorting out the humans. Let’s get onto that and get it out of the way. After that, I have a list of things I want to complete regarding the setup of the nest in order to prepare for the next generation, and then I need to get onto my Skills training!
Phew… So busy.
7. Getting Down to Work
Time to get down to work and tackle this long laundry list of things to do.
I put Crinis on guard duty and take Tiny topside. The first order of business is to lend our muscle to the villagers as they struggle to make space for the growing number of refugees.
With Tiny’s significant physical prowess, we’re able to fell trees and clear a wider area for the villagers to use. My own expertise in digging is also put to good use. Flattening out terrain, digging foundations for a few larger buildings, and my supreme +15 Mandibles are tested for the first time cutting stone.