Chrysalis

When I hear that deep, taunting voice emanating from somewhere within the demon I almost reflexively start spinning together a mind bridge, my automatic reaction whenever someone speaks to me whom I can't talk back with naturally. In only a few seconds the connection snaps into place and the demon pauses for a moment, bringing its horrific face to align with me.

[A smart bug? How interesting!]

The mind of the demon is as repellent as its voice. There is a roiling sense of frenetic energy and desperate need hidden beneath an oil slick surface of grease. Every thought I brush against seems to stick to me like a rancid smell. Needless to say, its deeply unpleasant. Talking to Invidia is nothing like this, he may be a single minded little eyeball but there isn't this terrible sense of otherness to him. Is this the difference between a demon raised in captivity and one raised in the wild?

[Who are you calling an ant, ugly?] I retort, snapping my mandibles in anger, [what's your deal anyway? I thought only the weaklings were climbing up here, what business do you have poking your gross face about?]

The demon takes slow steps forward as it leers at me, another spear-like tongue drooping out of the central mouth, swaying with its movement.

[You address me, bug? It's not often the food talks back. Will you struggle? Will you writhe and scream for me? Are you delicious? The city is ever hungry and you might be the morsel they are looking for.]

Just. Gross. The novelty of finding another monster smart enough to converse, and the wealth of information that it might hold are almost not enough for me to resist cutting the connection. This thing has such an alien way of thinking that exchanging words with it is almost enough on its own to make me sick.

[You want to eat me demon? Are you sure you won't become food yourself? How about you step back and we have a little chat before you do something you'll regret? Tell me a little about this city, where might it be found, for example?]

Despite having a circular mouth, I can tell that the demon is grinning as that barbed tongue lolls out of its mouth.

[Anga plays with food, but Anga does not discuss with food. If you want answers, come and take them, little bug.]

It has a name? Before I can get my thoughts together to try and keep communicating, the beast cuts the mind link itself, the feedback making me flinch for a crucial moment. A cruel gleam flashes in the creatures eyes, ringed around its terrible mouth, and in that moment of weakness it stretches forward one of its arms and blasts its spear-tongue at me. Even with my mind rattled, my antennae do their work and I sense the projectile a moment before it is even released. Nerves across my body fire in synch, sending my large frame sliding to one side and causing the spear to merely graze the side of my carapace before embedding itself more than two feet into the stone behind me.

Yikes! Even though it was just a graze, I can tell that the tongue managed to scrape off a layer of my precious diamond carapace. A direct hit might not go straight through, but it would surely hurt! Quick as flash, I turn my head and attempt to snap my mandibles down on the trailing, fleshy cord that connects the spear back to the monster's mouth. It's a disgusting, sinewy connection of pale meat and I really would rather not bite, but robbing Mr Anga of one of his primary weapons seems like the sensible play.

CHOMP!

My eyes almost boggle out of my head as the tongue flexes and twists away from my mandibles, avoiding by bite my centimetres. Are you telling me the whole thing is prehensile?! It can move and bend the whole way along its length? Before I can get a chance to bite again, the whole tongue grows taut and in a flash is wound back into the huge demons mouth.

Tiny Crinis, Invidia and the twenty guards continue to battle around me, fending off the barrage of demons who still make their way up from below, but my eyes are fixated on this nasty specimen, the other monsters fading into the background. The others will be able to deal without me for a while at least, but I'm the only one who can go toe to toe with this guy, I can tell. This here is a fully grown demon, like Invidia. When I use mana sense to get a touch of his core, I can tell that it's a touch stronger than mine, which means it's almost definitely in tier six.

I waggle my antennae mockingly at the demon and clack my mandibles to let him know what I think of his surprise attack and in response another two of the spear like tongues appear, one dangling from each arm-mouth. To my disgust, the display doesn't stop there, as each of the beasts three tongues extends out further, twisting through the air until each of them has risen above the height of my head, arched down to point at me like arrows ready to fire.

Well, that certainly is unpleasant.

I set my legs and not a moment too soon as my antennae fire a warning and my body reacts before I can even think.

BOOM!

And again!

BOOM! BOOM!

First one, then the other two spear-like tongues launch in my direction with almost no speed lost due to being extended out of the demon's mouths. I dodge the first one cleanly, but the moment my opponent sees which direction I've dodge to, the other tongues fire, bending through the air to home on my position as I move. Only by leaping at the last second do I avoid getting skewered, though the second and third strikes grate against my carapace, once again carving a groove in my beautiful shell.

My sub-minds are working overtime, trying to make use of the air mana they've already accumulated and before I land they fire off two wind blades that slash outward, almost invisible to the naked eye. Once again the demon attempts to flex its tongues, bending them to avoid my spells, but the wide arc of the wind blade is much harder to avoid and both of them strike into the tongue, cutting it, but not deeply.

CLACK! CLACK!

As I land back on my legs I once more taunt Anga with my mandibles. Not responding to my efforts, the demon continues to slowly advance, retracting its tongues closer to its body and letting the spear tips hover over its head. Despite the first two exchanges going in my favour, my opponent doesn't seem rushed, quite the opposite. I can almost feel a horrible sense of glee rising from the creature as it continues to narrow the distance between us.

POW! POW! POW!

Unwilling to let him narrow the gap for free, I rapid-fire a series of acid blasts whilst also using my main mind to spin together a few gravity bolts, drawing them out and weaving them together in record time. Anga makes no attempt to dodge any of this, the acid connecting with his tar-like covering and sizzling madly. Likewise the spells strike the demon without him showing any reaction at all, simply continuing his ponderous advance. Not even bothering to dodge? Where does the confidence come from?

Suddenly, a sensation of dizziness rolls over me and my legs shake, overcome by a sense of weakness. I stumble to one side and the moment I do, my antennae ring loud with warning. He's about to fire again!