Chrysalis

[How long will the curious one remain imprisoned within the mouth?]

[Until she's learned not to be a massive pain in my commercial zone.]

A wave of heat washes over me from behind.

[What is this… commercial zone?]

[You know what? Never mind.]

The already sweltering temperatures of the third stratum inch up a couple of degrees as Al literally burns with a level of curiosity that, being honest, I just can't be bothered dealing with right now. All I'd wanted to do is hang out in the demon city and see what they got up to in there. Is that too much to ask? Apparently, yes. I'd kind of expected that things would go wrong, I mean, they tend to. Tiny would get into a fight, or Crinis would accidently mind-control somebody, or Invidia would nab something he shouldn't and then all hell would break loose.

I make it sound as if I'd expected my pets to be the cause of any issues, but I can be honest with myself. I fully expected that I'd be responsible for some kind of drama, be it getting into a fight I shouldn't have, pinching stuff I shouldn't or mind controlling someone. What I didn't expect was a damned hatchling to go freaking crazy on me!

Now the only way we're going to get back into Roklu is at the head of an army. Good thing the Colony is probably going to assault the place in fairly short order. In the meantime, we'll just have to hang out down here, I suppose. Not that it isn't exciting!

[I … dislike this place.]

Al has a distinctly displeased tone to his usually flat and unemotional voice which surprises me enough that I turn around to face him.

[What about it makes you so unhappy?] I ask. [Isn't this the place that you were born?]

The floating eye of fire swings around the plains around us in one irritated swoop.

[All demons are born of the plains. From the moment we emerge from the spawn points we know nothing but a desperate battle to survive, surrounded on all sides by foes. We consume each other until we piece together our sentience, bit by bit as we evolve. Even those who try to escape the fighting and climb the pillar are thrown back down. Until we reach tier six, we aren't considered a real demon.]

[It doesn't sound like a good upbringing at all,] I sympathise, [but isn't life like that for all monsters? Most of my kind are born within the comfort and safety of the nest, surrounded by family, but I personally was born on my own, one of the weakest creatures in the entire Dungeon. It wasn't easy, but I was able to fight my way up to this point.]

The demon eye glitters.

[It is true that most monsters climb up and survive only by fighting for their lives, though some hide and cower in the dark in order to avoid notice.]

Like a certain worm that I know…

[For these reasons, it isn't common for a demon to actually enjoy returning to the plains…]

Fair enough I suppose.

In truth, we are yet to actually arrive at the plains themselves. At the moment we are clinging to the pillar a hundred metres above the ground, looking down on the chaos going on below.

[There really are a lot of them, aren't there?] I say, hesitance clear in my thoughts.

[A never-ending supply. Even if you try, for some mad reason, to purge them all, the spawn rate will increase until the numbers return. This is the natural state of the third stratum.]

[The wave is over isn't it? This is the normal rate for them to appear?]

[This is still higher than normal, but nothing like what it was during the wave. When the wave was at its height, they were several metres deep around here.]

We are referring of course to the heaving carpet of infant demons beneath us. Each of the little creatures, with their dark coloured demon skin, two claws and strangely bulbous bodies fights maniacally against any of their own kind they can reach. Seeing how tightly packed together they are, there are a ton that they can reach. Some are larger than others, and these seem to ignore the smaller ones as much as possible, seeking out others of their own size to fight.

Looking straight down, it's pure chaos, a frenzy of feeding and fighting that just goes on and on as new demons crawl from between cracks in the ground to replace those that have fallen. When I pan my attention across the wider plains, the scene is replicated everywhere I can see, for kilometres and kilometres, in every direction.

[That's an awful lot of Biomass…] I wonder 'aloud'.

[More effort than it's worth to harvest,] Al comments, [not that you or I would gain anything from hunting prey such as these.]

[I wasn't thinking about us…]

I was thinking about potentially hundreds of thousands of little hatchlings who would be more than happy to feast on these demons. Looking over the vast plains and the unending supply of small demons, thousands might not be enough to consume all that I can see. We might need millions…

[May as well get down there...] I sigh and begin the final climb.

When I finally reach the bottom, I tentatively put my first claw down onto the ground, trying to find a gap I can place my leg without squishing any demons in the process. To my surprise, they almost flow away from me, creating space where I won't crush them underfoot. As I bring more legs down, eventually bringing my whole body down onto the ground, the rolling melee continues to shift away so as not to impede me.

[Do they always do that?] I point out the strange phenomenon to Al.

[They will instinctively shift away from those more powerful than them.]

[Weird…]

The giant eye flares in a kind of shrug.

[It is not so surprising. To an infant demon, you are either food for now, or food for later. Anything that is more powerful than themselves is food for later. Better to occupy yourself with the food for now than chase that which you cannot defeat.]

[Huh.]

Tiny drops down onto the ground with a grunt, carefully placing his feet so he doesn't squish any of the smaller creatures, not that he needed to bother, they move aside for him just as they did for me. Just like that, we found ourselves on the plains.

[Sooooooo… what is there to do down here? It's not like you can really go hunting… since there aren't any strong demons about to fight…]

It does seem like this vast wasteland is a bit of a waste of time. Heh. Nothing to hunt but an endless sea of runts? No Biomass, no experience? It's practically valueless to a tier six like me.

[Now you see why we ignore this place,] Al deadpans. [Still, it isn't as if it is completely barren. It is possible to travel to another pillar and find another city which you can investigate. There are also tier fours and fives roaming the plains, though they are generally harder to find. There is also the network of tunnels beneath us that connect to the next layer. Within them, you will find an environment more similar to what you might think of as 'normal Dungeon.' In that region there are rogue demons who have carved out their own portion of territory in the wilds.]

Wait a second.

[You mean the tunnels that connect to the next stratum?]

The eye flares for a moment.

[No. The next layer of the third.]

[You mean there's another place, just like this one, beneath us?! With pillars, and cities and plains?]

[Yes. This is common knowledge.]

Come to think of it, someone might have mentioned that to me in the past… I just… This place is so huge though…

[Okay, so how many layers to the third stratum are there?]