My pets and I strolled brazenly toward the horde, as if we didn’t' have a care in the world. It was a façade, of course. I was sweating blood on the inside. Not knowing when some ancient mage might choose to drop a thunderstorm on my shiny carapace is a stress inducing state of mind, to say the least. The outward appearance of confidence is what we were searching for in this instance.

Before we got too close, the three of us split up, Tiny and Crinis hung back and moved to either side of me but at a distance. We didn't want another cage scenario to play out with more than one of us in the cage. Since they seemed to be either invisible when they chose, it was possible that the mages were already around us, so we were on high alert.

My every sense was tuned to the maximum. I detected no heat signatures I couldn't explain from nearby, nor did I perceive any ripples from the future. The vast horde was arrayed in front of us, walking towards the location of the village and the colony as they had done for six days already. I knew that on the other side of the mass of creatures the soldiers of the colony were at work, inflicting whatever damage they could. I hope they've been safer since I've been causing havoc back here. I now casualties are inevitable, I know it, but it still hurts know it's happening.

Hopefully after this fight I'll be able to retreat back to the colony along with the rest of my siblings and finalise our preparations.

When I was within twenty metres of the closest monster, I turned to present my business district to my foes and showered them with my justice!

POW! POW! POW! POW!

Four rapid blasts of acid that blasted high into the air before they arced down, scattering in the air and falling across a wide area.

"Roaaaar!"

As soon as it landed, many monsters howled in pain and rage at the sudden attack, and they began to thrash about as they searched for the source of their woe. In this instance, the merciless and mindless nature of the horde came to the fore. Without food to sustain them, the monsters had been forced to rely on consuming each other to gain energy on the long march. For the most part, this meant picking over the Biomass that the colony left behind after raiding and fighting, or picking it out of the spike traps that the workers had left behind.

But ultimately it didn't take much for the horde to turn on a wounded member, almost nothing really. After six days of solid marching, with no human cities or towns to feast on, the monsters were ravenous. So the poor and unfortunate victims of my acid were rather rapidly set upon by their starved neighbours and a quick but violent feeding frenzy commenced.

I'd used this method a few times before, as had the rest of the colony. The damage inflicted on the enemy was high, but no experience was gained since I didn't actually last hit anything. All I wanted to do was draw out my Lizard friends without expending my magic.

The faint tingle that’s coming to me from my antennae seems to indicate that they have taken the bait. They're craft these slave mages, always trying to catch me off guard, distracted or otherwise occupied.

HAH!

Suddenly activating my rank three dash, my body flickered for a moment as I ran forward at almost supernatural speed! Once you get to this rank, the active skills really take on a life of their own!

Severing Bite!

Along with my future sense, the sudden flickering of heat revealed the location of the mage just as they were about to appear. Hoping to get the jump on them for a change I leapt out for the surprise bite attack!

WHAM!

Stupid light barrier! I really want to learn how to cast this thing. At the last possible moment, the barrier sprung into existence around the freshly appeared and very startled Setsulah slave mage. This version of the spell was less of a wall and more of a cocoon that surrounded the mage in protective sphere. I was willing to bet it even went through the ground beneath their feet. As the mage stumbled back and fell onto their backside, I realised it likely wasn't even them who cast that barrier. Perhaps the great Kaarmodo is still looking out for their servants?

If I'm going to get my mandibles onto one of these punks, I'm going to have to pull something out of the hat that I haven't showed them yet. Thankfully, I've got just the thing.

More and more mages appeared around me, their spells already prepared. Tongues of flame lashed towards me but I was already moving, throwing myself to one side and dashing toward another target.

Severing Bite!

CRUNCH!

As the jaws of light that extended from my mandibles sliced down towards my target I was foiled once again by the barrier spell. The blade like bite skill I used connected with the glowing light and attempted to slice through but failed.

Fortunately, we have more than one way to hit a barrier.

From the ground around the mage, tentacles began to emerge and wrap themselves around the light barrier, squeezing it tight. Rather than try and get inside the wall of light, which Crinis had tried and failed to do, this time she was going to try and smash the barrier from the outside.

A dozen tentacles wrapped around the mage, almost completely hiding them from view. The limbs pulsed and flexed as Crinis began to try to rip and tear her way through, the teeth on the inside of her tentacles sawing away at the magic.

I'll leave that one for Crinis! I dashed toward another mage, moving so fast my legs vanished.

CRUNCH!

Another powerful bite slammed down on the mage as fire spells continued to fell in my wake. Another barrier prevented my mandibles from closing down, but I wasn't deterred. Without waiting I rolled to one side and sped away just as Tiny arrived.

Falling from the sky like a collapsing meteor, the giant ape hammered both hands down onto the wall of light that surrounded the startled mage.

BOOM!

The impact was thunderous and fractures spider webbed through the shield instantly. Thankfully for the mage, the spell held and didn't break down, but with the ten foot tall monster staring down at him, I don't think the mage felt particularly secure.

We hadn't run at them like this before and I could tell they were rattled. The spells they cast were erratic and the mages couldn't seem to decide whether to continue the barrage on me or try to protect their fellow slaves.

Not to worry, things are only going to get worse for you!