It all started well, as things tended to, in Columbant’s experience. Usually in the middle was where things started to go all the way downhill. They hadn’t reached that moment, but she had plans in place in the event the inevitable happened.

Slither was her stealth specialist, a creation she was incredibly proud of. The slug-like creature sank his body into a shadow, deepening and thickening it. He couldn’t maintain this form indefinitely, so she moved quickly, climbing onto Garg along with Rist.

The powerful beetle-beast settled into the black pocket, her dark carapace blending in beautifully.

[Alright Slither, activate your Stealth aura and let's get out of here. Garg, you know what to do.]

[Yes.]

The big insect became enveloped in the darkness and they made their way out of the hiding place swiftly, climbing up the walls and out into the tunnel above.

A little earth magic was necessary to soundlessly widen the opening, but once they were up, Slither directed them away from the main thoroughfare and they managed to blend into the remote parts of the tunnel. Garg moved swiftly and silently, not something that came naturally to a monster of her size. Purchasing and having her train the Stealth Skill had been the right decision.

You couldn’t fight everything you found when ranging solo. Being flexible was the name of the game for core shapers.

Slither was able to create an oval-shaped patch of darkness around eight metres from end to end, enough space for Garg to fit with room to spare. They crept along the tunnel, Columbant steering her bulky pet with antennae taps on the carapace as they navigated.

There were monsters everywhere, and several times, they nearly stumbled upon a nest or gathering, having to back up and choose another path. Growls, hisses, snapping and cracking could be heard in all directions. This deep in the second stratum, almost every monster was touched with an aspect of death, causing them to be exceptionally lethal. It was impossible to know which monster could apply a touch of death, or how.

[Slither. Care,] she breathed over the mental link. [I sense something coming, we need to hold.]

[Time is short,] he told her.

[Got it. We still have to wait. Let’s hide behind that rock.]

The quartet snuck their way over to the side a little further as the foreboding feeling grew stronger. Even the regular monsters, without the benefits of her senses, were able to detect it. As the seconds ticked past, they became more agitated, scrambling to finish their fights, or escape into a separate area. Several leapt out into the larger tunnel connected to this one that Columbant was heading for, maybe hoping to slide into the smaller paths whose openings dotted the walls.

It wasn’t to be.

There was a sudden rushing sound, followed by a dull CRUNCH. Those desperate monsters were gone in an instant, vanished into the ethereal gullet of the new arrival.

Bones as black as night enveloped in ghostly, translucent flesh, the serpent was a nightmarish vision. For a long moment, it hovered in place, looming over everything with its enormous, elongated body. When no further prey made itself known, the creature once more began to glide forward, soon sliding out of view.

That was far too close, Columbant shivered, that’s exactly where I wanted to go.

She let a few more seconds pass by before she indicated to Slither it was time to move forward. That bright core she had detected was fading away as the ghost serpent found other tunnels in which to feast.

She would dearly love to get her hands on that core, but now was hardly the time to try hunting such a high tier prey. It wasn’t often that she found monsters such as those, ones that had managed to, by luck or design, achieve a powerful core and secure potent evolutions. Such creatures were lords of their own little slices of Dungeon, suppressing everything beneath them until such time as they grew too powerful and needed to descend in order to stay alive.

[Out of time,] Slither gasped.

The shadow returned to normal as her slug pet reformed, sliding out of the ground and into the tunnel. The darkness around them retracted, revealing Garg and her passengers to their surroundings.

Fortunately, not many monsters noticed, or else they were still so intimidated by the recent passer-by that they refused to emerge and challenge them.

[Move, quickly!] she urged the beetle and Garg responded, rushing forward and taking them into the larger tunnel. [Now left, we need to go this way.]

This junction was just one of several they would need to pass if they wanted to make it back to safe ground, and now they found themselves in a major arterial tunnel, much larger and more heavily populated than the one they had left behind.

[Stay together,] she urged her pets.

Getting here without having to fight had been a significant win. They were fresh and ready, without having been tangled in a dozen skirmishes just to get this far. Now they would have to fight, the only question was how long they could put it off.

Not long, as it turned out.

They hadn’t made it far before the hundreds of monsters who had ducked for cover as the serpent came through began to emerge once more. As with all monsters, they had only one thing on their mind, growing stronger! In small packs, or as individuals, they began to hunt and the sounds of combat rang out in all directions once more.

She tried to avoid them, but it was inevitable that they would stumble into something.

Two spine-covered creatures that reeked of death had been hidden beneath a small patch of coral. Their cores were weak, to the point Columbant almost didn’t see them until they were upon them. The monsters leaped from their hiding place, desperate to sting the attackers.

[Garg, use your carapace!] She warned her loyal pet.

The beetle-beast responded instantly, turning to present her massively thick shell to the spines of the monsters, which pierced into the hardened chitin, but failed to penetrate.

[Rist!]

The demon was ahead of her, already directing flames down to sear the two creatures. The spined things took heavy damage, weak to fire as most things in the second stratum were.

To strike the final blow, Slither leapt from the darkness and showered their opponents in thick acid, burning them away.

[Your pet has gained experience. You have received a portion.]

[Expert Pet Commander (III) has reached level eight.]

The fight was over, but the danger hadn’t passed. Columbant swept her senses through the tunnel, waiting to see if any had been drawn closer by the noise.

At first there was nothing, and she began to feel relieved, but then came the slithering hisses and she knew trouble was coming. When wasn’t it?