It was only another half a dungeon, not even to the boss, before Centoo reached his threshold.

Centoo has reached level 10!

Stone Centipede threshold 2 attained.

Evolution threshold advancement progress: 2/2

Evolve to Steel Centipede

Evolve to Clay Centipede Evolve to Crystal Centipede Combined Evolution: Cen

Centoo has 1 stat point available.

Centoo has 3 ability points available.

Levi scanned through the options, which were the same as Cen's, except the last button. It wasn't greyed out any more, but the option only raised more questions.

[Combined Evolution: Cen This evolution will combine the creatures together, forming a single entity with a blend of both. The final entity's level will be set to the lowest threshold among its component creatures.]

He hadn't been entirely sure what would qualify for a 'combined' evolution. It might have been combining two evolution options, or, as turned out to be the truth, combining two creatures.

Which brought him to the question at hand: Did he want to combine the centipedes together?

They each had their own role and personality, more or less, but did he really need them both?

"Would you guys be okay with merging together into a single entity?" Levi asked.

The centipedes stared at him blankly. Cen sparkled faintly.

"That's not a very clear answer."

Centoo clicked his blade-legs on the ground hesitantly.

"Well, I don't know what would happen either! It's not like I've done this before."

Cen sparkled more faintly.

"Alright, so you don't want to commit either way. Make it all my decision, will you?"

Cen clicked his mandibles, still sparkling. Centoo edged closer to Levi, leaning his head down until it almost touched Levi's hand. Levi took a step forward, accepting Centoo’s request to be patted, and the giant centipede leaned into his hand like he'd been taking lessons from Becca.

He brought up the evolution prompts for both of them, each having the same ‘combine’ option active.

And… he couldn’t bring himself to do it. Even if the combination could put them on the level of Pierce, even if it might be the ‘best’ option, he didn’t want to.

He’d had Cen and Centoo since near the beginning, his first non-gremlin minions. They were a pair, not a single entity. Levi chuckled faintly and closed the windows.

He still had several levels and at least one more threshold before he’d need to make a decision. Maybe something better would come along. Or maybe it would turn out that they'd be better off combined after all. Either way, it wasn't a choice he felt capable of making right now.

However, there were plenty of choices he could make right now. Starting with Centoo's advancements.

Stone Centipede Abilities

Unstoppable

When in motion, can increase weight on an ongoing basis without losing speed or mobility, steadily increasing damage of attacks and the impact of a charge the longer the centipede is in motion.

Fortify

Defence is significantly enhanced while immobile.

Petrify

All special attacks gain a small chance to petrify or slow the target.

Dazzle

Can temporarily shift protective plating to dazzling crystal, confusing adversaries. Since he'd only taken Overwhelm the first time around, most of the options were the same as in the beginning. Fortify was tanky, but the kind of thing that would be better suited for Pierce who had the sheer volume of size to make it worthwhile.

Petrify wasn't a bad option, especially when combined with an Overwhelm charge, but was it a better option than more Overwhelm?

Levi grinned faintly and pushed Overwhelm all the way up to max. And then dropped the remaining point into Unstoppable. Play to your strengths, right? If they were going to have an ever-increasing team, it would probably be better to have a lot of specialists than a bunch of generalists. True, being able to charge full speed into a group of enemies wasn't going to be universally applicable, especially if it was against a flying swarm type (curse those flying swarms!) but that was what they had Firelord for.

Finally, he dropped the stat point into Spirit. If Centoo was going to be doing long charges with increasing momentum, then it would be preferable that he didn't run out of stamina too quickly.

Centoo: Level 10

Stone Centipede

Strength: 6

Health: 230/230

(+9/min)

Psyche: 0

Mana: 60/60

(+3/min)

Spirit: 4

Stamina: 160/160

(+7/min) Huh. There it was again, the same dramatic jump in health. From 160 to 230 in a single level. So centipedes got an extra fifty health at level 10, same as gremlins. Yet another explanation for how dungeon creatures overpowered humans so easily. They may not get the same bonuses at every threshold that humans did, but Levi wouldn't mind an extra 50 health every ten levels himself. The next few rooms Levi had the others hold back a bit so Centoo and Skarm could show off their new speed and power - and he couldn't deny it was actually rather impressive.

Going from Overwhelm 3 to Overwhelm 5, especially with that Unstoppable thrown into the mix, turned Centoo into something of a centipede-shaped runaway bus. The Nature dungeon's narrow twisty maze halls were eminently well suited to Centoo charging wildly. Nothing could get out of his way unless they already had hideaways in the walls. Skarm clung to his back with his legs, cackling and slashing out with his claws at anything that survived Centoo's initial rush.

And he just didn't stop. Levi had been hoping he could help clear the maze, but watching him relentlessly barrel his way through any opposition, Levi himself barely able to keep up as Centoo got going faster and faster... it was enough to bring a smile to his face and joy to his heart. Who'd have thought watching a giant centipede decimate a dungeon was what was missing in his life?

All too soon, the maze ran out of prickly and slimy occupants to stab, and they had to emerge into wider open rooms with less chance for Centoo to show off, but Cen was perfectly happy to fill in the gap as giant-centipede-of-the-hour.

This next room had been upgraded since their last visit, containing a giant long-legged bird standing on one leg in the center of a completely still pond, grass growing out to the edges of the room and vines covering the walls, pink and silver flowers sprouting from the ceiling, all perfectly reflected in the mirrorlike water.

The bird itself had leathery brownish... scales, really, they couldn't be called feathers, covering its long neck and down its chest. The wings folded across its back were blueish-green and had that rubbery-plant look to them, like aloe stems almost, but broad and overlapping, sticking far enough behind the bird's body that Levi could only imagine its wingspan.

The combination of leafy wings and barklike body would have allowed it to blend into a forest quite easily, but instead it stood in plain sight, head tilted to one side, watching them.

Level 7

(Bladeleaf Heron)

Health 100%

A quick glance around the room didn't uncover any other lurking creatures, but with the amount of greenery covering the walls Levi knew better than to trust appearances. There could be a whole swarm of cactus hares in there, or more slimes.

Centoo charged forward in typical fashion, splashing into the water in a headlong rush, but the pond turned out to be deeper than it looked and momentum alone wasn't enough to overcome the weight of the liquid. His charge didn't come to a stop, exactly, but it did lose enough speed that the bird was able to casually extend its enormous, serrated-edged wings, and flap into the air with plenty of time for Centoo to pass harmlessly below it.

Skarm, on the other hand, was less harmless. Just as they passed under the too-relaxed adversary, he leaped from Centoo's back and slammed his horn straight into the massive heron's bark-scaled chest, digging his claws into its side for good measure.

He wasn't quite large enough to reach its wings, and looked somewhat like a kitten attacking a bear as far as size went, but his attack certainly ruined the heron's attempt at composure. It squawked in irritation and stabbed its vicious beak down at Skarm. The gremlin twisted, the beak skittering with a squeak across his armor instead of penetrating, then with one last claw scratch for good measure dropped to the waiting centipede below to make his escape.

Cen, meanwhile, had been standing at the shore of the lake, waiting. The moment the heron was distracted, he reared up to his full height, turning Dazzle to its full strength,

It was just a regular dungeon creature, after all. Not a boss, not even a midpoint roaming boss like Becca had been. Its resistance to mental effects was very low. It dove at the irritating gremlin beneath, but caught sight of Cen's reflection in the rippling water.

Apparently stun effects could be communicated by mirror, because it stopped its attack, slowly flapping in place for a few seconds, then stiffened and flopped into the water with a dull splash.

Maggie slithered forward into the water, steam rising from her scales as she swam toward the downed heron. Before it recovered, it had been thoroughly wrapped up in magma-snake, stabbed a good few times by various gremlins, and poisoned by Cen's rather smug bite.

Perhaps in a few levels it would have backup, but for the moment it was just one more stepping stone in their advancement.

With this team, he doubted much of anything could stand in their way.