I returned to Rhannu’s form in his terrarium, and peeked through the portal at the Dominus Fortitudinis. It frantically searched the rubble for the corpse of whatever creature threatened its nest, but of course found nothing.

Had this been even a month ago, I’d have been fist-pumping and shouting taunts at the monster. But I feel a bit too… Indifferent for such a wanton provocation. I’d say I’m growing as a person, but I don’t think a person is quite the right word for it.

Eventually, the Dominus Fortitudinis gave up their search, and went back to hunting whatever it originally left its nest to hunt. I returned to the outer world in rock worm form a short time after, and started digging in a wide arc around the Dominus Fortitudinis towards the room Tishina somehow went through.

I kept a portal prepared in my mind’s eye as I dug, ignoring the lack of voice protection in favor of physical protection. The rock gave way to more rock, and I made a full circle by the time I realized I had already passed the room.

I went around again in search of the room, this time starting from the farthest point of the circle, then slowly digging a sphere out from that point as I searched for an opening with my form’s unique tremor/mana sense. The only opening within range was the Dominus Fortitudinis’s room, but the wall itself was different from the stone around it.

I slowly creeped toward the wall, keenly aware that I was moving dangerously close to the web of the living calamity, who may already know I’m here.

I only had to brush against the wall to know that it was made of more labyrinth stone. Something from much deeper in the labyrinth than anything else around it.

Either Tishina is trapped between the wall and the web, or this wall was put here to hide a gate. I held my breath, then shifted into Polypus (D) form, using its sensory abilities to try to get a sense for it. My mana detection found nothing, though that’s just as likely to be due to the labyrinth stone blocking my paltry detection skills as anything else. If I had a C rank Polypus form, and actually knew how to use its teleporting tentacle ability, maybe I could go straight into the gate. Then again, who knows what kind of inbuilt protections a gate this hidden could have. Best case scenario, I collapse the gate in the attempt.

I’m guessing trying to enter the gate from behind by smashing the wall would have the same effect, though I doubt I can even break this particular labyrinth stone, even with my strongest form. I’m glad I didn’t try to escape through this wall earlier.

So the only way to get in is through the hardened webbing on the other side. How exactly am I supposed to do that? Hardened slime-web isn’t exactly breakable. The only thing that can unharden it is the Dominus Fortitudinis itself… Or a blue mage that takes its form.

There’s no way. That thing, or at least those like it, has killed B ranks for crying out loud! What chance could I possibly have against something that could go against powereds and monsters like Gavril and Lux Solis? It might not actually have the strength to wipe out a city just by breathing on it, but anything that can under any circumstances trifle with their like is not something I can fight alone.

Wait a second, I don’t really need to fight it alone. I have all the reinforcements I could ever need at my disposal, whether they like it or not.

Now where’s that goblin village again? It’s time for a raid.

* * *

If I want the goblins and Dominus Fortitudinis to fight each other, I’m first going to have to lure them together. I doubt I can get the whole goblin village to follow me, so luring the Dominus Fortitudinis is the better option. Of course, there’s no guarantee it will follow me all the way there if I just touch its web as I had before. Instead, I’ll have to really make it mad.

Thus, I wormed my way up and around to where the web attached to the wall nearest the exit, momentarily shifted to Spiderilla form, then shattered the wall. The hardened slime webbing fell down to the floor with a clang.

I shifted into one of my remaining Dolosus Lupus forms to run back down the tunnel, sparing no expense to enhance my legs and run as fast as possible.

I periodically scratched at the tunnel wall as I fled, making sure to hit the wall hard enough for the Dominus Fortitudinis to sense where I was headed.

At first, the Dominus Fortitudinis remained silent, likely returning through the hole it had already drilled. But that quickly changed as the Dominus Fortitudinis drilled a new path to follow me, intensely vibrating the tunnel beneath me.

I redoubled my efforts, actively concentrating on building up and concentrating mana in my legs, then releasing it in bursts between each step. Only a minor difference in speed, but every bit counts.

The illusions I’d been using to guide my path crashed against a wall in front of me, one that hadn’t been there before. At some point the labyrinth changed, shifted its walls and closed off my planned escape route.

What should I do? Is the stone soft enough for my rock worm form to out-dig it? Possibly, but I have a better idea.

I shifted into Scolopendra form, and dug into the wall with it. I could still feel the piece I had left on the web. Odd. I’ll have to look into how that works, but now’s not the time.

I let my mind ignore that distant piece, and split my body into ten pieces, digging in a different direction with each piece. It was far slower than the rock worm could move, but it can’t split up and catch all ten of me.

Less than a minute passed before the connection to one of my Scolopendra forms was severed. The section of Scolopendra my main mind inhabited wriggled in pain as if it were just partially lobotomized. Had I kept to traditional limb training, perhaps it wouldn’t have been as painful, but I doubt this plan would have worked.

I split the closest section to the Dominus Fortitudinis in twain, re-associating the dead limb with it as I tried to move both sections in opposite directions. But controlling all parts of me mid-battle was impossible with the voice shrieking in my head. The section shattered shortly after, followed by another and another as the Dominus Fortitudinis reached them, or they stopped listening to my commands.

I was down to four remaining sections before one breached into another tunnel. I shifted that section into Dolosus Lupus again, leaving behind the other sections to be smashed or ignored as I drew its attention by scratching the wall.

I sniffed the air, and found the goblin village closer than I had hoped. I ran towards the entrance, and arrived at the gates before noticing something was off. I could only feel a few minds in the village, and none of them were guarding the gates. Even when I was terrorizing the city, there was still a skeleton crew. The village smelled of burnt flesh… And lightning.

I entered the village and approached the scent of lightning, shifting to an E rank oil toad to get a better look at the situation seconds before the Dominus Fortitudinis breached and tore the gates apart.

The hobgoblin king stood before me, its hammer embedded in the skull of another goblin. It lifted its hammer as it turned towards us, and let loose an eardrum-shattering battlecry.

The king’s mind was gone, and with it went the village.