Levi stood at the entrance to the tunnel with his minions around him, scouting the area to solidify the plan before their next engagement.

Skarm had taken to riding Bolt in the continued absence of Centoo, adopting the kalvex as his new personal mount. Bolt, for his part, didn’t seem to care either way.

In fact, unlike many of the other minions, Bolt didn't seem to have any strong opinions about anything. Whenever Levi gave him instructions, he jumped up to follow them promptly. Then lay down and fell asleep as soon as he was done. Reminiscent of Shadevine, but somehow the fact that he had an actual face and everything made it seem more indolent than apathetic.

Regardless of how much Bolt wanted to laze around, today was not the day for it. They had far too much to get done if they were to get everyone out in one piece.

Step 1, tame something high enough level to allow survival on this floor, was complete. Barely. But it had exposed a weakness that needed to be resolved before they could move on to step 2.

Lash needed to be higher level.

Levi couldn't think of any other way to make this plan work without his soul-seeker being at least able to slow down their higher level opponents, and if a level 9 was going to be practically ineffective against even non-plus level 20s, then they'd have to change the equation.

His original plan had called for them to incrementally tame the entire pack of kalvex, much like they had the harpy swarm, using each one added to capture the next that much easier. That would be enough to give them a proper fighting chance when the time came to ascend the mountain, but getting Lash up to par was more important.

Before taming anything more, they'd do some straight killing to level, clear the local pack. With the density of monsters in this particular floor, there would be no shortage of creatures to tame when they were ready.

He'd briefly considered going for one of the tyrannosaurs he'd spotted off to the eastern section of the dungeon, but while they were big and intimidating speed was not their biggest advantage.

For what he had in mind, speed would be absolutely irreplaceable. If he couldn't move fast, he'd die. Absolutely certain death.

His setup had to be perfect. If any part of the prep went wrong, he could adapt. Once he actually triggered the escape itself, that would be it. Fully committed, no way to back out. A desperate race to the finish.

He hadn't even told Irene what the final step was. He would let her know right before he left. To bring it up sooner would only add an unnecessary weight of concern. Besides, there was still time to change the plan if he thought of anything better.

They'd need more minions whatever they did. And whatever they did, obtaining those minions would be a thousand times easier if Lash could use Command with a better chance of success.

"Bolt?"

Bolt tapped his clawed foot on the floor seven times, nodding with his head toward the outcropping of rock blocking sight around the bend in the ravine path.

"I don't suppose you know a way to split them up?"

Bolt tilted his horned head in a dismissive motion, then sat down, eyes narrowed toward the distant outcropping.

"Lash? Any thoughts?"

Lash floated up further toward the ceiling of their tunnel, tapping his tendrils together in thought. Then he shrugged.

"Very helpful, you lot."

Bladefin bumped Levi's shoulder with one nose, then bobbed three of its bodies around in a circle around Crackle. Crackle, quiet and watchfully out of the spotlight as always, perched on the wall just out of Levi's direct line of sight.

"You think we should send Crackle? What does Crackle think about this?"

Crackle buzzed his wings in a gesture of feigned unconcern.

"You do have the advantage of that Destruction venom," Levi mused. "Lingering corrosive damage. The fish may have a point."

Bladefin bobbed about in excited circles, clearly pleased by the praise.

"I wish you'd reach your threshold already. I'd love to have a proper swarm of Crackles. If there were a dozen of you, then we could make some real progress."

Bladefin's swimming slowed, several of its copies turning to stare at Levi with wide eyes.

"Beast dungeons are... more straightforward. Sure, you have quantity, but do you really think you'd have a chance against a whole pack of sca--"

Before he'd even finished speaking, Bladefin gathered all sixteen of itself and darted off toward the outcropping.

"Not all of you!" It was far easier to repopulate the swarm from one than to wait to revive it completely. "That wasn't an invitation!"

Lash reached out with one tendril, snatching one of the Bladefins back before it could escape, and tossed the struggling fish to Levi. Levi caught it, gripping its bladed tail firmly despite the thrashing that tore tiny gashes into his hand. "I said, not all of you," he repeated more firmly, and the struggling Bladefin immediately looked contrite. "Stay here. The others can-- Lash!"

The moment he passed off the fish to Levi, Lash bobbed out into the ravine in pursuit of the others. And Levi had a strong feeling that it wasn't with the intention to corral them back.

He should have realized that questioning Lash's efficacy would only make him more determined to prove himself. The soul-seeker had been so cooperative for a time that Levi had forgotten Lash's propensity for rushing off into things.

Iris wouldn't do something like this. He wished he'd brought her body with them, but at the time he'd been envisioning a stealth mission. Slip in, rescue family, slip out. He hadn't anticipated the need to escape with a hundred low level prisoners as well. That changed the logistics significantly.

The kalvex pack came running out from behind the corner before Lash had made it halfway to them. Seven, as Bolt had promised.

Bladefins focused on the lead kalvex in the pack, swarming down and slicing at its back and legs in a furious tornado of bladed fishes.

The kalvex spun to bite them out of the air, crunching audibly before hurling the injured fishes to the floor. The rest of the kalvex pack savaged the injured fish before Bladefin could even hope to launch themselves out of reach.

The fish swarm was cut down by half in less than a second, but Lash was right behind them.

With the bladefin swarm diminishing by the second, Lash's ability to snatch them away from their predictable courses and abruptly redirect their momentum proved to be a game-changer. He hovered far enough above the pack not to be readily bitten, tendrils darting out just long enough to save a Bladefin from an early demise.

Crackle buzzed over to hover questioningly in Levi's face.

"Go ahead, if you think it'll do any good."

As tempting as it was to throw himself into the fray, Bladefin was down by half its bodies by now and the closest kalvex still above 80% health. Which also left the other six completely uninjured.

Several of these started jumping, snapping at Lash's tendrils, tearing off chunks in great rending bites.

Levi held himself back only with great difficulty. If he got himself involved in this fight, it would be disastrous. They could fly. They had a better survival chance than he did. As much as he hated watching Lash and Bladefin get themselves killed, if they insisted on being stubborn there wasn't much he could do about it.

Bladefin was down to four remaining fish (apart from the one hovering anxiously by Levi's shoulder) and Lash had lost two tendrils and a third of his health to the jumping kalvex.

Without warning, Lash grabbed all four of Bladefin and flew straight up the side of the sheer cliff that made up the northern wall of the path.

This put him out of reach of the pack below, but they hadn't scouted the plateau above. Anything could be up there.

If they failed and all got themselves killed, it would set them back by hours, but even as reckless as they were none of his minions was stupid. They understood what mattered, when they could fool around, and when they needed to get things done.

They'd never yet jumped into something they legitimately couldn't handle, not when it actually mattered. So Levi would sit back and let their little plan play itself out.