With a screech of challenge, Levi's lobsteroc grabbed Lash by a handful of flailing tendrils and threw itself into the air in pursuit.

The boss retaliated immediately, pivoting on the spot and diving at its pursuer with claws extended. Lash hadn't recovered enough mana to use his Controlling Gaze again yet, but when it saw him the miniboss still seemed almost to flinch, veering sharply away from the flying duo rising to meet it.

The next several minutes were a tense aerial dance as both flyers tried to gain some degree of control over the conflict.

The boss could easily finish off Levi's minion if it could get in a solid hit, but it had grown wary of Lash. The soul-seeker's presence caused it to hedge, darting in quick attempted strikes without quite looking at them directly.

Levi's minions were slower in comparison, their evasions only succeeding by the barest of margins, yet they maintained the standoff, Lash's presence serving as a deterrent.

Firelord shot as frequently as he could, but his fireballs weren't fast enough to catch the enemy off guard and it easily adjusted course to avoid them each time. Frosty's attempts didn't cross half the distance, the confrontation taking place too far above them. Skarm hopped in place and shook his fist at the fight taking place far above.

Level 21+

(Roc-Lobster)

Health 11%

It seemed the two flying lobsters would circle indefinitely, darting and swooping, never quite connecting. Levi knew the standoff would only benefit the boss in the long run. Its health regenerated faster than either of its adversaries and now it knew all their tricks it wouldn't be so easy to tie down a second time.

He needed to break the equilibrium, tip the balance in their favor before time tipped it the other way first. But how? Levi didn't even have a manabow with him, he'd given his to the ranger back guarding the other prisoners.

"Tink?"

Tink shook his head. For a moment the air between Levi and the fight flickered, shifting in a glitchy blur that he assumed was showing something more discernible to the flyers above.

"Out of your range too, huh."

The boss lobsteroc was too wary now, too cautious. It could overpower them, and it likely knew it. It only had to avoid Lash and stay off the ground. One more attack would be enough to take Levi's flyer out of the fight, so it only had to be patient.

Levi cast about for anything he could use to distract it, any other way to disrupt the stalemate.

Tink was too slow, vulnerable, and didn't have sufficient range. Firelord and Frosty were likewise ineffective at this range. Skarm was even worse off. His leap could take him a good way upward, but nowhere near the height they needed.

Levi himself had no ranged weapon. Nothing he could--

His eyes fell on the treasure table on the other side of the hill. Maybe there was something there he could use. With the boss distracted by its flying battle far overhead, it had left its bounty unguarded.

Levi took off at a dead run, Skarm at his heels, heading straight for the treasure pile. He glanced between it and the fight overhead, readying to defend himself if the boss decided to attack, while also assessing what lay before him to see what would be the best option to grab immediately.

There were a decent number of restoratives which he would absolutely want for his phase three, but none of them was what he needed right now. Swords, armor - he'd not imagined he'd see this much treasure in one place until at least another year or two into the dungeons' leveling process.

Unfortunately, that same bounty made it harder to pick out anything specific from this distance.

Dozens of Beast tokens, invaluable for crafting, useless for fighting.

A Beast essence snagged his eye, one of the rarest crafting items a dungeon could drop. He could absorb it for a temporary powerup, but creatures usually had resistances against their own elements. Besides, he only had Destruction and Control in his Dungeon Seed so far, he'd much rather try adding it to that and see how many elements he could cram in there.

Finally, as he stepped within three paces of the table, the boss shrieked and dove for him, disregarding its former adversary to home in on this would-be thief.

Perfect.

Levi lunged forward, throwing himself physically into the pile of treasure, twisting to land on his back. Tokens and vials went scattering in all directions. One hand snagged a manabow he caught sight of at the last second, the other stabbed upward with the Beast sword - not a moment too soon - to clamp down on the descending claw.

Levi's weight wasn't enough to hold it down entirely, but it did throw off the creature's balance. Levi fired up into its chest with the manabow in his free hand, becoming both dead weight and irritant.

Its second claw came around, clearly intending to snap him in half, but Levi's job here was done. He'd provided enough drag force that its climbing ascent was slower than its usual unmatchable pace.

And Levi happened to have a gremlin who was very good at jumping.

Levi released his own hold and dropped to the ground in a puff of stamina, leaving the monster with its new unwanted passenger.

Level 21+

(Roc-Lobster)

Health 8%

Levi fired the manabow a few more times, but his attacks - Beast aligned, thanks to the preset powerstone - were much less effective than Skarm's claws.

The boss slammed down a burst of wind, throwing itself upward in the air, twisting over until it was upside-down, its lobster pincers flailing at the gremlin clinging to its back, somehow remaining hovering in place despite being completely inverted.

Skarm was good, highly agile and fast, but the shell of the creature's back gave very few handholds. Not enough to let his agility do more than delay the inevitable.

Fortunately, a delay was exactly what they were after.

The forgotten duo in the sky swooped down on the furious boss, Lash's tendrils raised and his mana just over 40. He could slap on the Weaken Mind debuff exactly ten times. Levi really hoped that would be enough. The ability didn't give a percentage or any indication of its exact impact, but he was fairly confident in his guesses.

Level 21+

(Roc-Lobster)

Health 6%

Levi hadn't upgraded Tame from its base level, so the timing was going to be tight. Lash started slicing the enemy with his tendrils, mana dropping steadily as each strike imposed Weaken Mind.

The roc-lobster, still upside-down, twisted and fired its wind blast right in Lash's face, blowing the lightweight eyeball tumbling away.

Skarm stabbed one last time.

Level 21+

(Roc-Lobster)

Health 5%

Lash had landed seven Weaken Minds, but they only lasted ten seconds. Levi couldn't afford to wait and hope he could add the last three.

"Tame."

Tame: Success!

Would you like to name ‘Roc-Lobster’ at this time?

With a relieved laugh, Levi brought up its stats to look it over as the group overhead slowly descended together.

Level 21

(Roc-Lobster +)

Strength: 8

Health: 41/440

(+18/min)

Psyche: 10

Mana: 197/405

(+20/min)

Spirit: 3

Stamina: 220/540

(+8/min)

Four hundred health still didn't sound like much, considering how dangerous a lot of the creatures around here could be, but it was close to double the standard version's despite being only a couple levels higher. As befitted a plus type.

Strength: +10 Health, +2 H-Regen Psyche: +15 Mana, +2 M-Regen Spirit: +60 Stamina, +1 S-Regen

So, not a whole lot better than its base form, but the extra regens were nice. For his current plan he'd have preferred higher stamina regen instead of mana, but he supposed getting the perfect creature exactly pre-built to his specific desires would be a bit much to expect.

Next, abilities.

Roc-Lobster + Abilities

Pulse

Tier: 5

Cost: 50 mana

A strong blast of wind which can be used to adjust flight or clear obstacles.

Enhanced Shell

Tier: 4

Passive

Shell expands to cover a larger portion of the body, and gains increased resistance to physical and elemental damage.

Lift

Tier: 2

Cost: 20 stamina

Reduces the effect of gravity and provides a minor boost to altitude.

Crystalize

Tier: 3

Cost: 30 mana

Form sharp crystals to cover vulnerable areas of the body for additional protection and to damage enemies who enter close range.

There was some crossover with his original roc-lobster, but this one seemed all around superior. The standard version's 'Slice' ability was the only one it had which the plus didn't, and given the nature of his current requirements for a flying lobster mount it wasn't even in question.

One last thing to take care of before he got the insanity started: there was this whole beautiful pile of level 20 treasure, just waiting to be claimed.