Chrysalis
chapter-58

The acid sizzles as it arcs through the air towards the two prowling wolf dragons. It’s unfortunate that they had their backs to me and I wasn’t able to aim for their faces, still, with a satisfying splash my first salvo hits just above the front left leg of my target.

Just after the first shot strike I launch my second!

POW!

Without time to aim carefully this shot isn’t nearly as accurate, catching the second monster on the flank.

Both creatures immediately snarl viciously as the acid begins its deadly work, sticking and hardening even as it begins to eat away into their body.

I’m very satisfied with the first shot, catching the wolf dragon just above its leg will hopefully work well to restrict its mobility, something these monsters have in spades. The second is a little unfortunate but with the time restraints I wasn’t prepared to take the risk and potentially miss completely so I aimed for a much broader area.

I don’t want to underestimate these creatures, they look powerful and extremely fast, with their long legs and powerfully built bodies I’m sure they would outpace me on open ground. I’m aiming to use my acid to maximum effect by restraining their speed and getting early damage in before they close with me.

Once they recover from their initial shock the two monsters react quickly, springing apart and running into the woods even as they roar as the acid slowly bites into them.

Thankfully the first target I hit is already showing slightly reduced speed, that one leg not moving as freely as it could.

Even as they run the two monsters are constantly scanning their surroundings with all of their senses. Since these guys are part wolf I assume they have inherited a powerful sense of smell. I highly doubt they have those large snouts for nothing!

Fortunately my stealth displays its strength at this moment. I remain as still as possible, maximising the benefit of my skill and the two large monsters are unable to pinpoint my location, even if they have a good idea where the shots came from based on the impact they experienced.

Still as a harmless mouse I wait, perched amongst the branches towards the top of my tree. As I hide, I watch, like a hawk, as the two wolves slow down and start prowling. Rumbling growls are emitted by the two monsters as they stalk the area, hunting for my trail.

Haha!

Exactly as I planned.

Now that my enemies have been kind enough to slow down I once again take careful aim, looking over my shoulder to direct my acid as carefully as possible.

POW!

Bullseye!

The wolf dragon howls in agony as my acid splatters directly into its face, covering its eyes and nose before sticking and hardening, destroying its senses.

Take that you stupid dog!

Swinging its head in frustration the monster tries to swipe away the acid with its paws and when that fails it starts to furiously rub its head into the vegetation and dirt in a frantic effort to remove the hateful stuff.

Sorry wolf, my restrictive acid isn’t so easy to get rid of!

My last shot has revealed my location at last and the second hound glares up into the tree, finally locating my form high up in the tree.

Hello down there!

The wolf bunches its legs underneath itself, preparing to leap but then it surprises me, lunging forward and swinging its tail with ferocious force. That strange metallic tail crashes into the tree, at the moment of impact I hear a tremendous crack and before my boggling eyes the trunk of the tree directly shatters.

Holy moly! Are you serious Gandalf?! He smashed straight through this trunk in one strike!

Not that I have time to think about that, I’m falling!

From my vantage point high in the tree I see the tail cleave directly through the trunk and immediately the tree begins to rapidly collapse to the ground. Before the tree hits the ground I throw myself clear of my perch, using all of my legs to push off as hard as I can. I can only hope that I manage to propel myself far enough that I make it clear of the crash zone.

Poor Tiny is thrown from my back as I hit the ground and roll, yelping in indignation as he smacks into the dirt nearby. Hopefully he’ll be ok, I don’t have enough time to worry about my small ape companion at the present moment since I’m terrified a rather large part wolf, part dragon monster may be about to pounce and smash my head in with its bizarrely potent tail!

However when I finally manage to right myself and take in my surroundings I am once again surprised.

Where the hell did these guys come from?!

Emerging from the forest are the most demonic looking rabbits I have ever seen or imagined. Bristling black fur, gleaming red eyes, savagely muscled frames and instead of the usual charming rabbit front teeth, vicious fangs protrude from a hungry maw.

What’s more, there are dozens of them!

Leaping out of the woods the creatures are slightly smaller than me but still larger than a hatchling worker. Immediately they pounce upon the two wolf-dragons, gnawing and biting at the much larger creatures, I even see some jump with their powerful hind legs, turn in the air and deliver powerful kicks to the flanks of the monsters.

Hey! Those are mine!

It seems the sound of combat has drawn out more monsters from the woods to steal the Biomass out from under my very nose! I should probably have expected this. The forest is so packed full of monsters now that fighting almost anywhere is bound to draw more attention.

I’m not prepared to give up my hunt to these pesky poaching rabbits! No matter how evil they look!

Seeing the small horde out rabbits swarming over the larger hounds I know I don’t have much time remaining before they manage to overpower the already weakened wolf monsters. I don’t have much choice against these sorts of numbers, it’s time to summon the colony!

Stopping only to pick up Tiny and make sure he is secure on my back I run back towards the ant hill, dropping a food trail the entire way.

I don’t stop when I reach the nest either, I climb all the way up the ant hill and down into the tunnel dropping the trail the entire way. After running down the tunnel a ways I turn and run all the way back, laying down a second layer of pheromones to strengthen the scent, further motivating my fellow workers.

I’m hoping that by running down into the nest I’ll be able to attract more of the workers who are deeper in, amassing a larger force more quickly. I need all of the ants I can get as fast as possible!

Bursting out of the top of the hill I sprint back into the woods, overlaying my own trail all of the way. A few workers have already begun sniffing about, making their way along the path but I breeze past them, running at full tilt with Tiny hooting in delight on my back.

Returning to the scene of the battle I see chaos before my eyes. The melee has continued in my absence and the two wolf-dragons are in bad shape, bleeding heavily from a number of small bite wounds all over their bodies.

The rabbits have paid a price though. These wolf-dragons are evolved monsters after all, they need to be respected. The broken bodies of several rabbits can be seen on the ground here and there, torn by claw and fang or smashed to pulp by the incredible strength of those tails.

I don’t have time to hesitate, if I wait the rabbits might finish of the prey before I get a chance.

Charge!

I barrel into the fight like a tank, knocking aside the smaller rabbits with my weight and momentum I throw myself forward towards the most heavily wounded wolf monster. The beast is in a terrible state, my acid having burnt into its face resulting in it being almost incapable of defending itself against the predations of the nimble rabbits.

I’ll put you out of your misery!

The monster hears me coming and turns to face my onslaught but there is little it can do. Without slowing down I hurl myself directly for the monsters throat, latching on with my mandibles.

Crushing Bite!