Chrysalis
chapter-71-05122225

The second trap is almost halfway done when I hear another crashing thud, followed by a furious roar.

Once again a visitor has decided to grace my humble hotel! Welcome dear guest! Manuel, take their bags! Gweheheh.

Chortling to myself I crawl out of my second pitfall and rush to the first. Tiny is standing up in his tree abode, excitedly staring down at the hapless monster caught in the pit. The little ape is practically drooling, he’s become so hungry.

I get that you’re hungry little guy but really?! Try to maintain a little dignity.

As much as I try to ignore it my stomach is also growling. After all of this work digging I’ve worked up quite the appetite.

Approaching the side of my trap I peer down to see exactly what monster I’ve managed to reel in this time.

Greeting me from the bottom of the pit is a particularly furious looking giant centipede. The centipede very quickly begins to right itself after falling into the pit, a mess of sticks and foliage tangling in its legs.

This guy again huh.

Where once upon a time I felt hugely threatened by the massive centipedes, I just can’t muster the same kind of fear for them anymore. They might be much larger than the original claw centipedes but they remain fairly stupid with limited ways to attack. In fact, due to its increased size and reduced mobility, the most threatening weapon of the claw centipede, its poison spike, is rendered almost completely useless against me.

POW!

I dispense justice in the form of acid from my business zone down onto my prey before leaping directly into the pit to do battle.

There were several reasons why I thought pitfalls would be a safer way to hunt in the current forest, one of which was the ability to isolate the battle somewhere the sound and scent of the battle would be somewhat muted. Combined with the natural advantage of battling against a monster after it has fallen and become entangled this method seemed promising to my mind.

So far it has proven to be effective. I’ll be very interested to see if I can finish this battle quickly enough without drawing any further monsters from the surrounds.

Just as the centipede is able to right itself my acid rains down, once again entangling legs that had only moments ago become free. Hissing furiously the centipede writhes and twists in knots as the pain and discomfort mounts. At this time I land directly onto the carapace of my prey, gripping tightly with my claws, pushing my grip skill to the limit.

Take this you lively bugger!

Piercing Chomp!

CRUNCH!

My mandibles pierce into the carapace like a hot knife into a refrigerated spread of some kind, savaging the internals of the centipede.

The monster shrieks in agony and attempts to use its body to slam me into the wall of the pitfall.

Slam!

Ouch! Damn centipede, receive my bite of truth!

CRUNCH!

My diamond carapace absorbed almost all of the impact so I received very little actual damage from that desperate manoeuvre, what I am concerned about is the noise attracting more monsters to the scene! So I quickly retaliate with another bite.

This time, having already punctured the enemies defences I utilise the Crushing Bite to inflict maximum damage, my mandibles ripping deep into muscle and organs of the centipede.

After this bite the centipede has lost most of its fight, unable to properly move the latter half of its body there is little it can do to avoid fatal damage.

[You have slain level 6 Adult Claw Centipede]

[You have gained experience]

Nice!

Quick as a flash I move to secure the Biomass, dragging it into my prepared side tunnel and out of sight. Then I crawl out of the pitfall to reset the majority of my screen, covering the hole in the ground except for one small section. I’m hoping that this will prevent the smell from escaping too much and also make my hiding place a little harder to find. Claws crossed it works out.

Having taken these measures I retreat back into the trap, bringing Tiny down with me so we can finally sate our hunger. Down in the dark tunnel the offshoots the pitfall we greedily chow down on the centipede, Tiny in particular showing his vastly increased appetite after going hungry for too long.

Yes. Eat my young ape, eat and grow strong. You’ll pay me back in labour eventually, I’ll work you like a slave! An adorable chimp slave!

After completing our meal I’ve gained two Biomass, which brings my current total to four. Just one more and I’ll be able to upgrade yet another body part to +5. I’m quite excited to see what sort of upgrades I’ll be able to choose from for the regeneration gland!

I think of Tiny at this moment. This little guy must have eaten something like fifteen, maybe even twenty points of Biomass since I reconstructed him. Where has all of those points gone?

The little ape notices me staring at him and stops wiping his bat face with the back of his arm, staring back at me curiously.

I can’t detect any change to his fur or hands, his eyes look the same, no noticeable difference in his arms or legs. Has the Biomass been spent or is it all being saved up? Maybe he can’t spend it until he matures to a certain point? He certainly couldn’t be called anything like fully grown at this stage.

Well, not much I can do about it at this point. I’ll just have to keep feeding him and see what happens.

We were undisturbed during our meal, something for which I am extremely grateful. I wasn’t able to recover the mouse bait, I think the centipede dove on it and ripped it to shreds as it fell. So I finish resetting the first trap after making sure Tiny was securely positioned in his tree, it will probably take longer to get another sucker to slip into my pitfall so I’ll get back to work on the second one.

Could we have saved some of the centipede to use as bait? Yes, yes we could. Did we do that? No.

We were pretty hungry though...

A few hours later I’ve managed to finish off the second trap despite a few interruptions. I had a gang of unevolved centipedes go through the area, a croca-beast and the elusive dog snake, which I’d only seen dead before. Sadly none of these monsters fell into my clutches so I simply hid myself away as they passed through, emerging once they’d passed me by and continuing my work happily.

I’ve also managed to achieve yet another level in excavation! It feels pleasant to gain levels without having to risk my own life for a change.

Once the second pitfall was completed, I didn’t immediately cover it but instead added another off shooting tunnel. While I was at it, I decided to join the two tunnels together, I mean why not? This necessitated a lot more digging and effort, particularly when I ran into a rather stubborn block of stone which required me to use my infused mandibles to cut through.

Eventually however the two traps were joined at the bottom of the pitfalls by a somewhat winding tunnel roughly thirty metres long.

Holy heck that took ages!

Now I’m bloody starving again!

CRASH!

ROAR!

What the dickens?! Another customer?

I rush down my narrow tunnel to the original trap and I see a furious Croca-Beast thrashing and twisting its way out of the vines and branches I used to secure the cover over the pitfall. Success! Another visitor to the pitfall hotel, you can check in Mr Crocodile, but you can never leave!

Exploding out of the tunnel I utilise all of my speed to harness the element of surprise. A huge part of my trap strategy is to finish every battle as quickly as possible to avoid unnecessary noise!

Thankfully the monster hasn’t had any time to survey its surroundings and hasn’t even noticed the small tunnel dug into the base of the pit. The last thing this Croca-Beast expected to see was a worker ant rushing at it, mandibles shining with infused mana ready to bite!

Crushing Bite!

SNAP!

Closing my mandibles with ferocious force the mighty croc wails in distress as its leg is directly shorn through! Your scales may as well be Paper Mache in the face of the mana infused mandibles!

With one leg directly severed the Croca-Beast falls to the ground once again, the narrow confines of the pit making it extremely difficult for the monster to orient itself. For me however, this terrain is perfect. After my initial strike I sprint past the Croc and straight up the wall of the pit, trying to gain the high ground.

It’s over now Croc!

I fire down a blast of acid at the creature, who by this time is surely wondering what it did wrong in a previous life to deserve this kind of treatment. Just an innocent Croc monster out for a walk in the forest and now this, down a leg and covered in acid at the bottom of a pit.

Not to worry monster, these circumstances won’t be troubling you for long!

I fire down a second blast of acid, treating the beast to another helping of the restricting property. Unable to stand, covered in acid and completely furious the Croc has no choice but to succumb to my finishing bite!

[You have defeated level three Infant Garralosh]

[You have gained experience]

Standing over the defeated croc I really can’t help but think to myself, isn’t this working super well?