Chrysalis

[So this is the full armour set, huh?]

[Yep, it's heavy, but it works very well.]

I didn't get a good look at the full suit during the assault but now that I can have a real sticky-beak up close I have to say that fully armoured Sarah is intimidating as hell. She is already a well-built monster in terms of mass, but with smooth, interlocking plates of armour covering her massive frame she has an altogether different level of presence. It's enough to make me start to consider what a full suit of armour would look like on me. Covering up my incredible, glittering carapace would be a total sin, obviously, but if the end result was this badass? I'd consider it for sure.

[What are you looking at?] Sara asks a little uncomfortably as I circle around her.

[Huh? Oh, I wanted to get the complete picture of how you look with the armour on. It's cool as hell, and looks like it does the job well.]

The fact that it's already repaired after the assault goes to show how little of a beating she took, surprisingly enough. There are still scratches and scuff marks all over the metal, but from what I understand all that needed to be done was replace a few plates and she was good to go.

[You sure you want to take it out with us?] I ask her.

[I really need to get used to fighting in it, so it makes sense that I take it out. The extra weight makes a lot of movements more awkward so I want to practice.]

[Fair enough. We should see plenty of action, so you'll get your chances.]

I have a quick look around.

[Alright then, I think we're all ready. Invidia, you can spit her out now.]

Revealing his wide, toothy grin, Invidia opens up and pushes the bedraggled Brilliant out of his pocket dimension mouth and back into reality.

"Is that really necessary?" she complains as she shakes herself off like a soaked puppy and starts fastidiously cleaning her antennae.

"We both know how little you want to sit about while we wait for everything to get ready. If you aren't happy that we needed to do this then examine your own attitudes," I tell her plainly. "Now we have one more evolution to achieve for you before we can stop power levelling and its time to go out there and get it. Have you made all the Skill purchases and completed all the mutations that you could do?"

"Yes," she says and I get the impression that she would roll her eyes if she could, "I did all that ages ago. Have you?"

I have not.

"Never mind that."

[How about you Tiny? Crinis? All ready to go?]

I get a firm nod and a thump on the chest from Tiny.

[Yes, Master. I've fully recovered from my injuries.]

[Great. Thanks everyone. Well, we might as well get going then.]

As I turn to lead the group to the newly installed lift that will carry us to the ground a giant eyeball flares into existence in front of me.

[HOLY SMOKES! Geez, Al! How many times have I asked you not to do that!?]

[Many.]

[Yet you still do it…]

[I find it… amusing. I will join you on this expedition also.]

He couldn't possibly have said the word amusing with any less inflection on it. I also notice that he didn't bother asking… ah well. It's not like I could stop him from tagging along if he wanted to. Having a tier seven demon in your back pocket isn't something I want to turn down either.

[Fine. Try not to hassle me too much for information, alright? I've got some stuff I need to work on and I can't be telling you about middle-earth all day.]

With the group finally assembled we walk out onto the lift which hangs over the edge of the plate, exposing us to the frankly dizzying drop beyond.

"Let it rip!" I cheerfully wave to the group of ants operating the lift and they accommodate us, triggering the mechanism and starting the descent.

I'm not sure exactly how we power these things… but however we do it is going to get a workout on this trip. Invidia and Al can fly, but between Sarah, Tiny and myself we are packing a fair bit of heft. As we slowly drop I look out over the edge of the lift into the still-breathtaking view of the third stratum. It blows my mind even now that this much open space exists inside the planet. It makes no sense! Yet here we are, slowly lowering ourselves down into the world of blasted black stone covered in fire and ash. Also demons. Hundreds of millions of ankle biting demons.

I get the feeling it won't be long until the Colony comes down here and starts aggressively pruning the demon population in order to farm Biomass. They'll need to strike a balance between feeding the insatiable hunger of the family and allowing enough demons to rise to tier six to join the population in our controlled cities. I've no idea how they plan to manage that but I'm sure they'll have thought carefully about it. Perhaps we should even 'sponsor' certain promising young demons, make sure they max out their cores before they evolve to try and increase the quality of the demons that eventually join us…

That's actually a good idea… I was bound to have one sooner or later!

It takes an hour for the lift to reach the ground and we are more than happy to jump off by the time we reach it. Being cramped together on that small platform is far from comfortable.

[Alright, here we are folks! Since the Colony is going to chill out for a little while, we have a few weeks in which we can go explore, fight and conquer to our heart's content without worrying about anything crazy happening back here. First priority is to get Brilliant up to the next tier so she can finally count as a real monster and then the rest of the XP can be funneled into us! It's a long road to tier seven so we better get moving!]

I haven't forgotten the warning that Granin gave me, that I wouldn't be really safe in this stratum until I evolved once more. It'll be a long time before I manage it, but I'm determined to keep pushing forward until I'm strong enough to secure the future of my family. Tier seven is only going to be the start of that journey.

[Alright, we already did a ton of fighting in the tunnels to the west, so I think we want to head north and then see how things go from there? We all happy with that?]

A few nods from the group around me is all the affirmation we need.

[Nice. Let's get to it!]