Chapter 51: The Chrysalis (1/2)

Chapter 51: The Chrysalis

In the next moment, Aldrich and his undead found theathered his bearings and looked around to see any surfaces to hold on to

He could see they were surrounded by large walls of rock, but the walls were far away and the tops of the walls too high up to grab, at the very least needing a fiftytwo of Aldrich's undead could fly

Fler'Gan grasped Aldrich while Stella held both Valera and the bloodspitter lizard to stop the any further

"Head back up there And as that, Stella?" said Aldrich, re's a Chrysalis!" said Stella as shedown from her feet

"…" Aldrich had no idea what that was It seemed to be a Variant whose existence was too hidden for hi

"Most of the tihs out nests at random It's a real passive and random process," explained Stella "But there are special variants out there that can make entire nests themselves

A variant that can make a nest is called a Chrysalis, and they're real fuckin' dangerous because once they register you a threat, they'll use everything in the nest to kill you That includes tossin' out waves of variants at you on top of warping you away here and there to death traps"

"So it tries to defeat us by dropping us froht? Is that all it can do?" said Valera

As if to challenge her words, a sudden pulling pressure stopped everyone fro upwards

Instead, it overpowered any forht and drew them down, into the bottonored the effects of gravity and resisting force No led todown at a steady pace

A pace slower than falling, but going doards nonetheless

"You had to say somethin', huh?" said Stella to Valera with a shake of her head

"A living nest, is it?" said Fler'Gan as he took in his surroundings and started to think "Then is it not possible to defeat it by creating mass amounts of environmental destruction? If these walls and rock are part of the creature, then I believe it h its body"

"Nah" Stella shook her head "It ain't like that Only a few parts of the nest are legit parts of its body Plus the nest is its own dier in the inside than on the outside Who kno et out?

And the Chrysalis can keep warpin' us to different areas, stoppin' us froot really serious

Normal AA protocol says to clear a Chrysalis Nest out, you need a teaet bad, location trackin' to get a hold of its brain, and then enough firepower to bore through the layers of rock and walls probably guardin' the brain"

"Brain? Like a monster core," said Aldrich

"Yeah It's real si as good as that, especially not for Alters," said Aldrich He opened up his inventory and put a lingering gaze on the Sign Stone he had froet out of jail free card to teleport ahen so But would he use it now?

Did he have to?

"We wait this out for now We aren't in ier The speed of a fall like this shouldn't do any dae to us" Aldrich said this but kept himself wary, ready at a n Stone He could also choose all of his undead to come with him remotely, so it did not matter too much if they were separated either

"Look It would appear that a mere leisurely fall such as this was not our intended estured down

Below, the fall ended into a large pit of whirling sand Aldrich could spy several ants and lizards within it, but they were not guards No, they were struggling for their lives They tried to les, but the sand was soft, breaking apart under any a them in

Quicksand

On top of this, the sand pool created strong spiraling currents towards the center that sunk those unfortunate enough to be in it even deeper When an the ants and lizards fell down to the center of the spiral, a large stake of sand solidified into rock skewered the them in

"Antlion," said Stella "Creates these sand traps Usually has an anti-flight ability of souts whatever reaches the center of their trap with sand spikes"

"What rank of variant is this?" said Aldrich

"D+ rank," noted Stella "It ain't that ih the sand because it creates a natural sort of insulatin' barrier Most likely, this variant's what the Chrysalis chose as its dedicated et woken up, don't like usin' their warpin' or changin' their insides too y

So, usually, they'll warp intruders into a trap they've set up Usually with variants that they keep nice and fat and happy to do their biddin'

"A symbiotic relationshi+p," said Aldrich He looked down at the sand pool drawing ever nearer They were now thirty meters above it "But this isn't o down and use your Bunker Buster on it"

"Yeah, but then I gotta drop Valera and this lizard, and then they'll get caught up in the blast-," began Stella

"Throw them to me Fler'Gan will carry us all," said Aldrich

"I aive out from such strenuous physical activity," said Fler'Gan "My elderly forether"

"Don't worry about that" Aldrich casted [Negative Surge] on Fler'Gan, boosting his physical stats for ten seconds

[-15 Mana]

[Mana: 183/183 ] 168/183]

"Oh? I have not had such strength in fifty years!" Fler'Gan's ht as the day I was birthed froo," said Aldrich "Showup"

Stella's eyes alighted with a glint of pure excite visible through her skin as they gleao to your boyfriend" Stella tossed Valera to Aldrich, and he grabbed her by the waist under the crook of his arrabbed the same way