Chrysalis

Chapter 280 Attack the mind

Perhaps, somewhere deep inside the leathery hide and muscle bound physique, there still exists the person Garralosh was before she came here. Maybe I can shock her with an image, or sensation. It's been a heck of a long time since she came here, but it might get some response. If it distracts her for a couple of seconds, I'll be happy!

So as the mountain-like Crocodile prepared to charge me once more, I spun together the first sensation I could think of from my past life on Earth. Ice Cream. It's pretty universal, right? It's possible she never ate it, but maybe she saw it at least, or was aware of it. I gotta try something!

Dash!

Rumbling with anger, Garralosh dashed toward me her enormous jaws wide open to snap down on me. Those are some serious jaws! I swear she could snap a megalodon in half with one bite. Thanks to my antennae, and her avenue of attack being completely predictable, I manage to dash to one side. Sadly, I lose my balance due to not having all of my legs.

Yikes!

Quick! Hit her with the Ice Cream! My minds slam the prepared stimuli across the mind bridge and hammer it into that raging mind. The cold sensation on the tongue, the creamy rich texture, the curled sphere of a scoop. Every aspect of ice cream I could think of I bundled together and threw it at her.

And she froze.

NICE!

Dash! With Vibrant tailing behind me, I dash on an angle to try and get behind the beast. Anything to get me away from that mouth! Come on leg, how much longer! I can see the flesh extending down, the claw beginning to form at the end at a ridiculous speed. It itches like mad, but not nearly as terrible as mutating. A few more seconds and I'll be good to go!

But wait. She's still not moving? This could be a chance! A few moments have passed and Garralosh is still frozen in place, perfectly still. Since I'm this close, I might as well get a quick chomp in! I change the direction of my dash to bring me a little closer to her body and position myself near the base of her tail.

Omen Chomp!

Once more, my stamina drains precipitously and the dark mandibles of energy manifest themselves to tear into Garralosh's body.

CRUNCH!

And once more a wound is struck! Her scales are so thick that even with my extended mandibles, I can barely reach through them to the muscle beneath, but reach it I do. With a satisfying tear, I can see the damage has been done and immediately sprint away to get more distance.

GROOOOWWWL!

My bite has snapped Garralosh from her reverie, and she turns toward me, a glowing ball of raging fire in Crocodile shape. Luckily I have a few things going for me at this point. One, my leg has been reformed, and second, I have a new mental package to send her.

The speed at which my brains can weave this stuff together is truly incredible. Evolutionary energy well spent! All around us I see the battlefield had come to a complete stop. The Croca-Beasts in all their forms remain poised away from the wall. Growling they snap their jaws and flex their claws as they watch their mother fight. Hundreds of them stand together in this way, an intimidating sight, to say the least.

On the ant side, they have poked their heads up and I can see thousands of them staring down at me as I fight. Are any of them going to come down for the Queen?! Actually, what the heck is happening to the Queen?! I can barely see her now, it appears as if she's sinking into the ground! Oh, they're digging underneath her! Smart. She's already more than half underground at this point, a minute or two more and they'll be able to drag her deeper into the Dungeon to recharge her energy.

Other than that, the only ants near me are Vibrant and... is that Grant? Close to the wall but not quite in its shade, the soldier is hesitating, caught between her desire to help and the certain knowledge she would get in the way.

Get back to the wall you idiot!

But I don't have time to worry about the spectators, I need to worry about the ant in more direct danger. Namely, me.

[Not a fan of Ice Cream then?] I ask Garralosh.

[DON'T] she screamed back.

Uh.

[Don't what?!] I ask, confused.

[DON'T.]

Not sure how to take that. Let's discuss again after I hit you with this one. Before she can dash, cough up pure lava or do anything else that might snuff out my life, I smack her right in the frontal lobe with another Earth memory I have.

Birthday cake.

Flickering candles, cream, icing and the sponginess of a good cake. This one was a little harder for me, since I don't remember having my own birthday cake at any point, but I did eat a few when I was first in school. The teacher would bring out a cake for each student on their birthday. Quite a shock to me, I'd never heard of anything like it, but the fun of it, the song and taste stayed with me.

About to dash forward, saliva dripping from between her gigantic teeth, Garralosh stumbles and her chest smashes into the ground. The Croca-Beasts watching from the sidelines fell silent as they saw the rare sight of their mother stumble, even the slightest. I'm sure that to those idiotic beasts, their mother, to them, must appear as an all-powerful existence. To see her fall must be quite the shock.

It's definitely getting to her! Who'd have thought that she would still have these memories buried deep in that skull of hers. I'm not going to let this chance go by. Once again with all six legs, it's time to dash!

Unleash the Omen Chomp!

As I position myself to deliver another savage bite, a blast of anguish smacks me over the mind bridge. Garralosh is screaming.

[DON'T MAKE ME REMEMBER!]

Uhh, what? Bit late for that I'm afraid!

CHOMP!

CRUNCH!

Once more, the scales shatter and flesh tears as my mandibles dig deep into the body of Garralosh and she howls in pain.

[Remember what?] I ask.

[STOP IT!]

Don't think I have an option to stop, actually. In fact, I've got another one in the chamber and ready to go. This is something that I've actually missed from the old life. Something simple but I feel like it'll have an impact.

Bed.