[@MelonHead]

[i]The monster navigated through its lair as quickly as and easily as the forest, if not more so. It was a long way to its bed chambers in the main cavern. The cave entrance that was nearest to a village, several miles from an old hunting path that lead to the humans, lay far away. That entrance was the quickest route to its chamber, at a half hours hike through the tunnels from a mortal's perspective. 

After a substantial amount of time had passed, the Magna Later arrived home. It supped greedily upon the female carcass that it had left when called to the realm of metal things. Its strength returned, its torn flesh knit itself together, and its void eyes rolled in the darkness. It no longer felt hunted. Now it was out of sight, and in its element. Its residue was everywhere down here, but not all of it fresh. The monster suspected that traces of its body were being tracked. It did not consider that the metal thing could perhaps smell it, because its mucous functioned to cloak the scent of its body. It had no odor at all, and could stifle other smells. It knew the metal thing could not directly sight it, otherwise it would be able to see through the mech's eyes after having used the Malocchio. It knew also its body temperature was not to blame. It was never more than a smidge different from the environment. Whatever the case, it had time to prepare and playing it safe was what had helped it live so long. It began slithering all over the place to spread a chaotic trail as it contemplated its options.

It could always sneak off into another tunnel and reach the nearest village, taking up a victim with which to breed before hiding hundreds of miles away. But would that not be a sign of weakness? It had been the dominant force here for centuries. Could such a predator be reduced to abandoning even its own lair so easily? Black rage prickled its insides. No hunter in this universe or in any other should be able to best it, even in the short run. Was it not supreme in and of itself, a perfect killer? Its pride and contempt grew. It picked up a soggy ribcage and dragged it up the wall and along the ceiling. It stopped at a stalagmite near the center of the room. With a hog-like grunt, it raked its long tail through the ribcage whilst excreting a thick layer of dense mucous, and stuck the decoy to the protrusion before gooping up the stalagmite itself. A drooping wet thing at the top of the cave, large and positively radiating Patervibes. 

After having done that, it rolled around in the bones to remove excess slime from itself. It briefly entertained the idea of waiting above the entrance and dropping down on the mech if it had decided to plow in, but... What if it could see through stone as easily as trees? Of course it would look up. That was where the decoy was anyways. Instead, the monster slipped beneath the layer of slimy old bones which densely coated the floor for thousands of meters, and were stacked into a towering pyramid in the middle of the cavern which, if there were any light to see it with, would be tall enough to be seen from one end of the chamber to the other. It collected the remains of victims when it could. After nearly two-thousand years as an extremely prolific interdimensional serial killer, its hoard was truly a wonder of the world. Most belonged to the smaller two-leggers, the noisy but soft ones which loved to toddle around carelessly. The only time it considered breaking and entering was when either it smelled a little one, or one that it had marked as a personal target.

It snaked to the side of the wall near which the entrance was, but not very close. The entrance was not big enough to accommodate a metal thing, at least not unless said metal thing resorted to force, in which case being too close was bad. Once it had nestled in, it stopped breathing. Its blood slowed, its empty eyes closed, and it became as still as stone. Whether or not the metal thing came, through that opening or if it made its own somewhere else, it had no problem waiting. It waited for years at a time, now and then. This was as good a time as any for a watchful nap.[/i]