Melty had not retreated.
Kaiden's loyal pet had breached the magma after the runt the way she breached the magma after any kill that had gotten airborne, full Dreadwyrm vertical, broken jaw trailing wet plate behind her into the air.
Her remaining upper jaw had come down on the runt's exposed flank at the apex of her breach. Her foreclaws, the long curved hooks the evolution had grown along her forelimbs at Mid-Tier to anchor her purchase on basalt, had raked across the runt's hide along its dorsal line as gravity caught her on the way back down. Her tail, the heavy weighted end she used to crack basalt boulders apart in her hunting, slammed across the runt's back on the same fall.
The runt's hide had absorbed it and kept drinking.
Melty had hit the magma again with one of her sisters' breaches already arcing past her on the way up.
