N'tho's gun, being simple engineering, still shoots despite the technology damper. The noise as much as the impact surprises the lava beast into fleeing. In fact, flight seems to be the word of the day - it seems these creatures aren't used to such strong opposition from their prey.

The exception is the swarm attempting to cover Crematia. She can't possibly squash all of them at once, and the ones that have so far evaded injury are taking heart from this and continuing the charge.