The corpse of the imitator is now being examined by the curious us (Me myself, Mother Aries, Kara and Zerolith), with Zerolith in particular keep mumbling "hmm..." "Could it be...", so much so that it actually kinda annoying, so we ask him what is it that he is thinking about
"Well, I was just thinking, could it be, that this isn't just a mere experimentation by the so called witch Saintess" [Zerolith]
"Care to elaborate" [Aries]
"Gladly. I was thinking, could it be, this is your doppelganger" [Zerolith]
"!" [All]
"You mean like Htilorez?" [Mara]
"Exactly" [Zerolith]
Htilorez, aka Zerolith doppelganger. She's quite pretty for someone that take after Zerolith. Now I wonder, what really is a doppelganger
"Doppelganger you ask? Well, they are your others devil self, or so they call, but..." [Zerolith]
"Since the fallen god is actually the god of life, wouldn't it be possible for her to create a doppelganger of every single one of us? I mean, Htilorez is proof enough" [Singa]
"True. That might be a possibility. So for now, how about we put her corpse together with Drant inside an item box first. We will figure it all out later once we are outside" [Aries]
"Agree. Still, when you said that you felt Drant's mana before the fight..." [Rean]
"Yes. I can still feel it. To be exact, it's underneath us" [Aries]
"This is the last floor of the challenge dungeon, but it wouldn't hurt to do this" [Karon]
"Well, while you're at it, I will put both of the corpses inside my item box" [Elise]
"Then I'll heal Behe and Mother Aries first while we are waiting for Karon" [Charlotte]
"Let me help as well" [Kara]
"Me three" [Farhah]
"Thank you, I really appreciate it" [Aries]
"Meow..." [Behe]
Farhah take a look at Behe, and since she can patch and heal Behe quickly, she tells us to concentrate more on Mother Aries and let her heal Behe by herself. We agree to it
Looking at Mother Aries condition, I can say that she's quite in a mess if I'm being honest. For once, the wound on her stomach barely closed with our last minute healing spell, so both of us quickly tend to the wound. We aren't nearly as proficient as the healer that Mr Flinar trained (or himself for that matter), nor are we proficient like Saintess Rumia and Seo Ah, but at the very least, we know the basic. At a time like this, we will really appreciate the help of a professional
The wound on her stomach is one thing, the reciprocal effect of her counteract technique is another thing all together. Just touching her left arm make her flinch in silence. I guess there are few broken bones here and there. Maybe a minor one, but a broken bone is painful nonetheless
"Don't worry, I'm more than used to it. Just that, it has been a while since I last uses the technique, and couple with my age, it actually damage me more that I anticipated" [Aries]
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"I guess even someone as strong as mom have her moment of weakness" [Mara]
"Aren't we all? If anything, maybe after the fight with fallen god, I can finally rest and focus solely on desk work" [Aries]
"Somehow, that suit you" [Kara]
"Yes. People who never met you might not even realize you're the infamous paladin once you start working with your desk" [Charlotte]
As we continue to heal Mother Aries, Karon finally found it
"Bingo" [Karon]
"A hidden passage" [Savel]
"And judging by the look of it, it leads us down, to the 61st floor perhaps" [Singa]
"Is everybody alright? If so, let us explore it and find the source of Drant's mana" [Rean]
"Meow!" [Behe]
"A yes from me as well" [Aries]
And we continue our adventure at the challenge dungeon, and the secret passage really lead downward. All of us can tell that we are on a whole new floor.
Unlike the previous floor, this one really do looks like an ant nest. I mean, I could see the round colonies like thing that are usually depicted as an ant nest here and there. They're superficial one, and there are deep one. As such, some are meant as a food storage, while other houses big white eggs (Ant eggs I presume, or more specifically, eggs laid by Drant)
"So you have come" [?]
A little girl like sound can be heard coming from the end of the floor, and coincidentally enough, that's the direction where Mother Aries said having Drant's mana, and so we simply rush there, to see a chimera looking little girl just popping out from a huge (around three times bigger than the oval white egg) egg. She looks young. Maybe around Miriam's age (around six years old).
If I have to describe how she looks, she is like the Arachne, a half spider half human, only thing is the lower part is that of an ant instead of a spider. She also have the two cute antenna of the ant, and thankfully, her eyes is like that of a normal human. Still, something about her looks kinda familiar
"Thinking about my appearance? The previous queen used this lady gene here when she gave birth to me, as such, I might look like a younger version of her" [?]
"No wonder. You actually look more like my daughters here rather than I am" [Aries]
""That is..."" [Kara, Mara]
"Is that so? Guess that makes you my godmother in human term I suppose. Anyway, I can tell one of you is holding the previous queen corpse. Can I have it? I'm starving..." [?]
"Wait, you're gonna eat it?" [Elise]
"Of course... Why do you ask? Some monster ants do just that... Ohh, I get it, it might be best for me to give you blessings of the holy beast of earth first before my feast" [?]
"Wait! So that means..." [Rean]
"That's correct. I am the next holy beast of earth. I still don't have any names given by Goddess Achalasia or Mother Earth, so just call me holy beast of earth for now" [Holy beast of earth]
"In that case, why don't you take Mother Aries name? Since you're..." [Charlotte]
"Charlotte!" [Other]
"Little hero... It isn't that easy... Huh?" [Holy beast of earth]
She looks like she is having a conversation inside her head. Could it be
"Well. I guess that's my name for now. The holy beast of earth, sheilding ant Aries" [Ant Aries]
"!" [Other]
"Now then, the previous queen did mentioned about all of you, so let get right to business, but first" [Ant Aries]
"But first?" [Elise]
She looks hungrily at Elise. She drool, so much so that Kara here reflexively wipe out her drool like she always does to our younger siblings at the orphanage
"Just give me the food first. I can't let you run away with the food after giving you my blessing!" [Ant Aries]
"I won't!" [Elise]