Alright, now that the Vita responsible for learning new stuff has been sent to the shitter, let's look at the pheromones proper. We got plenty of bug pheromones from marauding the forest with the stupid name. Seriously, who names anything “the something tongue” with a straight face.

Back to topic, there should be similarities between the two pheromones. Since all the ants found had similar enough smells to each other, it is easy enough to know what means what. This smell roughly means “dispose waste here” and this one roughly means “queen”. Is it literally the word “queen”? No, not at all, but it's the closest word a completely different form of communication can translate it to. Who would've thought that spoken and smelled language are different.

Can you get back on track?

Can you get back — Shut it Vita, Vita is hugging the old plant-cell and therefore gets to think for all Vita's present! You can get back to monitoring little Benjamin's blood for parasites and other nasty things.

Ok, while comparing what is more or less two different languages, there should be traces of pheromones in the air to make this easier. The corpses, and also Benjamin, have a smell on them that can safely be assumed to be a “killer here” type of signal for other kobolds to… smell? It would explain why the kobolds always seem to find us in this maze. It could also be due to all the noise and general smell of blood in the air, but the pheromones surely would help them find enemies.

And if there -

SHUT IT, BACK TO MONITOR DUTY! NOW!!!

If there is a smell for killer or enemy, then there must be a smell for ally or something. It should be a smell found in the bodies of these monsters, so it should be easy to find.

Mhmhm, think this is it? Yeah, it should be it. Heh, wouldn't it be hilarious if this was like a stronger version of the killer pheromone? Just causing everything down here to come swarming over like a fleshy flood?

… Why is everything shaking?

*World POV*

The tunnels were indeed shaking. Small clumps of dirt fell down from the earthy roof, the pebbles on the ground were dancing along to the rhythm. It was odd how quickly the kobolds reacted, but the scent that was being sent through the air spread quickly. Vita manipulated Benjamin's arm to smack him in the chest and face a couple of times to wake him up.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

Benjamin stretched and groaned, his rest being uncomfortable, soul and mind still sore. But the combination of getting smacked and the ground shaking woke him up proper. He, with help from Vita, stood up and looked around nervously. Neither horror nor human knew for sure what was happening, but the creeping feeling of dread was building up in the human's mind. Soon, the sound of screaming kobolds could be heard. Not wanting to face the horde at what sounded like a much larger scale, Benjamin turned to run away.

What came around the corner was not what Benjamin expected. Not even Vita, who thought this was happening purely due to pheromones, was shocked for a nonexistent moment.

As they both watched the kobolds run on all fours, behind the masses was a creature so big that it filled the entire tunnel with its body. And to put it simply, the creature that swallowed everything in its way was a slime. A kobold that had fallen over was quickly swallowed whole, and through the transparent body of the slime, it broke down into there was nothing left. Almost like it was dunked into a pool of acid. Bearing witness to this caused Benjamin and the other kobold to move through the dungeons as quickly as possible, running away from the monster.

A quick sidenote on the nature of slimes.

As is known by anyone with knowledge of monsters, they are creatures that rely on the existence of mana/spirit/magical energies/ki to exist. Should a monster be placed in a vacuum, it would slowly die from the lack of this energy. Slimes are one of these monsters, and a unique one at that. There is much study still being done on slimes, and are considered dangerous pests that adventurers and similar organizations have to regularly cull the numbers off.

The danger of slimes comes in the form of their nature, they simply show up anywhere damp and dark. This causes them to show up in large numbers in sewer systems and underground areas. In addition, their liquid-like bodies allow multiple slimes to fuse together should they spawn in hostile areas. Finally, they lack nearly all forms of sensory organs. They rely solely on sensing light and taste to navigate the world around them.

Should a slime smell that a large amount of potential food is nearby, it will become hyper aggressive and swallow anything edible in its path. And this slime has been smelling and eating the bodies of dead kobolds, when suddenly the smell of a truly MASSIVE amount of *dead* kobolds appeared. This slime has then experienced a microevolution to become hyper-aggressive and started chasing the strong scent.

And this is why Benjamin is running side by side with an alpha kobold, trying to find safety from the slime chasing them. Even the extremely stupid kobolds knew to run from this monster, and that trying to fight now was even more stupid. They rounded corner after corner, causing more and more kobolds to both join the fleeing and the dead. The slime kept eating and chasing the smell, until all of them entered a much larger room.

The room was a dead end, yet the space inside was humongous. Multiple crystals, similar to quartz, grew up from the corners and edges of the room and shedding a soft light. Which, for beings that have been in nearly complete darkness, was nearly blinding. Yet crouching near the crystals stood a much larger, white scaled, kobold. It turned to look at the crowd, clearly annoyed. But as it saw the slime and human, its annoyance turned to anger.