--------///----Eclina's POV----\\\--------

(Reina) " Which way should we go now Eclina? "

I was a little lost in though before Reina asked me. I had just never experienced this before so i was obviously wondering just how this was happening. But when Reina asked me, i just ended up responding with what i was thinking.

(Eclina) " Umm... i don't exactly know. "

(Mina) " What do you mean? Can't you sense the tunnels with your earth and air? "

Her confusion was just as bad as mine. It made me a little embarassed since even though i was saying that i was the strongest down here and that i could keep them safe, this, whatever it was blocked my senses.

(Eclina) " I can! It's just the weird substance that's on the walls. It's getting in the way of my senses. I can still sense around but the picture i get isn't the clearest thing in the world. "

When i said that, they all looked at the slime and gunk that covered the area. Endis had gone over to check it out and swipped some off the wall with one of his daggers. Then he coated it in darkness, which made me notice how it interacted with the gunk. When he started, i could feel that something was making the gunk resist the darkness. I've never experienced something innately and actively resisting an element so this was way more interesting then i was expecting.

(Endis) " Well... That's new. "

(Mina) " From what we saw earlier, those eggs had the same substance covering them... So could it be from the eggs and its some passive secretion? Or is it from another source? "

(Reina) " It wasn't on the warriors from earlier so we can rule them out. "

(Mina) " And the workers. When i took them out, there weren't any traces of this stuff on them. So it still leaves the queen or the eggs. But the question now is, where do we go first? This stuff could be dangerous if the source isn't dealt with properly. If its the queen, all we have to do is kill her and we're done. If it's from the eggs, then we have to get rid of all the hatcheries before letting Eclina collapse this place. "

They had some good points. I was curious on where this stuff was actually coming from. The eggs seemed like there was an easy solution, though if it was the queen, then they might have a problem fighting her even though i could deal with her easier. Though i ended up getting brought out of my thoughts when the conversation made it to me.

(Orven) " Should we not just allow her to collapse this structure after we kill the queen? "

(Mina) " No. We have to make sure that all the eggs are gone. If any eggs survive and hatch, and somehow lead to another queen, then all of this would've been for nothing. And if this substance somehow gets in the hands of the wrong people, there'll be problems. "

(Endis) " *Ahem* Cous, you might be overlooking somehing here. "

(Mina) " Huh? And what's that? "

(Endis) " We don't know where the hatcheries are. Or how many of them there are. We might end up getting lost if we can't sense our way through these tunnels. "

After Endis said that, all their faces changed into ones of realization. It looked like they realized that with me having an issue of not knowing what was the right way, then the amount of time we would need to go around this place would dramatically increase.

(Mina) " Then how about we break our objectives into steps and carry those out first. The hatcheries are our biggest issue so finding all of them will be our first step. After that we know that the last few steps are killing the queen and leaving so Eclina can topple the place. "

(Orven) " What other objectives are there? "

(Ava) " Shouldn't we figure out just how big this place is? If we know what the scope of this place is then that'll help Eclina when she has to bring the place down. "

(Mina) " That's doable. It'll be easier though if we had a map or something to keep our progress. "

(Orven) " I should be capable enough to create a tablet to follow our path. "

(Endis) " Then that issues done. Though we got another issue... Which ants are we going to follow first? We're not going to split up and there are atleast three different tunnels that the ants with eggs are splitting off too. So which ones do wee go for first? "

(Orven) " What would be the problem with splitting up? "

After Orven said that, everyone turned to look at him as if he was an idiot. And to be fair, he was. Splitting up in an underground structure that was the enemies home territory seemed like a really stupid idea.

(Mina) " There are a few reasons... First off, we are in a COLONY of ants. Individually they are all weak. But if we get swarmed? Death. Secondly, these tunnels hinder some of us. You especially. You can't exactly swing your hammer too much without ending up smashing it into the ceiling or a wall. Reina could probably use her Siellas for medium range and close range but definetly not for long range. And let's not talk about any of us getting lost in these tunnels. "

Mina was right. So there wasn't any reason to talk back on any of the points she made. Though now they all went back to contemplating on their next move. Though i didn't see much point to thinking too much when the obvious solution was right there for us.

(Eclina) " Are you sure you don't want me to just bring the whole thing down? "

I don't think i said it the best way since i felt some annoyance coming from my voice. It wasn't exactly intentional but it still happened. Though it didn't look like anyone got annoyed at my tone or anything so it looked like it was fine.

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(Endis) " Wait a minute... Eclina, you can use fire, right? "

(Eclina) " Yep... Should i flood it all then? "

I saw where he was going as soon as he brought it up. Being underground and setting a fire to kill everything, sounded like a nice and easy to do idea. Though there was a issue we didn't figure out yet that Reina had ended up bringing up.

(Reina) " Wouldn't the flames be weakned by the slime? And what if it misses some eggs? "

(Mina) " We haven't checked if fire is completly affected by the slime. "

She sort of had a point. But darkness was my most deadly and corrosive element. But seeing that it was faced with some resistance against the slime stuff, i was skeptical that fire would work. Though that didn't stop Mina from grabbing some slime off the wall and bringing it closer to me. When she did, i turned my fire tail on and began to focus a flame on the slime infront of me. Then the slime that Mina had dropped in front of me went up in flames as if it was oil. The flame burned and consumed the slime in a matter of seconds which made Mina nod her head and smile.

(Ava) " ... It worked? But why? "

(Endis) " We can think later, the time to act is now though. "

(Mina) " He's right. This'll save us time and since we've found out that the eggs have the same substance on them, then if fire get's near them we won't have to worry about missing any. "

They nodded at that and all moved behind me.

(Eclina) " There we go. Now i can make my first fire flood! "

This wasn't a sudden idea that i wanted to do. This was something i thought about doing a long while ago. Mr. Garris had told us a story about a time before he was our elder, back then he was fighting a NightMare, which he says have essentially gone extinct unless something evolves back into it. He told us that it was good at using the fire element, good enough to conjour up a tidal wave of flames to start up a hell on earth situation.

Ever since he told us that story, i've wanted to try to flood an area with flames and see how i could fare. Though for obvious reasons, i just couldn't do it in the forest without burning a massive portion of the forest. And there's no way that'd be acceptable to anyone. But now that we're out, i can finally try my paw at it. Though after thinking about it... I couldn't do that without thinking about the smoke that would come from this. If i left it be, the Reina and the others would probably die from inhaling it. So i had to help.

I turned on my air tail and started connecting an air current and wall for them so the smoke wouldn't have any chance of getting over to them and they'd have a supply of clean air. Though it was a surprise when the birdgirl, Ava, started to use her air to help reinforce the air wall and help the air current. I liked that so my opinion of her went up a bit. I looked back at the ants and saw that they somehow still didn't notice that we were here. Despite all of our talking and our element usage, they just didn't know somehow. I nodded at that and checked one more time and saw that Mina was helping Ava with the wall and current, so i had nothing to worry about anymore.

(Orven) " Can anyone explain to me what exactly they are doing? "

(Reina) " It's probably something about us not choking from the smoke. In which case, don't bother them too much so we don't all die please. "

(Orven) " I understand. "

While they were talking, i was pretty much done charging and started to send out the flames. My fireballs didn't really seem all that special, though considering they were compressed down to looking like the normal kind, they were nothing to ignore. And the ants learned that lesson first hand. It didn't even take long for the slime and the ants to start being engulfed in my fire. And since they didn't die on the spot, they suffered being burned and cooked alive. Even though i was fine eating meats raw, the cooking methods i played around with over the years led me to find fun and enjoyable tastes for my food.

The smell was amazing and i was honestly holding myself back from drooling. Though i had to make sure i was paying attention since i had to keep using my air to keep the smoke down and kept it around the ants so i could use it to choke them out while the fire was killing them. The burning ants started to smell like the kind of grilled meats that i enjoyed. And it sounded like it wasn't just me since i could hear someones stomach growling though i couldn't check who since i was focusing on what was going on infront of me.

(Endis) " Think they taste as good as they smell? "

(Reina) " We could go find out if any are left that aren't burned like charcoal. "

(Orven) " I feel slightly disturbed that you two are actively considering consuming those creatures. "

(Endis) " Anything is food if you're hungry enough. "

(Reina) " That sounds way worse then me wanting to eat an ant thing. "

(Endis) " I feel like you're trying to justify something to no one but yourself. "

(Reina) " Shut it Mr. Super shit. "

(Endis) " I couldn't stop it or get away! "

(Orven) " Are you sure you two are not related? "

(Reina and Endis) " We're sure! "

It was even sounding dubious to me at this point of hearing them talk. I haven't had that much interaction with people other then them and Ms.Ulderria, but this sounded more like a sibling fight to me. Though i wasn't going to say that outloud because it might impact my petting. So i just pretended that i wasn't paying attention to it.

(Orven) " ... If you say so. "

(Mina) " When... Are you going to give him... A better insulting nickname? "

(Reina) " I just so happen to like "Super Shit" so until i find something else to fill it's place. "

(Endis) " You said that last year! "

After he said that, i though i heard a weird "nehhh" sound, but i had no idea what it was so i had no idea what to compare it too. Really sounding like siblings... It was very tempting to say that.

(Reina) " Besides, you're the one that told me about the gasbugs in the first place. So whatcha calling me out for Mina? "

I had no idea what the context to this was, but i knew what gasbugs were. From my knowledge, they lived mostly near swamps and were around a meter tall and four long, had a organ that gathered and compressed gas which they used to escape if they were in danger. They were supposed to look like a weird mix of bug and pitcher plant. The gas they contained though... Even though my knowledge said it was "unexplicably horrendous" i wasn't going to personally confirm if that detail was right.

(Endis) " I hate the both of you so much. "

(Mina) " I'm innocent. Always was and always will be. "

(Reina) " Shouldn't you be- oh. it's done. "

Reina apparently thought something was wrong since she turned back from Endis and looked over to Mina. Thanks to me finishing the ants and slime off, there was no need for Mina and Ava to stress themselves with holding the air wall and the air current anymore since the smoke was already being handled by me.

(Ava) " Mina... Can i get some water please? "

(Mina) " Sure. Do you want me to dip you into it or just splash it? "

(Ava) " Dip please. "

(Mina) " Ok. "

So Mina made a ball of water and slowly lowered it over Ava's head. It was probably as cold as she could make it since Ava started to shiver for a bit before she eventually got used to it. When she was done, Ava shook her head so Mina could get rid of the ball, and she did. She let out a sigh as they had all started to walk over to me. Though i was still looking over the fire festival but turned back to them since they were coming to me.

(Eclina) " I've gotten all the ones here and now that there's no slime anywhere, i can figure out where the tunnels go. My fire is still travelling through the tunnels but they'll probably reach the hatcheries in a dozen or so minutes. "

(Mina) " Are you getting an accurate picture of this places structure? "

(Eclina) " Yup. I can even make a map for you. "

And thats what i did. I slammed my earth tail against the ground and started creating maps for them to help them know the scale of the place. From what i saw, there were four floors so there were obviously going to be four maps. My first map was the most detailed one followed by the second map while the third and fourth were still being updated. Though seeing it through my senses and seeing it through a map were two different things. Seeing the scale of the place started to give me a small headache considering it was bigger then i thought it was. The bright side of getting pet longer and getting Espiral more time to relax helped me through it though.