Kuro sighed as he waited helplessly. 

 

He just got a response from Hana to stay put. Since the plan was in progress, he needed to rescue the remaining Elemental Fiends when she successfully subjugated the Queen Mother. Everyone knew that Earth Demons were stronger than the Elemental Fiends. They even had the home ground advantage. To them, the Elemental Fiends were considered as prey when no other food was available. If he left them by themselves, the tens of thousands of these Elemental Fiends would surely perish here. However, as the Elemental Fiends had very high fertility rates, they could double their population in just a few short years. There was no need to actually save them.

 

Till now, Kuro was still unsure why Hana wanted the Elemental Fiends more than the Earth Demons, but as a good son, he'll just follow Mommy's teachings and instruction without fail. To him, the owner-slave soul pact was but a tool to establish a deeper connection with Hana. Hence, he didn't mind using it even in reverse order. It was the best decision he had ever made in his short life. It was better than an in-name relationship where one could betray each other at one's own will. He believed in the future, although he might have many more soul 'brothers' and 'sisters' due to their Mommy's lackadaisical way of establishing soul-connection, he would always be her number one guardian.

 

"Please be more useful and protect our Mommy well." He mumbled under his breath at his faraway brother.

 

He believed in his brother's prowess, though he had never said a word about it. Most importantly, he trusted that the too-handsome brother of his cared for their Mommy as much as him.

 

After all, if she dies, they will die too. That was the devious characteristic of a Lightning Serpent's Soul-pact, which had nurtured countless loyal slaves.

 

Kuro performed the ritual movement to connect his sight to Mommy. At least he could monitor her progress and gave some counsel when needed.

...

 

Hana moved deeper into the labyrinthine underground nest while uncomfortably riding on Shiro's back. Imagine, when a full-grown person riding a standard-sized dog, one's limb will undoubtedly touch the ground and flailed everywhere, knocking stones and random things. With a lack of light, Hana couldn't even see anything clearly at all. Hence, she just closed her eyes and concentrated on the mind-map generated by Shiro through his spiritual sense. Shiro was leading them with ease through hundreds of darkened gloomy tunnels. 

 

Mommy, open your eyes. Let me see it too. Kuro's voice resounded in Hana's mind. For Kuro's sake, Hana opened her now-ruby red eyes to let her beloved pet accompany them on their conquering adventure. Although she couldn't really make anything out, she was sure her little black snake could see something.

 

The trio had reached a lot of large chambers and discovered many interesting items within as they traversed deeper into the elaborate multi-leveled nest. Some chambers were full of translucent balls filled with miniature orange baby termites the size of soccer balls. In that form, Hana could only suppress the incoming cooing due to their adorableness. They also found where these gigantic insects kept the harvested mushrooms and even a large number of nursery chambers with a group of Worker-class 'nannies' along the way. The nannies were stuffing food directly into the mouth of a slightly larger baby Elemental Fiends.  Due to them being invisible from sight and smell, these nannies were not able to detect them at all.  Somehow, all Elemental Fiends they encountered were orange colored.

 

Ku-chan, why are all these adorable termites orange in color while the ones outside are so colorful? Since she was currently connected with the faraway Kuro, she just asked the question that bugged her mind.

 

Those outside are probably higher classed Elemental Fiends created explicitly for combat. These are just workers. Be mindful, Mommy. I believe you could defend yourself against one or two worker-classed Elemental Fiends, but more than that, you'll be overrun. Like what we discussed before, remember to avoid the purple ones. Their strength eclipsed the other colored ones. Always be alert. Although their eyes are not that developed, but their hearing and scent detection are top-notch. Make sure the fish did his job well. Kuro gave his mommy a well-intentioned reminder yet again with worry.

 

Alright, Sweetie.

 

After moving deeper into the tunnels, Hana quietly instructed Shiro to make several thick ice walls as barriers. This action effectively severed the connected tunnels from any incoming Elemental Fiends that might appear from the rear without them realizing. The ice barriers were thick enough to withstand the stronger Warrior-classed Elemental Fiends from breaching through with force.

 

At this moment, there were only less than ten levels before they reached the Primordial Queen Mother's main nesting chamber. Hana had already dismounted from Shiro's back as she rushed with confidence towards the intended destination together with the white fox and the snakehead fish. 

 

The last leap was just ahead!

...

 

As the trio had nearly reached the bottom-most part of the underground nest, the Primordial Queen Mother's instinct sense of foreboding flared greatly. She immediately recalled for a group of elites to converge inside the Elemental Pools areas. Hundreds of Warrior-class Elemental Fiends retreated from attacking the gigantic spirit bird and started to double back into their own nest. Once the spirit bird noticed, she immediately attacked more voraciously to prevent the escaping Elemental Fiends. Tens of them got away and slipped into the nest quickly as they rapidly moved towards the desired location. Once the Elemental Fiends found a strange barrier formed, they sent the information to their Primordial Queen Mother before they began attacking the sturdy wall with their elemental powers. They found that the fire element reacted strongly against the ice barrier, though it will still need some time.

 

The Primordial Queen Mother immediately sent over her King and two other newly converted General-class Elemental Fiends to seek out and exterminate the intruders. Finally, she was alone, save for the last dark red Elemental Fiend bathing in the greenish Poison Elemental Pool, with tens of other dead Warriors. Those unlucky ones were as strong as the successful ones. The chances of success were incredibly low. Hence, she needed to make sure this little one got through the dual element artificial treatment.

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"Mom, they are coming!" Shiro immediately alerted Hana as soon as he detected the scurrying high-speed movement with his spiritual sense.

 

"From which side? How many? Is there any purple ones?" Hana calmed herself and peeked through the map inside their shared telepathic connection. From Kuro's explanation, and through her observation, she realized that the purple ones were the most dangerous and needed extra attention.

 

Shiro was silent for a while before he spoke aloud and telepathically at the same time, "Twenty-nine from the chamber connected to the tunnel at our rear. Ten are purple." 

 

"Double layer ice wall, Shi-chan. Encase the ice wall in a big water bubble of five-meter diameter, Chomper." As they struggled to breach the ice-barrier and went forward, the water provided by Chomper will extinguish the other fiery elemental attack. She estimated that these monstrous termites would've been scared of water since they seem to avoid them during Kuro's and Markisah's escapade.

 

Both nodded and immediately cast their arcane specialized arts to follow Hana's command.

 

"Five, left tunnel, orange ones."

 

"Seal it. One layer ice wall."

 

"A hundred and fifty-five, the second tunnel on the right, right beside the back tunnel, twenty-one are purple."

 

"Triple-layer ice wall, Shi-chan. Five-meter water bubble, Chomper. That's quite a lot."

 

As the duo worked together to make the water encased ice barriers, Shiro noticed a particularly strong aura coming from their front! "Incoming from the front! Three of them! Two purple ones!"

 

"Chomper, engaged with the two, kill them if you can. If you can't, restrict their movement. Shi-chan, fight with the last one. The last one is most probably the King. Don't kill him, alright. After you restricted it, then you help Chomper." Hana gave a string of commands while she asked the two boys to dispel the double layer water bubble with the Mirage Frost Mirror. There was no need to be stealthy anymore. The queen had most probably detected their presence and summoned these gigantic termites to exterminate them. Her hands slightly trembled, but she hid it inside her pocket and bit her lips so as not to lose focus. She needed to succeed, no matter what! Subconsciously, she started to hum her soul cultivation chant under her breath to calm herself down. She had been immersed in cultivation for prolonged period until it had quickly become a habit. She slowly moved to the back and waited for the duo to sweep all these enemies away. She knew they were running out of time. Placing a barrier will also sever the oxygen supply inside this already low oxygen environment. 

...

 

Kuro was a little bewildered, why did Mommy suddenly start cultivating out of nowhere? To his surprise, she had managed to successfully chant by herself without Kuro's assistance! Since Mommy could multitask, he'll just let her be and stay vigilant for her sake. He knew she was very nervous too, and was trying her best not to panic. Nonetheless, he knew Mommy and the rest will be successful since Shiro was with them. If he wanted, the white fox could wipe the floor with these bugs in no time. What he was vigilant about were unexpected situations that could endanger their mommy's life.

 

Feeling unsettled within, Kuro chose to observe the situation form Mommy's eyes seriously to assist her. He just ignored the butchering that was happening in front of his eyes and focused on the development of the other side. 

...

The first to arrive was the two purple colored Elemental Fiends. Chomper zoomed forward heroically and started off with an intense tail-flick! He didn't dare to conceal his might and went all out from the very beginning. The first Elemental Fiend was thrown to the wall while the second one managed to dodge in time and countered by releasing a yellowish red flamethrower at the snakehead. Chomper faced the assault head-on with a pressurized water cannon, drenching the flammable antennae while pushing it backward several meters. The second Elemental Fiend droned angrily! It moved so fast and jumped on top of Chomper, trying to break the water bubble from the top while continuously spewing fire on him. Chomper simply flicked his tail upwards as it was immediately smashed the inner side of the tunnel where it came from.

 

Chomper was agape! Why was it so easy!?

 

In truth, all Elemental Fiends at most were just pseudo-spiritual beasts. The gulf between himself, as a high tiered full spiritual beast with a pseudo spirit beast like this purple Elemental Fiend was enormous. Only with a numerical advantage would the pseudo-spirit beasts had the chance to overwhelm other lone spirit beast and ultimately preyed over it. Decimating the nest should've been a walk in the park for Hana's group. It became complicated when Hana wished to preserve as many Elemental Fiends as possible and placed all sorts of restrictions to protect the nest and the lightning mushroom cultivation grounds. Although she knew the main Queen could replenish the nest in a few short years, she didn't wish to stay that long within this unknown forest. She hoped that she could use these 'termites' to help her draw a very detailed map so that her family could help pinpoint her location as soon as possible.

 

"Focus! Don't be complacent, Chomper!" Hana barked a command from the rear. She knew the spiritual beasts around her were strong. But, victory and defeat are only separated by a very fine line; a moment of inattention could lead to grave injuries or death. Especially the snakehead fish with the anime eyes, he had shown his lack of experience in brawling. She couldn't afford to let him got gravely injured, as he was essentially a borrowed external help. How could she explain to the Grand Elder later?

 

Chomper gulped as he tried to adjust his mindset. At the same time, the last Elemental Fiend had finally arrived. It was double the size of the purple ones with a different feature than a regular Elemental Fiend! It was pitch black, and possessed highly developed large deep red mandibles, with four sets of compound eyes! The sharp mandibles practically looked like large twin scimitars held by a person with the curve facing inwards. As it moved the dangerous-looking mandibles, a deafening metallic sound resounded. Even its aura easily suppressed Chomper until the snakehead could not move. This guy was definitely stronger than him! 

 

“Be careful little minnow, the Elemental Fiend King was already a half-step spirit beast!” Reminded Shiro.

 

Young Chomper had been in a slight daze from shock when he realized the incoming black Elemental Fiend was stronger than him. It made his reaction to be delayed for a fraction of a second. The Elemental Fiend King tried to snap Chomper's body using its curved metallic pincer, but the snakehead fish managed to maneuver slightly to the side in desperation. The attack was followed with a slash using its strong front leg at Chomper's face, which Chomper managed to evade by a hair’s breath by tilted his head. Smelling an opportunity, Chomper immediately bit the Elemental Fiend King’s leg with his sharp saw-like teeth and nearly decapitated it!

 

The Elemental Fiend King screeched angrily in pain, and immediately retaliated by smacking the snakehead to the ground using the blunt side of its pincers. It was now aiming its large mandibles at the snakehead's body, ready to snap it into two. At the same time, Chomper, who had fallen to the ground, had coughed up black blood after he spat out part of Elemental Fiend King's limb. He was shocked to find that the Elemental Fiend King was also poisonous!

 

"Shi-chan! Help him!" Hana was already shrieking in worry when she saw Chomper in dire straits! Their many exchanges were so fast, as it took only a few seconds; Hana wasn't able to think of anything except to scream in panic.

 

Shiro immediately swiped his claw towards the duo locked in battle. The sharp icy wind blade generated from his hurried swipe had knocked the side of the Elemental Fiend King's scimitar-like mandible, effectively pushing them off-course. Chomper had managed to move out of the way in time as his heart thumped so fast from the near life-and-death experience. His head felt giddy as he was losing his bearing from the poison invading his system. He zoomed towards Shiro and hid behind the white fox in panic. All of his previous valiance was lost at a flick of a finger, rendering Hana and Shiro speechless as they blinked their eyes a few times.

 

Where did that brave fish go just now???

…