<Experience has reached multiple breaking points. [Young Sunfang Dragon, Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor]’s Job [Infernal Hellblade] has risen from [Level 0] to [Level 18]>

<Attributes have increased due to level up>

<Multiple proficiency requirements fulfilled. [Unarmed Mastery Lv. 4] [Crushing Enhancement Lv. 4] gained>

“Skrreeeee!” 

The sight of their companion’s head exploding into tiny bits right in front of them naturally angered the three giant bugs in the back. Clicking my tongue, I lit my tail on fire with [Hellblade Edge],

I readied to kill the remaining bugs, but paused when I noticed something moving behind them.

“A bloody nest, there is a bloody nest under here! Falakash!” I heard the elven word for “shit” from behind me, spoken with some serious anger. In the next moment, I felt mana concentrating behind me and noticed an arrow moving behind the bugs before five green air arrows appeared around it.

In the next second, the remaining bugs lost their heads, too. As their green blood gushed out their bodies, the wooden arrow shot over us, returning to its owner. Turning around, I saw a certain familiar blond-haired elven woman with a wooden bird on her shoulder. 

When she caught the arrow, she gave it back to her treant, who swallowed it whole, but what actually piqued my interest was the two green magic circles, one floating on her bow and the other on her bird respectively.

Custom spells, right? Delayed and continuous cast to keep it working like that, multi-cast to cast more. Not only is she a trained mage, but she’s also stealthy enough to sneak up to me without Saori or her garms noticing her.

‘Stalker of Phantoms.’ ‘Haitiri.’ This woman is scary… And she’s looking at us with a pretty angry expression.

“D-did you follow us, uhm, Ma’am?” I meekly asked as an ice breaker.

“I entered the cave to check on you after I heard that loud cry from the depths,” she stated before walking up close to us, not softening her sharp eyes. “Just for your information, these are geisenlarg soldiers. They primarily inhabit the eastern parts of Altrust, where the beastman alliance is situated, not here in Artorias. Like ants and bees, they build colonies around a single geisenlarg queen and, due to how large these soldiers are, the nest could be massive.”

Muraina then inhaled deeply and continued her explanation, her tirade slipping into a full blown rant.  “Queen geisenlargs always breed soldier drones first due to how competitive their natural habitat is, as they can serve as both competent fighters, since they are born at rank D, and workers until it’s safe enough to breed the smaller, but more numerous, worker drones. The fact that a colony is being built under our feet is from the monster spawning you five caused by your fight with that wyvern! Normally, nature balances everything out, especially in naturally-made monster-infested areas. Remember this, clean the areas out if you use spells! We are cleaning this cave after we are done, all right? Ahhhhargh, rant finished!”

After taking multiple breaths, Muraina calmed down and dispelled her two magic circles. Letting out a deep sigh, she scratched her hair while we looked at her, astonished. 

“I’m issuing another urgent quest for you, Aurora. C rank. If those were worker drones, I would probably have to issue a rank B just because of how large a colony would have become at that point. I can’t risk a ‘king’ being born.”

“Why is that?” I asked her, noticing she was back to her normal demeanor. She understood how to switch from one mood to the next, although I was sure she was a hot-head.

“‘Kings’ are the main ways geisenlarg colonies expand. They are the powerhouses that colonies spawn to beat down rival colonies. Depending on how much the queen is fed, the king can be born as a rank A, an absolute boon for them and a disaster for everyone else. Luckily, they cannot live for longer than a week due to a quirk of how they are born.” She then pointed at the hole. “I won’t force you, but will you help me? With compensation, of course. We are professionals.”

“Well, it is our fault and we’re even getting paid, so it’s not like we can say no, right?” I turned around to the others. Nobody objected.

She nodded with a smile. “Good. Saori, keep a lookout for any sounds or smells approaching from the holes. Everybody, take a small rest and freshen up. We’ll venture out once you are fit to continue.”

Ellaine does need a rest to recover her Stamina. Gotta play [The Will to Fight and Survive]. But … we have a small problem.

As I was thinking about the issue, Ellaine walked over to Muraina and asked her about it herself. “Muraina, uhm, d-did you see?” she asked. Her left arm was bare again, the [Claw] she had on dispelled.

We were worried she might have seen Ellaine’s demonic powers. If this were some dark fantasy anime, we probably would have said something like, “If she saw something, we might have to kill her” but that was not only cringey but also probably dumb. I didn’t need to see her Profile to understand we should avoid fighting her.

“Like I said, you can trust me. I won’t divulge anything. Even then, I have no idea what it was that I saw, Ellaine, so I can’t do much with that information until I ask you personally or use [Identify].” Thankfully, Muraina respected our privacy.

I took out the [Room] runes and placed them on the ground, opening the subspace for Tasianna to grab some drinks and snacks for us. Our mobile base truly was the best. After I handed Elaine some fulinoe tea and white bread sandwiches, I went over to Grimnir to give him his portion.

“Thanks for the meal, lass.” The dwarf took the tankard of mead and plate of sandwiches with gratitude before lowering the beard guard of his new helmet, revealing a round hole for him to eat and drink with.

“Huh, and here I thought it was only added to protect your still-growing beard. You made sure to add a way to eat stuff with your helmet on, nice, hiehie.”

He grumbled at my comment. Never talk ill of a dwarf’s beard, right? “Normal dwarven helmets don’t have these things; we usually don’t need to, since we use a special mixture to harden the tips of our beard into rockhair, as a gesture of respect to Crustacia. A taz’s beard is resistant to fire to a certain extent, like the rest of our bodies, but it can’t withstand stuff like your scale-dust, aye? I had to think of something to protect my face if I was going to keep fighting alongside you, lass.”

“Innovation through necessity,” would be an apt way to describe the addition of this beard guard. While Grimnir chugged down his mead, I pulled out a leftover hamburger and sat down next to him to eat it.

“Pah!” Grimnir slammed his empty tankard on the ground. “Still tastes like pisswater. Here's hoping that our moonshine doesn’t turn as bad as this akong truk.” (human crap)

While eating, my eyes naturally stared at Saori and Muraina as they kept watch over the hole. They did talk a bit about how to engage the issue once we delved deeper in, but Saori was more curious about how Muraina managed to overcome her sensory skills. Saori’s [True Wolven Instinct] and [Night’s Caress] were still level one, so it couldn’t be helped.

From the look of it, Saori might be asking for some tips, but I was tuning most of it out since I was more focused on the constant clicking sounds from below. The nest of insects sounded far more populated than the bolushzi we just fought. Yet, all of this could have gone unnoticed if we hadn’t accidentally traveled deeper into this tunnel.

Something feels wrong … I furrowed my brows. My gut told me I should take this seriously.

After some time went by, Tasianna informed me everybody had finished resting and we would depart soon. I looked down at my plate and saw that I still had half my quadruple-patty burger left. Sighing, I put the burger back into my storage to eat later and drank enough water for the upcoming extermination.

A moment later, we all jumped down into the hole, landing safely with Tasianna’s wind magic. For our formation, Grimnir and I were in the frontline. Then came Ellaine, Tasianna, and Muraina for the middle, while Saori was our rearguard. Both Muraina and Saori were responsible for scouting and ensuring we wouldn’t get ambushed, which reassured the rest of us as we explored the tunnel.

“Lady Hestia, please, remember not to overuse your fire. I don’t exactly want to suffocate to death today,” Muraina joked as we walked through this dank tunnel.

I agreed to her request to rely more on martial arts and non-fire spells. “Oh yeah, Muraina, do you want to join the party? My party bracelet has the platoon function.”

However, instead of an immediate answer, Muraina made some disagreeable noises before answering, “I apologize, but I’m a bit of a, uhm, I don’t like sharing my kills with others. I’m at a level where slaying rank Ds would give too little experience for me to care about, but every bit counts, right?”

It sounded uncooperative, but I could definitely understand where she came from. Experience was important, but now I was worried that she would hog all the experience! 

After walking a bit more, we encountered a soldier drone.

Mana Eyes.

<Geisenlarg Soldier: A giant beetle with a hard carapace and six limbs which it uses to protect and develop the colony of its mother, the [Geisenlarg Queen]. Possesses a mild nerve venom on the sickle on its front legs, which it uses to slow down the movement of its prey before it lands the deciding blow with its mandibles. D rank>

Nerve toxin, huh? Might help me make my own.

To make sure it wouldn’t call for reinforcements, I snuck behind it while it was digging to expand the tunnel and jumped. Using [Air Walk] and my wings, I maneuvered my body over the soldier’s and pierced its head with my tail, instantly killing the thing. Unfortunately, it gave less experience than the rank C bolushzi.

All of these monsters are too young. They didn’t have enough time to gain levels.

As dismantling the corpse would take up too much time, we left the dead geisenlarg behind until we found the queen. Muraina and Saori both noted that multiple signals were moving around alone, probably expanding the tunnel network of this colony. On the other hand, there was a large gathering of signals in the depths of this place, which we all assumed must be the heart of the colony.

Deciding that hunting down the individual geisenlargs would be too much work, we moved deeper towards the nest. We evaded what patrols happened to come near us and made sure to remain undetected. Muraina explained how a colony would collapse and die off if the queen and all of the princesses were killed. Any soldier or worker drones we left alive wouldn’t be a big threat.

After evading the attention of as many beetles as possible, we ended up in a tunnel leading into a huge cavern about double the size of the Sydney opera house. Beetles were crawling around in an organized fashion through the multiple bridges they’d built across the place to connect from one hole to the next.

At the very bottom of this cavern, there were stockpiles of building materials like rocks, wood and leaves, and next to them was a pile of mangled bodies. There were corpses of monsters of various sizes but, thankfully, Saori didn’t see any human, beastman, or elven bodies there.

“Hestia, could you harden the interior of the cavern? Like when we fought Kiiro’s mana beast?” Saori suggested.

“Harden? So we are going into this without a plan like a bunch of rampaging equerochs? Otherwise, I cannot imagine why we should fortify the walls to prevent it from breaking down if we are going into this with stealth,” Muraina asked Saori, who wobbled her hand as if Muraina was half-correct.

“Just in case, right? If we were to be detected, we would not want to waste time doing it afterward. Considering the size of those geisenlargs, we would need to rely on more powerful attacks to prevent our position from being swarmed.”

Muraina nodded. “Plan B, all right. Then, as for Plan A … Well, I haven’t participated in a geisenlarg extermination before, but the number one advice I’ve gotten from reading those reports has been to target them with ice. Their carapace protects them from the cold as they live underground, but extreme cold causes them to break and significantly reduces their movement speed.”

We turned to Tasianna. She understood what we wanted from her and she gave her opinion on it, “I can do that with [Aifli eir Vintral], yes. I can reduce the surroundings down to the freezing point without any problem since a mana-based body is less susceptible to the cold. Lady Hestia, you should probably use your catalyst’s heat field, since using your core to regulate your body temperature might waste solar energy.”

“Good point. I have enough in my core to keep myself warm if I don’t use [Solar Beam], but it might be better to test this orb out for today.” 

Muraina had already seen my core when we bathed together in the hot spring. There was no need to hide it at this point.

“Should we blitz them then, everybody?” Ellaine suggested. “[Musclemass] gives me enough strength to deal some serious damage through a sneak attack. Hestia and I can handle the ones taking care of their stockpile, while Saori and Muraina have the range and maneuverability to quickly and silently dispatch the ones moving on the bridges.”

“My aim is true. I can handle it. Saori?” Muraina looked at Saori as though she were issuing a challenge.

Saori agreed with a smirk. “Enclosed room, a lot of shadows once Hestia uses her rocket boosters, and plenty of places to strike from. This should be no problem.”

Why are they trying to compete right now?

As I was baffled at those two, Grimnir spoke up, stroking his growing beard while deep in thought. “Hmm, we might be detected if you do strengthen everything up with [Terra Wall], lass. If this were a tazongn tunnel, we’d notice when something is happening with our home. We know it best.”

Grimnir brought up a good point against Saori’s plan B, causing us all to think it over. Grimnir continued, “There are too many ways for the beetles to enter the cavern, and they could always rely on creating more at any time. We will get surrounded too quickly, and I can only protect everybody from one front.”

“Saori and I can always rely on our original forms if it gets dicey,” I argued, but Grimnir seemed unconvinced.

“True, with you two and the yflei on your back shooting down arrows, those beetles won’t have a chance. But what about the queen? Don’t forget, our primary goal is to hunt that royal down. If we waste too much time, the queen might escape. How about it, yflei, can the queen move fast enough to flee?” Grimnir spoke with Muraina. “Yflei” was dwarven for high elf.

“The queen is B rank. A large behemoth with a hardened shell like a giant crab and a long stinger like a scorpion. Not only can she produce hundreds of soldiers and workers in a timely manner, she should also be a capable combatant. There will be guards protecting her and she will engage if she thinks she can protect her colony. If she thinks otherwise, she will try to escape instead,” Muraina explained, before beginning to scold herself, “Hmm, I was being a bit too bloodthirsty. Haven’t gone hunting for a while.”

“Aye, I thought so. Wisdom doesn't come with age for your elves, huh? Ha!” The dwarven man acted smugly. “However, I like Ellaine’s idea. We should rush down the ones below us, and then have somebody scout out the queen’s hideout. The moment we find it, that’s when Hestia and Tasianna should act. Fortify the interior so it doesn’t break down and have Tasianna weaken them with the cold. We then move towards our target. I’ll handle the charge, you five and the garms handle the killing.”

Since the eggs were supposedly also stored either in the same cavern with the queen or one next to it, everybody accepted Grimnir’s strategy. It was time to execute everything.

Ellaine used [Whiplash] to transform her left arm and used it to attach herself to my arm. It felt pretty fleshy at first, but without the claws, it felt like a bunch of sausages were grabbing my arm. As we needed to sneak up to the monsters, I couldn’t play any music for now.

[“Hmm, what an interesting place. Like a hive. So many creatures work mindlessly and tirelessly for a single monarch, their mother. And now, they are about to perish for our power. The strong rule over the weak, an interdimensional fact, hiehiehie,”] Klea’Hatma said. Ellaine and I both ignored her, while I had one of my parallel minds ready to cast [Shine] in case she tried something.

With my wings repaired, I was finally able to fly and glide properly without needing to rely on wind spells or my rocket boosters. I would probably need [Tailwind] for the best maneuvering control or to race another flier, but I was satisfied I could use flying now as part of my repertoire. 

As Ellaine and I hovered behind a piece of rock, we observed the diligent geisenlargs. Once we found a good moment, we decided on our targets and snuck over to them, killing them simultaneously like two assassins.

<Experience has reached multiple breaking points. [Young Sunfang Dragon, Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor]’s Job [Infernal Hellblade] has risen from [Level 18] to [Level 19]>

<Attributes have increased due to level up>

I quickly broke the beetles we killed into smaller chunks and shoved them into my storage to hide them from the other geisenlargs. We then hid once again and repeated the process. When I had some time, I looked above us, witnessing Saori and Muraina efficiently and quietly taking down beetles upon beetles. It was honestly scary seeing them killing them so fast while Ellaine and I were taking it slower.

Over time, we noticed fewer beetles coming out from the tunnels. That was when I gave Tasianna and Grimnir the signal for them to rejoin us at the bottom.

<Experience has reached multiple breaking points. [Young Sunfang Dragon, Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor]’s Job [Infernal Hellblade] has risen from [Level 19] to [Level 20]>

<Attributes have increased due to level up>

After some more kills, Saori and Muraina came over, informing us the garms might have found the queen. As such, I cast [Terra Wall] with [Fluid Cast] to strengthen the earth around us.

Jeez, this is so easy. Everything is working as we planned. Going into things with a plan is seriously the be—

“Skruuuuuuuuuuuch!”

What?

“You have to be kidding me! The queen of this colony already managed to make a flying soldier drone! Tch, just how long have they been down here! Dammit, C ranks, everybody!” Muraina shouted, pointing upwards.

There I saw a giant beetle around the size of an elephant flying above us. Compared to its companions, its body was slimmer while its two pairs of front legs were long and thicker, with sharper, more sickle-like claws. Two large wings were beating rapidly, giving it the ability to move in any direction like a hummingbird.

“Skrruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuch!”

Guess Grimnir was right, super right.