Under lush pink leaves, in a dungeon now wafting with a refreshing floral scent, a large, speckled serpent with jewel pink eyes, stared down in disapproval at a cell filled with reptilian creatures.

[You really have bad taste.] Arsinoe complained to no one in particular. [If you want companions, why not pick creatures a little more appealing to look at.]

Her words were met with silence, which made her sigh.

The reptiles were rather strange to look at. One half had feathers sprouting along their leathery heads, arms and tails, while the others had greenish spikes that looked similar to quartz along their backs.

The two creatures were clearly separate kinds, yet all of them had the same creepy yellow eyes that reminded her of a certain someone.

Arsinoe tilted her head in thought, and sixty pairs of bright eyes turned to track her movement.

[They are so ugly!] She declared, a spiteful grin on her face. [I guess they resemble you a lot, if I squint.]

Once more she was met with silence, and feeling aggrieved at being ignored, Arsinoe glared at the sealed tomb that lay forgotten in the corner.

However, the moment she turned her back, one of the creatures jumped, strong agile muscles clambering up the wall of the deep cell at lightning fast speed.

Arsinoe detected its movements and squealed, leaping back just as a scaly head reached over the rim of the cell, savage fangs gnashing together mere inches away from her.

Fortunately the creature was not fully equipped to climb out of the cell yet. Instead it grabbed the monster she had brought to feed it, falling back into its cell to its brethren.

Arsinoe's panic stricken heart hammered away inside her body as she glared at the silent crypt

Did Morgana order them to do that somehow?

But how could this be? She hadn't heard a single sound from her tomb ever since she was confined.

Arsinoe reeled around at the sound of ripping flesh, slithering over to see the reptiles fighting over the corpse that had been pulled inside.

How crude!

She remembered feeling bad for them. Their chances of integrating into the Pit may have been ruined by Morgana's interference, but this didn't mean they deserve to starve.

So, she decided to feed them with the cave's leftovers, while waiting for Galahad's return.

At first she thought it would be difficult, but after being attacked by a nest of scorpion creatures, there was no shortage of corpses in the Pit.

Yet, these reptile creatures weren't grateful to her at all!

They were endlessly hungry, and even after feeding them, they would lunge at her for more. Because of this voracious appetite they had grown quite large in a short time.

To keep their minds occupied and away from escaping, Typhon chose to merge all their cells together, so the two species could wear themselves out by fighting.

Yet, even with the numerous reptiles sharing a single cell, none of them had died from each other's attacks.

It was creepy.

Somehow, they seemed to know not to kill each other.

Artemis assumed this was because they were integrated together since birth, but considering Morgana existed, Arsinoe thought otherwise. Especially the way their yellow eyes flashed in hunger, as they tore everything she gave them to shreds.

It was like they were eying her for their next meal!

How scary!

She thought she was doing a good thing by secretly helping them, but not anymore.

Could she have fed them too much?

What if one actually got large enough to escape?

Arsinoe shivered as she backed away from the sound of tearing flesh and deeply satisfied growls. She needed to inform Typhon to increase the cell's depth, and perhaps throw Morgana inside for good measure.

[I'm sure you'd love to meet your minions, right Morgana?] She bravely called out.

It was interesting dealing with Morgana like this – she was like a serpent that had lost its fangs, and Arsinoe spent all her time away from battle taunting her.

However, on this day, the silence from the crypt made her feel very unnerved.

After so much time had passed without any reply, she was beginning to fear Morgana was dead. As much as she despised her, she didn't want her rival to end so pitifully.

[Don't act like you can't hear me.] Arsinoe complained. [Shouldn't you be asking me to plead on your behalf? You're going to die if no one defends you.]

Once again there was no reply and the bitterness in Arsinoe's heart increased, until she felt her eyes begin to sting.

[Don't say I never tried to help you.]

Feeling defeated, Arsinoe slithered out of the underground. But as she did, a voice giggled.

[You're too kind, how sweet. Are you sure you don't want to come and join me? I'll make sure you're well fed…]

[Stop talking!] Arsinoe snapped.

At the same time, she chanted 'I'm not crazy' and 'you're not real' over and over in her head.

[But I am real!] The voice chimed in. [And you'll make a great companion.]

Arsinoe groaned in frustration. She couldn't wait for Galahad to come back so she could talk to someone about this irritating voice.

Soon, the silence of the underground resumed as the speckled serpent took her leave.

A moment after, the lid of the crypt cracked open with an ominous sound, and a pair of bright eyes glared from within.

----

In a higher section of the cave, several preparations were in effect.

The battle with the scorpions had been raging on the outside for a while, and several of the nestlings had already evolved, including Arsinoe.

With a few helpful additions, some rigid formations, and stringent planning – most, if not all of the battle had been contained within a series of maze-like traps.

Their tactic was to fight in rotation.

Scattered around the forests of their cave, was a system of underground spaces that when triggered, could keep a monster held in place.

Once the surface collapsed, the fallen creature would be occupied with bottom feeders, while weakened by poisonous plants, until a team arrived to defeat it.

They had defeated several large scorpions in this way, but Typhon wasn't fully satisfied. His goal was to get every nestling to evolve.

And so, once it seemed like a team was reaching their limit, another was sent in to replace them through the connected underground tunnels.

This way, everyone was fighting consciously without much rest. Her short break was also up, and Arsinoe saw her team members were waiting for her to go.

Yet this plan, although simple, required many components to work, and none of which were allowed to fail.

The first wave of creatures was unexpected. They filed in from every speck of forest, surging towards them like an unstoppable wave from every terrain.

If not for the Veladry's warning, they would've been caught off guard, as the sheer amount of creatures was enough to overwhelm their traps.

And so, Ophelia was tasked with controlling their numbers. Before they even arrived, she had whittled them down by a fraction. And the ones that didn't die were left confused, so it was a simple matter for her to guide them towards the areas with traps.

Fortunately, the forest behind their cave belonged to the tree spirits and their mysterious Queen Mother.

Every scorpion that tried to attack through there, ended up never resurfacing and Arsinoe didn't know what happened of them. Still, as long as their backs were covered, she was happy to contend with the scorpions attacking from the front.

Looking past her exhausted team, Artemis, who had also evolved, was instructing a few tree spirits who were helping him expedite the growth of the poisonous plants used for their defensive traps.

In total there were four of the strange creatures in the cave.

She had met the first one that arrived, and had brought her to Typhon, but afterwards, it was impossible to meet with the creature again. Even before the first wave hit, that beautiful, arrogant creature was placed on hold by Typhon, because he deemed her to be suspicious and refused to let her out of sight.

A similar sentiment was shared by Ophelia, and it was only due to the tree spirit mentioning their leader, that she wasn't attacked right there.

Yet, it seemed she wasn't trusted.

The spirit had offered her help, but aside from creating a thorny barrier as a perimeter around their cave, she wasn't used again.

She also wasn't allowed to go anywhere without either Typhon or Ophelia being present, and it was with great reluctance that three more spirits were allowed to come and accompany her.

Arsinoe didn't know exactly what she said, but their reaction to her appeared to be hostile.

She looked over at Typhon who was instructing a team with the Veladry's sitting awkwardly at his side. The alluring creature was treated no differently from a prisoner, yet somehow this made Arsinoe jealous.

Even if she was a prisoner – there was no reason for her to stay that close to him!

This proximity was made worse because Arsinoe couldn't hear what they talked about, but she would see the creature smiling now and again at something Typhon said, while also peering around at their cave with curious eyes.

Either she was a spy sent by the Queen mother, or Typhon had a sense of humor she didn't know about, which also made Arsinoe seethe in anger.

Her team members exchanged confused looks because their captain, who should have been ordering them to fight, was openly glaring at the pair.

However, when Typhon looked in her direction, Arsinoe quickly turned away.

Meanwhile, the voice in her head giggled at her expense. [She's too strong for you to kill, little one.]

Arsinoe frowned at the term of endearment.

[But if you kill the strongest monster today.] The voice teased. [Maybe you'll stand a chance.]

That was enough to serve as motivation, and Arsinoe and her team promptly left the cave.