--------///----Reina's POV----\--------

After Endis said that, that Ava and Orven looked at each other and they seemed to be conflicted on what to say next. I had a feeling we wouldn't have a massive arguement about this since we've been with each other long enough to get a feeling of how they would take this. Though i was still a little worried since i might be wrong with my feeling.

(Orven) " ... For me, it is not that i do not understand why you held this information from us, it is the opposite... It feels as if a large weight has been put upon my shoulders and i am not exactly sure how to deal with it. "

Being the first to respond, we were all naturally listening to what he was going to say. And after hearing that, it was easy to understand where he was coming from. Keeping a secret as large as the possible destruction of the world isn't something the faint of heart can do. We were only able to keep it down since we were assured that the first of the rifts would be handled by the beasts. That would give us more time to prepare for the others.

(Ava) " It's different for me... I'm coping with the fact that that's real...That and you three seemed so... Normal, the whole time i've known you. I just couldn't picture a secret, especially one like this being hidden by you. "

(Endis) " That's it? "

There was another brief bit of silence after Endis said that. Though after a few seconds, Ava just nodded at that. I looked over at Endis and saw he was setting up for a good one so i just got ready to hear what he was going to say to Ava.

(Endis) " Ava... Reina is the princess of an empire. I'm an A rank assassin with an S rank assassin mother. Cous is just there, and you don't think we have big secrets? "

(Mina) " Wait a second- "

(Endis) " Nope! "

(Mina) " You fu- "

I saw Mina's brow move and her eyes darted towards Endis as she put her free hand on her rapier. Endis smirked at that and ran a bit ahead of us, and i could tell that Mina was VERY tempted to chase after him. Though she just squinted her eyes and breathed out through her clenched teeth. If it weren't for her petting Eclina, she probably would've chased after him, Rapier flailing about. Though i could see that Mina was too annoyed to pick up where he left off so i had to do it.

(Reina) " *Ahem* Well, the man child sort of has a point. If you think about it, it would be weird if we didn't have secrets. "

With me taking it on myself to pick up where Endis had left off, i had to be focused on helping Ava and Orven. I could see that it was working since their eyes seemed a little more focused and clear then before. That made me relieved inside since my feeling didn't seem to be wrong after all. If we kept making good progress like this, then we didn't need to worry if they would leave the party or anything.

(Reina) " Though it might not have been the best place to tell you two about this, we can talk about anything you two are worried about since it's just us down here. "

(Orven) " I have no questions to ask... I only require some time to fully digest this information. "

(Ava) " ... I'm just worried about being able to deal with them... That's really all. "

Hearing that, i was a little suspicious if they were really fine or just holding any questions or fears in, though looking at them, i could tell they were being honest. And knowing that, i couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief. Now there really was nothing to worry about. We'd just have to make sure to be there for each other and everything would be fine. I talked to them for a bit more and just made sure so i didn't miss anything.

Though after a bit more of talking, we were infront of the queens chamer. It was a massive entrance that looked like it was being protected by bulkier warrior type ants. They were probably the queens guard. They were atleast half a meter taller then the normal warriors, had more silver sections on their body, had what seemed like ridges along the sides of their mandibles that looked better for tearing out chunks rather then slicing. Their heads were more bulky, their legs were sharper and their carapace was more firm.

And even when we were close to them, they didn't react. Though Endis got a bit too close which prompted a reaction from them. But when he ran back, they both stopped and went back to their stations. They seemed to be some kind of sentry, but the fact that they didn't move away from their station was a bit surprising to see since i don't think any of us had encountered something like this before.

(Mina) " We have enough space... Orven, are you in the right mind to fight? "

(Orven) " Yes ma'am. "

(Mina) " Then we'll do this how we usually do. Go for your golem form, i'll support with Ava, Reina and dumbass take your sides. Eclina, can you watch the kids? "

(Eclina) " Sure. "

(Endis) " Fuck. I'll remember that cous. "

(Reina) " Let's move it dumbass! "

(Endis) " Ugh! I hate the both of you! "

Despite his grumblings, Endis went with the party and moved after Orven with me on the other side. The children had slithered off of Orven by now and had gone over to Eclina. As they made it to her, we had reached the guards, who responded to us by rushing at Orven with a screech and their mandibles out. Orven used a smaller but more compact form of his golem and blocked both of their attacks while me and Endis went from the sides. We both coated our weapons in darkness while Ava was flying a bit behind Orven. Mina was behind us looking at the battle. She was looking for a crucial moment to lend a hand and make the fight easier.

Though i had to focus on my ant first and help make that opening for Mina. I stretched out my Siellas and shot them towards my ant as i got them to dig a bit into its carapace. When i managed that, i retracted them and flew towards it even though it tried to shake me off. Then, when i made it onto its back where my Siellas had impaled it, i coated some of them if fire and slashed at it. The slashes made the ant screech in pain and made it unable to fend off Orven.

And that was the moment when Orven took one of his shands off his tower shield, formed a earth hammer with it and smashed it down against my guards. The guard fell to the ground, stunned and had its defenses down, which gave Mina a chance to send her needles towards the ants eyes and burrow their way through its eyes all the way to the other side of its head. That killed the ant and freed me from it. That gave me the chance to look at the other ant and i saw that everyone else had it handled and started running back to Eclina as fast as i could.

Mina, who was watching the fight, saw this and tried to turn around to get over to Eclina, though she was too slow for me and i managed to make it back to Eclina first. Then i let out my stress and hugged her. Then i had the perfect idea and shot a smile at Mina who was dejectedly rubbing her eyes. It was great. The others were essentially done with the other ant and formed back up around us as they checked around and made sure there weren't any injuries. After making sure everyone was fine, the children slithered back onto Orven as we all walked up to the blocked chamber and made Orven and Endis open it up. And when they did, we walke into the queens chambers... But...

(Endis) " Holy shit... That's one ugly bitch. "

Yeah... That was... That was a description alright. Disregarding the other queens guard which were actually different from the sentries we just fought, the queen was a six or so meter tall and atleast ten meter long... Thing . It looked nothing like an ant and more like a weird chrysalis but it was constantly pulsating, had ridges that oozed out the slime we had seen earlier and coated the eggs in them. There was a small mountain of eggs that had just piled up there, probably because Eclina had burned the workers responsible for moving the eggs. But the constant pulsating leading to eggs popping out, was disgusting.

Though there was still more. The queen didn't have an actual face... It was just six antena constantly moving around along with a massive mouth that went all the way down to half her body. It was oozing saliva like a starving dog seeing a buffet but not being able to get it. Her carapace was this weird brown and green mix that looked so out of place but also disgusting. The queen was honestly one ugly bitch.

(Eclina) " ... What are those skeletons in the corner? "

Hearing that, we couldn't help but look over to where Eclina was looking and saw the skeletons she mentioned... And we actually knew what they were.

(Mina) " Aren't those the sea reaper queens we killed? "

(Endis) " ... Oh... So we fucked up. "

And we did. In the corner were the sea reaper queens that we killed. They were nothing but pale white bones with not even a sliver of meat left on them. There were even the countless normal sea reaper skeletons from the ones we killed on our way to the queens. That answered our question of how all these ants managed to come about. Because of all the sea reapers and the queens that we left behind, the queen must've had a feast that led to the whole situation we were in now. Though we didn't really have a method of taking them all with us since storage items cost a fortune. We had money but not that kind of money.

(Ava) " Umm... Why haven't the guards attacked us yet? "

That brought me out of my thoughts and i couldn't help but actually look at the guards. The guards were double the size of the sentries from before and had more spikes then any of the other ants we saw. Other then that, they were pretty much the same. Though actually looking, i could see their feet bound by earth shackles that stopped them from moving forward. There were atleast twenty of them, all staring at us.

(Eclina) " Should i let them go? "

(Mina) " Why were you holding them in the first place? "

(Eclina) " How are we going to look at everything if there's a fight going on? "

Ok she has a point... But when did she do it? We were all too busy being disgusted by the queen to notice when she did something. We all looked to each other and then to Mina since she called the shots. Mina saw our gazes and started to think on what to do. While she was thinking, she would take looks at the guards and seemed to be looking for weaknesses to exploit or anything like that. After a bit, she looked over to Eclina and made up her mind.

(Mina) " First, could you let one free? We need to get an understanding of how different these guards are from the standard ones and the sentries. "

(Eclina) " I can do that. "

And she did. Eclina freed the one closest to us and it started to charge at us like a madman gunning for drugs. Orven got infront and let the kids slither off him as he took his golem form and met the ant head on. The ant charged into his tower shield and seemed to leave a few cracks in the outer layer of earth but Orven shoved his shield upwards which gave me and Endis an opening which we took. Endis ran and jumped onto the ants back and plunged his daggers into its back while i ran alongside onne of its joints with my Siellas out and slashed them at it with my running momentum and cut into it.

My darkness ate into the flesh although there was a bit of resistance from the carapace, it couldn't stop my siellas. The ant wasn't able to keep its balance with me wrecking one of its leg joints and lost its balance. When it fell over, Orven raised his tower shield up and slammed down towards the ants head. Endis shouted "Oh shit" and jumped for safety while i quickly retracted my Siellas and ran for safety too.

When his shield made contact, the ants head exploded into bits and almost sprayed out if not for the literal wall of stone, Orven. He took the brunt of that and shook off the ant bits. Though after that ant died, the queen let out a shriek that seemed to energize the other guards as they seemed to be bursting with energy. They started to fight against Eclina's shackles harder and even started to rush towards us even if it meant some of their carapace and even flesh came off.

The sight of all those crazy massive ants charging towards us was somewhat frightening but then the shackles came again, but this time they were thicker and more of them. The first ones were aimed at their bodies while the rest were aimed at their abdomen and legs. The charging ants were slowed down almost instantly. And seeing those shackles, i couldn't help but turn to Eclina and see her looking at them with an annoyed look on her face. Though now that we had a chance, we couldn't waste it. I looked at Endis and he knew what i was thinking. Then we looked to Mina and she understood.

(Mina) " Ava, fly up and watch everyone incase of support! Orven, squash as many as you can! "

With that, we started to move. Mina didn't need to order me and Endis since we already knew what to do. Me and Endis split and ran in opposit directions as we went for the closest ants on our sides. With one of my siellas coated in darkness and the other in fire, i slashed at joints and other weak spots that they made while trying to free themselves and charging at us. We moved quickly since we didn't know if they would have some kind of second wind and struggle free again. And with Eclina helping, we managed to clear them out without another second wind.

Now, it was just the queen left.