Chapter 262 - Survival of the Fittest(3)

"I've been giving this place a better look through split seconds." Walking closer towards the end of this storage room with Eric following her in curiosity, she gave a little bit more light through her palm for several seconds to show him what she meant." I think a big fight happened here."

The scene became a bit hard to watch, sure they have killed many Ratbugs until now but the scene here is horrible. "Damn, it is hard to determine who won here!" Expressed Eric as he took a quick glance at his surroundings, a lot of fresh blood shone as light reflected on it.

"Look at that Demon skeleton over there!" Osira pointed at the end of the room, apparently there are more than one of those down here. It is hard to figure out what happened but it looks like 3 Clans had a battle against these Demons down here.

"Yes I see it, there is still flesh and meat on it so it has to be recent." There are Ratbugs piled one over the other on one edge, another pile on the other edge and a lot of limbs are just spread around the ground here. "It looks like the Ratbugs won, but at what cause?"

"There has to be at least 200 Ratbugs down here, and who knows how many others, Demons took away to feast upon!" It isn't easy to determine what happened here, but surely Demons who are vulnerable to wounds can be starved as well. Osira in a way became happy, this neccesarily is a win in many ways. "We are looking at meat and leather here provided for free, its cold down here too so I doubt that it's rotten."

"Yes I see, and its better than us fighting 3 clans of Ratbugs alone. The Demons did it for us, or we would have lost allies." Still trying to catch his breath after all that nonsense he stated after with his sentences interrupted in between just to breathe. "We almost got killed by a handful of them!"

"Well I wouldn't call three Queens a handful, they are stupidly strong." Taking his word in to further consideration as well, to show respect she added with a half smile. "But yes fighting over 600 Ratbugs would kill us all!"

A bit baffled, with a developing headache because of all this fight he asked. "I thought you said that each clan has 250 Ratbugs!"

"Usually that's the count, but it can go up to 400 or the Queen could be strolling alone." As they walked further towards the other end trying to find the den or a hatchery to this place, the stench proved further success. "Here it looks like the Ratbugs fought hundreds of Demons, like it or not they made it easier for us to fight what Demons were left!"

"And the rest of the Demons probably fled the battle here when the explosion occured!" Became Eric quick enough to figure out, he doesn't know anything about Ratbugs but the patterns here make sense enough for him to form a stable theory.

"You're a smart kid!" She complimented, genuinely appreciating his intelligence. To lighten the mood that the foul stench of which flesh and bone has caused, she wanted to make a little joke but it went a bit downhill. "I almost feel bad for tricking you earlier!"

Genuinely she does feel bad about it, but considering all that drama they got on the first tunnel just because she showed signs of friendship, the last thing she wants to do is appear too close to him! Luckily Eric isn't one to have ragefull outbursts anymore, infact hilariously the cold up here has in a way kicked a lot of rage out of him. He was too focused on staying warm and fed instead of staying angry or anything similar, all that contributed to save Bittore up here a bit earlier, who knows what would happen to her if he came up here with the same rage from Occidentis Ignis.

"Oh wow thanks!" He answered in a bit of sarcasm, as he tried to take a peek at what they will find or more specifically what she is doing. He never saw how a true Ratbug den is before, this is a great learning opportunity. Knowledgeable enough, Osira just moved a few Ratbug carcasses and found a 3 foot tall and 2 foot wide opening in the walls!

"Dang how did the Queen fit through there?" He asked in curiosity as he took time to look at the Queen's behind and at the entrance here. "They can't teleport, can they?"

"I hope not!" She answered with a little giggle, thinking that he just tried to crack a joke but quite the opposite he was dead serious. "The Queens are mostly meat and fat, with enough effort they can squeeze through here!"

"Oh well that makes sense, so what do we do now?" He asked her for a bit of authority once again because he still has no idea at all what they are doing, at this point he just knows how to shoot things down and follow her!

"Take off your leggings." She answered casually as she lit Fire from her palm and pushed her head in the opening to confirm that this is a den.

"What?!" Eric asked with a loud whisper, getting a bit shy because of that sudden answer. "Why?"

"Take your leggings off, you will be stuck if you try to push in with that thick fur on!" She specified after she pulled her head out of the little entrance, blasting a bit more fire so her blush isn't noticable as she recalled what she just said. "I'm not spending all day pulling you out of there!"

"Fair enough!" He answered and untied the little rope around his waste, his leggings fell down in a blink after that. Thankfully he was still wearing leather pants under them!

Osira had to undress the thick fur on her as well, so without giving it much thought she just tried to pull her Fur coat off! But thanks to aims of not letting cold in, the collar around her neck is very small that it meets skin from each side. So it was stuck around her head as she tried to pull it off!

"A little help please!" Her voice vibrated her coat as she stood up straight.

"You got stuck?" He asked as he tried to get a good grip of her coat, but she just started moving a bit too much when she tried to answer.

"Yes, why else would I ask for help?" A bit of sarcasm, but she is a little mad here. It never feels nice to get stuck in shirt or coat or anything actually.

"Fair enough fair enough..." He answered as he pulled her coat off with a bit of struggle. It became easier once she set her arms straight.

"Finally, I can breathe!" She whispered as she pulled her head up, her hair was no longer tied into a bun thanks to all of that struggle and a lot of her pitch black hair just fell all over her face! "Thanks for the help."

She noticed that her hair became a bit of a mess now, so she just ran her hands through it and tried to tie them back into a bun. The little circle cloth she used to tie them with, fell on the ground so at first she started looking for it. It was right in front of Eric's feet so he too bent down to get it, only to give her a little head but!

"Dang, what's wrong with you!" She gave out a little shout, being already a bit embarrassed by the fact that someone finally saw her with her hair down, and even having a bit of anxiety from all the rush she has to tie them back up, the head butt tipped the bucket.

"I was trying to reach this!" He answered as he held her little cloth with 2 fingers, trying to give it to her.

"Oh, thanks." Feeling a bit guilty that she yelled, she specified. "I apologise, I feel a bit embarrassed. The only person who saw me with my hair down was my mother and father too before he stabbed us in the back." Her hair is indeed beautiful, they look mild in volume and stretch all the way to her elbows.

"Oh don't worry, If it makes you feel better I won't tell anyone about this." The type of wordplay awkward in some ways but at least she understands what he meant.

"Thanks." She answered as he raised her arms around her head to tie her hair back in to a bun. Such a pose made it even more possible for her feminine figure to appear more clear. Eric only gave a peek for a split second before he looked towards the hole, but for a 17 year old this sure can be considered an early bloom.

With physical matturity she looks almost equal to Commander Alia and that really says something considering that she spend decades training. Tying her hair into a bun again, she afterwards removed her fur leggings and told Eric. "You go first, if I get stuck you can pull me from the other side."

As if she predicted that event perfectly, she indeed got stuck while Eric squeezed through with barely any effort, he is 5 foot tall after all and barely breaks over 40kg! "Damn, I knew it!" She complained as she tried to squeeze her h.i.p.s through!

"Well at least you thought before time." Expressed Eric as he tried hard to hold in his laughter, pushing his tongue against the roof of his teeth. "Give me your hands." He suggested after, trying to pull her through.

"Be careful not to slip, it is muddy here. That's likely Ratbug pee!" Warned Osira, mostly because she doesn't want to fall on it!

"Odd that you know that but thanks for the warning." He expressed as he gave one more pull!

Dumb enough, he actually did slip and found his head feeling a bit cold from the liquid on the ground. To make it a whole lot more embarrassing, he succeeded on pulling her out. The bad thing about it is that she was pulled over him, if anyone else walked by and found them like this with the fur clothing dropped close to the opening too they would think that they are going for it!

Her face landed close to his face and she unintentionally kissed his chin, both of them felt it but tried to act like it never happened. But of course to fight her embarrassment away, Osira nagged. "I told you to be careful!"

"You shouldn't complain!" Spoke Eric with his tone rising bit by bit. "You squeezed through and I'm the one deep in Ratbug urine!"

"Yes yes stop complaining." She joked around once the thought of him smelling like rat pee went through her mind. She even giggled after but Eric just smiled and didn't say anything about it. This is funny, there is no doubt.

"Says the one who just complained." He felt embarrassed enough to fight a little too.

"Shush." She spoke as she walked deeper in the Ratbug den. "This place is huge!"

"Well three Ratbug Queens lived in here." He reminded as he too blasted Fire from his palms to take a look at the place. It appears to stretch 15 meters wide and 30 meters long! "This is the whole Den? I expected it bigger!"

"No this is just the hatchery." Taking a look at the end of this place at last, she pointed at 3 holes and explained. "Those small tunnels lead to bigger openings, enough to properly hold a couple hundred Ratbugs."

"Its probably empty now, it isn't easy fighting hundreds of demons!" Common logic at its finest, even the Queens have ran out to fight.

"You are right, but we can't take any chances." Afterwards she shot Fireballs against the three holes, brought them down and specified the next steps of the plan. "Now we have to get out of here, set the hatchery on Fire and bring it all down after the Fire ceases to exist."