The five of them continued through the mountain, and along the way, they encountered many ants. As they went deeper, they encountered more and more demonic ants, forcing Synthia and Castiel to get involved. They didn't use their holy energy and relied only on physical attacks to kill the ants, and soon, they encountered their first tier 4 ant.
[You three stay here. Castiel and I will take care of those two.] Synthia said as they looked at the two ants infront of them, guarding the entrance to a tunnel. These ants were different from the tier 3 ones, firstly, they were as tall as humans and their carapace looked like it was made of a red shiny crystal, reflecting light of it. They were pretty sure the the ants knew they were there, but they hadn't attacked, refusing to leave their posts.
[Alright ready?] Castiel asked
[Ready.] Synthia replied and both of them dashed towards the ants. The ants released jets of acid from their mouth towards them, but Castiel, who was infront, blocked them with a wind screen. The ants then sent a spike path of deadly red crystals towards the two of them. Castiel was forced to block as the narrow space of the tunnels didn't allow him to maneuver. Synthia created a fireball in her hand and threw it towards the ceiling and the fireball made an arc, flying barely beneath the ceiling towards the ants. She made the fireball fall infront of the two ants before exploding.
The tunnel trembled, but it didn't cave in and the two ants screeched in pain as they were burned by the heavenly flames burned them. Synthia took the opportunity to stab her sword into the crystal path created by the ants and released a beam of heavenly flames through the tip of her blade. The beam ripped through the crystals and enveloped the ants, causing them to screech in pain as the holy energy burned them.
[You have slain a level 3 demonic beast(tier 4), Ruby Royal Guards. Your body cannot absorb demonic energy.]
[You have slain a level 2 demonic beast(tier 4), Ruby Royal Guards. Your body cannot absorb demonic energy.]
"Are you alright? That must have drained a lot of your HP." Castiel said
"No, I'm fine." Synthia said and walked over to the charred corpses of the ants and dug out their soul crystals
"What do you need those for?" Kate asked
"You'll see." Synthia said and placed them in her storage ring. They continued down the tunnel and they reached a wide chamber, where they saw three blue crystal ants, similar Ruby Royal Guards Synthia killed. Both Castiel and Synthia charged towards the ants and they immediately shot a large shards of blue crystal towards them. Synthia tried to parry the torrent of blue crystals with her blade but there was just too many and some of them pierced through her armour and into her flesh. Castiel created a sphere of wind around him, blocking the shards. Two of the ants concentrated fire on Castiel, but quickly changed tactics and instead created paths of spiky blue crystals. Castiel swung his glaive and a hurricane was sent towards the ants. The ants created crystal shields to protect them from the fierce and sharp winds while Castiel jumped over the paths of crystal. Synthia slashed her sword and a blade of heavenly flames was sent towards the ants and as soon as it touched the shields, it exploded. The shields were mostly destroyed and Castiel came in with the finisher.
Above his glaive, was a ball of concentrated winds that he sent flying towards the three ants. The ball exploded as soon as it got close to them, destroying the shields and enveloping the three ants in a twister of sharp winds, causing small lacerations on their carapace. Synthia slashed her sword again, sending a blade of heavenly flames towards the twister, igniting it. The ants screeched in pain as they were burned alive while being thrown around in the air. Castiel manipulated the winds and made it compress around the ants, increasing their pain as the flames condensed around them as well.
"Topaz Royal Guards huh." Castiel said as the charred corpses fell to the ground, he walked over to them and picked up dug out their soul crystals under the curious gazes of Kate, Simon and Mark. They continued down the tunnel, and they soon encountered two more ants, that looked a bit different than the others, with green spikes on their carapaces.
[Not again.] Castiel whined
[We have to deal with them whether we like it or not. Based on what I know about ants, the royal guards protect the queen and the queen chamber is the perfect place to put the [Holy Core].] Synthia said and Castiel sighed
[But we should kill them as quick as possible. Let's use the [Holy Flanado] technique.] Castiel said
[Uhh, I still hate that name.] Synthia said
[Hehehehehe.] Castiel chuckled and the two of them stood side by side. They concentrated their energy infront of them and an orb of heavenly fire and wind appeared. The ants noticed and sent a a path of green crystals towards them, but it was already too late. The orb expanded and they launched a tornado made from a combination of their respective affinity was sent towards the ants. The tornado stretched towards the ceiling and was so powerful that it caused the tremble dangerously. As the tornado enveloped the two ants and then it started to compress around them in an orb, before it exploded, flooding the tunnel with heavenly flames. But Synthia and Castiel prevented the flames from touching any of them.
They looked at the ants who were surprisingly still alive and they struggled to get up. Castiel and Synthia threw their weapons and impaled both of them, killing them instantly. They collected the two soul crystals before proceeding into the chamber that the royal guards were protecting. As expected, it was the queen's chamber, a giant ant beast with golden carapace and large clusters of eggs littered all over the chamber. The chamber was the size of a football stadium with a high ceiling, enough space for hundreds of eggs, half the size of a human being.