Siquioce took a moment to stare at the fallen excamole,
observing it carefully to ensure that it was genuinely defeated. Seeing that
the animal wasn't moving, he hopped as fast as he could towards Kantuta, who
was still lying near a corner of the cave. As soon he reached his friend,
Siquioce's heart sank; to his utter dismay, there was a large gash across the
elf's torso, with blood seeping through her clothes. Feeling his heart beat like
a drum, Siquioce knelt down by his friend's side, his shaking hands hovering
over her body.
"Kantuta, no...I'm so, so
sorry..."
As Siquioce mourned over his fallen companion, Kantuta simply
laid dormant, still showing no signs of activity. After a long few seconds, however, she let out a series of
coughs and smiled weakly at her travel mate.
"Are you going to cry? Come on, Siquioce, you have to be
stronger than that..."
Widening his eyes, Siquioce pulled back and stared in
disbelief at Kantuta, blinking a few times to make sure that his eyes weren't
deceiving him.
"Kantuta! You're alive?!"
"Of course. Do not let my dainty appearance fool you; us
elves can be quite hardy."
After saying that, Kantuta shuddered and fell back onto the
rocky floor, making a small groaning sound.
"With that being said, I do not think I have much longer, as
you can tell. Would you mind providing some assistance?"
Hearing this, Siquioce immediately got up and started
wafting the remaining mana in the air towards him, wearing a determined frown
on his face the whole way through.
"You got it! I just have to get through this one last
time..."
Though he was running low on stamina, Siquioce nevertheless
managed to use the magical energy he gathered to create a geyser of green juice
as he let out a breathy "Well!". After being coated in the revitalizing juices,
Kantuta stayed motionless for a few more seconds before the cells in her body
rapidly multiplied, causing the gash on her front to miraculously get closed
up. Once her wound was healed, Kantuta sat up and looked in awe at her mended
body before clenching her fists and smiling.
"Yes! Fantastic work as always, Siquioce."
Siquioce took a second to catch his breath before falling
towards Kantuta and giving her a tight hug, snuggling against her body like an
innocent child.
"Oh, thank Tomanil you're okay! I thought we lost you
forever..."
Caught off guard by her leader's sudden show of affection,
Kantuta froze, unsure of how to respond. After a minute, she cringed and looked
off to the side, feeling a slight blush appear on her face.
"Now, now, there's no need to be so emotional..."
As Kantuta and Siquioce had their awkward embrace, Yuchauzh
shouted at them from across the cave.
"Yo, guys, you might wanna take a look at this."
Intrigued, Siquioce released a thankful Kantuta from his
grasp, turned around, and eagerly made his way over to Yuchauzch, leaving the
mage to follow after him. Once the duo reached Yuchauzch, the orc reached
towards the excamole's fuzzy neck.
"I was combing this thing's fur to see if there were some siphonids
or something that were making it so angry when I found..."
He dug into the mammal's fuzz for a bit before pulling
forward a leather collar embedded with many purple,
shining crystals.
"This. I guess we've been fighting someone's pet this whole
time."
Furrowing her eyebrows, Kantuta stepped forward, studying
the collar with a skeptical eye.
"But it's illegal to own an excamole; they're a protected
species. Someone must have forcefully captured this creature!"
"What?!" Yuchauzh let out a low grumble, "If there's one
thing I can't stand, it's poaching. We've gotta get this collar off this
excamole!"
Waddling over to the large creature, Siquioce tilted his
head up at it and held his chin, with gears turning in his mind as he gazed at
the binding collar. After some contemplation, his eyes lit up as an idea popped
into his brain.
"I could probably bite it off."
Reasonably surprised, both Kantuta and Yuchauzh turned to
face their leader, wearing incredulous looks on their faces.
"Are you serious?" Yuchauzh asked, "You think you can tear
through that thick leather all by yourself?"
"Yeah! Us Samanians are well-equipped for these sorts of
tasks."
To accentuate this point, Siquioce opened his mouth wide and
gnashed his sharp teeth together.
"We're able to bite through the durable armor of oxhide
tuna, this small collar should be no problem."
Raising his head in intrigue, Yuchauzh looked between
Siquioce and the excamole before grinning and stretching the collar even
further.
"Alright, be my guest. Tear that shackle to shreds!"
Nodding, Siquioce approached Yuchauzh, climbed onto his
back, and leaned towards a vulnerable part of the excamole's collar. Making
sure that he had good footing on Yuchauzh's hairy head, Siquioce grabbed the
neckband with both hands and stretched it even tighter before opening his mouth
and chomping down hard on the restricting object. Though it took quite a bit of
shaking and pulling, Siquioce eventually managed to slice apart the collar,
causing it to drop to the ground with a small clink.
At first, nothing noteworthy seemed to happen after the
excamole was released from its bondage. A moment later, however, a sudden
change came about in the form of the gigantic burrower rapidly shrinking. As
the excamole continued to diminish in size, it began to puke up multiple shining,
pink rocks, all of which were dripping with clear yet viscous stomach acid. By
the time the mammal stopped regurgitating the crystals, it regressed to a
height of only 2 feet, a stark contrast to the pillar-sized threat it was
previously.
While Kantuta was repulsed by the sight of the slimy minerals,
Yuchauzh and Siquioce were much more interested in the shrunken digger, with
Siquioce's awe being the most evident as he picked up the small creature.
"Aw, it's so cute! Is this its true form?"
Shuddering slightly, Kantuta nodded.
"Indeed, it is. And from the looks of it, this poor animal
could not retain the crystals that it ingested in this smaller form.
Unfortunately for me, I had to witness the consequences of this
de-transformation..."
Siquioce smiled some more at the resting excamole before frowning
in confusion, turning to face his friend with an inquisitive look.
"Wait, why was this mole eating rocks in the first place? As
far as I'm aware, rocks aren't known for their nutritional benefits."
"Perhaps not for most organisms, but excamoles are a bit
unique." Kantuta replied, her tone a bit loftier than before, "They may not
primarily turn to rocks and crystals as a food source, but excamoles are known
to store stones in their stomach both to aid with digestion and to draw
minerals from in times of desperation. They play a major role in redistributing
the planet's resources as a result."
After saying that, Kantuta placed her hands on her hips and
squinted at the puked-up crystals.
"With that being said, excamoles do not normally go after stones
as valuable and powerful as these; they much prefer more common metals and gems
such as iron and quartz. Yet here this specimen is consuming these magic-filled
crystals. How peculiar..."
Looking between the mole and the shards, Yuchauzh shrugged and
turned around, hoisting his log over his shoulder.
"Regardless of what that miner ate, we should probably tell
Bo the news; those rocks look pretty important. What do you think, Siqui?"
Taking a moment longer to admire the peaceful excamole,
Siquioce finally set the organism down and spun towards the tunnel that he and
his mates came from.
"Sounds like a plan to me. Squad, let's move out!"