After a lot of deliberations and arguments the flaming tempest squad and the vermillion falcon mercenaries were able to come up with an effective plan.
Firstly, using Fiona's gift and Okuagu's heat signature, the group hoped to find the entity's main body or tree as the case may be.
The rest of the plan from that point on just involved them giving Okuagu a chance to battle the entity while the rest of them held of the monsters that may appear to guard it.
The fourth lady from Rose's squad a blonde by the name of Violet had also urged them to be on their guard for it was very likely that the demon could use desires to perform various mind attacks. "How I wish there was a way to stop the demon from feeding" Emerald said out loud as their group of ten continued through the crimson forest. "That my dear is impossible for no human can get rid of his desires" Rose said for she and the rest of the ten knew that the demon was probably aware of their mission. "It's not like one of us will make that his or her principal desire" she mused for maybe the demon really had no idea of their coming."Get ready some rather nasty insects are heading out way" Fiona and Okuagu called out as the group got ready for battle.
"Please tell me they are not beetles" Gale shuddered as he pushed back some rather unpleasant insect memories.
"Nope they are simply some massive ants" smiled Okuagu. "Simply? I wonder what is considered hard in that one's dictionary" Rose cursed inwardly as she uncoiled a black whip from her belt.
The ants which were a little smaller than the beetles (And thankfully of far fewer numbers) had strange patches of reddish fur that covered their antennae and legs. "One bite would simply cut us in half, when I get out of this place I am going to make I sure I squash as many bugs as possible" Gale swore for he would have never believed that insects would end up crawling up his top ten fears.
The ants snapped at the group with their obsidian jaws as they approached the group with frightening speeds. Okuagu remembering a certain book he had read with Claire many years back hollered out "All we need to do is to destroy their antennas and legs, this should disorient them a little". Everyone nodded as they moved on with their attacks. Striking his fist on the ground Boaruss sent a few flying into the air as earth pillars rammed into their crimson bodies.
Lee and Diamond weaved in and out of the ants as they each cut off a leg with vicious slashes before moving on to another victim. Their attack was quite successful as the ants collapsed onto the ground unable to move.
This of course was due to the fact that unlike their miniscule cousins, the ants needed very sturdy legs to even move at all for their body and head were far too heavy due to their greater size.
Emerald however through Gale's help had dispersed some poison that affected the ants' hairs and made it difficult for them to sense what was going on. Rose and her mercenaries on the other hand could only look on in admiration for it was almost bizarre to see the way they cut through the ants' chitin as though it was butter. "So this is the power of a squad of gifted individuals" Catherine reasoned moments before she regained her composure and joined the rest of the mercenaries in dealing with the fallen ants. Okuagu who was now only depending on the heat energy that were strengthening his body laughed: "How I missed this kind of fighting". After what seemed to be like an extremely long time of combat, the ants retreated further into the crimson forest leaving the group standing in a pile of dead or struggling ants. "That went well" Emerald joyfully remarked. "I guess so, though it's kind of strange for never in our time here have we ever encountered creatures without starting a fire" Rose thought for it seemed that the demon not only knew they were here but was in a weird way allowing them to come to him. "Just like a spider in its web".