While staying in the Amazon's town, the party had found out about another nearby source of corruption. It was extremely small, but any amount at all if left alone could grow and become as nightmarish as the rest. It was in a nearby den of insect mamono, almost certainly coming from the queen, and driving all the inhabitants of the hive wild. They'd been getting more and more aggressive, requiring the Amazons to make more and more precautions with them.
After they'd all had their gear improved, the party set off to handle the give. Carver left Alysha in the care of the local Hakutaku, a motherly and protective mamono woman. Oliver had to bring Dorrie along, as unlike Alysha, her aura of innocents affected both men and women, and in a town full of Amazons, leaving the Dormouse alone was a non-option. Thankfully he had Karrie, the Karakasa-Obake, who could guard her from harm while they were on the mission.
Finding the den wasn't hard, as it was the only source of infernal energy that Gabrielle could sense in the entire forest, and when they got close they could see the large clearing created by the mamono's foraging. As they got closer, the front guards made themselves evident. Both of them had very serious, grim expressions on their faces, not unlike the ones the party had seen on the faces of the Jinko and Centaur guarding the Amazons.
The first was a Mantis. Her legs and face looked normal and human, though the latter may have been slightly longer than normal. But her body was covered in green chiton, her arms ending in sharp green scythe like appendages, with mantis wings folded behind her for increasing her jumping height and distance. Her antenna twitched slowly as she watched and waited for anything she might need to fight.
The second was a Soldier Beetle. A slightly odd mamono, her body fully humanoid, but a deep brown across her naked form, save for her face which was the same pale fully human form as the Mantis. Unlike the insect monster girls they'd seen previously with a human and monster half, the Soldier Beetle's humanoid part didn't even seem to be physically connected to the large, bulky armored beetle body beneath it. Rather, she appeared to be sitting on it. In her hands was a large two pronged sword like weapon, mimicking the horns of a beetle.
They party had to think of a plan quickly, and it was Oliver who did most of the leg work in this area. "Gabrielle has to be at the center to purify the queen," He said, "And she needs to have somewhere there with her because, no offense, against non-infernals she's got the combat potential of a piece of damp wood." "None taken." Gabrielle said, frankly agreeing with his assessment.
"Me and Cassandra are in no way a good match for the big beetle bitch, so she's all you Carver," Oliver said, "I can probably keep my distance with the Mantis if I can clip her wings before she starts after me." "And how do you expect to do that without being caught?" Ava questioned, earning a smirk from Oliver, "Patience of course." He answered, taking out his supplies.
It was another ten whole minutes before the plan actually started, Oliver needing to get things set up so he could do another bolt storm like he'd done against the Jabberwok. Dozens of bolts flew through the air and into the clearing, the Soldier Beetle blocking the ones sent at her with her weapon, but the Mantis only having her natural claws to protect herself, and receiving more than a few injuries from the bolts that she couldn't block.
With his crossbow upgraded by the Amazons, it thankfully held together through the bolt storm and didn't immediately bust. Unfortunately, both mamono now knew which direction to go. Oliver stood, picking up his crossbow, and bolted off in the other direction. The Mantis followed, but when the Soldier Beetle tried to follow as well, Carver stepped in her way, guarding with his newly re-forged tower shield and sword.
Cassandra, Ava, and Gabrielle hurried through the clearing and into the den while the boys handled things outside. It wasn't long inside the den, a series of circular halls leading to clearing covered only by the thickest of trees to serve as rooms, that another obstacle made itself known in the forms of a cloud of white, sparkling dust. Gabrielle guarded with a shield bubble, protecting them from the cloud as they spotted its source.
The Moth Woman was mostly human looking, save for the large white and purple wings sprouting from her back. She had matching fur along her ankles and wrists, and flew through the open area giggling. "Hell, what now?" Cassandra questioned. "She's too mobile for either of you," Ava said, "I can fight better in the air. You two keep going, I'll handle things here."
"Are you sure?" Gabrielle asked, knowing Cassandra wouldn't be okay with this. Ava smiled, "My wings are strong enough to blow off a little dust, and besides, I'm a bird. My kind feeds on hers. You two worry about yourselves, alright?" She said, more to Cassandra than Gabrielle. The martial artist hesitated for a moment, but nodded, "Alright." She said, giving Ava a kiss before Gabrielle dropped the shield.
Ava flew upwards to face the Moth Woman while Cassandra and Gabrielle ran forward and into the next section of the den. It took a few more minutes, but they found their way to the center of the den, finding the queen. The only inhuman trait to her was her antenna, which allowed her to broadcast her orders, and unfortunately the corrupt magic, to her subjects. Beyond that, she was a light skinned human like woman, dressed only in flowery plant coverings that did little to cover her body, didn't even attempt to cover her pussy as one of her subjects diligently ate her out, and failed miserably to block her large shapely breasts.
The subject eating her was naked as well save for black and yellow striped stockings on her legs. She had thin bee-like wings, antennae, and bee's stinger above her ass. She was a Honey bee, a normally non-violent mamono that spend their days making honey and searching for mates for the queen. She licked diligently between her queen's legs, wanting only to please her.
The other subject in the room as less docile. She was similar to the Honey Bee in appearance, save for being slightly taller, having slightly larger breasts than the mostly flat Honey bee, and being dressed in a yellow silken top and tight black bottoms. She had the same black and yellow striped stockings. Also unlike the Honey Bee, she was armed. In addition to the stinger tail, she was carrying a long, possibly poisoned spear. She was a Hornet.
"How fast can you sprint?" Cassandra questioned. "Not sure, but I can only imagine I've gotten faster since I started this quest." The white mage said. "Then get to the Queen, now." Cassandra said, getting the Hornet's attention with a rush of fire chi fired up at her. Gabrielle ran across the clearing while the guard flew down towards Cassandra.
Trying to run and gather magic at the same time was remarkably difficult and gave Gabrielle a throbbing headache, but she managed to get enough to purge the minor amount of corrupt energy within the insect queen, driving out with a single holy word. All three mamono in the clearing froze, the Hornet's spear just inches from Cassandra's chest.
Then, as the insect queen's wits returned, she sent orders to her subjects, the Honey bee moving back and Hornet flying down to Gabrielle. She was no longer influenced by the infernal energy at least, but there was still no way either of them were getting out of the den without servicing the queen.
