Hot feet

Bardeelus did not want to be side-tracked like this, as there already were a lot of things on the team's plate. He just wanted to go look for that locator tower right away, but once more, the circumstances pushed all of them two steps backwards!

"Six-hundred bugs… from all of the things that I expected, this wasn't one of them." He thought, "Can't believe we're doing free labor here, these scorpions are so entitled!"

He didn't want to voice these concerns out, all for progress' sake, but his thoughts didn't escape unnoticed. Audera listened to them, and now she seemed visibly irritated.

"Why is he pissed? I'm the one who's supposed to do all the work." She thought, while she briefly analyzed the dangers within the pit below. "It is a lot of work, though."

The host noticed that most of the team was nervous now, so he broke the dense air, by saying. "You don't have to do this job. But, if you want to do it, then there is only one way to do it right. Are you ready?"

"Yeah, I suppose." Audera said.

Within just a few minutes, the host explained some concepts which a commoner wouldn't know of. Mines were filled with these 'red bandits' and as mine owners, the 'scorpions' knew a lot about these bugs; They knew how to dispose of them too. 

Over the years, after countless trials and errors, illusion has proven to be the most effective method. If certain members within a colony of red bandits were put under mind control, or at least scared away, then a whole colony could be easily disposed of.

Within this hierarchy of bugs, the 'hot foot' members were like a backbone. If one of them was killed, or scared away, then the whole colony was in trouble. Similarly, the lesser members would follow these 'hot foot' bugs towards literal death upon occurrence, without a second thought. 

The host incorporated these facts, with the prior plan. Through illusion, Audera was to mind control these hot foot bugs, and lead them out in the open, and towards a lake. This was a bit more risky than the other methods, but it was the only way to permanently eradicate this dangerous colony! 

These bugs can't stand water, because it would mess with their bodily temperatures to extreme extents! The idea was good.

However, Audera still had her doubts, and expressed them too. "That's really stupid."

"It is, if you're not a good illusionist." The host said, "Are you good?"

"Kinda. Well, I'm still young." She said.

There was no going back from this, though. She had the chance to save two, familiar people from slavery. She knew each of them enough as well, they were not the dangerous and mindless types of people; Their neutrality remained stable always, and yet that, may be what forced them to end up as slaves. 

It was sad when Audera thought about it, so she had to cooperate now, though she decided to demand more. "I'll do it, but we're going to need more slaves in return. Every person you got from our camp, to be exact, men and women."

"You're asking for ten people there. That's too much, especially for a simple extermination task." The host countered. 

"If it was simple, your 'supremely superior' kind would've already handled it. You don't have an illusionist here, that's obvious." She argued, "That's my deal. Six-hundred and twenty-two dead bugs, for ten specific slaves to be set free. I don't want any random ones."

They couldn't save the hundreds of slaves here, so she tried her best to help the few they already knew. It was cruel in a sense, since they couldn't help everyone, but it was still a good deed to free ten people!

"Alright… but you need to remember who your superiors are." The host insisted, "If you fail me, three of your friends have to die, and the rest of you will be our slaves."

She suspected that this was a scam, it was quite obvious even. Bardeelus however, got an even deeper view of the case. 

He noticed how the host's heartbeat spiked upwards right at that moment, which was a great indicator that this host was lying.

"He's more nervous than me when fire ants snuck up my ass," Bardeelus thought, "Yeah, he definitely wants things to go wrong. Maybe that's how he got a bunch of slaves to begin with? Hmm… interesting."

Audera was listening to his thoughts, and she didn't like how the deal changed so drastically at the end, so she was hoping for a plan to counter all of this. Bardeelus was aware enough to read the panic within her eyebrows for once, so he thought of a simple plan, which the other could read off of his mind.

Through a thought, he comforted. "Try it out, if things go bad, I'll kill this lizard-looking motherfucker, and we'll fly away."

It was a cruel plan, but he knew that it was the best they could get at the moment. They've already decided to help a bunch of slaves be free, so there was no going back.

His backup plan was pretty effective too. If things went wrong, these scorpions would be busy handling the murderous bugs, instead of the visitors who 'betrayed' this solid trade. 

"Okay, we have a deal. For real this time!" She said, and even smirked a little.

The host nodded in cooperation, and sported a soft smile now. He did a good job in acting neutral and calm, but it wouldn't get him so far either, if things went wrong.

Audera listened to what this dark ditch had to offer, and realized something all of a sudden; She didn't know how to find these hot-footed bugs. There were supposed to be six of them, and they led the whole colony, much like what a 'queen bee' would do, except, it was really difficult to pick up an insect's thought, nonetheless derive it from a dumber insect.

"Bzz bzz bzzz," Was what she heard the most, and those weren't comprehensive thoughts. "Bzzzzzzzzz!"

She had to ask for some guidance, "What do the hot-foots even sound like? I don't know who to mind-control right now."

The host thought that question over for a whole minute, before he answered. "Guess they think about rocks? Hot-foots melt through stone to build nests for their colonies."