Keep watch.

Despite the ground being rough and uncomfortable, for the moment, you feel as if you're laying on a cloud. It's not as bad as it was previously. With a smile, even though you'd like to speak with Rose after that, it's her turn to sleep, and you need to make sure danger keeps at bay. You'd rather be sleeping, of course. All the troubles, all your stresses, Elok Daven, William Cresswell, kings and queens--it all disappearing, just for the night. It's hard to tell how much time has even passed without the sun or the moon. Regardless, all you can do is keep your ears opens. While you might not be able to see, your Kitty Sense has only improved, and given the nature of your location, you should hear something coming from a distance away.

You keep your sword at your side. Whenever your hand lays upon the handle, the metal of the blade begins to softly glow, so you keep away as to not awaken the group by light alone.

Time passes onward. It feels like perhaps an hour and a half, or close to two hours. Rose seemed to imply before bed that she'd watch half the night--or whatever time it may be over this rest--so you shouldn't need to sit back in silence too much longer. It isn't actually the normal time you'd sleep, so that helps stay awake as well. One might think the silence would hypnotize one into sleep, though the eerie quiet and occasional whisper of moving air only proves to make things more uncomfortable.

You stare down the tunnel in the direction your group is heading, at least you're pretty certain you are. There's nothing to see but darkness of course. At first, you do so moreso out of boredom, though as your attention focuses, and the rest of the world fades away around you, there's something more. You must have been drawn to this direction for another reason. Somehow, you get the feeling that something is coming. Then as you wait, you hear distant movement--skittering. You fear that whatever is coming, it's come closer and more quickly than you'd have hoped, even with your Kitty Sense. Whatever moves must be able to stride across earth with soft steps, which at least means you aren't about to face any sort of gigantic monstrosity. You're not sure what's coming, but whatever it is, they're small yet plentiful.

As you lift Lauo, the metal glows more faintly now. It's barely visible at all. Though, it's just enough to help your eye's natural dark sight seek out Mina's magical flashlight. You pick it up, fidget for a moment, and figure out where to twist in order to enable the effect. Suddenly, a spotlight emits from the crystal, and you turn it down the tunnel to illuminate the source of the noise.

Rose groans as she opens her eyes behind you. "What is it?" she asks quietly.

While you don't hear them speak, you notice the others are stirring as well.

Standing not far down the way are too many figures to count. At the front, your eyes catch the most shocking of the group. It's an ALICE. She appears and acts exactly like the others you've met--a magical robotic servant, following the orders of Elok Daven, and this one dressed as a maid. There is no expression on her face, but her cyan glowing eyes stare directly back at you, and in her hand is a spear. Behind her, however, appear many shorter figures that all appear identical to one another, and you've never seen such a creature before. If you had to guess at a glance, there may be a couple dozen of them. Each has a small, bulbous, dark brown abdomen poking out from their lower back in a manner similar to Summer and Taiga, though these don't end in stingers. They match the colour of their hair, each of which is a bob cut, and extending up from that are pairs of thick antennae that point forwards--twitching, as if searching. They're shorter than Vivi and Lynx, yet taller than Mina, so quite small, though not quite the shortness of a goblin.

As said, they all look the same, even down to their outfits, if you could call it that. The wardrobe consists of a bikini an even darker shade of brown--nearly black--with bottoms as skimpy as a G-string, and a top that just barely does the job. While not as busty as Stax, they're not at all flat, with identical bust sizes which are barely squeezed within their tops. Each has a pair of long matching gloves which extend past their elbows, and thin metal guards cover the glove's fingers, extending at the edges like short claws. They wear boots as well, which reach up past their knees.

There's a long silence. You stare even closer at the little creatures. While their eyes appear normal at first, you can tell that each orange iris is actually made up of thousands of tiny lenses, but from afar, nobody would be able to tell. They also have tiny pincers which extend from the sides of their mouths. Despite these odd appendages, they are rather cute, and stare forwards with excited bright, wide eyes and excited smiles.

That doesn't help the fact that an ALICE is standing right there. And by the looks of things, the small army behind her are insectrin. They must be. But I've never seen this type before. Bombus... Bombyx... What are these then? Oh, of course. They look just like ants. I don't know what to call them, but that must be it. I don't like the looks of this at all.

"Kyle Warren," speaks the ALICE, blunt and straight.

Lynx jumps to her feet with a dagger already squeezed within each hand. She stands beside Vivi, who has pulled herself up already--hands up ready to cast. Mina stands right behind her, and while she has no weapon present, she holds onto the witch's bare leg beneath her skirt. Meanwhile, the ghost Mela floats above them, though despite the strangeness happening down the tunnel, she's looking straight at you. She's unable to present colour, yet you can still tell she's blushing. You're not sure why.

"What are you doing here?" you ask straight back. "What is this place?"

She doesn't respond. After a moment, she slams the blunt end of her spear against the dirt. "You are not allowed here."

Lynx glances over to Mela. "Any idea what these are?" she asks. "Hello, Mela?"

With the ghost still distracted, Vivi speaks up instead. "I do. They're just like Luna, Summer, or Taiga. Formica insectrin, ant-girls. They say the Demon King used them as a **** of labour, like an army of tiny workers that carry supplies substantially heavier than their own weight."

"Leave now," the ALICE demands. "Or I will make you leave."

Rose scoffs. She places a hand on your shoulder as she spins a blade in her other. "We aren't going to take that, are we, Demon King?"

You clench your sword. "Of course not. I don't care how many of you there are. I don't want to fight a bunch of short, unarmed girls either. But a tunnel underneath Tivera is sketchy as hell, and we need to figure out why it's here. Right, gang?"

Mela, still staring at you, finally speaks. "You... You and Rose..." she mumbles, face still flushed with a darker tint among her pale ghostly visage.

Oh right. She doesn't sleep, and she can probably see fine in the dark. She was watching that whole thing in silence. "Uh. Keep focused. We have more important things to worry about right now."