Elanore skipped into her own portal, followed by her mother and daughter. It felt weird to think of the basilisk as her daughter, but it was already too late. The social contract was signed, and she was now the legal parent theoretically. Besides, it seems like Mom has already fallen in love with that little girl.
The witchpire looked at Penelope holding Neshy's hand. It was a bit strange to see her mother as much younger than she remembered. The aging process had been reversed enough to make her look like she was in her early 20s. She looked like a young mom, but the basilisk was too old for that to be the case. Let alone being over 800 years old, she had the appearance of a preteen.
Once they were on the other side of the portal, Elanore closed it so that others couldn't follow them inside. The effects of Naela's spell were enormous. She'd blown an extensive cavern into the depths of the earth, and pink flames coated the walls, burning through protective worm goo.
The maid smiled wryly on seeing them. "I am sorry, mistress. That guy had to be destroyed for making you afraid."
"W-what? Who said I was afraid of a little bug..."
Penelope reached out with her free hand and patted the witchpire's head. "You've always been a bit scared of bugs, haven't you? Besides, that was not a little bug, it was a gigantic bug."
Neshy nodded. "Big bug!"
Elanore's face reddened, and she started walking forwards to dispel the conversation. Though, the more she walked, the more endless it all seemed. The worm's body was completely turned to ashes, and not even its mana core remained. Eventually, the group reached more worm tunnels even deeper, but not only that, there was an ore sticking out of the wall.
[Divine: Ore of Desecration - A piece of ore that's extremely rare and left behind by the Forsaken Goddess. ]
Elanore's eyes widened as she stared at the purple pieces of metal. The had a slight glow to them. She looked towards her family and gestured with her staff. "Stand over there. I want to try something." They walked further behind her, but she shook her head. "Even further back."
Once they obeyed her and had gotten as far as they reasonably should, Elanore started pondering. My classes are all related to magic, but theoretically, my physical strength should be able to destroy almost anything.
She looked down at Manapie with a wry smile. Brace yourself, this might hurt a little.
A warm glow answered her and filled her with a fuzzy feeling. "You don't mind? Alright, then."
She reeled the staff back and prepared herself. I will only do about 75%...no half of my full strength.
The witchpire swung her manapie like a professional batter in baseball and slammed it against the ore. The effect was immediate.
Reinforced worm walls splintered into cracks, and the earth rumbled violently. The ore was sent barreling through the ground at a high speed, and an earthquake started forming. A sonic boom was created by the object flying through the ground despite the resistance.
Ella started panicking and floated her eye above the ground. Thankfully, they'd gone far out of the city, but the ground's cracks were spreading in that direction as well. She acted in haste and lifted her staff in the air before casting a spell.
"[Grand Master Sorcery: Reinforce Earth]."
Thankfully, her magic was even more ludicrous than her physical strength. All of the vibrations stopped immediately, but something odd was happening. Much of the ore inside of the ground started being overwritten. Bits of iron ore turned pink and shone with vibrant aura. The spell started flowing into the veins of Earth, turning each piece of metal into her natural color.
Bits of sand hardened into pink crystals, and Ella started panicking again. She quickly reeled in her spell before it reached the Dwarvinium tunnels.
She looked around the place with a wry smile. Every single spec of sand in at least this worm tunnel converted into pink, and the tunnel where she'd sent the ore? It had also turned to pink. Moreover, she could see deep down that the outer shell of it had become the same color.
"Wow, mistress, I didn't know you could do something like that."
"I didn't know either..." Though, when she looked at Naela's face she saw something demonic. It was the face she made when she was ready to punish Ella. "Wait! Wait! I can explain...no, first of all, you were the one that made this giant cavern!"
Elanore crossed her arms and stood her ground, but even her mother was looking at her with a shake of her head.
"Has this been a normal thing since you came here? I hope you haven't ended any civilizations."
Elanore smiled wryly. Uh...would undead skeletons and zombies count as a civilization? She looked towards her last line of defense, the basilisk.
But the little girl placed a finger on her chin and looked away with a devious grin. She pretended as if she didn't understand anything and tugged on Penelope's clothes.
Though, before she could speak, Elanore had a flash of inspiration. She started channeling magic into her staff and produced a hovering light. "Hey, look, Neshy. I have a gift for you."
The light condensed into a floating pink snake and slithered through the air. "Once we get out of here, I will make you a custom plushy that you can hug. I know that you love me lots, so it will be a pink snake. Basically, you can think of it as your little sister?"
Neshy crossed her arms and shook her head. "I don't want a plushy toy. How about instead of a plushy toy you make a real pink snake? Then I can have a real sister."
Elanore swallowed nervously. "B-but, I don't even know how to make a pink snake. I think we'd need to find a snake first."
"Or we can get to making babies, mistress."
"No! That option has been vetoed for now."
Penelope smiled. "For now? Will you two make more grandchildren when you get married? Is that even possible?"
"Forget about it! There will be no snake sisters either. Hmph!"
Penelope and Naela started laughing, but the little basilisk started panicking.
"No, wait! I will take a plushy!" She slithered up to Ella and grabbed her shirt. The dastardly snake gave puppy dog eyes. "Please, I want a plushy."
"Do you even know what that is?"
Neshy nodded her head. "Grandma told me about plushies, and I have been wanting one."
"Why would she tell you about those of all things?" Elanore sighed and patted the basilisk's head. "Okay, fine. You can have a plushy. Meanwhile, I need to fetch this ore."
This might be the perfect coating for a certain dragon's...I mean not-dragon's knife.