It’s basically a massacre on both sides. The gathered horses manage to kill a sizeable number of ants, but the buggers are limitless. They just keep coming, learning from their fallen comrades. It takes a while for the ones that clamp to her skin to drown in the tiny little stream she’s found, and she splashes around like a fool the entire time. It’s more than enough time for the buggers to crawl past the scales on her legs, biting into flesh instead, which hurts like a mofo. There will be welts on her skin far longer than she cares to think about. Whatever the ants may or may not give them cannot possibly be worth this.

Not that she suspects there’s an escaping from this situation now. She stays in the water because it’s the safest location. It stopped more ants from coming to attack her, and though she is miserable trying to kill the ones that cling to her skin with every ounce of their strength, at least there aren’t more ants attacking. Not everyone is so lucky. Some remove ants as quickly as new ones replace them. She watches the weird dance with trees and wings that a few of the horse’s attempt, and it’s almost enough to make her laugh. Almost.

And then, suddenly, the ants stop. They stop pouring from their hill like lava from a volcano. And she stares at them in horror, because whatever is happening cannot possibly be good. Soon the earth beside the mound begins to shift, giving way to another hole and a clearly magical Ant Queen.

No. Just really no.

She almost runs. This cannot possibly be worth it. But before her brain manages to communicate this thought to her feet, the ants are retreating into the new hole and the Queen is soaring into the air. And then she’s shooting magical ice bullets. Seriously? She’s farting out magical ice bullets. Could Syrena’s life get any more screwed up? Probably. Be careful what you wish for.

An icicle comes soaring in her direction, and Syrena is by no means battle trained. She dives out of the way, slipping in the river and at least managing to crush a few more ants clinging to her skin. The icicle still takes a nice slice out of her side, and she manages to stifle a scream or a curse – whatever was about to fly off her lips. Maybe if she just stays silent and out of the way she can escape this madness.

The stallion with the fire creatures creates a dragon-like thing and sends it at the Queen, and the kid yells something then about the Queen protecting her family. And Syrena kind of gets it. Not that she has some mothering instinct, but most animals do. Most animals will die for their children in a heartbeat.

She backs further away from the ant hill, because honestly, this is the only thing she can do. She’s not going to beat a magical ant by flinging rocks and hoping to hit it. She has no fire to offer, and water plants sure aren’t going to help. It’s not like she can magically make said water plants appear around a flying creature.

She keeps backing away, trying to avoid the flying ice bullets, though they are impossible to dodge. She takes various hits, leaving cuts and nicks in her skin. She does her best to hide herself in some trees, hoping they would take the brunt of the ice bombs instead of her skin. And she waits, hoping to hell this kid is right and if they just leave the ants alone, they will stay away. There are so many dead ants at this point, and plenty far enough away from the mounds, that hopefully it will be enough. That, or whoever made those bronze sheets before can just plug up those holes while the Queen burns.

[Syrena agrees with Astarot and backs away in the ant hill, trying to hide from the ice bullets behind a bunch of trees as best she can.]