Vi makes the mistake of demanding payment from Elizant. Surely she won't punish Vi for it, right...?

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The Anthill Palace’s lobby was eerily quiet as the newly-formed Team Snakemouth made their way inside. There were some bugs to talk to here and there, of course, but it had the overwhelming sense of heaving bureaucracy about it. It was the kind of place one came to do business, not to mess around or have anything resembling a good time.

“Geez, this place is eerie,” Vi said, gazing up at the high walls and imposing tapestries. “I thought it’d be more, I dunno, bustling?”

“I don’t remember it being this way…” Leif muttered beneath his breath.

“This is a place of business,” Maki said, following behind the group. “Elizant isn’t one for many pleasantries.”

Kabbu nodded. “Yes, I’m sure she has her hands full as Queen of the Ant Kingdom! Surely she’s not entirely cold though…?”

Maki was silent for a moment. “Just be sure to not make a scene.”

“Yeah Vi,” Leif said with a snicker. “Don’t make a scene.”

Vi crossed her arms and huffed. “Hey! I’m not gonna make a scene!”

Maki signaled for them to be quiet as they entered the throne room. It was a long, shadowed corridor with four windows. Two of them were covered by imposing red drapes, with the other two bearing stained glass portraits of Bianca and Elizant respectively. A patterned carpet covered the floor, leading to a set of stairs guarded by the largest ant any of the trio had ever seen. And there, at the top of the stairs, stood Elizant, silent and serious.

The three didn’t know what to do for a moment, but a pat on the back from Maki directed them forwards again. Kabbu and Leif were taking the moment seriously as it demanded. Vi, less so. Her eyes were wide, taking in the fancy windows and carpets, wondering how many berries all of this had cost to put together. If the Queen was this loaded, imagine how much money she’d give her for finding the Artifact!

As they approached the stairs, a grumpy-looking guard hailed them. “Greetings, adventurers. You now stand before your Majesty, Queen Elizant the second.”

Leif shuffled uneasily at hearing her name, something no one picked up on. The Queen walked forward, and stood up straight as she could. At the far end of the room, she seemed covered in shadows, aiding her striking figure. “Hmm,” she began, sizing Team Snakemouth up. “So you’re the brave ones who’ve found the Snakemouth Artifact? Wonderful. So very wonderful!”

There was a release of tension in the air between Leif and Kabbu. Perhaps this Queen wasn’t as fierce as they’d heard? Perhaps she was just off putting for regular subjects to be around? She swiftly dismissed the grumpy ant who was apparently her lieutenant, giving her some privacy with Team Snakemouth.

She took another step forward and beckoned to the adventurers. “Time is precious. Let us not waste it. The Artifact. You may hand it over.”

Kabbu nodded sagely, reaching for the pouch where he'd stuffed it. When he reached in though, he found nothing but air. His pulse spiked as he saw a familiar cheeky grin on Vi’s face, and the shadow of the Artifact hidden behind her back. Vi took a step forward herself, and puffed out her chest.

“Nuh uh! I wanna see the reward first!”

Kabbu’s eyes went wide with shock as a silent gasp seemed to stun the room into silence. “Vi, be respectful!”

“Know what respect means? It means paying people what you owe, duh!” Vi said, wagging the artifact around like a toy. “We went through a lot to get this, so pay up!”

The bulky ant next to Elizant stood up straight, and grasped her weapon. “How dare you speak to the Queen in such a way! I, Zaryant, shall-”

Elizant raised a hand, silencing the room once more. Maki looked at her, then looked back to Vi. He felt bad for the small bee, honestly. She had no idea what she’d just done, or that she was now a dead bug walking.

“No, that’s alright, Zaryant. Our visitors do not come from these lands it seems. I believe they need to be shown how to respect their Queen.” She stepped down the stairs, and came down in front of Vi, who, even dense as she was, could tell she’d crossed a line.

“Aww c’mon,” Vi said, looking up at Elizant with pleading eyes. “I just wanted my reward, is all! I didn’t mean to be disrespectful or anything. Besides, I was the one who said it, Kabbu and Leif don’t need to get punished for that too!”

“Well, you’re right on that point,” Elizant said, shifting her mask out of the way to reveal a hungry mouth and two rows of sharp teeth. “So, I suppose you will be the only one I execute.”

Team Snakemouth froze up. Vi drew a step back. “E-Execute?? Wait, you don’t mean-”

Elizant grasped the small bee with both hands, drawing her up to her mouth. Then, with a royal grace, Elizant shoved Vi’s head into her mouth. Vi let out a muffled scream as the rest of her was slowly shoved inside, her cute little body vanishing gradually into Elizant’s mouth, further and further, until finally all of her was inside.

The Queen let out a moan, taking in the desperation of Vi’s struggles and the looks of terror in the eyes of her teammates. She let herself enjoy Vi’s honey flavoring, feeling her uselessly beating at the sides of her mouth. Then, reminding herself that it was undignified for a Queen to play with her food, Elizant slowly threw her mouth back, and swallowed, feeling Vi dropping down her gullet.

Vi bulged out Elizant’s throat as she descended, screaming and kicking and punching as she fell inevitably down the Queen’s throat. She fell lower and lower, before finally plopping down into her belly with a final desperate shriek. Elizant let out a satisfied, if undignified burp. She stooped down to pick up the Artifact, and held it with a hand.

Elizant stretched her body, heading back to her throne as she felt Vi thrash and scream around inside of her belly. She sat down elegantly, and turned back to Leif and Kabbu, continuing on with her speech as if nothing had happened. She had to speak louder, in order to be heard over Vi’s screaming. “Fantastic. Now that we have the first Artifact, I want you two to go and find the next one. Our research states it should be somewhere in the Golden Hills, near the Settlement there. Go, for our Kingdom, and find the Artifact.”

Leif knew to keep his mouth shut, but Kabbu couldn’t help himself from pleading. “W-What did you do to Vi? You must not do this! I’m certain that we can work something out!”

Vi let out a cry of help for Kabbu and Leif, and Elizant slapped her belly hard, hoping to shut her up. “We have worked something out. I only devour this bee instead of all three of you. Now, go. Perhaps if you’re lucky, by the time you make it back, there may still be something left of her…?”

The cruelty in her words was beyond Kabbu’s comprehension. Maki ushered him and Leif out of the room, knowing that if he didn’t, Elizant would soon be having them to eat as well.

“P-Please let me go…!” Vi pleaded as Leif and Kabbu left. “I’m sorry for being disrespectful! I- I don’t wanna die! Not like this!”

“Too bad,” Elizant said, reclining in her chair. “Your friends will come to learn from this. I guarantee they won’t be as rude as you. Now Zaryant,” she said, signaling to her bodyguard, “Come here and knead this pest away for me, will you?”

“Please!” Vi begged, feeling the walls and juices of Elizant’s belly already starting to close in around her.

Zaryant came over, and started working her firm hands and arms against Elizant’s belly, hoping that this brat would digest quickly. Her cries for help were already becoming annoying, she couldn’t imagine having to deal with them for any length of time. She smooshed Vi around in the belly, squishing Elizant’s softness up against her.

—

Without Vi, the trip to the Golden Settlement took far longer than either Leif or Kabbu had expected. It had pretty easily been a week or two since they had left. In that time, Kabbu hadn’t stopped beating himself up over what had happened to Vi. If only he’d controlled her better, she wouldn’t have been eaten by Elizant.

Leif had tried to comfort him in his own morbid way. He insisted that, at least, it would be a quick death. Elizant would digest her in a few hours, and then that would be the end of that. Neither of them expected Vi to still be alive when they returned to the Ant Kingdom.

Yet, when they strolled back into the throne room, second Artifact in tow, they found Elizant gazing smugly down at them, stroking her grumbling belly With horror, Leif and Kabbu realized that Vi was still struggling inside of the Queen’s stomach.

“So you’ve finally returned!” Elizant said with a triumphant smile. “And with the Artifact, no less!”

As they approached, the new size of Elizant’s body astonished both of them. It looked as if she had eaten four bees, instead of just one. Her clothes had ripped apart. Her corset had long since split apart, revealing a round, struggling belly the size of Kabbu’s entire body. Elizant’s thighs were so large that they overfilled the chair - she’d had to remove the armrests to properly sit on it. And her ass would more than have filled that entire throne on its own. Was this really all from just Vi?

Kabbu and Leif were pulled out of their horrified astonishment by Elizant’s belly kicking and wobbling, letting out a guttural guuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuurrrrglooooooooooooorpppppp…

Elizant smacked her belly to shut the crying up. “My, you must forgive me, this pesky meal I ate a while back just refuses to melt! As you can hear, she can’t even cry for help properly anymore. Perhaps you two could give me a hand, before I give you your next assignment?”

“No! I would never-” Kabbu tried to say. But Zaryant came up from behind him, and plucked him effortlessly from the earth. “Let me go!” Kabbu cried, thrashing in her grip. She grasped Leif in her other hand, hoisting him into the air as well. He cried out in protest along with Kabbu, knowing that whatever was about to come next, it wasn’t going to be anything good.

But none of it stopped Zaryant from shoving their faces right into Elizant’s belly, giving them both a facefull of her sludgy, Vi-filled belly. A high cry went up from them, as well as another gloooooooooooorp from Vi. Zaryant pressed their faces in deep, kneading them against Vi, smooshing and rubbing them as far into the Queen’s stomach as they would go.

Leif and Kabbu couldn’t do anything to resist. Their faces were pressed right up against Vi, who by this point, was little more than sludge somehow still holding on inside of Elizant. As they were rubbed and kneaded against Elizant’s belly, the two of them felt what was left of Vi start to break down and get pumped away.

Her guttural cries for her team were soon replaced by regular digestion sounds, the glorping and gurgling of Elizant’s thick belly as it worked her away, pumping her away, reducing her to nothing but fat on the body on a superior creature. A creature that she shouldn’t even have the right to look at, let alone address in the indignant way that she did. Zaryant kept on keading, and kept on pressing them into Elizant’s belly.

Finally, after what seemed like hours, Vi was finally gone. Elizant moaned, feeling up the amazing new body that Vi had given her. Grateful that pathetic “adventurer” had at least done one thing right.

She raised a hand, and had Kabbu and Leif released. The two of them looked up at the Queen, who had grown even larger, even more fat and beautiful, from pumping away what was left of their friend. Her thighs were big enough now to bust either of them between, and her ass was big enough to pin even Zaryant under. The two of them cautiously crawled away from her.

“It feels like she’s finally all gone,” Elizant said, with a satisfied slap of her belly and a belch. “Now, let this be a lesson to the two of you. No one disrespects the Queen of the Ant Kingdom and lives to tell the tale. You’re very lucky that I didn't do to you what I did to her.”
Neither Kabbu or Leif objected. They just laid at her feet, defeated.

“No objections? Good. Now, get out of my throne room, and go find that third Artifact. Neolith will tell you all you need to know.”

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