This is a good twist

"How fast can they melt through stone? Do you know the specifics?" Audera asked, "Because it's stupid to lead them through the mine. I'm guessing that was your plan, but it's a dangerous one."

"Your intelligence befits an illusionist, I like that. This is dangerous, you are right." The host said.

Afterwards he added, "As for your question… Yes, the hot footed bugs can melt through stone pretty quickly. That's how they support massive colonies."

"Moron," She thought, "You just gave me an idea. Fuck this deal, he was setting us up for failure anyway."

Of course she didn't say that out loud, and her facial expressions remained mostly neutral too. She couldn't hide her rage entirely, though, so she pretended to focus on the bugs below to avoid suspicion.

Close by, Bardeelus was observing everything as well as he could, and thought to himself. "Yup, she's definitely gonna fight, I can see her butt-cheeks clenching. Hmm… gotta get everyone out of here alive, though, this is gonna be tricky."

When he thought about 'everyone', he referred to the few friends he had, and the slaves they had to free. Those people had to be kept safe, so he tried to think of the best way to flee this place!

Typically Erdeta was their go-to girl, but she obviously couldn't carry more than three people. Even if she tried, they couldn't fly away that far, so they couldn't depend on her for a proper escape. 

He decided to depend on the next best thing. "I gotta use these dead motherfuckers, to fight the scorpions off if necessary. I can't have these 'guards' follow me forever, they'll die with honor today… again, hehe."

He referred to the four spiritually enslaved people which followed him around. He had even enslaved a powerful geezer, so if things went wrong now, these 'guards' would act as a barricade against any danger this mine could throw against them.

Anyway, Audera finally made some progress. She found one of the hot footed bugs, but not in the way which she had expected. 

She couldn't figure out an insect's limited mind or what they thought about, so she went for the next best thing. WIthin this ditch, she noticed a faint but unmistakable glow. 

"They're feet are literally hot, or… insect legs to be exact." She muttered.

Afterwards, she focused on that little critter, and tossed a spell against it. "Thy will ye shall bend, for my will overcomes it. Let go of your tiny conscience bug, and let me lead."

A lot of spells, regardless of the school of magic, had everything to do about breaking an opponent's will. For that matter, most spells didn't even have specific names.

A mage would channel their spells through willpower, and their minds acted as the ultimate directors. The spells turned out how the mages thought it out, and the words they associated with each spell was mostly a formality; Half of its purpose was to represent family names, even, rather than magic itself.

With that same ideology, Audera managed to successfully land her spell on that hot footed bug. Now, it was under her direct command.

"Call your hot footed friends, bug." She demanded.

Of course the bug didn't speak any human language, nonetheless understand one, but Audera's will was as clear as water. The spell, if not her willpower, guided the bug to follow that specific command.

The bug's legs started glowing more, all of a sudden. It was pretty intense, as this whole, twenty-meter wide ditch was lit up in a single second. Now, she could see everything this ditch contained!

"Those are a lot of bugs," She said, and rubbed her eyes in the meantime.

The glow's intensity could blind anyone, at least momentarily. She tried to look through this effect. 

"Guess that's how it calls for the other hot foots," She said, and was rather right.

The five other, highly ranked bugs, acknowledged the glowing signal and followed it. Within a minute, all six of these hot footed bugs were in a sense, right under Audera's nose!

She casted spells on all of them, and put them under her control easily. As important as these bugs were, their brains were still pretty simple, it was easy to put them under mind control.

The best thing was that she could control the whole colony now. The whole colony recognized these six bugs as commanders, as if they were a royal family, even! 

Now, as Audera pleased, she could pass on any commands towards these six bugs, and control the whole colony of over six-hundred bugs that way. 

She was in control, and she understood now why illusion magic was the best way to handle these pests. Their hierarchy was simple and penetrable!

"Gather up the colony, line them up well." She spoke out loud.

Everything about her posture, gestured that she was calm and cooperative. However, she acted as such because she managed to formulate a good, new plan.

Telepathically, she commanded. "Bugs, wait for my next command. We're taking this place hostage, it should be easy!"

The colony abided her demand thoroughly. Their formations were flawless, and within five minutes, all of them lined around the ditch's exit; They were ready to move.

At that moment, the host walked forward and asked. "So what's the plan? Are you going to drill a tunnel towards the surface?"

"Oh so now you're giving good advice, huh?" Audera openly countered.

The other did not answer, which hinted that this whole deal had a sketchy undertone. This man had really wanted her to fail, it was cruel.

For that matter, she wanted to be as cruel in exchange. "The bugs aren't going anywhere. I'm dismantling your little mine instead."

"That is a grave crime, your families will be hunted by my kin!" The host countered.

"Oh yeah?" She taunted, "Too bad you have no fucking clue who we are! You don't know our family names, hehe."

Afterwards, the hundreds of these wingless, bee-like bugs started marching out of the ditch. They were orderly, but overwhelming in numbers!

The host and the rest of these scorpion people couldn't attack either. As a self-labeled superior race, their precious lives were too valuable. Instead, they started putting a bunch of slaves on the frontline, as cannon fodder. 

Audera knew how to turn that against the scorpions. She decided to mention the slaves directly, to talk to them! 

She shouted, "This mine will be shut down, by my order! I don't want to kill any of you, but every slave here has to be set free, or else!"