Chapter 13: Into the Ant Nest

“Do ants… eat people?”

While walking down the road, Roa asked.

Eat people?

Information about monsters isn’t always common, but explorers usually exchange information about the monsters they plan to hunt.

Especially when it comes to what monsters eat, that’s some of the easiest info to get.

“What kind of question is that?”

Shion squinted his eyes and asked back.

Shion has a sharp expression, so even a slight frown makes him look fierce.

Roa shrank back at Shion’s face.

Ants eat anything that falls on the ground.

It won’t be any different if they grow bigger.

Giant ants really love human corpses.

Of course, if they’re still alive, they’ll make you into a corpse and then eat you.

Cruel bastards.

Anyway, it was information that could be easily inferred with common sense.

Roa’s question was a bit strange.

Does she not know? Or is she confused because there’s just so much information?

“Roa. Is this your first time going into a dungeon?”

“Yes.”

As expected.

Roa had been dispatched from the Guardian Guild and was a beginner on her first dungeon run.

Considering that the city I’m staying in is full of rookie explorers, it’s no surprise.

It would be nice if I could hitch a ride with a veteran explorer, but that happens as rarely as finding a needle in a haystack.

[Roa (Lv 1, Human, Poor Equipment, Healthy)]

[Class: Guardian]

[Shion (Lv 2, Human, Standard Equipment, Healthy)]

[Class: Iron Clad]

[Jangcheok (Lv 3, Human, Standard Equipment, Healthy)]

[Class: Raider]

“Why? Are you afraid you’ll be eaten too?”

Jangcheok, who was walking with a stick he found somewhere, teasingly asked Roa.

“Oh, no. It’s not that…”

Roa’s face turned bright red, and she lowered her head deeply.

Jangcheok, seeing her reaction, seemed to enjoy it very much.

Excited, he went on to tell more stories.

“Being ant food isn’t a big deal. I remember when I went to hunt goblins, about 14 years ago, I ran into bandits in the middle of the forest…”

Roa looking flustered was cute, but Jangcheok getting excited and talking was not cute at all.

Here’s the story Jangcheok told.

Jangcheok went to hunt goblins. But unfortunately, he ran into two scouting parties at the same time.

Back then, his party, who had no experience, panicked and got into a chaotic fight, and in the end, one of them, who was the unluckiest, died.

The one who died was a man, and the woman who was with him was also a party member. It turned out that the two were secretly in a relationship.

Jangcheok didn’t know about it and had been looking out for the woman, but after the fight, when the woman cried and confessed that she had been dating the dead man, Jangcheok got so angry that he returned alone.

“So, I left the woman behind and came back by myself.”

“…What?”

Wait.

Isn’t that a crime?

Regardless, Jangcheok, who was deep in thought about old memories, was getting angry as if the woman he loved was standing right in front of him.

“Ugh, if there was another guy, I should’ve been told! Instead, I was just being nice and giving her potions and rewards! Was she using me as a fool?”

I think that woman must have been giving Jangcheok a lot of hints.

Please stop.

Just like how Shion and Roa are doing now.

But it probably didn’t work at all.

Jangcheok, who got all excited talking about the past, didn’t realize it.

He might be a bit of an old-fashioned guy.

At that moment, Roa mumbled something while keeping her head down.

“…Please.”

I focused, but Jangcheok’s loud talking made it hard to hear.

I strained my ears to listen to Roa’s words.

“What did you say?”

“…Please stop. Be quiet.”

Hmm. Jangcheok is a bit loud.

Roa, who had been staring at the ground blankly for a while, suddenly did something unexpected.

At that very moment.

Roa drew her crossbow from her back and aimed it at Jangcheok, shouting!

“Jangcheok, Uncle!”

Jangcheok turned pale and quickly dropped to the ground.

The appearance of the crossbow in front of him made him act reflexively.

And that action saved his life.

Phew!

With a sound of cutting through the air, the steel bolt was fired.

Roa hadn’t aimed at Jangcheok.

She had aimed at the giant ant that appeared behind him.

The bolt struck the ant’s head with perfect accuracy as it approached from behind Jangcheok!

“Dammit!”

Jangcheok cursed and stumbled, trying to regain his posture.

While we were chatting, we had already entered the ants’ territory.

The ant, which had been leaking a sour liquid, died.

A single shot pierced its brain.

That’s the destructive power of a Guardian’s crossbow.

We stopped and scanned the surroundings.

Thankfully, there were no other ants in sight.

“Scout ants.”

“Do ants have scouts?”

Shion seemed amazed that ants could have scouts.

He doesn’t know much, does he?

“This one is a scout. The oldest and most useless ants wander outside the colony looking for food or enemies. Maybe there’s an entrance nearby?”

[Shion’s opinion is adjusted. (+ Highly educated)]

When I shared that bit of knowledge, he seemed to accept it without question.

Maybe it’s because he’s educated—he seems to know a lot.

That’s fine with me.

“We’ve already made it this far.”

Jangcheok, who almost got bitten by the ants, seemed embarrassed that he hadn’t been more cautious, even though he had reached the dungeon.

He awkwardly cleared his throat and lingered near the dead ant’s corpse.

Roa and Shion also gathered around the corpse.

It was the first time they’d seen the body of a giant ant.

[Giant Ant (Corpse)]

Weight: 21 kg

Market Value: 200 Ron (Final value)

Affiliation: Queen’s Diggers.

Category: <Creature> <No Intelligence> <Exoskeleton>

[This is an ant that has grown to an abnormal size due to contamination by the twisted magic underground. This individual is a worker in the ant colony, wandering around the dungeon in search of fresh corpses to feed the hungry larvae.

Ants, extremely simple yet highly socialized, are full of loyalty to their queen, excessive hunger, and a craving for pheromones.]

*This is <alive>. Various characteristics that apply to living organisms are applicable.

*This is <without intelligence>. It does not fall into confusion and cannot perceive the current situation by itself.

*This is surrounded by a hard <exoskeleton> instead of bones.

Roa pulled out the bolt lodged in the corpse and retrieved it.

“Do you think the others will come?”

Naturally, Roa asked me the question.

Among our group, I’m the only one who would ask about monster information.

It’s something I know about.

“They won’t come right away. They might come after some time, but ants won’t cause a commotion over a single scout being killed.”

I wondered what the party leader was thinking.

I glanced at Jangcheok for a moment.

He seemed to be thinking the same as me, as he immediately ordered to proceed into the dungeon.

“Hajun. You can read maps, right? Do you know where the entrance is?”

“Wait a moment.”

It wasn’t difficult to look at the map and find the entrance.

I also discovered why this ant nest is called a dungeon.

Standing at the entrance, we admired the vastness of the ant nest dungeon for a moment.

“Wow.”

It was on a completely different level than the goblin nest.

The goblin nest had a low, shabby entrance like a rabbit hole, but the entrance to the ant nest dungeon was a gigantic arch.

It was a grandeur that reminded me of the ruins of a forgotten kingdom.

It was just under 4 meters tall, I think.

It was a massive entrance, tall enough that even humans would have to crouch.

“Definitely looks like it could be a ruin.”

Jangcheok mumbled as he scratched his bald head.

The ants had taken over the abandoned underground kingdom, turning it into their own ant nest.

If you look at it broadly, could this be a type of house ant?

In any case, ants, who can live anywhere, took over this ruined underground kingdom and made it their home.

We were about to enter the underground, crawling with ants as large as big dogs.

“Then let’s go.”

I sincerely hope no one has to make the sacrifice of becoming a victim.

Shion, fully armored, stood at the front.

I followed behind, then Roa, and Jangcheok took the rear.

The order was Iron Clad, Necromancer, Guardian, Raider.

This formation is the safest in the narrow hallway with limited visibility.

At the very least, the Iron Clad standing at the front is nearly invulnerable in the beginning stages.

Even if we encounter a swarm of ants, as long as Shion blocks with his shield, he can create a protective barrier.

With Shion blocking, Roa and I can support from behind, so we should be fine.

“It’s not as dark as I expected.”

Shion, at the front, said in a low voice.

His voice echoed through the narrow corridor.

After passing through the giant arch, we entered the dungeon and were now moving through the tunnels created by the ants.

There were glowing mosses and mushrooms growing in patches along the walls.

Thanks to the bioluminescent fungi shining with a bright blue light, the interior of the dungeon looked like it was filtered through a blue tint.

“When will the ants show up?”

That’s a comfortable thought.

It’s better not to encounter enemies.

Especially in a vast place like the ant nest, starting a fight could mean not knowing when it will end.

“Be careful…”

Roa spoke, but her voice was so quiet, I wasn’t sure if it would be heard.

There was a sound of Shion slipping and bumping into something ahead.

And then some swearing.

He wasn’t injured, but he looked annoyed.

“Be careful, it’s slippery.”

The corridor is cold and damp.

It’s uncomfortable for humans to walk, as it’s designed to suit the ants’ preferences.

The walls are lined with neatly cut stone.

Those are probably remnants of the old kingdom.

The corridors, randomly carved by the ants, reveal occasional pieces of architecture that look out of place.

Shion steps on a glowing mushroom and pushes through a mound of dirt as he moves forward.

We advanced like that for about three hours.

“Hmm.”

After crawling through a tunnel that had shrunk to waist height for about ten minutes, suddenly, a vast open space appeared.

The very air felt different.

I opened the map and checked our location.

We had passed the dungeon’s entrance and arrived at what used to be the plaza of the underground kingdom.

It was the plaza once used by the ancient underground kingdom.

The ceiling was filled with arches, and straight columns extended upwards.

Fresh air and light poured in from skylights, which were like windows.

It was an unexpectedly bright and pleasant space for being underground.

A wide and comfortable underground plaza.

As soon as we stepped inside, Shion crouched down and became alert.

“Jangcheok, we’re going to have to fight, right?”

Shion lowered his voice, as if whispering.

The plaza wasn’t entirely underground. Light and wind filtered in through skylights between the arches.

With the low humidity and light, it was a place where the ants could sunbathe without needing to go outside.

In the center of the plaza, a group of about twenty ants were gathered, basking in the light.

They hadn’t noticed us yet.

Jangcheok cautiously surveyed the area and then nodded.

“We’ll have to fight.”

Shion lowered his helmet and hid his face.

Roa loaded her crossbow.

I also drew my saw-blade from its sheath.

At Jangcheok’s signal, when he strung his bow, we prepared for battle.