We agreed to meet at the dungeon entrance itself, it is far, so I don't delay. I arrive early and so does Sam, he helps me put on the armor. He doesn't have to adjust the straps as much as I expected, he must've been skinnier. When we are done with my armor, he pats me in the back and asks,
"You nervous?"
"U-uhm, a b-bit," I stutter.
"Hahaha, that's good, only crazies would be calm when facing their potential death," Sam's words don't help in the least. "Don't let it affect your judgment though. Use that fear and anxiety as fuel, let them increase your focus."
I nod at his words, trying my hardest to stop my hands from shaking. From the corner of my eyes, I spot Anna approaching. For the for the first time since we met, she is wearing armor. Like mine, hers is also made of leather, although it looks to be of higher quality.
"It's rude to stare like that," she says.
"Oh, sorry! I was just wondering what your armor was made of," I say.
"It's red snapper's hide. You know what they are?" she answers.
"Are they those D rank crocodile looking things?" I'm not confident with my answer.
"Yup, those ones," she says.
'D rank armor, that's pretty good. The one Sam lent me is only E rank, but I can't complain since it was free.'
A couple of seconds later, the porter arrives as well. He looks like an average person, and from the lack of mana coming from him, I assume he isn't a hunter. Hunters don't porter unless its an extremely high rank dungeon, and even then, they usually only do it if they are affiliated with a guild. No matter the paycheck, hunters tend to value their pride more. I've never heard of a hunter becoming a porter for an association dungeon raid. The guy exchanges some words with Daniel and then distances himself from us. 'I used to be like that, hunters don't like to socialize with their porters, so its easier not to try at all.'
We decide to sit down while we wait for the others to arrive, my eyes can't help but wander towards the dungeon. The entrance is identical to all the others I've entered, a large circle that resembles a hole in space. The circle is surrounded by an orange line that contains strange markings. No one has successfully deciphered the meaning of the markings. As I observe the portal, it finally clicks in my head. 'Some of the symbols are the same as the ring! Are they the language from the other dimension? A lot of people have guessed as much, but we've never been able to confirm it.'
Despite Zaun's memories, I still can't understand what the symbols mean. 'Regardless of their meaning, it is clearly magic. Are they diverting the horde to our world? That makes no sense, their kingdom fell, they are all dead… right?' My thoughts are interrupted by Chris's arrival, he too is in full armor. Like Sam's, his is made of metal, although Sam's is a heavy set while Chris's is light.
"I'm already somewhat late, but that guy isn't even here yet?" says Chris.
"We've tried messaging him, he hasn't answered," says Anna.
"Let me call him," Sam says that and pulls out his phone. He makes the call, and we all wait for the result. After a couple of seconds, he puts the phone down. "No luck."
"Is he planning on making us wait all day?" grumbles Chris.
"Calm down princess, I'm here already," Daniel says, he just came out of a taxi.
"What the fuck did you just call me?" Chris raises his voice.
"Stop, let's enter the dungeon already, I want to finish it today," Sam interrupts the dog fight.
At Sam's words, my stomach immediately lurches, the panic returns. We all line up in front of the dungeon's entrance and without any fanfare, Sam steps inside. Anna and Chris follow in as well, but before I can do the same, Alan appears beside me.
"Good luck, buddy, I hope you don't become dog food," he says with a sinister smile.
"Oh right, it's your first time isn't it? Don't worry too much, Sam seems like a reliable leader," Daniel speaks behind me, causing Alan to fade away. "Now go inside, I don't have all day." Putting his hand on my back, Daniel pushes me into the dungeon.
The insides of the dungeon look like a cave, just as we expected.
"Shit… these aren't caverns," says Sam.
"What do you mean?" I say in confusion.
"Look closely, the walls aren't made of stone like a cave, they are packed dirt," Sam explains.
I do as he says and walk closer to a wall, when I touch it, a bunch of dirt comes loose. Anna watches me do this and comments,
"It's an ant hill, goddammit, this is going to be harder than we expected."
"Everyone listen up. We need to kill the ants we run into as fast as possible, if they live for too long, they will call for reinforcements," says Sam. "Daniel, be careful when you scout, if they spot you, we will have to retreat immediately."
Daniel's face turns serious, I expected him to get angry at receiving orders, but he simply nods.
"You can start scouting ahead, we will make our way forward slowly. If you run into any branching paths, return to us and we will discuss what to do," Sam continues to relay orders.
Without saying anything else, Daniel runs ahead, his footsteps are completely silent. The rest of us get into formation, with the porter at the very back. Due to the entrance, it is extremely rare for monsters to come from behind, of course, that changes as you go in deeper. Sam reminds us to keep an eye on the ceiling, since ants tend wander on it. After about a minute of walking, Anna spots an odd marking on the wall. 'I've read about these; they are scout markers. If I remember correctly, this one says there is a single enemy ahead.'
"Get ready, don't let it escape," says Sam.
He dims the light from his shield, a single ant is unlikely to engage a group of intruders, so he wants to get the jump on it. We stop moving and wait for the ant to pass by, soon enough, it comes out of the shadows. Considering that, the tunnels they built can fit a group of adults, one could guess the size of the ants that use them. As it gets closer to the light, I can make out more of its details. A massive amber body, long antenna, and fierce looking mandibles, it is disgusting.
When it gets close enough, Sam leaps towards it, bashing its head with his shield. Chris and I aren't far behind, we both aim for the head as well, trying to kill it with one strike. Chris's attack reaches it first, but his sword is too short, it is unable to reach the ant's brain. Thankfully, length is the selling point of a spear, once you combine it with reinforcement, my spear manages to put a hole in the ant's brain. The massive corpse collapses onto the floor, yet it doesn't make much noise.
"Good job, but that was just one ant, and we got the jump on it, so don't get cocky," says Sam.
After verifying that it didn't have a mana stone, we took the useful parts and game them to the porter. With that done, we continued to explore the tunnels, until Daniel returned. Like we planned, he returned because he ran into a fork up ahead. He said that after slight scouting into each path, he didn't find anything significant on either one. With that information, Sam decided to flip a coin, the most impartial option. No one was against the idea, so we went with it, the result was the left path.
Daniel left the group once again, heading down the left path to scout further ahead. Anna and the porter switched places, now that there is a way for the ants to get behind us, it is better for a hunter to be at the back. The porter also begins to draw a map, now that branching paths are a thing, we might get lost. Monsters aren't the only dangers in a dungeon. Food, water, the environment, and of course, people. More markings appear on the walls, this time, they describe a group of 3.
"Same tactic; let's try and kill one with the initial ambush. When only 2 remain, we split into pairs. Will and I are one, the other is Anna and Chris, understood?" Sam says.
We all nod in understanding and hug the walls. The trio of ants appears in the distance, but no one moves before Sam does. Once they close in, an explosion of light comes from Sam's shield and he jumps at the ant on the front. Chris ignores that ant, instead going for one at the back. I understand what he is going for, if the first fight is anything to go by, I can kill a staggered ant with ease. Chris's idea proves to be true; the ant dies as my spear impales its head. With this ant dead, I shift my focus to the other two, what I see makes me panic. Chris is dodging an ant's attacks, but the other one is heading his way as well.
Anna can't help with the situation, since she just shot an arrow to the ant that is fighting Chris. Following my instincts, I use water slash, aiming it at the ant's neck. My practice doesn't fail me, I succeed in using the technique. With a loud and wet clap, the water crashes against the ant. The power isn't enough to sever its neck, but it bought enough time for Sam to arrive and finish the job with his short sword. Anna and Chris have also killed the other ant, an arrow is sticking out of its eye.
"That was risky, Chris, and not part of the plan," Sam sounds angry.
"You have to admit, me and Will attacking the same target is wasteful," he retorts.
"Then you should've said so sooner, do not make decisions like that in the middle of a fight," Sam says with a sigh.
"Alright, I'm sorry," Chris concedes.
This time, we get a bit lucky with the loot, two of the ants had a mana stone. We extract them, being careful not to damage anything valuable, and give hand them to the porter. It is a waste to leave the corpses here, but that is always the case with monsters this large. Carrying them is a bit unrealistic, the best we can do is take the most useful parts. Even then, we only have a single porter, he can't carry too much stuff, thankfully the ant parts aren't too heavy. We continue going forward, and after some time, we bump into Daniel. His signature scowl is replaced with a look of concern as he says,
"Bad news."