As the ant queen danced around Arad, everyone stared down the hole. “Wait! You took him down?” Merlin gasped.
Sena sighed, turning toward her father. “Father, should I…” She paused, seeing him stare into the distance with an empty glare.
Kayden reached to his hilt, opening his six eyes and standing before Cain. “Should I?” Kayden said in a calm voice.
“Nah,” Cain replied, shaking his head. “I’m fine. Probably another time.”
Kayden stared at him for a second. “Even though I might not be up to the job, you better get something ready.”
Cain smiled, “I’m already working on something. Let’s hope I finish in time.” He started walking away.
“Hoi!” Merlin stared at Cain, “I should just give her the potions, right?”
“Yes, until Arad get back on his feet. Go check on her.” He added.
***
Arad looked around him, seeing Meryem running around him in her ant queen form. His body felt weak, barely able to stand up from exhaustion, but he could tell something was different about her.
“You got stronger,” Arad said with a smile, curling into a ball, ready to sleep.
“I’ve been training with Nina. She far stronger than she looks,” Meryem smiled, clicking her mandibles as she sat beside Arad. “Rest, don’t worry, I shall protect you.”
[Don’t sleep yet. Hold until we get the cursed metal.]
The ground started shaking as a flower emerged between them, “Arad, I can’t find that metal anywhere on my back. Shall I bring Roberta and Sara here?” Loci said as a mouth opened on the flower. 𝚍ｎ𝚘ｖ𝚕.𝚝
“Don’t, let’s send someone to call them. Probably Aella or Jack,” Arad replied, looking up.
“GEHI?” As they spoke, a kobold stared at them from the tiny hole in the corner, “Is the master okay?” He mumbled, his head wiggling as his eyes scanned Arad.
“A bit exhausted,” Arad replied, signaling to the kobold to come closer with his claw.
The kobold fearfully approached Arad, keeping an eye on the ant queen staring him down with a ghastly gaze. One wrong move, and he’s getting on her dinner plate.
The kobold looked at Arad, “Lizard kings love gold,” He pulled a gold ring from his pocket, a poorly made one, but it still looked a bit better than what you could find in the market crafted by human hands.
“Does this make you feel better?” The kobold gave the ring to Arad with a hopeful smile.
Arad smiled, taking the ring, “Thank you, I do feel a bit better,” That wasn’t true, but the feeling got through,
The kobold’s eyes flickered with pride, “You really felt better?” He smiled, “Wait a moment. I shall bring more than enough to make you better!” The kobold raced out without waiting for a second.
A few moments later, a horde of kobolds rushed in with baskets over baskets full of gold and gems, dancing and singling as they poured it around the sleeping Arad.
“Dancing with gold, we offer the shiny glimmer to our draconic lord.” One of the kobolds sang, pulling a flute from his pocket.
“Glittering rings, glowing gems, and precious rings. A lizard king’s pride is his horde, and we shall not be kobolds if our master didn’t have the biggest pride.”
It only took a few minutes for the kobolds to cover Arad in a blanket of gold and gems, this dungeon had almost unlimited mines, and those kobolds are the third-best miners after dwarves and gnomes.
The ant queen looked at the kobolds, her face twisting, “My children!” She screamed, and the ants swarmed the room, “Bring me the biggest monster you find outside Loci’s back. Don’t you dare get back without a suitable hunt!” She growled, and the ants rushed out, swarming the forest.
***
In the forest, an adventurers group sneaked around the trees tailing a group of wild giant boars. Their druid suddenly stopped, putting his ear on the ground.
“The fuck?” He growled, sweating as his face turned pale.
“What is it?” The fighter looked back, grasping the handle of his greatsword. “Did they sneak behind us?”
“I should get my fireball ready,” The wizard woman sighed, waving her staff with an incantation. [Redder than blood, brighter than the sun.]
The rogue woman stared at the druid’s face, “Hoi! He’s almost shitting himself,” She gasped, seeing his sweat-drenched back.
“Hundreds, no, thousands of heavy footsteps are rushing toward us!” He cried, rushing to climb a tree with terror in his eyes.
The other three quickly climbed after him, getting ready for a fight.
“You sure about that? I will rip your balls off if it was a false warning.” The fighter growled, taking a deep breath as he pulled his sword.
The ground started shaking, and they could see a large dust cloud in the distance.
Moments later, a horde of giant ants rushed through like wild animals, kicking dust and trees as if it was nothing.
The fighter silently pulled back, “The hell is this?” He gasped.
“B-rank, no, some of them are A-rank. Giant ants,” The wizard whispered.
The rogue stared at the fighter, “Don’t you dare attack. Hit one, and the whole colony is after our assessment.”
The giant boars ahead came out of their hiding, running away from the ants, but they soon got ripped apart and carried back home like they were nothing.
The figure looked at the rogue, “They are hunting for food. They don’t seem interested in us.”
“I don’t care,” The wizard woman pulled a scroll from her pocket. “I’ve been keeping this in case we got stuck in a bad situation. This seems to be it.” She showed them the scroll.
“The lesser teleport one, that was three months of savings,” The druid stared at the scroll, “We were keeping it to explore dungeons.”
“Do you want to walk back home between them?” She pointed down at the ants. “The moment they run out of prey, we would get on their dinner list.”
The wizard used the scroll, teleporting them back in front of the guild’s door.
The fighter immediately kicked the door open, “Monsters! A stampede of giant ants is swarming across the forest!” He shouted at the top of his lungs, causing every adventurer inside to tense up.
“You aren’t drunk, are you?” One of the adventurers, a paladin approached him with a suspicious stare.
CRACK! With a loud bang, a tanned arm burst out of the ground just outside the guild’s door, causing all the adventurers to freeze. Thud! The arm was pushed to the ground, and a large and muscular woman emerged.
Everyone instantly pulled their weapons, sweating buckets as they could feel it in their bones. That was no human, but a monster.
Arad’s humanoid shapeshift was a bit special as it hides even his draconic aura and magic, people would see him as only a human unless he do something outrageous. But Meryem’s shapeshift was sloppy, only giving her the look of a human, but the magic oozing out of her skin told another story.
“GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR! (Where is Abel?)” Meryem tried to speak, but the adventurer could only hear growls, they can’t understand what a monster says.
Nina stood, pushing her chair back and walking toward the door. All the adventurers hid behind her as she smiled, “GRRRRRRRR! GRRRRRRRRRR! (Didn’t I tell you to remain quiet? Or do you want another smacking?)” A deep growl came from her throat. Barbarians are as wild as the monsters themselves.
“Abel knows where to find Sara. I can’t find her. She has something for Arad.” Meryem replied.
“Arad returned? Nina stared at her, are the ones responsible for the ants in the forest?” She asked, looking behind Meryem at the large hole she made in the ground.
“He’s sick, really bad.” Meryem replied, “We’re hunting to feed him. Where can I find the women named Sara and Roberta, now!” She grunted, her muscles bulging.
“STOP!” Aella rushed in, riding Mc, stopping right at the guild’s door. “What are you doing?” She grabbed Meryem by the head.
“Looking for Roberta and Sara,” Meryem replied with a scared face.
“Get back home! I told you not to act rashly!” Aella growled.
“Don’t blame her,” Nina smiled, “She has even lower intelligence than me.” Nina had seven, and Meryem had only six. Barely above what most animals have.
Aella sighed, “At seven you can be seen as rude and make really bad decisions. But at six you’re a savage,” Aella knew the base description of lower intelligence.
Nina smiled, “Send her back. I will find those two and meet you later.” She turned around toward the adventurers, “There are no problems. The ant swarm is just monsters moving.”
Aella looked at Nina’s back, she might look smart and act like normal people, but all of that is a mere imitation, a skill she learned over the years after retiring.
Aella stared at Nina, ^You might train a tiger to act like a cat, but when the chance allows him, he would return to being a tiger.^ She could see the monster everyone fear inside Nina because of Zephyr’s magic sense.
^[That woman is a true monster. Even now, she won’t have a problem killing the ant and us in the blink of an eye. But I do sense primordial magic in her veins. Be careful.]^
^Primordial magic?^
^[The one belonging to a mindless monster from ancient earth, she’s from Aunt Tarra’s bloodline. A tarrasque’s bloodline sorceress.]^