Suddenly, a massive wave of sand rose from the ground toward the soldier on the floor.
"Get out of the way!" another soldier shouted from a distance, and the soldier on the ground made a desperate dive just as the giant centipede burst out of the sand, spraying grit across the cavern.
"Goddamnit!" The soldier coughed out more sand, quickly rolling into a crouch and opening fire his rifle on the giant centipede. "EAT LEAD!"
The second soldier, realizing his explosive shotgun rounds were not doing much effect on the monster, quickly pumped the remaining shells out of his shotgun and reloaded with 12-gauge solid slugs. He raised the weapon and fired, sending a 35-gram impact discarding sabot slug flying at 400 meters per second straight into the centipede's side thorax.
The force and impact of the sabot slug punched through the centipede's tough carapace with a loud crack, sending pieces of shattered exoskeleton shells and lead flying away, along with a spray of light-colored ichor. The giant centipede hissed in pain and rage, spinning around in its many legs as it searched for the source of its pain.
Its many eyes locked onto the soldier with the shotgun. Ignoring the searing pain and scorching heat from the lightning bolts striking its body, the centipede charged and ready to devour its prey that had dared to hurt it.
"Aim for all of its leg joints!" Dice shouted, and the surrounding soldiers concentrated their fire on the moving legs. In the next few seconds, hundreds of bullets managed to shatter the majority of its joints, causing the centipede to stumble and crash down to the ground as it got unbalanced.
The soldier with the automatic shotgun seized the opportunity and aimed his weapon directly at the gaping mouth of the centipede before firing. The sabot slug tore through the creature's mouth, drilling out through the back of its main braincase and killing it instantly. The centipede collapsed just meters away, its surviving legs twitching involuntarily in its death throes.
"Fucking fantastic, people!" Dice praised as he reloaded his rifle. "Damn, this is one for the books!" He eyed the still-twitching centipede.
"It must have been some kind of guardian for that chest," Odysseus mused. "Most likely, there were more than one desert centipede here, but this one defeated the rest, allowing it to grow to this size and become the champion."
"How large do they normally get?" one soldier asked among the crowd as he shaked the sand from his uniform and gear. "I heard they usually appear on the beaches along the eastern nations."
"Normally, they only grow to about four or five meters, never as big as this before," Odysseus replied, poking the centipede with a random stick he found on the floor, making sure it was truly dead. "Look at that!"
The group gathered around, looking at what Odysseus pointed out. "Wow! That's one huge mana stone!" a soldier gasped as he shined his flashlight on the head-sized yellow-green stone embedded under the centipede's chin.
"Damn, we're gonna need the golems to carry this thing out," Dice huffed. "Oh, what's in the chest?"
Their attention turned to the chest at the end of the cavern, where they found a cluster of crystal-like bottles filled with thick reddish and dark blue liquids. A couple of age-stained scrolls tied with blue ribbons beside them.
"All that shit for just some drinks and papers?" Dice sighed, disappointment on his face. He had been hoping for some magical artifact, or a divine sword or something.
"Ohhh, those are healing and restoration potions!" Odysseus exclaimed as he picked up one each of the colored potions and examined them closely. "This red potion can bring someone back from the brink of death, and the blue one restores magical energy." He stated, gently unrolled the scrolls and studied them under the soldiers' lamps, "These appear to be spell scrolls, I need to study them more but these are at least Level 5 spells."
"Wow!" one soldier grinned. "That didn't turn out so bad after all." Even Dice nodded in agreement, after hearing what the potions could do.
"Alright, check your gear," Dice ordered. "I'm going to see if I can reach Team 2 over the comms."
After a short while, Dice cursed under his breath. "Damn these tunnels. Can't get a signal through. Alright, we're heading back to grab the golems and bring this trophy out."
Both teams regrouped in the dungeon's first room, taking a quick break for a cold meal and some field maintenance on their weapons. Over three hours had passed since they'd entered, and they had successfully mapped and explored almost the entire level.
Master Sergeant Dice finished his report to base, then hopped up on a rock outcrop and clapped his hands to gather everyone's attention.
"Alright, we're almost done with this level. Just a little more to go." He pointed to the tunnel marked with an ant drawing. Each tunnel entrance now had images of the creatures they'd encountered, from stick figures of giant centipedes to slimes and ants. "That tunnel most likely leads down to the next level."
Apparently, the first level of the dungeon consisted mostly of Honey Slimes, Spider Ants, and Desert Centipedes. The two golems were busy wandering in and out of the tunnels as Number One transported the carcasses of ants and centipedes out of the tunnels, and Number Two ferried them out to the exit.
All the tunnels so far had led to either a cavern or a room, with some passages looping back or ending in dead ends. Of the four tunnels they explored, each contained a room or cavern. Unfortunately for Team One, only they encountered a Champion monster, while the rest dealt with groups of lesser mobs or harmless slimes. But other than the chest found by Team One, no other chests were found in other rooms, leading them to speculate that only rooms with chests were guarded by powerful monsters.
"Everyone ready?" Dice asked as the team members cleaned up their trash. "Alright, let's move out. Team One will be the vanguard, Sir Odysseus and Penelope in the middle, and Team Two will cover the rear."
Once everyone was in formation, Dice nodded and set off, leading the party down as the forward scout. Penelope waved her sensor wave, sending out sonar beeps every ten seconds, and the mapping program in her tablet automatically updated with a 3D rendering of the dungeon. Their lights cut through the darkness and illuminated the tunnels ahead just as a swarm of angry chirping ants charged out into the hail of thunderous gunfire.
"Watch your head!" Dice shouted from the rear as Squads One and Two engaged the ants. "They're crawling from the ceilings!"
"Argh, eat lead!" a soldier yelled, firing his rifle up to the ceiling, sending rock chips and ant parts rained down before his weapon clicked empty. "I'm out!"
"Switch!" Dice commanded. A second soldier from Team Two quickly stepped into the first soldier's position while the latter retreated to reload. The new soldier calmly aimed his rifle and fired single precise shots, each finding its mark on different targets.
The ants seemingly knew that these intruders were coming and had gathered in force, throwing themselves into the fray and gave their lives for more of their brethren to close in on the intruders. But their efforts were in vain, as hundreds of more rounds shredded through the suicidal ants' ranks.
Odysseus helped by casting spells and magical attacks over the heads of the crouching shooters by turning the terrain beneath the ants into soft mud, slowing them down greatly before unleashing bolts of chain lightning, which leaped from one ant to another, vaporizing them on contact.
Just now, the heavy thumps of footfall echoed behind the party, and Number One golem appeared. Odysseus quickly ordered it to attack the ants, and Dice ordered the men to clear the path for the golem to advance.
The runes on Number One glowed in response to Odysseus' command. Inside the core of the golem, a magical artificial lifeform, powered by Dragonite similar to the human's Artificial Intelligence, followed the many instructions drawn within its body, connected by the magical connections engraved in its body. Move forward, protect the people, and kill the enemy, etched into its magical matrix.
Magical muscles of rock and stone, twisted and stretched as Number One strolled forward, passing by the soldiers on its side. It raised its left arm equipped with autocannons, and its right arm pumped the firing handle up and down, sending heavy bolts down the tunnel. Each bolt pierced through the ants before exploding them into pieces by the rocket-propelled rounds.
The ants were too tightly clustered together in the tunnel that the small explosion from the explosive-round killed a few more ants with each bolt.
When its autocannon ran out of bolts, the golem swung its arms mighty, wallowing directly into the mass of ants, crushing and breaking the ants with each swing of its arms. The ants tried to bite and bind the golem with their spider silk, only to succeed in chipping some of its rock armor and the silk could not bind it tightly enough, allowing Number One to break free easily.
The soldiers supported Number One melee's attacks by firing at the sides of the golem to prevent the ants from surrounding it. Finally, the pressure dropped and the remaining ants retreated, leaving behind a field of a hundred dead, twitching ants.
"Check your ammo!" Dice ordered as everyone took a breather from the fight which lasted only twenty minutes but felt like hours. "Is anyone low on supplies or injured? Any casualties?"
"No sir, just a few minor injuries," a soldier reported.
"Good work, Number One!" Odysseus praised, patting the golem's arm, which Number One appeared to respond by giving a slight nod.
"We need to arm it with some melee weapons or a minigun," Eurylochus suggested from the side with excitement in his voice. "A sword, or better yet, a chainsaw, or both will be awesome! Hell, a bloody flamethrower too! It'd be unstoppable in these tight tunnels."
Number One seemed to glance at Eurylochus before turning back to Odysseus, who instructed it to gather the ant carcasses. The golem obediently began piling the shattered remains into its basket it was carrying.
"All set?" Dice asked after everyone refilled their emptied magazines and ensured they had sufficient ammunition. "Let's move out. The Dungeon Boss should be up just ahead."
The passageway gradually widened as the team followed the echoing sounds made by the frantic ants as they neared their hive. What began as a tunnel wide enough for four men abreast expanded to twice that width, leading them into a massive chamber dimly lit by patches of glowing moss.
Shadows of ants scurrying frantically around the opening could be seen cast by the light beams from the exploration teams. The air filled with angry hisses and chittering as the ants formed a solid wall, blocking the squad's advance into the room.
"Hit them with explosive rounds!" Dice commanded, and almost a dozen soldiers at the front immediately switched to shotguns, each firing an explosive round directly into the dense cluster of ants. The resulting force of the explosions and shrapnel tearing through the swarm, sending bits of ants parts flying all over the area
"Clear!"
"Go, go, go!" Dice ordered next, and the squad stormed into the opening in a double-file formation, spreading out to cover all angles as they cleared the opening. Penelope and Odysseus held back and waited for them to give the all-clear before cautiously entering the chamber.
But at that moment...
"SHRIEEEEEEK!!"
Penelope froze and her instincts were screaming as she slowly looked up.
"W-What the...??"
Towering above everyone was the Queen Spider Ant, a monstrous thirty-meter tall creature perched on a mound of soil and rock like a grotesque throne. Its bloated body loomed over the chamber, with a massive ovipositor dangling ominously from its abdomen, supported by strands of silk anchored to the ceiling. The walls and floor were covered with hundreds of clusters of milky white eggs, while dozens of wriggling maggot-like creatures could be seen squirming all over the room.
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"Okay, I should have protested more on coming here."