Chapter 19
The golden light faded, and Raven's feet touched familiar crystalline grass. The transition from Queen's cobblestones to the beta realm's ethereal landscape was becoming routine, though it still left him slightly disoriented—the shift in air quality, the way colors seemed more vibrant, the charged feeling that made his skin tingle.
Maple's Blaze spread before them, the Eternal Flame Tree visible in the distance, its perpetual fire casting dancing shadows even in the afternoon light. The settlement had grown significantly in the month since their last visit—new buildings clustered around the outer rings, the walls had been raised and reinforced with stone that looked harvested from dungeons, and guard towers now punctuated the perimeter at regular intervals.
They approached the gates, where six guards now monitored entry instead of two. The lead guard—a woman with sharp eyes and military bearing—stepped forward. "Names and purpose."
"Raven, Ava, and Axel," Raven replied. "We're returning to meet Effel Thornheart. She's expecting us."
The guard's expression shifted at Effel's name. She consulted a clipboard, made a notation, then handed them each carved wooden tokens. "Thornheart sponsorship confirmed. Seven-day tokens. Keep these visible."
Inside, the changes were even more pronounced. The painted line dividing native and Stranger sides had been reinforced with wooden barriers. Guard patrols moved in groups of three. The number of visible Strangers had decreased noticeably.
They navigated toward Effel's home, their upgraded equipment marking them as veterans now. Other awakened gave respectful nods or careful distance.
Effel's house looked the same, though new protective runes glowed faintly on the doorframe. Raven knocked, and her father opened immediately, face breaking into a genuine smile.
"Raven! And your friends! Come in, come in! Effel's been watching for you all afternoon."
They were ushered inside where Effel appeared from the kitchen, her face lighting up. "You came back."
"We promised," Raven said. "Ready for the Hivemind Catacombs?"
"As ready as I'll ever be." She gestured to her already-prepared pack. "I've been brewing Grade 3 potions specifically for this run. The ants' venom is particularly nasty—paralytic and necrotic. Regular antidotes won't work."
Effel's mother insisted they eat before discussing business. The next hour passed in pleasant conversation, though Raven noticed how Effel's eyes kept finding him, how she positioned herself closer than necessary. And how Ava's jaw tightened each time, tension building in her shoulders.
Finally, they excused themselves to Effel's workshop—a well-organized space filled with alchemical equipment and reference materials.
"The Hivemind Catacombs," Effel said, spreading out a hand-drawn map. "Six floors, progressively harder. Floor one has Red Mutant Ants, Rank 2 Low. Individually manageable but they attack in coordinated swarms. The Ant King boss is Rank 2 Mid-tier with command abilities."
She pointed to detailed annotations. "Floor two is Green Acid Beetles, Rank 2 Mid. Their acid melts Grade 2 armor in seconds. Floor three, Purple Venom Wasps—airborne and incredibly fast. Floor four has Yellow Crystal Scorpions, Rank 2 High, with stingers that pierce Grade 3 armor."
"And the last two floors?" Raven asked.
"Floor five is Blue Ice Centipedes, Rank 2 Peak with cold damage that bypasses normal defenses. Floor six..." Effel's expression darkened. "Vampiric Black Spiders. Also Rank 2 Peak, with life-drain abilities. The Spider Queen regenerates by draining her spiderlings. Most parties never reach her."
"Expected completion time?"
"Ten days if we're efficient, two weeks if cautious. Safe zones are scattered—sometimes six hours between rest points. Deeper floors have environmental hazards beyond just monsters."
They spent another hour reviewing strategies and supplies. By sunset, they left for the two-hour hike to the dungeon entrance.
---
The Hivemind Catacombs entrance was a gaping wound in the earth—a massive hole fifty feet across descending into absolute darkness. The edges were rough, almost organic, as if something had burrowed up from below.
No casual parties camped here. The few visible awakened maintained careful distance, eyeing the hole with obvious wariness.
A wooden sign warned:
[HIVEMIND CATACOMBS]
[RANK 2 DIFFICULTY]
[RECOMMENDED: LEVEL 8+, PARTY 5-7]
[MORTALITY RATE: 43%]
"Forty-three percent," Ava read quietly.
"That's reality," Effel said. "Rank 2 dungeons aren't training grounds. They're proving grounds."
---
[DUNGEON DETECTED: HIVEMIND CATACOMBS]
[RANK 2 DIFFICULTY]
[WARNING: PARTY SIZE BELOW MINIMUM]
[ENTER? YES/NO]
---
They looked at each other, sharing a moment of understanding. This was the real test.
"Together," Raven said.
"Together," they replied.
They stepped into darkness.
The descent was disorienting—falling through blackness, gravity behaving strangely. Then they landed on solid stone.
---
[FLOOR: 1/6]
[OBJECTIVE: DEFEAT 100 RED MUTANT ANTS]
[SAFE ZONE: WEST TUNNEL, 400 METERS]
---
The chamber was enormous—three times the size of Iron Depths' first floor. The walls were compacted earth reinforced with hardened resin. Bioluminescent fungi provided dim red light, casting everything in crimson shadow.
The air smelled wrong—organic decay mixed with something acrid. The temperature was uncomfortably warm.
"The ants process organic matter," Effel whispered. "That smell is accelerated decomposition. They sense vibrations more than sight."
Movement caught Raven's eye. Something emerged from a tunnel thirty feet ahead.
The Red Mutant Ant was horrifying—the size of a large dog, its chitinous exoskeleton gleaming dull red. Six legs moved with disturbing coordination, massive mandibles clicking like closing scissors. But most disturbing were its eyes—multiple orbs that tracked them with unsettling intelligence.
---
[RED MUTANT ANT]
[RANK 2 (LOW)]
[HP: 200/200]
---
"Two hundred health," Axel breathed. "The Iron Depths bears only had one-fifty."
More appeared. Two, four, six. They spread out to surround the party, mandibles clicking in rhythmic patterns that might be communication.
"Formation!" Raven commanded.
They moved into position—Axel front, Raven and Ava flanking, Effel center-rear. The ants rushed forward with terrifying speed.
The first ant reached Axel, mandibles snapping at his legs. He blocked with his warhammer, the impact like metal striking stone. The ant's exoskeleton was incredibly hard—the hammer barely dented it, just knocked the creature back.
---
[DAMAGE: 15]
[RED MUTANT ANT HP: 185/200]
---
"Their armor's thick!" Axel swung again, this time targeting a leg joint. The hammer crunched through with satisfying impact, the joint cracking audibly.
---
[CRITICAL HIT!]
[DAMAGE: 35]
[RED MUTANT ANT HP: 150/200]
---
The wounded ant stumbled but didn't fall. Instead, it screeched—a high-pitched sound that made Raven's teeth ache—and two more ants immediately converged on Axel's position. They were coordinating, recognizing the threat and responding as a unit.
Two ants came at Raven from opposite sides, their timing perfect. He activated Saint's Flash, disappearing from between them and reappearing three meters to the left. His Silverbright came around in a flowing arc, the blade's Precision Edge seeking the gap between head and thorax segments.
The sword struck true. The blade sliced through the vulnerable joint connecting the ant's head to its body, Raven's enhanced Strength driving it deep. Internal fluids sprayed out—not blood but something yellowish and viscous that smelled like ammonia.
---
[CRITICAL HIT!]
[DAMAGE: 78]
[RED MUTANT ANT HP: 122/200]
---
But the wounded ant wasn't finished. It twisted with frightening speed despite the grievous injury, its mandibles catching Raven's left arm. The pressure was enormous—like industrial vice grips crushing down. He felt his Grade 2 armor dent under the force, the metal compressing against his flesh. His Saint's Endurance pushed back the pain, keeping his mind clear even as his arm screamed in protest.
---
[DAMAGE TAKEN: 18]
[RAVEN HP: 177/195]
---
Raven didn't try to pull away—that would just give the ant leverage. Instead, he stepped into the grip, using the ant's own hold as an anchor point. His sword came up in a reverse grip and he drove it down through the creature's skull, the blade punching through chitin and into whatever passed for its brain.
---
[CRITICAL HIT!]
[DAMAGE: 82]
[RED MUTANT ANT DEFEATED]
---
The mandibles released as the ant dissolved into golden light. Raven stumbled back, flexing his arm. The armor was dented but had held. Without it, his arm would have been crushed to pulp.
Ava's Judgment Thrust caught another ant square in the face, her spear point punching through one of those disturbing eyes and into the head cavity beyond. Flames erupted from within the wound, burning the creature from the inside out. The ant's scream was alien and terrible—a sound no natural insect should make.
---
[JUDGMENT THRUST ACTIVATED]
[CRITICAL HIT!]
[DAMAGE: 91]
[BURNING STATUS APPLIED]
[RED MUTANT ANT HP: 109/200]
---
But the burning ant didn't die. It charged blindly, mandibles snapping, its entire head cavity aflame but still fighting through pure instinct or rage. Ava barely managed to dodge, rolling to the side as the creature's mandibles closed on empty air where her neck had been a moment before.
Effel's daggers flashed, finding the ant's brain through its burning eye sockets, finally ending its pain.
---
[RED MUTANT ANT DEFEATED]
---
The remaining four ants pressed their advantage. Two converged on Axel, who was already engaged with the first wounded ant. They attacked in sequence—one high, one low—forcing him to choose which threat to block. He chose high, his warhammer deflecting mandibles aimed at his throat. The second ant's mandibles closed on his leg, finding a gap in his armor at the knee joint.
---
[DAMAGE: 23]
[AXEL HP: 102/125]
---
Axel roared in pain and fury, activating Berserk Rage. His eyes shifted to dull red, his muscles bulged visibly, and the air around him seemed to vibrate with barely contained violence. The transformation took perhaps a second, but it changed everything.
---
[BERSERK RAGE ACTIVATED]
[ATTACK POWER: +50%]
[DEFENSE: -20%]
---
His next hammer strike caught the ant on his leg with enough force to crack its exoskeleton like an eggshell. Chitin fragments exploded outward, yellowish fluid spraying everywhere. The ant released its grip, screeching, and Axel's follow-up strike crushed its head completely.
---
[DAMAGE: 89]
[RED MUTANT ANT DEFEATED]
---
The second ant tried to capitalize on Axel's reduced defense, mandibles snapping at his exposed side. But Raven was there, Saint's Flash carrying him across the battlefield. His Silverbright intercepted the mandibles, the blade catching between the two pincers and using leverage to force them apart. The ant's own momentum worked against it as Raven twisted his sword, using the creature's strength to throw it off-balance.
Ava's spear found its exposed underside while it was vulnerable, punching up through the soft segment between leg joints and into vital organs.
---
[CRITICAL HIT!]
[DAMAGE: 67]
[RED MUTANT ANT HP: 133/200]
---
The last two ants, seeing their group decimated, tried to retreat. But Effel had been preparing. She threw two vials that shattered at the tunnel entrance they were fleeing toward. Black smoke billowed out, blocking their escape route. The ants stumbled, disoriented by whatever alchemical compound she'd used.
"Now!" Effel called out.
Raven and Ava struck simultaneously. His sword took one ant through the vulnerable neck joint. Her spear drove through another's head, flames erupting on contact and cooking the creature from within.
---
[RED MUTANT ANT DEFEATED]
[RED MUTANT ANT DEFEATED]
---
Silence fell. Six ants dissolved into light, leaving behind loot that clattered to the chamber floor.
---
[OBJECTIVE PROGRESS: 6/100]
[EXPERIENCE GAINED: 120 XP (SHARED)]
---
"That was one wave," Effel said, already treating Axel's leg wound. "Ninety-four more to go."
The reality of that number settled over them. They'd just fought for nearly ten minutes and sustained significant injuries killing six ants. They needed one hundred.
"The safe zone is four hundred meters west," Raven said, checking his mental map. "We should clear toward it, establish a fallback position."
They pushed deeper, fighting constantly. The ants came in waves—sometimes six, sometimes eight, occasionally ten if two groups converged. Each wave was a brutal test of coordination, endurance, and combat skill.
The next encounter came in a narrow tunnel where they couldn't properly spread out. Eight ants approached from both directions, trapping them in the middle. Axel had to hold one side alone while Raven, Ava, and Effel handled the other.
Raven watched his friend fight three ants simultaneously, his warhammer rising and falling with mechanical precision. Each impact was devastating—bones cracked, chitin shattered, fluids sprayed—but he was taking damage with every exchange. The ants' mandibles found gaps in his armor, their legs kicked at his knees, their sheer mass threatened to overwhelm him through weight of numbers.
---
[AXEL HP: 73/125]
---
"I'm going to him!" Raven shouted, activating Saint's Flash.
He appeared behind Axel's opponents, Silverbright already in motion. His blade found the vulnerable joint where an ant's head met its thorax, severing the connection in one clean stroke. The head fell away, mandibles still clicking reflexively, while the body collapsed.
---
[CRITICAL HIT!]
[RED MUTANT ANT DEFEATED]
---
But there was no time to celebrate. Two more ants pressed Axel from the front while a third circled to flank. Raven engaged the flanker, his Sword Mastery guiding his movements into an efficient defensive pattern. Block high, redirect the mandibles' force to the side rather than absorbing it. Step left, create an angle. Thrust for the eye cluster, force the ant to defend rather than attack.
Behind him, he heard Ava's scream—not pain but fury. Her Judgment Thrust had evolved over the past month of combat, and now when she struck, the flames didn't just burn—they exploded. An ant combusted from within, its internal fluids superheating and bursting its exoskeleton like an overinflated balloon.
---
[JUDGMENT THRUST - EVOLVED]
[CRITICAL HIT!]
[DAMAGE: 118]
[RED MUTANT ANT DEFEATED]
---
The tunnel fight lasted twenty minutes. When it ended, they were all wounded, exhausted, and down to half their healing potions. But eight more ants were dead.
---
[OBJECTIVE PROGRESS: 14/100]
---
They continued fighting for hours. The patterns became familiar—identify the biggest threat, coordinate attacks on isolated targets, never let themselves get surrounded completely. Raven's Saint's Flash was crucial for repositioning, Ava's evolved Judgment Thrust was devastating against the ants' organic armor, and Axel's raw strength could crack exoskeletons when his warhammer landed clean.
But the ants were learning too. Or rather, they were communicating. Raven noticed it after the thirtieth kill—the ants started targeting Ava specifically, recognizing her fire as the most dangerous threat. They came at her in coordinated rushes, mandibles snapping at her spear arm, trying to disable her primary weapon.
"They're adapting!" Effel called out, throwing another alchemical compound. This one released a thick smoke that confused the ants' senses temporarily. "The hivemind is analyzing our tactics!"
---
[OBJECTIVE PROGRESS: 47/100]
---
Four hours into Floor 1, they stumbled into a safe zone more through luck than planning. Raven had Saint's Flashed away from a particularly aggressive ant and found himself in a small chamber that glowed with protective blue light. The ant pursuing him hit an invisible barrier and recoiled, unable to enter.
"Here!" he shouted. "Safe zone!"
They fought their way to his position and collapsed inside the protective boundaries, gasping and bleeding.
---
[SAFE ZONE ENTERED]
[HP REGENERATION RATE INCREASED BY 500%]
---
Raven checked his status with growing concern:
---
[RAVEN HP: 134/195]
[MP: 67/110]
[STAMINA: 54%]
---
"Four hours and we're not even halfway," Axel said, his voice tight. His armor was dented in dozens of places, one pauldron hanging loose where an ant had crushed the connecting strap.
"The scaling is more aggressive than Iron Depths," Effel confirmed, already mixing healing salves. "Rank 2 Low is roughly equivalent to three Rank 1 Peak creatures. And they're coordinating better than the wolves did."
They rested for an hour, using the safe zone's accelerated regeneration to recover. Effel distributed Grade 2 healing potions—better than the Grade 1 ones they'd relied on in Iron Depths, but also more expensive. They were burning through supplies faster than planned.
When they left the safe zone, something felt different. The tunnel ahead was wider, the bioluminescent fungi brighter. And the clicking sounds of mandibles echoed from multiple directions.
"Something's wrong," Raven said, his Sword Heart detecting danger before his conscious mind could identify it.
Then they saw it. Not six ants or eight. Twenty. A full swarm emerging from side tunnels, their movements perfectly synchronized. And at the center, directing them with pheromone signals they couldn't see but could somehow sense—
A larger ant. Easily twice the size of the others, its exoskeleton a deeper red that was almost black, its mandibles large enough to bite a person in half.
---
[RED MUTANT ANT COMMANDER]
[RANK 2 (MID)]
[HP: 350/350]
---
"That's not supposed to spawn until we hit seventy-five kills!" Effel's voice carried genuine fear. "The dungeon's adapting faster than documented!"
The Commander screeched, and all twenty normal ants charged simultaneously.
"RUN!" Raven shouted. "Back to the safe zone!"
They ran. No shame in retreat when facing impossible odds. Ants pursued them through the tunnels, their clicking mandibles echoing like a nightmare symphony. Raven used Saint's Flash to appear beside Ava when one ant got too close, his sword taking its legs out from under it. Axel activated Berserk Rage and literally threw one ant into three others, buying them precious seconds.
They burst into the safe zone with ants snapping at their heels. The invisible barrier held, the creatures unable to cross but not retreating either. They remained outside, waiting, mandibles clicking in that coordinated pattern that was definitely communication.
The Commander stood at the back, watching them with intelligence that made Raven's skin crawl.
---
[SAFE ZONE ENTERED]
[WARNING: ENEMIES WAITING OUTSIDE]
---
They collapsed, hearts pounding, gasping for breath. That had been close. Too close.
"What the hell was that?" Axel demanded once he could speak.
"The dungeon adapted," Effel said, her voice shaking slightly. "It recognized we were progressing too efficiently and spawned a mid-tier commander to slow us down. That's not supposed to happen on Floor 1 until much later."
"How do we fight it?" Ava asked. "Twenty normal ants plus that Commander?"
"We don't," Raven said flatly, looking at their status. They were all wounded, down to a third of their potions, exhausted. "Not in our current condition. We need to rest, recover completely, and plan an actual strategy."
Outside, the ants waited with inhuman patience. The Commander's eyes—those terrible vertebrate eyes that no insect should have—watched them through the safe zone barrier.
They were trapped. And Floor 1 had just proven it was far more dangerous than any of them had anticipated.