Austronesia Empire, Imperial Majahapit, Jayapura Papua, Jayapura Mining Facility, Dungeon Level 1
1st Year of God, Monday, 2nd Week, 3rd Month Of Abraham.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
The muffled pops of suppressed gunfire echoed down the corridor, catching Specialist Sergeant Eurylochus's attention as he glanced up and narrowed his eyes.
"Sergeant Dice, what's the situation?" he radioed into his communicator.
"[Fucking bugs! We've got some giant ants here,]" Pice's voice crackled over the radio.
"Need support? Over," Eurylochus asked, as he held his weapon ready, watching the doorway, where the distant sounds of gunfire were drifting out.
[Negative,] Dice replied over the radio, [It's over. Come on in, it's cleared.]
Eurylochus stood up from his crouching position and waved from everyone to follow, "Let's move in and see what we're dealing with," he ordered.
As they entered the room, Penelope coughed as her breath caught the thick haze of gunsmoke that were in the air. With both teams gathered together, Odysseus raised a hand and cast a simple spell, sending a breeze of wind through the room that quickly dispersed the smoke.
Over twenty plus corpses of ants, each the size of a large dog, was scattered across the floor with their bodies twisted in death. The remaining honey slimes appeared to have been frightened off and had disappeared somewhere. The ground was wet with the leaking hemolymph of the dead ants as Penelope went up beside one of the bodies to snap a photo with her camera.
Odysseus bent over a dead ant and examined it closely, "The magic stones are usually found near the forehead or the thyroid," He explained, deftly using a dagger to saw through the tough exoskeleton of the ant's head, before digging into it and pulling a slimy yellowish mana stone out.
"Here," he said, tossing the finger-sized stone over to Dice, who rubbed the slime off the stone before examining it in the light of the moss.
"Nice," Dice remarked, turning to the others. "Well, what are you waiting for? Start harvesting the stones!" He then turned back to Odysseus. "What else is usable that we can salvage from these creatures?"
Odysseus nodded thoughtfully. "Well, the silk from their rear abdomens can be harvested to make cloth. The carapace, when treated, works better than leather and steel armor. Some artisans even use the ants' eyes for jewelry, and their eye cases can be turned into clear bowls. The mandibles make excellent saw blades."
"Damn, that's a lot of uses," Dice replied, watching as the team methodically cut into the ants to retrieve the mana stones. "Are they edible?"
"Oh yes," Odysseus nodded, "Though I've never tried it myself. I've heard they're quite tasty."
"Alright, listen up!" Dice called out to the team. "Stop butchering the bodies, the way you guys try to harvest the stones is making my eyes bleed. Sir Odysseus, can you have your golems transport the ants out to the main entrance? Let the experts handle the harvesting while we focus on exploring."
Odysseus nodded and began directing his golems to gather the ant bodies.
"And don't forget the bundles of honey slime silk," Dice added. "No point in wasting it."
The golems, each with a large wicker basket strapped to its back, carefully loaded the ant corpses. Once the baskets were full, the golems lumbered off towards the dungeon's exit with their burden secured.
While the others were occupied, Penelope took the opportunity to explore the room, scanning the walls for more carvings and drawings. She meticulously recorded each detail and did a quick measure and found the room to be roughly 20 by 32 meters.
"So, which tunnel do we take first?" Eurylochus asked, turning to Dice as the two leaders prepared to move out with their respective teams.
Dice pointed to the second tunnel from the right. "The ants came from there. It's probably the way to their hive." He approached the tunnel entrance, pulled out a piece of chalk, and drew a large ant-like symbol beside the opening, marking it with an arrow.
"Let's split up here," Dice suggested. "My team will take the rightmost tunnel, and your team will take the leftmost. Sir Odysseus, I'd like your golems to hold this room when they return, is that alright?" He glanced at Odysseus, who nodded in agreement. Dice then turned back to Eurylochus. "Once the golems return, take your team and explore the leftmost tunnel. Understood?"
Eurylochus nodded. "Affirmative."
As they finished discussing, Dice began marking the stone floor with his piece of chalk, indicating the direction each team would take, as well as the time of entry.
"Alright, Team 1, let's move out!"
Dice's team entered the rightmost tunnel with their lamps illuminating the twisting path ahead while Team 2, under Eurylochus, stayed behind to wait for the golems to return.
As Dice's team ventured deeper into the tunnel, they encountered more ants and honey slimes. After battling their way through, they reached a fork in the tunnel and chose the right path, marking their progress with arrows on the walls. Eventually, they stumbled upon a vast cavern filled with sand.
"Look, is that a chest?" one of the soldiers asked as his light caught a distant object. "Holy shit! I never expected to find treasure here!" He began to move toward the chest.
"Halt!" Dice barked, stopping the soldier's advance. "There could be a trap." He kneeled down and grabbed a handful of fine sand, letting it sift through his gloved fingers. "It's too quiet here."
Alerted by Dice's words, the team scanned the cavern cautiously, checking every nook and cranny as they slowly advanced toward the chest at the end of the seemingly empty cave.
"You two, check it out. The rest, hold position," Pice ordered.
Two soldiers nodded and cautiously approached the chest from either side, they made their steps as light as possible. One soldier signaled to the other, then used his rifle barrel to carefully flip open the square wooden chest. Both of them leaped back, on the guard and ready for any potential trap, but nothing happened.
One soldier sighed in relief and straightened up, when suddenly, the ground under him exploded upwards, sending him flying head over heels several meters away.
Spitting sand from his mouth, the soldier who had been launched into the air scrambled for his weapon just as a massive, reddish shape began to emerge from the sand.
As the sand dust slowly washed off, revealing the dark red carapace of a giant centipede, Odysseus's eyes widened in alarm.
[IMAGES]
"Those are Poison-toothed Giant Desert Centipedes! Watch out for its poisonous fluids! A single contact could instantly kill a human!"
The colossal red centipede which was over 10 meters snapped its jaws, seemingly savoring the thought of the meal it will be having. Its three pairs of eyes eyed hungrily on the soldier who were just meters away and it scuttled forward on its many legs with its long tongue swirling around with eager happiness.
"Oh fuck!" the soldier cried out, rolling desperately across the sand to avoid the snapping jaws of the beast. "FUCK THIS!"
"TAKE IT OUT!" Dice yelled before firing at the centipede's side. The creature flinched in pain, but the 6.5mm rounds barely penetrated its thick carapace. "Fuck!"
The rest of the team opened fire almost at the same time, peppering the centipede with their bullets and driving it back from the bruising pain of the bullet impacts. Though its carapace had fresh cracks, the heavily armored centipede seemed largely unscathed, and furious that its prey had escaped. The stinging pokes from the other prey creatures only enraged it further.
With a sudden terrifying leap, the centipede landed right next to the soldier, who had managed to jump away, but was sent another few meters along with the sands by the strong force of the impact.
"FUUUUCK!"
The second soldier, who had been flanking him, dropped his rifle and, in one smooth motion, pulled an automatic shotgun from his back and fired a barrage of explosive rounds that struck the centipede's rear just as it attempted to crush his partner with its jaws.
The force of the blasts sent the centipede tumbling against the cavern walls, and the deafening explosion left the soldier in shock, sending him rolling away holding his head.
"Are you trying to kill me or that thing?" the first soldier shouted, shaken.
"That must be a Champion monster!" Odysseus warned as three magic circles formed in front of his palm. "It's not dead yet!"
As he said that, he cast a lightning bolt directly into the dusty cloud.