Chapter 13 - Another World (3)

Even after more than a decade since their emergence, proper research on dungeons and gates remained elusive. Their interiors were incredibly diverse—forests, caves, deserts, polar regions, and every natural environment imaginable, teeming with mana beasts that adapted to each one. The only common thread among those creatures was their hatred for humans, transcending even their biological instincts. Yet no clear, definitive studies existed on them.

In the end, the overall structure resembles a cave-type dungeon.

This ant nest, bearing the name of a dungeon, was no different. No matter how he looked at it, Kim Seung-hyun couldn't believe it was a naturally formed ant colony. The tunnel layout and the ants' responses all deviated from any ordinary ant nest.

"Mana beast ant."

As they smashed through the worker ants and emerged from a narrow passage into a vast chamber, a mana beast ant guarding the area appeared before ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠them. With a small sigh, he watched Serenian set down her pipe, slick with ant bodily fluids, and raise her compound bow.

The massive ant charging at her with its jaws agape no longer instilled fear. Her ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠legs stood firm, her arms drew the string to its limit without trembling, and her eyes locked on the enemy with unwavering focus. Seeing her resolve, Seung-hyun felt a surge of reassurance in his drone form hovering beside her—he'd been helpful after all. He set aside his worries and observed the situation fully.

Should we go deeper?

As expected, the mana beast ant took an arrow like a streak of light straight to the head. Its skull exploded more than halfway, and it crumpled to the ground. But even as she finished it off, Seung-hyun couldn't relax, his gaze fixed on the passage behind it—the one the beast had seemed to guard.

The dungeon wasn't over yet. Cave-type or labyrinth-type dungeons were ranked by the number of these chamber-like rooms of fixed size. This ant nest clearly wasn't low-rank.

Well, she's no ordinary hunter either.

Of course, the fact that she'd entered this dungeon alone and reached this depth defied common sense. Her archery wielded a unique, potent power unlike any hunter's abilities—immensely strong and swift. Maybe she really could win.

"What?"

But the moment she headed deeper, Seung-hyun—focused on the drone's camera—jolted in surprise at the new text appearing on the flowerpot.

This has to be the boss fight.

He sighed at the sight on his screen. Deepest in the ant nest: the dungeon's owner, as expected. Clearing a dungeon required slaying the boss to expose its core. And this ant nest's boss was none other than a grotesquely enormous queen ant.

Controlling the drone, Seung-hyun—and Serenian too—could see her body tremble slightly. It wasn't just any queen ant. Its writhing, pulsating abdomen, occasionally oozing soft white eggs from its rear like dripping slime, was one thing. But the sharp mandibles on its glaring face, and the razor-sharp scythe blades at the ends of its elongated forelegs—it swung those at the intruder who'd slaughtered its soldiers and invaded this far.

"---!"

From her perspective, that scythe leg was like a compact truck barreling down. She leaped from the ground, somersaulting backward to evade it. At the same time, she nocked and loosed an arrow. A streak of blue light sliced through the dim space, poised to embed in the queen ant's body—but it shielded itself with those impossibly sturdy forelegs.

The abdomen was the weak point. Instinctively, Seung-hyun realized that massive ovipositor looked frailer than the other ants'. Serenian knew it too. She began circling the chamber walls, aiming to flank the lumbering queen, whose bulk limited its mobility.

But it wasn't easy. Pale maggots—scattered amid pupae fragments and eggs around the queen—began wriggling toward her. And the queen's relentless foreleg swipes kept coming.

Her face twisted in alarm as she flattened herself to dodge a blow. When a maggot the size of her torso lunged, spewing acidic saliva to impale her, she crushed its body underfoot with a foot wreathed in sudden blue flames.

Does she have enough arrows?

Seung-hyun quickly counted the arrows left in her quiver. Bypassing the guarding maggots for a direct shot was impossible, and frontal barrages wouldn't penetrate. She'd have to snipe the maggots from safe range one by one, then finish the queen—but the issue was her arrow count. Could she take them all out? If she retreated mid-fight for more, would the dungeon still be here when she returned? No certainties.

"Huh?"

In that tense standoff, as she sweated and pondered, she suddenly snatched the drone midair with her hand and yanked it to her face. Their faces—separated by the screen—met directly. Well, she was looking at the camera lens, not his actual face.

"A-Are you telling me to lure them?"

Her urgent expression softened as she released the drone and pointed to a spot in the space. She flailed her arms and legs in frustration, saying something, but he nodded the drone up and down to signal understanding.

No words exchanged, yet it felt like perfect sync. He immediately piloted the drone straight at the queen ant and maggots.

Who'd have thought an elf and a dungeon raid would involve him like this? Operators—mandatory tech experts in large-scale raids—trained in drone piloting as basics, but he'd never imagined acting as one. Even they rarely used drones to lure mana beasts.

It’s working?!

Yet here, in the dim underground, the drone's flashing lights dazzled everywhere as it zipped through ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the air. The maggots—and even the house-sized queen—couldn't ignore it.

"Hmph."

He effortlessly dodged the queen's swatting forelegs—like a human shooing a mosquito—and deliberately looped in front of its eyes. Accustomed to darkness, the blinding glare must be unbearable. Their frantic head-shaking and writhing eased his tension, igniting excitement instead.

She's moving.

Through the gap in their vision, he caught golden blonde hair whipping as long legs stretched into a sprint. What followed was hard to see. So his job now: trust her and stick to his role.

But how long?

The flashing light and shadow play disoriented even him—not just the foes. Staring at the cramped screen made his head spin and stomach churn. No word from her, and he lost himself in hypnotic hovering and acrobatic maneuvers with the drone.

About five minutes in, by his sense, the queen suddenly halted with a screech.

As expected.

Halting his aerobatics, Seung-hyun grinned at the sight of her perched atop the queen's head. She'd climbed up there somehow, balanced amid the violent thrashing, and precisely lodged an arrow into the gap between its head and spine armor.

A surer, more perfect vital spot than the abdomen he'd guessed. And until the queen fully collapsed, she displayed near-miraculous equilibrium, firing arrow after arrow into that chink.

She then peppered the fallen queen's corpse with arrows, eliminating the surviving maggots that hadn't been crushed, before hopping lightly to the ground. The floating text announced their flawless success.

They'd truly conquered a dungeon. One elf and one drone.

Dungeon core.

Now, just the harvest remained. Some mana beasts had useful corpses, but the real prize inside a dungeon was its core, brimming with vast energy. Excluding higher species with embedded magic stones, these cores were the source of refined mana.

Behind the queen, half-embedded in the wall, she twisted and yanked free a glowing stone the size of her face.

"??!"

The moment he tore his eyes from the screen, changes erupted before Seung-hyun—just like the first time the flowerpot had transformed. Intense and numerous.

And the final new message was so extraordinary, he stared at it in a daze.