Chapter 9
Chapter 9
It was hard to believe this was an underground cave, yet the ant nest was bright and lushly green. Still, Igripa couldn’t make sense of the current situation.
“…Why are they eating that?”
During the morning break after work, the field was filled with Silver Ents sitting in a circle, chewing on rocks.
Crunch, crunch. Watching them crush hard ore like snacks with their sharp mandibles made it seem like they classified stone not only as livestock—but also as food.
“Igripa-nim, aren’t you going to eat?”
Bark approached with mineral dust around his mouth, politely offering a large chunk of blue mana ore from his arms.
…
“…Are you serious?”
“? Of course. Thanks to Igripa-nim, the nearby mana stones have grown very delicious.”
Bark spread his arms wide, proudly showing the ores being mined around them.
What exactly did one have to do for stones to become “delicious”?
As a human, I had once peeled tree bark in starvation, but I had never eaten rocks.
“…No, I’m fine. My body can’t really eat anything anyway.”
I shrugged and tightened my grip on the pickaxe.
No matter how desperate things got, eating stones still felt like a tragedy. No wonder they were so thin if that was what they ate.
During every break, the same thought returned. The more time I spent in the ant nest, the heavier that pity grew.
“In about half a month, they’ll grow properly. Then we should have a proper meal.”
“A proper meal?”
“Yeah. Something normal. Not rocks.”
Behind me, Bark tilted his head in confusion, but I walked back toward the field with my pickaxe.
Even though Bark offered to help, what could I possibly assign to someone who looked half-starved?
It would be against my conscience.
Meanwhile
“I’ll just step on these first.”
I walked alone into the field and pressed down the soil around the rice-like crops with my foot.
It might look like abuse, but it was necessary work.
Where the soil was loose, the roots would float and dry out. Pressing it down helped them anchor properly. And controlled stress could actually make roots grow deeper and increase yield later.
As I worked, the Silver Ent Queen sitting on her throne began trembling.
“As expected… Igripa-nim…”
“Hm?”
“To think you are already enforcing a master-servant hierarchy upon those just born…”
She covered her eyes—but her fingers were spread wide, watching everything.
What on earth was she imagining…
‘Sigh… just focus on work.’
After 2 hours
After finishing the rice-stomping work, I set down my pickaxe and looked around.
The soil was properly packed, the sprouts had taken a firm hit of stress, and things should be stable for a while.
From here on, they would grow on their own. Interfering too much would only do more harm than good.
“Good work, everyone. I’ll head back now.”
The moment I spoke, Bark—who had been chewing blue ore—froze.
The other Silver Ents also stopped eating and stared blankly.
“You’re leaving…? Back to the Green Dungeon?”
“Hm? Yeah. There’s still work there.”
“Please wait a moment!”
Bark threw the stone he was eating and rushed over, but I raised a hand to stop him.
I already knew why he was reacting like this. For the past ten days, every time I tried to go home, he insisted on things like escorting, protection, and duty.
Because of that, I hadn’t even been able to check my own field properly.
But now I really had to go.
“You don’t need to come with me. What would you even do?”
“But Igripa-nim—”
“Later, okay? When you’re stronger. Let’s go then.”
I patted Bark on the shoulder. He lowered his head quietly.
It was probably disappointing, but it couldn’t be helped.
There was too much work left undone in my field. And there was no way I could let these starving creatures do heavy labor.
With how thin Bark looked, he probably couldn’t even lift pruning shears, let alone tend the crops properly.
“Then I’ll come back in about three days. Leave the field as it is.”
I channeled mana into my fingertips and sliced through the air.
Srrrk.
The solid cave wall split open like the peel of a ripe fruit. Beyond it, a deep green light spilled out, and familiar humid air flowed through.
“Then.”
I stepped through the crack.
The moment I did, the space closed behind me as if nothing had ever happened.
Back in the field
“…Kyaaaaaa!!!”
“Grrrraaaah!!!”
The Blood Peppers and other plant-monsters were screaming as if protesting hunger.
Some of them had even begun eating each other out of desperation.
‘…’
Nothing ever goes smoothly.
I went to help someone else’s place—and neglected my own table.
Damn it.
Meanwhile, inside the ant nest
After Igripa left, silence filled the ant nest for a while.
Melina sat on her throne, staring at the sealed wall where the crack had been. It was perfectly restored, as if nothing had ever existed there.
“Igripa-nim has departed.”
“I know.”
Bark lowered his head.
His drooping posture felt completely different from just half a month ago, as if he had become a different being.
‘Well… of course.’
Half a month ago, Bark had gone to meet the rumored master of the Green Dungeon. At the time, Melina never imagined things would turn out like this.
When she first met Igripa, she had only thought of him as a suspicious skeleton.
“My Queen, that is the rumored master of the Green Dungeon.”
“…That thing?”
“Yes. With him here, humans will no longer be a threat.”
Bark had whispered in admiration, but she hadn’t understood it at the time.
The being she saw only carried soil, bringing monsters like Blood Peppers and farming like a simple laborer. There was no overwhelming mana. No oppressive aura of a ruler.
If she hadn’t witnessed him tearing space itself, she might have treated him as a low-tier undead and been disrespectful.
Even when he tried to destroy the dungeon core…
‘I’ll just break this thing.’
‘N-no!! That is our core! Please, have mercy!!’
She still remembered Bark throwing himself in front of it, begging.
At the time, she had doubted whether he truly came to help them.
Until that moment.
‘That fireball… what is that?!’
An artificial sun suspended in the dungeon ceiling.
That was not just imitation.
The mana structure, the geometric resonance—it perfectly matched the dungeon core she had guarded her entire life.
‘Mana is rising…’
He hadn’t been randomly farming soil.
He had been aligning it with the new core, causing mana to surge.
And then the dungeon core itself began to evolve in reverence.
‘What… exactly is he…’
Even after asking, he never truly explained anything.
As if he knew she wouldn’t understand anyway.
“Melina-nim?”
“Yes?”
“Should I go out ahead in three days?”
Bark fidgeted nervously.
“No messages from the alliance yet, correct?”
“Yes… but you know as well as I do. Harpas-nim is not someone who stays quiet.”
Melina closed her eyes.
The Green Dungeon lay in the southern region. Inviting external forces without permission would surely provoke retaliation.
‘They take so much and give nothing back… those alliance officials.’
Still…
There was something unsettling.
“Bark. Let me ask you one thing.”
“Yes, my Queen.”
“When you first entered the Green Dungeon… did Igripa-nim greet you normally?”
“…Actually, I didn’t enter by myself.”
“What?”
“I was attacked by Blood Peppers near the dungeon… and when I came to, I was already inside.”
Melina fell silent.
So that was it.
He hadn’t simply accepted visitors.
He had brought Bark in himself.
That was the key difference.
“Then… let’s not go. We’ll wait.”
“But—”
“Bark. Since when can a vice-commander question a Queen?”
“…Understood.”
Bark lowered his head, though he did not fully accept it.
But Melina’s decision carried something deeper than command.
It carried fear.
The Green Dungeon had existed for a year as nothing but rumor in the south.
So why had its master chosen to help them?
‘I don’t know.’
The ant nest fell into silence once again.