They got breakfast at Manny's inn. Though they didn't have money, he accepted a trade of boar meat. All of them except for Ruth knew how to dress and skin most of the common animals in the area, so they had been able to get it done fast.

Once they were done with their bacon and eggs, Manny pointed them towards the dungeon board on his wall. There were three dungeons in the area, and as Josh had thought, the town kept an eye on them. Monsters respawned in dungeons—or maybe came from other worlds, no one was sure—on a regular basis. If left alone for too long, the monsters would kill each other until only the strongest were left. When they eventually spilled out right before the solstice, they would be too much for anyone to handle.

They were in luck, because the closest dungeon didn't have anyone waiting for it yet. It was filled with level 20 monsters, which was too high for fighting casually, but too low to power-level. Someone would get to it eventually. This time, it was them.

In fact, the entrance was less than a mile north of their own little plot of land. They brought their cart, Josh taking the effort to use [Chop Tree] to cut a path for them through the smaller trees. This area had been burned by high-level fire magic before the reset, so most of the trees were only a few weeks old. Even though he couldn't dig up the stumps easily, it still made a difference.

As they finally reached the dungeon, pulling their cart over the bumpy terrain, Josh wondered if maybe he should try to get some sort of skill for uprooting stumps. They hadn't bothered with that on their own land yet, as there had been enough open space for their shacks. Would that count as falling under the Woodcrafter purview, like the [Chop Tree] technique? Not for the first time, he wished he had found a [Gatherer] bloodstone instead of a [Crafter] one. He could have clear-cut half the Jungle by now and would be level 30 at least.

The dungeon looked much the same as the one they had found near Paul's outpost, though this one had large metal signs staked around it, marking it clearly so that no one could miss it. To Josh's eye, it looked like the signs were old street signs, uprooted and then staked back here. Most of them were stop signs, just painted over to read “DUNGEON” in big, block letters.

“Well,” Mary said, amused. “That's easy to spot, innit?”

Josh pulled the cart the last few feet. He had the highest Strength in the party... by one point. He groaned as he put it down. “Remember, we don't need to fight the boss. Least, not today. We'll just clear a room or two, let Ruth gawk at all the pretty writing, then come right back out.”

Everyone nodded. Even Ruth had stopped complaining. Sometimes you would even get lucky and find a piece of magical equipment in a dungeon, but that was a rarity. One in sixty-four was the statistic Josh had heard most often, though he thought it was likely truly random, just things that the monsters brought with them from whatever realm they came from. Besides, most of that magical loot was trash. Stuff like a sword that was one point of Strength stronger, or a dagger that did nothing but glow. If dungeons spat out bags of holding or healing staffs, people would pay much more attention to them.

Mary grinned. “Everyone ready?” They all nodded. “Good! D-Man, you're in front.”

“Please don't call me that,” Darius said, though he took his place as requested. He started down the dungeon's ladder.

“You've got to pick one sometime,” Josh called after him. “Else she'll just keep trying!”

Darius' grunt of disapproval echoed up the ladder. Josh chuckled, and the rest of them followed. The system message appeared when his feet hit the ground.

CONGRATULATIONS! You have discovered the dungeon DUNGEON NUMBER THREE: BUGS. Spawn level: 16.

“Insects?” Ruth asked. She was the last down the ladder.

“Blag.” Mary stuck out her tongue as if she had tasted something foul. “I hate bugs.” She looked at her guns in annoyance. “I was going for single-target damage. I just have the one area spell, and it's still not great.”

“None of us have area attacks,” Darius warned.

“If I can figure out how to make ammo, we can do something about that,” Josh pointed out. That was the main advantage of a Gunner. They couldn't put their Strength into most of their techniques, so they couldn't boost their damage that way. Instead, they swapped ammo and reloaded at superhuman speed, letting them use specialist ammunition for any situation.

Mary snorted. “You're not getting that at your next milestone, I'm sure of that.” She checked her guns. “Still, I've got a couple tricks. And if there's a queen bee or whatever, I bet I can pop her before the rest of you even see her.”

Josh understood why she thought this was a bee dungeon. The entrance was the same small, circular chamber with white walls and a single exit that was every dungeon antechamber. But the walls were half-covered in some sort of golden, sticky substance that he hoped was wax.

Ruth had already given up on the runes on the walls. Apparently they were the same as the ones she already had. Josh was sure that wouldn't hold true for the rest of the dungeon. While the first room was always the same, everything after was always different.

Josh waited for her to put her notebook away and nod to him. While she had Darius' shield focus, it still wasn't very good. He didn't want her to be caught off guard. He nodded to Darius in turn, who stepped through the seemingly empty doorway. It rippled just like all dungeon doorways did, and the others followed, ignoring the cold feeling.

The second room was taller—far too tall to fit in the space under the dungeon. That was normal. Dungeons were some sort of pocket dimension deal. High above, the walls and ceiling were covered in that wax substance, and it had dripped onto the floor in places. The monsters had dug holes into the material, tunnels and nests big enough to hold a large dog.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

The room was darker than usual, as many of the rune-circles that would normally light it up were hidden under the wax. Josh couldn't see any monsters, but he could hear them. The dry chittering noise of insects going about their business, of carapaces rubbing together and wings rustling.

There was a sickly-sweet smell in the air, and he identified it instantly. It wasn't honey, but it was something similar. A powerful fermented nectar that was dangerous and addictive to humans. Well, it was addictive to almost anything.

“Not bees, then,” Mary said grimly. She recognized the smell too. Nectar was a good part of her aunt's stock and trade. “Ants.”

“Is that worse?” Ruth asked in a too-loud whisper. She clutched her wooden club, eyes darting around. Her club had more runes carved into it now, though Josh didn't think most of them would actually be much more useful. “Are ants worse than bees?”

“Bees fly and have poison,” Darius said quietly. His eyes, Josh noted, were also watching the ceiling. “Ants have far fewer fliers... but far more overall. Be cautious.”

Josh gripped his sword tighter. Ruth had carved a Gravity rune into it in case he needed it, but he didn't think it would help much.

“CONTACT!” Mary yelled. “Pyro Shot!” She fired one of her guns, a booming report echoing around the chamber like a ball bearing in a tin can. The second the bullet left the chamber, it erupted into flame, the light burning back the darkness—even as the projectile slammed into the giant red ant that had been crawling down the wall. She got it right in the head, and it fell off the wall, curling into a scorched mess of carapace before it even hit the ground.

Then all hell broke loose.

That first ant looked like a normal ant, other than being the size of a Labrador. It had a red carapace, large clicking mandibles, and six spindly legs. Josh didn't even think it was a warrior, though he was hardly an expert. He thought the warriors had bigger mandibles. This one had smaller, more dexterous mandibles, better suited for manipulation instead of direct damage.

The problem with fighting insects was that they evolved early, they evolved often, and there were loads of different evolutionary paths they could take.

The next ant to fall down from the ceiling hardly looked like an ant at all. It looked like some sort of ant-centaur, a humanoid torso growing out of where the ant's head would be. The upper body was covered with red carapace as well, and it still had much smaller mandibles on its six-eyed face. It also had four arms, all of which had relatively normal fingers. It held no weapons.

That... was odd. Josh stepped forward to attack it, but still spared a second to use Identify on it.

Formic Mage. Level 20 Monster. Like most members of the Formic Hive, the Mage chose its evolutionary path solely based on what would be best for the hive. Good news: These guys are suicidal and fragile. Bad news: Their magic is very powerful for their level. Also, gross.

“Caster!” Josh yelled. He put on an extra burst of speed. “They've got casters!” He activated the Gravity rune on his sword as he brought it down with far more strength than he could have otherwise managed. The ant's hands had just started to glow with magic when Josh chopped right through its neck, severing its head in one blow. It collapsed to the ground.

The problem with ants was, there were always more.

He heard a chittering sound and looked up to see another Mage clinging to the wax on the wall. Why were ants using wax? Didn't they prefer dirt? He didn't know, and he didn't care. This one was already halfway through a spell; he could tell by the glow and the way its hands moved. Before he could think of what to do, another ant attacked him from the side, biting into his wooden armor.

The plates cracked, despite his use of the Pierce-Resistant Armor blueprint, and he was forced to turn his attention to the new threat. This one wasn't a centaur, but it was a hulking beast that walked on thick hind legs as if it were a person. It roared and lunged forward with arms as thick as the posts in his new house.

Formic Brute. Level 20 Monster. The Brute is a common evolutionary path for the Formic Hive. Big and strong, they don't need to be particularly smart to do their job. Which is a good thing, because they're all idiots. Outside of combat, Brutes are known for blundering around their hives, breaking things. If ants had any sort of advanced social structure, they'd be the big friendly jocks who are too stupid to realize how much trouble they cause just by existing.

Josh dropped to the side. He didn't even try to attack it; he knew his dinky little sword wasn't going to put a dent in its armor. Instead, he cut down another worker ant while scrambling backwards. The Brute stomped over the stunned worker, finishing it off just as Josh's back hit the wall with a wet squelch sound.

The beast roared, raising its claw—

And fell over, dead, when its head exploded.

Josh gave Mary a nod in acknowledgment, then moved on. Nothing needed to be said.

Unfortunately, she had lost her opportunity to take out the Mage while she was saving him. Up on the wall, the Mage raised its hands above its head, light gathering even as its clicking and chittering reached a crescendo.

A cloud of radiant golden mist burst out of the ant. It got in Josh's mouth, making him cough and choke. It wasn't an attack, even though it smelled and tasted terrible. It was the smell of ant pheromones amplified a thousandfold. He swung his sword around while he coughed, trying to fend off any attackers while he was distracted.

When he recovered, he realized that the cloud hadn't been targeting him.

The mist sunk into the carapaces of every ant still alive. They had managed to kill ten or more, but there were still at least a dozen left. And every single one of them breathed in the glowing mist and swelled with power.

Mary finally shot the Mage, but that didn't stop the mist. Josh glanced around and realized that they weren't going to get out of this without some sacrifices.

“Ruth!” he yelled. “Grenades!”

She looked surprised for a second, then nodded. She reached into her pouch and threw an object to him. It was nothing but a round piece of wood the size and rough shape of a pear, with random pieces of scrap metal hammered into it.

She had also scratched a fire rune into it.