My ant farm continued to grow for the next few days. I provided for them and they for me. Swiftly the colony grew with the abundance and some princess ants even left to establish their own colonies. Good, at this rate they will provide a nice passive energy gain for me.

As I expanded a portion of my domain to follow one of the future queens, I came across the most peculiar thing. A miniature battle raged before me.

Pixies and warped ubees fought for dominance. Ubees are a variant of giant bee with their stinger on their forehead instead of their abdomens. Although the pixies stood a tick tall, the length of a male human hand, the ubees were half a tick long. Rushing through the air, the ubees swirled about randomly to dive bomb the pixies.

Fortunately for the pixies, they vastly outmaneuvered the ubees. The pixie wings blurred like a hummingbird, allowing them to hover or instantly dart in any direction. Combined with tree bark armor and thorn swords, each pixie easily held their own against a dozen ubees. But the number difference was simply too great. Each pixie would need to defeat perhaps fifty ubees by themselves.

I noticed one particularly brave pixie attack the ubees rather aggressively. She flew headlong towards rushing ubees to dodge in the last second, vanquishing her foes as she passed. For every ubee a normal pixie slew, she eviscerated two.

Following behind her, a male blue haired pixie protected her flanks as she darted ahead. Together they worked perfectly in sync. But the ubees noticed this firey warrior duo and began to swarm them. When the ubees swarmed, they slowly separated the duo.

Without her partner, the redheaded pixie’s attacks left her too open. As I watched, she fell to the ubees, skewered through her sternum. The blue haired male next to her screamed in rage, stabbing the ubee still lodged inside her. He caught her and gently lowered her to the ground. His distraction cost him though. Another two ubees impaled themselves into his back. After stabbing the two a few more times, their killers flew off to ruin more lives.

He lay unmoving on top of his partner. His face buried in the crook of her neck. In contrast, her expression was shocked and painful. Her eyes open and glassy in death.

Something inside me rent in two watching the two pixies die in each other's arms. Seeing the remaining pixies battling for survival at this point, I decided to help however I could.

At this point, I tried pelting the bees with rocks but I couldn’t hit any of them! Furthermore, I almost hit a pixie in the head.

What else am I supposed to do? All these dying pixies and bees gave me plenty of energy, but I have no outlet! How are dungeons supposed to fight if I can’t do anything to my enemies? Am I always going to be so reactionary to my surroundings or can I make a change?

...I’m an idiot. I don’t have to fight anyone. As a dungeon, my constructs do that for me! I focused so much on expanding my domain I forgot the main threat of a dungeon, the monsters.

As I start to try to create my first construct, I paused. What if I let this battle continue? The energy from the dying pixies feels incredible. I'm not the one killing and I'm not responsible for the pixies’ safety. Already this battle allowed me to greatly expand my domain. I felt high on the bloodshed.

Then I looked down again at the dead duo. Her dead expression burned into me. They were likely lovers, maybe with a child back home. I closed the female pixie's eyes and smoothed her expression into a more peaceful one.

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Do I really want to follow the path of a dungeon? As a bystander who has the power to stop the violence, isn't not taking action the same as sanctioning it?

My resolution reconfirmed, I resumed trying to build my first construct. Let’s see, an ant won’t be able to fly so I need to make a ubee. Focusing on the bodies in my domain, I analyzed every single particle within an ubee body. Normally I wouldn’t be able to focus on so many things at once, but something guided me. I felt like I made a mental mold incorporating all the parts of the ubee. Then my energy flowed into the mold I made to fill out all the details.

As the last bit of the mold filled up, shining particles appeared in the air, coalescing then growing dimmer to form a new ubee.

Mentally I shouted “Protect the pixies!” and somehow it understood me.

My ubee construct launched into action, impaling two real ubees who did not expect the friendly attack. Unfortunately, my ubee was slain by an enterprising pixie who took advantage of the seemingly confused ubee.

No! I’m trying to help you, stupid pixie. Looks like I should differentiate my ubees somehow. Re-examining my mold, I compared the sections for black hair and yellow hair. Once I found the difference I changed all the hair to be black. With my new mold, I began pumping out ubees as quick as I could. Immediately I ordered each new one to assist the pixies. Soon the tide of the battle began turning against the ubee hive.

One of the pixies seemed to be directing the others, speaking in some incomprehensible language. He had silver-white hair and wore midnight black armor. Once he realized the black ubees only attacked the regular ubees he quickly shouted at the other pixies and they formed up. With the pixies on the defensive, their casualties greatly reduced and my ubees slowly cleared out the rest of the hive. The battle seemed to be wrapping up.

At least until the Queen ubee appeared. She dwarfed the other ubees, at least five times their size. As my ubees approached to kill her, she released some sort of sonic wave magic that resonated with my bees. All of them dropped to the ground, paralyzed. Since my ubees are modeled after her own hive she must have some control over them. None of my ubees were going to be able to help and the pixies looked exhausted.

The white-haired pixie commander shouted something and pointed his thorn sword at the Queen ubee. They both darted forward to clash, racing straight at each other.

Why are his allies waiting on the sideline? Certainly, he doesn’t plan to fight her alone?

But the commander fearlessly flew onward. What followed was an ariel dance of death. While the Queen could not keep up with the pixie commander, he could not seem to make more than scratches on her tough hide.

He darted all around her, using his higher agility to dodge her dive bombs. When she slowed down to turn around he would attack. For minutes this went on until the Queen realized her strategy was flawed.

From there she tried to engage in a sword fight with the pixie commander. This style of engagement seemed to favor her as the pixie thorn sword could not penetrate her thick forehead. Meanwhile, he managed to avoid her stinger but the Queen successfully body slammed him several times.

Discerning the fight had turned against him, the pixie began avoiding Queen. He didn't attack at all, only dodged. Frustrated that she could not gain enough speed to catch him, the Queen began dive bombing again.

This fight did not seem to be going anywhere so I considered launching more rocks right as the Queen dove faster than ever. Yet he simply hovered there as she rapidly approached. At the very last second, he moved. Backflipping and twisting in midair, he landed on the Queen’s back. Then he pushed her forward with all his might.

Earlier, he had hovered in front of a tree trunk. With her rapid dive and the pixie on her back pushing her forward, the Queen was unable to change direction in time. The stinger on her forehead sunk deep into the tree. Unable to move, suddenly all the pixies swarmed and stabbed her to death.

The Queen's death was not swift. Her tough hide worked against her as she slowly died from a thousand cuts.

Throughout the battle I had constantly been spending the energy I gained. Despite my capacity growing since the worm, I could only hold the energy of two pixies at a time.

The Queen released far more than two pixie's worth. I felt the energy, pleasure, and pain rush into me. Then nothing.