Alex's time training with a sword came back to him almost immediately. He never had any formal lessons in swordplay, he could never afford such a thing, but self-taught muscle memory was hard to lose even with his new body. It certainly helped that the blade of blazing aether lacked the weight of a typical sword. It had just enough heft to help keep him from slicing his arms off, but not enough that his feeble kobold limbs struggled to swing it.

A practiced slash cleaved an ant's head from its thorax, leaving the metal insect scuttling around in confusion and disrupting a few of its fellows. Another strike sliced a second ants right legs off at the joints, leaving it l lopsided and struggling to move.

Despite his magical lightsaber, Alex was hardly making a dent in the number of ants surging around him and Archie. The two of them stood back to back against the tide, vainly trying to keep them at bay. Running had quickly lost its appeal as an option, the hallway filling with ants from either end. Archie's daggers were useless, barely able to scratch the copper shells, let alone do real damage. Alex silently wished he could conjure magical fire swords for his companion, but he had no idea how to do so safely.

Archie had to settle for fighting bare handed. He grappled the nearest ant, grabbing it by the mandibles and lifting it off the ground. The metal insect twitched violently, its limbs thrashing and scratching through the rabbit's armour. Gritting his teeth against the pain, Archie landed a solid kick in the ant's centre mass. At the same time, he released his grip on the bug, sending it careening into the encroaching horde. He managed to knock a few over, but it was hardly enough to put a dent in them.

There were just too many ants!

"It's like we're in a hive," Alex noted, making a wide slash in an attempt to hit multiple bugs at once.

Archie's answer was a series of grunts as he wrestled with two more ants. They were getting bolder now, charging at him in small groups instead of individuals.

"We're going to be overrun if we don't do something, and fast." Alex barely had a chance to finish his thought before three more ants lunged for him, their razor sharp mandibles snapping for his thighs. He lowered his blade groundward and twist, cleaving the gnashing fangs before they could dig into his soft flesh.

"In case you so quickly forgot, I'm not exactly suited to this sort of fight," Archie politely reminded him. Another ant managed to clamber up his leg, its sharp claws digging into his flesh and drawing a spurt of blue-green mana blood. "I'm more of a scout," he hissed through the pain, ripping the ant off and tossing them into the crowd.

Alex knew that. In most cases, this is the kind of fight where he would actually excel. A target rich environment where they were all packed together? It was the perfect scenario for a fire mage. The only problem was those sonic alarms. If he tried to use fire magic, they'd rip him apart.

He grit his teeth and tried to quickly take stock of his surroundings, stabbing the nearest bug to keep them back. There were three of the dangling light fixtures, their crimson eyes locked onto the fight below.

"Archie, clear the alarms," Alex ordered.

"I'm a bit busy here!" Archie retorted, kicking another ant away.

At the risk of getting his tail bit, Alex twisted around the rabbit and sliced the ants away. "Alarms! Destroy them!"

Archie nodded without question. Using the disruption Alex had created in the surging horde, the rabbit leapt atop the nearest ant and kicked off its back to gain some air. He flipped dramatically, landing feet first on the ceiling. His spider-climb powers immediately kicked into gear, allowing him to effortlessly stick to the ceiling and walk upside-down.

Sensing one of their targets was no longer on the floor, some of the ants split off from the main group to climb the walls. Alex warned Archie of that, but was too busy fending off his own attackers to help. Now that he was on the ground by himself, the ants were swarming him from all sides. If he didn't do something soon, he'd be overwhelmed.

"First alarm down," Archie called, as the snake-like tube dropped from the ceiling. He was already charging towards the second, dagger at the ready.

Alex wasn't going to get a better chance than this.

With a quick breath, Alex allowed the aether forming his fire sword to dissipate. He gathered as much of his magic in his wand as he could and lifted the rod above his head. Immediately, a miniature sun blazed into being. He gritted his teeth and funneled more power into the orb, growing it larger and larger. The ants, sensing the danger, began their retreat.

"Second alarm down!" Archie's voice reached Alex's ears despite the roaring blaze above him.

With a cry of effort, Alex willed the fireball to split in two. The ants were fleeing in droves now, but their numeric advantage was turning into a detriment. There were too many of them, and they were struggling to climb over each other to escape the heat and blaze.

Alex aimed each fireball down one end of the hallway, funneling more and more power into them with every breath. They rapidly swelled in size, until a sharp pain lanced behind his eyes. He was going to have such a migraine from this, but a migraine was better than death.

He released the raging inferno, sending twin eruptions surging down both ends of the hallway. The ants nearest to him were immediately incinerated by the blast, while those further down the hall were thrown backward by the explosion. Alex sucked in a breath as he could feel the ants' mana surging into him, the magic refunded like it would be in Zack's dungeon.

Then, a blast of sound knocked him to the ground. He lay on his stomach, pinned to the floor by the alarm until it too went quiet. Archie dropped to the floor next to him and rolled him onto his back, staring down at him worriedly. The rabbit's lips were moving, but Alex couldn't hear anything over the tinnitus ringing in his ears.

Archie quickly fumbled for one of the potions in his pouch and uncorked it. He pressed it to the kobold's lips and let him drink it down. As soon as the magical liquid hit his throat, Alex felt an itch in his ears. Slowly, his hearing returned.

"Alex, are you okay?" Archie's words were muffled, like he was speaking through water. Still, they were audible.

"I've been a whole lot worse," Alex chuckled, sitting up. "I'm not dead, so that's definitely a good sign."

Archie nodded and offered the kobold a hand up. Alex accepted and stumbled back to his feet. He looked around for his wand and frowned when he spotted the implement nearby. It had been blown away by the explosive fire spell he used, and what little remained of it was a broken mess. The gem that served as its head was shattered into dozens of tiny pieces, while smouldering coal was all that remained of the wooden shaft.

Stolen story; please report.

"Damn," Alex grumbled, kicking the burning stick in frustration. "That'll have to come out of my adventurer salary…"

"I'm sure Zack can make you a new one," Archie assured him. "Speaking of Zack, that stupid little stunt stays between the two of us. I can't imagine he'd be very impressed if he found out I let you blow yourself up like that."

"It's only stupid if it doesn't work," Alex said, winking up at the rabbit. "Come on, we better keep moving before more of those ants show up. I'm not sure I can do that again, and I can't conjure my magic sword without a wand."

"Hold on, Alex. You're not fully healed yet," Archie pointed out. "We should take a moment to recover."

"We have less than an hour to find Matt's core and convince him to stop doing this, remember? We don't have time to waste recovering," Alex reminded him.

Archie's expression darkened, and he scooped the kobold up by the collar of his shirt. Alex kicked the air as the rabbit pulled him up to eye level. "Respectfully, you just expended a massive amount of mana and pushed yourself beyond your normal limits. Moreover, you did so knowing you were going to get attacked by magic you had no defense against. You're drained, half-deaf, and unarmed. We're taking a moment to recover, and that's not up for discussion."

"Technically the ants refunded my spent mana—" Alex started. When the rabbit's eyebrows furrowed together, he clammed up and bit his tongue. "Maybe a few minutes of rest couldn't hurt."

"No, they most definitely couldn't," Archie said, lowering him to the ground once more. "Wait here and rest. Drink your mana potion, if you feel you need it. Another health potion couldn't hurt, either. I'm going to scout ahead."

Before Alex had a chance to protest, Archie disappeared into thin air. He sighed and shook his head, knowing if he called out the rabbit wouldn't answer. He turned invisible to make scouting an easier chore, and he wouldn't reveal himself now that he had vanished.

Taking his friend's advice, Alex sat down against a wall and rifled through his pack for a potion. His mana felt fine, though he could tell the aether channels in his body were stretched and sore. Any spells he cast until he fully recovered were going to hurt, and no amount of healing potions was going to fix that. Still, another health potion would help speed up his hearing recovery and stem the worst of his growing migraine. He grabbed one of his smaller bottles and downed its contents.

As his hearing fully recovered, he once more studied his surroundings. Nothing looked different, and yet he could feel a strange sensation itching at the back of his mind. He reached out with his magical senses, letting his aether tease the magic in the air.

Alex frowned in surprise. There… was no magic in the air. That shouldn't have been possible, since Zack's dungeon needed to have mana flowing through it at all times. It was just another piece of evidence that pointed to Matt not being a dungeon core.

Given what Alex knew about how dungeons and cores operated, he was beginning to put a name to what Matt actually was. He needed more proof to be certain, but the evidence was damning.

A few minutes later, Archie reappeared hanging from the ceiling. The rabbit dropped down in front of him, shaking his head. "There are more ants on the next two floors down," he said. "I didn't get farther than that."

"How far down is Matt?" Alex asked.

Archie's face scrunched up. "He's in the basement. The building has five floors, and it's impossible to tell with certainty which level we're on. We could be at the top, or somewhere in the middle. Either way, there's no chance we can push through all those ants."

Alex nodded. Part of him wanted to retreat, but there was no way they could do that without Reyna's help. And if it came to that, Alex couldn't guarantee that Matt would survive his encounter with the Waterloo guild. But what option did they have? They'd be separated from their tank and healer, they were grossly unprepared to fight this many enemies, and already they were facing a loss of resources.

Before Alex had a chance to suggest that they call Reyna for extraction, he spotted something slithering through the tubes lining the wall opposite him. It froze as it met his gaze, a blue lense peeking out from between the tubes. That elicited a frown from the kobold. Thus far, the lights had all been red.

"Archie, what colour did you say Matt's core was?" Alex asked.

"Hmm? Red and blue, if I remember right. Why?" Archie asked.

Alex pointed at the slithering thing as more and more of it slipped out between the coils. Archie turned to face it, and his expression shifted. "Matt? Is that you?"

The slithering creature looked identical to the light fixtures that Archie had severed from the ceiling, with its glow being the only difference. It panned its gaze from Alex and up to Archie, before flinching back. Its entire metal body shivered in fear as it started receding back into the wall.

Archie's reflexes were faster than the creature's, and he snatched it before it could disappear. The tube rattled and writhed in his grip, but it couldn't tug itself free.

"Matt, it's me. It's Archie. Remember? I promised I'd rescue you and I'm making good on that promise!"

The tube immediately stopped writhin and turned its gaze up to the rabbit. It shivered in his grip again, before a small, tinny voice began echoing from it.

"Archie…? You came back…?"

The rabbit breathed a sigh of relief and shot Alex a quick nod. "I did. I promised I'd save you, didn't I? Here I am, just like I said."

"But… it's not safe… I'm a monster," Matt said, his voice dripping with despair. There was a hiss of static from his end. "Please… It's too late for me… Save yourselves…"

"I can't do that, Matt. Your mobs are attacking the city down below. Your dungeon is hovering over the ground and scaring everyone. You need to recall your monsters and lower yourself back to the ground," Archie said. His tone was calm, but Alex could hear the edge of urgency in his voice.

Matt panned his blue eye from Archie, to Alex, and back again. "I can't recall them," he said.

"Of course you can. Are they too far outside your influence?" Archie insisted.

"No. They're not my mobs," Matt said, his sorrowful voice hissing with static. "They're hers."

"Hers? What are you talking about?" Archie demanded.

"He's not a dungeon core," Alex said, as realization finally hit him. "He's a hive core."

Matt looked up and met Alex's face, and the kobold knew he hit the nail on the head.

"Hive core? I've never heard of such a thing. Is that a type of minor core?" Archie asked.

Matt's entire tube started quivering in fear. "She knows I'm talking to you," he whimpered. "She knows where you are."

"Who is she? Matt, what are you talking about?" Archie demanded.

"The queen," Matt screamed, his light momentarily turning crimson before shifting back to blue. "I can't… I can't hold on to this for long. Please, Archie. Please save me. I'm still in the basement, but she's here too!"

"Matt, I want to help you, but we can't wade through all the mobs. How can we get to you?" Archie asked. His grip tightened on the tube as it tried to pull away.

"Elevators," Matt whispered. "They're still operational. Find one and cut your way in!"

Before Archie had a chance to ask another question, the light turned red once more. He released it before it had a chance to blast him with a spell, and the tube slithered back into the wall and vanished among the others. The rabbit took one look at the kobold, his determination resolute.

"Come on, help me find the elevators," Archie said, "before more of those ants show up."

It wasn't hard to locate them. There was a finite amount of space on this floor, and a minimal amount of back tracking revealed that Alex had entered the building very close to a pair of elevators. It took Archie a few minutes to cut away the tubing blocking their access, which revealed the building's walls underneath it all.

Curiously, Alex put a hand to the painted brick and frowned. He could feel the mana pulsing through the wall, very similar to how Zack maintained his own dungeon.

Archie didn't bother asking about that, and instead called the elevator first chance he got. They only had to wait a minute before it opened, revealing a pair of corpses laying on the floor. Blood pooled on the ground, black in the red light. Their faces were mangled beyond recognition, their chest cavities ripped open.

Alex nearly barfed up his health potions, but he wasn't about to tell Archie they couldn't ride it. The rabbit leapt onto the wall and grabbed Alex by the hand. Archie couldn't share his spider climb powers, but he was strong enough to carry the kobold while perching on a wall. As the doors sealed shut, the stench of death was locked in the chamber with them.

Alex couldn't help it. He leaned over Archie's side and puked onto the floor.

"I'm so glad I don't have a biological stomach," Archie sighed, reaching out to the elevator control panel and pressing the button that would take them down to the basement.

"It's one of the things I wish Zack had omitted when he remade me," Alex grumbled, knowing full well that wasn't how it worked. Still, the joke was a nice distraction from what waited for them up ahead.