The basement looked even worse than the rest of the building. While the upper floor was a mixture of of metallic tubes lining the corridors, this deep into the building it was more like a tangled web of copper. Alex and Archie couldn't take two steps without having to move a coil aside, or cutting them down with a spray of mana. Needless to say, they had long ago lost the real element of surprise.

As they made their way through the basement, Alex couldn't help but think upon what Matt had told them: the queen knew they were there. He racked his brain, trying to remember if monsters even had queens, but nothing was coming to mind. They might be dealing with a whole new breed of creature…

As they rounded a corner, Archie held a hand out to keep Alex from moving forward. Before he could ask why, the rabbit put a finger to his lips and crouched low to the ground. "I hear buzzing up ahead."

Alex strained his ears and tried to filter out the background noises. Sure enough, he could hear a faint buzzing noise. It was difficult to tell if it belonged to a creature, or if it was simply the remnant noises of the boiler system. When he looked to Archie for confirmation, the rabbit could only shake his head.

"I'll go scout ahead," Archie suggested, already activating his stealth ability.

"Wait," Alex hissed, grabbing the rabbit by the arm before he fully disappeared from view. "If whatever is in there knows to expect us, they might be able to see through your stealth!"

Archie scowled as he rippled back into view. "Then what do you suggest? We need information about what to expect."

"Well, let's look at what we already know. The dungeon—or hive, as it were—is full of ants, right? So we're probably dealing with a giant queen ant," Alex explained. "It's probably some kind of manavore monster, maybe a biological animal enhanced way beyond normal means by overexposure to magic."

Archie flicked his ears but didn't refute the suggestion. It was the best Alex could deduce based on existing information. Drawing his daggers, Archie prepared to continue cutting their way deeper into the basement. Since his wand was destroyed, Alex had no weapon of his own to rely on. Instead, he prepared a fireball in his free hand. Just a small one, in case he needed to lob it and run.

As they traveled deeper into the depths, the buzzing noise grew steadily louder. It wasn't long before it was like a constant droning permeating their ears. Alex actually considered finding something in his bag he could use as earplugs, just to keep the noise at bay.

As he was considering if potion corks would work on his ears, Archie grabbed him by the shoulder and tugged him to the side. Alex had to bite his tongue to keep from yipping in surprise, and looked up just in time to see a red light flit through the air where they'd been standing not seconds earlier.

"Was that a wisp?" Alex asked, after waiting several breaths for it to vanish again.

Archie nodded. "Identical to the ones Zack uses in his dungeon. I've got a bad feeling about this. It came from the same direction we're heading, which can only mean one thing: the queen is looking for us."

Alex gulped and tightened the fireball in his hand. He was likely going to need it sooner rather than later.

Turning around one final corner, the heart of the dungeon was finally in view. Alex could see the glow off Matt's core before spotting the crystal itself, a mixture of blues and reds swirling to create a choatic blend of colours. There were a few ants littered around the room, as well as two familiar mobs standing placidly in a corner.

"Shit, there's the medibold and badger," Archie grumbled, noticing the pair. "But where is this queen?"

Alex frowned as he scanned the ants, trying to find one that was bigger or more important-looking than the others. No such luck. There were six ants in the room that he could see, and they were all of roughly the same size. He swept his gaze over the room some more, trying to find anything that might look out of place—aside from the copious copper tubes, of course.

That was when he spotted something out of place near the top of Matt's core. He had missed it on his first glance through the room, given it was copper like everything else and blended quite well in with its surroundings. It looked like a tiny person, with long insect-like limbs and a featureless face. Metallic wings buzzed on its back, keeping it suspended in the air as it hovered around Matt's core.

"Is that… a fairy?" Archie asked, keeping his voice just loud enough so that Alex could hear him.

The kobold nodded slowly, but couldn't offer any information beyond that. To his knowledge, there were no such thing as fairies. At least, not in that capacity. Monsters often manifested that resembled creatures from folklore, so fairy-like creatures weren't entirely unheard of in certain parts of the world. That creature looked nothing like the fairies that Alex had seen in his adventurer manuals, though.

This thing was dainty and mechanical in appearance. Even stranger, there appeared to be a thread of mana connecting it to Matt's core, through which blue and red energy passed between the two entities.

"It's… it's draining Matt's mana," Archie said in quiet shock. As he spoke, the fairy lifted a twig-like arm, and crimson mana shot out. It twisted into the shape of a wisp before shooting out at another direction. "Whatever this thing is, it's a threat to cores."

Alex nodded his agreement. Already he was trying to come up with a plan to get through the ants and crush the fairy. Beofre he could suggest it, though, a chill rolled up his spine. "If that thing could create wisps and these ants, that means it has full access to the dungeon's mob creation abilities."

Archie's expression paled. "It might be able to send an endless army of monsters against us."

"Not endless, but you said yourself that Matt has way more mana than any other core you've seen. Given how big Zack is in comparison, and how many monsters he can bring to bear…"

Archie nodded slowly. "We need to take the fairy out, and fast."

"I'll focus on the ants. I've got enough mana to blow them away. While I've got her distracted, you sneak up and take her out," Alex murmured.

The rabbit looked like he wanted to argue, but ultimately nodded. In the blink of an eye, he vanished into thin air. Alex counted several heartbeats before he was ready to step out from cover. He conjured an extra fireball, just to be safe. With a deep breath, he stood up and stepped out from behind the tangle of coils he was hiding behind.

He didn't bother issuing a threat at the fairy or her ant guards. Instead he lobbed both his fireballs at the nearest ants. The first was a direct hit, nailing the creature in centre mass and sending it rolling away in agony. The second one merely splashed against a leg, crippling the target but not outright killing it.

Immediately, the fairy stopped buzzing around the core, turning in place to peer down at Alex with its featureless face. "What is this that comes crawling into my hive?" It said, in a tiny feminine voice. "A kobold? I expected something much more dangerous."

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Alex didn't answer her jeers, instead focusing on his spells. Two more fireballs, two more ants taken care of. It was only as he was channeling his spells again that he realized that the fairy had talked to him. He'd heard of monsters with the power to mimic speech, to imitate the voices of people they had killed in particular. This… This was something completely different.

The moment of distraction was all the ants needed. They rushed towards Alex, mandibles slicing the air hungrily. He managed to blast one in the face, but a second one snagged his arm in its jaws. He screamed in pain as their sharp copper mandibles bit to the bone. Through blinding tears, Alex struggled to cast another spell, keeping a second ant from grabbing him by the arm. As he blinked away tears, he spotted the fairy waving her arms through the air, as though she were conducting an orchestra.

There was no time for that. Four ants were dead, three more remained excluding the one biting into his arm. The limb was useless, he could already feel the painful break in his forearm. He focused his attention on the other remaining ants. They were growing wise to his tactics, and as he charged a fireball to lob they started scuttling from side to side. The sudden movement made aiming difficult, especially when two of the ants went behind him. He couldn't turn with the ant holding his arm in place.

Clamp! Clamp! The two ants grabbed him by the legs, further locking him in place. The final ant was coming for his arm, and he managed to blast it in the face with a quick burst of flame. Scowling up at the fairy, Alex dared her to send more ants his way.

"I could simply have my pets tear your limbs from your body," the fairy chuckled, fluttering to be closer to Alex's eye level. "But where is the fun in that? I would much rather make a new toy out of you."

As the fairy flew closer to his face, Alex got a better look at it. Its dainty legs reminded him of a grasshopper, with the way they bent backwards at the knee and were lined with sharp barbs. It landed on his nose, further accentuating its miniscule size. It was less than a foot tall, maybe ten inches maximum if Alex had to guess. Its wings ceased buzzing as it folded them against its back.

The fair propped its tiny fists up on its hips, and the featureless face split open down the middle to reveal a softer, more organic creature. It had black eyes that looked much too large for its face, and a comparatively tiny mouth and nose. As more copper pulled away, a pair of pointed ears stuck out from its head. At that moment, Alex realized that what he had originally taken for its body was, in fact, just copper armour.

"What to do with you," the fairy mumbled, tapping its chin curiously. "I've never had a pet kobold before. What are kobolds even good for, again?"

Alex didn't answer. He was used to hearing jeers about how useless kobolds could be from some of the more elite adventurers in the guild.

The fairy shrugged. "I'm sure I'll find something I can do with you. Worst case scenario, I can just feed you to my pet core."

At the mention of pet core, Alex's curiosity became suddenly piqued. "What the hell are you?" he demanded.

The fairy had no trouble maintaining its footing as Alex's snout opened and closed with speech, and a sinister grin tugged on its too-small lips. "That's quite a rude question, don't you think? I'm obviously a dungeon fairy."

Alex frowned. He had never heard of such a thing before.

"Of course you wouldn't have heard of us," the fairy assured him, giving him a sharp pat between the eyes. "We've gone to great lengths to keep ourselves secret from the wider public. Well, at least we did go to great lengths." The tiny creature let out a squeaky sigh and shook its head. "I suppose I have no choice but to kill you now. I can't risk you getting out and spreading the news, can I?"

Alex's mind whirred with that information. Dungeon fairies? A secret breed of monster? No, they weren't monsters. Now that she was perched right on him, Alex could reach out with his magic and get a better sense of what it was. It wasn't composed of wild aether like the other monsters he encountered, nor was it formed from mana like a dungeon mob. This was, for all intents and purposes, a natural living creature.

"Oh, that was interesting," the fairy shivered as Alex pulled his magic away again. "You're a lot more than meets the eye, aren't you? Tell you what. If you swear undying fealty to me, I will let you live."

That didn't sound so bad. Alex could simply lie to get on the fairy's good side and—

"No no no, silly. You can't just say you'll swear to me. You need to brand it upon your very soul," the fairy giggled.

"Stop reading my mind!" Alex snapped.

"I'm not reading anything, mortals are just that easy to predict. You all always think you can weasel your way out of a deal, but I'm here to tell you that's not how this works. No, if you want to serve me, I'll need to inextricably bind your soul with mine for all of eternity! Wherever I go, whenever I'm reborn, you'll be right there beside me, ready to serve me in whatever whim strikes my fancy."

The fairy patted him between the eyes again, and this time Alex could feel the touch of its magic. It was cold and harsh. This creature wasn't above forcing him into service if he didn't go willingly. He ground his teeth, desperately trying to come up with an idea for how to escape this.

Archie, where the hell are you? Alex thought, his eyes flicking around the room in desperate hope of finding his companion. No such luck. Archie was nowhere to be found.

"It's just you and me in here, kobold," the fairy assured him. "You, me, and that tasty core."

"Then what are the ants? Or those mobs in the corner?"

"Pfft, silly. Those aren't real creatures. They're puppets," the fairy giggled again. It lifted a hand and the ant holding Alex by the arm mimicked the motion, drawing a scream from his lips as it stretched his broken arm above his head.

And yet, through the burning pain, Alex had a realization. The fairy couldn't sense mobs the way it could sense him. That meant it hadn't found Archie yet. Alex squeezed his eyes shut and desperately tried to block out the pain. He sent a surge of mana pulsing through his body, filling his scales with warmth. He could feel his temperature rising, as though he were suddenly feverish. It wasn't enough to hurt the ants holding him hostage, but it was enough to startle the fairy.

"Oh dear," it said, in mock fear. "You're burning up, my cute little kobold. Why don't you swear fealty to me now so I can revive you as a proper servant? You'll look so much cuter in copper."

"Bite… me…" Alex hissed through gritted teeth. He managed to peel his eyes open and glowered at the fairy perched on his nose.

The tiny creature cocked its head curiously at him before shrugging. "Suit yourself." Its copper mask snapped back into place over its face and its wings started buzzing again. As it lifted off his nose, Alex was suddenly pulled in three directions by the ants holding him. He could feel his limbs straining in their sockets as the creatures threatened to rip him apart.

Suddenly, a high-pitched scream echoed through the chamber. The ants paused their advance, still straining Alex by his limbs. With a cry of pain, Alex sent a plume of fire blazing from his extended arm, lancing the ant right through the face. It dropped his arm as its mandibles melted beyond usability, but it didn't react to his attack.

The same was happening with the ants holding his legs. They remained still and unmoving, even as Alex took aim and burned their heads. His limbs finally free, Alex screamed in pain as he fumbled through his bag for healing potions. He grabbed the two rubbery pods and popped them against each of his shins, applying the quick-acting topical healing potion to his broken legs. Another scream slipped from his lips as his bones rapidly and painfully snapped back together, leaving him with a slowly healing patch of scales purple with bruising.

His topical potions spent, he grabbed his last remaining drinkable and popped the cork, chugging its contents as quickly as he could. His arm would take a lot longer to heal without a proper healer to look at it, but it was better than not having the arm at all.

Finally sitting up, Alex caught sight of Archie holding the fairy's severed head in one hand and its limp body in the other. Thin green blood oozed between his fingers as he tossed the creature's corpse to Alex. "Bag that up to bring home to Zack. I'm going to try and talk Matt into bringing his dungeon back down to earth. Without this… dungeon fairy creature, he should be able to regain control of his building."

Alex nodded and quickly started shoving the fairy into one of his many plastic baggies. It was easy enough to fold the body up and store it away, but the baggy was too tight to include the head. It got a smaller bag all to its own, and a place of dishonor next to Glitch's shards in his bag.

Already Archie was whispering gently to the large crystal structure in the middle of the room. A quick check of the badger and medibold revealed that they were already in the process of being converted into the fairy's servants, complete with copper armour encasing their limbs. If Archie had been much longer, it was likely the badger could have joined the ants in ripping Alex limb from limb.

They got really lucky this time, and Alex shuddered as he realized how close he'd been to death. If the fairy had been able to sense Archie, the fight would have ended a lot sooner.