Congratulations!

You have levelled up and reached level [11] You have been granted [2] attribute points.

Well, that had certainly taken a while to get. The Core had been half-afraid it would take weeks of the Dungeon being open before another level would be reached. Who could have guessed it would take less than a minute?

The screams of those close to where the [Acidic Giant-Ant] had sprayed the liquid began in earnest, only those who had been hit directly being dead on the spot. Something about getting it right into the back of the head and neck just did too much damage for the [Enlightened] to survive. The Core needed to tone that down in the future, perhaps. Killing them all right away could prove troublesome.

“They’re behind!” was shouted in the middle of the group. From what the Core could detect, it had come from one of the helmeted men. There were too many foreign presences to get any good readings in their location, the extreme amounts of Mana, not it's own making it hard for the Core to control anything nearby. It might have been impossible entirely to create monsters within ten meters.

Only one ant had been made to attack from behind, the Entity not feeling that it should be too hard for the people in the beginning. That it had even gotten two kills at all was surprising. These humanoids were meant to be extraordinary in strength yet they could be killed so easily? Was it due to their trust in their weapons? Those… using an [Appraisal], the Core investigated what those things were meant to be.

Mining Pickaxe

Pickaxe intended for mining [Standard] materials

They seemed utterly useless in a fight but who was the Core to think in such a manner? It could be that the sharp points were perfect for bashing in an ant skull. Those hammers at the front of the humanoids’ group did seem quite adept at doing just that but with hammers.

With reasonable pacing, the Core forced the intruders to fight a smaller stream of unending monsters. It wasn’t too hard at the start for them, their [Archers] able to remove any from a distance. But when either arrows or [Stamina] began to run low, the ones specializing in close-range were ordered to start up. Those shields at the front greatly annoyed the Core, the ants not understanding they needed to go around them. No matter how much the Entity tried to direct their footpath, they couldn't avoid trying to attack from the front. It was like those wooden boards were taunting the creatures into focusing on them. It was annoying.

Creating another [Acidic Giant-Ant], the Core was utterly ready to use the creature’s ability to tear through organic material like nothing. Yet those so-called tired archers felt the need to start up again the moment it showed itself. An arrow with a glinting tip burst right through the ant’s neck, cutting a hole into the liquid pouches meant for use in creating the acid. And since the creature had already prepared to send a batch out, the involuntary cramps caused by it made the creature spew the mixed liquids out into its system. It screeched loudly as it died.

“We have a silver vein to our right which also contains traces of what we assume to be gold,” was shouted amidst all the noise in the fighting. The Core noted that it was by the man who had done nothing but stand around with his larger war hammer. “Do we go further inside or stay put?”

The large man could easily have been the leader of the group, the size and strength more than everybody else in that batch of humanoids. Yet the man was asking one of the archers for advice? How peculiar. Though… looking more at the archers Mana-Pattern, the Core slowly started to recognize something within them.

“We stay,” the archer ordered, the voice lending itself to show that it was a woman. Another arrow was sent forward by the archer before they began moving towards the right. The Core had already taken a look at what they had supposedly spotted and was not surprised to see that they had chosen what was meant to be a rare surprise. Most of the walls had been outfitted with iron- and coal veins in varying quantities, with silver and gold being a very rare surprise. In the entire Dungeon, only three of them existed. One in the main cave that the group travelled in, one in the inner room where the Queen stood as the boss, and one on the ceiling just above the entrance to the inner room.

Only one was meant to be easy to get to and the group just had to find that one within ten minutes. The Core was just happy that it had been allowed to get a level before they had done such a thing. The cost of recreating such a vein would take a few hours. Silver was too expensive to make.

The eight remaining humanoids that wielded [Mining Pickaxes] as their weapon of choice were forced into using their tools to start digging out the ore from the wall. Each hit did little but make a few fragments bounce off but every hundred hits or so allowed a few chunks to come out. It would take many hours before they had any chance of digging the entire vein. Perhaps even a few days.

Little did they know that the Core would change the position the instant that they left. There was no chance it would be that easy in the future. In fact… Why was it meant to be so easy now? The group had set up a perimeter around the miners, looking around for anything that neared their digging site. The Dungeon hadn’t created more ants, however, there was no instant need due to the intruders not progressing further inside. But, they were still stealing from the cave so why should they be allowed to do such a thing in peace?

Since they had made measures to defend from both sides, the Entity felt like it would be a waste to only do it from one. The archers were mainly focused on making sure nothing from deeper inside could attack while warriors made sure any surprises from behind could sneak up on them. Therefore, it only made sense to send a small group of ranged ants towards those with shields and just as many normal [Giant-Ants] towards the archers. Only… the latter would only be seen at the last minute, the rock formations around the floor hiding their location.

The miners were momentarily distracted by all the shouting, stopping them from doing their job. It didn’t last long, of course, the humanoids seeming used to the louder sounds from the guards. The Core took that opportunity to open up a little hole in the ceiling. Out from it came the head of a certain [Flinging Giant-Ant] It sat there for a few tens of seconds lining up its shot before firing right into the skull of the nearest miner. Ten had come into the Dungeon and only seven remained.

“They’re in the ceiling!” one of the other miners shouted with fear, pointing up towards the slowly receding opening at the top of the cave. The ant head sticking out was long gone before the archers could readjust their aim but the opening was slow enough in its closing that one of them managed to get a rather explosive arrow up there. The tip of it boiled for a few moments when it reached the tunnel, the ant beside it looking curiously at it. Then it exploded and wiped out the five [Flinging Giant-Ant] had prepared to use during the future openings. How…

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

The Core had no words for how it felt, its plans having been ruined by a mere item. An item that it couldn’t investigate further because it had blown up itself and ruined an entire secret tunnel. Explosions inside smaller seal containers were not a good thing to have. When the Core figured out how to do so, it would certainly put a stop to such a thing happening ever again.

The entry into the Dungeon had been made quite eventful for the humanoids but the Entity supposed there wasn’t a reason to kill any more of them. Setting up a mental timer, it decided on just doing intermittent waves of monsters with another attempt at the ceiling-trick in an hour or two. There was now an archer permanently stationed beside the miners to make sure nothing came from the top, so it wasn’t like it had much chance of working anyway. And there was a system message just a short while ago.

Two more stat points had been granted. The Core had some desire towards setting it towards Mana-Capacity but remembered the internal promise made to the Queen. It needed the [Natural Mana-Regeneration] to increase and for that, it needed to put the points into intelligence. Doing just that, it looked towards the new and improved [Status Screen].

Character Screen

Name:

-

Gender:

-

Level:

11

Class:

Core

Race:

Core

Title:

The Ancient One

Health:

160/160

H-Regen:

0.15/sec

Mana:

190/190

M-Regen:

0.14/sec

Stamina:

-/-

S-Regen:

0/sec

Basic Stats

Strength:

-

Wisdom:

18

Vitality:

15

Intelligence:

14

Dex:

-

Willpower:

16

Available points:

0

Resistances

Fire:

10%

Earth:

30%

Water:

-20%

Arcane:

10%

Lightning:

-20%

Light:

10%

Wind:

0%

Darkness:

0%

There were no obvious differences in mental functions after that increase, though the Core noted that time had slowed down a small bit. It wasn’t extremely noticeable but it was more than enough to screw up its internal clock. It would take a day or two to adjust to that. But, it was a slight expense when the true benefits had been yet to show themselves. And regardless of that, the Core could now increase the size of the Dungeon ever-so-slightly. There were no real doubts about where that increase would go. A special, little druid that the Core owned would be getting his room in due time.

‘I sense a lot of my children dying at a rapid rate,’ the Queen sent to the Entity. ‘Am I to assume that the extraction of materials is going perfectly for them?’

There had been no chance from the start that anybody would try their chance with Mother Carapace. The Core could vividly remember the warnings about any guards attacking her alone, meaning that a small group that contained mere miners had little desire to venture into the boss-room. This did allow the Queen to relax a bit more than intended, however. The Entity had certainly not expected her to start on her [Necromancy] hobby again.

‘The intruders have shown aptitude at handling themselves against the creatures, yes,’ the Core confirmed without any remorse for those killed. They could be remade in a few moments after all. Individuality did not exist at that level just yet. ‘Could I ask why you are making [Undead] out of your dead children?’

‘I pride myself on recycling those lost,’ Mother Carapace, the former [Queen of Hollows] responded as she relocated a few parts of the ant’s legs up to the stomach. ‘And with this form of life before us, it is quite extreme what manners of manipulation you can do while still retaining life in plenty.’

… The Core had no real objection to that. The [Undead] before the Queen was certainly quite alive, every part moving slightly every couple of seconds. Did it look happy to be alive? Not quite. If the Entity had any idea about body language, it would say that the creature was writhing in pain. Luckily, there was no proof this was possible for [Undead]. There was a lack of soul to feel it. Everything seen was purely the body reacting to getting limbs ripped off and reattached randomly.

At least it looked random. And the Core couldn’t help but wonder where she had gotten the arms from. There was a lack of the exoskeleton variety of those but the intelligent ant had seemingly gotten them somehow. Perhaps something it could question later in the day.

Looking back at the intruders, it seemed quite a few bags had been filled with the new ore. They were… very small for how much had been put inside. Suspiciously small. And the ease of which it was being around couldn’t help but make the Core wonder if it had been underestimating the strength of those miners previously. Their arms shook each time they swung with their gear yet putting it all into a bag and carrying it under their arm looked so easy for them. Was their vitality just that low?

A few more hours passed before the bags had been filled to the brim. The humanoids talked about methods to carry more but the archer from before rejected the notion and ordered their retreat. Before that occurred though, it finally recognized where the bow-wielder had been seen before.

She had been part of the initial group. Watching them leave, the Core decided on showing off this information to the fellow intelligent beings in the Dungeon. It did need a word with them anyway. A room needed to be created, after all.