Archie felt cold sweat run down his back as he stared down the dark tunnel. The footsteps were getting closer, and the louder they grew, the faster his heartbeat pounded.

'Maybe I can pretend I didn't know what would happen… No, Lan isn't stupid. I could try to fight him, make the numbers smaller, but…' Archie looked at George and David. They were watching him the same way a cat watches a mouse, 'The other two would get in the way,'

Tap, tap, tap, the footsteps echoed down the dark tunnel, ringing like explosions in the back of Archie's mind.

'Should I just come clean? Tell them about the title? But if I do, they'll just kill me,'

He rubbed his hands together, fidgeting obsessively.

'I'll have to trade them something of equal value. As long as they don't get rid of me before I complete the third step, I don't care about the title,'

Tap, tap, tap, the footsteps were almost in the cavern now, and Archie squinted into the gloom, trying to make out Lan's figure.

Slowly, like he was walking bound in chains, Lan shuffled out of the tunnel.

One of his arms hung limply at his side, blood dripping onto the floor in dark red droplets. The other was raw and bright red. It looked like he had been skinned alive. His robe was in tatters, drenched in blue blood with little holes missing where the acid had burned through.

His black hair hung over his face limply, making him look like a drowned spectre. He raised his head slowly, his gaze fiery when it settled on Archie, who squirmed uncomfortably.

Behind his back, Thea hung limply, slouched over the red band around her and Lan's waist.

The second he stepped into the light, Archie gasped. Somehow, since the last time he had seen Lan, the boy had managed to almost double his stat points, maybe even more than that. He nearly had as many stats as George now, glowing like a bright star in Archie's eyes.

"Listen, Lan," Archie began.

"No… I don't want to hear it," Lan muttered absentmindedly.

"Wh-"

"Shut up," Lan said quietly, his voice cold. He turned and looked across the cavern finding the jewel-encrusted door on the far side, "Is the queen through there?" He asked.

George and David nodded.

"Were you two in on it?"

They shook their head, looking at each other and then shrugged helplessly. "The little man did not tell us his plans," David boomed.

"Look, my plans are necessary-"

"I said, shut up." Lan pinched his brow, like just hearing Archie's voice gave him a migraine.

"I am going to ask questions, and you will answer with one word. Got it?"

"I just-"

"Got. It?"

"Yes," Archie nodded meekly.

"Did you attempt to get rid of Thea and me?"

Archie frowned, looking like he wanted to say more, but in the end, he just sighed and said, "Yes,"

"Is It because only a certain number of people can get the title?" Lan asked slowly.

"No, well, not exactly,"

Lan frowned, "What do you mean?"

"The title we all get is the same as I described to you. It will help everyone pass the third step with no problems. But it isn't permanent," Archie spoke so fast it was a wonder he didn't sprain his tongue.

David and George frowned, "Isn't permanent?" David echoed.

Archie smirked self-depreciatingly, "Yeah, a title that good, no way multiple people from the same tutorial could keep it,"

Lan nodded slowly, "I think I get it. Only one of us gets to keep the title, right?"

"Yeah," Archie nodded.

"And how exactly is that decided?" Lan sounded out each word like he was talking to a deaf person.

"We…" Archie paused, "We- we have to kill each other. The last one to survive keeps the title,"

Now it was Lan's turn to frown. He looked over at David and George. He hadn't known them for long, but they were nice guys. Killing them and taking their titles might make him feel bad… a little.

George and David looked at each other grimly, taking a few steps back.

"See, this is why I didn't tell anyone!" Archie exclaimed, pointing at George and David, "The ant queen is hard enough to kill on a good day, never mind when nobody trusts each other,"

"I'm pretty sure you are the last person who should be talking about trust," Lan spat.

"Sorry…" Archie mumbled, looking down at his feet.

"Is there anything else we should know before I kill you?" Lan asked coldly.

"Yes, I would like to offer you a deal. In exchange for my life and letting me get the title, helping me pass the third step, I will offer information,"

Lan looked like he had just sucked on a particularly aggressive lemon, "No harm to you, but I'm pretty sure you are one of the people I would least want information from."

"What if it's good information? I'm talking, really good information,"

"About what?"

"The new clear conditions."

Lan frowned, "I'm listening,"

Archie took a deep breath, readying himself. "Okay, for the new clear conditions. To beat the tutorial, we need to kill either the Moon Strider or the Night King,"

"Are those…?"

"Yeah, the two big bugs we saw last night," Archie nodded.

"And I'm assuming you have more information than that,"

"Of course I do. My middle name is information, after all," Archie patted his chest confidently, "So, there are two tried and tested routes to complete this task.

The first is to just straight up kill one of the two bugs. Some crazy people even manage to kill both. The problem with this route is that it is really fucking hard.

The second route is to get the two bugs to attack each other, and then when they are weakened, we swoop in, and bam. The top spot in the tutorial is ours,"

"The second route sounds right up your alley," Lan added sardonically.

Archie gave Lan a knowing look, "I know, right. And it's this second route that I can help us complete, getting everyone here the top spots in the tutorial," He spread out his hands grandly when he finished speaking.

Lan exchanged a long look with David and George, turning back to Archie. "We have a few conditions."

"Go ahead," Archie nodded eagerly.

"First, tell me what the hell these do," Lan produced a wide assortment of fruits from his pocket.

"Oh, those, most of them give a stat point of some kind. However, there are a few that do other things. For example…." He pointed at the yellow strawberry, "See that one? It keeps monsters away from you for thirty minutes. It's like a kind of beast repellent. The only other one that doesn't give stats is that purplish thing that looks like liquorice. That lets you breathe underwater for four hours,"

Lan nodded, stashing the fruits back in his pocket before he continued talking.

"Second condition. We want your entire plan in writing before you step onto the third step. If at any point you deviate from what is on the written plan, we will immediately kill you. Without hesitation." Lan emphasized the 'immediate' part.

Archie frowned, muttering softly to himself before he raised his head and nodded.

"Finally, we want the location of three…." Lan looked back at Thea, who was still unconscious, "No, four dungeons,"

"Four Dungeons! Are you out of your mind!?" Archie yelped

"Do you want the title or not?" Lan asked firmly.

"I…" Archie took a deep breath. "I do."

"Same conditions as last time, then. We want those four dungeons' locations in writing, and we want it before you step onto the third step,"

"Very well…" Archie sighed, deflating like a popped balloon.

Lan shook his head, "And we need some insurance. What's to stop you from killing yourself the second this dungeon ends and running to the third step?"

"Ha! Kill myself and lose the title? I don't think so. I don't plan on dying until after the third step. By then, it won't matter,"

Lan frowned. He didn't have any way to verify what Archie had just said, but it would be wasteful to kill him right now when leaving him alive for now could earn him so much more.

He glanced at George and David, who nodded slowly, "Well. Those are the terms then,"

Archie let out a deep breath he had been holding and smiled, "Pleasure doing business with you,"

Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

"Shall we get going then?" Lan asked, gesturing at the jewel-encrusted door. He was still furious at Archie, whether or not he had decided to kill him right now. The queen would be an excellent chance to let his anger out.

"Ah, should we just get rid of her first?" Archie pointed at Thea, who was still unconscious, lying sprawled against one of the precious pillars.

Lan frowned, not because he was angry at Archie for suggesting it, he considered the very same thing himself. But he did owe Thea his life. If she hadn't taught him how to control acid, he might still be trapped under the Crypt Keeper, waiting to dissolve into a puddle.

Finally, he shook his head, "Nah, let her get the title. She's been through a lot,"

Archie laughed harshly, "Hah! Your loss. That girl is harder to deal with than you've realised,"

"And that will be my problem when the time comes," Lan snapped.

He didn't want to hear Archie's voice again, so he started striding towards the jewel-encrusted doorway.

George and David followed close behind, leaving Archie behind in the cavern. His fists were clenched as he stared up at the golden moss on the ceiling. Finally, he took another deep breath and followed them, disappearing into a gaping tunnel.

***

The queen watched her children die in the thousands; their blood painted her home. The home she had spent hundreds of years carving from the rock. Rock so hard that her claws bled while she dug.

She watched them die, treated like playthings, like accessories. To the invaders, they were nothing but obstacles to overcome.

Next came her beloved royal guards. She granted each one an ability that made them kings among the ants. She loved them with all her heart but could only helplessly watch as the invaders slaughtered her beloved children.

Finally, there was her. Trapped in the throne room for all eternity. She could not leave until the invaders opened the door. Which should be soon, from the looks of things.

Considering all this, you might think the queen was sad. Maybe she was… Once. She used to despair at their deaths, wept tears of bloody rage and brought down righteous vengeance on the invaders.

But that was then. That was… Well… She didn't know how long ago. It had been so long she had lost count of the number of years that had passed, the number of times she died. It was all the same anyway.

The queen didn't care anymore. The invaders would come. They would kill her and leave. And then she would be awake again, trapped in this room. Forever.

In the past, she had tried lying down and letting the invaders kill her. Just so that it would be over quicker. But the system wouldn't allow that… The bridge wouldn't allow that.

Now, she was little more than a puppet that moved on unseen strings.

And as the door to her beautiful prison slid open, the strings began to move, jolting her upright.

***

The corridor to the royal bed-chamber had been short and magnificent. Every imaginable gemstone and rare mineral could be found on the golden walls of the tunnel.

And at the end stood a mighty door hewn from marble.

In front of the door, a system message hovered lazily. Floating like a leaf on a gentle spring breeze.

It read.

Welcome! To access the boss room, touch the door with all living team members' hands.

They followed the instructions, placing one hand each on the door. For Thea, Lan had to prop her up against the door, her hand limply brushing against the smooth, cold marble.

With a low rumble, the marble door began to sink. As slowly as a turning ship, the door sank into the ground, revealing the bed chamber piece by piece.

The first thing they saw was the chandelier. Each piece was made of raw gemstones of every imaginable colour. As though someone had crystallised a rainbow and hung it on the cavern ceiling.

Above the chandelier, the familiar golden moss glowed, sending holy light through the multicoloured gems.

Next was the top of the throne. It was pristine white, made from some sort of see-through gemstone. Like a solid chunk of cloud had been turned into glass.

At perfect intervals on the throne, purple gemstones inlaid with gold stuck out, creating a pattern that resembled a crown.

The walls of the cavern were black and reflective. Along with every other piece of it, they were opulent and extravagant. But Lan supposed this was similar to building a log cabin in a forest.

To someone in a desert, a log cabin would be extravagant. How could somebody waste so much wood on a mere house? The same thing probably applied here. Gemstones were rare above ground, sure, but beneath the earth? Maybe it wasn't such an extravagant thing down here.

Sitting on the throne was a creature that could be best described as grotesque. Its thorax was bulbous and huge, dwarfing the rest of its goliath body.

On its head, eight thin pieces of diamond were stabbed through its scalp. Arranged much like the sections on a crown.

"Guys, to kill her, we need to push those diamonds down into her head," Archie whispered. Receiving a muttered affirmation from Lan and David.

Instead of mandibles, it had a humanoid mouth, the lips of which were blood red.

Around its neck was what looked like a rich velvet robe, swooping down the things back.

Each humanoid arm was a different colour. One ruby red, the other jade green, then rich gold and pitch black.

"Aren't the arms the same colour as those pillars?" Lan whispered.

"Not just the pillars, the royal guards were the same. Look at its arms closer, and you'll see the correlation. The red one shoots out fire, the black one has a shield, the yellow arm has a scythe, and the green arm has that strange cannon thing that shoots out air," Archie whispered back.

Lan nodded, remembering to keep track of the red and yellow arms with special care. He was still pretty wounded and didn't want to end up dying from a single, stray blow.

As the door was almost lowered, a thought struck Lan, "Shit, I don't have a weapon!" He cursed.

"What?" Archie yelped, glancing nervously at the marble door that was almost entirely lowered.

"Hold on, I'll be back in a second," Lan shouted, running back up the tunnel towards the royal guards.

Archie stared wide-eyed at the almost lowered door, regretting that he had invited Lan. If that guy hadn't survived… He shook his head. There was no use thinking over what might have been.

Instead, he focused on the giant insect that looked like it was ready and able to swallow him whole. Its eyes were murky and distant, just like he had been told they would be.

But what came next… Well, he had a hard time believing it would go exactly like his dad had said. 'I mean, it makes no sense for an intelligent creature to attack in the exact same pattern every single time.'

Still, he would give it a try.

Turning to David, he pointed at the golden arm, "Can you take that arm? You should already know how to deal with it, right?"

David nodded affirmatively.

"And George, can you deal with the fire arm? Just try not to hit any of us in those sound blasts if you are going to use one,"

George nodded that he understood and clenched the daggers tightly in his hands.

"I'll take the black arm and Lan…." Archie turned and looked back down the tunnel. He could hear footsteps getting closer.

"Lan can deal with the green arm!" He shouted, loud enough for Lan to hear him.

They left Thea by the door and sprinted into the room, hopping over the still-opening door.

The second their feet touched the ground of the royal bed-chamber, the queen lurched from her throne like a puppet on strings. Her head snapped to look at them… or at least, it looked like she was looking at them.

Her eyes were vacant and unseeing, but they were definitely turned in their direction.

Lan burst into the throne room, holding two golden scythes he had ripped from the royal guard's body.

Archie gave him a weird look but didn't comment on it. He was too busy moving towards the black arm.

Lan ran across the room, sprinting towards the green arm as the queen extracted her massive body from the throne. She was as big as a bus, and the ground trembled when her massive bulk settled on it.

They split into groups of two. Lan and George went round one side, where the green and red arms were. While David and Archie went to the other side, immediately hacking at their respective targets.

Lan threw himself recklessly at the green arm. He had tied the sash around his broken hand, strapping the golden scythe to his palm. The other hand was burned badly, but it could just barely hold its scythe without the strap, so he left it be.

The royal bed chamber was bare. Nothing except the throne marred its abundant beauty.

A week ago, Lan would have been salivating over all this wealth in one place, but now, he had loftier sights. His gaze was set higher at the end of the bridge. And it all started with this title.

The green arm lifted up and began to glow. To call it an arm is possibly stretching the definition of that word. It was long and thin and, up to about halfway, looked like a larger version of a typical ant's limb. But the second half, the half that was currently pointed at Lan, was hollow and wide, shaped like a bazooka.

He could see straight through the centre of the arm, but only darkness lay there.

"Duck!" Archie shouted from the other side of the ant.

Lan glanced at the raised arm and threw himself to the ground. A sonic boom ripped across the cavern, and the wall behind Lan splintered like it had been hit by a cannonball.

"Holy shit!" Lan blurted, scrambling to his feet and running towards the queen.

The green arm was still glowing but much less than before. Clearly, it needed some time to recharge.

Next, the red arm spewed fire, blanketing the cavern floor and forcing George and Lan to leap onto the queen's huge body to dodge the blaze.

As David and Archie clashed with the other two arms, Lan and George scurried over the queen's back, rushing towards her head.

The queen reared up on her hind legs, trying to buck them from her back as they scrambled up the last section of her head.

Lan was almost thrown off and had to stab the two golden scythes into a gap in her armour, clinging to them as she tried to dislodge him.

Gritting his teeth against the pain, Lan used the scythes like a rock climber, hacking his way up her back.

George did the same thing to his left with his daggers, and they arrived at her head in no time. Both of them grabbed one of the diamonds and, with a grunt, shoved it into her head.

The queen thrashed wildly, throwing George off her back. But Lan managed to hook a scythe under her cloak, clinging on as she squirmed and writhed.

With a guttural roar, Lan hauled himself back up the side of her neck and stabbed his scythe into one of her eyes, the force ripping it out of his injured hand.

What made Lan uncomfortable was that she hadn't made any noise yet. Even when the tip of his scythe gouged out her eye, she didn't react… at least not audibly.

With a grunt, he reached her head again and, this time, used both hands to drive two diamonds through her scalp, leaving only half remaining.

He was expecting an outburst as the queen writhed in agony. Or something along those lines. But she was still, eerily still.

He froze on top of her head, turning to see what was happening. She wasn't attacking anyone. Instead, she held up the golden scythe Lan had stabbed into her eye.

As she examined it, her humanoid mouth twisted into a vicious snarl. "Is this my child's arm?" She hissed. Her voice was raspy and inhuman, like that of a forty-year smoker.

Lan felt impending doom wash over him and hurriedly stabbed two more diamonds through her scalp, but she didn't react, staring transfixed at the arm in her hands.

Suddenly, she screamed, "You would use my own child's arm to kill me…?" Her voice was like gods' judgement as she rose on her back legs flinging Lan from her back.

What Lan had first thought was a purple cloak on her back unfurled, forming a cocoon as it wrapped around her.

"What the fuck is happening?" Lan shouted.

"It's not good!" Archie yelled over the din, "She's not supposed to do this,"

"What do you mean not supposed to do this!?" Lan screamed.

"The queen always does the same things every single time. I've never heard of her using the cloak."

Lan looked like he wanted to strangle Archie, "Well, what does the cloak do!?"

"I-I have no idea," Archie said lamely.

Lan glanced at the hovering cocoon that had risen to the height of the chandelier, wrapping the glowing rainbow in its purple cloak.

Rainbow light glowed from within the cocoon, and Lan gradually began to feel uneasy. "I don't think this will end well…." He muttered, looking up at the glowing cocoon.

"Do we have anything that could kill her!?" Lan yelled.

Archie glanced at George, "I… George might be able to. But it's the last resort. If he makes his move, we are all as good as dead,"

"I don't care! If it comes to that, it is what it is," Lan replied, clenching the single scythe strapped in his broken hand.

Up above them, the cocoon began to unfurl.

A figure far smaller than before stepped out. She was humanoid with a disgusting face that crossed the boundaries between insects and humans.

Her body was one sleek piece of purple armour with no visible gaps; instead of four arms, she had two. One blazing red, the other a greenish gold. Within the greenish-gold arm was what looked like a harpoon.

"Shit!" Archie swore, "Take cover!"

Behind the queen's back, black wings unfurled, and she divebombed towards them, raining down fire from her arm.

The room was bathed in blazing flames, the air choking any stupid enough to breathe it.

She zeroed in on Lan, plummeting down towards him like a flaming meteor. Lan felt scorching heat rush towards him and lunged backwards, just barely dodging the sweeping attack.

Pivoting in mid-air, the queen spun and fired the harpoon from her arm. It spiralled through the air, propelled by the sonic boom that shattered the ceiling above.

The harpoon lodged between Lan's legs, and he gasped as blazing fire rushed towards him in a seemingly endless cascade of burning fury.

"Split", whispered George. A whisper that would silence the world.

Like the rumble of thunder crashing against a hurricane, George's soundwave smashed into the ball of fire, creating an ear-splitting explosion.

In the distance, Thea moaned, covering her ears against the thunderous cacophony. She half stumbled, half ran down the tunnel and away from the fight.

Lan caught George as he was blown back by the blast, and both of them sprawled across the ground, landing in a heap on the other side of the room.

But the queen seemed unaffected by the explosion. She pursued them furiously, ignoring David's club that glanced against her wings and brushing past Archie, who tried to catch her with his sabre.

She was laser focused as she bore down on Lan and George, blazing fire trailing behind her like the tail of a meteorite.

"George…" Lan muttered. It was hopeless. They had realised that after the first exchange.

George looked apprehensive but seeing the queen almost on top of them and knowing they would be dead if she got too close, he had no choice.

"NOOO!" Archie screamed desperately.

"BE. GONE." George screamed with everything he had.

And the ceiling above shattered like brittle glass. Boulders of gold and mountains of gemstones raining down on them.

Buried beneath inestimable wealth, Lan heard a faint ding and couldn't help grinning as the earth collapsed on top of him.