As I was experimenting a loud noise came from the upper levels of the hive which is new and exciting. Immediately after the first bang, there was another and this one was quickly followed by huge waves of rage and an instinctive knowledge that someone has invaded my domain. Not some harmless insect this time either, Bigger more powerful. The mana in the atmosphere seems to be joyous of its presence. I move my consciousness towards the disruption all the while my image of the intruder becomes clearer.

The Mana in this being is strange, not ordered like most mana...chaotic. It is doubtful this being can use any spells, anything they tried would just go out of control and blow up in their face. Then I finally laid eyes on her, she was the most beautiful thing I have seen in all my lives. Even the bruises didn't detract from her beauty, personally, I think they add instead...not quite sure if that is because of my current body or strange preferences. The bruises are not the only trauma she had received, I can sense one of her lungs has been ruptured by a rib and is filling with blood. A shame that something so right can die so pitifully, perhaps I can have the queen send her ants to eat her, That is a far more fitting death for something so beautiful. Not sitting around bleeding to death, how boring. She seems to sense me the moment I laid eyes on her she shivered and now she occasionally looks in my general direction, I did not know people could sense me so easily. Taken from my thoughts when she suddenly stood up on shaking legs, dripping blood she hobbles deeper into my domain. Beginning to like her more by the second I notice two more people above, But they bore me because they are men and are not invading so I continue to observe the beautiful woman instead.

The ants of the colony heard the sound and start coming up to find out what happened, lead by the larger warrior ants with their more complex designs giving away their identities as the higher class. After noticing the movement of ants I sent a mental message to the Queen to only observe the intruder at the moment or capture her if possible. I received an instant reply of an excited over-sized bug of confirmation. A few moments after my message all the ants moving towards the surface tunnels started slowing down forming what could only be described as ranks, small groups occupying the floor ceiling and both sides of the tunnels they travel through making an imposing sight indeed. Any person who tries to attack the ants on one surface would then be overrun by the ants on the other side, or worse have them landing on you from above. The tunnels are not easy to traverse, to begin with, I don't believe giant ant rain will help any would-be intruders with the trip.

The girl is moving deeper into the hive, perhaps she wants to die I cannot think of any sane reason for someone in her state to go caving at a time like this. My attention is distracted when I feel two more intruders enter through the new entrance. leaving the girl to the ants I move my consciousness towards the new intruders. They seem to be just standing there checking their surroundings, one of them has a strange tool and is discussing something about dungeon levels with the other before grinning and following the blood trail. It seems these two cant sense me at all even when I move my sight right into their faces, perhaps the girl is the strange one and I'm not really obvious when I stalk-cough observe.

After following the blood trail for some time the drips started to become larger and more frequent causing the shifty one to become excited. They began moving faster, while following them and listening in on their conversation I can only guess that they want to capture the woman, an easy task considering her state if not for the fact that the ants beat them to it. She is being carried back towards the queen now unconscious, I send a quick message to the queen to divert the warrior ants to my core instead.

Meanwhile, the two men cautiously made their way deeper while I observed waiting for the attacking group of ants to arrive, I have no use for these ugly men especially the one with two short swords he looks like a rapist if ever I've seen one. Soon the sound of skittering clicks and rubbing bone plates were heard, The two armed men come on guard drawing their weapons the shield user in front and the sword user behind, they won't be able to stop the enemy's on the ceiling and the walls with a shield even if it is as big as a normal man. Waiting with mounting excitement the soldier ants arrived and the two did not seem to panic to my displeasure. They could have run and got lost and died one by one a little couldn't they?.

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Hundreds of ants vs two men the outcome seemed clear from the start, but once the ants got near the shield bearer suddenly gave a shout and his shield started to glow then a wall of golden brown energy blocking most of the tunnel emerged from the shield. The ants attacked the energy wall but found that each time they struck it the force would be rebound into their body, ants having a hard exoskeleton meant that the damage from the charge did little to harm them. So they tried to go around the gaps in the shield near the walls only to met with accurate stabs to the vitals by the short swords wielding man. Irritation quickly grew that these pests would not die and my pets were dying for no good reason instead. I called the queen to retreat her forces only for her to disobey me by saying that the children's lives were not worth my safety in her limited ability to communicate. I tried asking her why letting them live would endanger me, I thought they were just annoying pests but she could not tell me how she knew but told me that she just knew, So I cut the link with her. Going back to myself to begin my work.

Afterward, the two men defeated the ants then they continued following the blood trail, continuing to be slowed down by several waves of ants. The ants Trying to get them to split apart with ambushes failed the rogue seems to have a sixth sense about any hidden dangers. ants tried to form groups and attack from different angles at intersecting tunnels but the rogue told the tank of any attacks beforehand so they could always hole themselves into a single tunnel or a group of rocks to limit how many could attack them at once. Progress was slow however for the men because the tank could only use one arm which he used to hold the barrier in place so the number of times they could attack in a span of time was limited to what the rogue could accomplish alone and his twin swords better suited for slashing made for a poor weapon against armored ants.

Their doubt that the girl still lives grew with every step deeper they took and with every enemy they slew. The tank tried to convince to rogue to go back several times because they could only collect the reward if they were still alive, but the rogue seemed to be carrying a deep grudge because he outright refused every time, telling him to go back himself. "do you think I can make it back on a bum leg with only one arm by myself" he tank spat.

"then you better hurry up and find the bitch then" replied the rogue.

"this is a dungeon, not a playground shes already dead" the tank argued

"The gem still glows so she's alive somehow and I'm going make sure she pays for what she did!" he growled

"gene died because of his own stupidity, what did you expect for her not to fight back at all, she was an A ranked adventurer long before us and we are only in A rank because of her she taught us most of what we know Gene should have known how dangerous she was even bound"

"hmph" the rogue snorted and continued walking

Several such conversations took place as they ventured deeper, each less productive than the last. Meanwhile in the core room now stood seven skeletons made of what looked like translucent jade. Their lifeless eyes reflecting the dim light from the core and the image of an elf lying unconscious. She had been delivered by the warrior ants earlier the master of the dungeon almost too busy making preparations to notice. The cores consciousness floats there just above the girl observing her filled with indecision, he then switches his vision through different spectrum's trying to decide the girl's fate. After switching to the mana spectrum he sees the mana in the air moving around erratically almost seeming happy to be in her presence, The mana's purity increasing a fraction. This mana's excitement interest the core greatly, acknowledging the usefulness of having mana with a higher purity to a core, Because a dungeon core can only use the purest of mana which is why they are capable of so much more than any mortal with magic. not because of anything lacking in any mage but because of a difference in skill and control that make up the fundamentals of advanced magic.

With this new information, he decided on a course of action. He began to pour life energy just like he did earlier to create his skeleton minions but focusing mainly on the wounds in her body. The wounds re-knit themselves under his powers guidance, his experience with evolving ants showing its use with the greater control on targeting particular organs now than when he first used life energy. After a short time, she began to stir first cringing because of the pain but then slowly opening her eyes. The last thing she remembers was being taken down by masses of giant ants too weak to fight back. Now shes found herself in a small circular room with a glowing rock the size of a tennis ball in the center. just as she is becoming accustomed to the light she notices she is surrounded by skeletons, going unnoticed for a moment due to the fact they don't move at all. just as she goes to grasp her sword and notices that it is missing and feels her heart drop. He sees her panicking and says with a deep almost inhuman voice "Greetings I am Lucifer Morningstar you can relax if I wanted to kill you, you would be dead. Want to make a deal".