I basked in the sunlight, appreciating the tranquil moment I dearly cherished since I was trapped in this cave.

How am I gonna get out of here?

The bright sky that peered its way from the opening above gave me some ideas about climbing out of here, but I shoved that idea away after looking at the state of my left arm.

A sudden earthquake interrupted the peaceful scene. My adrenaline shot up as I struggled to stand up straight. That wasn’t all, however, as the chaos of the scene was compounded by an ugly screech that echoed throughout the cave. I shuffled my way to the nearest wall, leaning on it for stability.

A huge slam reverberated from the burrow I came from a few seconds right before the earthquake stopped.

I crouched and waited for any other signs of activity while choking for air, holding on to the wall as I figure out my next plan.

That’s the queen. That has to be it.

The book said that it was located to the left of the burrow. I’d love to find my supplies first, but if I considered the darkness and my lack of direction…

Do I take the risk?

Queens were usually a lot bigger than the ants that worked for her. Here, I’d assume that she was also considerably stronger too.

I stared at my tiny dagger. Its small blade wouldn’t penetrate deep enough to kill her instantly, so a confrontation would be inevitable. In a frontal fight, she’d crush me even if I was completely healthy.

Shaking my head, I bit the bullet. No use mulling over things that I couldn’t get.

I walked out of the area, turning sharp left while feeling the walls of the burrow guiding me. The first few meters were completely silent, but as I walked further in, I felt periodical quakes and shaking from the walls all around me.

An opening was visible soon after that and judging from the fact that all the sounds originated from this room, one does not need to guess what was inside. I crouched when I reached the walls right before the opening and peered my head inside.

Calling the ant queen big was a disservice to how massive the queen really was, even compared to its brethren. Its head alone was the size of a giant ant. As if that wasn’t enough, her mandibles were massive; The reach of each was practically the length of a traffic light. That paled compared to its balloon-shaped abdomen, which size was twice bigger than its head. Unlike the worker ants, however, its abdomen was not covered by any type of carapace, making it a fairly easy target.

To my surprise, its wings were littered with holes as it struggled to get itself off the floor.

[Lvl. 15 Maddened Red Ant queen]

But that wasn’t the worst part of what I saw. Below her, piles of ant corpses were scattered all around its lair. The queen seemed to have decimated the population of the ants herself, judging from the slaughtering that I witnessed.

The queen bit the head of a worker ant next to her, chomping down on all the flesh like it has never eaten for weeks.

I gagged at the sight. I didn’t know how disgusting the guts of an ant can be until I saw it super-sized like this.

While I would love to get this quest done and over with, I just didn’t see how I could approach it with its size and strength in mind. Even if I could stab its abdomen, my dagger alone wasn’t enough to cause any significant damage to the queen.

Frustrated, I looked around its lair once again. The letter said that there were others that died here, and they possessed different equipment and supplies.

To my delight, there were other remains of corpses other than the ants near the corners of the lair. I saw a few of them with the same type of armor as the corpse from before, with a different assortment of weaponry. A long stick with an iron tip was laying beside one of the corpses, which I assumed was a spear at first, but upon closer inspection, it had a crescent-bladed edge right beside the tip.

It’s a halberd…

A cautious smile crept up on my face. Locating it was one thing, but it was another thing entirely to actually reach and use the weapon effectively.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

I need an opening. Some kind of distraction will work.

Using the mounds of dead ants as cover, I sneaked along the path to reach the weapon I was looking for. The queen was busy chomping down the poor ant beside her, so she was not paying attention to her surroundings that well.

The halberd’s condition was nearly pristine when I grabbed it, its blade reflecting the light with a blue glint.

[You acquired 1x Iron enchanted Halberd.]

I searched for other types of weapons that I could use and found a sword with its strap securely fastened around the hips of another corpse. Along the strap were 2 full healing potions that I gulped immediately to restore my health and the function of my left arm.

[You acquired 1x Iron enchanted Sword.]

Fully healed, I then secured the belt around my waist with the sword. I ditched the dagger for now, focusing on longer weapons that could penetrate deeper.

Now all I need was an opening.

Looking at the sea of dead ants gave me an idea. It was likely that another poor ant would make its way here. The ant I killed previously was level 8, and the ant I met the first time was at level 9, so there was a chance that it would pop its head here if it was still alive.

I made a rough draft of my plan as I crouched still, biding my time.

The queen’s hunger never seemed to faze as it furiously devoured the surrounding corpses, one after the other. The sun was about to set before another ant skittered its way in, watching the queen with a questioning look.

I stood up and crawled closer, holding my halberd tightly in my hand. I didn’t know the exact amount of power needed to burst that giant abdomen of hers, but I reckoned I could do good damage if I landed a clean swipe. The idea I had in mind was to strike her while she was preoccupied with the other ant, and hope that I dealt enough damage to at least injure her.

Lifting the halberd, I was surprised at how light it felt in my arm. Perhaps it was the enchantment of the weapon, or it was from the fact that I have 6 points in strength, but I wasn’t complaining either way. With enough space, I can swing this thing like a giant sword with one or both of my arms. Luckily, I didn’t need precision to hit a creature the size of a building.

The queen shrieked, akin to the ones I heard in the area where I found the skeleton, as it stomped its way to the helpless ant. The ground shook as I raced towards her.

The poor worker Ant cried helplessly as the figure of the queen towered over it completely. Using the mounds of dead ants as my stepping stone, I jumped high into the air, my strength investment allowing that action to happen, and I zoomed downwards at the queen’s soft abdomen.

I watched the queen’s trajectory as it was about to devour the Worker Ant, its attention not even the slightest away from her current victim.

I roared as I plunged the right side of its abdomen with my halberd; the momentum causing the halberd to slit the squishy abdomen open on my way down. I felt the orange liquid held inside her abdomen gush all around my body as I landed, showering in the aftermath of my surprise attack.

A terrifying shriek ripped the air apart as the queen turned its head, locating her assailant with its red, glowing eyes. The wound was deep, but I’ve not caused enough damage to cause it to limp.

Using a similar attack to the other ants, its head rose high in the air. A shadow the size of a building clouded my vision as I felt the air vibrated when it began slamming its head straight into the ground. I nearly pissed my pants from the sight, desperately dashing away from the incoming destruction.

I never had the experience of running away from a collapsing building before, but this was the closest imitation of that description I would ever get in my life. The Shockwave from the collision propelled everything near her up in the air - me included - as I watched all the body parts of the dead ants around me flying high, blood and guts included.

In the corner of my eye, as I fell, I saw the queen was staggered from her own attack. Any semblance of its self-preservation was now gone due to her raging madness. The rain of Ant guts showered the entire scene as I ran towards the left side of her abdomen.

The queen struggled to get up, watching me with its frenzied eyes as I stumbled my way to its weakest spot. I held the furthest edge of my halberd with both my arms, swinging it with all my might across her bulbous stomach. Another huge gash appeared on the left side of her abdomen.

The pain caused her to jump awake, shrieking as her eyes glowed so brightly they began lighting up her head. I expected another slam, but instead of that, a wall of webbing completely encapsulated my vision. It was the same type of fiber that trapped me before.

As if my body was possessed, I lifted my halberd straight up, slicing the layer of fiber cleanly in half and both halves of the webbing passed by harmlessly beside me. However, the queen’s attacks had just begun, as her head was diving straight at mine. I lacked the distance to dodge its attack sideways, so I ran forward, sliding just a few milliseconds before the Shockwave of her slam sent me barreling away.

Unlike the previous time I was thrown, my landing was cushioned by the wall of corpses this time. The Queen’s surprise attack had failed and its legs buckled. Sensing my momentum, I sprinted towards the tail end of her abdomen, slashing madly at the helpless creature.

This is it.. A gleeful visage appeared on my face.

Torrential rain of guts and blood rained down upon me as I repeatedly hacked her abdomen apart. The queen used all its remaining energy to let out a deafening cry, declaring its last-ditch effort to kill me. An invisible force launched me upwards, then I saw droplets of blood floating about in my vision, the same blood that poured from both of my eardrums.

The sudden attack caused me to drop my halberd in mid-air. I gasped for air as I fell straight back to the ground, away from the halberd and the queen. The shock from my drop exacerbated the wounds I’ve piled on so far. I turned on my status page to check how much health I have left.

Health : 32/110

Not quite dead yet.

I grimaced from the built-up injuries. My eyelids strained when the lair turned dead silent, even when the queen dragged its massive body around to face me. It took me a while before I realized my ears were done for.

The familiar webbing substance foamed out of its mouth. I lowered my stance, attempting to dodge the incoming projectile, but I groaned when I stumbled, falling headfirst onto the ground. My legs shivered from the recent attack, and the rupturing of my eardrums completely disrupted my sense of balance.

Coughing blood, I felt the skin tear from each of my fingers as I dragged myself away from its incoming attack.

I saw a massive shadow eclipsing the glimmer of the light from way up above. The damning realization of my death made its presence fully known, consuming every thought that was inside of my head.