We run about half the distance back to the village and I begin construction of a new tunnel. It’s so easy to fall into the rhythm of digging. My inner ant is being nourished by the act of shifting dirt with my mandibles.
It doesn’t even take long until I’ve made significant progress. My powerful body combined with my digging skills is a powerful combination. Not to mention the burning joy of my ant soul toward the digging of tunnels!
My aim is to connect a stealth tunnel to underneath the human church. There are a lot of reasons for this. A little bit of protecting the humans from the monsters farther down the Dungeon, preventing the humans from absorbing XP and wasting Biomass, and using the existing tunnel connections within the escape tunnel to push deeper into the Dungeon to get some juicy monsters to fight in order to push Tiny and myself to the next Level.
Always scratching away at the back of my mind is the potential of the next evolution. After evolving into the Mind Ant, I’ve experienced a tremendous growth in power that I’m still working to explore. Since each subsequent evolution has seen an exponential amount of growth, I’m super curious about what will happen if I max out my core and evolve again.
An ant can dream, dammit!
After furiously digging for half a day, I eventually convince Tiny to help me out by telling him I’m trying to get him something to fight. To my surprise, he willingly throws himself down the tunnel and starts tearing into the ground with his hands, pausing every few minutes to haul up arm loads of dirt to dump on the forest floor before charging underground again like a deranged miner.
It almost brings a tear to my eye to see him so active again. Welcome back, Tiny!
While he’s digging, I make a quick trip back to the colony to help them harvest the farm and feed the two children still using me as their own personal transport.
The faster I feed you little runts, the faster you’ll grow up and prove yourselves useful! Eat well, muahahahaha!
After seeing to my duties, I rush back to relieve Tiny of his digging duties and press onward with the project. We don’t have time to waste right now, the foreboding feeling that started rising in me yesterday has only continued to rise. This is another thing driving my desire to get back into the Dungeon and Level up.
After digging down and angling the tunnel, I rely on my Tunnel Map to guide our fledgling tunnel to connect with the escape tunnel far enough down that we shouldn’t have any risk of being heard or observed by the humans battling the monsters in the church.
After another four hours of solid earth chomping, we finally break through.
Time for fighting!
21. Back into the Breach Once More!
It is a known phenomenon that not all monsters of the same species are created equal. From as far back as the Rending, when monsters first appeared on the surface of Pangera, it had been noted that some monsters boasted far more individual strength than others of the same kind. The difference was so pronounced it could not be explained by a simple difference of Levels.
Indeed, over the centuries, as all the sentient species of the surface delved into the Dungeon, eager to unlock its mysteries, it was discovered that some monsters are simply spawned stronger than others. Faster, more powerful, more intelligent and altogether more deadly.
When these monsters reached maturity, they were typically able to display a leadership type quality amongst other monsters of their own kind, gathering together bands of followers, groups of monsters that grew in power rapidly due to the leadership and guidance they received.
It is generally accepted that this is the reason such monsters came to be known amongst scholars as ‘Champions.’ Mercenaries and freelance explorers were crude and direct with their naming, out of the fear these elite monsters caused in them, as well as the strength they displayed, the common name for such monsters became ‘Brutes.’
It isn’t known why such monsters spawn or how. They appear infrequently in normal times, but numerous studies suggest that in times of great conflict or upheaval in the Dungeon, the spawn rate of Champions rises tremendously.
Some have claimed that Champion monsters can grow so powerful as to exert their controlling influence over monsters not of their own kind, forming armies of mixed monsters in the depths that endlessly rampage until they burn themselves out through their conflict, or settle down and go into hiding.
Such claims are often rebuffed, as little evidence of such has reached the surface in the time of writing.
After breaking down the final bit of dirt, the now familiar glow of the Dungeon assaults my eyes. The screaming of the monsters, the sound of claws tearing at flesh and the pulse running through the Mana veins on the walls, like the pulse of the very planet itself.
I almost missed this. Not quite, but almost.
Tiny certainly did. Crouching in the narrow tunnel behind me, the sounds of vicious combat are like music in the ears of the ape. In an incredibly short amount of time, he can no longer contain himself and shoves me forward, leaping into the Dungeon with a bloodthirsty roar.
Tiny is back in town!
I however, am crumpled on the floor with a rather heavy ape standing on my back.
[Get off me, you goon!]
I don’t think he hears me. And if he does, he’s clearly choosing to ignore me. Screeching with rage, the giant ape hurls himself onto centipedes, hounds, lizards and rabbits in his path, fists blazing with electricity.
We are not significantly deeper into the Dungeon here than the farm, but I can already see the monsters are visibly more powerful, with some of the more dominant low-Level monsters appearing.
Even this little upgrade is enough to pump Tiny’s blood and wake his thirst for battle.
As the giant ape leaps into action, the enemies rapidly crumple one by one, unable to resist those potent fists. Body after body is blasted into the walls or smashed into the floor, never to rise again.
Hold on! Leave some for me!
I scramble to get my feet under me and hurl myself into the fight.
Ten minutes later, we’ve cut down everything in our way in this section of tunnel, and have settled down to munch on some Biomass.
[You happy now, Tiny? You finally got to have a decent fight,] I say to my gorging pet.
He doesn’t even pause his eating, but a frown creases his bat forehead as he ponders my question, turning the words over in his mind.
[No,] he replies.
I’d figured as much. Although it was a little tougher than the farm, it simply isn’t enough to satisfy the big guy. That’s ok. We’ll keep digging deeper until we find something and start to Level up once more.
Speaking of Levels, I actually gained one in this fight! Nobody was as surprised as me to finally get my Level up from killing a Thorn Lizard, but hey, there it is.
The little worker and Jellymaw have also leaped off their transportation—me—to stuff themselves, packing their miniature bodies with absurd amounts of food. I really have to name these two. Thinking of them as ‘little worker’ and ‘Jellymaw’ is starting to feel a little rude.
Surely a bit more consideration wouldn’t hurt, right?
The worker is small and hyperactive, full of energy and a complete pain in the gaster. Her name should represent her curious and exhausting self. I’ll call her Vibrant.