Too Stubborn to Die

She hadn’t stopped to speak for long, her mission more important. Nonetheless, after everything she had heard, both when visiting the casino and their outpost by the jungle, Soohyun had expected more.

She was told stories of a great, world-ending force consisting of ants possessing all manner of abilities. Of countless swarms that covered the entire earth, spanning as far as the eye could see. Of relentless ants that cared nothing for their own safety, single-mindedly marching down their enemies. But what she actually found were scattered groups of pathetically weak and seemingly mindless ants.

To be fair, she had seen the countless dead ants when traveling across the plains. But she had thought there would be more, the closer she got to the hive itself.

Even her party could have handled this. It was, quite frankly, disappointing. And for the briefest of moments, she wondered if Aaron and Talia had gone soft. That perhaps they had been taking it easy since the end of the trial. However, it didn’t take much contemplation to throw that idea out. She knew just how hard the rankings were to climb. After all, despite everything she had gone through, she had dropped out of the top ten. A fact she still struggled to grapple with.

Honestly, when she had first arrived in this world, she had been surprised to see that Aaron hadn’t started near the top. However, there were reasons for that. Either way, those thoughts hadn’t lasted long.

Ultimately, seeing his climb up the ranks was more impressive than if he had started at the top. And it well and truly dispelled the idea that he might be taking it easy. There was no other explanation than that he had been busting his ass since the trials.

So then, what was up with the ants?

Perhaps she was simply too late, and Talia and Aaron had finished them off already. That seemed like the most likely explanation. Although the guards at the outpost hadn’t thought it all too likely. They had warned her of the swarms, and they had looked troubled when doing so.

In fact, they had warned her against entering alone, despite being able to see her rank. That surprised her. Sure, these beasts might be strong, but so far, everyone she had come across had essentially given her the benefit of the doubt when it came to handling monsters when they saw her rank.

When she reached the hive, she didn’t even dismount, driving her sword straight through any ants that attempted to stand in her way, and turning down into the tunnel through the entrance she had been told about.

Unfortunately, despite the speed at which she had traveled, she had arrived later than she had wanted. Soohyun had already seen the dungeon timer and was well aware that the two of them might have already entered it before she got to them. But she had to hope that they would take a moment and rest before doing so.

Allying herself with those she believed were the most powerful humans in her new world was an important part of her plan. And the dungeon played a vital part in that plan.

There were important factoids about dungeons she had picked up along her journey. Perhaps most importantly, parties could join them as a group.

And this was the main driving factor for her speeding toward Aaron and Talia. If she could reach them in time, then she could start this dungeon with them, and boy, did she want that to happen.

And as she sped down through the tunnel passageway, delving deeper into the hive, her face brightened. She could feel it. Two incredible powers beneath her. Finally, after so much aimless roaming through the wilderness, things were starting to go her way.

But she hadn’t reached them yet, and with every passing second, there was a chance they would enter the dungeon. And so she pushed herself harder, pumping energy into her limbs as she was forced to dismount her sword in the tight tunnels and run.

The sword that was thicker than she was easily cut through any ants that blocked her passage. Though she killed only those she had no choice but to leave the rest.

There were far more important things to do than slaughtering pathetically weak ants. Things that she had months ago thought were out of her reach, only to suddenly shift back into focus.

Bursting out through a tunnel, she then passed into a chamber and then through into another. And that was when she came across the genuinely apocalyptic destruction.

There were ant corpses literally everywhere, their toxic-looking blood smearing the walls. If the lack of swarms wasn’t enough, this scene reaffirmed her belief that they had destroyed the hive.

She’d have liked to help them with this battle, but she would settle for piecing together what had happened. It would have been a great opportunity to show her worth, after all. But hopefully being ranked 11th in the world was enough to impress them, and she could do the rest within the dungeon.

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Funneling more energy into her speed, she pushed herself harder, increasingly frustrated by the endlessly twisting and turning tunnels. She needed to get there now. She needed to enter the dungeon with them. And she could feel the energy signals growing closer and closer, and as she neared, her smile widened further.

This was it. Finally.

But when she passed into the next tunnel, he found a rubble-filled room, the stone ceiling barely held up by some ancient-looking rock formation. And at its center, a corpse of the biggest freaking ant she had ever seen. It was mutilated, but recognizable, and its abdomen was the size of a semi-trailer.

And there were many more corpses sprawled all about the impressive chamber, but that wasn’t what made her heart sink.

No, that was what stood at the far end of the room.

“That’s not Aaron or Talia,” she muttered as she inspected the figures, and a shiver traced her spine.

“Oh, fuck.”

But instead of attacking her, which would have no doubt ended in her very quick death, they held tokens.

She blinked. The scene was absolutely terrifying. But it was also very confusing.

Why the hell do they have a little kid ant with them?

The two humanoid ants turned to her, and the silver one picked up the little child-like ant. It was… strange.

What in the world is going on down here?

As she sorted through her confusion, she started to put together a battle plan. She didn’t expect to win, but, well, she wasn’t just going to roll over and let them kill her.

But to her absolute shock, they didn’t charge her. Instead, they activated their tokens, and the blue glow coming out from them enveloped them in light, and a moment later, they were gone.

“Huh?”

The strangest part about it all was that she had recognized the tokens in their hands.

They were dungeon tokens.

“Beasts?... With dungeon tokens?”

Soohyun came to the sudden conclusion that her patron god hadn’t been as forthcoming with details as she had originally thought.

As panic set in, she quickly brought up the planetary rankings. And sure enough, Aaron and Talia were still on them. Meaning they couldn’t be dead. But then what was going on here? Why were Talia and Aaron MIA, and why did these strange, humanoid beasts that barely looked like ants, but still held their scent, have dungeon tokens?

She glanced around at the absolute carnage that filled the chamber. It was quite the sight, and it only served to make everything that much more confusing.

What on earth had she walked into?

And worst of all, she was naught for naught. She had missed the battle and missed joining the dungeon with Aaron and Talia, it seemed.

“Son of a bitch. So much for luck finally coming my way.”

Even though she had long ago made peace with the fact that she might have to enter the dungeon alone, this was very annoying. After all, just before the trials ended, her patron god had warned her about the dungeon. They had told her to take it seriously, and that it offered great rewards, but that her world would need to work together if they wanted to realize them.

And so, when she had learned that Aaron and Talia were connected to the settlement she had stumbled upon, she had felt like her prayers had been answered.

“What a load of shit. I must have the worst luck. Oh well, I don’t have much choice, do I?

Pulling out her token, she accepted the prompt, and within seconds, the System whisked her away with a single, lingering thought on her mind.

Why hadn’t her patron god told her that beasts could join the dungeon?

***Erdek Foulbreath***

The goblin queen stood with her elites in a cleared circle surrounded by a horde of thousands of goblins. There was celebration and dancing going on all around them, a tradition for goblin hordes before great battles.

Her cracked lips bent into a vicious smile. She had put so much work into this, and she was beyond proud of what she had accomplished. This was a party built to crush, and it would see her to her rightful throne.

It had been tireless work, and her patron god had been annoyingly sparse with details. But they had told her one very important detail. That this dungeon was important, and she had every intention of winning it.

After all, there was one stain in this world she couldn’t ignore. That damn planetary ranking.

How could she declare herself empress of all goblins while held back in fourth place? It frustrated her to no end. Luckily, she had the perfect patron god. Someone who understood that the only teamwork worth pursuing was one where you stood at the top, dominating all others.

“Ready, my guard?”

She licked her lips and glanced around at her four companions. Stood with her were four huge men bound in tight leathers, their mouths gagged, and their gazes fierce.

These were her elite guard. The greatest human warriors her horde had come across. And she had made them bow, and turned them into her human man slaves. And all it took for them to drop to their knees and grovel at her feet was a look.

She called herself a queen, but the reality was that goblins were rarely great warriors. But what they lacked in skill, they made up for in numbers. She, of course, was an exception.

Unfortunately, numbers didn’t help too much when it came to parties. After all, parties were limited to five. However, she had come up with a genius plan to solve this issue.

A squad of human man slaves.

She raised her wiry, green arm where the control bracelet wrapped around her wrist. Her greatest craftsmen had made it for her, and it was a marvelous piece of handiwork. One command from the bracelet, and explosive collars worn by the man slaves would blow their heads straight off.

“Are we ready, my guard?”

“MePh, mAaM!” A muffled shout came from the cohort guards in unison.

Finally, it was time to show the other top rankers her true power. And with a devilish smile, she activated the dungeon token and entered with her crew.