[Summon]: Black Ant! And… [Absorb Bodies]!

A magic circle no larger than a fingernail grew on the ground as Dylan summoned yet another Black Ant to replenish his army, while subsequently absorbing the corpses of his fallen warriors. After the deaths of the original moth and black ant, he had gained 2 mana. One for each insect that died. It certainly appeared that each insect provided him with only 1 mana per absorbed corpse, which was both a blessing and a disappointment. On one hand, it meant that he could easily maximize his capacity of mana to level up, and it certainly meant that his mana capacity was abysmally low; the same amount that killing and eating 10 insects should provide to any other monster, or possibly even less, as his current war has shown. Ever since finding that out, he had been summoning insects over and over again for days to fuel an endless war within his dungeon.

The war had been started with 2 black ants, which he had ordered to engage lone ants patrolling along the entrance of his cave. Of course, this had attracted attention, causing what could be considered a war. Large amounts of ants had swarmed his cave, annihilating his own ants, which deeply vexed him. Obviously, Dylan hadn’t been slacking off, and made sure to use [Absorb Bodies] on every dead organism he could find, netting himself another species; a Spider which had attempted to skirt in on the war for a free meal.

Obviously, Dylan hadn’t been slacking. As the days and nights went by, Dylan had plenty of opportunities to discover things about his new ‘body’. It appeared that Dylan had no need to eat, drink, or even sleep, at least, not for several days straight. It had been mind-numbingly boring to sit and watch his ants fight, but he was forced to pay attention, lest his army begin to lose its momentum. Currently, he was sitting with 28 ants and 2 spiders, using the ants to engage in small skirmishes and guard the spiders as they spun webs to fill the entrance into his tunnel, in preparation for his Level Up.

That’s what he was scared of. The Level Up. He didn’t know what would happen during the process of leveling up. Would he lose consciousness and be unable to defend himself? Would his creatures be able to defend him? Would they be unable to follow his orders if he was unconscious? What if something strong came in while he was unconscious? Of course, he also had to consider the fact that he might not fall asleep, and it his new upgrades might just pop up like the Voice of the World…

Sigh, Dylan thought as his vision settled back into his core. This is not as simple as I thought it would be…

He had had a lot of time to appreciate the simplicity of his former life-technology, people to talk to…Especially people to talk to. Dylan could deal with the boredom momentarily by watching his quest for mana/war-game, however, he felt the urge to communicate with someone or something…It was driving him insane! Or was it? Dylan didn’t really know anymore. He felt that it would be nice to talk to someone, but it wasn’t as important as his absolute safety…

Am I being influenced by the Dungeon’s instincts?! Dylan realized, I’ve read many a novel where dungeons contain sprawling labyrinths, protected by hordes of monsters and endless traps as they siphoned the life out of adventurers who wandered their depths…

Frankly, it made sense. He was a Dungeon now. His instincts definitely prioritized survival, and frankly, Dylan had no means to stop a serious enemy. And if he wanted to get stronger…He would have to level up!

But first…

[Dungeon Order]: Ants, back away, surround my core and defend it with your life, unless you are defending the spiders. Spiders, continue your task of blocking the entrance…

Ding!

You can now [Summon]: Bombardier Beetle

Neat. Did the spiders kill that? Dylan brought his attention over to the mess filling the entrance to his cave, and noticed that the cave now had a couple new visiting species. Namely, the Bombardier beetles fighting for their life against a centipede which had to have been at least 6-inches long. It completely dwarfed the ants which were struggling against it, and the two remaining bombardier beetles seemed to want to leave, although the centipede was blocking the exit.

Don’t mind if I capitalize on this opportunity, Dylan snorted, tossing his level up plan out of the window until he acquired the centipede, [Summon]: Bombardier Beetle(s)!

He utilized all of the mana in his maxed-out tank for this summon session, as he noticed an ample number of corpses available due to the wrath of the centipede. A larger magic circle appeared this time, about the size of a palm. 10 beetles rose out of the ground mysteriously, sending shivers down Dylan’s non-existent spine.

This summoning thing is a bit weirder than I imagined…It’s almost as if all the insects are hidden underground until they’re called out…I wonder if that’s the same when I get more animals or monsters? And they’ll come swimming right out of the ground like that?

Dylan shuddered, even as he used [Dungeon Orders] to have the bombardier beetles fan out and slowly approach the target. Whispering in his mind, Dylan used [Absorb Bodies] on the corpses surrounding the centipede, surprising his target just as it killed off the final bombardier beetle.

If I’m right, the bombardier beetles should be able to fire some sort of chemical at their behinds from a short distance… Dylan mused as he watched the centipede rush towards the new beetles in a rage, scattering ants left and right as its legs click-clacked across the floor. Well then, it should be close enough now…FIRE!!!!!

The Bombardier Beetles lifted their behinds to aim at the charging centipede, and doused it with the acidic chemical mixture they produced, causing it to flail in pain as its many limbs writhed in agony.

Charge. Dylan dismissively said, and his army of ants and bombardier beetles swarmed it, taking a few casualties amongst themselves before a bombardier beetle fired a spray right into the centipede’s face, ending its suffering.

Ding!

You can now [Summon]: Centipede

Hehehehehehe…Dylan chuckled in his head as he once again used 10 mana straight for this day, summoning 10 centipedes instead. Hell. I might not even need that spider web anymore…However…Dylan sent 8 centipedes and 8 bombardier beetles, as well as all of his remaining ants to kill off the wild ants coming into his cave. He may as well have a bunch of corpses laying around so he can absorb them later, after his level up. If he was lucky, maybe he could fill up immediately and level up twice consecutively!

[Absorb Bodies]

As Dylan absorbed the bodies, he ‘said’ out loud; [Level Up].

Immediately following that, the world began to spin, as if he were in the center of a whirlpool. Dylan felt his consciousness slip away and his vision going black, no matter how hard he tried to fight it. After a few seconds of struggle, Dylan gave in to the sinking feeling, and for the first time since he came to this world, fell unconscious