“What is all this?” Liam asked while looking at the new notification. “Colossal Myrmeke Queen? Slayer of the Colossal? What does it even mean? Meh, I'll look at it later. Gotta see if any of that queen ant is left.”

With that, he mentally dismissed the notification and walked into the cavern lit by the bonfire of ant eggs. Most likely, there was nothing worth taking from that pile anyway. Ignoring it, he approached the still burning carcass of the ant queen. Based on the way nothing scratched the exoskeleton before, it would probably be worth taking some if any was not burned to a crisp.

Good thing the walls aren't flammable... Liam thought while waiting for the flames to die down. Since the chamber was warming at an alarming pace, he was hoping the fire would die sooner rather than later.

Eventually, the enormous corpse burnt completely to a crisp. Smoke wafted from the charred remains, creating wavy shadows all over the walls due to the still burning pile of eggs. Although the room was warm enough to make him sweat, Liam walked around the corpse with his eyes peeled. Sure, the entire thing was basically charcoal now, but surely there had to be something worth his time.

As he approached the head area, he saw a glint in the corner of his eye. Hoping to find treasure of some sort, he stepped toward what was left of the head. Charred ant flesh crunched underfoot as he trudged over. Heat rose from the remains, making him sweat. Above the spot where he saw the glint of light, he kicked away useless charcoal pieces until he saw some sort of red stone.

Hmm... looks like I found something.

He continued to kick the useless parts away until he could see the entirety of the 'stone' hidden within. It looked similar to a ruby but was transparent enough to see through it. Liam's heart pounded with excitement at the size of it since it was bigger than his head. He reached down to pick it up, but the heat rising from it was a too hot to touch. Unperturbed, he trudged back to the cavern floor and sat down. If he had come this far, then a little more waiting was worth it.

While he was waiting for the remains to cool, he lit another torch since the current one was about to go out. If he was not wrong, he had three left.

Several minutes later, when the air above the remains was no longer distorted by the heat, he returned to the rock. As a test, he held his hand a few inches above it. Deciding it was cool enough to touch, he rolled it around to see just how big it was.

Heh. It's huge. This must be worth money, right?

Thinking such, he set down his torch and placed a hand on each side of the jagged surface and lifted. Contrary to his expectations, the rock was far lighter than he had presumed. After a quick once over, he opened his inventory and placed it inside. The title for the item startled him.

Inventory:

Available Slots: 5

Blanket: 1

Leather Tent (Small): 1

Flint: 1

Steel Pot: 1

Waterskin (Small): 1

Unlit Pine Torch: 3

Magic Stone (Grand): 1

(empty slot)

(empty slot)

(empty slot)

(empty slot)

(empty slot)

“Magic stone? Uh... that sounds like it might draw attention...” Liam muttered. “Hopefully the people at the guild can explain. Still, I'm selling it first chance I get.”

While Liam was distracted by the stone, the earth began to shake ever so slightly. Gradually, the trembling grew to the point that he was unable to stand. Debris fell from above, smashing precariously all over the cavern floor. To avoid suffering more injury, Liam dropped the torch and covered his head with his arms.

Don't tell me this stupid ant created enough damage to cause a cave-in...

However, the earth continued to violently tremble. Cracks spread across every surface in sight. This was different than a cave-in. Looking back on the time his team had been caught in an earthquake during a mission, he realized he was now in the same predicament.

A large stone landed on his left arm, releasing a cracking sound. Other stones slammed into the ground nearby. The cracks in the ground spread further.

I need to get out of here. Liam decided. While shielding his head with his left arm, he picked up his torch again with the other. Hoping no large stones would land on him, he struggled toward the tunnel. Every few steps, he lost his balance due to the trembling earth, but he ambled onward. A few more stones struck his arm, the unprotected parts of his skull, and his shoulders. One even smashed against a fresh bruise from the previous rain of stone.

Just as he was about to reach the tunnel, the tremors increased in magnitude. The rumble of the earth echoing around the cavern was unbearable. Unable to maintain balance, Liam collapsed on the shifting floor. Right in front of his eyes, a large crack split through the floor. There was nothing he could do to stop it. Fear of being at the mercy of nature gripped his heart. As his body slipped into the widening fissure, his only thought was, If I die, I'm coming back as a ghost so I can stab that Masked Meister a good one.