‘This is why you get nothing done!’ Rick thought, exasperated. It was late into the night and he had still not got an answer if he could enter the dungeon or not.

After he had proposed to Hannigan that he would accept entering the dungeon as payment for the golems, he went around gathering everyone at the Harow Trainyard to discuss it. From what he gathered, unlike the Celestial Devotees, there was no one responsible for the Trainyard. Instead, every decision at the camp was taken with unanimous discussions with everyone.

“But why does he want to go?” a young man in the crowd immediately asked as soon as the discussion started.

“Is that okay? I mean is it okay to take it as payment? He is basically doing us a favour!”

“If he wants to, let him. Why would we stop?”

“But what if there is something really precious there?”

“What’s he even selling?”

Rick watched on from the sides as the entire group of forty discussed this for hours on end, before finally coming to an agreement late at night. Although it was not a unanimous decision, most of them agreed. Of the five that did not agree was Julia who refused to agree, come what may.

Hannigan walked over to Rick to give tell him the final proposal. They would give all the information they had gathered about the monster in the dungeon, but he had to give them the golems before entering.

“I can’t do that. No offence, but I just met you guys. I won’t know if the information you gave is true or not any way” Rick said in an exasperated tone.

“Mr. Rick, how can we be sure you will even come back alive?” Hannigan replied with a smile before quickly adding, “I mean… and return safely, but it is a dungeon. We would have completed our end of the bargain as soon as we show you where the dungeon is and give you the information. But if you don’t make it back alive…”

Rick fell silent. He already knew where the dungeon was, and what was in there as well. The only reason for the bargaining was to make sure it looked legitimate. If he gave it without any fight, he feared it might look suspicious.

After more back and forth, he finally relented. He would hand over the golems right before walking into the dungeon.

With the discussions over, Mathew led Rick over to an empty railway cart. With a mattress laid on the ground. He would enter the dungeon the next morning.

===================

“Are you telling me, the dungeon is in the control room?” Rick feigned surprise. Mathew and Hannigan stood along with Rick under the Harow Bridge.

“Right that way,” Hannigan said, fixing his glasses.

“Aah! I agreed, so be it,” he grunted and handed over the golem cores to Smith. Without another, he walked towards the dungeon without giving telling them anything about the Golem-control-artifacts.

“Remember not to dodge all its attacks!” Mathew said aloud as Rick opened the door to the dungeon.

Ding

[You have entered the “Fiery Ant” Dungeon]

[Dungeon Level: 4]

Rick pushed open the steel door and walked in, the door closing behind. The dungeon was pitch dark, the only sound- his steps.

“Lumite!”

An orb, the size of a tennis ball appeared on his spilling a warm sun-yellow light.

As he inspected his surroundings, he could see the interiors of the previously small room was much bigger on the inside. But unlike the Karakonza dungeon, everything here looked to be in perfect condition. The railway control-panels were still up and so were the desks.

A chitter echoed.

There was no time to waste. Rick quickly picked up a dozen talismans and put them on the ground before him. Next, he cast Hot Hands and circulated the fire-elemental throughout his body. With the spear in hand, Rick summoned two Fire Golems and walked forward.

Soon enough, he could see a light-red glow scuttle around the room. It was fast!

One moment it was to its left and the next it would be behind him.

‘Okay, okay!’ he looked around, trying to keep up with the flash of light zooming around.

His hand gripped around his spear.

The flash was slowly getting closer. Suddenly the creature pounced on Rick from the left.

He immediately slashed at the monster. The shaft hit it, knocking it off.

Finally, the monster came to a quick halt as it tried to pick itself up. It was a huge Ant- almost half his own size. Its exoskeleton looked a glowing a pulsating red.

Its antennas twitched before the Ant picked itself up and disappeared again.

The Ant attacked again, this time from the right.

Rick was a little slow and before he could hit it, the Ant slashed at his leg and disappeared again.

A searing hot pain started from his wound but stopped the next moment.

‘It works!’ Rick exclaimed.

The Ant continued to attack Rick again and again. Although it managed to get pas his defence and attack his a dozen more times, the wounds were slight and were easily healed due to his decent [Vitality].

“Haah!” Rick smashed into the Ant once more, but it looked unharmed. No matter how many times he hit the Ant, it kept coming at him, while not a single crack could be found on its exoskeleton.

“Fine!” Rick said and tossed a Fire Bomb at the Ant, narrowly missing it as the Ant disappeared again. It was time to start his second option. Rick had discovered while preparing for the dungeon that the Fiery Ant relied on its elemental poisoning. It didn’t have a very strong attack. It would instead make small incisions on the enemy’s body and inject fire-elements into them- essentially burning them from the inside. But its only flaw was that its fire elementals were much weaker.

Knowing this, Rick deduced that the Hot Hands spell would immunize him from the effects of the poison. And he was right. With the Hot Hands spell circulating fire-elements throughout his body, Rick was not affected by the poison at all.

It was a stalemate. The Fiery Ant could not poison Rick, but he could not crack open the Ant either.

Rick quickly took retreated back to where he had put the talismans. He stood at the centre with thick talisman’s strewn about as he waited.

Seconds later the Ant lunged at him once again. With a quick sidestep, he shifted his body away, narrowly avoiding the Ant’s razor-sharp mandibles. He punched at the Ant with all the weight behind him. The Ant was caught off-guard- His punch landed on the Ant, knocking it back.

An anxious smile picked tugged his lips. This was the moment.

Rick bent down in a hurry and with his palm on a talisman whispered, “Ianuae Magicae”.

He could see a flash behind him, and a simultaneous glow on the talisman before him.

The talismans he had laid on the ground, were not made of ordinary paper. They were all leather produced with the hide of the beasts Jay had hunted. As such they could summon much larger things.

The summoning was a success- as he saw the Ant disappear from its spot before. He took a quick step back and pulled out another talisman.

As soon as the Ant was summoned on the talisman before him, Rick slapped the talisman in its hand on the Ant’s back- before quickly retreating.

The Ant withered on the ground seemingly in agony.

His summoning went through his Fire Plane- made up entirely of pure Fire-elementals. Lunged into a sea of pure fire-elementals, the Ant’s inferior elemental body was slowly getting consumed.

“A few more time and it will be over,” Rick said aloud. As he crouched again, the Ant immediately realized he was in danger and fled away.

Seeing this a sinister chuckle escaped. Without bothering with the Ant, he touched another talisman. “Ianuae Magicae,” he said.

A moment later, the Fiery Ant appeared on the talisman before him, worse than before. Its body was now scorched white and black, broken at several spots.

Taking a step closer, Rick immediately slapped another Summoning Scroll on the Ant’s back.

“This should do it,” he calculated. But this time around, the Ant did not try to escape. Instead, it kept glancing suspiciously at the talisman sticking near its back.

He bent down near another Summoning Scroll. But just as he reached towards it, the Ant let out a loud wail.

But to his surprise, Pip popped out of his jacket at the same time.

“Peep peep! Peep peep!” she said hurriedly.

Rick’s hand stopped as he looked intently at the Fiery Ant. He looked down at the chick poking its head out from near his collar and asked confused, “What do you mean it wants to submit?”