Austin had always been weak, even when he was a normal human. He was a scrawny boy, only about 5’5” even by the age of 16, and he definitely did not compensate for that size with any sort of muscle or skill.

That was why, when he became a conduit, Austin thought that maybe his life was about to turn around.

This dream was shattered almost immediately upon confirming that his newly bestowed stats were the lowest of the low among the newly awakened people, even with his newfound power a normally physical fit human was still on the same level on him, never mind the preternaturally strong monsters of the dungeon and the Crawlers that faced off against them.

Despite all this, Austin didn’t let this dissuade him, in fact, now that the carrot of being stronger was dangled in front of him, he was even more determined than before to become strong.

That was why even if he couldn’t become a Crawler yet, he applied to become a porter to one of the lower level, local guilds. He figured this would give him an opportunity to secure himself a couple of kills on weaker monsters, and slowly but surely raise his level.

Everything had led up to this,

"I’ve finally made it into a dungeon, no time to chicken out now." Austin chided himself.

"Besides, Anderson and his crew don’t seem to feel this weird sensation, so maybe it’s just because it’s my first time in a dungeon."

“Yo, rookie! Don’t fall behind!” Anderson boomed from the front of the party. “I don’t want my new porter to become monster chow, HAHAHA!” his jovial laughter rang out in the barren dungeon corridor.

How the hell is he so cheerful when all of our lives are at stake in here? Austin wondered if that was just the confidence of a high ranked Crawler speaking, or if Anderson James was just an idiot.

“Heads up, we got incoming!” A lithe-looking man in a green hood near the back of the group called out.

It seemed that he was the Scout of the party, a class specializing in Agility and detection of enemies and traps. Scouts were a basic necessity for any party, not just due to surprise ambushes from monsters, but also the myriad traps left by whoever or whatever controlled the dungeon.

The Crawlers spread out, with Anderson and another armored man taking up the front of a newly formed spear-head. The green-cloaked man who called out the approaching monsters took up a position in the middle, and behind him stood three mages, two of which started summoning fire and one who began chanting, causing glowing light to envelop the group.

Suddenly, the wall closest to the tanker nearest to Anderson burst open, and an army of chihuahua sized ants burst out towards the group.

“Ants!” the mage closest to Austin, a young woman whose features were shrouded by a red cloak shouted out,

“3-Stars shouldn't be here!” the armored man next to Anderson bellowed.

"Looks like we got a fight!" Anderson called back, looking excited.

The panic on the woman’s face was plain to see, and Austin couldn’t blame her. He had read about this kind of ant monster in the Association handbook in his desire to become a Crawler. Since he was weak, all he could do was study.

Crawlers below 3-Star rank should avoid engaging, flee before being overwhelmed by numerous enemies!

Austin could now see that warning was no joke, as an endless black sea of the ants began flowing from the holes in the wall.

“Here, kid, catch!” The armored man standing next to Anderson called, as he threw a simple steel dagger towards Austin.

Austin caught it and gripped it in his hand reverse-style like he had seen on TV.

“Provocation!” Anderson yelled from the front of the group, a red aura enveloping him as he activated a skill.

The other armored tanker followed suit, his own blue aura enveloping him as he activated a similar skill.

The skills must have worked, because it seemed like the rest of the group no longer existed to the ants. The sea of black began to converge on the two armored men, who fended them off with their large shields. Just as it seemed they were about to be overwhelmed, a golden aura enveloped them. A gift from the support class Crawler near the back of the group, he was healing and buffing their defences in just one go.

As the two tanks kept the roiling mass of monsters distracted, and the healer kept them on their feet, the other three members of the party got to work reducing the numbers of their opponents.

The green-hooded scout seemed to disappear from beside Austin, moving faster than his low level eyes could follow. He spotted him once again in the middle of the sea, moving like a swimmer through water, with every stroke of his shortsword another drop was removed from the pool.

Next to him, the two mages began flinging fireballs haphazardly. When there were this many enemies, there was really no reason to aim. Every time another fireball landed 10 or 12 of the ants burned to a crisp, and dozens more were flung from the impact.

Their teamwork was a sight to behold, the red-cloaked woman had lost all traces of panic, and was instead focused on mowing down legions of ants.

The team worked with brutal efficiency, and after about 15 minutes the ocean of ants was reduced to a puddle, and then a droplet.

When one lone ant remained, Anderson glanced at Austin holding the dagger he was given earlier and smirked. He walked over to where the lone ant was trying to escape from and grasped it by the back of its head, lifting it bodily like one would lift a housecat.

“Hey kiddo, why don’t you try and kill this thing with that dagger you got there.” Anderson called over to him.

This was exactly what Austin wanted, and the excitement must have been clear on the kid’s face, because grins bloomed across the rest of the party member’s faces as well.

He walked over to the ant, but he couldn’t seem to move, the wriggling creature in front of him struggling to escape the Crawler’s grip.

“Go on, kid, it can’t hurt you when Anderson’s got him like that.” the green-hooded scout called over.

With the encouragement of the Crawlers egging him on, Austin stepped forward and stabbed into the ant dangling before him.

Shink

Shink

Shink

Shink

After 4 thrusts, the ant stopped its wriggling and went still. Anderson released his grip and let it fall to the ground, where everyone expected it to turn to dust like all the other monsters did when their vitality was drained, but instead it jumped back up and lunged towards Austin.

He saw the small mandibles of the ant, still strong enough to cut him in two flying towards him at a speed he couldn’t hope to dodge, and just as he thought his life was finished, a green flash appeared in front of him, and the ant’s head rolled away.

“That was a close one,” the scout sighed in relief. “Anderson, make sure it’s dead next time before you drop it.”

“Hahaha, sorry ‘bout that, kid. Honest mistake. I’ll let you kill the next one, promise!” Anderson boomed, that smile not once leaving his face.

The support Crawler was the next to speak, “Good thing we handled it, but still, ants in a 2-Star floor shouldn’t be possible. Maybe the Association mislabeled the Door.”

Austin was listening to their conversation while he went around gathering all the mana crystals that the horde of ants left behind. These were the real reason why Crawlers did what they did.

Even a small mana crystal from a horde-type monster like the ants easily went for $10 a piece. The crystals from the bosses guarding each floor were even more valuable, as they were used in the mana plants that powered most of modern society. This was his real job as a porter, to make sure he got all of these valuable crystals from the monsters the Crawlers killed.

“Anderson, do you think we should retreat and have the association re evaluate the Door?” the scout asked

“If we retreat now, there’s a possibility that monsters could escape into the city, and I don’t want those deaths on my conscience.” Anderson said, his countenance becoming serious for the first time. “Besides,” Anderson boomed, the cheery expression returning, “We just proved we can handle whatever this floor can throw at us!”

As if on cue, the floor below the group’s feet began rumbling and cracks started to show in the stone floor beneath their feet.

“You just had to run your big mouth!” the red-cloaked mage called, before the floor collapsed entirely and the party began their unwilling descent.