A huge ant blocked the path. It was not an ordinary warrior but an armoured one, [Armoured Ant]. The ant was as big as a horse and clad in sturdy armoured chitin, it was not as hard as iron but still challenging to crack because of its thickness.

“Oh no… can we?” Sargon asked Demi-Ura who just shrugged.

He probably could kill it if he had his main weapon, but he didn't have it. There was little he could do with his dagger, it was sharp but it didn’t have the reach he needed.

The ant noticed party approaching and stirred in its guard post with. It let out a hiss and clattered its mandibles.

“We can’t go back. We have to do it…” Sargon encouraged himself out loud “Support me!” He shouted while running to intercept the ant.

The ant slapped its mandibles shut trying to get at Sargon, he dodged to the side avoiding the attack and hit the monster on the head with his dagger. The weapon only chipped the armour.

Lilith seeing Sargon struggling wanted to help him and despaired at the knowledge that she can’t. If his dagger did little her weapons too would be useless, she also had little next to no combat experience and would probably die. This enemy wasn't like the ones she had been killing in upper floors.

“Support him!” Lilith urged Demi-Ura to cast her magic.

To which Demi-Ura responded crossly “No mana.”

They used all of their mana in that previous battle and their rest recovered only a tiny fraction of it. Lilith felt conflicted about her previous virtuous act, the one where she forced her party to help others. If she hasn’t done so, maybe Demi-Ura would have been able to blast that [Armoured Ant] Away.

Three women just stood there feeling helpless while Sargon struggled to keep the monster away from them. He was rolling and dodging away from the ant occasionally hitting it with his weapon. The damage was negligible and he would tire before he killed the ant, that was obvious.

“We have to do something!” Tasha complained out of frustration.

“Distract it?” Demi-Ura offered.

“We could, maybe then he will be able to hit it where it hurts.”

The idea sounded dangerous but all three girls agreed to it, this was the best they could do. They approached the ant trying to distract it from Sargon.

“What are you doing so close?” Sargon questioned them in puzzlement.

“We are distracting it so you can kill it?” Lilith explained while sounding not too sure about her actions.

“Oh, then I will cancel my [Taunt]. Be careful.” He warned them.

As soon as he dismissed his skill the ant turned to the approaching group of people and snapped at them instead. The trio scattered to different directions almost surrounding the ant leaving Sargon in its blind spot. The monster hissed in displeasure, It seemed confused and unsure which person was the best to attack, It would approach one but then the other would get louder and more annoying so the ant would approach that one instead. The strategy seemed to work, but it was still dangerous, one wrong move could mean death.

Sargon jumped on the ant from behind planning to get close to the ant’s neck so he can wedge his dagger there, it was the weak spot. He was on the monster's back alright, but the ant reacted to it in extreme displeasure; it did not like to be ridden at all. The monster clattered its mandibles in frustration letting out a screech, then it spun in a circle trying to throw Sargon away. He pressed his body against the ants back and grasped for anything so that he doesn’t get thrown off.

The monstrous ant had enough of this and slammed its own body forcefully to the wall. Sargon slid away from the monster’s smooth chitin and slammed into the wall. The ant pinned him with its leg so that he can not escape. By the look of it, the monster will finally get its revenge.

Just before the mandibles could lock and separate the man in half there was a shout.

“Nooo!” Tasha screamed midjump while still in the air.

She was gripping a small dagger in her hands which was pointed at the ant. Her body collided with the ant's head and the dagger slid inside one of the eyes. She was able to do so only because the ant lowered its head to bite Sargon, otherwise it would have been too high.

Oddly enough it seemed that this overgrown insect of a monster was able to feel pain, or something similar to that. It shifted its head responding to unpleasant feeling. The mandibles slammed regardless, but only grazed Sargon’s belly leaving a shallow cut.

“[Blast]!” Demi-Ura shouted through her hard breathing before collapsing to her knees.

A dark projectile swirled through the air pulsing and crackling. Then it collided with the ants head with a small explosion. Lilith was unfortunately still close to it, her small body was blown away from the force of the blast.

Sargon was drenched in sweat and his eyes were bulging out, he was taking in the scene in front of him. He thought he will die just a second ago, the whole shebang ran through his head in slow-motion. But he was alive and kicking. Ignoring his torn shirt and bleeding belly he picked up nearby laying dagger and charged at the distracted ant. This was the best chance he will ever get; the ant was facing away and its head was still lowered.

The monster failed to see Sargon’s charge, since one of its compound eyes were blinded and its vision had distorted, the cause of damaged nerves. Sargon pressed his dagger in between armour free spot, where the head was connecting to the neck. The dagger slid deeply, severing something and the ant slumped on the ground. Its legs twitched for a few times and then the monster remained motionless; it was dead.

Lilith hurried towards Sargon.

“You are bleeding!” She shouted in horror seeing his blood-soaked shirt. “Let me heal you.”

The lizard-woman’s face contorted in pain and in a matter of seconds her forehead became wet in sweat.

“You are out of mana.” Sargon realised that she must have used most of it healing him and other men before. “Lilith, how about her?” He exclaimed in realisation that he was not the only who was injured.

Just before Lilith could get the magic flowing, he stood up and ran towards unconscious beastkin.

Tasha was lying motionless on the hard stone floor. Her dress was ripped and had holes in it revealing singed fur and burns from the magic blast. She was alive, only unconscious.

“Heal her.” Sargon demanded Lilith.

“But… But you are…” She wanted to protest saying that she has almost no mana and that he is more important but seeing the resolve on Sargon’s face she knew that arguing would be pointless.

Lilith pressed her hand on the spots which looked the worst and pushed herself to complete the spell. It took a good moment but her hands finally started to glow and the wounds healed. Burned hair and skin fell off from Tasha’s body leaving fresh naked skin behind. She healed Sargon’s saviour to the best of her ability.

“That's it. I won’t be able to cast for a while.” She forced herself to speak trough pained breaths, she was exhausted. Then she added “How about your wounds?”

“Is nothing but a scratch. Looks worse than it is.” It did hurt like hell though, but he didn't want to admit it.

The wound wasn't bad and she would be able to heal it then she will recover her mana. Lilith bandaged Sargon’s belly to stop the bleeding.

“Sorry. It was my fault.” She apologised. Her eyes looked as if they will tear up at any moment.

Sargon looked at her confused. He didn't see how him getting injured was her fault.

Lilith noticed Sargon’s confusion and had an idea what he would say, however, she was of a different opinion. If only she did not help that other party none of this would have happened. They would have gotten out of the mushroom forest before the ant invasion and even if they didn’t, she and Demi wouldn’t have had enough mana to support Sargon in his battle. She wanted to say all of that and admit her fault but couldn’t. Demi-Ura interrupted her before she could start.

“We have to go.” Demi-Ura urged them.

She too looked as if she was about to pass out, a clear sign of overexertion from overcasting.

“Get the daggers for me. We will need those.” Sargon urged her to retrieve their weapons, they will need those.

Then he picked Tasha and popped her over his shoulder like a sack.

“Let me, you are injured.” Lilith offered.

Sargon shook his head refusing and added “We better hurry.”

Despite their condition, the party proceeded to run through the tunnel hoping that there will be no such encounter anymore.

They did encounter a few enemies from time to time, but the swarms were small and they were carefully avoided. However, the running could last only so long, after all, they had their equipment and loot to carry.

Demi-Ura scouted ahead and located a good spot where they could rest. The party headed through a narrow crack in the wall leading to a small room. The space was barely illuminated by a few blue crystals embedded in the sealing. The room was clean and there were no signs of the ants.

They set a camp of sorts. The spot was not ideal but it will have to do, they needed to sleep and recover.

Sargon lowered Tasha to the ground, she was still unconscious, the blast knocked her out properly. Then they set the sleeping spots using the gear he had bough today. He didn't expect to use it so soon but he was glad to be prepared. The sleeping gear was simple, containing a thin roll to soften the hard ground and a cover it. The problem was that they only had three sets because Tasha was only supposed to tag along for short while, none of this was planned to happen.

“We can’t leave her like that, the stone is cold. Are you okay to share your bedroll with Tasha?” Sargon asked other women to witch both responded as no.

Sargon shrugged, there was only one option left. “Then I will sleep with her.”

“No!” Both women responded at the same time.

“What do you want me to do then?” He was genuinely perplexed at the reaction. Not like he hadn’t slept with Tasha before, there was nothing wrong with it.

“You can sleep with me.” Lilith offered changing her frown to a wide smile in matter of seconds.

“I don’t understand but okay.” It didn't matter to him with who so long so it wasn't on a hard stone.

Demi-Ura glared at Lilith with clear animosity. Her crossed arms and frown told that she was not too happy about that either.

“You sleep with me.” she demanded.

“What?” Sargon tough he had resolved whatever this was but apparently not.

“Too late. He had already agreed to sleep with me.” Lilith poked her tongue towards Demi-Ura annoying her further.

“No!” Demi-Ura was holding her ground.

However, Sargon was too tired to care anymore. He put a blanket on Tasha and then laid on another spare bedroll. Now It was up to the women to decide who will have to share it with him, he did not care about it after all. He made sure to leave enough space for his bed buddy, whoever it will be, and closed his eyes. The exhaustion overtook him and he promptly drifted to sleep.