Niva walked down below. She had lost her master six hours ago. She had already searched various parts near the small island they had found, but with no result. She even searched far from the island. Still, nothing. After returning and feeling every part of the island more thoroughly, she finally discovered a hidden path.
A path leading downward. She entered. The air in the underground tunnel was damp and smelled of blood. As Niva walked, strange sounds echoed. She sensed something suspicious. Sure enough, spiked traps shot out from the walls, but with her incredible agility, Niva leapt and dodged all of them.
She continued down, and along the way, many more traps appeared. She managed to pass them all. She also had to fight some monsters and finally arrived in front of a massive door.
"Is master inside?" Niva swallowed hard. She was anxious.
She closed her eyes and pushed the massive door. At that moment, she saw someone standing atop a pile of monsters forming a mountain. Niva, who had been worried, saw Alvaric safe and sound. It made her feel relieved.
"I shouldn't have worried about him."
She walked toward Alvaric. Once fully inside the room, Niva's eyes widened. She was shocked to see even more monster corpses there. Thousands of The Bloodmaw corpses were scattered all across the room. The previously dark chamber was now lit up thanks to the slain Bloodmaw stuck on crystal stones.
Niva shivered at her own master. Killing this many monsters wasn't something just anyone could do. She was sure if she had entered this place instead, she would have died before her master ever found her.
"Are you alright, master?" A small talk question.
Niva knew she didn't need to ask, but she was unsure what else to say. What she did had succeeded. Alvaric turned and finally jumped down. He smiled at Niva. From top to bottom, he was covered in blood. He was fine.
Niva knew it and returned her master's smile.
"Finally, you're here," Alvaric looked relieved.
---
Twenty minutes before Niva arrived. Alvaric had just finished killing the last Bloodmaw. Right then, he received a notification that he had leveled up. What shocked him was that he got a box as a level-up reward. He gained 10 levels and received a green-colored box.
"In games, green usually means normal item," he grumbled.
Still, Alvaric shouldn't complain too much. Even if it was a normal item, it was better than nothing. He opened the box and found a red-colored egg. Alvaric held the egg close to his ear, trying to hear something inside. But he heard nothing.
Alvaric scratched his head. He briefly considered cooking the egg but stopped when he felt a vibration inside. There was a fetus in there. That meant he would get a pet. That was interesting.
"I'm not good at taking care of eggs." Alvaric doubted he could keep the egg safe until it hatched. "Ah, right. I have Niva who'll help me."
Just as he was about to look for Niva, she suddenly called out to him from behind. Alvaric turned and jumped down. He smiled widely at Niva, who had just arrived. Though calling it a coincidence wasn't quite right—Niva had been searching for her master.
"Finally, you're here," Alvaric greeted with a wide grin.
He held out the red egg he had just gotten. Niva furrowed her brow. She didn't understand why her master was handing her an egg.
"What is this?" She tilted her head.
"Can you incubate this egg?"
Niva looked shocked. She was a Princess Ant Bee. Since young, she had never incubated eggs, and besides, Ant Bees don't lay eggs. They give birth.
Though they resembled ants and bees and had many traits of both, they were beings from another world. Not like Earth. This world had its own laws and rules.
Still, Alvaric didn't care. He wanted Niva to incubate the egg. If it failed to hatch, it would be Niva's fault, not his.
In short, Alvaric just wanted to escape responsibility and have someone else to blame. One word—sly.
"Are you sure?" Alvaric asked again.
Niva wanted to respond and refuse again. But Alvaric seemed not to care. He walked back up. He left Niva in a room full of Bloodmaw corpses. Soon after, Niva followed.
She still held the red egg. She had no idea how to incubate an egg that was the size of a head.
"I think Master Alvaric hit his head and started acting weird," she muttered.
---
They made it back up. They stayed the night. They refilled their water supplies as much as they could carry. They didn't know how far the dungeon the Giant Sandworm mentioned really was.
The Giant Sandworm didn't give exact coordinates of where the dungeon was. It only said it was in the east.
"We've been traveling for a week, and that dungeon still hasn't shown up. Did that Giant Sandworm lie to us?" Alvaric began to suspect he was being played.
But a few seconds later, he shook off the thought. The Giant Sandworm had revived him. It sacrificed itself—no way it would lie after doing that.
Alvaric believed the dungeon existed, but maybe the Giant Sandworm forgot the details or didn't know them either.
"If it really didn't know, that explains why it didn't do this itself."
Alvaric began to consider other possibilities for why the Giant Sandworm gave this mission to him. Whatever it was, it was still a hassle.
---
Marie, Kael, and the Hollow Fang troops successfully entered. They stepped forward into the dungeon, but one second later, they were stunned. Their exit portal suddenly closed.
People started panicking. Marie, as the commander of the squad, tried to calm them down.
"We'll be fine. The government and the other Hollow Fang members will find a way to open the portal again. This isn't the first time this happened," she said.
At first, people started to relax, but then they looked around. That's when their faces turned pale—including Marie's. They were surrounded by hundreds of truck-sized monsters.
Their eyes were red, and murderous intent radiated from them. It was obvious they didn't come with good intentions.
"Damn. This is really bad," Marie muttered.