The nest of the Armor Ants really resembled a cavern type dungeon.
But unlike a dungeon, it wasn’t a hole that was created from the inclination of magic power, so the walls didn’t shine and what illuminated the inside was the luminous moss that the Armor Ants planted.
The strength of the wall depended on the liquid that the Armor Ants secreted, so we couldn’t use powerful magic too freely here. Also the escape item that could only be used inside a dungeon with inclination of magic power naturally couldn’t be used here. That was why conquering the nest of Armor Ants was considered to have higher difficulty level than conquering an ordinary dungeon with the same level.
But,
「……Erio……there’ll be three enemies at the next corner……」
「Got it, HAAAAAAAH!」
「I’ll be a disgrace of a commander if I leave everything to Eriol-kun! Superhuman Strengthening!」
「「「GIIIIIIIIIIIH!?」」」
Alicia secretly let me know of the enemy positions that she learned using her Area Detection Skill.
I cut down the enemies using the adamantite penis that was fixed into the form of a long sword.
Rainy-san crushed the swarm of ants by swinging around her iron rods.
With us as the vanguard, the subjugation force charged through the nest without pause.
The ants attacking us were a lot, as expected from a gigantic nest like this.
But it seemed that the remaining battle force here wasn’t really considerable, perhaps because this nest had just dispatched an army.
We were able to cut through the shortest route without meeting any difficulty.
There were around 40 adventurers who assaulted into this nest.
The rear unit was following through the path that we cut open while blocking the side paths using mucus that was made from mixing the magic of Water Sorcerer and special magic item. It was only something temporary but, it prevented the ants from crowding the shortest route.
Like that we charged through the vast nest for a while.
「「GIIIIIIIIIH!」」
Then right in front of the egg-laying room where the queen was located.
A piercing shriek echoed through the large open space.
The opponent was equivalent to level 120.
Unlike the ant general, this was the strongest type of Armor Ant that was specialized for battle.
Two Armor Ant Guardians appeared in front of us while radiating intense pressure.
But,
「HAAAAAAAAAAAAH!」
Even they couldn’t slow us down.
Whether it was their huge claws, or fangs, or armors that were intended to protect the queen, all of them were meaningless before the penis sword.
I dodged their lunging huge bodies and cut off the two’s heads using my hardened penis.
「O-oi oi……Eriol lad, aren’t you too strong……!?」
「Something like Guardian should be the biggest obstacle in destroying an enlarged nest like this……!!」
「As I thought Eriol-kun is the most magnificent boy……marry me」
The people at the rear unit abruptly got noisy.
But negligence was forbidden.
This was a nest that created an army without getting detected by any adventurer.
It wouldn’t be strange for some kind of outrageous irregularity to wait for us ahead.
We rushed into the large room where the queen was lying in wait while keeping our vigilance.
……But, that vigilance was completely meaningless.
Sprawling at the back of the large room was just a very normal Armor Ant Queen.
It couldn’t even escape to another room with how big it was. Rainy-san’s attack skill ended it life very easily.
「What, this is a real let down. And here I wondered what kind of crazy irregular would be waiting for us in this unbelievable nest.」
「This is also thanks to the nest getting shorthanded because it just sent out an army. ……And most of all, it was because Eriol boy is just too powerful. Well in any case, let’s just clean up this place quickly.」
After saying that, the rear unit divided into several groups and they started exterminating the ants.
But while that was going on, the commander Rainy-san and the people around her had a different mood.
「Strange……this queen is just too normal. We still don’t know how this nest could turn this big without getting detected. There should be something here for sure.」
I also felt the same.
There I called out to Rainy-san who was starting to check the queen’s corpse.
「Umm, actually there’s something bothering me a little. Can I go deeper to investigate?」
「? I don’t mind but, there’re still ants remaining in this nest. I won’t need to worry if it’s you Eriol-kun, but please don’t go alone just in case.」
I received a permission from Rainy-san who focused in the queen’s autopsy and headed to the back of the egg-laying room together with Alicia.
There we found a straight passage that stretched forward for long.
It wasn’t a place for storing food or for piling up trash. A mysterious passage.
(When I investigated the nest’s structure using penis detection, there were multiple strange passages that were clearly sticking out of the whole structure. Those passages were too long to be simple errors in digging. This passage is one of them but……as expected, it’s a dead end.)
I thought that perhaps it would lead to a place like a secret feeding ground or something, but when I actually checked it out…….
It was exactly like how I detected through my penis, that passage was completely cut off at the end.
But this made me even more puzzled.
Why did the Armor Ants dig a passage this deep when it didn’t have any use at all?
As I pondered that question.
「……I’m so happy, for Eriol to be the one who invited me……♥」
「Eh!? Wait, Alicia!?」
Alicia suddenly pushed me down. Why!?
「? You suddenly brought me to a deserted spot like this……I thought that perhaps Erio was making excuse of investigating……to 『get along』 with me away from everyone……」
「I’m not you know!?」
「……But, it’s Erio’s fault for making me thought like that……I’m already prepared now……I’m fine even with just the tip, that’s why……」
「What do you mean just the tip!? Besides if we do it here then we’ll absolutely get found out by someone!」
「Don’t worry……I’ll do my best to keep my voice down, and I’ll use Area Detection to make sure nobody get near. Then if I use Sacred Defense to put up a magic wall in this straight tunnel……nobody will find out for sure.」
Can’t you please not use the Sacred Knight’s sacred skill for something like that!?
Or rather this thorough preparation of her……had Alicia fumbled around for a solution to do secret sex so she wouldn’t need to go through the abstinence challenge ever again!?
As I tried to calm Alicia down.
「……Eh?」Alicia’s eyes suddenly widened.
And then she said something unbelievable.
「……Erio. At the other side of this dead end……there is, something……」
「Eh……?」
Alicia’s words, it must be because she had activated her Area Detection Skill in order to get along with me.
I got a really bad premonition and immediately started digging the wall with my penis sword.
Some time passed like that and the sword suddenly stopped meeting any resistance from the wall.
The wall crumbled down in one go. Then what we saw there was,
「Wha……!?」
A space that was illuminated by phosphorescence sprawled out before us.
The light didn’t come from luminous moss.
It was the wall that shined due to magic power inclination.
Which meant, a dungeon.
「This place……the dungeon of Algo Village that isn’t crushed to leave it for resource gathering!? Why is the Armor Ant’s nest connected to here……!?」
My mind came to a halt for several moments because the sight was just too unbelievable.
However the next moment, my paused mind exploded into motion.
──Don’t tell me, the Armor Ants preyed on monsters directly from this dungeon!? Behind the adventurers’ back!?
──I never heard of Armor Ant that could has that kind of guile! But without that kind of cunning it should be impossible for the Armor Ants to grow its force secretly like this……!
──The Armor Ants grew like that but with most of the dungeons crushed, they suddenly don’t have enough food and form an army to go out hunting. If that’s the case……the puzzle piece more or less fit!
──But if I remember it right you should only be able to enter a dungeon from the entrance……but here the nest is definitely connected……is a monster that was born from the dungeon has special privilege that human don’t have!?
Various other questions and hypothesis also came up in my mind.
But it was impossible to investigate it any further with just Alicia and me.
I blocked the passage so that monsters from the dungeon wouldn’t wander in before hurriedly going back through the passage together with Alicia who had also turned speechless.
「Rainy-san, trouble! This nest, it grew using a method that had no precedent at all until now……! If this nest actually isn’t the only one──!」
My words paused there.
Rainy-san and other adventurers who were surrounding the queen’s corpse were making expressions that looked graver than before. However Rainy-san immediately noticed our urgency and urged us to continue.
I told her about what I saw at the end of the passage and also explained about the various assumptions that came to mind.
「……tsu!?」
The expressions of Rainy-san and others became abnormally pale.
Their reaction made me thought 「Don’t tell me……」.
「……Just now, we found “trace of wings” on the queen’s corpse.」
Rainy-san put together her words with a lot of effort to keep calm.
「In other words this queen is the second generation. It’s a locust type.」
Locust type.
It was a type of Armor Ant that sprang forth when the nest had been in a saturated state for long. It had flying capability in order to head toward a new land. In addition with this locust type, the first generation── deeply inherited the trait of the nest where it was born and raised. At the same time more than one of them would leave out the nest.
In other words──.
「Let’s report to the guild quickly. This nest is just the tip of the iceberg. Armor Ants with the wits to parasite on dungeon to increase their strength might have already scattered to everywhere in the kingdom.」
This wouldn’t be at the level of an uproar just from an Armor Ant army anymore.
Deep underground in locations that were unknown to us, there were countless calamities gathering strength even now.
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