The nest trembled beneath Denwen's feet.
It was subtle at first—a soft pulsing tremor—but quickly, it intensified. Essence surged in thick waves, suffocating the air with unbearable heat and pressure. The source was obvious: the Queen.
She wasn't attacking directly. No, her rage wasn't fire and claws. It was support. It was empowerment. Her aura seeped into the very foundation of the nest, crawling across the stone like creeping veins of violet fire.
The five Rank 3 ants standing before Denwen shuddered.
Then—they stood taller.
Cracks in their carapaces began to seal. Blood flow slowed. Their auras flared as though reignited by divine will. The earth around them shook as they took synchronized steps forward, their damaged limbs realigning with horrifying precision.
Denwen's fists clenched.
"She's healing them... and boosting their strength."
He gritted his teeth, feeling a sudden dip in his own momentum. Despite his massive stat gains, their rising power pressed against him like a wall of unrelenting gravity. His muscles tensed, his breath shortened. He hadn't felt this kind of oppression even when he was being dog-walked.
This was different. This was systematic enhancement.
Suddenly, the walls cracked again—but not from structural collapse.
Snap. Crackle. Chrrrk.
The sound of eggs hatching. One by one, the pods lining the walls and floor split open. Small, squirming red larvae slithered free, only to pounce on the unhatched ones with feral hunger. Within moments, the chamber devolved into madness as red ants devoured their own kind—feasting, evolving, bulking up in seconds.
Cannibalism as evolution.
Their shells turned white, their limbs bulked, and mana flared violently from their growing forms.
Denwen's expression darkened.
"I'm not letting this continue."
He activated Crystal Manifestation, his entire body glittering with radiant light. Shards danced around him as his essence flared. His axe formed with deadly sharpness in one hand; a bracer of crystal locked onto the other.
The five ants charged.
Denwen met them.
The clash sounded like a meteor storm.
BOOOM. CLANG. SKRRRRREEK.
His axe cleaved through the air, smashing into reinforced chitin. He twisted, ducked, and slammed his fist upward, shattering a chunk of an ant's jaw. His brawler instincts came alive—each motion precise, brutal, elegant. He spun low, used an ant's own leg against it, and flipped it to the side before burying a crystal blade into its back.
He was no longer retreating.
He was fighting.
And now, his Crystal Bind held true. With his enhanced strength output and upgraded control, the vines launched from his body were faster, sharper, and more intelligent. One ant was mid-leap when jagged binds wrapped around its legs and dragged it midair into a wall. Denwen capitalized, driving a crystal spear through its chest.
SKRREEEEE!
He turned.
More white ants were bursting from the eggs, racing toward him. Their mandibles clicked, dripping with fresh mana. They were still unstable, still halfway through evolving.
He raised a hand.
Prism Shard Volley—Level 1.
T-THUK! T-THUK! T-THUK!
Rapid-fire crystals tore through the newborns like hot knives through silk. Their evolving shells weren't strong enough yet to block the incoming hail of death. One after another, their heads burst, their limbs shattered, their bodies littering the chamber floor like fallen petals.
The Queen shrieked, sensing the slaughter.
One of the five black ants broke formation, rushing toward the eggs to defend them.
4 versus 1.
Denwen didn't flinch.
He thrived.
It was brutal.
They swarmed. He countered. One ant slammed into his side, another tried to crush him underfoot. He rolled, crystal armor fracturing, then reformed mid-motion. A punch cracked one of their legs; a kick shattered another's eye. But it wasn't enough.
He was still outnumbered.
He ducked under a swipe but took a tail strike to the ribs. Blood splattered. Another blow hit his thigh. A third clipped his shoulder. Crystals shattered.
But Denwen didn't stop.
He let the blows land.
On purpose.
"The Queen... can't move," he muttered between coughs of blood. "She's just a support character. If I end her, this all ends."
He dropped his guard.
One. Two. Three strikes.
His armor flared, absorbing what it could. The rest hit flesh. Blood ran down his arms, his legs.
He smirked.
In a flash, he leapt high into the air, his body gleaming like a falling star. All around him, the shattered crystals from his previous fights began to rise—hovering, spinning, reacting.
The ants shrieked in horror.
Denwen didn't hear them.
A band of crystal formed over his ears, muffling sound entirely. The Queen's screech couldn't save her this time.
He looked down at her, pity flashing briefly in his glowing eyes.
"If it were me a few moments ago... you would've succeeded in eliminating me."
His voice was calm, cold.
"But now, you die like the bug that you are."
He descended.
Axe-first. Essence-charged. Soul-fueled.
Resonance Armor ignited, bursting into a blinding, crystalline glow that covered his form like divine plating.
Prism Shard Volley—Level 3
All the hovering crystals pulsed, synchronized with his essence. The chamber lit up, humming like a storm preparing to split the world in two.
The Queen tried to shield herself, her aura thickening.
Too late.
Denwen dropped, striking the ground like a comet.
BOOOOOOOOOOOM.
A cataclysm of light and pressure ripped through the nest. Singularities detonated in rapid sequence, a chain of microbursts that devastated everything in range. The eggs, the stone, the very mana laced into the walls began to unravel.
CRACK. CRACK. CRACK.
The dungeon groaned, unable to contain the unleashed force.
And then—
BOOM!
A final eruption shattered the Queen's platform and collapsed the ceiling. Dust, stone, and fire exploded outward.
Denwen felt the fabric of the dungeon fracture around him. His body tensed as the ground dropped away beneath his feet.
The Queen let out a final, fractured screech.
And then—
White.
He was hurled backwards violently, his body spinning weightlessly as space itself warped.
SHHHFFFFWOOOOOSH!
The colors dissolved. The pressure vanished.
He blinked.
Everything went still.
He stood in a pure white area.
No air. No noise. Just the shimmering silence of the Nexus Vault.
Then—
PING.
[System Notification] Event: Dungeon Collapse
Damage threshold of the Ant's Nest Dungeon reached and surpassed.
Denwen stood there, bloodied, scorched, victorious.
And smiling.
"What the hell" Riven's voice echoed loudly as it stared in disbelief.