The tunnel started to widen as Joe listened to Lucky and Robyn chatting like they were best friends.

  Robyn bounced alongside Lucky, his eyes wide with curiosity. “What’s the worst, most useless thing you’ve ever found with Scavenger’s Luck?”

  Lucky wrinkled his nose, his whiskers twitching with distaste. “False teeth. They still had food stuck in them.”

  “Yuck!” Rose gagged, quickening her pace to escape the conversation, joining Dawn and Brian up ahead.

  Joe rubbed his chin. “How much control do you have over Scavenger’s Luck now?”

  Lucky’s ears twitched. “Up until QRL 15, it was like spinning a wheel—sometimes you got a nice surprise, sometimes nasty. Now I can boost the skill for more control, but it costs extra mana. That’s how I found you guys.”

  Joe raised a brow. “Impressive. I had a feeling it wasn’t by accident.”

  Lucky hesitated, his tail flicking. “I didn’t want to mention it earlier, but yeah—I burned extra mana to find you. The mission was to guide those two factions into the colony as quickly and safely as possible and then report the route back to Andras so his faction could follow.”

  “As usual, he’s got you doing his donkey work.” TJ snorted, though his expression softened when Lucky’s ears drooped. “Look, I’m just saying—don’t let that guy walk all over you.”

  Lucky shrugged, his voice quiet. “Say what you like about Andras, but those factions protected me topside. They lost an elf to a weevil swarm.”

  TJ’s face hardened. “My heart bleeds for them.” Under Lucky’s pointed glare, he sighed. “I’m blunt as a bag of hammers, but I’m looking out for you, little bro.”

  Lucky nodded and turned to Robyn, who launched into a story about leveling up his Gnaw and Iron Belly skills during the industrial nightmare of floor three.

  Joe only half-listened, his mind turning to an idea. Could Lucky help them find the first clue to open Rose’s rare loot box? Caspar had hinted that Poppy might help, but Joe hadn’t followed up yet.

  Falling back a step, Joe opened a private channel. “Hey, Poppy. You there?”

  Her little avatar popped into the corner of his vision, bright and bubbly. “Yip-yip, Joe! Poppy here!”

  “Caspar mentioned you might be able to help.”

  “Poppy loves to help Joe! Ask, ask!”

  “You’re the best, Poppy. Here’s the thing—we’ve got that rare loot box Rose snagged in the Red Bamboo Lagoon. Caspar said we need three clues to open it, and the first one’s hidden on this floor. Any chance you can help us narrow it down?”

  Poppy bounced with excitement, pixelated sparkles erupting around her as she traced a starlit trail with her paw. “Poppy can’t say where! Big, big floor. You have three in seventeen hundred chances of finding it with the help of your faction.”

  Joe winced. “Not great odds.”

  “Not good odds, but you could get Lucky!” She gave him a cartoonishly exaggerated nod and wink.

  Joe smirked, catching her drift. “Got it.”

  “Sorry, no more help to give!” She trilled, spinning in a circle and humming a familiar pop tune. “I should be so Lucky, with my rubber ducky…la la la la la la laaaaah!” Then, with a flourish, she vanished.

  Joe blinked. “Well, that was… strange. Even for Poppy.”

  He looked up to find Lucky chatting with Robyn, his ears twitching as he described another scavenging adventure. Joe’s smirk grew. It seemed the little guy might be the key to solving this puzzle after all.

  ***

  The veins on the wall pulsed in rhythm, each contraction followed by a low whooshing sound. Dawn slowed, throwing a questioning glance at Joe.

  His breath hitched. The sound reminded him of the steady thump of his sister Emma’s heartbeat. An old memory surfaced. The one where he’d first heard her beating heart through the doctor’s ‘magic wand’ when she was still in his mom’s belly. Back then, he’d been thrilled to become a big brother. “Man of the house,” they’d called him, though all it really meant was more chores while his friends played.

  When Emma was born things got complicated. Their mom got sick, Granddad moved in, and Joe got angry because no one would tell him what was wrong or let him see his baby sister while she was stuck in the hospital for weeks. He’d thought doctors could fix everything. It turned out, life wasn’t that simple.

  He shoved the memory down. He couldn’t afford to get lost in the past.

  “These veins.” Joe tried to keep his voice steady as he tapped the wall. “They carry food to the Queen’s larval chamber, right?” He glanced at Brian. “Think they also work like an alert system? Chemical signals or something?”

  Brian nodded, looking grim.

  “Shit.” Dawn froze in place.

  “What’s wrong?” Joe's stomach dropped, already dreaded the answer.

  Dawn’s eyes stayed locked on her map. “The map’s lit up like Christmas at the mall. Looks like those green zoners killed the guards at the entrance, and now the whole colony’s waking up.”

  “There’s just one way in and out, right?” Joe glanced over his shoulder.

  Dawn nodded. “Yeah, but the colony’s a maze. The Queen’s chamber is in the middle, but there are dead-end tunnels everywhere. No activity in some, we could use one to avoid a swarm but no guarantees they won’t find and corner us.”

  Joe looked at Robyn. “Think you could burrow us into another tunnel if we hit a dead end?”

  Robyn scratched behind his ear, his tail flicking. “Maybe. Depends on how close the tunnels are.”

  Dawn frowned. “I can’t zoom in enough to say for sure, but it looks like it might be possible.”

  Joe pulled a smoke pellet from his inventory and held it up. “Would this help? Aren’t ants supposed to hate smoke?”

  Brian crossed his arms. “These aren’t regular ants. They’re wasps, remember? System-modified, so who knows what they hate.”

  “At the very least, it’ll block their view.” Joe shrugged.

  Lucky’s ears perked up. “Smoke’s good, but you know what’s better? Messing with their antennae. If Rose can whip up some mist, the vapor could coat their feelers and interfere with them detecting pheromone signals.”

  Rose nodded. “I’ve got Cooling Mist. I use it to prevent heat exhaustion, but it might work.”

  Lucky clapped his paws, bouncing forward on his toes. “Perfect! The temperature drop will slow them down, too. It’ll mess with their metabolism.”

  The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

  When they reached the entrance to the colony, the scene was chaotic. Shredded bits of paper-like hive material framed the opening, scorched and cracked as if a fireball had gone off. A sickly sweet scent of pheromones wafted out, mingling with distant screeches and shouts.

  Dawn checked her map again. “There’s a wide tunnel to the left and a bunch of narrow ones to the right. The left is going to be carnage city, so we’re going right. Stick close.”

  Joe waited for Dawn’s signal, his fingers twitching around the smoke pellet.

  “Now.” She nodded.

  Joe activated Shadow Step and darted into the tunnel. He moved twenty paces to the left, his heart pounding as he caught sight of what was left of the green hoodies. They were being torn apart, their screams drowned by the angry chittering of the swarm. He hurled the smoke bomb and vanished back to the group as Dawn ushered everyone into the right tunnel.

  The air grew tighter, the walls narrowing until Joe felt like the tunnel itself was closing in. Behind them, the sounds of scurrying feet echoed louder, accompanied by frantic ant screeches. There was no turning back.

  The dead end loomed ahead, made of compacted earth and chewed hive material. Joe pressed his hand against it. Solid. He glanced at Robyn, whose rat-like paws flexed.

  “You sure about this, little guy?” Rose raised a brow.

  Robyn grinned, showing off oversized incisors. “Oh, I’ve got this.”

  He picked up a stone, crunched it in his jaws with a horrifyingly loud crack, and swallowed. His fur shimmered, taking on a stony texture. “Stand back, ten paces. Safety first!”

  With his tail whipping like a propeller, Robyn dove into the wall. Dirt and hive material flew in thick clods as he burrowed through with the enthusiasm of a kid digging into chocolate ice cream.

  Dim light peeked through after a few moments. By the time he finished, the tunnel was reinforced with sticks and vines he’d somehow woven into place.

  Brian crawled through last, grunting as TJ helped him stand. The low ceiling forced them all to crouch.

  “I’m impressed.” Brian massaged his back. “You didn’t just dig through—you stabilized the whole thing. Clever work.”

  Robyn flushed under the praise. “Just common sense.”

  Dawn waved them forward. “Let’s move. This tunnel’s empty now, but it won’t stay that way.”

  The air grew warmer and stale as they wound through the narrow passages. The dampness clung to Joe’s skin like it was seeping into his bones.

  The entrance to the Queen’s chamber stretched ahead, dark and yawning like the open maw of some prehistoric predator. Joe’s boots skidded to a halt, his stomach doing somersaults. Two velvet ants the size of ponies blocked the way, their red-and-black fluff deceptively soft-looking. The rippling muscle beneath their exoskeletons told a much deadlier story.

  “Uh, those ones are...not cuddly.” Joe took a step back as the ants' crystal-black eyes locked onto him. The clicking of their mandibles was almost hypnotic—until one of them let out a screech so high-pitched it felt like someone was trying to saw his skull open.

  Without hesitation, they charged.

  Joe’s body moved before his brain could catch up. “Rose! Cooling Mist! Do the thing—now!”

  Rose swung her staff. A glowing blue mist erupted from the staff, arcing toward the ants. The fine spray clung to their fur, making their antennae twitch like they’d just been hit with a high-voltage static shock. The charging beasts faltered, their steps jerky and uncoordinated, as if someone had swapped their brains for old modems.

  Joe didn’t wait to see if the mist would hold. He yanked a smoke pellet from his inventory and hurled it down the corridor. Thick gray smoke exploded, swallowing the disoriented ants in an instant.

  Joe took the lead, slipping past the disoriented ants, their angry chittering and lashing mandibles a little too close for comfort. Smoke and mist swirled in the tunnel behind him as he sprinted into the Queen’s chamber. His chest heaved, the stale, damp air clawing at his lungs while his heart threatened to punch a hole through his ribcage.

  Behind them, the sounds of scrabbling legs and angry clicks grew muffled. Killing those ants would’ve been like ringing the dinner bell for the swarm. And Joe had no intention of being on the menu today.

  Slowing his pace, Joe’s boots crunched against the gritty floor. The pounding in his chest refused to settle as he took in the vast chamber. The ground was littered with structures that looked like twisted termite mounds, their warped shapes casting strange shadows. His eyes drifted to the center of the chamber—and the blood drained from his face.

  At the center of the chamber loomed the behemoth of a queen.

  The space stretched at least three football fields in length. Her crimson striped bulk was easily the size of a freight train. Her segmented, glistening abdomen faced directly toward them, pointed like a loaded cannon.

  She was motionless.

  Joe couldn’t tell if she was sleeping or lying in wait for prey to draw near.

  Her enormous body twitched and her abdomen rippled, each movement making Joe’s stomach churn. The sickening pulse traveled down her body until something gray and slimy oozed out—a grotesque bullet of goo that hit the ground with a wet plop.

  The smell hit him like a punch to the gut. Rot and acid, sharp and overwhelming, twisted his stomach into knots. He swallowed hard, the words slipping out before he could stop them.

  “Okay... I officially miss the ants.”

  The Queen threw her head back and dragged her colossal body around, her carapace scraping along the ground with a sound that made Joe's teeth itch. With drills for hands, she used her massive mandibles to scoop up the oozing gray blob she’d just birthed. The larvae hung limp until her snaking tongue whipped out and smacked its wobbly, prickled butt.

  Joe’s eyes bulged as the thing startled to life. Its mouth opened wide, releasing a bellow like a foghorn, rows of needle-sharp teeth gleaming inside.

  Turning sideways, the Queen bent low, her feelers sweeping the ground. She shunted forward, her bulk making the movement look like an old steam engine struggling up a hill. Finding a clear patch, she plunged the drill on one insectile arm into the soil, boring a deep hole. With little ceremony, she dropped the shrieking larvae in and covered it with dirt, the muffled wails fading into the earth.

  “That’s one way to parent.” Brian’s face was a mix of fascination and mild disgust.

  “Save a fortune on formula and diapers.” Joe chuckled, his granddad’s old joke about coming out of retirement to cover baby expenses echoing in his head. But something about the mounds tugged at his focus. Using Quick Wit, he scanned the chamber and locked onto a faint movement near one of the dirt piles.

  “Heads up, we’re not alone.” TJ’s voice was sharp, his machete pointing toward the far entrance. Joe followed the blade’s tip to a cluster of factions entering the chamber. Their weapons gleamed with what looked suspiciously like orange bug guts.

  For a tense moment, Joe expected the velvet warrior ants to pour into the chamber in a tidal wave of legs and fury. But nothing happened.

  Dawn chewed her bottom lip. “Something’s wrong.”

  “What?” Joe scanned the chamber.

  “I see warrior ants swarming the tunnels outside this chamber, but they’re not coming inside.” Dawn’s gaze remained glossy as she scanned her map.

  “That’s because they’re forbidden by the Queen.” Lucky gestured toward the mounds. “She has a prime guardian to defend her brood, but for some reason, he hasn’t shown up yet.”

  Brian folded his arms and tilted his head, watching the Queen lay another larvae. “Well, the Queen doesn’t seem to care that we’re here. At least not until we get closer.”

  TJ waved a hand at the mounds. “Why doesn’t she need the warrior ants to protect her brood? They’re buried in the ground like little fat sausages.”

  Joe didn’t have to answer.

  The first ascender to approach a mound learned the hard way. With an explosion of dirt and a spray of debris, the mound collapsed, revealing a grotesque larvae twice the size of the newborn one they’d seen buried. Its gaping maw opened in a piercing shriek, rows of jagged teeth glinting like shattered glass. It bent over itself like some deranged toy slinky and snapped forward, swallowing the unlucky ascender whole. The chamber echoed with its cries, blending into the shrieks of the other newborn larvae.

  A nearby faction watched the carnage with what could only be described as morbid curiosity. Another group, an all-female faction, shouted at them, their voices rising in heated argument. Insults flew fast and furious, cutting through the noise like dagger-sharp barbs.

  Robyn groaned, shaking his head. “Ugh, they’re the worst.”

  Joe glanced at him. “Who?”

  “Drama Queens.” Robyn’s ears flicked back in irritation. “My faction leader had a fling with their leader once. Total disaster.”

  Joe couldn’t help but smirk. “Drama Queens, huh? Not just a clever name?”

  “They live for outrage.” Robyn rolled his eyes. “I think one of their mages even has an achievement called Certified Karen. No idea what it means, but it’s definitely not a compliment.”

  Dawn raised an eyebrow. “Doesn’t sound like it.”

  Joe tightened his grip on his weapon. “We can’t stick around to play referee. We need to lock in the boss battle before they do.”

  “Yeah, but there’s one problem.” TJ jerked his thumb toward the chamber.

  The ground trembled beneath them as more mounds erupted, dirt spraying like geysers in every direction. Larvae spilled out one after another, their ravenous cries filling the chamber. The swarm of writhing bodies created an impassable barrier, the path to the Queen now littered with snapping maws.

  As if things weren’t bad enough, a shadow passed overhead. A winged velvet ant descended with an audacious flourish, landing near the Queen. Its golden-edged wings flared behind it like a cape, its velvet fur perfectly coiffed. If ants had mustaches, this one was twirling his.

  Joe blinked, dumbfounded, as the creature struck a pose straight out of a B-movie. Legs splayed wide, head thrown back, it bellowed in a voice dripping with over-the-top bravado, “Never fear, Evel Kill Weevil is here!”