17 Dangers In The Underground Maze [Part 1]

The system warning echoed loudly in the four walls of Asumi's skull, Ding~Ding~Ding~ [System: Warning host is in grave danger act now!]

Asumi, hearing the system ringing in his head, jolted awake. He muttered, "Wait, what's going on?"

Asumi read the message on the system window, muttering, "You've gotta be kidding me. I thought the next attack was supposed to be after tomorrow."

[System: Timer Adjusted, they found you]

Asumi questioned, "But how? I left there as soon as I saw them." Then a thought passed through Asumi's mind. "With all those ants, it's impossible that not a single one saw me."

Then Asumi cursed under his breath in frustration, "What the hell am I going to do?"

Meanwhile, the ants arrived at the scene with their general. She turned her head and saw two holes, one next to a tree, the other right opposite it. She ordered, "Group two, check the other hole. Group one, this one."

She pointed her horn at the hole emanating strong pheromones, signaling, "Sure, General," the scouts said as they made their way into the hole.

Then they went in and saw tall pillars and hollow walls, dim light from the moon filtering into the maze from the hole. Muttering, "What the hell is all this?" said an ant observing the scene, then the ants spread throughout the maze.

Another of the ants searching came across a dead end, muttering, "It's a dead end here, guys." Others also met dead ends. Meanwhile, as one of the ants stood in the passageway, she saw a huge shadow, the entity darted away.

She muttered, "I saw something." She went to check, following the same route she saw it go through, only to reach a dead end. Confused, she muttered, "Dead end? Where did it go? I thought I saw something."

Then it turned back and saw the being with huge mandibles behind her. She started slowly walking backward, "No, stay back," her back hits the wall, signaling there was nowhere to escape.

"Ahhhh!"

A scream was heard by one of the scout ants inside the hole, mused, "That voice..." Then she yelled, "Number twelve!" She looked ahead and saw a path, where she headed towards the scream and followed it.

Eventually reaching the dead end, she saw the body of her ant comrade as it lay lifeless on the ground, then her head rolled next to her feet.

Then a huge surge of fear gripped her. She mused, "No, it knows we are here." Immediately, she snapped her mandibles in frustration. "Damn it, it got number twelve. I'd better warn the others."

The ant turned and walked away from the scene. Meanwhile, Asumi stood looking at the system window, "Wow, I didn't think the map reward was so cool. I can literally see the entire maze."

Asumi's antennae twitched with anticipation as he looked at the map showing all his enemies in the maze in a red dot indicator, while it shows his position in a blue dot indicator.

Asumi, feeling confident, muttered, "With this, defeating those ant bastards should be like farming exp in a video game."

Then he saw on the map there was an ant stuck in a dead end nearby. He smiled and muttered, "Don't mind if I do," as he sprinted there to take care of that one.

Meanwhile, the ants, losing their troops very fast, the scout ant looking for her companions yelled, "Hey, everyone, number thirteen, number twenty-six." She didn't get any response.

She darted to the path she saw on the right and saw another dead body. Her legs started quivering in fear for the worst. "No way am I the only one alive?"

She ran out of the scene and bumped into another ant. The ant hit its face onto her abdomen. Shocked, the frightened ant yelled, "Who's there?" The other ant replied, "It's me, number fifteen."

"Number twenty, ugh, I'm so glad to see you," number fifteen said in relief. The ants turned and looked at each other, engaging in a small chat.

Number twenty questioned, "So where is everybody?" Number fifteen sighed and said with a hint of grief, "They are either lost or have been murdered."

Number twenty felt a shiver go down her spine. She paused and questioned, "Murdered?" She said barely audible. Number fifteen nodded in response.

Number twenty said, panicking, "What are we going to do?" Number fifteen replied, "Calm down, soldier. We have to report this to the general."

Number twenty said, "But how? I've been lost in this palace since the time I've been here; it has dead ends everywhere."

Number fifteen, receiving this message, mused, "This beast, we came to hunt it down, but instead, we are the ones getting hunted down."

Asumi finished assassinating his fifth enemy, sighed in relief, muttering, "Wow, so far this has been quite easy." He looked at the system window and saw his exp bar was almost full.

"Wow, I guess killing insects sure gives a lot of exp," then he looked at the map and noticed something was off. "Wait a minute, the enemies on the map were seven. I killed five. There are two dots at the east. Where is the last one?"

The seventh scout managed to find her way out of the maze and reported the situation to the general.

"General Ember, we are in big trouble," the general, a brown ant twice the size of an average ant, brown with a black horn on its head, questioned, "What is it, scout?"

The scout, quivering in fear, said, "It's our scout team that has all been wiped out." The general, in shock, questioned, "What? How?"

"I don't know, ma'am. Number eleven was just next to me when a shadow flashed by. The next thing I knew, she was gone. I looked around for her, but then I arrived at a dead end where I saw it. All of our sisters, their bodies slit in half."

The general replied reassuringly, "It's okay, scout seventeen. You have done well to relay this message." The scout looked up to her general, bowing and joining the fleet.

The soldiers, ready for the hunt, all felt uneasy from the terror a fellow ant sister brought to their faces.

The general turned to address her troops, cheering them up, saying, "We came all the way to take the head of the one who slew our sisters. We can't go back or cower in fear. We'll suppress the threat with our sheer numbers. Who's with me?"

All the ants snapped their mandibles, feeling their hearts burning with resolve. Some ants in the troops muttered, "That's General Ember for you. They don't call her the combat general for nothing."

Then Ember turned back to look at the hole, musing, "Now we are ready. Whatever you are, get ready, 'cause you won't be making it to the next morning."