As Mateo, Hannah, Nymh, and Penny kept the swarming ants at bay, Luke settled in to execute his plan. Ignoring the screeching Queen, he used Cascading Threads. Since he held on to the others with Threads of Mana already, keeping them connected for Lifeweaver's Sacrifice, new threads of mana extended from them, rather than from himself. The network of threads grew at a rapid pace, extending from the party members and moving outward like a wave, feeding off the ants. As more and more monsters appeared before Luke's inner eye, his vision blurred, and it grew difficult to keep his thoughts from slipping.

  He'd found the current limit of Cascading Threads, then. Still, with more than fifty monsters, that was plenty. The monster piercing through Luke and his friends again and again increased its rate of attack. Healing the wounds required massive amounts of mana, but that didn't matter much when connected to a web of little scurrying batteries.

  Even with Luna's buff, spotting their attacker proved impossible. That, however, didn't matter much, since Luke had expected as much. He didn't need to see the monster responsible. All he needed was a window of opportunity. Staying still, concentrating for all he was worth, he extended Weaver's Perception to the immediate area around himself, excluding everything else. While he waited, Luke pushed through the mental exhaustion to extend more Threads of Mana in every direction.

  He'd get only one chance at this.

  In those dire circumstances, when his friends and family fought and struggled, and the Queen readied some gruesome attack, Luke found himself grinning through his gritted teeth. This was what had been missing before. Despite it all, this, the challenge, the danger, made it fun. A dangerous way to live, he didn't deny, but the feeling of being alive, of life, power, and excitement surging through him, was full of meaning. Meaning he, in that moment, embraced with all his heart.

  There!

  Loom's Reminder [Active - Mana Cost: Moderate]: For a brief moment, each touch produces a thread.

  In that split-second, the attack came for him and not for his friends. Seizing that moment, Luke activated Loom's Reminder. He'd tested it once just to see its duration and had been irritated to find it lasted no more than a second. This time, though, a second was more than enough.

  A spear pierced Luke's stomach. In that instant, several things were set in motion. First, the still plentiful healing mana in his meta-heart rushed to the wound and began healing it. Second, Loom's Reminder extended a thread of mana to the monster holding the weapon embedded in Luke's body, even as it pulled away. Third, Luke's many threads of mana, already extended and waiting for prey, descended as one to converge on the target still within reach.

  Between two breaths, blood erupted in all directions as Luke annihilated the monster attacking them faster than their eyes could track.

  ...Blood?

  Pieces fell to the ground in a pool of blood and gore, pieces he recognized.

  Not an ant.

  Human.

  "What happened?" Milla shrieked, turning in a circle to see which of their friends had just died.

  Luke drew in a deep breath and shook his head. "It was a woman."

  "What?" Milla asked. "Who?"

  "The one attacking us."

  "It was a human?" Nymh shouted. "You murdered one of the Integrated?"

  With a twist of his threads, ants died in droves. Luke felt a little numb, but the revelation of his having killed another Integrated didn't bother him too much, he found, as he pointed at the ceiling and spoke in a loud and clear voice. "The Queen. Mateo, Penny, Hannah. Please kill it."

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  Mateo surged forward, dodging ants to reach the far wall. Penny rose into the air, and Hannah disappeared into a shadow. Cascading Thread's low cooldown allowed him to use the skill again. With his Threads of Mana and Nymh's fighting prowess, they kept the ants at bay while the others dealt with the queen.

  Milla made sure Nymh's health was topped up at all times, but still had time for conversation. "How are you feeling, little brother?"

  He glanced at her. "What do you mean?"

  "You know what I mean," she said, a wet sheen covering her eyes. "That was a human. We're still standing in her blood."

  Luke busied himself juggling his inventory to make room for the best-quality monster cores. "It's not like I murdered her."

  "No, but-"

  "She tried to kill us. Several times, even."

  "Yeah, but-"

  "That's what it's been like. Every time we meet someone, monster or Integrated, in a dungeon, they try to either kill us or take advantage of us." He gave her a look. "It's a cold universe out there, I think. The Greater System is not a nice place, or thing... Whatever it is."

  "That's not what I'm saying," Milla said.

  He gave her another look after bringing down a rampaging Behemoth by taking out the nerves in its legs before piercing its main mana channel and pulling out its monster core. "Then what are you saying?"

  "You ended a life," she said, holding up a hand. "No, let me finish. It's not your fault, and you were justified, and everything, but that doesn't change what you did. It's understandable if you're sad."

  "I'm not sad."

  A rumble, followed by a screech from up above, put an end to that awkward conversation. The Queen had looked better. Schorch marks from lightning, blood pooling in places from a storm of piercing wounds, and shadows crawling over its antennae made for a picture of suffering. The attack growing inside it had slowed, its color dulled, but the Queen still pulled energy from the light sources in the walls.

  While the ants on the ground were far less numerous than before, they weren't retreating, not even after their strongest ally, the woman, had died. If an attack was coming from their Queen, wouldn't the ants escape to safety?

  "Isn't it an attack?"

  Nymh turned to look over her shoulder. "What?"

  "Nothing," he said, frowning as the glow increased in intensity once again. "Just thinking."

  Milla, who was getting low on mana, got down on one knee, breathing hard. "What are you talking about?"

  The powerful green sheen inside the Queen was concentrating at its center. Was it keeping it away from the attackers, or was it just getting ready to unleash the attack? And about that, where was the attack coming from? The ants he knew that were able to launch acid-like attacks did so from their rear, and the Queen's was still embedded in the wall.

  He blinked. "Shit."

  "You're getting pretty annoying, little brother."

  "I think it's self-destructing," he said, pointing at the ants still doing everything in their power to swarm the group. "They're not leaving because they'll die without their Queen."

  "That doesn't make any sense," Nymh said.

  Milla turned to her. "Why not?"

  "Why would the Queen show up just to kill itself?"

  Luke: "Hannah. I think the other two have it handled. How fast can you get to the deepest part of these tunnels?"

  Hannah: "It wouldn't take long. Why?"

  Luke: "I think there's a second Queen in waiting. This one is going to blow itself up to kill us just to protect the Princess."

  Luke: "And yeah, I know that isn't the right term."

  Hannah: "I don't know shit about ants, but I'll go down there if you want."

  Luke thought of something and entered his interface to re-read the text for the quest.

  Luke: "No. On second thought, let's not."

  Luke: "Everyone! We have to run. The Queen is going to blow! Toward the surface! Go!"

  "What the hell is going on?" Nymh asked, running to keep up with Luke, who'd already set off, pulling Milla with him. Above, the trio ceased their attacks and fled.

  "This queen is going to kill itself, I just know it, even if I can't see the spellweave. Maybe it's a skill."

  Nymh was about to reply, but Luke held up a hand. He checked to see that Luna wasn't falling behind, then explained. "There's another Queen down here somewhere, or there will be. When this Queen realized we weren't going to die, it decided to off itself to get the job done. The rest of the ants are trying to keep us here. See how they're surrounding us, rather than charging in all at once?"

  "But the quest," Milla said. "The portal."

  "As I read it, the quest should complete the moment this Queen detonates."

  "Because that ends the Queen's reign."

  He gave her a nod. "That's right."

  "What about all those Integrated?" Milla asked.

  "What about them?"

  She was panting hard now, not used to the physical exertion. "They'll still be here. Slaves."

  "They made it very clear what their wishes were on the subject of their subjugation. The abused has to want to leave, or rescue won't work."

  "But-"

  "No buts," Luke said. "Just run."

  They'd made it up the slope a little, ants chasing them en masse, when the sound of something ripping apart reached them, echoing on the bare stone walls. A green light shone, and a wave of acid expanded in every direction.

  Luke wet his lips. "That thing is going to reach us. Get ready!"