Rune Seeker

Schaaaaaaa!the Annihilation of Amin Thett sounded like thousands of pages ripping at the same time, the two-foot-wide beam hitting the Empress’s head right between the huge mandibles—and passing out the other side.

A blink of an eye was all it took to form a hole wide enough for Hiral to crawl through—and for the Boss’s health bar to disappear.

Dynamic Quest Complete

Congratulations. Achievement unlocked – The ANTagonist

You have successfully survived the judgment of the Empress of the Ants, and dished out a little of your own.

Please access a Dungeon Interface to unlock class-specific reward.

The huge ant in front of him wobbled for a second, two, then toppled sideways to crash to the ground like a falling tree. The floor shook underfoot, and there was a momentary pause in the room as every living ant turned their heads towards their fallen matriarch.

What will it be? Bloody revenge or…?

The ants turned and fled as fast as they could, their thin legs churning as they sped for the nearest tunnel without even stopping to pick up an egg or mourn the dead Empress. The shadows within the adjacent exits grew unnaturally dark, and as soon as an ant touched the shadows, the entire monster simply vanished.

“You think I’ll…?” Yanily started, lightning crackling along his spear.

“Let them go,” Seena said into the party chat. “They aren’t even Elite anymore.”

They aren’t?

A quick check with his View ability as the ants continued to stream out confirmed what Seena had said. Somehow, killing the Empress had demoted all the ants to normal, non-Elite monsters. They didn’t even have a Rank anymore.

“Probably wouldn’t get experience for them anyway,” Seena said. “And, no, Yanily, we aren’t killing the eggs.”

“Your antsplosions already took care of most of them anyway,” Yanily said, pointing to the widely charred walls. It’d be a miracle if there was a surviving egg left anywhere.

As Seena opened her mouth to respond, the final ant left the room, and a new notification window sprang up in front of Hiral’s eyes.

Dungeon – The Endless Tunnels: Complete

New Record

Time: 1:58:46

Congratulations. Achievement unlocked – Dig Deep

You have delved through the tunnels of the anthill and slain the experiments trapped within.

Please access a Dungeon Interface to unlock class-specific reward.

Time until Dungeon – The Endless Tunnels instance closure: 59:99

“And that’s it,” Seena said. “Anybody see the dungeon interface?”

“Under where the Empress was,” Seeyela said, and Hiral turned to find the huge body dissolving into a cloud of solar smoke that seemed to get absorbed by the dungeon itself.

Does the dungeon recycle the energy it uses in creating the monsters?

Within thirty seconds, the entire massive monster disappeared, and the familiar dungeon interface sat in her place.

“Loot time,” Yanily said, actually rubbing his hands together while he held his spear in the crook of his elbow.

“Since you’re so excited about it, why don’t you do the honors, Yan?” Seena suggested, pointing at the interface.

“You think something is going to jump out and try to eat me, don’t you?” Yanily said, but he walked towards the interface anyway.

“Probably not,” Seena said, smiling.

Not surprisingly, Yanily made it to the interface pedestal without any trouble, then waved a hand over the crystal. Like usual, the whole dungeon went dark at the motion, only for light to glow down the several side tunnels connecting to the chamber. Growing and growing, like the illumination was rushing towards them, small sparks of light rushed out of the passages, coating the walls, floor, and ceiling as they spread.

Getting closer, Hiral picked out the shapes of millions of tiny ants, their entire bodies glowing with internal light as they raced across the room and then began to circle five chests. Once each of the chests had a bright, colored ring around it, the rest of the swarm vanished as if it simply sank into the stone, leaving only the center of the chamber with light.

“Only five chests…” Seena said. “One for each of us, and the party chest.”

“You thought maybe Nivian and Wule would still get one?” Hiral asked.

“I guess? It just reminds me they aren’t here with us.”

Seeyela put a hand on her sister’s shoulder without saying anything—they all felt the same way.

“Come on, let’s see what we’ve got,” Seena said, patting Seeyela’s hand with her own in thanks for the comfort.

“Left, Right, you want to check what’s in the party chest while we check our individual ones?” Hiral asked, pointing at the large chest within the yellow ring—that had to be his.

“My ring is a little different now,” Seena said, eying the chest within the ring that burned like fire.

“Mine too,” Seeyela said, her ring still green, but now more sickly and sinister. “Doesn’t look so friendly.”

Yanily didn’t say anything—too busy actually opening his chest—but his looked like it had lightning running around it in continuous circles.

And when Hiral got closer to his, he spotted writing within the yellow light. Lines and lines of glowing script—the same as the double helix on his skin—ran around and around his chest. Did something change since the last dungeon, or did we just not notice it?

“Oooooh, yeaaaaah,” Yanily said, the pure joy in his voice prompting Hiral to crouch down at his chest. The largest of the bunch by far, he had to put both hands under the lip of the lid to flip it open.

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

While the chest wasn’t fancy enough to hold something like the S-Ranked Emperor’s Greatsword or Ring of Amin Thett, Hiral’s eyebrows still went up when he saw what was inside.

Runic Blunderbuss – A-Rank

Similar to his RHCs, this single weapon was significantly longer, with what looked like a stock to brace against his shoulder, and a flaring muzzle at the end of the wide barrel. There was no doubt it was meant to be fired with both hands. A quick inspection showed five crystal discs—where his RHCs each only had three—with two of the discs already having runes on them.

One was the Rune of Impact, while the other was… new. It had curves similar to the Rune of Increase, but there were enough small differences to make it an entirely new rune. If he could figure out what that was, and its corresponding opposite, that would make the blunderbuss an even better reward.

Let’s see… Only minor differences from Increase, which means it’s probably a similar concept. As a weapon, that could mean…

“No exploding,” Seena said from right beside him, a pair of surprisingly bulky gauntlets in her hands. From the looks of them, they’d probably go almost all the way up to her elbows, and seemed to be made out of the same chitin the Royal Brood Guards had. They even had small sets of mandibles extending from the backs of the hand, similar to the knuckle-spikes Vix had worn. “Yeah, looks like the PIMP missed with this one,” she said when she saw him eyeing her loot.

“What do they do?” he asked, forcing thoughts of the rune out of his mind. Seena was right—now wouldn’t be a good time for him to come to grips with the concept, and they’d have time after they got through the loot and achievements.

“View for yourself,” she said, holding the gloves in front of herself, and Hiral did just that.

Gauntlets of the Brood Guards – A-Rank

Wearing both gauntlets grants: Ability (Passive) – For the Brood!

Ability (Passive) – For the Brood! increases all damage done by attacks and abilities by 15% when not holding any weapons in hand.

Hiral raised an eyebrow as he read that item description a second time, then looked up at Seena. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. Those sound amazing for you.”

“What? You think I should go in and start punching things? These would’ve been good for… Vix…” She stammered slightly as she mentioned the party member who’d died on the way to their third dungeon. “For me, though?”

“Read it again,” Hiral said. “All damage and abilities, by fifteen percent, while not holding any weapons in your hands. The wording is very specific. Your floating tomes count as weapons, sure, but you don’t have to hold them, so all your attacks and abilities should benefit from the bonus.”

Seena stared at the gauntlets—probably reading the window again—then started nodding. “Wow, you’re right. That makes these amazing. How about you? Another weapon? How many of those do you even need?”

Hiral chuckled at the comment—she had a point—but held it in front of him across his palms. “A-Rank, so I should be able to keep it in the Arsenal of Amin Thett, and it has five rune slots. One of them even has a new rune in it.”

“I knew you looked like you were going to explode, and that would explain why,” she said. “Think you can figure it out before we leave the dungeon?”

“I have a clue, and maybe an idea. If nobody has any objections, I’ll give it a try after we finish loot and achievements.”

“No objections here,” Seeyela said, coming over with Yanily beside her.

“What did you two get?” Seena asked.

Seeyela held up a ring, while Yanily held up what looked like a pair of small metal hoops. Wrist bands?

“Here, take a look,” Seeyela said, holding out the ring, and Hiral did a quick View on it.

Twinstrike Ring – A-Rank

Wearing the ring grants: Ability (Passive) – Twinstrike

Ability (Passive) – Twinstrike grants the wearer +10% to all damage done and -10% to all cooldowns while wielding two weapons.

“Nice,” Hiral said.

“Yup,” Seeyela said, slipping the ring on her finger and drawing her daggers one at a time. As soon as she pulled the second, the ring gave a small flash, and her weapons were coated in faint blue light. “That’s easy. Don’t even need to think to activate it; does it on its own.”

“How about you, Yan?” Seena asked, and the spearman held out the metal rings for the others to View.

Wristbands of the Recurring Tempest – A-Rank

Wearing both wristbands grants: Ability (Passive) – Tempest (Lesser)

Ability (Passive) – Tempest (Lesser) grants the wearer a 15% chance for abilities to repeat.

Note: Chance for Tempest to occur is separate and independent from other abilities with a similar effect.

“Sounds a lot like your cloudy-cloak,” Hiral said. “Actually, they have the same name, don’t they? But, the way that reads, both can happen at the same time.”

“Yeah, both have tempest in them, but the cloak’s ability doesn’t have the lesser after it, and it’s a twenty-five-percent chance to occur,” Yanily said.

“If there’s a lesser version and a normal version, does that mean there’s a greater version or something too?” Hiral asked.

“If there is, I want it,” Yanily said before looking up at the ceiling. “I hope you heard that, O great loot gods.”

“I’m sure the PIMP heard your plea, Yanily. But I don’t think we’re doing any more dungeons.”

Yanily looked at Hiral, then nodded. “You’re right. More important things to do. Ah, well, there’s always when we come back down for Nivian and Wule. I’ll get it when we start running dungeons with them again.”

“Sounds like a plan to me,” Seena said, smiling. “Hey, Left, Right, what did you find in the big chest?”

Left held up two more bands, these ones larger than what Yanily now had around his wrists, and seemingly made out of twisted metal wires. “Something different than usual.”

“Different?” Hiral asked, and the group walked over to join the doubles.

“The party chest usually has what I’d call support items,” Left said. “The potions, the skates, food and supplies. That type of thing.”

“And those things?” Seeyela asked.

“Actual equipment,” Right said. “Combat equipment.”

“One for each of you, it seems,” Left said, handing the items to each of the party members.

Hiral quickly used View.

Torc of the Hive – A-Rank

Wearing the torc grants: Ability (Passive) – Hive Tactics

Ability (Passive) – Hive Tactics grants the wearer stacking +2% critical hit chance and +5% critical hit damage for each person wearing Torc of the Hive and attacking the same target.

“More critical hit stats,” Hiral mumbled. “The PIMP really seems to be pushing us in that direction recently.”

“Fine by me,” Seeyela said. “I have a passive ability that increases the chance of Ghost-Web Venom afflicting my target when I get a critical hit.”

“And Cinder+ lowers more fire resistance if I get a critical,” Seena added.

“I leave lingering lightning damage-over-time on a critical hit,” Yanily said. “And saying critical hit every time takes too long. Crits. Let’s call them crits.”

“What about you, Hiral?” Seena asked. “Any benefit for… uh… critting? Is critting even a word?”

“It is now,” Yanily said, elbowing Seena gently in the arm.

“My Chord is better when I crit,” Hiral said. “More buffs and debuffs.”

“Sounds like we all need more crit gear. With these”—Seeyela held up her torc—“we get up to, what? Six percent or eight percent more crit chance? Fifteen or twenty percent more crit damage.”

“I’m thinking eight,” Hiral said. “It doesn’t say for each additional person. Actually”—he looked at his doubles—“if they get copies of this when we split, it could even be as high as twelve percent and thirty percent damage.”

“Nice,” Seena said, twisting the torc slightly, then slipping it around her neck. The others quickly followed suit. As soon as they all had them on, they gave off a slight light that ran along the individual strands making up the twisted metal, then faded again. “Well, then, achievements or evolutions next?”