Online Cluster: Great Tomb
Chapter 8: The Ant Nest
At 19:23 I did a Deep Dive and entered the Cluster Online game. We will do the agreed plan together. Tonight we plan to find a place where they store eggs with only a few members.
For the cabin guard, we'll take turns because when we get out of the game, we'll, it could be that the cabin that has been made is actually attacked or even made into small pieces by the ants and taken into their nest.
I came out of the room that was the place to lay the bed for the male members. As for Zia, Kireina, and Princess were on the second floor.
I saw Zia sitting on the sofa while cleaning the barrel of a weapon with RF¹ type. Without any delay I approached towards him.
“Now you have time to take care of ya, Zi?”
“Oh, Rei, yeah? Yes. By the way, it's ten o'clock at night.”
“Eh…? I got a night shift, huh? Well, no problem anyway.”
Honestly, I let them decide it was their turn to guard the cabin. So it's only natural that I don't know. At the same time my eyes were fixed on the weapon he was cleaning.
“R93, yeah? You are the same Dimas likes very much the same RF well..”
“Emh? Why?”
“Yeah, it's nothing. I think this clan is lucky enough to be able to get a female member who is arguably quite an expert in using RF.”
As far as I know only Zia female members can use RF and become snipers. For Princess and Cyrena, they prefer not to use RF. Luna is not a front-line member.
“Hehe... Yes dong!”
With his arrogance he put a wide smile on his face.
“Yeah, although your shooting ability is good, but why can't make the right decision well. Especially in the open. Instead of looking for a hiding place, you even blatantly attacked the enemy.”
“Ugh... yes sorry.. right I'm not used to the front line.”.
Well, I guess I don't have to fuss over little things like that. Over time I'm sure he'll be able to make the right decision. Although it will definitely take time.
“Oya, Zi. Where are the others?”
“Still want to eat first they said. So logout first. Though Fadli same Dimas already had time to enter earlier.”
“EEhhh...!”
Hearing that, I can only make a sour face. Why don't they eat before entering and prefer to enter first, then go out again? Maybe they chose to make it difficult for themselves. Yep, I'm sure of that!
“Zi, do you know where Dimas kept his deodorant?”
“Try to see in those boxes!”
He pointed to a corner of the room where there were several storage boxes placed just like that. Well, anyway this cabin doesn't have storage space, so I think it's only natural that they let it go.
“Oke, thanks!”
I headed towards the storage boxes and checked the contents in turn until I found a box with fifty cans of deodorant that was still full of large and other items.
I took one and sprayed it on some parts of my clothes. After that I put it in my inventory. I also took out a flashlight and put all my stuff in the storage box so that it left only the flashlight and a bottle of deodorant.
“Zi, if anyone finds me, tell me I'm going to the ants' nest.”
“Self?!”
“Iya. Anyway I didn't bring anything, so it's safe.”
“Ah, yes.”
I walked out of the cabin, then immediately headed towards the ant nest on foot. After all, the distance was approximately only five hundred meters, right? That won't be a problem.
That kind of distance only takes seven minutes for me. After starting to approach the nest, I still saw a lot of ants roaming on the surface.
I kept walking closer to their nest without fear of being killed. To be honest, even if I get killed, I won't lose anything by securing my equipment in the storage box.
Some ants had approached me and tried to attach their antennae to my clothes. Not long after that, they stayed away. I think the alkaline substances in the deodorant can be considered successful to keep them away.
I kept moving until I finally found a hole that was big enough and pointed right down. With a lot of ants going in and out of that hole, I guess this is the way in? Well, if not, I just need to find her again.
“Huuft... Alright!”
Actually, seeing the size and number of ants that are on the surface alone has made me creep.
I set foot and let myself fall into the hole while holding one hand and one foot against the wall of sand to reduce my speed when falling.
After reaching the base where my feet can stand, I immediately took out a flashlight and deodorant to once again spray it on some parts of my clothes before finally re-inserting the can bottle into the inventory and turning on the flashlight.
I pointed the flashlight in several directions but only saw a dark hallway that was in front of me surrounded by sand. Although grains of sand still fall from the ceiling, they somehow retain the shape of the nest.
I walked in the direction of the dark passage filled with these ants as I found no other way. There was no stopping the ants trying to get close to me, then move away again.
“It feels like I want to go back..”.
To be honest I was afraid of being surrounded by a lot of ants like this because I wouldn't know when to be killed. Well, even if I die, it won't make me lose anything of value. But still it feels uncomfortable when ants are giant with a number that cannot be counted through you at any time.
But I guess coming back is also meaningless considering how I got down here and didn't bring any gear to climb. There is absolutely no way for me to go back now.
“Ah, forked road?”
The deeper I enter this nest, the more branched roads I meet and I always take the road that leads to the right without a second thought. Even after encountering the forked road up to seven times, I continued to take the road to the right and ended up getting lost.
I didn't even know what room was supposed to be in an ant nest.
“Hahh...tot this anyway!”
Despite thinking like that I still try to go down the road that I went through but it feels endless. Either I entered the wrong path or the path in this place just went around in circles.
Because at first I only brought two items and my lighting source from the flashlight I brought. I don't carry things that can be used as a sign so as not to get lost.
In this way I have only one option that might be the worst, which is to go with the flow of the ants. I didn't really care where they came from and just followed one direction of the line of ants carrying cacti in their jaws while ignoring the other line of ants.
No need to take a minute to walk after them, I found a giant room where the ants I followed were piling up cacti.
“This... kayak kind of warehouse?”
Because in any corner of the room there are a lot of cacti, I think this is the place for them to store food. Honestly, not only cactus but there are many dead ant bodies.
I tried to look in several directions using the soles I was holding and found an ant carrying a white object in its jaw.
“Ahh!!”
I without a two-time paddle immediately chased after and followed him from behind. I just thought that what he brought was their egg. That's why I immediately chased after him so as not to lose track of him.
It's true what I think. Not long after following him I met a lot of ants carrying things that looked exactly the same. Until finally I found another giant room that was bigger than before and only contained white objects in all places including the ceiling.
“Ooooukeey. Just walk to get here. Emh?”
As I was thinking of starting to look for a way out of this place, I found a part of the room that looked black. I approached and touched it. The wall is not sand, but charcoal.
After looking around I realized that the ants were not approaching this part. They even seem to be indifferent to the place. Like there really isn't for them.
“Any... if sand is burned at high temperatures it should not be charcoal, but something like glass.”
I tapped it a little hard and heard the echo behind it. I tried it back by hitting it harder until it broke and further damaging it until it broke through.
Well, I had no trouble damaging it because of the status points of my character of the Strength-Agility² type.
After penetrating the charcoal wall I found a hole that was so deep that my flashlight alone could not touch the base. While the top is only covered by charcoal.
“What the fuck? GM makes an obscure place!”
There really was no way out of that deep hole other than where I was. Well, of course I left that place because that wasn't my goal. My only goal is to find a room where eggs are stored. Besides I don't know what place it is.
Finding a way out is easy. I just need to use the same way as when I found the two rooms. The ants I followed were ants that carried nothing. That's how I found my way to the surface.
Well, since I didn't bring anything else, climbing the sand was impossible. That way I deliberately waited for about 30 minutes until the deodorant effect I used was exhausted and died picking me up with a bite from one of the ants.
After coming back to life in the cabin, I immediately informed them of what items needed to be brought for tomorrow and sent a similar message to those who were not in the game.
After that I just changed my turn to guard the cabin with Zia, along with my Ar-15 while listening to the song on the balcony of the second floor of the cabin.
Note:
¹: RF (Rifle), long-barreled shotgun that prioritizes accuracy, weapons used by sniper (sniper).
²: strength-agility is a status centered on strength and speed.
