All the warriors managed to get needed rest. While it only took around two hours for ants to begin showing up behind us again, that’s to be expected. They were easily dealt with by arranging several warriors to defend our rear.

Whilst that happened I prepared to descend further into the cavern.

There’s no point in worrying about what could happen. I need to focus on finding my way through the upcoming maze of tunnels.

Unfortunately, my ability to plan out in advance is rather limited. At most I can create an overall strategy and change it according to the situation we find ourselves in.

Thus, at the moment, my plan is to search out the most powerful Terror Ants and head in the direction they are coming from. The most powerful terror ants will have been birthed more recently, thus they should be heading from the direction of the queen.

Of course, while individual terror ants aren’t particular intelligent, the Queen tends to be smarter and capable of basic strategy.

That’s to say, the queen is capable of ordering them to use a longer route or other such strategies to deceive and ambush us.

Overall, this situation isn’t as good as I had hoped when I volunteered to help. I expected this to be a relatively risk free assignment.

We’ve barely started and we’re already a warrior down.

The poisoned spear warrior clearly wasn’t doing well. Although we have rested for hours, he is worse off than when he arrived.

Despite the warrior insisting he was fine, Liam forced him to stay out of the formation and only attack anything that managed to get through. Apparently, it was decided that he be detrimental to the overall situation if he joined the formation.

As time moved on, it became more and more difficult to hold the line with a minimum number of warriors.

More warriors were forced to become involved and soon Liam decided to move out. “Enough resting, spearhead formation.”

The warriors moved into formation and slowly stepped into the tunnel.

Compared to the speed we were moving earlier, it was a snail’s pace.

Building momentum while ants are constantly charging toward us is incredibly difficult. Even moving slightly deeper into the tunnels is a difficult feat.

This is the reason we were so resistant against slowing down even slightly earlier. While being attacked, once you lose speed, it becomes exponentially difficult to build it back up.

The only reason we are beginning to gain speed is the sword warriors that used to be defending our flanks were now focusing on attacking forward.

Slowly, we gained speed and descended into the tunnel.

The world became dark.

Without the light from the entrance, it was pitch black.

The only visible objects in this darkness were the glaring red eyes of the Terror Ants and the flash of light from Sword Ki.

“Active the second stage.” As Liam gave the signal, light began to light up the surroundings.

The metal swords held by the warriors burst into flames and the metal tips of the spears began turned an unnatural red and as searing heat emanated off the weapons.

We had long since known we were going to have to deal with the darkness of the tunnels and had prepared long in advance.

Flames have been a weakness of bugs since the primordial era. Instinctually, the Terror Ants began backing off and we managed to begin building up speed again.

Alas, the peace wasn’t destined to last long. If fire was an effective long term solution, we would’ve used this strategy far earlier.

In a few short minutes, the Terror Ants regained their aggressive demeanor. The situation turned back into the previous stalemate.

The only difference between now and before is the temporary fear allowed us to build up a decent amount of speed.

As we moved through countless tunnels and came across countless turns. I continued to choose the direction that contained more ants or powerful ants, until something unexpected happened.

Every Terror Ant disappeared in a manner similar to a tide. Unlike when they backed up in primitive fear of flames, they had completed vanished from sight.

A terrifying silence filled the area and each step sent echoes ringing throughout the surroundings.

Nobody spoke and our speed dropped.

When we were constantly assaulted by ants, we knew where our enemies were. Now, though, it was obvious their queen had issued orders on how to deal with us.

Compared to when they were mindlessly assaulting us, the current situation was infinitely more dangerous.

We had to lower our speed to avoid a sudden deadly ambush.

Additionally, whenever we encountered another tunnel I had to decide carefully whether to swap over into that tunnel.

Before, the simplicity of the ants meant stronger ants would defend as arrive from the location that’s closer to the queen. Now, though, I was completely unable to tell which direction to head and was forced to decide from the size of the tunnel whether to head down it.

Logically speaking, a larger tunnel size means that it can accommodate more ants.

In case of emergencies the Terror Ants would have made the tunnels lead toward the queen larger. As that would allow more ants to quickly traveled toward the queen to defend her.

As we continued walking, I began to hear the sound of running water in the distance.

Turning my heading around in confusion… Is there an underground river nearby?

Stopping to listen in an attempt to determine its direction.

…Except, the noise continued to get louder.

Why would the sound of rushing water be getting louder?

My expression changed as I thought of something.

Breaking the habitual silence of the group, I shouted. “We need to change tunnels immediately!”

A nearby warrior stopped me before I could run off. “Running about is too dangerous.”

Breaking away from his light grip, I ran past the formation before turning around and shouting. “There’s no time! We’ll die if we don’t swap tunnels immediately. Run!”

The warrior looked around confused, however Liam noticed the panic in my voice and ordered a speedy but orderly charge.

The sound of gushing water continued to get louder and louder.

Soon, water began to trickle down from above us making the stone below us slippery.

The Terror Ants had flooded this tunnel with water.

The Queen must’ve had scouts keeping tabs on location and decided to flood the tunnel we were in rather than attempt to directly fight us.

They must’ve have dug into a river planning to drowning us.

Damn, I hadn’t realized they were this smart.

Finding a small outcropping in the tunnel in the distance, I ran toward it to escape the flood behind us.

The warriors behind me seemed to have realized the seriousness of the situation and began running in a less orderly fashion.

Water rushed toward us and by the time the time I’d reach the outcropping, the water was like loud like thunder in my ear. I didn’t dare to look behind me, but the warriors were already running beside me.

Stepping in past the outcropping behind it was an indentation in the tunnel that was hidden behind it, but my instinct screamed something was wrong and I stopped.

The warriors beside me didn’t and rushed into the indentation to avoid the water flooding the tunnel without a second thought.

Despite the danger of drowning, something is telling me this indentation is dangerous.

Why?

My brain thinking even faster than normal, I quickly realized the problem. The entire journey we had seen nothing but straight tunnels and branching tunnels.

There had been no outcropping or indentations of any sort in the tunnels.

Especially not an indentation this large that leads nowhere. It’s around the size of a large warehouse. 

When we are suddenly forced to escape from a flood of water, there’s a convenient place to avoid it?

Since when does life have such conveniences?

There’s only one possible situation where an outcropping and indentation such as this one should appear.

It’s a trap.

A trap set up by the queen to lure us in to avoid the flood of water.

A trap that we’d have to willing step into to survive.

Except, I don’t know where the trap is. From what I can tell, it seems to be a normal albeit large indentation in a tunnel.

Realizing the situation, I stared at the five warriors that had already stepped into the indentation.

As the sound of rushing water grew everlouder, I understood that we didn’t have a choice. 

The only thing I could do is warn the others.

Gripping my spear, I growled a warning. “We’re not safe quite yet. Be careful.”

The warriors around me gripped their weapons and moved into a defensive position looked outward.

Soon a group of other warriors arrived and instinctively joined the defensive formation. 

Water flooded the tunnel behind us. 

Fortunately, the indentation and outcropping combined managed to prevent water from flooding our location. 

However, several warriors weren’t fast enough and ended up getting caught up in the water ploughing by. 

Counting the remaining for damage control, I realized we’d lost 10 warriors to the flood.

“Where is the danger?” Liam kept in formation and pointedly asked.

Careful searching the cave walls with my gaze, I replied. “I don’t know... but my instincts scream that this is trap.”

Liam didn’t respond with words, merely gripping his sword tighter.

Suddenly, a ant fell from the ceiling a resounding thud sounding over the rushing water as it hit the ground.

Gazing upward, a hole had appeared in the ceiling.

This ant is significantly larger than normal terror ants. It’s around the size of a small train or bus. 

Soon five more thuds resounded throughout the indentation around us. Without even looking I knew that the sound came from other Greater Terror Ants. 

What utter bullshit... how is a level like this even passable. 

You’d need an overpower ability like Rin’s save/load to even have a chance to survive this.

Hang on... Rin? 

Suddenly, a flood of memories filled my mind and realized where I was. 

This is the Dream Realm... I’m dreaming.

A cold sweat went down my brow. Dangerous. Extremely dangerous. This place is utter terrifying. 

To be able to create a narrative this detailed. I even have several years worth of memories... The Dream Realm must have absorbed, modified, and re-infused a portion of my injured soul that had broken off to provide memories with this level of detail.

The warriors send out various attacks, but my attention was focused on another terrifying danger.

This place has become even more realistic. 

The most terrifying possibility is that, in addition to the false memories, the entire Dream Realm has been strengthened. 

Why bother creating false memories though? What advantage does it have?

I arrive at a conclusion relatively quickly. It was to convince me to make dangerous choices.

Normally speaking, I wouldn’t care about a training manual or bother scheming to forcing the entire party into a dangerous environment to improve my merit.

Yet, under those memories, I did exactly that.

Under that assumption, I can presume that the Dream Realm has some type of primitive will that desires my death to absorb portions of my soul. 

Why did it not just drop me straight into an entirely hopeless situation though? 

Why give me a tribe of powerful warriors to help out? 

Why go through all this trouble?

What am I missing?

This indentation! Of course! 

This entire place is a dream. My dream. If it just wanted to kill me, there no reason to go through the theatrics of creating an this indentation in the tunnel.

Everything here is completely fake, a dream. There no need to provide a saving grace such as this indentation in the wall with a trap behind it if its goal is to kill me.

What if it didn’t provide the warriors and this side-room in the tunnel? Following that line of reasoning, I reached a different conclusion.

My subconscious mind might have been fighting back as it is not willing to be lead into an entirely hopeless situation.

That would explain why the warriors exist and why the indentation in the tunnel was created.

My mind has been subtly altering the surroundings. 

If I can convince myself that something is true, it should become true. 

I’m also partly in control of this dream. That explains why those weird rules existed last time.

Think... a solution out of this situation...

The ceiling! As long as we can escape through the hole they came in we should be able to survive.

The warriors of a great tribe must’ve an ability to climb on walls or ascend up there through some levitation ability. 

Looking above, I shouted. “We need to escape through the ceiling. They won’t be able to follow us.”

“We cannot break of their entanglement long enough to get up there!” Liam shouted above the sound of the running water.

Damn, although I have a degree of control the primitive will of the Dream Realm is also able to influence the situation.

Taking the terrorious herb out of my bag, I shouted. “I’ll take care of that.”

If I destroy this herb and spread its remains over the other tribesmen, the ants shouldn’t be able to recognize them as a threat and we should be able to temporarily escape.

Breaking apart the herb, I spread the herb’s remains over the surviving warriors. 

While I was busy figuring out a solution five other warriors had died. However, the plan was successful and the ants became confused searching around randomly for targets.

“Gather together.” Liam shouted revealing a stone plate that suddenly expanded several meters in diameter when he put it on the floor.

When everyone gathered atop it, the plate began to fly toward the ceiling.

Staring back down toward the Giant Terror Ants on the floor, I felt relieved. 

Now that I understand the game we’re playing I have a chance.

As a genius, my ability to come up with random plausible solution to problems on the spot is unmatched. In the real world, these solutions usually are too unrealistic and optimistic to work properly. 

Here, though, they have a high chance of working.

If I’d understood the rules earlier, I wouldn’t have let myself be lead into this situation.

Unfortunately, my memories of this place have cemented some rules into my subconscious mind that I won’t be able to easily change. For example, the horror of Terror Ants and their characteristics. 

Even if I wanted to, at this point, I wouldn’t be able to convince myself they are weak or have an easily exploitable weakness.

I can only work on strengthening the warriors and changing the surrounding environment to be advantageous.

It possible that’s another reason the Dream Realm decided to give these false memories. To limit the possibilities I can choose from when altering the Dream Realm.

The fire of determination burning in my eyes, I stared toward the ceiling and declared to the world. “Bring it on.”