Rusty cautiously approached the source of the sound, his grip tightening on his sword and newly made shield. As he continued to move the noise of something getting crunched started to get louder. Eventually, he peeked around the corner to see a strange white creature going at the mana crystals in this cave. 

‘What is that? It’s different from the other monsters but looks similar to the ants…’

What he found was a rather small-looking monster. It was similar to the Myrm Ant drones but somewhat smaller than even the smallest drone he had encountered. Its carapace was not brown or dark but had a white silvery sheen. Besides the coloring and size difference, it also had a slightly larger head with more pronounced antennae. Yet, it wasn't the creature's appearance that struck Rusty as most peculiar; rather, he found himself wondering why it was consuming the blue crystals.

‘It looks really weak and is also just a G-rank monster, should I just slay it?’

Annoyed by the intrusion, Rusty stepped forward, his armor clanking a lot less than usual. While stepping forward he noticed a resounding cracking sound as he stepped into something. When he glanced down, the mystery of this monster appearing here revealed itself. On the ground, there were eggshells from the egg that he brought over from within the ants nest. It was now clear that this monster had hatched from inside and for some reason, it was fine with the light crystals here.

‘It's different than the rest… it might be dangerous…’

This cave served as Rusty's sanctuary, a place where he could unwind and safeguard his loot. The light crystals effectively repelled other insects and even aided him in his battle against the ant queen. The fact that one of her spawns could now bypass the protective glow of the crystals spelled trouble. If more of these creatures existed, they posed a threat to his newfound base.

As Rusty pondered his next move, the Minuscule Myrm Mana Ant continued to feast on the mana crystals, seemingly oblivious to his presence. Its mandibles clicked as it chewed, each bite punctuated by a small crack as it shattered another piece of crystal. Rusty knew he couldn't allow this creature to roam freely in his sanctuary. While it was small now, everything in this world evolved and it could potentially lead more of its kind here.

Rusty tightened his grip on his sword and shield. In his current upgraded form, this monster posed no threat at all, which gave him an idea. The Myrm Drones were able to leave small dents on his previous body. Though smaller than the Myrm Drones, its mandibles seemed capable of inflicting damage. Thus he decided to let it attack him a few times, to test his newfound durability.

The creature, engrossed in its feast, didn't seem to notice Rusty's approach until he was a few steps away. With a sudden awareness of the armored figure before it, the ant's antennae twitched in alarm. It reared up slightly and its mandibles clicked a few times but something wasn’t the same.

He expected for the ant to rush him just like the drones did when he attacked their colony. However, this smaller creature seemed more docile, almost as if he was similar to the monsters from the original dungeon. Was it possible that the voice that had vanished was influencing this ant?

‘It doesn’t feel the same… the connection is lacking…’

Rusty still remembered the voice of the dungeon which seemed to have a name. If what the demon king claimed was true, then the thing he knew as the voice was the dungeon heart. He was created by it and had felt a deep connection before he fell into this area. There was a similar connection to the other monsters inhabiting those dungeon levels, something that was missing here. Despite not being part of that dungeon, the ant refrained from attacking and left Rusty perplexed by its behavior.

The small insect moved closer in a slow fashion. Rusty remained still, anticipating its bite. However, to his surprise, the ant behaved differently. Instead of attacking, it repeatedly touched his bronze body with its antennae. After a brief moment, it glanced up and began a peculiar wiggle which left Rusty perplexed. Eventually, the monster turned away and returned to munching on the tiny mana crystals.

‘It clearly doesn’t see me as an enemy but what should I do with it?’

This was quite the conundrum as for some reason he felt conflicted. On one hand, the monster was a potential threat and it was also eating the crystals here. What if it ate all the crystals and his lair was destroyed? Yet, on the other hand, the creature's consumption rate was negligible, just like its size. It wasn't depleting the crystals at a rapid pace and it would likely take years for it to make a large enough dent.

‘It’s a G-rank monster so it won’t give me much experience either, perhaps not even more than 1…’

After farming these dungeons Rusty has also realized one thing. The higher level he was becoming, the fewer experience points he gained. These ant monsters were the weakest types that were around and wouldn’t offer him much, even less after he became an E-rank Bronze Twilight Armor. Rusty considered his options and something about its behavior nagged at him. It wasn't behaving like a typical monster which made him want to observe it more.

‘I wonder, would it attack the other monsters?’

A thought crossed his mind, perhaps there was a way to use this strange creature to his advantage. While it wasn’t his enemy, what of the other insects in this underground area? There was a possibility that it could aid him against them, just like the skeletons before. Even though it was quite weak, it could potentially act as a distraction.

For the time being, Rusty decided to retreat and think his options through. After visiting the Soul Forge and engrossing himself with blacksmithing, he knew that it was sometimes better not to rush. His status screen still had some new secrets that he had not uncovered and first he needed to go through his skills. He could feel that something new had appeared but he wasn’t sure if it would aid him in battle.

‘What are these skills…’

‘My guide?’

Rusty was perplexed at this new skill and wasn’t sure what to think of it. However, he knew that it was always best to not dwell on these things when activating the skill would give him all the answers. Thus, without thinking much he activated the Call Guide skill. Which he needed to do through the world system window, similar to his inventory screen. 

He was given a choice between two individuals but could summon both of them together. After reading the names he instantly knew what this skill was about. After deliberating for a moment he decided to call both the Fallen Demon King and the Betrayed Hero. He figured that there was no reason to call them separately and also wanted to see what both had to offer for him in the real world.

The cave flickered momentarily, and then two shimmering orbs of light materialized before him. One radiated a dark, ominous aura while the other emitted a faint, ethereal glow. The Demon King and the Hero quickly materialized before him and looked exactly the same as they did within the Soul Forge.

“HAHA! I knew I would return! It was only a matter of time. The world shall tremble once more before the might of Demon King Aburdon. All shall pay for their folly!”

The booming laughter echoed through the chamber as Aburdon's triumphant voice echoed. His form exuded an aura of darkness and contrasted sharply with the bright lights of this crystal-filled cave.

“Is this really the real world?”

The hero’s voice was a lot more silent and some confusion was mixed into it. It contrasted with the demon king’s maniacal cackling. His form shimmered with gentle light and seemed to take in some of the light from the environment to shimmer even more.

Rusty looked at the two orbs of light before him and wondered what he could use them for. They were here but were they capable of aiding him in his battles or could they only offer him their knowledge? After spending more than a week inside the Soul Forge he got to know them a bit better. The Hero was very knowledgeable when it came to blacksmithing and handling weapons. On the other hand, the Demon King seemed more clever and filled with other knowledge.

“I’ll be sure to repay this favor, Rusty…”

As he was deliberating the black orb started to float away, it was as if he was trying to flee from this location. However, once the demon king put himself around ten meters from the living armor, he came to a halt. It became evident that he was struggling to advance and his once ominous form gradually diminished, his movements growing sluggish.

“No… what is this, it can’t be…”

“Did you think that you could just leave? Did you forget that we are probably nothing more than a skill for Rusty here?”

The hero chuckled, observing the defeated demon king's futile attempt at escape. It became clear that their fragmented existences were forever tied to the living armor known as Rusty. They were unable to stray too far from his body, which served as the central point for his skill, and could probably only exist within this realm thanks to his mana.

“Damn it all…”

The orb of black light slowly floated back towards his owner, who just stood there without a word.

“...This is fine, I’ll get back to my previous form eventually, It’s just a small setback on the way towards my full revival…”

“Sure…”

“What about you, hero? Don’t you want to live again and punish the ones that crossed you?”

“...”

It seemed that even in these more real forms, they continued to argue about the same thing. Rusty remained uncertain about their true history, but it appeared they had been betrayed and slain by someone they now harbored intense animosity towards. This held little relevance to Rusty as his sole focus lay in his pursuit of strength and how these two entities could aid him in achieving it.

“What can you do?”

His question was simple and to the point. The two orbs of light stopped talking with each other as they felt compelled by the order.

“What can we do? Nothing much than to offer you some advice, these spectral bodies don’t really hold much power within them…”

The demon king answered first which left Rusty saddened. Was there truly nothing more than advice that these two could offer? It felt like it was a waste of a skill for them to just buzz around his head without offering anything substantial. However, a nearby ant that was crunching on some mana stones gave him an idea.

“Can you tell me something about that?”

“That is… a Minuscule Gleaming Mana Ant?”

Answered the hero orb which annoyed Rusty slightly.

“I know that already!”

“It’s a special mutation of the ant species, quite a rare find. Most of them die inside of the dungeons as they require a large amount of light and mana to hatch. Bravo, you brought it to the perfect incubator, Rusty.”

“Incubator?”

The fallen demon seemed to know a bit more about this creature than the hero. Both of them seemed to be knowledgeable about separate things which were noted by him.

“An incubator is usually an enclosed place that helps beings grow or hatch… damn, I already hate this…”

The demon lord replied with an annoyed tone. Even though he didn’t want to offer this advice, he was compelled by something to do so. It was clear that he was compiled to do the bidding of this living suit of armor, at least for now.

“This skill has its uses!”

“That the day would come, that I the great Demon King would be reduced to offering advice to a mere suit of armor, how humiliating…”

“You’ll get over it.”

The hero replied to the dark orb of light in a mocking tone. While the two were in the same boat, it didn’t seem like he had any aspirations or knowledge of getting reborn. In his former life, he was merely a human, and perhaps the only entities capable of aiding him were the same gods who had once forsaken him.

“Then, can this ant do something for me? It didn’t attack me for some reason?”

“These monsters are said to be docile and very intelligent. It seemed to have been born without the influence of a Queen but I’m not sure, perhaps it sees you as an ally?”

Rusty nodded while receiving even more information, it seemed that having a demon king who knew his way around monsters was quite handy. With these two around it would probably be possible to create even better hunting tactics. However, as he was about to ask another question, something unforeseen started happening.

He started feeling strange and his body was starting to give out. First went his legs which collapsed and came loose at the joints. When he looked at the prompt, it seemed that this skill had consumed all of his mana. His mind became drowsy and he was unable to do anything before everything went black. The voices of both the hero and demon king faded away as he lost consciousness.

“...”

“I… I passed out?”

He found himself down on the ground with his body parts lying down at awkward angles. The last thing that he recalled was a red warning window before everything went black. The two orbs were not here with him anymore and it was obvious why this had happened.

“I ran out of mana and collapsed…”

Previously he had come close to this phenomenon but this was the first time that his mana went below one point. It seemed the skill that let him call the two beings required a constant supply of MP. Once it reached zero, his body which required mana to function collapsed. Luckily, it wasn’t a death sentence and eventually, it recovered.

“At least I know what will happen when I run out of mana now… I should never let it happen while in combat.”

Once he was awake he noticed another thing. The small ant that had been eating the mana crystals was now resting on top of his chest. It seemed that while he was out, it decided to make him into its bed…