Chapter 78: Vina

He took the egg out of his inventory.

It was slightly larger than his fist, with a smooth golden shell covered in faint patterns. It wasn’t particularly big, but the energy coming from it was far stronger than he had expected.

Ethan turned it over in his hands, examining it from different angles.

"So, what exactly did you steal?" Aria asked as she walked over.

Ethan glanced at her. "Something interesting."

"That’s what you said earlier!" She leaned closer to examine the egg. "Wait, is this an actual ant egg?"

"Yes."

Aria stared at it for a moment.

"You’re telling me we went through all that trouble for an egg?"

"Not just any egg."

"Then what makes it special?"

Ethan didn’t answer immediately. He had his suspicions, but he still needed to confirm them.

"This egg has a rare bloodline. If I’m right, the creature inside could be quite valuable."

Aria’s eyes widened slightly.

"A rare bloodline?" She looked at the egg again, her earlier disappointment disappearing. "And you found it inside the Ant Colony?"

Ethan nodded.

"That’s why you didn’t want to burn everything!"

"Now you understand."

Aria folded her arms and studied the egg.

"So, when will it hatch?"

"That depends on how much energy it has absorbed. I need to check its condition first."

Ethan opened the system interface and focused on the egg, hoping to find more information about what he had obtained.

A new panel appeared before his eyes.

[Unhatched Golden Ant Egg]

[Rank: Unknown]

[Bloodline: Golden Ant]

[Status: Developing]

[Hatching Progress: 78%]

[Description: An ant egg containing a rare Golden Bloodline. The developing creature has absorbed a large amount of life energy, but its growth is not yet complete. It requires additional life energy before it can hatch.]

Ethan studied the information carefully.

A 78% hatching progress meant the egg was already close to hatching, but it still needed more energy.

He had made the right decision by allowing the Queen to continue nurturing it. If he had killed her too early, the egg might not have reached this stage.

"What’s it say?" Aria asked, trying to look at the panel.

"Golden Ant Egg. Its hatching progress is at 78%."

"Seventy-eight percent?" Her eyes widened. "So it will hatch soon?"

"Not necessarily. It still needs more life energy."

Aria looked at the egg in his hands.

"Can you feed it something? We just killed thousands of ants. Surely all that experience and energy must be useful for something."

Ethan shook his head.

"Experience isn’t the same as life energy. Besides, I don’t know what will happen if I try feeding it something without understanding how it works."

He returned the egg to his inventory.

There was no reason to take unnecessary risks. He could find a way to supply the remaining energy later.

For now, they still had other dungeons to clear.

"Let’s go," Ethan said. "We still have three dungeons left."

She nodded, and the two walked through the portal that had appeared the moment the queen died.

The next moment, their vision changed as they returned to the dungeon’s entrance area.

A large leaderboard stood nearby, displaying the current rankings for the Swarm Dungeon Challenge.

Ethan glanced at it.

[Swarm Dungeon Challenge]

[Ant Colony]

[Final Day]

[Current Ranking]

[1. Bug Cleanup Crew — Hell Difficulty — 20:06]

[2. Ironwall — Nightmare Difficulty — 59:32]

[3. Stormbreak — Nightmare Difficulty — 01:06:17]

[...]

They had secured first place on Hell Difficulty.

Ethan wasn’t particularly surprised. The time spent waiting for the Ant Queen to finish nurturing the golden egg had slowed them down, but twenty minutes was still a respectable result.

"Look, Ethan! We’re first again!" Aria pointed at their team name, grinning.

Ethan glanced at the leaderboard. "Looks like we got lucky."

"Lucky?" Aria turned to him. "We cleared Hell Difficulty in twenty minutes! How is that luck?"

"We did spend some time waiting for the Queen."

"And we still came first!" She looked at the leaderboard again, clearly pleased with herself. "I knew teaming up with you was a good idea."

Ethan smiled faintly. "Then I suppose you’ll have to put up with a few more bugs."

Aria’s smile faltered.

"...Let’s check the next dungeon first."

Ethan and Aria were about to leave when a group of seven people entered the area.

At first, nobody paid much attention to them. Teams came and went all the time during the Swarm Dungeon Challenge. But that changed when someone recognized one of the newcomers.

"Wait, isn’t that Vina?"

"Vina? The one from Silver Moon?"

"And that’s Darius! What are they doing here?"

Whispers spread through the entrance area as more people recognized the group.

There were seven of them, and several were well-known professionals who had already passed the Second Order. Yet, they had come all the way here to challenge dungeons meant for lower-order players.

That alone was enough to draw attention.

Most professionals didn’t bother with dungeons below their Order. The experience they gained was simply too little to be worth their time, especially when they could challenge stronger dungeons and earn better rewards elsewhere.

Seeing a group like this show up at the Swarm Dungeon Challenge was unusual.

Aria slowed down when she noticed the commotion.

"Those people seem pretty famous," she said, glancing at the newcomers.

Meanwhile, Darius turned to Vina.

"I’m going to check the leaderboard. Since we’re already here, we might as well see what kind of records the other teams have set. If there’s a chance to beat one before we leave, I’d like to give it a try."

Vina nodded. "Go ahead. Just remember why we’re here. We didn’t come all this way just to chase records."

Darius smiled and walked toward the leaderboard.

He scanned the rankings, checking the times one by one until his eyes reached the first entry.

[1. Bug Cleanup Crew — Hell Difficulty — 20:06]

Darius stared at the time for a moment, his expression changing to one of surprise.

"Twenty minutes?"

He leaned closer to make sure he hadn’t misread it.

Clearing Hell Difficulty in that amount of time was no small feat. Even among professionals, few teams could manage it.

Darius had planned to claim first place and show off in front of Vina, but he hadn’t expected the record to be so hard to beat.

Vina waited for a moment, but when Darius didn’t return, she walked over to see what was taking him so long.

"Darius, have you found anything interesting? What’s wrong?"

Darius turned to her and pointed at the leaderboard.

"Lady Vina, look at the top spot."

Vina followed his finger. Her eyes settled on the first entry, and she paused.

"Twenty minutes?" she murmured. "Who are these people?"

Then she noticed the difficulty listed beside their time.

"Wait, Hell Difficulty?"

Her expression changed.

Vina stared at the leaderboard, her expression growing serious. She hadn’t expected another team to clear Hell Difficulty so quickly before they arrived.

Darius rubbed his chin. 𝑓𝑟ℯℴ𝓂

"Lady Vina, do you think we should hurry? With a team like this having already cleared the dungeon, I’m worried we might be too late."

Vina’s expression turned serious.

"You’re right. We can’t afford to waste any more time. Let’s go."

Darius nodded, and the two of them returned to their companions.

Without further delay, the seven members headed for the Ant Colony entrance and selected Hell Difficulty.

As the seven entered the dungeon, Aria glanced at Vina’s departing figure.

"Ethan, do you know who that woman is?"

Ethan had already recognized her the moment he saw her.

Vina.

In his previous life, she was the Beast Master who had obtained the Golden Ant and eventually tamed it.

She came from a powerful Beast Master family, one that stood among the major factions. With their resources and influence, obtaining a rare bloodline creature like the Golden Ant was no small advantage.

Ethan hadn’t expected to encounter her here so soon.

It seemed Vina had come for the same reason as before. If he hadn’t intervened, history might have repeated itself, and the Golden Ant would have ended up in her hands once again.

Unfortunately for her, things were different this time.

The Golden Ant egg was already in his inventory.

"No," Ethan replied.

Aria shrugged and followed him toward the next dungeon. "Well, they certainly seem important."

Ethan didn’t comment. He simply continued walking beside her.

Before entering the next dungeon, he waited until both his mana pool and Mana Reservoir were full.

Once he was ready, he and Aria entered the Locust Swarm on Hell Difficulty.

Ethan summoned his two legions and led Aria deeper into the dungeon. They dealt with the first few waves without much trouble, then reached the heart of the nest.

There, Ethan used Mana Reservoir to supply the mana needed for Divine Flame and tossed the flame into the dense swarm.

The fire spread rapidly, burning through the locusts and leaving the nest in chaos. Even the boss couldn’t escape the flames.

Before long, the dungeon was cleared.

When they returned to the entrance area, their team had secured another first place.

"Three in a row!" Aria exclaimed, checking the leaderboard.

Ethan glanced at her. "Two more to go."