The insects swarmed across the dry, barren landscape. They were hungry. They were always hungry.

Below them, closer to the wall, the Gusanote made the earth ripple. It wasn’t a big ripple, and made no sound, but the insects knew to avoid it.

Spiders came out from under the shade of rocks as they passed by. The spiders weren’t hungry, but they were extremely territorial. The insects did not know what the spiders were protecting, and after half a dozen tries the Queen had decreed they would never find out.

Someone is here.

The swarm turned, hearing the words of their Queen. As they approached the entrance they saw nothing. They heard nothing.

Are you sure? They asked.

The Queen made a sound of affirmation. I can smell them.

They drew closer, ignoring all senses except smell. Oh yeah, they’re here. The catgirls again?

That’s what they smell like.

The swarm was amused. Trying something new. We like them.

What are they doing? The Queen asked. They aren’t players.

The swarm circled the catgirls and hobgoblin, considering. Should we help them get through?

The Queen took her time as the swarm circled, clearly making the catgirls nervous. Yes, she decided. Help them through, and follow them. I want to know what they’re doing.

The swarm moved, placing themselves behind the group. As you wish.

*****

Dear Diary,

Today was kinda odd. We got through the bug level. But, we got through with the help of the flying ant things.

It sounds crazy, I know. We all drank the invisibility potions, and Lilly activated a silence spell so we wouldn’t make any noise. I thought it wouldn’t matter, and that the ants would attack us anyways. It looked like they would at first, since they came straight at us and surrounded us, but then… they didn’t. They…

It was kinda like they herded us. While we were still invisible and silent. They kept us away from the giant worm thing, and away from the spiders. Well, one spider still attacked, but that’s way better than all of the spiders attacking. The potions wore off at that point, but the ants didn’t act any different.

Then we got to the exit, went through, and the ants followed. All the way to lvl99. Where we scared the crap out of a couple yetis and were promptly blasted with ice.

So now we know yetis have ice magic. Good to know.

Oh! I haven’t talked about the races yet this cycle! How could I have forgotten the most important thing in our lives?

We’ve gone through all the prelims already. My marble this cycle is Momomo. Our first real race was yesterday, and he came in fourth. So, not great, but it’s a position we can work with. If he manages to get first place in one of the next two races we’ll still have a good shot at getting a championship medal. I explained to him that each race, while fun, isn’t as important as the overall standing. I think he listened, and took my words to heart.

We’ll see how he does tomorrow.

Aya’s marble came in first, by like eight seconds. Which is insane. She’s thrilled, but the rest of us are kind of wondering if it’s a fluke or if her marble is cheating somehow. Like, it’s just a blob of glass and can’t cheat on purpose, but there might be something about it that makes it heavier than the other marbles? Or something. If Aya wins by that much tomorrow we might have to weigh the marbles and call these first races invalid. Which, I wouldn’t mind, but Mika got second and she’d be annoyed.

Anyways, we’ll see tomorrow!

Goodnight, dungeon!