---
He stared at the words, then at nothing, then back at the words again.
Two gods now.
Two gods expecting him to reach godhood.
As if becoming a god was a task like buying bread.
He swallowed.
Ant Lord Kai.
God of Ant.
Devouring God.
Sekhmet knew the stories.
Everyone in Null knew the stories.
The Ant God had devoured universes below. Not metaphorically. Not as a poetic legend. Entire worlds swallowed by hunger and ant swarms like a plague with intelligence.
And when he arrived in Null, the stories said he devoured over ten low-level gods. Gods. Actual gods. Like a predator snapping up rabbits.
Then his whereabouts became unknown.
A devouring god did not disappear because he got bored.
He disappeared because he wanted to.
Sekhmet’s breath came out slowly.
"Why are you watching me?
Why are you helping me?
What do you want?"
His mind spun on those questions, turning them over like coins, trying to find the hidden marks.
He walked without noticing his pace increase.
His focus narrowed inward.
He forgot the corridor.
He forgot the dripping.
He forgot that being lost was still a problem.
Then— Thud!
Sekhmet collided with something solid.
His shoulder slammed into stone and metal.
Pain shot through him.
He stumbled back, cursing under his breath.
"Damn it," he hissed. "This place keeps attacking me even when I do not deserve it."
He looked up.
A door filled his vision.
Not the prison door from before.
This door was wider, taller, reinforced with thick iron bars, and carved with symbols that looked like claws and teeth. A door built to guard something important.
Sekhmet’s eyes narrowed.
Then he noticed something.
The door was slightly open.
A narrow gap.
A mistake.
He leaned closer and peered through.
Inside was darkness... and beyond the darkness, faint glimmers of light.
Not torchlight.
Treasure light.
The kind of light that came from chaos stones piled together.
Sekhmet’s pulse jumped.
Ba - dum
He stared at the crack in the door, then at the corridor behind him.
Still silent.
Still empty.
He had not seen a single living orc since leaving the throne room. That did not mean the place was empty. It only meant he had been lucky.
Luck in Null was temporary.
But so was the opportunity.
Sekhmet’s lips curved slightly.
A grim smile.
"This," he whispered, "is the only good thing that has happened today."
He stepped closer and pushed the door gently.
Creeeak! Creeek!
The sound felt loud, but the dungeon did not respond.
The door opened just enough for him to slip inside.
The room beyond was enormous, carved deep into the rock like a vault. The ceiling was high. The floor was smooth stone. Racks and shelves lined the walls. Chests were stacked like bricks. Weapons hung in rows. Armor pieces glinted. Strange bones and artifacts sat on pedestals like museum displays for monsters.
And in the center...
Chaos stones.
Piles of them.
Not a few.
Not a handful.
A mountain.
They glowed faintly, blue-green and purple, casting eerie light across the treasure room. There were some tools too. Some were small, like pebbles. Some were fist-sized. Some were large enough to make Sekhmet’s eyes widen, because tools that big usually belonged to gods or to people who died shortly after obtaining them.
Sekhmet’s throat went dry.
He stepped forward slowly, as if the treasure might bite.
He did not touch anything yet.
He listened.
Silence.
No guards.
No traps that triggered immediately.
No angry orc yelling that someone was stealing his savings.
Sekhmet exhaled.
Then his practical merchant blood stirred in him, inherited from his father whether he liked it or not.
"I do not have time to admire.
I have time to take it.
He thought of his Void Land."
He had storage now.
A gift from a god.
A tool to swallow treasure whole.
Sekhmet looked at the piles and whispered, almost respectfully.
"Void Land."
The connection opened inside his mind like a door.
He stepped forward and placed his hands on the nearest pile of chaos stones.
Then he thought of the command.
"Store."
Whooomp! Whoosh!
The stones vanished.
Sekhmet blinked.
A grin flickered across his face.
He moved to the next pile.
"Store."
Whooomp!
Gone.
He went faster.
Chests.
Store.
Whooomp!
Weapons.
Store.
Whooomp!
Armor.
Store.
Whooomp!
Unknown artifacts and tools that made his instincts twitch.
Store.
Whooomp!
Sekhmet worked like a man stealing from the universe itself, moving with urgency, eyes sharp, hands quick. He did not waste time sorting. He did not waste time counting. He did not waste time admiring.
He grabbed everything.
Because in Null, the only sin worse than greed was stupidity.
The bat in his pocket stirred once, muttering sleepily.
"Batbat..."
Sekhmet patted his coat lightly, keeping one eye on the door.
"Later," he whispered. "We are shopping."
Minutes passed.
The vault emptied.
The shelves became bare.
The pedestals became lonely.
The room that had been a treasure mountain turned into an empty cave with torchlight reflecting off nothing.
Sekhmet stood in the center, breathing hard, and felt something rare.
Satisfaction.
He turned toward the door.
Before leaving, he glanced back one last time, just to confirm it was real.
Empty.
He nodded.
Then he slipped out, pulling the heavy door closed behind him as carefully as he could.
Clunk!
He moved down the corridor again, now with a purpose.
Find the exit.
Leave before someone discovers the leader is dead.
Leave before someone realizes the treasure is gone.
Leave before the next disaster arrives.
He walked, listening, choosing corridors that sloped upward, because exits usually led up.
Tap... Tap... Tap...
The air changed gradually.
Less damp.
Less stale.
A faint hint of wind.
A faint smell of outside.
Sekhmet’s pace quickened.
Then he saw it.
Light.
Not torchlight.
Real light.
A pale line ahead, growing brighter with every step. His chest tightened.
He reached the end of the corridor and stepped through a broken archway. And for the first time in what felt like forever, sunlight struck his face.
Warm.
Blinding.
Real.
Sekhmet stopped and lifted a hand to shield his eyes, blinking against the sudden brightness.
The world outside was harsh and beautiful. Jagged mountains. Dark forests in the distance. A sky that looked too wide after being trapped underground.
He inhaled deeply.
Air filled his lungs like a gift. For a moment, he simply stood there, letting the sun remind him he was alive.
Then he whispered, voice low. "Now," he said, "where the hell am I?"
(Note: If want to check out the Ant lord Kai’s book. Look below 👇 👇 👇 )