Although being a large man offered certain benefits, it also came with drawbacks. Aug's first advantage at this moment was having longer legs, meaning he needed to step on his sore leg less to make distance. His disadvantage was that in the tunnelled sections he had to run with his head slightly stooped, as the cave roof was so low.
A few times as they raced down the tunnel, Aug scraped the side of his head on the rock. Now he was bleeding from multiple points, but had no time to stop as the horde of ants loomed behind.
Upon entering the central cavern, illuminated by the blue crystals, they turned toward the entrance. By this point his leg was burning with pain, causing him to slow down, resulting in a slight distance between him and the others.
Crazy Eyes seemed to be fine as she continued to run with her arms out like a plane. The elf looked as if she was jogging, but Duke was struggling to run in full plate armour and his pace was waning fast.
Aug looked behind him, the ants had caught up slightly and were powering along, pincers clicking and eyes focused on the group. There had to be hundreds of ants following them, if not thousands. If they faltered, they were surely dead. There was no coming back, no saving them. Thousands of ants would overwhelm and kill you within seconds.
It was probably only two-hundred metres down the last tunnel to the entrance, but Aug was weakening rapidly, and Duke had slowed to match Aug's pace.
Knowing he was fading and that the ants would likely catch him before the threshold, Duke made a tactical move. He pulled his shield from his inventory and dropped it right at Aug's feet, so he would trip over it. He had attempted to sacrifice Aug to save himself, in a truly villainous ploy.
This was the moment that Aug made a decision. He would never go to a dungeon again without people he trusted. But to do that, he had to survive. He didn't want to die in some shitty dungeon.
So, as the shield landed before him, he loaded up everything he had, and kicked the shield with his good leg, using all his might. Thankfully, he had worn steel-capped boots, or otherwise his foot would have been obliterated. The steel toe of his boot hit the shield's edge as it bounced, causing the shield to launch forward and hit Duke's knees from behind.
Duke stumbled and fell forward in his heavy plate armour. With a loud, tunnel-echoing crash, Duke slammed onto the rock floor, prompting the elf and crazy eyes to look back before they exited via the threshold. Duke attempted to get up but was too slow, and the ants overran his position in the blink of an eye.
Aug heard Duke scream in pain, but there was nothing he could do. Aug had not tried to kick the shield into Duke, but he had less than a second to calculate. He had kicked it to move it out of his way. But now was not the time to think about it, and he ran as hard as he could.
With metres left, the ants were literally snapping at his heels. As he reached only two metres from the threshold, one ant snapped at his shoe, scraping the leather. But before it clamped down too hard, he was able to pull it from its grip. Aug was afraid he was going to get caught just short of the line, so he took one more step and dived for the threshold.
As he flew through the air in slow motion, an ant jumped for his leg. Just in time, Aug moved it out of the way before crashing through the threshold, slamming himself onto the rock floor. The last thing he saw before he passed out was crazy eyes and the elf looking at him, and the noise of hundreds of ants slamming against the threshold.
Aug woke up an undetermined time later. No one had helped him or called for assistance. He was still lying at the entrance of the dungeon, but now it was dusk. As it had been a morning dungeon raid and they were likely there an hour or two, he had been out for eight to ten hours.
The blood that had streamed down his leg, and leaked from the grazes on his head had dried. He sat up gingerly and pulled his phone out of his inventory. It was six PM.
The [Deep Rock] dungeon was located in a national park, across the city from the wilds. Thankfully, it was on the outside of the wall, so if it overflowed, it wouldn't affect the city. But it also meant he was in a remote area and would have to drive an hour for help.
Aug was having a hard time standing up, but as he got up and walked a little towards his car, he heard voices from behind him at the threshold. It was the city's dungeon party, and they sounded as if they were in a bad mood.
"Thank fuck, we made it out alive," said a man, who sounded exhausted.
"How the hell did it change rank!" said a woman, who also sounded tired.
Aug took a few steps back, rounding the corner to the threshold.
"I can answer that," said Aug, surprising the party as they all sat on the floor.
"Who are you, son? Are you okay? You're covered in blood," said an older gentleman with grey hair and a grey beard. He was wearing clothes that resembled a costume from an old treasure hunting movie, and was the only one who did not look tired.
"I will live, but I feel rough. But anyway, my name is Augustus, and I was in the guild party that was supposed to map the east side of the first level."
"Didn't your party go into the dungeon in the morning? What are you still doing here?" asked the older gentleman.
Aug then explained to them the happenings of earlier and why he was still here. As he told the story, some of the party tried to keep a straight face, and others were visibly annoyed. But as he explained, the others had left him, they seemed to be less angry.
"We didn't find an armoured man, or see any ants, but we did experience a similar problem with centipedes on the third floor."
"Giant ones. Disgusting!" said a woman in a cloak, who then shuddered.
So maybe Duke was alive, or the ants had dragged him back to their nest. Either way, Aug was not going to go back in and find out.