Chapter 3: Rats
A giant rat loomed a few dozen paces away that was at least two times bigger than the ones he had been fighting, and the insect like carapace spikes were bigger and sharper. The rat hadn’t noticed him yet. It was rummaging around in the glowing mushrooms. Raiden worked his way around a few of the boulders to get closer.
When he was about a dozen paces away, he stopped. He prepared himself; he planned on firing off a round at the rat while it was still focused on the mushrooms and then charging it to stop any resistance as fast as possible. Moving out from the cover of the boulder, he aimed his pistol at the rat and froze. The rat was staring right at him with beady red eyes. It licked its lips, almost as if in anticipation, and then darted towards Raiden. A searing blue mana bullet jetted out of his pistol, aimed at the beast’s head. The bullet missed the head, though, and instead hit the rat’s front shoulder.
The rat let out an angry hiss but didn’t stop its charge. Its movements, however, were much more uncoordinated and slowed considerably. When the rat got closer, it tried to bite at him around the boulder, but because of its injury, it was unable to turn effectively. Raiden hacked down at it quickly and then stepped back. He scored a hit on its upper back and cut a line of flesh. It snapped at him again, and he barely managed to get his leg out of the way. Then the rat did something unexpected and whipped its tail around as it did a half turn. Its long tail caught him across the face, and he went tumbling backwards.
Falling on his back, Raiden reacted and let out a solid kick against the rat’s injured shoulder to push it back when it closed in a moment later. He made it to one knee and then hacked at the rat’s face. He landed a solid blow right on the rat’s snout, and half of the rat’s face suddenly came off as it was severed. This time, the rat didn’t just hiss; it let out a bellow of pure agony and rage. It bowled into him in retaliation, and some of the black spikes gouged into his metal breastplate but didn’t penetrate. Luckily, Raiden had landed right next to the rat instead of under it, and he rolled away only to receive a blow from the creature’s good arm. The rat’s sharp claws connected with the metal of his armor and then slid off.
Raiden pushed himself off the ground and got back to his feet. The rat was still furiously coming after him, and it didn’t even try to dodge when he unleashed a powerful downward slash right towards its face. Raiden missed its face, and instead the blade bit deep into the rat’s neck. Raiden stepped back and pulled his blade free, dealing massive damage. Energy faded quickly from the beast, and its movements slowed. The rat looked pitiful with its many wounds, but there was no denying it would still try to kill him if it had the chance. Raiden finally finished it by stabbing directly into its heart.
He stopped for a moment to catch his breath and to check himself over. He was hurt from when he had been hit by the tail, and he was bleeding again on his forehead. Other than that, though, the large rat hadn’t inflicted any major wounds on him. He examined his fallen enemy for a few moments to see if there was any knowledge that he could glean from its dead body. He couldn’t discern anything notable, but he would remember to watch for the tail whip attack if he found any other large rats in the future.
Raiden advanced further into the dungeon after charging his pistol, which had become a habit at this point. The tunnel ahead was long and dark with little light. At the end was a circular cavern that was dimly lit, as there were scant few mushrooms inside of it. Raiden peered out from the mouth of the tunnel, which was draped in shadow, so the rats ahead of him didn’t notice his presence.
There were dark shapes moving in and out among the few boulders that were visible. This cavern wasn’t very large, and there was very little cover. There were a lot of rats in here, though he couldn’t tell how many. Staying in the shadows, he stalked towards an area where one of the rats was scurrying. Crouched behind a boulder, he waited patiently for his opportunity to strike. After a few minutes, it came when an unlucky rat passed his boulder, and stood up out of the cover of the boulder and chopped down. A pained gurgle escaped the rat’s lips before it died. That’s when Raiden realized his mistake; there were far more rats and far fewer boulders than he anticipated. A stirring erupted in the cavern as the other rats spotted him. They scrambled to get at him as he took off back towards the cavern entrance, turning around at the mouth of the tunnel to face the rats. His heart pounded rapidly as his doom approached.
A mass of writhing shadows raced towards him. They approached rapidly until the lead rat was on him, leaping into the air with its jaws gaping wide. A set of mangled teeth bit down at Raiden. He swung his blade, cutting into the rat halfway and killing it. The next rat dove for his legs, and he extended his foot out in a snap kick, which halted the rat’s momentum and knocked it to the ground. He dropped to one knee, reversing the grip of his blade and stabbing downwards at the prone rat. Too stunned to move in time, the strike proved lethal. Another rat came in from the other side. He quickly pulled his blade free from the downed rat and switched his grip once again as he took a wild swing at the rat to keep it at bay.
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The rat was soon joined by more and more of its companions, and to Raiden’s horror, one of the bulbous spiked rats came into view as it expanded. He was hard pressed to keep the horde of rats from closing in as the bulbous rat swelled closer to its maximum size. Soon, the exploding rat would barrel past the others, and Raiden would be dead. Raiden dove backward as he aimed between two rats and fired. His shot struck the bulbous rat, and the creature exploded, shooting out black spikes in all directions. The concussive force was incredible, and Raiden was thrown backward, still midair from his dive. The spikes blasted through the rats, taking out most of the horde. Two spikes punched through the bodies of the rats in front of Raiden, slamming into his breastplate, then deflecting off.
Raiden got up shakily, beaten up from the concussive blast as he didn’t have a boulder to take cover behind this time around. Two rats emerged from the destruction, none the worse for wear. They advanced on Raiden as he moved backward into the tunnel. Raiden was completely exhausted, and if he let down his guard, they would tear him apart, seeking to take advantage of his weakness. Raiden fought them with all the vigor he could muster. As soon as he swung at one rat, the other would dart in to take a swipe at him or to try to bite at his legs. Each time that Raiden swung, one rat would dodge out of the way, and its companion would attack. This led Raiden to switch targets rapidly to keep the rats from closing in. This deadly dance couldn’t last forever, and so Raiden changed tack. As one of the rats dove in at him, he swung at it halfway in a feint, then quickly changed the direction of the blade to strike at the other rat that he knew would be lunging for him. The lunging rat had taken the bait, and his blade connected with its shoulder, causing a deep gouge. However, the unwounded rat was already springing back at him.
Raiden backpedaled as he continued to swing his blade between the two savage beasts. The rat with the wounded shoulder hung back a little bit. The uninjured rat kept up its pressure, which prevented Raiden from finishing off the wounded one. After a few more moments of back and forth, Raiden finally caught the uninjured rat in its face with his sword, creating a deep gouge. Then both monsters came at him with reckless abandon, ignoring Raiden’s sword and going in for the kill. Raiden unleashed a series of attacks on the rats with all that he had. The ensuing melee was brutal, and the rats, unable to withstand his onslaught, finally succumbed to their wounds.
Raiden sagged to the floor, completely devoid of energy, as he heaved in huge gasps of air. After resting for a while, he finally stood on shaky legs. He charged his pistol as he looked at the devastation before him, shocked at the number of rats he had just killed. Raiden had not anticipated there being so many enemies in the small cavern. He realized that if he hadn’t followed his intuition to head back towards the cavern entrance, the rats would have swarmed him in the boulder field, and he would be dead right now. By using the cavern entrance as a funnel, he prevented the rats from surrounding him and instead withstood their frontal assault.
He was about to take a step forward when he felt a burning sensation in his chest. It started as a dull ache, and he shifted uncomfortably. He rested the hilt of his sword against the tunnel wall to keep his balance as his head spun. The sensation grew into a searing hot pain that was almost unbearable. Raiden held the hilt of his sword in a white knuckled grip. The pain continued to rise to a crescendo as a moan of agony escaped his lips. Finally, blissfully, the pain subsided. He relaxed his body as best he could to feel for any internal damage that may have happened during the battle. He didn’t feel anything out of place, and then the realization finally struck him. Perhaps he was close to earning his class and experiencing his soul awakening. He felt something at the edges of his perception, just barely out of reach, but was unable to grasp it.
After waiting for a few more moments, he sighed inwardly and put any thoughts of class advancement aside for the moment. Raiden stepped into the cavern and over the bodies of the dead rats, his weapons drawn. He carefully made his way across the boulder field, ready for anything to jump out at and strike him unawares. All that greeted him was silence. At the end of the cavern was another long tunnel that led deep into the earth below. It meandered back and forth without any offshoots, always descending lower into the depths of the dungeon. Eventually, the tunnel leveled out. And ahead, the bright glow of bioluminescence indicated the presence of another large cavern. Soon, Raiden stepped out of the shadows of the tunnel and into the space. The mushrooms were many times larger than the ones he had previously seen. The ceiling also sported a large number of the glowing mushrooms, which provided ample light to this section of the dungeon.
Raiden looked around warily. His eyes scanned from left to right, not picking up any hostiles. This cavern also contained a boulder field and a number of stone pillars placed haphazardly throughout the space. Raiden picked his way through the boulder field, keeping an eye out for any rats that might try to sneak up on him. After making it halfway through the cavern, his heart froze. Ahead of him, next to a patch of large mushrooms, was the biggest rat that Raiden had ever seen. Large black spikes protruded from its skin. Enormous teeth jutted out of its crooked jaw. One eye was missing. Its fur was wet and matted with black ooze. The giant rat spotted Raiden, and the two locked gazes with one another.
