“We need to clear the entire dungeon anyway, so it’s not like it matters much.” Lauren commented “But if I had to choose, I’d go right. Since the rats came from the left, it could mean that more of them are that way. If we can get another level or two in the meantime, we’ll be better off when we get closer to the Boss.”
Her words were met with nods of agreement by all. It wasn’t like they had other information to go off on anyway. The reports left behind by the Radiant Guild had been sparse, to say the least. It wasn’t unexpected, as H-rank dungeons weren’t considered relevant threats and could even be dealt with by regular law enforcement - with special equipment - if necessary, but it still would have been helpful for them to attach a map.
The group started walking right, leaving behind the rat corpses with only a little regret at not having extracted the mana stones.
Doing it once wouldn’t be a problem, but if we started stopping for every single monster, we’d never end. I’d like to sleep in my own bed tonight.
The path they had chosen turned out to be a dead end, but not before they had to fight two more groups of rats, which they quickly dispatched.
“This is easier than I expected, given all the fear-mongering about not going into dungeons alone.” Maria commented as they walked back.
“Well, we are a team of five who have been training together for a week. While this is not the weakest possible dungeon, as it's not newly formed, it still is at the bottom of the ranks.” Daniel was always the voice of reason in these cases, trying to bring some perspective before the others could get too high on their own supply.
“The Boss, at least, should give us a challenge. We should expect it to use wide area skills since the rats always move in groups. It’d need it for crowd control.” James added, thinking back at how much stronger the squirrel Boss had been than its minions.
“Yeah, let’s not lower our guard here. We still have a lot of work to do.” Ezekiel agreed.
Finally, they returned to the fork in the road and took the leftmost path. It took only a little while before the sewer widened, becoming almost a chamber.
James halted their advance with a raised hand, having felt several presences scurrying in the dark. “They are coming.” He murmured.
The team barely had the time to start their skills when a much larger group than any they had met before charged them. It was made of smaller rats, as big as the [Rat - Assassin] James had dealt with, but without its defining features.
Still, a swarm of two dozen Labrador-sized rats coming your way was not a pleasant sight, which made Maria’s scream quite understandable. However, her ensuing decision to set fire to them all with a barrage of fireballs made things chaotic for everyone, as the swarm’s momentum made it impossible for them to stop.
Still, they had trained for such an occasion with the help of several automatons at the AA, which when powered by a mana stone, could serve as a facsimile of a monster. Dealing with swarms was a fundamental skill for any would-be dungeon delver, so they quickly employed the tactics they had been taught.
Daniel placed himself at the front, acting as a watershed for the screeching, burning rats. Behind him, James and Lauren, empowered by Ezekiel’s buffs, crushed as many as possible while Maria dealt with those that managed to escape their reach. All the while, Ezekiel also cast debuffs on those few rats that managed to avoid the flames, thus slowing and confusing them enough that they were quickly defeated.
All in all, the whole thing took them only a few minutes, and the cleanup after the initial charge a little more than that.
James shook his hands, trying to get the grime off his expensive gloves, very thankful that the D-rank leather had a self-cleaning property that made it so not much could stick to it, no matter how many heads he had to break. The swarm had been made up of weaker rats than they had met before, but coupled with the groups they had defeated on the rightmost path, they all leveled up again, much to their happiness.
The sensation of his mana reserves increasing was exhilarating to James, enough that he knew it wouldn’t be easy simply giving up his career as an Awakener now that he had felt it.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
The team took turns assigning their points in preparation for the Boss fight, which they had to be coming close to. Once it was James’ turn, he put one point in SENSE and one in AGI, wanting to be more mobile and concerned they might find more Assassin rats.
His fear turned out to be correct, as after dispatching another group of the larger rat variant, they were beset from two sides by the stealthy monsters.
Thakinetic Awareness proved its worth in gold, having alerted him to their approach, but since he was the only one who could sense them, they suffered their first injury.
Lauren tackled the first of two monsters bearing on them due to her familiarity with stealth-based skills, while James handled the second. However, she did not notice when her opponent faked a charge at her and instead went for Maria.
A gash on her cheek, right below her left eye - the only body part unprotected by the expensive armor - was all it managed to inflict before Daniel bullrushed it, crushing the rat against the wall.
Luckily, they had Ezekiel with them, who quickly started treating the wound and reassured Maria that it’d close up without any scar in only a couple of minutes.
Still, they were all shaken by the fight, having easily crushed all their opponents so far. “Fuck, I’m sorry, I should have been more careful. This is my fault.” Lauren apologized, holding her head low.
James knew that the girl, being the oldest and with the highest level, felt responsible for all of them, but in a dungeon getting injured was to be expected. He said as much “We knew this would happen, and we prepared for it.We should be good, since Maria still managed to prevent a serious injury. We just need to learn from this.”
Rather than being shaken, like he had feared she would be, Maria agreed vehemently, not allowing Lauren to blame herself. “He’s right. We all messed up. I should have had a fireball ready to place between us, so let’s put this behind us and focus on taking down the Boss.”
Once Ezekiel was done with the treatment and Maria poked and prodded her cheek to see if she felt any pain, they resumed their walk. The curly-haired boy drank a mana potion, a relatively expensive brew made to quickly replenish one’s reserves in a pinch, which this counted as.
“It’s so annoying that healing takes much more mana than all my other skills. I ended up empty even after leveling up twice!” Ezekiel complained, though he kept his head on a swivel.
Soon enough, they reached the end of the sewers, where the waters would be redirected to be purified and then let out into the ocean.
It was a cavernous room, wide enough for three buses to sit in both directions. On the right side was where the waters accumulated, waiting to pass through the purifiers, while on the left, the platform they were on widened enough to be a plaza.
Maria conjured a few orbs of fire, illuminating the room further than their torches could. Grand arches held up the ceiling, while towards the end, the unnatural darkness pooled, somehow countering the light let out by the fireballs.
“No points for a guess as to where the Boss is.”
Chuckling at Lauren’s joke, James took up his position, and they slowly advanced forward. Daniel led the way, his shield softly glowing with his skill's power.
That turned out to be an excellent idea, as a figure emerged from the darkness with a roar. It was by far the biggest rat James had ever seen, and if it had stood up on its hind feet, he bet it would have been as tall as him.
Its fur was still oily, but had an indefinable quality, blending in with the surroundings. Its breath misted, curling around it with intent, signifying an active skill.
Then, it shot forward, clearing the distance between them in two great leaps. Its limbs, longer than on a normal rat, thrust forward, crashing against Daniel’s shield. The Tank was sent careening backward, though he had achieved his goal of nullifying the blow.
Immediately, three fireballs shot at the Boss, forcing it to jump away in an acrobatic display. James and Lauren were on it the moment it touched down, buffed by Ezekiel’s spells. The girl jumped on top of it, using her wickedly sharp knives to pierce its hide, while James punched it in the head, stunning it.
“Scatter!” Came the shout, and both Awakeners obliged, avoiding a very fiery encounter. A singular fireball, larger than any Maria had cast before, exploded against the rat, sending it flying backward with the force of the explosion.
The Boss, however, was not one to be defeated so easily, and it unfortunately had help. With a pain-filled screech, it called upon reinforcements, and a new swarm of the smaller rats crawled out of the darkness which had obfuscated their presence.
“We’re on it!” Maria yelled, using magic alongside Ezekiel to contain the mass of monsters. The youngest of the team was busy casting another buff, this time on Daniel, who had recovered from the previous hit, allowing him to quickly start dispatching those rats that weren’t hit by the destructive fireballs.
Seeing that their companions had the swarm handled, James and Lauren resumed their assault, running towards the Boss to finish the fight. Seeing that its gambit had failed, the creature decided to go for broke. It roared again, a low sound that sent a tremble through the room.
It soon became evident what it had done. The unnatural shadows pooling in the back swarmed to it as if being recalled. Then, they rose from the ground, gaining a physical form as sinuously moving whips of shadow.
The new limbs shot towards the two, seeking to end them quickly. Seeing how desperate the Boss was getting, James pumped more mana into his skill, concentrating his Will on his hands.
Then, when a shadow whip was about to hit him, he raised them and, stunning the Boss rat enough that it let out an almost comical squeak, caught it.
The grin on the boy’s face was almost maniacal as he tugged on the shadow tendril, forcing the Boss forward. With a kick that would have made a professional MMA fighter proud, James hit it in the snout with great force, only to pull it towards him again.
Bone crunched, and the rat finally released its skill, allowing the two to get close to it and finish the fight. This time, Lauren had no qualms about using her knife in the most lethal spot, burying it in the middle of its skull.
The Boss twitched violently one last time and finally exhaled its last breath. Just to be certain, the girl stabbed it again, and only when it didn’t move was she satisfied.
Meanwhile, the fight against the swarm had wrapped up, as the combined might of Maria’s fire magic, Ezekiel’s buffing spells and Daniel’s mighty physique crushed all resistance.
Seeing that it was over, Lauren mused “Well, now that the fun part’s over, we need to start with the cleanup. Who wants to start cutting up the Boss?”