Turns out to be extremely hard. He had even found sewer related monsters. Which just seemed to just ignore physical damage, which for a tamer who heavily relied on beating their opponent with brute force was a very terrible match up.
The slimes just rolled over his rats killing them and increased their mass. They only reliable and accidental Opal feathers. When a slime tried to eat her it just boiled away into nothing. They occasionally dropped a trash tier monster core.
In total he now had seven cores and had slayen fifty. He would have had eight, if Opal hadn’t decided on chowing down on the sparkly rock. When she did he got a notification saying opal had gained two skill points and five hundred expiance. That’s why he had begun keeping them in a tightly closed bag. They would be a nice reward when this war was over. He also didn’t feel comfortable with having two creatures out leveling him.
Double checking his experience sharing, he relaxed, at least half of any xp gain would be evenly distributed among his pets including him. He’d set his portion of experience back to his level instead of his profession. He had a feeling it would be better if he'd crossed that threshold when they weren’t fighting a guild.
Anyways back to the problem at hand. How did Lilith get Buttercup into the sew? There was a staircase leading down, not every sewer grate had a ladder right by it. Did the sewers have a tunnel leading out of the city? That seemed likely.
Another hour passed, then another. Just as he was about to close his eyes to take a brief nap the tunnel slowly brightened. Not believing it he continued on until the sloshing of thousands of rats, a pony, a chicken came to be thumping on the nice clean grass. Well formally clean.
He had just closed his eyes and begun to dream about simpler times, when suddenly a fine mist of sewer junk sprung up around him as thousands of rats attempted to shake off the city water. Then again since it began raining nasty water.
“AUGH! Stop it! I get it no, no. no we donnn!” The Rat’s had begun rolling around in the formally clean green grass. Which was now becoming more and more muddy by the second.
Face palming he had hoped to leave no trace, so that when this was all over he could come back and grind up some ‘beastcores’ without anyone noticing. But now it would be fairly obvious that this was a sewer entrance. Oh well guess he had to be quick about it before anyone else found this spot.
“Fuuuu'' a low pitch emanated from the grimy flute. Followed up by a few spits, then barfing. Then a messy hand comes up to clean the messy mouth. Which resulted in more unsavory shenanigans.
“That’s disgusting.” A voice echoed from above them. Looking up from his growing puddle of muck Marlow saw three figures on top of the wall. With the center one radiating obedience. He felt his skin crawl just seeing the silhouette of this person.
“I take it that you didn't offer our little peace offering, and now believe that you can just walk away with our chicken. How, bold of you. You know back in my day we left the bullies of the world alone.”
“Well today’s my day and I think we do. FWEEE-quek.” Marlow attempted to play a hurried tune, but a sliver of slug and seeped into the flute stopping a vital note. Instead of signalling for his rats to fight or flee with me they simply heard fight with me.
In a few short moments the guard who was posted to patrol this wall, found himself in the middle of a warzone as rats climbed up and over. He'd thought he’d seen someone over here and had walked over to see how’d they gotten up here, but they'd vanished. With his sword at the ready waited for his moment to strike. Seeing three rat sized pumas begin clawing up the brick wall. He designated them to be the most dangerous.
Charging forward he kicked rats up left and right. Cleaving any rat that leaped at him. Making his way to the first puma sized rat he trusted his sword down into the large rat’s head watch as the live drain from his eyes.
“Thanks for the help.” A cloaked figure appeared from the shadows before promptly shoving the guard over the wall into the swarm of rats below.
“AAA- fwoof. Wwwha iin ttthhe?” The guard slurred, his body felt numb wa-was he paralyzed? Oh dear may every ditey have mercy on him.
“Where did you come from?”
“Grrammpppaaa is that yyyooouuu?” The guard wistfully slurring his speech, reaching out a hand to the light.
“Sorry I’m not your grandpa.” Marlow replied by taking the guard by the wrist and pulled him out of Opal’s numb feathers.
“Again where did you come from.”
“What in the abyss is, AUGH RATS!”
“Yes, rats. If you’d be so kind. Could you please tell me where you came from. I’d sleep easier if I knew people don’t fall out of the sky randomly. Also can you stand you’re getting a bit heavy.” Marlow heaved as the guard shakely touched down, again.
“They're not attacking us?”
“Yep.”
“I.”
“Are you in shock sir?” Not getting an emergency response other than the constant shaking and mumbling. Marlow debated between sending more rats up the wall to attack more hardcores or.
Seconds later the majority of his rats were climbing up the wall. Heaving he really began to miss his haul skill right about now. He eventually pulled the shocked guard up and over Buttercup. Grimesing he pulled up the available class for his beloved pony.
NaySlayer: Buttercup has experienced magic first hand and has barely grasped what she’s truly capable of. Buttercup will gain true pony powers. These powers may include pony levitation, pony pyrosism and possible friendship. Recommended characteristics: Intelligence, Wisdom, and Luck.
Mount: It's a pony they were meant for this. Max carrying capacity [1]. Recommend characteristics: Strength, Constitution, and Dexterity.
Strider: A subclass of mount they focus on moving incredibly quickly, ain’t nothing gonna break this ride, max carrying capacity [1]. Recommend characteristics: Strength, Dexterity, and Perception.
“Incredible fast, eh. Well, hehe. Don’t mind if I do.” Pressing ‘Strider’ Another notification popped up.
Buttercup has learned skills: Dash*, Haul*, and Saddle up*.
Skill gained: Dash (novice I): Picking a destination Buttercup will run nonstop until it has reached its destination. 5s*1n% to movement while running. Where c = strength
Skill gained: Haul (novice I): Hooking up a large device to Buttercup it’s weight will be reduced by 2c*1n%. Where c = constitution.
Skill gained: Saddle up (novice I): When a person sits on Buttercups back there’s now a .5d*1n% chance they will stay on when traveling over rough terrain. Where d = dexterity.
“Neat, come on Buttercup, let's get this guard to a safe place.” Instantly Buttercup was off leaving Opal and Marlow in the dust as the sun set on the horizon.
“Well, shoot.” Looking down at Opal he shrugged. Looking at sky words he saw that two of the three figures had fallen. Good he’d be able to recall his rats and have them carry him and Opal up and over the wall.
Golden light showered Marlow blasting every spot of junk into oblivion. Hold on, did he gain experience? But how he wasn’t in combat, no way. Di-did he gain experience from his rats from killing players! No way. Scrolling over his notifications he did! No wonder the quests he got didn’t give out xp he could just get them through killing other players, sweet.
Dumping his two points in dexterity he called down his rats and in a few short moments he was united with an over of the city, with Opal by his side. And what a view it was. If you removed all the burning buildings that is.
Needless to say the Hardcores need to go down. Now. But with such widespread chaos where could you find them? They could just simply blend in with the crowd, without anyone noticing. Smiling Marlow once again pulled up his menu and began designating classes to his rat army.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.
Out of his one hundred twenty five thousand, nine hundred seventy two rats he divided them up into four groups: scouts, rogues, bruts, and mounts. Sending them off in pairs of eight, two of each member, he began to form a solid map of the city in his mind.
Due to the scout's ability to relay information back to him, his sight shifted from view to view. It was like watching security cameras able to shift his view around while still being able to keep an eye on all of them. If he had a higher intelligence stat he could do so much more. It felt like his head was about to burst.
Wiping his itchy nose he found blood on the back of his hand. Hoping this effect wasn’t permitted he whipped his hand on his pants. He looked up at the city in flames he hoped could get the task done before whatever the Hardcore’s plan happend. He just had to figure out what.
Opal coded shoving her head under Marlow and began shaking her head about, believing that it was cuddle time, while the master was dealing with information overload.
Getting a weak pat in return she pecked at the master to grab his full attention. This resulted in Cob n tato uncoiling and in an attempt to protect the warm body of their master, tried to constrict an abnormally large bird. However they didn’t expect to fight back. Wrapping their body around the bird was alright, then just as they began the second layer they felt like it was on fire. Quickly unspooling the two head hiss at each other to them and get a senest on what had happened.
Meanwhile Opal had pushed Marlow on to the ground. Ruffing her feathers she had begun sitting on top of the overwhelmed tamer. When she noticed the growing puddle of blood coming from the master Beck. Quacking loudly she attempted to grab the attention of the moving rope that slithered out of the master, surely it must know what to do.
However the rope seemed to be talking to itself, which meant the only other reliable servant of the master was the big rat. She was sure the master had named it, but had… What was she doing again? Oh right, saving the master!
Clamping down Opal took off, with the Master’s limp body in her mouth. Flappy her wing she somewhat easier to descend, but still went crashing through one of the rooftops down below. This caught the attention of Cob n Tato who also scared the living daylights out of the family of five. Gently warping their gigantic body around the limp Master the hurriedly left the frightened family. Coming to an unspoken agreement Opal and Cob n Tato set off to go find someone who could help.
Meanwhile Across the town Le0n was having the time of his life! Firing arrow after arrow he grinned as he watched his arrows oh so slightly twist in mid air adjusting their crouse to land in enemy targets.
“I believe that’s forty three for me and what? Five for you Jazz?”
“Twelve actually some poor sap just triggered a trap. Too bad we can just see who is on the enemy team. Instead of just waiting to see who's name turns red. I mean that would make our work. Thirteen. So much easier.”
“That would be cool wouldn’t it. But hey this is giving us a great chance to grind our scan skill.”
“Nah I’m only using that skill on plants, I want to see if I get any bonus just for doing so?”
“Oh, coo-” Le0n bent over in pain coughing up a bit of blood. Jazz responded by dumping a potion on the open wound before removing the crudely crafted dagger. Looking back the pair of them saw a figure just enter stealth.
“On the bright side I did just gain a sub skill that gives me a chance for my arrows to change their course mid air. Got it as an early reward for taking out the third bomb before it set off.” Le0n exclaimed, notching another arrow.
“Oh is that how you've been getting more kills than me?”
“Sure have, what in the abyss!” Four gigantic rats came barreling down the road seeming to attack at random, until several stealthed thieves broke cover and began charging at their makeshift fortification, or gathered together crats and blankets.
“Incoming!”
“On it!” Jazz uncorded a small glowing jar with a single little yellow leaf. She Hurled the open bottle and cracked it, the cobblestone up the street turning into a light mist. The thieves caught in the ensuing fog fell into a deep sleep before getting shot or ravaged by giant rats.
More people began flooding out of bars as rats with sharpened claws began attacking patrons. Rogues who escaped the bars were met with muscular rats climbing up their pants and a good punch to any available skin.
The one part the rat army didn’t count on was the number of adventures in each bar. Even though they had the numbers and surprise one their side the adventures had levels, gear, and size on their size. For every Hardcore they took down they lost five of their brother and sisters.
“Jazz, I have an idea. But were gonna need a Hardcore, alive.”
“On it!” Shoving her hand deep into her satchel Jazz drew out a cream colored bottle. Not even uncorking the bottle she threw it, end over end it landed on the cobble outside of the nearest bar. Insently a foam cloud blossomed growing in size catching a few unlucky people, before hardening. Le0n drew and fired four arrows at an approaching squad of rats.
“Hello there so nice to see you, I don’t suppose any of you are a part of the guild hardcores?”
“Go punch sand, nimrods.”
“Ah I see we got a lucky catch! Hi there I’m Le0n of the Thunderdome guild and this is my teammate Jazz, a pleasure to meet you. I was hoping you could tell us what was the point of setting off three bombs and committing large scale crime all across the city tonight?”
“Piss off, nimrod.”
“Well that’s quite rude. We've only just met. I suppose we could be you as an example.”
“An example, sure what a weak archer like you is going to do? Fill me with an arrow? Don’t make me laugh. HA!”
“Oh I’m not the one doing the tourcher. She is.” Le0n pointed a single finger at Jazz, who had pulled out a blue sparkling potion that seemed to crackle. Gesturing for a rat to come over she poured a single drop into it’s open mouth. A second later the rat ran around glowing red screeching in pain before it exploded in a burst of flame. Covering in roasted rat jerky.
“Um guess that one had a fire affinity. I wonder what affinity you might have?” Jazz smiles swirling the remaining liquid. Taking a step forward.
“Ok ok, I’ll talk.” Several minutes later the dio took off, heading to the guard’s barracks.
“Those monsters, how could they just casually poison the guards!”
“To be fair it was a good plan, I might have pulled it off too.”
“Genuinely what-” Three daggers landed on Jazzed back. Le0n turned and fired, missing their assailant.
“Stupid stealth skill!” Notching another arrow, Le0n waited for the rogue to strike. Turning he found Jazz prone on the ground, her party icon already gray. Guess this rogue was a bit more dangerous or at the very least using poison.
Suddenly buckling he turned and fired, successfully landing an arrow the shoulder of the would be assassin. His leg felt numb grabbing this thigh with one hand he began to put pressure on it while grabbing a stripe of cloth. Wrapping he pulled then tied a knot. It wasn’t perfect but it should hopefully get him through this fight.
Reaching for his bow, he grabbed nothing, he looked up and saw the rogue ready to swing his bow like a baseball bat. Throwing himself backwards he rolled up with the piece of the cobblestone in hand. The rogue carried on snapping his bow on the street.
Balancing his weight on his good leg, he leapt pounding the rock against the rogue’s hooded head knocking him out cold. Stopping, he took a deep breath. In and out, in and out.
His bow was now broken, Jazz was dead, and Marlow had let loose an army of rats on the city. Things could be worse. He could use his arrow like daggers, he didn’t have any of Jazz’s potions, but that’s what the fall back points were for, and if Marlow had set ‘rat’ army loose that means he’s probably still kicking. That’s if the guards and murder hobos didn’t mistake him for fotter or something else.
Jabbing an arrow into the fall rogue, Le0n stood on shaking legs and began hobeling towards the barracks hoping that he wasn’t too late.
Meanwhile across the city Marlow was coming too. People had of course begun to kill his precious pets. This was quite rude. Didn’t they know all the hard work he did! Closing his eyes he focuses on the notifications, hoping it would take the edge off of his over-stressed mind.
Perception +1 (*15)
Intelligence -1 (*2)
Quest alert: For a noble cause III (Chainquest). 2/4 objectives complete! Objectives remaining: Objective 1) Stop the guild ‘Hardcores’ from completing their elaborate heist. 2) Find and retrieve Opal. 3) Slay any activity members of the guild ‘Hardcores’ 146/200, only active players 12 remaining. 4) Find the guild quarters of ‘Hardcores’.
Level up! You are now level 8. You now have 2 character points to spend.
Intelligence -1 (*3)
Constitution +1 (*4)
New title gained: TrailBlazer. For exploring an already discovered area in much greater detail than the predecessor. Far beyond any normal person would you gain this title. Effect: gain a mini map in your vision of places you’ve been. To update the mini map simply visit new places or to revise your mini map visit that place again. The more time you spend in one place the greater detail will appear on your map.
Karmic luck -20.
Level up! You are now level 9. You now have 2 character points to spend.
Skill gained: Toxin Resistance (novice I). I really think you should be too focused on this skill right now.
Dumping his four free character points into constitution Marlow heaved as one of his characteristics descended below a threshold. He felt like he was supposed to know some, but could put a finger on what it was.
“Get back here criminal scum! Hehya!” Pain erupted across his back, lunging forward he twisted to see the captain of the guard fending off both Opal, Cob n Tato, and the occasional rat.
Using Cob n Tato massive size as walls to kick off the captain jumped around avoiding every slash and peck from Opal. Meanwhile Cob n Tato couldn’t land a hit due to the occasional tap from Opal temporarily paralyzing the magical snake. Cutting every rat in twain whenever it came near.
Karmic event triggered -21 karmic luck has been consumed. Guardmen’s Rally, The captain of the guard has found the person responsible for unleashing a plague of monsters on the city and suspects you as the person responsible for a sudden wave of crime. Effect: all city guards will receive a 21% boost in stats for the next 21 hours.
As soon as Marlow read his most recent notification the captain of the guard shouted into the night. Landing a clean slice on both Opal and Cob n Tato. Marlow could feel his heart drop as the captain unloaded a hundreds of slashes. On Cob n Tato and Opal. Killing them both.