Ethan flew across the corridor, surprised at the height of his jump before his naked foot hit the furry nozzle of the tainted rat. Without a beat, he jumped back and took a fighting stance, the katana held tight in his hands. Since waking up in this world for the first time, he felt a familiar stillness taking over his inner turmoil, his breathing calming down.
Ever since being pulled into this world, he had felt on a constant edge, not a master of his fate. Used to the safety of the modern world back in Iceland, his first days in the castle were a constant stream of nasty surprises, stress, and planning. Living in a moderately safe country before, Ethan was not used to watching the very shadows he walked through.
When the first rat jumped him, he felt scared of an abomination the size of a dog leaking foul liquids just a few paces from him. No, he was terrified as he did not have a weapon or anything to defend himself. Now his nakedness was rectified, a dark blade of magic exuding cold confidence in his hands - he felt like a man reborn.
His stance was casual as he circled the rat with practiced movements. The corridor he inhabited allowed more activity than the previous one, meaning Ethan had time to get used to the blade in his hand and plan his next move. The rat did not have such qualms as it quickly recovered and advanced on him with another ungodly screech.
Ethan did not hesitate and met its charge with a diagonal swipe of his blade, cutting the rat at its neck. Black blood spluttered from the wound onto Ethan’s hands as he passed the rat and its charge. Then, without a pause, he turned around, blade first, in a horizontal slash, cutting the rat’s backside.
The creature recoiled and wailed in pain before retreating a few meters back, oozing black blood in its wake. The corridor instantly filled with the smell of rot as more and more blood leaked from the creature. Ethan breathed in, frowning at the stench, and advanced on the rat, taking the initiative for the first time in a fight since discovering this place.
However, before he could get to the creature, the rat did something unexpected. It rose on its back feet and tried to swipe at Ethan with its short, clawed hands. Ethan quickly responded and met its claws with the sharp edge of his blade. Unfortunately for the rat, the blade proved more honed than its claws and promptly cut off several of its fingers. The rat wailed and jumped back, swiping Ethan off his feet with its tail.
Hitting his head and his back, Ethan rolled over, quickly jumping to his feet. Then, without a pause, he advanced again at the creature. Meanwhile, more and more blood had leaked from the rat, Ethan easily missing the fact. The simple truth was that he was not used to fighting opponents with an actual blade, making them bleed all around.
As such, the simple truth that all living creatures, magic or not, had blood, and it flowed when cut, caused Ethan to slip on his way to the beast. He instantly lost his balance and fell, narrowly avoiding another of the rat’s tail swipes. Before he plopped down again on his back, he cut with his blade upward.
The fluid motion struck true, cutting off half of the rat’s tail. The laws of gravity holding, Ethan landed on his ass and, without a pause, jumped back up, sword first, aiming another of his strikes at the rat’s neck. Having lost so much blood, the rat grew woozy and could not react in time, Ethan’s blade striking true and severing the monster’s head.
His blade still raised after the motion, Ethan heard the quiet plop. The rat’s head dropped a few paces from him as the corridor went silent, calming cold coming from Ethan’s blade. Only the smell of the black blood lingered as Ethan recalled his blade and read the notification that popped up.
You have defeated [Tainted rat]!
A portion of mana has been absorbed.
Do you want to loot [Tainted rat]?
Yes/No
He mentally accepted the prompt and was delighted to see the same loot appear in his storage space as the last time he had defeated the rat creature. Only after the fight had ended Ethan noticed how hard his heart was beating, his breath ragged. He breathed in and out calmly, seeing that the black blood had started to dissolve, not minding the stench anymore.
He sat down, shifting his bulk on the cold stone floor, and analyzed his fight with the creature. Just a few moments before, he had expected to defeat it in a single strike without exerting much effort. The reality, however, was much harsher, proving to Ethan that while the same creature, it had acted and shown different abilities than the previous one he had fought. Mr. Yashida was right. Cannot assume anything in a fight, he recognized.
He drew another calming breath and said, “And here I thought I could handle it easily enough. This could have ended a lot differently.” He looked around the corridor, noting that the spilled blood had already dissolved and vanished before he looked at his arms.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
Minor scrapes were visible on his palms and forearms when he thought he had evaded the creature's swipes. Then, he touched his left leg, feeling a throbbing, just where the rat had landed a blow with its tail.
Ethan got up, feeling the cold of the stone floor under his naked feet, and tried his leg, noting that it was not impaired, only slightly hurt. No time to sit around, he thought to himself.
He looked back through the corridor and noticed his dropped light crystal, quickly collecting it. Then, with his obstruction removed, he continued his search of an armory, albeit with more caution, his previous excitement gone.
He walked through the dark and quiet corridor, it exuding a silent promise of another encounter, before arriving at a heavy wooden door. Walking up to it, Ethan tried the handle, and, to his surprise, the door opened, although with a pained sound, as if someone was dragging his nails against a chalkboard.
He winced and turned to look to the sides, closely listening to see if that had attracted any unwanted attention. Then, after a moment, when no one jumped out of the darkness, and no sound traveled the quiet corridors, he entered the room behind the large door.
He cast light from his crystal ahead, and a large hall opened before him, filled with dark vertical stone poles. Ethan walked up to one of them, noticing that the floor had changed from cold stone to something similar to a mat, soft and squishy.
He turned his gaze to the stone pole and noticed it was covered in intricate runes similar to the ones he had found on the box with the aspect seed. Not understanding their purpose, he tried to identify the pole.
[Training pillar of the Gloomguard] (tool, unranked, rare)
Summons a training golem of the Gloomguard.
“Of course, there had to be an organization named after the place. Why everything has to contain the word ‘gloom’?” Ethan mused, running his hand against the pole and pulling his hand away before he activated the thing.
“Maybe it is the dark corridors this place seems to have? Why would they not invest in having some more windows in the halls? It is not like they had to add glass to them,” he said, looking around the dark room. “Wait, is glass a thing here?” he said, looking up and down the wall, noting that the training hall had no windows as he expected, and sighed.
Looking at his light crystal, Ethan noted that it could cast only so much light in the room. If he was to train using this room, he had to find more crystals or a light switch if such existed. He stepped away from the pole, going further into the room, noticing many more poles dotting the floor until he saw a small area at the back of the hall.
Walking up to it, he noticed a rack filled with books, a closed wooden cabinet, and a large wooden table. Before browsing the books, he opened the cabinet and saw it was filled with weapons.
Swords, spears, knives, poles, and even spiky mace. Some collection they have got here, he thought and took one of the swords, noting its weight, and observed the blade. It was a simple longsword, although in reasonably good condition, with no rust covering it.
Putting the weapon back, Ethan looked around the room and understood that if he would survive, he needed to train. He knew that he had the space if he managed to find the switch to a light source and had access to some golems. But, if his last fight had shown him something, he was not ready to face the dangers this world threw at him. Yet.
Looking at the rack of books, he noted that they were primarily decayed, the paper notwithstanding the passage of time, the same way as the books in the library. Most likely some enchantments there, he recognized. He turned to the table next to the bookcase and saw a single drawer in the middle.
He grabbed the handle and pulled the whole front of the drawer off. Ethan chuckled as he threw away the decayed wood and peered in the drawer, noting a small book with a dark leather cover. A diary? he thought and carefully took the book from its hiding place and opened the front page, noting some runes and a caption, Training notes. Captain Brand.
“A literate guard captain. That's a surprise,” Ethan mused as he opened the next page, not noticing the difference between reading a text in what he guessed was Erdian. It read the same way as English would.
Day 58. I just remembered that I needed to start marking entries. Ever since joining the Gloomguard, my time has flown by. Well, it is what it is. The experience so far has been humbling. Before joining, I thought this was another of Veer’s training centers for the guards.
I was wrong. Gloomvault is nothing if secretive. The mages - downright mysterious. They are planning something, as best I can tell. I will continue observing the situation and see how many secrets I can pry out of them before I am discovered.
Ethan mulled over the words, looking up to the ceiling, pinching the bridge of his nose. Then he groaned and looked at the diary in his hand before saying, “Of course, there had to be a secret society.”