Frederick's screams were the only thing guiding us across the caves. This was not the Ice Devil lair which had several nodes of light showing us the path. Here it was mostly darkness. The only light came from the outside, through small gaps on the ceiling. But even they were not a direct shot to the sky. The light bounced around a few curves giving just a very dim glow that barely helped see the rocks around us. Still, Astrid and I rushed without care. If we stumbled upon something, we would have to deal with whatever it was.

She had heard the stories about the spider that I fought, and we had seen some webbing back in the Ice Devil lair which might indicate the presence of more of those creatures somewhere. If this was what had got the teenager, we needed to move fast. Spiders tended to first wrap their prey into cocoons made out of silk before starting to eat. But it was hard to tell if a monster like the one I saw, a monster that had the System's aid, would follow the same pattern.

Eventually, we reached a point where the cave split into two. {Predatory Sense} was warning me about something on the left. My best guess was that it was warning me about the exact same thing that took Frederick. We did not think twice. I jumped towards it with Astrid following me with no question. We continued delving deeper and deeper into the cave network until we reached the point where there was absolutely no light. It was impossible for us to continue in that situation, but luckily my hands reached out for the wall and found some old dried roots. Taking one of them, I triggered {Firestarter} to ignite the wood, finally allowing us to see our surroundings.

It became clear that we would require more than just those branches for our travels in the area. They were burning too quickly, and the last thing either of us wanted was to be lost in the middle of this cave network in the dark. Pressing on, it took another 10 minutes to reach an area where we became unable to follow Frederick's screams. Not because he had stopped shouting, but because the echo was starting to become a problem, making it harder for us to properly recognize the direction that it was coming from.

After changing the root again and igniting another, we noticed some webbing on the ground going towards the tunnel on our right. Those kinds of choices and considering what was used to bring the boy down here, it felt like a safe bet. There was only one way the creature who had gotten Frederick reached this deep into the caves this quickly.

Astrid and I were not going for a light jog. We were sprinting through the passages as fast as we could. Even if we did not know the environment all that well, our pace would put most animals to shame. Which meant whatever brought him here had to have a System. And the only thing that we knew could be here was one of those massive spiders. The strange creatures were the only things I knew also had full access to System and not just the particles.

Following the tunnel, we quickly reached a large nest filled with various cocoons. Spider webs covered ground. Not just that, but the walls and the ceiling were also covered in the sticky white strands that were surprisingly difficult to break. Then again, it made sense too. Spider webs were known for their sturdiness despite their size. When considering it was made by a giant spider, it would be more than possible for it to trap a little creature without much problem.

The branch I was using slowly started to burn out, forcing me to spend yet another Energy point into triggering {Firestarter} for the third time. When the new branch was properly ignited, we finally had the opportunity to look around the nest in hopes of finding Frederick. But it was clear he was not here. In fact, no one seemed to have been here for a while.

These spider webs were old and falling apart, and the cocoons were broken open as if someone tried to remove whatever was inside them from the outside. That was not how spiders hunted. If they wanted to eat one of their prey, they would just sink their fangs on the cocoon and suck them dry as if through a straw. There was no need for opening the cocoon. As a matter of fact, doing so was counterproductive for the spiders. It would only serve to give whoever was trapped a chance to escape. And no matter how weak their target was, there was always a chance of losing it.

Which meant that whoever opened those cocoons were not the spiders themselves but something else. The final confirmation of that was the presence of a large corpse at the back of the room. It was a spider there, one with two heads instead of one, them loosely attached to the side of its body. System might be able to improve their users, but the mutations it was causing to those creatures were truly horrifying. It almost looked like the attempts of a mad scientist trying to create a better life form.

That only caused me to worry about my potential future. Could even I end up with extra limbs? Maybe a tail? Maybe the System would turn me into a snake lady or something. But at the very least, I had a feeling that it would not do anything without my permission, which was slightly comforting prospect.

"Not here," Astrid said after looking around for a moment.

"I know that. Let's go back. We might find him if we take a different route."

With that, the Frosted Lumberjack walked off from this area. I was about to do the same, but I noticed how there was the corpse of a small baby spider. It was just the size of my fist, and there was some spider web coming out of its butt. Cursing myself mentally, I reached out and put the small body into my bag. I didn't know when this started, but apparently now I was the kind of person who was willing to eat anything as long as I got skills out of it. And maybe the spider could help me make some silk not just for fighting but also to make some clothes.

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We soon arrived back at where the path split off. But now came another problem. Not counting the tunnel that would take us back to the dead spider, and the one that we came from there were still two passages we could take. But there was no sound or anything coming from them. To my surprise, Astrid approached one of the corridors and started sniffing the air. It did not take long for her to point at a small dark smear on the wall.

"Manure."

"Are you sure about that?" I asked.

The Frosted Lumberjack nodded. "Same smell."

With a nod, I said, "Lead the way down. I think your nose is better than mine."

Astrid smiled and started following the passage that she believed would take us to Frederick. After a few more minutes, we started hearing sounds. It was almost like skittering, something caused by little creatures, but they were moving together. All the individual sounds merged, creating one gigantic cacophony that, despite everything, was still following an organized pattern that recreated itself. The noise was deafening for a few moments until it abruptly stopped.

I started to have some cold shivers as I considered the possible reasons for something like that. And only two things came to mind. Either we were about to see a creature with so many legs and feet that its movement sounded like an army marching, or we were about to see an actual army marching through this cave network. And out of the two options, I think I would prefer to deal with the giant monster.

We continued walking through this new path but this time being more careful instead of just rushing at first. It was hard to tell, but I had a feeling something was about to happen and Astrid sensed my hesitation. If we were truly going after an army of creatures, rushing without a plan was the last thing we should be doing.

We finally heard something else happening. Another scream coming from Frederick. Or at least, we both hoped it came from the teenager. If the source was someone else, we had even bigger problems on hand. We got closer and closer as another voice took over. It grunted and snarled gnarly and constantly. The sound became louder and louder until Frederick's voice appeared again, this time accompanied by the sound of something hitting flesh and a whispered mumble. At the end of this corridor was a weak light, very similar to the one illuminating our path. But the source seemed to be moving, or at least, that's what the shadows made it seem like was happening.

Realizing Frederick was still alive but in danger, we rushed towards the light. But nothing could prepare us for what we saw after turning that corner. The teenager was there, bound by some spider webs that were neatly packed in a large rope. And in front of him was the biggest rat I had ever seen. It was at least 1 meter [3.3ft] tall, walking on its back legs and wore some strange kind of clothing that seemed to be a mix of pelts, fabric and moss, with some extra spider body parts for good measure.

The rat turned to face us and walked forward. My first response was to ask the System to show me what this was. A notification appeared in my view simply stating

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Rakshu - Rodenti - Tier 1

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Before I could do anything else, Frederick yelled, "Help! Please help!"

The giant rat struck the teenager on his face. Its strangely large feet had some claws, but the creature did not attack with them. Instead it had chosen to slam the palm of its sole against the boy's head. That pretty much cemented my reaction.

Without giving time for this giant rat to do anything else, I jumped forward and swung my staff, cracking it over the creature's head. I had expected to have killed the beast in this simple move, but the monster still groaned and got up, acting like my strike was just an annoyance while cursing under its breath.

"Stupid food. Stupid Meat. Making me work."

It turned to face me and prepared to attack with some strange sort of crossbow-slingshot. It was hard to explain, hard to recognize what the weapon was. Only that it had some sort of strange mechanism looking a lot like a wooden gun with some spider silk on the back, and the creature understood how to use it.

Before it could do whatever it was going to do, Astrid stepped forward with her Frosted Axe and brought it down on the monster's neck. The creature cried in pain, but she put some pressure on her, pushing it down and embedding the weapon deep into their torso, finishing the creature off.

We quickly turned to Frederick as both of us felt particles rush inside our bodies and helped the teenager to his feet. Before he could ask anything or any of us could talk about what just happened, we heard more noises coming from deeper into the tunnel. Noises very similar to the ones this Rodenti was making.

Not wanting to be caught by whatever was coming, we rushed back, hoping to leave the cave network before being caught by anything else. But luck was not on our side. In the next crossroads, we heard more skittering coming from the path we should take to lead us outside. The corridor that we had just came from also started to become noisy as whatever was coming seemed to have found the body we left behind.

There were two other passages for us to take. One of them leading to the spider's nest and the last one leading somewhere else, somewhere we had no idea where it would be. After briefly weighing our options, I decided to take the chance. If we went towards the spider's nest, we would end up trapped in case the creatures came after us. And going to either of the other passages would result in a fight.

The only possible way that we could not engage with those monsters was to risk going to the one path we had no idea where it would go. There was a very good chance that we were going only deeper into the cave network and going to find even more of those strange rats, the spiders, or something even worse. But it was the only option that might result in us finding a safe place, at least so we could come up with a decent plan. The ddds were terrible, but I was going to have to bet on a losing hand.