"GODDAMNIIT!"

I screamed as I kept running through the tunnel. The rats we're close, but they didn't try to catch me. Even while I was running, I could tell their plan. To make me move until I'm exhausted and ripe for an easy kill. Seems these dograts are more cautious and cunning than their smaller brethren.

I ground my teeth and my ragged breath was getting heavier. For four minutes we had been running, getting closer to the cave I spawned in. After that my only option would be entering into the unknown tunnels. Nothing I could do about it. Luckily my agility from free running IRL is the same here, so running on this uneven terrain doesn't pose a problem for me. Just the pace I had to keep up is a drag.

I tried looking around for anything I could use, but I already knew the tunnel is void of anything else besides stones and gravel. At least it gave me something else to focus on than my imminent death. Still, I felt more exhilarated than anything else. Even if the midnight running around the town is interesting, I never had this kind of adrenaline rush while doing it. I'm becoming more or less addicted to this!

"It shouldn't be much longer."

After a short while, finally the cave of origin came to the sight. Only that it wasn't empty.

"The hell, that's a player!" I thought, and a small twinkling hope arose in me.

I kept running, and the closer I got, the better I could see. But what I saw turned my face into a frown. There was actually two players. One dead and other, inspecting the corpse, alive. Seeing the situation I wanted to get closer before notifying him.

In the end he noticed me, stood up and started talking. He looked scared and bit agitated.

"Hey man, this aint like it seems, ya do-"

"RUN YOU FOOL!" I exclaimed as I rushed into the cave. Immediately I took the tunnel on the right side. I entered the tunnel and looked back, only to see the other player quickly following me.

"WHAT THE FUCK MAN WHERE DID YOU FIND THOSE!"

"WHAT DO YOU THINK? SHUT UP AND RUN UNLESS YOU WANT TO DIE!"

We decided not to waste any more breath for useless arguing. He was slower than me, but I was already starting to feel tired. Eventually I would lag out, and the rats would get me. Also since the tunnel was slightly descending, one misstep would probably be your last. Rolling on the floor and slamming into the wall on next curve, caked with getting eaten alive. Yep, better for us to focus.

I again looked back, trying to see the hounding rats. Surprisingly, there was only one dograt following us, which had the small one still on its head. Other two probably found ready buffet better than chasing down the food.

"I guess he's out for a revenge."

"HEY, THERE'S ONLY ONE DOGRAT BEHIND US, YOU ANY GOOD IN A FIGHT?" I said out loud, as I was looking in front of me.

"AS GOOD AS ANYONE HERE, DON'T KNOW WHAT IT AMOUNTS TO THO!" He answered. From the sound of his voice, he was getting winded too. Lucky for me.

"ALRIGHT, HOLD ON! WHEN WE REACH THE NEXT CAVE, I'LL SPLIT RIGHT AND YOU LEFT, AND WE TURN ON THE RAT TOGETHER, OKAY?"

"GOOD THINKING MAN! LET'S DO IT! I'M VLADIF, WHAT'S YOUR NAME?"

"RAMON."

I could hear a slight relief in his voice, and honestly I So was I. Seems he could keep his calm even in this situation. Both of us received some extra energy from having a goal, and we were able to keep away from the rat.

"YA SEE THAT? ABOUT TWENTY METRES AHEAD THERE'S AN OPENING. SPLIT THERE ALRIGHT?" I yelled to the guy behind me.

"ALRIGHT DAWG *huff* LET'S DO IT!" He answers me, clearly starting to run out of breath.

We once more picked up the pace and exited the tunnel. I turned right and put my back against the wall. I kept huffing, and bent over a bit. Keeping my attention to the entrance, waiting for the rat to come forth. Exchanging glances with Vladif, who was in a same kind of position on the other side, we nodded at each other and got ready.

Not long after, the rat surged out and ran few meters in towards the center of cave. Then it turned around in slight confusion, finally noticing us. Right away it started getting ready to charge again, saliva dripping from its mouth and looking even more frenzied than before.

"Which one will it be." I thought while trying to relax my tense body. Vladifs face was distorting between anger, fear and exhaustion.

With a loud screech the dograt surged forward towards me. I got ready to welcome him, as Vladif followed it with his gaze. When the rat got two metres away from me, it suddenly accelerated! I desperately dodged towards right, throwing my body on the ground. The rat hit its snout into the wall, and screeched again. I groaned from the pain in my ears, and closed my eyes for a second. Then the pain hit.

Dograt had taken my leg into its maw and bit. Blood started leaking from the edges of the maw. I screamed out from pain and started pounding the beast with my other foot.

"VLADIIIIF! HELP ME OUT!"

The dograt kept its grip tight until strong thud sounded from it. It let my leg go and squirmed on the ground next to me. I dragged myself towards the wall and sat up resting against it. I looked at the rat and its assailant. Vladif face looked like a psychopaths, as it kept stomping on the whimpering rat. I suppose the initial kick was strong enough to break some ribs, and they pierced into the lungs of the rat.

"DIE YOU DEMONSPAWN. YOU DON'T BELONG IN THIS WORLD. I WILL PURGE YOU!" He yelled while dishing out punishment. Few moments later he calmed down now that the dograt seemed to be on the verge of dying. I grimaced when I saw the small rat slip back to the tunnel we came from.

"Vlad, you gotta go right away. That small rat is gonna go and get the other two doggies here. I can't run with my leg, so I will stall them here." I said dejectedly.

"Aww shit man, the bastard got ya good huh. Lemme look around first if I can find a way to transfer you or get you to safety." Vlads eyes kept running across the room.

Just as he said that we heard loud screech from the tunnel, and Vlad forced a smile on his now a degree whiter face. But in his eyes I could see panic and fear.

"On the other hand, I don't want to disrespect your offer. Don't hold it against me! Let's meet under better circumstances next time Ramon!" Hurriedly he waved his hand as his smile crumbled, and started running towards the only other tunnel.

"Well so much for chivalry and bro-force." I thought while sneering. Though I had my reasons to tell him to go. I waited until he had left the cave, before turning towards the dying dograt.

Given that he hadn't absorbed the corpse earlier, he definitely doesn't know about mana, and how to use it. I didn't want to reveal these things to others. Especially when there's no guarantees of co-operation after showing all your cards.

Another screech, a little bit closer. I dragged my body next to the near-dead dograt. I managed to move mana to my right hand, and I slammed it on the rat. Then I started counting.

"Cmoon, CMOOON. I HAVE NO TIME FOR THIS" I thought. As the screeches came closer, my panic kept rising.

"GIVE ME THAT SHIT!" I yelled, desperately trying to will the body of the dograt to transform.

The blue glow in my right hand pulsed strongly once and then it subsided. The dograt turned into ashes, leaving only one marble sized red sphere floating in the air.

"COME HERE!"

As if listening to my words, the sphere flew to my stretched hand. It absorbed itself quickly, and I felt the familiar tickling starting on my wound. My leg stopped bleeding, but I could feel it still wouldn't be able to hold my weight properly.

"Alright, time for the step 2." I sighed in a small relief.

The cave was actually bigger than the other two I've been to. It had depression in the middle, and there was couple small cliffs protruding from the walls. Cave was more circular this time, and about six metres high. Walls were straight and full of spikes and other jutting rocks, which I could use for climbing. My goal was the closest cliff, about three meters up the wall.

I hoped that the rats would pass Along and I could return the way they came from. Too bad for Vlad, but if I can find another way out, I could also distract those creatures for awhile, to give him more head start.

I painfully got up and standing. Then I limped next to the wall, on the place which seemed to have The best "route" to the cliff. Walls were illuminated by the streaks, making it easy to distinguish good grips. I slapped my cheeks once, and started climbing.

First metre went well. I didn't need to lean much on my wounded leg as there was plenty of good grips for my hands. Holding my weight and then transferring my good leg on the next spot. Rinse and repeat. Problems arose when I could not get a good grip for both of my hands, and a step for my foot at the same time. I was forced to hold out with my wounded leg to get extra reach for my hand, and then move on.

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It was painful. About the most painful thing I've experienced. Tears started streaming from my eyes out of frustration and pain.

"What a fucking game I tell ya." I grumbled.

Ever so slowly I dragged my body upwards. Seconds felt like minutes, and all the time I could hear the screeching from the tunnel. I had no time to waste, but I could not go faster and risk falling down. I doubted I could force myself to get back up on time to escape the rats. When I was up around two metres, the rats finally entered into the cave.

I instantly stopped moving and breathing. My position on the wall wasn't too good, but I hoped the rats would leave me alone. I didn't know if they can climb, and I didn't want to find out today.

I turned my head a bit and looked time. Somehow this time there was four dograts and the familiar, small rat. They stopped for a second to sniff around. Small rat started squeaking, and the dograts split to look around the cave.

"They're definitely looking for me. Damn, seems it's no use hiding."

Since I had no other option, I once again started climbing. This time I moved even slower, to try make least amount of noise possible. But with my injured leg that became impossible. Little slip, and from under my foot small amount of gravel escaped. I didn't stop to look, but instead kept all my focus on scaling the wall.

The noise was barely audible, but it was enough to attract attention of the rats. And as they all looked towards the wall, obviously they saw me squirming couple metres from the ground. All of them instantly screeched and ran towards me.

I was only short distance away from reaching the cliff. One foothold, one grip at a time i proceeded. The last ten centimetres I had to move sideways and inch up couple centimetres at a time. But finally I could grab the cliff and pull myself up.

"Oh dear god, that was tough." I thought as I laid down on the small platform. The pain was pulsating from the wound into all of my body. I sighed, trying to still keep quiet, hoping that the rats would lose interest.

"SQUEAK."

I slammed my fist to my left, to the edge. One of the dograts had popped its ugly snout over the edge of cliff. I hit it straight into the eyes, making it screech and drop off. I turned on my side to look down.

"Daymn, aren't I one lucky fucker."

All four of the dograts were squirming on the floor. Apparently all of them were climbing the same route, so once the first dropped, he brought everyone else down with him. Though only two of them looked badly injured, the other too looked at me and just growled.

"They won't try again for awhile, I'm safe for now."

Just as I thought that, I heard familiar screaming from the other tunnel. Seems Vlad was coming back, and probably not alone.

"RAAMOOOOON HELP MEEE!"

The dograts turned towards the oncoming player and screeched again.

"Can't those bastards shut up for once." I thought, holding my ears and frowning. Rocky walls were projecting the voice around the cave, making it sound like there was double the amount of the creatures.

Vlad stopped on the opposite edge of the depression and his face turned pale. Behind him I saw five creatures running, which oddly looked like rabbits.

"RAMON, WHERE ARE YOU? HELP ME OUT MAN!" His eyes were searching frantically for a way out or me. But he didn't have any way to escape fast enough from the two groups. Since he couldn't see my corpse, he assumed I was alive, but had no idea if I was present or not.

"Damn, DAMN. Sorry but I can't help ya." I thought while covering my face with my hands.

I had arrived to the conclusion that Vlad will die here. And I will not help him. I felt sick inside, but I couldn't turn the situation around in any way. I could only offer a small prayer and an apology. Ironic how the situation had reversed compared to before.

"FUCK. FUUUCK. COME AT ME YOU DEMONS!" Vlad was now losing the last of his sanity to panic. All the animals were watching the yelling human, but soon crossed stares. Unnoticed by the yelling madman, the rats and the rabbits were circling the pond-like depression towards the opposite side of him. Small growling could be heard from both types of animals as they closed in. After getting into the distance of two metres, both groups pounced.

The fight was quick and violent. Two dograts against five ferocious rabbits was battle of teeth and speed. First one rabbit died, then second. But other of the dograts was now in a bad shape. One of the rabbits diverted the attention of the healthy rat, and two other rabbits finished off the weakened one. But the healthy one killed one of the fur balls, making it now two on one.

The fight took only 30 seconds in total, and lastly there stood one victorious dograt, with smaller mouse on top of its head. Not too badly wounded, it now started running towards Vlad.

The person in question had been totally stunned by the sight of fighting beasts, to the extent that he totally forgot his predicament. Now coming back into his senses, he felt that the situation wasn't totally hopeless, and readied himself to a fight.

As the dograt closed in on him, Vlad gave a heavy kick on its side. But he forgot to pay attention to the little rat. It jumped off the dograt, and entered his open, screaming mouth. First He tried to puke, then to scream. In the end, not much voice came out, and even before he died, his eyes were empty.

"What a way to go..." I thought terrified. After I heard the noise of several animals fighting, I had dragged myself to the edge to see what's going on.

All four dograts were now incapacitated and most probably dying. The small rat was most probably still alive, but wouldn't pose a threat anymore. Although I was bit scared of it's apparent intelligence, I had other plans for now.

I turned around and looked up. A gutter had been mined into the rock, and it went all the way to the depression. It wasn't deep nor wide, but after I looked around a bit, I could see similar, almost hidden gutters around the cave. Now I do not know what people usually would think about this kind of thing, but I'm pretty sure it for something else than slip 'n slide.

The hole where the gutter started was barely wide enough for me to climb. My body was resisting my command to get up. I had an idea, and willed my stream to scatter all around my body. I didn't become a superman, but at least the pain eased up a bit. Enough for me to try and get away from this scene.

Fortunately the small size of the gutter made climbing it easier. I could lean my weight by pushing against the walls with my hands or leg, and keeping my back against the opposite side. Like a worm I kept moving upwards. Although I couldn't see far into the hole, but if what I was thinking was right, it wouldn't be too long until I'm at the other end.

As I felt the mana stream weaken inside me, I tried to hurry as much as possible. My movements became mechanic, and before I noticed, I hit my head into a hard rock. Not passing out this time however.

I jammed myself still with my legs, and used my hands to examine the block. I found a hole just big enough for me to squeeze in. I put my hands on the opposite sides of the hole, gripping the edges. I took a deep breath, and in one burst I willed all the mana into my arms. Right when mana was moving, I already pulled myself up as much as I could.

The pull was enough for me to get my upper body through the hole, leaving my hip and legs dangling into the air. I was utterly exhausted, but after couple minutes managed to haul rest of my body up. I was sprawled on the floor, and closed my eyes. In the glow of my arms when I pulled myself up I could see that I came into a small room, with only an elevated cube with a hole in it. I started grinning when I realized I had been right.

"Just like them rats, up the pipe and out the toilet."

******************

Heya! We are finally safe from the various rodents, at least for now! What will await our utterly normal mc after emerging from the hole of destiny! Stay tuned ~

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