Chapter 102
The True Colors of a Rat
Getting led by Skeets, Erin and her companions had been traveling through the caves outside Grand Mine Central. So far, they hadn’t encountered anything dangerous, outside of a few mushrooms that were poisonous. Due to the lack of light, the group had to use flashlights in order to navigate their surroundings properly.
Lexton, who was still in his baby form, was still being carried by Erin. This obviously caused Skeets to raise an eyebrow, since they were all aware that what they were doing was very dangerous.
“Ummm… I know I already brought this up earlier and that it’s not exactly my place to say anything, but are you seriously sure about taking your baby along?” the rat man asked. “These caves aren’t exactly a family park, you know? Not only are there dangerous creatures, but poison gas, cliffs that you can fall off and many other things. I’m not sure this is a good place for a young toddler like him.”
“Thank you for your concern, but I’m afraid that we don’t have a choice in the matter,” Erin explained. “You see, due to him being a kobold, I’ve had difficulties trying to find people to look after him. And while one of us could stay back with him-”
“NOT ME!” Ryle shouted, interrupting the redhead.
“...I wouldn’t even trust you to look after a rock, much less a baby,” Erin said as she glared at the blonde, before turning back to Skeets. “As I was saying, while one of us could stay back with him, we need everyone in what we’re trying to accomplish. So the best option was for us to take him with us.”
“I see… I have heard about how bad kobolds can get it, but I wasn’t aware it was this bad,” the rat man said. “Hopefully nothing bad happens to him.”
“Oh, no need to worry about him!” the redhead said with a reassuring smile. “Not only are we all here to keep him safe from whatever we may come across, but this little guy is actually surprisingly smart himself!”
Skeets stared back at the kobold, thinking about how he got an electric shock thanks to him. The rat man could have sworn that the baby before him had yet another wicked smile on his face, which sent a shiver down his spine.
“If you say so…” Skeets muttered with a sigh.
As they were getting deeper into the caves, the need for flashlights suddenly disappeared, as their surroundings now had a special glowing moss here and there. This illuminated their way enough for them to walk around without having to worry about tripping on something.
“Well, this is convenient. A natural source of light,” Durge said as he turned off his flashlight, hoping to save the battery. “If this is everywhere on our way to Gotzmeyer, This trip will be a lot easier than I imagined.”
“That’s what a lot of people thought when they first got in, only to be proven wrong,” Skeets said. “The thing is that this stuff is eaten by the herbivores that live in these caves. But when there are herbivores, there are going to be predators preying on them.”
“I’m gonna guess that those predators wouldn’t mind eating us for lunch either, right?” Ryle asked to which the rat man responded with a nod. “Just freaking lovely… Can’t imagine why more people don’t come around these parts.”
“Plenty of people do come here. You’ve probably already heard about all the riches hidden in these caves, right? That’s a good enough reason for just about anyone to try their luck in these parts. The things is that so many people never come back that the city has long since stopped sending rescue parties, as they would just end up missing as well,” Skeets explained. “Though, you guys shouldn’t worry. Since you’re with me, I’ll know how to avoid most of the dangers we’ll come across.”
“We’ll be in your care then, Skeets,” Erin said with a smile.
The rat man was about to respond, but he suddenly stopped. Before anyone could ask what was wrong, he signaled for everybody to be quiet and laid down. He put his ear to the ground to listen to something. Once he recognized the sound, he motioned for everyone to follow him, as they all his behind a large rock. Just as they all had hidden themselves, a group of giant insects came rushing in from one of the nearby caves.
The creatures before them looked like like termites of some kind. They had giant pincers that they moved around, as if feeling the air around them. Their shells were pitch black and seemed to be made from some sort of a mineral.
Upon seeing the monsters that had appeared before them, Erin began to worry about what would happen to them. It was clear to her that they wouldn’t be able to beat such a large group by themselves at all. They would need to find a way to get past them or else this would be a short and tragic journey.
Luckily, Skeets seemed to have been prepared for this, as he dug through his bag for something and pulled out what seemed to be a small sack. He threw it into one of the other caves that was not in the direction they needed to go, and once it hit the ground its contents spilled out. Almost instantly the giant insects seemed to react to whatever was in the bag, as they soon headed to the place it had landed on.
With the route ahead of them cleared, the group was able to move forward. Once they had gotten a safe distance away from the monsters, they could talk once again.
“What the hell were those things!?” Ryle asked. “Those looked like the biggest roaches ever! I know the ones back in my home were large, but those things were on steroids or something!”
“They’re just your average residents of these caves,” Skeets replied. “If you get too close to them, it won’t end nicely. They’re very aggressive and territorial, so it’s best to keep away from them. Good thing we weren’t near a nest, as then we would have had trouble getting past them.”
“I’m going to guess that there are quite a few of these types of creatures in these caves,” Erin said. “Do you think we’ll be able to get past them?”
“No need to worry about that. I made sure to pack up on all the necessary equipment,” the rat man replied. “Besides, the route we’ll be taking is one that shouldn’t have too many nasty encounters along the way, so we should be fine as long as we are careful.”
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True to his words, while the group did encounter more dangers, they were able to either avoid or get past them with relative ease. Whether what they faced were more dangerous animals or dangerous environments, Skeets had a solution to whatever it was.
However, while they were able to avoid the dangers, the journey was still a rough one. The terrain was very tough to walk and was starting to take its toll on the group. Add all the encounters that they had to go through and the people in the group were starting to get exhausted. They were going to need a chance to rest or else they wouldn’t be able to do much when they reached their destination.
“Hey, guys… I don’t want to sound like I’m whining or anything, but can we take a break?” Ryle asked while breathing heavily. “I don’t know if any of you feel the same way, but my legs are starting to feel like lead.”
“You’re not alone in that. I’m pretty tired as well,” Durge said before looking at the rest of their group. “How about you all? How are you holding up?”
“Not gonna lie. I could use a moment to rest,” Zeldana said while panting.
“S-Same here,” Arkay replied.
Seeing as how her companions were exhausted, with the exception of Lexton whom she had been carrying this whole time, Erin considered if it was a good idea to set up camp for now. Not only were the others feeling tired, but the redhead had to admit that she herself was not feeling too good either.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
“Hey, Skeets, do you think there’s a place where we could set up camp without worrying about getting eaten by whatever monsters lurk in these places?” Erin asked, hoping that their guide could offer them a solution. “You could probably use a breather yourself.”
“I’m fine, but I can see that you all need a moment to catch your breath,” the rat man said. “There should be a spot where we can set up a safe area for ourselves to rest for a bit. Come on.”
Skeets led the group to a small cave that didn’t go too deep. If one were to measure it, it was around the size of a garage that could fit one or two cars. Once everyone was within it, Skeets placed some repellents near the entrance to drive away possible predators. It reminded Erin of what Lexton used to do at their camp sites.
“Okay, that should be more than enough,” Skeets said after finishing up preparing the repellent. “We should be safe now. You guys can rest easy.”
“Thank you, Skeets,” Erin said as she set Lexton down on the ground and sat next him. “How long will those repellents be in effect?”
“At least a few hours. It should be long enough for all of us to get some good sleep in,” the rat man answered as he went to take a seat on the ground as well. “Why don’t we all do that? It’s not like the base is going to suddenly grow legs and walk away.”
“You know, I normally would support the idea of doing our best to simply push forward, but I feel really tired,” the redhead said with a yawn. “I must have been more worn out than I thought. I could use some sleep. What about you guys?”
Erin looked over to her other companions, waiting for a response, but didn’t receive any. The others had seemingly all fallen asleep already. The redhead was surprised, as she had no idea that their journey had been such a drain on everybody already.
“It seems they all agree with you,” Skeets said with a smile, as he seemed to be nodding off as well. “You shouldn’t worry and just rest. We still have a tough journey ahead of us.”
Too tired to give a response, Erin simply nodded, before closing her eye and falling asleep. With that, everyone had gone to peaceful slumber.
However, while it might have seemed like the whole group was asleep, the truth was that one person was still wide awake and was only pretending to sleep. This was none other than Skeets himself, who had an ulterior motive. The rat man smiled as he got up from the ground and got ready to fulfill his plans.
It was easy to fool people when you gave them the idea that you were someone with a lot more experience and knowledge than them. By using their own lack of knowledge against them, one could do almost whatever they wanted and pass it off as part of their work. This was very true for Skeets, as he had used his position as the guide through the caves to set up a trap for Erin and her friends.
The truth was that the repellent he had set up had another thing added to it, which was a sleeping drug. The thing was that the drug he had used wasn’t all that strong and would easily go unnoticed, mostly causing slight drowsiness at most. However, when it was used on people that had been traveling through rough terrain and were exhausted, it was very effective at making people fall asleep. However, due to being exposed to it numerous times, Skeets himself had built an immunity to it, leaving him awake while the others slumbered.
Now that Erin and the others were asleep, they were left unprotected from what Skeets had planned. The truth about the rat man was that he was a member of a very notorious cult called the Brotherhood of the Worm. The members of this group had come to view the Five Overlords as gods of some kind that had come to punish their sinful world and its people were nothing more than “worms” deserving everything the Overlords did to them. In their eyes, the state of their world before the arrival of the Overlords had been so bad that only through fire and blood it would be cleaned, which is what their new rulers had accomplished.
The way this cult operated and practiced their faith was through one thing, by committing coldblooded murder. Anyone who displayed any type of displeasure towards the Overlords was viewed as a sinner and needed to be cleansed, so that they could avoid another punishment that affected all of them. Due to the overall displeasure most of the population felt over how things were going underneath their new rulers, the cult had plenty of targets for themselves.
Skeets was no stranger to the bloody acts of the cult. In fact, he had a long record of successful “purges,” as the cult liked to call their acts of violence. The way he operated was by locating targets when they were walking alone. It was during these moments that he would drive up to them and offer a lift, as he would be using the company car he drove. Once his target climbed in, he would use his sleeping drug to weaken his target, after which he would commit the murder he had planned. Once the deed was done, he would drive to the caves to drop the body, allowing the creatures living there to do the rest of the disposal for him.
However, the rat man’s “operations” were soon brought to an end, after he encountered someone who was able to recognize the smell of the sleeping gas he tried to use. The state of alarm they were in allowed a rush of adrenaline to push them through the effects of the drug and escape, which soon landed Skeets behind bars. Despite the horrific crimes he had committed, the rat man had influential friends within the Black Market, allowing him to avoid the death penalty and end up behind bars, waiting for those who wanted to rent his services.
Originally, Skeets had simply planned to use an opportunity like this to make his escape, but much to his pleasure, the ones who hired him were those who needed to be purged according to his religion. After all, Gotzmeyer was someone who served his “gods,” so getting rid of them was only natural for him.
The rat man took a long needle out of his pocket that he had gotten as part of the equipment he had claimed they would need in order to travel through the caves. Using it, he was able to unlock the collar on his neck, dropping it to the ground. Now that he no longer had to fear getting shocked, he was effectively free to do whatever he wanted.
With everyone out cold, Skeets could do anything as long as he didn’t cause too much noise. The sleeping gas had been effective, but still weak enough that one could still wake up from it. Because of this, the rat man still had to be careful, as he took a knife from Erin. Luckily for him, he had very nimble fingers and was able to retrieve the weapon without stirring the redhead.
The rat man slowly wiped his thumb across the side of the blade he now had and smiled. While he was a devoted believer of his cult’s religion, he was also a twisted serial killer who took pleasure in the act of killing itself. It had been quite some time since he had held a blade in his hands and couldn’t help but get excited over the idea of taking part in his favorite activity once again. A dark chuckle escaped his lips as he was already imagining the faces his new victims would soon be making.
“Oh, it has been far too long since I did this… Now all I need to do is decide in what order to cleanse these sinners,” Skeets mumbled to himself. “Should I start by slitting the kitty boy’s throat? Or should I stab the orc through the eye so deep that it hits his brains? I could also return this knife to its owner through her heart… So many fun things I can do it’s hard to choose…”
However, as he was delighting in what he was going to do, the rat man suddenly felt like something was watching him. It was an instinct he had picked as he was trying to remain hidden while accomplishing the duties of his cult. Skeets looked around, furiously trying to find who ever it was that had their gaze on him.
Much to the rat man’s surprise, there didn’t seem to be anyone around him, as only the sleeping members of Erin’s group seemed to be surrounding him. Just as he was about to pass off the feeling he got as simple paranoia, he noticed someone who was still awake. This was none other than Lexton, who was staring right at Skeets.
image [https://i.ibb.co/tLDWHbz/Ch-102-Pic-1.jpg]
The kobold’s numerous alchemist experiments had given him a slight tolerance to the sleeping drug that had been used on the group. While he couldn’t fully resist it like Skeets could, he was able to keep himself awake through willpower and by inflicting pain on himself through pinching himself. Thanks to his efforts, he had been able to witness the true colors of their supposed guide.
However, while one would have expected Lexton to express some sort of shock or horror, all he showed on his face was annoyance.
Skeets, completely unaware of the true nature of the baby in front of him, found the way he was being stared at a bit disturbing but mostly very irritating. Not only that, but the stare he got reminded him of how the baby had used the remote control for his collar to give him a very painful electrical shock. After being reminded of his humiliation and pain, the rat man decided on his first victim right there.
“Well, aren’t you a surprisingly energetic little fella,” Skeets said with a smile as he walked up to Lexton. “I’m surprised that you’re not out cold like the rest of your family, but it doesn’t really matter. I’m going to play a little game with you, whether you like it or not.”
The kobold let out a sigh in response, which served to only further upset the rat man. The way he saw it, the baby was now actually mocking him.
“...You’re one creepy little bastard, aren’t you? Not only did you enjoy trying to fry my ass, but now you’re treating me like I’m a bore to you?” Skeets asked as he crouched next to Lexton. “Well, I’ll make sure to change that. Once I’m done with you, there won’t be enough left of you to-”
“WAAAAAAAH!” the kobold suddenly screamed, surprising the rat man so much that he fell on his back.
However, knocking over Skeets wasn’t the only thing that the sudden scream accomplished, as the others began to wake up from the sudden noise.
“What the…? What’s with the noise?” Erin asked groggily as she looked around, seeing Skeets close to Lexton. “Skeets? What are you-?”
“NOBODY MOVE!” the rat yelled as he quickly grabbed Lexton and held his knife over the kobold. “Any of you so much as take a step towards me and the baby gets it!”
“What!? You-!” Erin said as her mind was racing, connecting the dots and allowing her to figure out what was going on. “You slimy bastard! What the hell are you trying to do!?”
By now, the others had pushed any tiredness they were in and were fully conscious of what was going on. They were all ready to jump Skeets any moment they could, as they had to wait for Lexton to be out of harm’s way first.
“Oh, you need me to spell it out for you or something!? Well, too freaking bad! I’m not in the mood of telling any of you bastards a damn thing!” the rat man shouted mockingly. “Now, you’re going to let me leave, unless you want me to-!”
“Alright, enough of this crap. I’ve had enough,” Lexton suddenly said in a bored tone, cutting off Skeets who stared down at him with wide eyes.
“…Huh?” the rat man said, dumbfounded over hearing the baby in his arms talk. “Did… Did this baby just talk?”
Skeets had been so overtaken by his surprise that he was unable to react in time to protect himself, as Lexton pulled a vial of acid he had hidden in the blanket he was wrapped. In one swift motion, he pulled off the cork and poured the vial’s contents on Skeets’s hand.
The rat man screamed in pain as he fell to his knees, dropping his knife and the kobold in the process. All he could do was hold his burnt hand and let out pained sobs, while Lexton got up and began to grow in size.
“Well, I must say that this has been one unpleasant ordeal,” the kobold said with a sigh. “Not only was I forced to take on a humiliating appearance, but my companions failed to listen to me and I had to endure the most pathetic of liars in the world. Thank goodness it’s all finally over.”
“What the-!? You! You’re not a baby at all!” Skeets exclaimed, noticing how Lexton had grown to his actual size.
“What a sharp observation. You are truly a bright mind in our world,” the kobold said sarcastically as he dug through the blanket that had been wrapped around him. “Since you’re such a sharp one, do you perhaps recognize what this is?”
The rat man’s eyes went wide as Lexton pulled out another weapon he had hidden in the blanket, a baton that had some electricity crackling at its end.
“I see that you’re able to tell what this is,” the kobold said with a smile. “I recently made this on my spare time, but never had a chance to really test it out. Which is why I’m happy that you decided to volunteer for that.”
Skeets screamed in pain, as he became the test subject for Lexton’s new weapon. Meanwhile, Erin and the others could simply stare at the kobold, feeling somewhat disturbed by the pleasure he seemed to be taking from tormenting the rat man.
image [https://i.ibb.co/n8rmhGV/Ch-102-Pic-2.jpg]