Despite his hurting body and a few of the stitches he had tried to do earlier being busted open yet again. He was feeling pretty good all things considered. He could certainly do with a lot less of all these dead rats littering his station but overall. Not too bad.
Since he still had some energy and wanting to avoid any more surprises he decided to actually explore the rest of the station. Besides, with his broken mop handle, a taser and a rat tooth he could take on just about anything!
Quill decided to check the station area that he came from first just to make sure no sneaking little rats decided to make that their hang out spot after he left. As he approached though he made sure to quiet his steps. Not because of the rats. But rather he had no idea when that thing with all the arms would be coming back.
He peeked down at the station from on top of the stairs and glanced around. There didn’t seem to be any rats so he knew he wouldn’t have to worry about this area for now. And according to the electronic sign that monster shouldn’t be arriving in the station for another 30 or so minutes which was good. The last thing he wanted was to attract that thing's attention with any potential fighting.
Quill then scurried off to the other side of the station and slowed down as he approached. Taking care to peek over the rail and was both delighted and horrified at what he saw.
Delighted because there seemed to be only one rat left. Horrified because that was a REALLY big rat. Thing was bigger than an Irish Wolfhound and sure as shit was fatter than one too. But that wasn’t all. Its fur was matted and patchy with growths and rotting dead skin hanging off its body. Despite its sickly appearance, it seemed wide awake and fully alert to everything that was going on. While it was lying flat on its stomach in a resting position, its head and eyes continued to swivel this way and that. Clearly staying on guard for any possible enemy.
Okay yeah, this thing was certainly a cut above the rest. He was going to need to be super careful when dealing with it. Although… His eyes drifted towards the times when he would assume the worm like monster would arrive and saw it was due in a few minutes. Maybe he didn’t have too.
There was actually a decent chance that nothing would happen given that the rat had been alive for a while now. But he still thought it would be a good idea to see how this monster would interact with the other, more terrifying monster.
He sat there quietly and watched. Soon, he heard the scraping of claws and Quill couldn’t help but shrink back just a little bit more. Soon the creature appeared except it was different.
It still had its normal appearance. Giant worm like thing with multi jointed arms with long claws and human like mouth. Except now it was red which meant….
Why the fuck were there two of them?!?! That's so bullshit in every single possible way!!
You have been inflicted with fear
Not The Fucking Time!!!
It took Quill every ounce of effort to not bolt as he stayed as hidden as possible to see what would happen. The creature stopped like the other one did and started to feel its hands around while the rat continued to lay there doing nothing. As the hands reached the rat it didn’t do anything. Instead they just ignored the rat as it felt around the rest of the platform of the station.
When it was done it began to move away. Scraping and dragging its body across the floor as it entered the tunnel and Quill swallowed. Okay, so he had to deal with two now. Potentially more given how his luck tended to be. But first….
Quill took a deep breath and calmed his nerves. First he had to deal with the rat. He slowly started to back away and headed towards his “safe” room. He had some planning to do.
First thing he did was drag all the dead rats into a pile by the kiosk. He didn’t want their dead carcasses stinking up the place where he was sleeping. But there was another reason too. Fresh bait.
The rats want some meat, they keep coming up here because of the meat here, whether they were the dead security guard or their dead brethren, it apparently didn’t matter. Hopefully the giant rat will come up eventually to eat some meat too and he should be ready when that happens.
Once all the rats were in a pile he headed over to his safe room and after emptying the vending machine of the snacks. He awkwardly moved the vending machine over to the front of the door by wobbling it slowly forward. His anxiety thought now would be a great time to imagine the vending machine tilting over and squashing him flat like a pancake and he had to resist the urge to stop doing what he was doing.
Thankfully the increased stats to his body made it easier then he would have expected. He wasn’t able to lift the thing or anything but if he continued to put points into it he could see himself actually lifting the thing eventually.
He then grabbed the table and the chairs and began to help make his barricade at the door with the hope being to stall the giant rat long enough to hit it with multiple stabs of his magic… grey… energy thing. Whatever the hell he has got going on inside him. He then tied his rat tooth to the end of the longer piece of his broken mop and now it was only a matter of waiting.
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It wasn’t the greatest of plans, sure. But Quill hoped to use the monster's bulk to his advantage by preventing the rodent from getting close enough until he hurt it to the point that when it did eventually break through, he could kite around it and kill the bastard without getting hurt himself.
He munched down more on the snacks that were in the vending machine. Noting that he was going to need to find a way to get more food eventually as he didn’t really see these snacks lasting him the full 120 days of the tutorial. At least with his little level up quest thing in front of him he had something to sorta keep time with.
The hours slowly ticked by and after he awkwardly patched the wounds that had busted open on him. Quill spent that time both eating, dosing in and out, and occasionally checking in on that grey energy stuff that was flowing around inside him.
At the moment he was just seeing if he can make it flow inside him better, or concentrating the flow to move towards certain areas. Whatever the reason or reasons he has this power. This was most certainly going to play a key role in his survival. Plus it was kind of fun. Playing around with the energy gave him a sense of comfort and put his mind at ease for whatever reason.
Finally, after what felt like forever he heard the clicking of what he could only assume was clawed feet echoing in the otherwise quiet station and glanced at his evolution quest, specifically the time.
Survive your tutorial dungeon for the first 24 hours- 24/24
Well at least he wasn’t going to have to worry about the time anymore. Lazy bastard sure took its sweet time getting up here. But now the vermin was going to go down.
Brandishing the broken mop with the rat tooth and the taser, he watched safely behind his barricade as the giant, disgusting, probably flea infested rat walked into view and began to start eating all the rats in the pile he had left. Now it was time for phase two of his grand master plan!
He got up from his hiding spot and made sure to be perfectly visible before putting on his best voice possible for this situation “Oh Nyo! A giant rat has come and I am all defenseless and weak. Prime target for being eaten with all my delicious meat! Whatever will I do!” Cringe? Yes. But he did find it a little funny and it's not like anyone was around to mock him for it.
The rat briefly looked up at him and then turned its attention back to the dead rats and kept eating.
“. . . I said! Oh Nyo! A giant rat has come and I am all defenseless and weak. Prime target for being eaten with all my delicious meat! Whatever will I do!” Quill shouted this time as clearly the rat did not hear him!
This time the asshole didn’t even look up. Just kept on munching down on its brethren. “Oi! What do those rats have that I don’t! I am far more delicious than them! Hey!”
He started to shove the barricade away and stepped out into the station “Pay attention and eat me you stupid shit! I am way better than those-... What the hell am I doing?” Maybe the system thing calling him insane had some merit to it as what kind of sane person just marches out like he did from behind safety.
The giant rat looked back up at him, eyed him up and down, scoffed as if he was nothing and again… Went back to eating the other rats.
“Yeah okay. Now I am insulted. WHAT DO THEY GOT THAT I DON’T! I AM ABSOLUTELY SCRUM-DIDDLY-UMPTIOUS!!” He charged the rat to avenge his honor and jammed the taser into the monster's side. Only to then be whacked across the face by its whip like tail and stumbling back as it STILL kept ignoring him.
Spitting a bit of blood out his mouth he tossed the taser towards it as it clearly didn’t work that well. Then brandished his makeshift spear, he charged the rat again. Ducking the tail that once again tried to swat him like a bug and jammed the spear into the rat's sickly looking side. Pouring some of the energy he had into it which allowed him to stab right through the rough hide and deep into its guts.
That certainly got the damn thing to pay attention to him as it whirled on him with a speed that really should not have possible for something that big, slashing at him with its claws that Quill only barely just managed to avoid before getting hit by its tail yet again. Whacking him down the hall and crashing into the ground with a pained yelp.
He was in a lot of pain. A whole lot of pain. He hated pain. Really really hated pain and this thing seemed insistent on making him feel it as he felt the tail of the rat wrap around his neck and lift him off the ground as he was still dazed.
The creature held him up as the tail squeezed and Quill couldn’t help but growl down as the monster stared up at him with annoyance. He’d lost his makeshift weapons. So he was going to take a page out of the rats books and go with claws. He focused the energy he had into the tips of his fingers to form his own and slashed at the tail. Not severing it but the monster let out a howl and quickly let go, allowing him to breathe.
Falling to the ground he didn’t bother to let up the assault and leapt on top of the giant rat's back, digging his now makeshift claws into the creature and just for good measure. Summoned the energy he had into his teeth to make fangs and bit down on the vermin as it howled in pain and started to buck and thrash. Desperate to kick Quill off him.
You have been infected with the disease “Rat Rot”
NOT THE TIME! Quill mentally screamed out as the rat continued to buck around like crazy while he continued to claw and bite into the creature's flesh trying to keep hold. He suddenly felt something slam on top of him and realized the thing was trying to bash him off with its tail.
Snarling about as much as the rat did, he continued to dig in, trying to ignore the putrid taste in his mouth as he tore off a massive chunk of flesh as the tail continued to bombard him with blow after blow.
Yeah you stupid bastard! They were going to have a game of attrition! Who dies first cause it sure as hell won’t be him!! He then forced the energy he had made as claws to not only dig deeper into the rat but also spike out into different directions. Picturing it similarly to how branches on a tree might work.
He felt the drain on him as he did so, his vision getting blurry both from the blows of the tail and the expenditure of the energy but still he persisted and pushed himself more than he had ever before.
He didn’t really know how long it took but the blows suddenly stopped coming and the rat stopped moving. It was as quiet as the dead.
Quill would have liked to give out a victorious yell but the only thing he managed to muster out was a whimpering “haaaaaaa” That held nothing but pain.
He slid off the dead diseased rat and plopped down onto the floor. His vision was swimming but he won. He had several broken bones but he won. He was covered in disgusting blood and would probably be tasting the rotten meat in his mouth for weeks but he won.
Winning was overrated.