He had 12 arrows left. His shadow abilities were too weak to be used, they were a future investment. Having an infinite amount of arrows, and a bow he could bring with himself anywhere was invaluable.
From Arne’s view, the sewer he was in was no different from a cave. The sight scared Arne, but he ventured deeper. He had a feeling he’d find something special at the bottom.
The bottom was the end of the tunnel, and he did find something special there. The tunnel had opened up into a large space. The walls were rough and uneven, the roof was spiky. In the middle there was a rat much bigger than any other.
She was the mother, the single one responsible for all other rats. She laid on her back like a lavish greek emperor being hand fed red grapes. Except, instead of grapes it was cockroaches.
She shit rats out, they were tiny and pink, their eyes tightly closed. There was a sea of ooze surrounding her, where her newborns bathed. There was no guards, only two small servants.
Was this it, the end? The mother was too obese to put up resistance, and the servants were nothing compared to all the other rats. Behind the rat, there was a small red crystal. Arne snook past the mother and broke the crystal. Easy as that.
As he did so, two things happened. First, the rat had a spasm, shaking and rattling, she made the cave shake. Second, a window appeared in the middle of his sight.
“Dungeon has been cleared.”
“Reward will be #!”¤”!%!”#””
“Error!”
“Error!”
“New stat has been opened.”
“Fearsome: Investing into this stat will make you scarier.”
Arne didn’t know if he should smile or frown. Why would he want to be perceived as fearsome, as of now it would only gain him stronger enemies. He’d much more prefer a new bow.
He was about to turn around and walk out, but before that he wanted to do something. He was curious. How much experience would killing the mother give him?
He had one thing he wanted to do. He was curious. How much experience would killing the mother give him.
“+1000 Xp”
“Level up!”
“Level up!”
“Level up!”
“Level up!”
“Level up!”
“Level up!”
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“Level up!
“Level up!
“Level up!
“Level up!
“Level up!
“Level up!
He fell down on his back. That was a lot of experience. He had gained twelve points just like that. Suddenly, the cave began shaking wildly, spikes from the roof fell down and shattered. Arne realized quickly that the cave was collapsing.
He ran out, Shadow running eagerly behind him. The tunnel shook, Arne realized that he had completely forgotten what path he’d taken to ǵet here. He continued running, there was no use in slowing down.
The ground shook so widely that it was hard to keep balance. It was like he was jumping each time he took a step. He continued running forward. He heard squeals, it was clear that he hadn’t killed every rat.
He had a breakthrough! He could run towards the direction he didn’t hear squeaks from. He took the only silent tunnel repeatedly and eventually reached the sewer. Bricks were all over the ground, but the sewer withstood the shaking more.
That didn’t stop Arne though, he continued running. He did not want to stop, he did not even want to contemplate stopping. For all he cared, the entire sewage would collapse on him.
There was a huge benefit to not having lungs, it felt like he could… He fell flat on his face. He tried pulling himself forward but his body wouldn’t respond. The ground was still shaking. His eyes slowly dimmed, and then he fell asleep.
“Time remaining 02:03:39:57”
He woke up. He could move again. The ground had stopped shaking, there was bricks everywhere. He noticed that his hand had been crushed by one. Shadow rested beside him. He pushed himself up, and woke up Shadow.
Arne was confused at what had happened. He rubbed chin and strained his eye. Nothing. His mind was completely blank. Clearly there was some sort of limit to his stamina, but how did he know where the limit was?
He’d have to ponder about it later. He looked behind him and realized that the cave had completely collapsed on itself. He continued upwards. All the rats had already ran out, it took a few hours before he exited.
It was the middle of night when he went out. The moon was out. It shined over the land giving everything white. Folum stood there waiting for him.
“Not having the strength to kill the rats caused me to be stuck here for a very long time. In two days you solved that problem for me. I want to thank you.” Folum said, a little tear forming in his eyes.
Arne felt strange. “How do you know it’s me?” He said.
“I saw you change.” Folum responded.
“How?”
“Magic.”
“Grrrrrr!” Shadow added in.
“As a thanks I want to give you something. What would you want as a skeleton?”
“Well. How about some advice?”
“Advice… I’ve been locked up- I mean cursed for more than 100 years but if you want advice then sure.”
“You need to find a way to the underworld. Otherwise you’ll end up dead one way or another. Your best bet is finding a lich and hoping they’ll be understanding. They are not known for being understanding. Anyway, that’s your advice.”
Folum snapped his fingers and he was gone. Arne felt something heavy in his gut, his mind told him he’d messed up somehow but he couldn’t put his finger on it.
The underworld. Arne had never heard of it before. Before he’d try to get there he wanted to finish the quest that had been bothering him all this time. He had to slay ten goblins.
“Time remaining 02:03:0:57”
Before that. He’d levelled up twelve times which mean he had twelve unassigned points he could use. It was no time to use them.