Kayd felt his body slam against the hard rock below, then a series of loud thuds were heard around him. Pulling his face off the ground, he was greeted by another chamber, this time it was lit with torches, burning a vibrant orange and illuminating the entire area.

These rats also know how to make torches?! First the patterns of the floor, the nice designs of the chambers and now this!?

His attention quickly turned to the people around him. All of them were still groaning and getting up from the floor, to which he started helping them up. Fortunately, none died from the fall but still suffered a few injuries.

“How did we survive that fall?” Kayd asked himself.

“Beats me, but I prefer that than dying,” Ikari moaned, stretching her back and hearing a click.

“Ok maybe dying would have been less painful,”

Ishmael got up on her own, her face bloodied by the fall.

Approaching Lia, Kayd realized she had wrapped herself inside the feather suit like a cocoon, slowly sticking her head out and looking around. She was left unscathed by the fall.

“Where are we? And is everyone fine?” She asked in a quivering voice.

“Yes, but we got some injuries.”

“As long as it isn’t severe, I can treat it.” She stood up, rushing to the nearest soldier to administer aid.

Quellin got up by himself, dusting off his armor and looking around with an indifferent face.

“Are you ok?”

“I’m fine,”

“You sure?”

“There must be no delays to the mission caused by menial problems,” Quellin replied.

“You sure? A fall like that-”

“Focus on the task at hand, injuries will be treated when the battle ends. All hands must continue fighting regardless of condition until the battle is over” Quellin cut him off, responding with what sounded like some memorized mantra.

What did they teach in Ferrous Hands?

Evelin got up with the support of two other injured knights, quickly receiving the aid of Lia.

“I’m fine, thank you for your aid. But focus on the others.” Lia heeded her order, moving past her to the remaining injured knights.

“Did you also fall through the floor when attacking this den Captain?” Kayd asked Ishmael.

“Nay, we fought it on the chamber above. It must have made a new place to fight,” she replied. Her eyes drifted across the chamber, studying the new place they found themselves in.

At the front, Kayd noticed that all but one part of the area was well-lit. A mass of black obscured a large portion of the wall.

Evelin approached Ishmael, who wore a scowl on her face.

“You Ilk should never be trusted, my hopes for you were too high.” She grabbed at the fabric near her neck.

“Losing that title really made you forget our memories together huh?”

“Shut it, I don't know who you are. Nor recall a moment of meeting you before that river den.” She spoke through shut teeth. Soldiers and Kayd’s team rushed in to separate the two before things could go out of hand.

“Calm yourself, Princess Evelin.” One of the soldiers tried to defuse the situation.

“It’s hard to do that Torres. Especially when you’re stuck in a chamber deep within a den that houses possibly a million rats waiting to tear yourself apart. While also separated from your main force!” She yelled, her eyes fixated on Ishmael the entire time. Kayd could feel the hatred beaming off towards Ishmael.

“Calm yourself, we simply destroyed the dens to end this entire thing,

A low guttural growl and snarl stopped their brief argument. From the dark spot of the chamber, a large rat foot slowly emerged out from it, followed by the rest of its body. The last thing to come out was its tail.

What the….

Kayd rubbed his eyes, unsure if what he’s seeing was right or not. Behind the rat, rather than a single long tail, were a multitude of tails. More than a dozen, all heading different directions as if each one had a mind of their own.

Its body was covered in pointed spikes, no longer resembling fur, covering the skin beneath. Its claws jagged and sharp, in perfect condition. Its teeth in perfect shape and just as sharp as the nails.

On its back were three longer spikes protruding outwards. But the worst feature of the creature that Kayd could see were its eyes.

Three sets of eyes on both sides of its face looked back at him, all in a bright red color with pure black pupils. All looked at different people, and Kayd could feel one of them looking straight at him.

The rat seemed well kept, unlike the rest around. The abomination no longer resembled a rat, only keeping the form of it. Its neck was the only thing that seemed to resemble the metal fur, now in the shape of a mane of a lion.

“What the hell am I looking at…” Evelin’s anger turned to fear, drawing her sword and moving away from the slow moving animal.

Ikari stared in awe at the creature but still held the same fear that everyone had.

“Looks like we found the rat Empress…The one behind all of this. Seems like a newer and worse version than before.” Ishmael took a step back, holding up her hatchet, unsure now of what to do.

Looks like a rat empress…Or something that leads rats…Now how do we kill that thing?

Evelin took out a stick of explosive and threw it at the rat, to their shock, one of the tails darted forward and swatted it aside, blowing up a chunk of wall in the chamber instead.

“So…What plan do we have for this Cap?” Ikari looked to Ishmael for an answer.

“Survive…”

One of the tails beamed towards Kayd, who dodged to the side just in time for it to strike the floor beneath him, leaving a smoke hole in the process.

Everyone immediately moved away from the rat who was now beamed towards Kayd.

“Why is it always me!?” The rat tilted its head upon seeing Kayd fail to die. It bared its teeth like rats before it.

All at once, more tails launched themselves at Kayd, who managed to dodge multiple of them.

The beast bore its teeth even further and dove straight at Kayd. He jumped out of the way, but not without getting hit by the beast’s spiky body, like needles they dug into his skin, but he was still alive and ready to fight.

The tails shifted their focus to the others and began picking off Ishmael and Evelin’s team.

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Many managed to parry the attacks, keeping them at bay for a while.

Still getting up from the ground, Kayd took out the last few explosives he had.

How tough is its armor I wonder.

He cautiously approached it, pulling the string on each of them.

Bundled up in one hand, Kayd tossed it at its body, blowing up in a bright cloud of flame.

The rat roared, but not in pain, rather in rage.

It swatted Kayd to the side with ease, looking back at its body while the tails continued launching a barrage of attacks against the others.

Once the smoke cleared, Kayd was horrified. Even with a bundle of explosives, it didn’t pierce the armor.

So its armor is impenetrable now, that’s problematic

In rage, Evelin took out her bundle of explosives, managing to slip by the tails and rushed to the beast.

“I will not have my army decimated this easily, nor have myself die in this place.” She threw the bundle at its face, but in doing so was again slapped aside by its claw.

The bundle blew up in its face and finally, the creature seemed to get visibly harmed.

Its armor was not damaged whatsoever but the creature swayed side to side for a moment before leaning its head down as if to catch breath.

Explosives don’t penetrate it. But it seems they can stun it.

“Explosives stun it! But they can’t break the armor!” Kayd shouted to the others.

“So how will we kill that thing?” Ikari questioned.

“That part we’ll see for ourselves,” Ishmael answered for Kayd.

The tails continued attacking despite the rat still being stunned by the explosion. After managing to parry and deflect a multitude of their attacks, some were starting to give in to the fatigue.

Soldiers began getting impaled or wrapped tightly by the tails and tossed around to the walls, floor, and ceiling of the chamber.

As it did, Kayd could swear he could hear a faint distorted laugh emanate from it.

What would create an abomination like this?

Regaining its senses, the rat looked at Evelin, and in a split moment, lunged at her at blinding speed.

A knight pushed her away just in time, only for the beast to crash directly into him, ramming into the wall and leaving a larger hole.

It pulled away from the wall, wasting no time in attacking everyone else with great speed and a deep desire to tear them apart.

“We don’t have many explosives left, we need to make it count!” Ishmael shouted out, but as soon as she finished, the rat turned to her and immediately clawed at her body, and with one its tails, stabbed into her chest and flung her around.

Not much explosives left, and yet the thing is still alive and kicking with barely any injuries.

Ikari and Quellin both parried and evaded the tails for a while, their streak ending with the rat now focusing on them. Quellin’s armor managed to protect him from the clawing and biting, but the rat quickly wrapped its tail around his body and threw him hard against the wall, knocking the soldier out.

Ikari was raised just above the rat’s mouth, her stomach pierced through by the tail. The creature opened its gaping maw filled to the brim with needle-like teeth, ready to devour her whole.

Seeing this, Kayd ran towards the beast, rushing to one of the dead soldiers and taking his explosives. Yanking the string, he tossed it at the beast’s mouth. The explosion was enough to stun the beast again, its head crashed down on the floor. The tail released Ikari from its grasp.

Kayd ran up its head and jumped to catch Ikari, managing to grab her with both of his arms and landing safely.

Looking to the side, he saw Lia, quivering and crying next to another one of Evelin’s dead soldiers. She concealed herself in the feather robes, clutching it tightly like a child hiding from a monster.

She set Ikari down next to her, turning his attention back to the rat.

While thinking on a new plan, Kayd looked at his wrist, seeing the four black bars stuck to it.

I have an idea

Kayd looked at the creature as it focused on the other people in the team, concentrating, targeting a limb of it. Soon, that same familiar flame appeared on his hands.

I need to immobilize it

While it was occupied with Evelin and the last few knights, Kayd charged. His sword pierced through the rat’s skin, to his surprise, it broke through the armor. With a swift turn of his hand, he sliced clean through the rat’s leg.

It fell to the ground and the beast released another howl of pain, cocking its head to Kayd, the red hue in its eyes brightened.

Kayd moved back and dodged the beast as it began crawling towards him, clawing and biting at him while the dozen tails attacked him, all at once.

The flame returned once again from his concentration, quickly taking an opportunity as the beast paused for a moment, accidentally embedding its claw into the wall behind Kayd.

He stabbed through it, and just like the claw earlier, sliced it clean off.

It howled once more in pain. Despite its injuries, the tails were persistent and focused all their efforts to kill Kayd, to let the rat rip him apart with its teeth instead.

His sword clashed against the tails, every strike felt like a sword of a soldier hitting him, strong and needing more and more energy to keep his balance against them.

One slipped through his defense, digging into his arm, and soon more stabbed into him until he could no longer move. They lifted him up and the rat simply raised its head up, waiting for Kayd to fall into its teeth.

“Hold on Kayd!” Covered in wounds, Ishmael ran forward with Evelin behind her, carrying the last few explosives they had.

Explosions rang out for the final time with many hitting the rat’s tail and back, momentarily stunning the beast and releasing its grasp on Kayd.

Now for those annoying tails.

He landed on top of the rat’s head, the flame appeared once more and he charged forward, all the while tails started impaling him, but none stopped him from reaching the source of it all.

His sword broke through the armor and dug into the spot where all tails came from, and with a few quick swings, chopped down all of the tails, some still stuck to him, to which he tore off.

He couldn’t think of anything else, fear was gone in his mind, only concentrated on the rat’s head, ready to end this entire mission once and for all.

The beast weakly struggled and writhed in agony. Kayd stomped on its head, flames poured forth from his hand, there was nothing in his eyes other than determination and focus.

He clutched the grip tightly with both of his hands, the tip of his blade aimed straight down at the dying animal.

The effect of the wounds he sustained grew on him, feeling his hands tremble, and losing his balance. He remembered the countless deaths he witnessed, the injuries he and his team sustained, but most importantly, why he was here.

I’m ending this entire hellhole of a mission, right here and right now!

He gritted his teeth, a burst of anger jolted his body awake and he felt his body stiffen up, with a pained and enraged shout he drove the blade deep into its skull, to the point only the handle was left.

The beast’s cry was quick, and its head crashed down for the last time.

He took quick and labored breaths, finally calming down and falling on his butt.

I…Did it….I did it….

He pulled out the sword, quickly wiping it down and carefully moving down the dead animal.

“That’s it, you did it…” Ishmael looked in shock, at the beast who once beat them all with ease, now dead.

“I wanted to get the last hit on it, but you beat me to it.” She laughed, visibly tired and feeling the blood loss and injuries affect her body. She placed her arm across Kayd’s back, smiling.

Evelin was behind her, positioning the soldiers with their hands on their chests and resting them on their backs, taking a small badge from each of them with sadness in her eyes.

The rest of Kayd’s team was starting to wake up from getting heavily injured from the fight, and Lia was partially outside her feather robe, giving water and bandages to the two.

The rat’s body began to disintegrate, and from it was a slew of different items like fur or gold, none that interested Kayd except the large skull it left behind. It was scaled down just enough to be carried by someone but retained a few features like the multiple eye sockets.

A wind chime rang out and Kayd dug into his pocket to see what the paper had to say now

Wipe out the horde rat infestation [✔]

Rewards: Rat slayer title, savior title, and new ability of the world of splendor

Once the paper disappeared, a heap of medals came cluttering down to the ground from thin air. Kayd hastily began scrounging them up, to his surprise, they all came with names of the people in his team, even Ishmael.

Each resembled some form of a military medal, one he would see typically given to veteran soldiers after a lengthy campaign or doing a great act or deed.

Now, what about that new ability?

Before he could ponder more, a hole began forming in the wall, and from it light shot through, leading them to the way out.

“We need to get out now,” Right on cue, the ceiling started to crumble and bits of rock fell to the floor.

“Yeah, we need to get out, come on!” Kayd helped his teammates get up while Ishmael had to drag Evelin away as she refused to leave her dead comrades.

Quellin got up and hoisted Lia on her back and made a dash for the exit. Ikari was still getting up from her wounds, stuck in a daze. But upon seeing the skull, she made a beeline towards it, snatching it up and heading towards the exit.

“She became wide awake fast.” With everyone else gone, he was the last to leave, the ceiling above continued to crumble, sending chunks of stone crashing down on the area.

He held tightly to the medals and ran towards the exit tunnel.

The chamber behind him fully collapsed, then the tunnel he was in followed. His speed picked up, and with one more step, they all escaped.