The crab dug its feet to the ground, they arrived.

In front of them was their destination, a modestly sized wooden fort. Its walls were in disarray and showed signs of damage. And an aura of death loomed over it.

Kayd and the others covered their noses, the strong and pungent smell of horde rats stayed familiar to their noses.

Strangely though, he saw no signs of horde rats anywhere.

Jumping down, they approached the gate of the fort. Chunks of it were missing and barely hanging on.

The grass around them was stained with rubble or blood.

Oddly silent, but the smell is still there.

They froze in place, the gate had moved as if someone was trying to push it open from behind.

“Stay close,” Quellin ordered. Ishmael stood next to him, hatchet in hand, and prepared for another fight.

The gate moved once more, this time with more force, whatever was behind it was trying to barge it open.

With each blow, bits of rock and dust fell from the top of the gate.

Please don’t be a lot

Kayd, Quellin, and Ishmael stood tall in front of the other two, worried but prepared tor another fight.

At long last, the gate was barged open, but Kayd’s fear turned to confusion upon seeing what was on the other side.

Another group of people numbering seven, wearing leather armor and carrying a mix of weapons, their bodies covered in wounds and crimson. They both stood still with surprised faces, confused by each other’s presence.

“Mian!?” Ishmael yelled out, the man in the middle with the most amount of armor covering his body stepped forward.

In a few seconds, Ishmael approached the man and shook his hand, quickly descending into a conversation and talking like old friends.

Did they handle it already?

“Here for the rat problem as well huh? Don’t worry, we dealt with it already. What took you guys so long?” Mian wiped some dust and blood from his chest, flashing a bright pride-filled smile as he did, his words coming off with a lordly tone to it.

“We handled another settlement.”

“Oh, the one near the overseer’s village?” He laughed.

“That one would have been easier than this, should have picked that one but I do need the money and status.” The people with Mian laughed alongside him before walking back inside to clean up the dead rats.

Ikari looked visibly saddened and frustrated, closing her eyes with her arms crossed.

“The rats were nothing but target practice when we shut the gate.” He added. “Ishmael peeked from the side, seeing the aftermath of Mian’s attack inside the castle.

“Is anything left there? The Overseer may have use for them, scarcity and all.” Mian looked back for a moment.

“Probably, doubt it though. Won’t hurt to check anyway. Come, let’s go inside.” Mian gestured for them to follow him.

“He’s one of the experienced novices, just a few successful rat settlement attacks and he thinks he can beat the rest of the horde.” She walked inside with Kayd and the others in tow.

Prideful and annoying, both go together like water and paper.

The smell was much worse inside, even penetrating the cloth on Kayd’s nose. Dozens of rats were strewn around the center of the fort riddled with slash marks and arrows.

Quellin looked around at his team, making sure nobody goes astray, especially Lia. But she spent her time writing down in her notebook.

Ikari looked the most irritated, silent with her arms still crossed and staring at Mian and his teammates with a scoff.

The inside was covered in claw markings and hundreds of holes with varying sizes, the doors were destroyed and some of Mian’s people were dragging rats out of it.

“That bait was one of my best ideas yet. I wonder why these rats are even a problem anyway.” He boasted, stabbing at one of the dead rats with his sword.

“I want to ask, how was rat clearing on your end?”

“It went fine, just fine.” She replied quickly.

Kayd noticed that Mian’s team worked with great synchronization with one another, passing corpses from one another out of the rooms and stabbing them, performing their tasks smoothly without a single word and with great efficiency.

Entering through a broken doorway, they started walking down a spiral staircase, lit up by hanging lanterns.

To his relief, the smell seemed to have disappeared once they got deep enough.

“Ah, the storage room.” A locked metal door lay in front of them, he could spot filled shelves in the room beyond it.

“Locked,” He tried tugging on the door a few times and stepped back.

“We may need a lockpick, or see if anything is there. There could be a threat-” Ignoring her advice, Mian kicked down the door with enough force, flinging it open.

Immediately, the guttural sound of hisses emerged from the dark sections of the room. He took out his sword and rushed in.

Just as expected, the rats ran out and charged him, none though managed to get close enough, being cut down by Mian with speed and ease.

He seems well-trained, but that overconfidence is a killer of many

“That’s it? Told you it was easy, don’t know why it’s such a problem-” In the middle of his bragging, a final rat managed to pounce on him, biting down on Mian’s sword.

Kayd stepped forward and dug his sword into the beast’s head without a second thought, ending the short struggle.

“That one got lucky, luckily this is the only time I got pounced in this fort attack.” He laughed, not even acknowledging Kayd’s help.

The team entered inside the room, now quiet and rid of any hiding threats. The shelves were full of boxes of varying sizes in different stages of decomposition.

How long has this place been held by the rats?

“Ah, the explosives.” Mian grabbed a box from one of the shelves and placed it down. He stabbed the edge of the top and pried it open.

Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

Inside were some bundled-up explosive balls tied to sticks with a single string sticking out the top.

“What are you planning to do with that?” Ishmael asked.

“Something none of you did was sealing off the source directly. You only clear it but never destroy it, heard from some walled kingdom soldiers about delivering these to a nearby fort so they can try ending the rat horde. As you can see though, it ended before it began.” Mian explained with the same lordly tone as before.

“Clever, the only problem now is to get to those major breeding grounds and blow it up. Not an easy task,” She chuckled with a smirk.

“Indeed, but these rats are just rats. They’re just numerous and that’s it,” He paused, turning to the team and picking up one of the explosives.

“Say, why don’t you go with us? We’re going to the nearby cave to seal it anyway.” He asked. It did not take long for a decision from Ishmael.

“Sounds good!”

“Alright then, let’s head up and start making our move. And don’t worry about helping us ride the crab, we’ll just climb the trees going there.” He closed the box and walked out the room, Ishmael and the others grabbed the other boxes containing explosives and started making their way up as well.

Up top, the center was already cleaned out, with Mian's teammates rapidly tossing out the rat corpses from the castle, simply leaving puddles of red and fur around the area.

Mian greeted all of them with a smile and a charismatic laugh.

“Alright lads, let’s head out!” Mian’s team heard the order and quickly obeyed, without needing an explanation or a second thought, like this became routine.

“Quick orders and quick responses, his leadership and organization are excellent,” Quellin remarked.

“ Such a compliment from a Ferrous hand is nothing short of a reward.

The team placed the boxes inside the wooden structure and felt the crab rise from the ground. Just as they sat down, it began moving.

Kayd knelt in front of one of the boxes, curious about the device.

The armies of the other world mostly used cannons and round bombs. Never seen any of them use this kind of bomb though.

He took one of them out, examining it to pass the time.

Next to him, Ikari was leaning against the wood, looking aimlessly to the side with an expressionless face, no longer happy or talking to anyone.

Did he rub off on her that much?

He shut the box and started gazing at the area around him.

Further away from any form of stable society, Kayd could swear he heard the faint shrieks of rats in the distance. Was it just his mind playing tricks on him? Or were they nearby?

Some of the trees caught his eye, looking more damaged the farther they moved, from scratch and bite marks to small remnants of wooden wagons and even an occasional heap of torn fabric and weapons on the side of the road left without an owner.

A wind chime stopped his nature-watching, prompting Kayd to grab the paper in his pocket purely with reflex.

As the splendor seekers venture farther from any vestige of civilization, the rat threat merely grew. The baptism of fire has ended, now, the Crucible of Inferno has begun. They have gained magic back and beat a few settlements. Will they persevere and gain more? Or will their journey end here?

Crucible of Inferno, weird name but does sound threatening.

Kayd’s body rocked forward, crashing to the ground and slamming his face into the floor as the crab came to a sudden halt.

“Argh, mind warning us before making a stop?” Ikari grunted, recovering from the fall alongside the others.

Once up, the team found the cause of their stop.

A tower structure built on the side of the road had fallen directly on it, leaving a mound of wooden rubble blocking their path.

“Just great…” Ishmael sighed.

“Pip, tear through!” Upon hearing her shout, the crab lifted up its arms and charged into the rubble, digging its claws into the pile and thrashing it aside, creating a cloud of dust and splinters.

The sound of the claws and rubble moving around was causing worry for Kayd, the memory of hearing faint shrieks still in his mind.

We’re far from other humans, normally beasts like making homes away from civilization, I have a bad feeling about this.

Ikari stood with Ishmael, both talking about that mercenary captain, Mian.

“Annoying guy,”

“Just a greenhorn with a month of experience, at least he survives, unlike the dozen other companies that stay here. Don’t see him handling the beasts beyond the forest though,” She laughed to herself.

In the middle of their talk, Ikari suddenly turned with her bow ready, kicking Kayd down without warning and releasing an arrow, all in just a second.

Above him, the arrow struck a rat that was just about to land where Kayd once stood.

Its corpse crashed down on the floor of the structure. Liza scurried away from it while Quellin stabbed at the creature’s head, ensuring its demise.

Kayd looked on with a mix of shock and pain from her strong kick, but mostly relief.

“Thanks”

“Don’t mention it, just glad that my skill is still here.” She laughed. Her response made Kayd chuckle a bit, using the same response he had before.

Their laughter quickly died down, overshadowed by the growing noises of hundreds of shrieks and squeals of horde rats, seemingly from all directions.

“Come on pip! Tear it down faster!” Ishmael gripped the wood, taking out her hatchet and glancing to the trees.

The team understood their new situation quickly, as from the trees, a few rats stuck out their heads.

“Kayd, Quellin, head down and make sure none latch onto us or Pip. The healer girl and Ikari will stay to provide support.”

“Understood!” The two yelled in sync.

His feet landed on the firm sandy ground, with the horde rats in front of him and his team behind him. His task now was clear. Hold the line until the crab is done.

As long as this guarantees the title, and that paper keeps its words. I’ll follow every order.

Shouts echoed out from the other side as Quellin began clashing with the beasts. Kayd’s was about to begin, vermin of different colors and sizes ran out. Their skin was less thick, none resembled the queen Kayd had killed before.

Use past method of killing them

Kayd moved around, focusing on dodging as many of them as possible, and once they had missed their attacks, he slashed at their bodies with speed and precision, ending the peats quickly.

The more he killed, the more seemed to come out of the trees.

Slashing away, he failed to spot one of the rats already mere inches away from him. Just like before, the beast clamped down on Kayd’s arm.

It didn’t bite down though, as an arrow took it down before further damage occurred. A moment after, his arm started to heal.

Lia and Ikari peered down at him, flashing smiles while providing more support to him and Quellin.

Kayd felt more invigorated, his wounds could be healed quickly and he had ranged support now.

His movements left dust flying on the ground as he dashed around the field, cutting down dozens of vermin with ease, and coating his blade red.

A familiar feeling rushed through his veins, a nostalgic feeling. One he felt when fighting alongside his master in skirmishes before, especially where he had to protect him.

The number grew with no end, no longer able to be counted by Kayd or anyone as the shrieks and wails from the trees never stopped.

Scratches adorned Kayd’s body and a few bite marks, slowly getting surrounded and outflanked by the beasts.

The sight of the crab became blocked off as the rats moved Kayd away and finally encircled him.

“Get back on! We’re leaving!” Amidst the chaos, Ishmael’s voice pierced through it all.

Kayd turned to the voice and began fighting his way through, slashing away at the threat in front of him, focused solely on getting back.

The closer he got, the more wounds appeared around his body as the rats picked away at him.

Kayd and Quellin crawled onto the platform, finally on board

“Onward Pip!” Ishmael yelled, causing the crab to move out of the area quickly.

The loud, almost nauseating noise of the horde rats slowly disappeared in the distance, giving Kayd time to relax and get healed.

“Well done you two.”