On the ground, they were greeted by crisp and clear cool air, carrying the scent of the water and petrichor with it.

With everyone patched up and energized by Lia, they were ready for the next task. Ishmael handed out explosive sticks to each of the team. Same drill as before, sealing the hole. Ishmael grabbed a bundle of rope from Pip’s shell, wrapping it around her shoulder.

Kayd turned around, puzzled by the destination.

Wait, where’s the hole?

From the trees, Mian and his team arrived, surprised to see Ishmael’s team first.

“You win this one, nice job.” He bent down to breathe.

“The river holds a large den of rats, the one we attacked before was just a minor one. Its only issue is being near the overseer and other camps. This one and the next though are far worse” Ishmael explained.

“Where’s the hole here? And what makes this place worse than the one before?” Kayd questioned her. Ishmael smiled and walked to where the sandy path meets the tall grass.

“Cut down this area of grass.” She ordered. Confused, Kayd walked forward, unsure what she’s trying to pull.

Kayd slashed the grass, revealing a small hole that led down, hidden below the tall grass. A moment of realization hit him.

“The rats here are stronger because of the water source. There have also been rumors of different types of rats here, given by the overseer.” She explained.

“Wait, there’s more holes than this?” Ikari asked. Ishmael turned to Kayd, motioning for him to cut more of the grass, to which he obeyed.

With each swing, his shock only grew. Just after a few swings of his sword, multiple holes enough to fit two people inside were found.

But before they could embark on their next rat-clearing mission, the sound of galloping hooves from behind caught their attention.

A group of soldiers appeared before them, their appearance far more different than the common people of the forest. With shiny armor covering both their armor and steeds. Leading them was a young woman, she wore less armor, resembling a dress with metal plates specially made for it. Giving a mix of beauty and protection.

“State your purpose here.” She hopped down her horse and immediately took out her sword. Her knights followed suit.

Kayd and the others backed up, taking out their weapons, quickly turning into a standoff.

“This river is property of the Stone’s Edge kingdom, you plan to poison it like what your ilk had done before?”

Poison? Ilk? Stone’s edge!?

“We don’t know what you’re talking about,” Ikari remarked, grabbing the ire of both Ishmael and Quellin.

“Let me handle this.” Ishmael stepped forward. She lowered her weapon, moving slowly towards the young woman.

“Princess Evelin, surprised to see you taking up arms. I thought the general would be the person handling matters like this.” Ishmael spoke with a calmer tone, placing her arms behind her waist.

“Don’t become buddy with me forest-ilk, we don’t take kindly to your kind, especially near our river. There’s a dozen on the map apart from this water, how about go there instead!” Evelin spat back, but Ishmael remained passive.

“Did you forget me? I’m Ishmael, I helped your people before, from the rat infestation to the beasts of the other side. Did you forget-”

“Shut it forest ilk.” The sudden interjection took her aback, Ishmael pondered why she was being hostile, taking a step back to reassess the situation.

A windchime made Kayd reflexively grab a scrap of paper in his pocket.

Losing titles: Losing titles is a normal problem, especially for splendor seekers such as yourself, manifesting if the objective to get the title was reverted, such as the rat slayer title being revoked from the rat infestation. You would keep well to ensure your titles remain, or see it go up in flames and lose the privileges had.

Oh

“Look,” Ishmael looked straight into Evelin’s eyes, “We are here to clear it out, you can talk to the overseer about it. We received the order from him, we arrived here just to destroy the rat den that lies below this place.

After her explanation, Evelin sheathed her sword, motioning for the others to do the same as well.

“The king has been given word of this problem too, odd how they returned. If you are what you say, then seal the hole and destroy the rat infestation. The king fears it may damage the water supply and even pose a threat to the kingdom’s walls.” Eveline explained, getting back up on her horse.

“I will leave a few of my escorts to ensure you keep your word. Go against them and you will die, do not try testing them.”

“How sure are you that they can handle the rats?”

Evelin turned to him with a vindictive stare.

“Who said they were here to clear rats?” Her words felt like knives, stabbing at Mian.

“That will be your job, that is unless you aren’t here to kill the rats.” She placed the tip of her finger on the handle of her sword.

“We are, you do not need to worry,” Ishmael reassured her. Seeing this, the woman instantly changed her expression to a smile.

“Very well then, the knights are here to see if you can handle it, if you do, expect a word from me soon.” With that, Evelin hastily left the area with her escort, leaving a few behind.

They stared at the team with unflinching expressions, even with the iron helmets on, Kayd could feel their stares on him and the others.

“If memory serves, this den spreads out very far, almost the entire river. The rat queen lays deep down, along with rumors of a different rat emerging from there.” Ishmael informed the team, standing near one of the holes with a torch in hand.

“We’ll go our own way, race to whoever gets to the queen’s area first and blows it up.” Mian raised an explosive stick.

“You know the drill team,” Cathy and Terik jumped into a random hole with the others just behind them.

“Wait-” Ishmael sighed in frustration as Mian entered the hole with his team, not even letting her speak.

“That reckless greenhorn.”

“Lack of discipline and planning, a common sight back for recruits, normally subjected to beatings or sleeping outside the camp,” Quellin remarked.

“How brutal is it in the Ferrous Hands?” Kayd asked, Quellin turned his head to him.

“Out of a hundred, only fifty live to become knights.” The grim response frightened Kayd for a bit, but he had to focus back on the main objective, the den.

“Follow behind me.” Ishmael entered the hole, followed by everyone else.

The smell of dirt flooded his nose, a much more welcomed scent than the rats.

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The tunnel was larger than they expected, enough to stand up straight and wide enough for three people to stand shoulder to shoulder.

“This den of rats normally goes out at night, unlike the one in the cave. They should be resting at this moment.” Ishmael started the walk down the tunnel, taking out her hatchet as they got farther from the entrance.

“If the paths are right, we should meet Mian’s team on the first platform, then we could descend together.”

—----

The silence mixed in with the muffled noise of water flowing above them filled their ears, they were now directly beneath the river.

The tunnel went on for a while, feeling endless, with the path ahead shrouded in darkness.

First a cave, now a series of tunnels. Not only are they numerous, they even have a knack for building.

The mere thought of rats being able to create these kinds of dens concerned Kayd. The biggest den he’d seen from rats was just the size of a small peasant house. Never did he see one made in a cave or beneath a river before.

Along the way, Ishmael stopped, gesturing for the others to stop and stay quiet.

A faint sound of rat squeaking could be heard beyond the dark, echoing throughout the tunnel.

She slowly raised her hatchet and threw it at the darkness without hesitation.

The sound of blood splattering at the quick shriek of vermin followed a few seconds later.

Once they reached the source, they found a dead rat, its body almost filled the entire tunnel. And its smell was far worse than the ones before.

“They say the first platform has a rat queen protecting it. We need to kill it quickly so we may go further down the den.” Ishmael notified the team.

They squeezed through the gap between the corpse and the tunnel walls, not stopping to see wait, or take a breath.

Ikari though remained near the rat, looking at it with a dagger in hand.

“Ikari, we need to go.” She turned to Ishmael with a smirk.

“I might have an idea that will help us go through them. A little thing I learned when luring predators in the forest.” Without warning, Ikari stabbed the dead rat’s side, tearing a sizeable hole into it. Blood poured down, turning the brown dirt beneath into red.

“What are you doing?” Kayd questioned.

“Remember what you did with the mushrooms before?”

Suddenly, Kayd understood what she was trying to do.

Ikari slathered the blood on her cloak and approached the rest of the team with blood-soaked hands.

“Captain Ishmael, what do the rats do when they smell rat blood?”

“Not much, the blood smells just like the fur.” She slathered the blood on Lia first, who squealed as Ikari smeared it on her coat.

“Wait- Stop! The cloak can’t be cleaned easily-”

“Don’t worry Feathers, it's much better than getting eaten by rats.” She patted Lia on the head and continued smearing the clothing of the others.

Ishmael walked towards the rat and covered herself in the blood.

“I heard of some in the tavern using this tactic. But never stuck around long enough to see if it worked.” Once done, Ishmael walked back to the front of the group and resumed their travel.

Kayd’s soft and smooth robes were slathered in the viscous blood of the vermin. Nausea kicked in quickly, and the tunnel made the smell more putrid, but it was either this or risk getting torn apart in this place.

“Not used to the smell huh?” She giggled.

“I would rather bait the rats and assassinate the queen like before than this,” Kayd replied.

“And where did that lead to,” She nudged his arm.

Further down it became harder and harder for Kayd to breathe, and the heat began welling up inside the tunnel, causing them to sweat.

—---

Kayd wiped his forehead, and while suffering from the heat of the tunnel, fanning himself with his hand, a wave of cold air hit them.

“It seems we arrived on the first platform.” A new area was revealed to them, the smell of rot and iron greeted their noses first, prompting Kayd to instinctively covered his nose before moving any further.

The entire area was faintly lit up in a light blue hue from moss growing around the area. Bones, fabric, and broken weapons lay scattered across the platform, some settling next to the rats while others were piled up.

Next to them, more tunnel holes were visible, the place resembled the cave before, just more well-lit.

Ahead, the rat queen was visible, but next to it was another slumbering vermin, slightly bigger than her.

Its claws were sharp and resembled the claws of a hawk, its body was thinner but longer than the queen. The skin looked thicker, and spikier in appearance compared to the smooth fur of other rats surrounding it, simply meant to be cannon fodder.

Its teeth brought the most shock to Kayd, like knives they were pointy and sharp, a bite from it would most likely chop off any body part.

The creature seemed to have been built purely for killing humans and destroying villages, unlike its smaller counterparts, and compared to the queen who seemed to be made purely with creating newer rats in mind.

“That rat….” Lia quivered, horrified by the monster.

“I see that this may be the beast of the rumors.” Ikari walked forward, observing from a distance.

“I never faced a beast like that, our best-case scenario is learning on the move. For now, our main priority is the rat queen.” She turned to Kayd.

“Just like before, shouldn’t be any different apart from being a bit bigger.” Kayd nodded his head. Before he made his move, Ikari patted him on the back.

“Don’t worry, if it goes south, I’ll help this time.” She smirked, holding up her bow and an arrow.

Just like before, he crept up on the queen from behind, avoiding the rats that surrounded their queen, making no noise. None of the rats seemed to have smelled him, remaining in their slumber, not alerted by Kayd’s presence.

Her gross idea worked, can’t believe it did

He silently laughed to himself, making sure to not let a single word come out of his mouth.

Rat tails smacked against his boots along the way, hoping he doesn’t accidentally step on one.

Along the way, the rat beast grumbled in a very low tone, shaking Kayd’s heart and making him pause for a moment.

He pondered what would happen if such a beast bit into his arm, unlike the queen that thing would most likely cut it clean off.

Kayd only needed a few more steps to reach the queen, his heart raced at the moment. A mix of adrenaline and fear coursed through his veins. He hoped to kill the queen in one stab, to kill it and the rest of the rats before having to face this new rat.

The beast twisted and turned next to the queen, showing its teeth to Kayd while blood and drool oozed from its half-open mouth. Each strand of hair on the fur resembled curved needles, practically impossible to even get close to it.

Kayd took one final step, now just inches from the queen’s head, he raised his sword, aiming the tip directly at the skull of the abomination. Excitement widened his eyes, a clean kill at last? Without getting attacked?

Just then, a loud thud interrupted him. From one of the holes, Mian and his team fell to the ground.

The queen opened its eyes, but before it could do anything, Kayd dug his sword into its skull, pushing it further down to ensure its death.

The queen shrieked loudly and quickly fell limp, beginning to vanish along with its underlings.

All except the beast rat.

Kayd took a step back, not feeling an ounce of excitement or pride from his kill. He stepped backward, disoriented from the smell and unsure of what he could do now against the creature.

Why didn’t you die with the queen and others-

The thought barely finished before the beast swung its elongated claws, striking Kayd and throwing him into the wall with enough force to make a small crater.

Stuck to the wall he felt a searing pain across his body, three large slash marks were left on it. The beast didn’t waste a moment, lunging at Kayd with a mouth full of knife-like teeth.

No….