Southeast of the Slatewell Safe Zone

Granite City

The river flowed quickly in the channel that used to be eighth street. It was clear and cool, made more so by the dropping temperature as Fall was setting in more and more each day. The autumn breeze ruffled the leaves of the trees that lined the riverbank as the massive red sun floated overhead.

From the underbrush, the Radiant Crusaders trudged, one weary foot after the other. It had only been a few hours since they left the Safe Zone, yet, they were all ready to head back. Beaten, bloody, and sore, they collapsed one by one on the river's edge.

"I thought we killed at least three times that many yesterday, during the wave. Why was today so much harder?" Joy asked wearily, her usually pristine outfit of leather ripped and stained.

"Home field advantage." Diggy sighed back. His chain mail armor was nearly in tatters. "We came to them this time."

"They also seemed mighty pissed off." Brick groaned, his partial plate mail dented and dinged. He had crawled to the waters edge and was getting a drink. "Whatever came through here last really did a number on the area, too."

"I say we make camp on this bank for a quick lunch, as long as nothing else pops out at us. How many monsters was that anyway?" Jut said gruffly, sitting and leaning back on his hands.

"Too many. And we were always on the run, so we couldn't loot most of them." Isabelle pouted. She pulled a blue potion from her inventory pouch. "I'll heal you guys once I'm up a bit more. Lily, will you heal the dogs when you get the chance?"

A soft, tired meow came from the cat who had a saucer of the Mana restoring drink laid in front of her. Her fur was matted and she too bore a few injuries.

Nox and Gunther weren't much better off. Each had a score of cuts and Nox was favoring his left leg a bit.

After much cajoling and harassment, Jut and Diggy set up a makeshift camp and everyone ate food prepared by Crimson. It was all something that could be easily held, like sandwiches, wraps, and meat skewers. The buffs were all stamina and health based with Isabelle and Jut had Mana and health buffing foods instead.

Isabelle and Lily healed everyone the best they could with most of the team sitting at eighty-five percent HP. As long as they didn't have to continuously fight like they had all morning, they could even reach around ninety on their own soon enough.

Once everyone was packed up, changed their gear for fresh sets, and were ready to go, the team traveled East along the river's edge. The trees never really got close enough to the water to make traversing the bank too difficult. The break in the tree cover allowed the Crusaders to remain warm without being uncomfortable.

They discovered that Monsters rarely attacked them from the river itself. The ones that did were easy to see coming as most of them swam near the surface, usually giant frogs, birds, or insects. Occasionally a snake would slither out and the Crusaders would handle with them quickly.

They had to deal with more ambushes from the treeline than anything else. Even those numbers were paltry compared to their initial battles that morning.

Without being much worse off than when they had stopped for lunch, the Crusaders made good time reaching the first objective. They arrived at Brick's Cat Monster nest.

A nest was not something special like a Liar. It was just an area with a higher concentration of cat Monsters. There wasn't even a boss lurking amongst the rabble either. The fights were executed with precision and deftness as each person took their role seriously. When they killed twenty of the beasts, the Quest was complete and they moved on.

They traveled North and East to clear the other nests, only to discover that snake nest had been cleared already. There was not a snake Monsters to be found in the area. Jut checked the Quest in his log under the Guild Assignments section made for him be Alex and there was no change either. The Crusaders decided that either another team had come through, or some other Monsters had taken them out. Either way, they couldn't complete the request.

The spider nest was the worst fight of them all, in Jut's opinion. It wasn't that they took that much more damage, or that anyone got hurt too badly. It was how the spiders looked. They didn't have the furry bodies of tarantulas, or the cute faces of jumping spiders, no. Instead, these creepy crawlies had the nearly translucent bodies of a recluse and fangs that would give Jut nightmares for weeks.

Despite most of the team being freaked out, they dealt with beasts easily enough. It was fortunate that no one was bitten, because they had no idea if the Monsters were venomous or not.

Their final trek was to the Lair. They found the entrance easily enough once they reached the marker on their map. It was an archway in the base of a tree that lead down into an underground burrow.

Much like the Dog Monsters Lair, this one was loaded with a mixture of Normal and Stone Ranked Monsters. All were the same species of green colored scorpions. The strange part was the variations they encountered. There was only the club tail versions of the scorpions. Not that anyone complained. Not having to deal with the stinger tipped tails of the hammer arm type was a blessing as the club tails didn't launch anything at the team from a distance.

After clearing the Lair and realizing their inventories were reaching capacity, the Team decided to cut back to the river and travel back to the Safe Zone. They would get back around two or three in the afternoon, but decided that a break might be nice after fighting nearly consistently for two days. Jut wanted to do some crafting anyway.

It was just before the reached the river's edge, when Brick called a halt.

"Doesn't that look like a Lair opening?" The Guardian pointed to a gap in a small earthen mound. It was just big enough that they would have to crawl into it.

"I'm not fond of the idea of trekking down a dark hole. Even less so if I have to crawl." Diggy voiced from the back of the group, having been the rear guard.

"I'm not keen on the idea either, but we should at least check it out." Joy added.

That's when everyone turned to look at Jut. He wanted so badly to roll his eyes, but knew he could not. Instead, he shrugged.

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"I am actually going to agree with Joy. We, at least, have to check it out. Brick, you have the highest armor rating. Will you check it out and let's us know if you get a popup?"

Brick grinned and nodded. "Aye, aye, boss man."

Jut was relieved. He had assumed the ex-solider was going to tell him to do it as he was the Guild Leader. Yet, his relief fled after Brick returned from his excursion a few moments after he had crawled inside.

"The hole is not a Lair. It's a rat Monster Den." Brick reported with a salute.

"Damn it." Jut exclaimed while the rest of the team made similar curses. "Well, that means we have to clear it. Exploration formation one seems the most appropriate."

Exploration formation one was their usual formation plan. Brick would take the lead and Diggy would be the read guard, much as they had on their way there in the first place.

As Jut knelt and crawled through the gap in the ground, he received the text in his vision he had expected based on the initial report. Unlike with the two Lairs they had conquered so far, the Den's text was more stylized.

Rat Monster Den

The dirt tunnel, for that's exactly what it was, a tunnel, led the team down until they reached an open area. Each of the walls of the open area had a tunnel leading in different directions with the largest being across from the tunnel they had crawled in from. The space was just large enough for the team to stand and fight, which was lucky because they had Monsters waiting for them.

The last time Jut and Brick had fought rat Monsters, they had been little bigger than small dogs, barely reaching the men's shins with the largest reaching just below their knees. However, these rats were Stone Rank. Unlike the usual Normal Rank to Stone Rank disparity, where the beasts only looked a little different while feeling different to their senses, that was not the case here.

These Stone Ranked rats were as large as bigger medium sized dogs, coming up to Jut's thighs. Another difference was their posture. Pre-system rats trotted along on four legs, despite being able to stand on two. These animals stood hunched forward and while it looked like they could run on all fours of they desired, their figures spoke of creatures able to stand tall and fight. Their nails also looked closer to daggers than claws.

Can't forget about their red eyes, either. Jut thought to himself as the team stood ready and the monsters turned to them upon dropping from the entrance tunnel.

Given the close quarters, Jut pulled out his sword and it instantly started to glow the mix of colors that signaled his Skills were active. Gunther appeared the same, his teeth glowing blue and green while his fur was cast into a darker glow.

Before anyone could make a move, the two rats let out a bellowing screech. The sound, very reminiscent of nails on a chalkboard, served two purposes. Not only could the team hear the pattering of feet coming from the three other tunnels, but Jut felt slightly disoriented. It was a dizzy sensation similar to if he had spun in place for ten seconds straight.

Fearing being overwhelmed, Jut concentrated and activated his Scaled Skin Skill. He also gave Gunther's new Skill, Increase Density a try. He felt himself become heavier, his limbs harder to move. He was forced to reduce the amount of Mana he was channeling into the Skill so he would feel comfortable moving his weapon. He had adjusted just in time as a small flood of furry bodies erupted from both of the tunnels on their left and right while the two guards also lunged forward.

Jut held up his buckler and struck out at the nearest foe. It was a Normal Ranked rat that fell into two pieces in one strike. He then lunged forward and skewered a Stone Ranked beast through the chest before yanking his blade out the side of the creature and catching another Normal Ranked rat in the face.

The cramped space was soon filled with the sounds of all out combat with blood and gore flying in every direction. Jut was forced to stop and dissolve multiple bodies with his Harvest Skill so they could continue fighting. Thankfully, he kept getting a surge of Mana whenever he killed a Monster or two, allowing him to keep up.

Diggy, who needed the most space, was more of a funneled that directed Monsters to the others from one of the entrances rather than fighter. He would occasionally use his Bull Rush to smash a large grouping of rats against a wall, crushing many of the lower Ranked Monsters at once.

Joy, on the other hand, was in her element. Her ducking and weaving and relatively low need for space to deliver her attacks allowed her to wreak havoc amounts the rat Monsters.

Isabelle had taken to firing her wand at Stone Ranked Monsters or at the tunnel mouths when she wasn't healing everyone else. Her being behind everyone in a loose half circle allowed her to remain clear of direct combat for the most part. When a Monster was able to break through to her, one of the pets would fall back to help her. That's, of course, if the offender was Stone Ranked. One well placed wack from her staff was usually enough to take out the Normal ones.

While not assisting the Healer, Gunther would be between Brick and Jut, lending them both support. Nox was between Brick and Joy, assisting there in the same way. Lily helped Isabelle heal and was the closest to Diggy. She was easily able to fit in the space he took up with his wide swings and large movements.

The Stone Ranked Monsters, by no surprise to the Crusaders', weren't push overs. They were nimble and their claws were as sharp as the daggers they resembled. Despite that, the team had relatively little problem taking them out.

The reason for their success was twofold.

First, the Monsters fought like Monsters usually do, mindless and with little to no teamwork. The Stone Ranked ones did not get in each other's way as often, but they did not coordinate like the Crusaders did.

The second was because the rats just weren't that strong or durable, even at Stone Rank. Not like a giant snakes or dogs at any rate.

However, Jut could see the logical progression these creatures could have if their changes continued as they too ranked up. If the Stone Ranked rats were twice as fast or if they only took damage to their health instead of their bodies too, they could have been a real threat, even to all five of them.

Could Jut survive fighting five or six at once if he had his Haste Buff stacked to the max, or would his inability to control his body well at such speeds make him an easy target?

The Crusaders were left standing in a small sea of corpses. Each of the front liners were breathing deeply from their low Stamina while Isabelle was dizzy from low Mana. However, they lost very little of their HP.

As no notification popped up, the Crusaders waited until Brick told them to Loot. It was usually Brick to give the command as he was the Guardian. As such, he was the one responsible for everyone's safety during a fight. Because of this, they agreed he would give the all clear.

As the room was so small with little in the way of harvestable materials like ore or herbs, everyone began doing rituals.

This was when they noticed something new. Normal ranked Monsters did not break down on their own. Was it because Dens were unique in that way? Or did the fight not last as long as it seemed?

Jut pondered this as he did his rituals. However, like all the other times the System didn't provide further Lore on the matter, he let it go after having Alex make a note for observation.

It was half way through their rituals when it became deadly. A group of rats jumped from the tunnel nearest Joy. She was face down in her rituals and the dogs or Lily weren't able to react soon enough due to the heavy stench of blood still in the air.

The leader of the pack of five rats was Stone Rank and passed right by their pugilist, a spray of blood shooting towards the ceiling. The sharp dagger like claws cutting her open.

Immediately, every one of the remaining Crusaders reacted and pounced on their attackers, leaving them dead and added to the piles to be looted.

Isabelle rushed to Joy's side, covering the wound and her hands glowing blue. Again and again, she channeled her different spells in to her teammate's neck.

However, the blood wasn't slowing down. Joy's skin was becoming paler and paler and she could only gurgle as she too tried to cover her wound with her hands.

"It's not stopping!" Isabelle said in a near panic as she pressed hard on her friends throat.

Jut sprang to her side. Only their first real day exploring and they were going to lose someone? He gripped his hands tightly, unsure of what to do. All he knew is they had to do something.