“So that’s it?” Ryland asked.

“Yep.” Dave said.

“A little anticlimactic.”

“That’s exactly what I said,” Max puffed. “I guess if something has a simple name like ‘spawner’, you can’t expect too much from it. Still after all that we’ve been through I was hoping for some great magical force. You know, kind of like the Node.”

“Or at least like the orc mines from Lord of the Rings.” Ryland said.

Dave turned to look at Ryland, eyes wide. “Fuck. I can’t decide if that would be creepy or totally awesome.”

“I mean the tone would be a bit dark and all.” Max said.

“Guys focus!” Sarah raised her voice.

Instantly the group's banter died down. They all had been through hell, fighting wave after wave of monsters and running from bloodthirsty squirrels through the jungle. But they had learned better by now than to risk Sarah’s wrath. That was another league entirely.

All of them were all standing close to the treeline, where Dave had been just a day prior, and watched the valley around the spawner crawl with monsters.

They had wanted to wait until a sort of monster would spawn that would be favorable for them, if that meant waiting another one or two waves, they were fine with it. But fortune was on their side for once and the next wave had been perfect.

Around the big shiny metal cube around two dozen rats ran around wildly.

At first Dave hadn’t believed his eyes when the swarm of rats attacked their clearing. Especially because it had only been around a dozen of them. They couldn’t have been that lucky could they? The were hedgehogs had run at them with almost two dozen of their breed, hundreds of sharp spikes pointed at them. Was there something wrong?

But as it turned out, the rats were just tougher than expected. They looked like normal rats, other than being the size of small dogs, there was nothing special about their appearance. But they were really monsters not to be trifled with.

Even after a Spark from Dave the small rodents had been able to get back up. Tough as a cockroach with no ounce of quit in them, the rats had kept coming after them. It had taken them almost twenty minutes until they had killed off the last of these beasts, but they had emerged with no serious injuries.

A few scratches here and there, but that was nothing to scoff at for them anymore.

As it turns out, the rats really just were tough, but their damage potential was limited. With their ranged attackers in Max and Sarah and Dave and Ryland holding the frontline, they were well enough equipped to deal with the wave that had attacked them.

Of course, now the numbers were a different matter.

It had taken them quite a while to even deal with ten of these rats, now they were up against two dozen. While their teeth and claws may be small, they were still sharp, and the thought of unstoppable rodents coming after his guts, gave Dave a shiver.

He knew it was what needed to be done though, so with a nod, the whole group formed up.

“So, any special plans?” Sam asked, while positioning himself behind Max.

Dave summoned his spear and stepped up to the front of the group. “Nope. We try to hit them and not get hit ourselves. Same as always.”

“I kind of feared that.” Sam sighed.

“Oh don’t worry, I’ve got a few aces up my sleeve.” Max said and winked towards Sam before they started marching down towards the spawner. Right into the face of danger, putting themselves up against overwhelming numbers.

Max's laser gun was getting hot in his hands, but he had no time to cool it down, as he sent another barrel of shots into a nearby rat. He took a few steps back, and repositioned himself looking over the battlefield.

It had been chaos when they first broke out of the forest. In one unison motion, two dozen rat heads piqued up at once, staring into their direction and starting to squeak.

The first few moments had been tense, with the rats almost surrounding them, but as always Dave had come to their rescue.

Running off into the deep mess of rodents, Dave tore the attention of almost half the swarm to himself, leading them a few meters away from the group. Facing them alone.

Max watched as Dave was moving like the wind through the pack of shin sized rodents. His spear stabbed out like a hungry viper, drawing blood from his foes, biting and damaging where it could. But the monsters kept coming.

Dave sidestepped, evaded, and circled around, leading the pack of rodents after him, while always staying slightly out of range. So far he hadn't taken much damage from the rats and was dealing quite a bit of it himself. Nearly every rat sported some kind of nasty gash or wound by now, courtesy of Dave’s spearwork.

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It was beautiful to watch. The last time that Max had seen Dave go all out like that, was against the light beam throwing Nodefox that almost obliterated their whole clearing. Back then Dave had been giving the Nodefox a surprisingly competitive fight, and even though it had been holding off and toying a little with Dave, Dave’s performance was nothing but impressive.

Now against a foe that was more on his level, and played more to his strengths, it was like watching a skilled musician playing his instrument.

Dave feinted to his right, leading the closest few rodents to jump forward, then Dave instead circled away to his left, his spear making a few quick jabs at the rodents, drawing blood and angry squeaks.

Before he could recover fully the next rat was upon him, but Dave somehow ended up a little farther away than the beast had expected. Surprised that it landed just a few inches short, the rat was greeted with the butt of Dave’s spear right to its temple. Then Dave was out of range again.

Another rodent tried sneaking up from behind, charging at Dave with full force. Without even turning around fully, a little discharge of lightning shot out from Dave’s hand, stopping the rat in its tracks and sending it to the ground spasming.

Suddenly faster than before, Dave stood over it, bringing down his spear on the immobilized rodent with full force. The thing let out a shrill shriek before going limb. A blink of an eye later, Dave was moving again.

He was like a swarm of hornets, hard to catch and with vicious retaliation.

Unfortunately the rodents really were unnaturally tough. While Dave was doing good and being ahead right now, it all came down to a question of attrition. Would Dave get tired first or would the rodents succumb to their wounds first.

Max had watched some of the beasts getting up again from wounds that should’ve made them bleed to death in moments. Ryland had kicked one of the rats in the head with his shin, carving its head inwards and sending it flying a solid ten meters. Less than a minute later, the thing was back in the mix, snapping after them with its deformed mouth.

These things really were not easy to put away.

The battle continued raging for quite some while, a hectic back and forth. Here and there they were able to put a few of the rodents away, but their numbers never seemed to dwindle.

For every rodent that he put away, Max first had to pepper them with countless shots, just for a new rat to take its place. By now they had managed to kill a few, but they sported some wounds themselves.

Ryland’s legs were a mess of gashes and bite marks, his whole lower torso drenched in blood. But he was at least as tough as the rats, because what would’ve crippled every other person among them, barely slowed Ryland down.

So far Max had never seen Ryland really be pushed to his limits, but seeing him fight now was daunting. There had been a few times when he had underestimated their goofy slab of muscle, but seeing him wading through blood and rat carcasses, covered in wounds, finally shifted Max's perspective of him. He truly was a monster. Just as he thought that, Ryland stomped the head of one rat, squashing it under his boot, while yanking another rat free from his leg and throwing it away. Leaving only a bloody bite mark on his leg, fitting to the rodent that was soaring away through the air.

Of course, it wasn’t just Ryland that was showing what he was made off.

Bixby was keeping their backs free. Every rat that tried to make its way around them, suddenly found themselves face to face with another sharp toothed monster. While Bixby was in no way a strong physical fighter, he was much bigger and stronger than a single rat. That together with his skills, made any rat think twice about facing off with him.

Sarah and Mira were equally impressive. They worked perfectly in tandem. Mira catching rats with her plant snares, and Sarah blasting them with a barrage of mana projectiles that made Max’s laser gun look like a toy for children.

They were ruthlessly efficient, keeping Rylands back free and making sure that no rat came too close. Like a machine, roots kept springing up from the grounds, and like the punishment of god, Sarah rained down blasts of mana on their foes. They kept an incredible pace.

Sam was the quietest, but probably the most important member of their team in that fight. There was no space for him to heal Ryland or one of the others the way he normally did, he needed to touch his friends for that, and that meant having a quiet moment he didn’t get.

But he also didn’t need to, since Sam had gotten a few new Skills over the last few weeks as well. One of that was a passive healing aura surrounding himself and his friends right now.

He stood right in the midst of their group, having his eyes closed and displaying his complete trust in his friends. While he was keeping focused, his passive healing aura really went to work. Most small cuts healed in rapid manner and even big wounds were bleeding less than they should.

Looking at Ryland, Max didn’t even want to know what he would look like without Sam’s passive healing working overtime. Sam was the sole reason they were all still as combat ready as they were.

But of course, that could only go on for so long. They still found themselves faced with overwhelming numbers.

Slowly the rats started gaining the upper hand and pushing them back. It was time for one of Max’s aces.

“Mira! Operation Plant Bomb!” Max yelled.

Mira turned to look at Max, nodded, and without hesitation turned back to the swarm of rodents rushing at their group. She lowered herself into a crouch, her hands touching the ground, and a bright green energy started flowing through her. Her eyes lit up like emeralds and Max could feel the Mana pulsing through her. It felt more vivid than normal mana, as if it was alive, more like a being than the cold hard energy Max knew.

Suddenly a mass of roots sprang out of the ground in the middle of the rodent swarm. Dozens of snares and tendrils shot up. Thorns and spikes scratched at the rats, leaving dozens of tiny red slashes.

The rats, tough as they were, shrugged off most of the superficial attacks, but they were only meant as a distraction anyways. The stronger roots sprang out of the ground, bound around the rats and fought to hold them in place. The rodents struggled, many breaking out of their traps near instantly, but even so, they were all slowed a little.

And that was all Max needed. He slid the fist sized golden grenade out of his pocket. He had bought this weapon at the store for quite a sum. Not so much that it would tank their bank, but enough that he had to think twice about buying it.

In the end, their survival had priority though, and he spent the money.

He threw the grenade in the middle of the rat swarm. The dozens of rodents still screeching and fighting in confusion didn’t even see the object land before it was too late.

A few of the smarter ones realized what was about to happen, but most were caught in what Max could only describe as an inferno of doom.

A bright glow of light went wide, swallowing the mess of rats. A huge explosion went off sending a shock wave that sent their group, twenty meters away staggering.