Triumph often earned you ire from those you might otherwise consider your peers. You might assume that heroism was an easy thing to agree with. If the bad guys are felled, then that is surely a boost for all on the side of good. Humans especially, were more complicated than that. Some saw your success as taking away their potential rewards, or making them look bad in the eyes of others. Why it had to be a competition was beyond me, something that became ever the more true the deeper in the Ranks we sunk.

“That’ll be him, then,” Jakob murmured as he drew his bow.

The cracking of mud signaled the entrance of Ratticus as his long maw peeked into the light. I struggled to think of an animal from my past that I could compare it too. A mix between an alligator and an elephant, but covered in fur and slimy detritus. The paws, as big as me, clutched at the edge of the room to pull the hulking body forward.

We did not hesitate.

Jakob let fly two blazing green arrows, which quickly arced across the room to embed into the mangy muzzle of the monster.

Florence raised a wall of fire. Her hand glowed amber as she pushed more power into it, the wall bursting up twice as high to scorch around the rodent’s jaw.

Angelos imbued my sword with his power once more, then began a chant.

I strode forward, hoping that it would be nice and easy, like the alchemist. Hopes had no value staring down the sharp end of a Villain.

Ratticus yelled out in pain, spittle and foul breath washing down the chamber again. He slumped down atop the ground and, with a hiss of dark energy, he extinguished the wall of fire. As he rose, melted hair and cracked skin stuck to the muddy ground.

[Enrage] powered me, and the lethargy dissipated to some degree. There was still a part of me that was slowing down, but I brushed past it. Approached the Villain with quicker steps as I readied my blade for an upswing.

The rat saw my approach and reared up as much as the space allowed - as I was half expecting him to come crashing down upon me, he instead did something much fouler. His long, toothed maw opened wide, and he vomited down at me. A torrent of fur, bones, and whatever foul things he ate down here. Probably other rats. It was grossly sticky and had my senses not already burned out. I was sure to follow suit in expelling my stomach's contents.

Hissing from behind me signaled more rats - or at least some that had regained their confidence in assaulting us. Another arrow and a fireball flew over my head to strike the creature. Even the damage taken so far didn’t seem to bother him, as now he loomed down upon me to eat me now that I had been seasoned.

I rolled to the side and held my blade flat, barely blocking his teeth as long as my arm. He pushed his weight into me and I buckled against the muddy ground. Hot breath warmed me, which didn’t help with the draw to a nice sleep that was clutching at me almost as strongly as the rodent was attempting to.

With me pinned to the floor it tried to claw at me with a large paw. It stopped halfway through the motion as another wall of fire burst across its emergence from the burrow. This time the Mage had sprung the wall from the ceiling - and the briefly confused Villain had to retreat away as flattening the fire was not an option. I stumbled back to my feet.

With a pulse of dark energy, Rattius attempted to blow the flames out again - and was almost successful - but they barely persisted, before regaining their full size again.

A second pulse, one that I could even feel shaking through my body, and the flame was again almost spent, before reigniting.

“Oh, fuck off!” Florence growled.

I turned to see her standing half hunched, both her hands burning a bright amber. Angelos had his hand on her back to offering healing as well as support. His chant completed and his own energy washed over the chamber. The weaker rats shuddering before their heads exploded. Those who could endure instead became stunned or woozy.

The Mage twisted her hands, as if encircling an invisible ball. Back behind me, I looked to see the fire wall flame around the whole entrance, blocking the wide passageway completely by flame.

With a large growl, the monster leaped forward through the circle - burning itself in the process but becoming free of being trapped. I jumped to the side to avoid being squashed as Florence dropped the fire, clutching at her own hands. Without wasting any time, I jumped towards the furred side of the creature, and plunged my sword into its internal organs. It squealed and squirmed away, a paw trying to kick out at me. It connected, and I was sent backwards, striking my head against the uneven wall and dropping my sword.

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Helmet. I mentally added it to our next shopping list as warmth ran down my stubbled head and down my cheek. No good having a brain if you allowed it to be burst across the nearest hard surface on the regular. I stumbled forward, light-headed, and flattened myself on the floor to avoid the large tail whipping through towards me. I regained my blade and slashed upward as I rolled away. A gash that flicked large droplets of blood was carved down a section of his tail as he withdrew it.

He tried to stomp down at me, but I had rolled underneath it. Not the safest place to be, but it was warm despite the foulness of it. I couldn’t quite process. Something about the head injury had knocked something loose - not quite a concussion, but probably some sleep very soon would be appreciated. The Guardian wouldn’t be able to see me to send over a heal with where I was. I hated myself for what was about to happen.

In a repeat of the day before, I stabbed upwards into the gut of the enemy. As it tried to recoil, it was struck by arrows and fireballs, allowing me some additional time to stab upward into it. Blood and other fouler internal liquid splashed down as I rent deep gashes into its underbelly.

Ratticus flopped down atop me. Wet and bloodied fur pressed against me, warm skin squeezing me against cold earth. Uncomfortable. Dark energy began to fill the surrounding space - and then it hit me like a shockwave. I twisted and growled out in pain as I felt it shred against my muscles. There was no shifting from the beast. Another charge began to form before it abated, and I felt the vibration of the oversized rat screaming, through its skin, rather than hear it.

It lifted away from me and leaped across to the Party. I rolled into a crouch, my body screaming in pain against the action, and I slashed at the back leg, a crimson line appearing. Ratticus buckled, but didn’t turn away from his intended targets. He was too large for me to see where they were, his bulbous form blocking most of the chamber. Instead, I hacked the leg with furious anger - how dare the Villain ignore me?

The rodent winced away from the second strike, and then began to recoil on the third. By then, it was too late. He had overextended and struggled to move backwards back to his den in such a panic. Fourth strike had severed through muscle and tendon. Fifth broke the bone, and the resulting scream almost deafened me. Now it was in self-preservation mode, but had gotten itself stuck in trying to escape or come after me.

I slid along the mucky floor as the tail tried to whip around and strike me, and I jammed my sword's tip into the joints of the other foot. As he tried to squirm more, a fire wall burst from the ceiling where it was half-way stuck. The sound of a large eye rupturing following the crackling of a skill painted me enough of a picture.

Dark energy began gathering around the monster - more and more. As I wrenched my sword free, the rodent didn’t even react, instead it shuddering uncontrollably, constantly burning.

This was not a healthy amount of energy. No time to tell them to run, even if they went straight for the exit, there’d be no-

[Seek Balance]

In a brief moment, the energy was replaced… or joined with another power that I couldn’t quite grasp, before it was too late. The rat sat frozen for a couple of seconds before it split straight down the middle. Gore and internal organs poured across the chamber as the Villain slumped down.

I could see the group now. Florence was nursing her hands. The one without a glove looked burned pretty badly. Jakob had taken either a bit or a claw to the legs, and his outfit was darkened in patches. Angelos stood in the middle, his palm still outstretched, breathing heavily and shaking.

“Getting too old for this shit,” he muttered.

“You and me both, old friend.” I stumbled amongst the rat parts to join them near the front.

“Must've knocked that head worse than it looks.” He gave me a small grin. “Stupid arsehole.”

“These two alright?”

“Right as rain, Victor.” Florence sighed and held her hands up. “Don’t suppose I can get a second glove next?”

“If you’re going to do things like that, certainly.” As an Inheritor, we needed to make sure we kept up with her growth, lest she destroy herself or us.

“I can walk,” Jakob offered, not waiting to be asked specifically.

“Excellent. I need fresh air. A bath, probably, lots of food. Healing and recovery time.” I tapped the side of my head where it was still sore. “But let’s get out of here.”

The Ranger hobbled over to the corpse to retrieve a sample as evidence. With a last sigh and a glance around the chamber to make sure rats didn’t keep any previous loot, we resigned to going back through the passageway. There were no other small rats now. They’d either been scared off or perhaps dead by now.

My head hurt and lethargy wracked my sore muscles. It felt like something had torn over half my body, and I wouldn’t be surprised to find myself half painted by bruises tomorrow.

We meandered back to the first chamber, the exit tunnel now in clear sight. I closed my eyes and smiled, almost excited to feel the drab weather around me once more. It was almost enough to lift-

A figure appeared from the shadows and grabbed my left wrist, twisting it and pushing me against the wall. Rough mud scraped into my back as my sword dropped to the floor and magical energy pinned my right hand up against the wall.

“Victor!” Florence yelled.

The gray dome popped up around Angelos where they had been standing, and it flared with light - another figure cloaked ran daggers along the outside, prevented from making their attack.

“They’ve got a bloody protection bubble,” the man complained.

“No matter.” The short figure of a dwarf stepped out in front of me. “We can have plenty of fun with this one first.”