vs. Rats [2]

I whirl around. There’s just that moldy wall.

If I hadn’t experienced the kameleons’ disguises I might have just left it at that. But my breath catches, and I force myself to truly look.

The stones are moving; crawling, some atop the other. There’s a faint rubbing, a sliding of oil on oil, then a putrid grease-like smell and rolling waves of haired lumped mold. Then I see the eyes.

The entire wall, floor to ceiling, end to end, is coated in layers of Direrats.

Direrat | Level 7 Creature

Shield: 0/0 | Str: 12 | Def: 2 | Agi: 7 | AP: 0/0

Direrat | Level 7 Creature

Shield: 0/0 | Str: 12 | Def: 2 | Agi: 7 | AP: 0/0

Direrat | Level 7 Creature

Shield: 0/0 | Str: 12 | Def: 2 | Agi: 7 | AP: 0/0

Direrat | Level 7 Creature

Shield: 0/0 | Str: 12 | Def: 2 | Agi: 7 | AP: 0/0

Direrat | Level 7 Creature

Shield: 0/0 | Str: 12 | Def: 2 | Agi: 7 | AP: 0/0

Direrat | Level 7 Creature

Shield: 0/0 | Str: 12 | Def: 2 | Agi: 7 | AP: 0/0

Direrat | Level 7 Creature

Shield: 0/0 | Str: 12 | Def: 2 | Agi: 7 | AP: 0/0

Direrat | Level 7 Creature

Shield: 0/0 | Str: 12 | Def: 2 | Agi: 7 | AP: 0/0

Direrat | Level 7 Creature

Shield: 0/0 | Str: 12 | Def: 2 | Agi: 7 | AP: 0/0

Direrat | Level 7 Creature

Shield: 0/0 | Str: 12 | Def: 2 | Agi: 7 | AP: 0/0

Direrat | Level 7 Creature

Shield: 0/0 | Str: 12 | Def: 2 | Agi: 7 | AP: 0/0

Direrat | Level 7 Creature

Shield: 0/0 | Str: 12 | Def: 2 | Agi: 7 | AP: 0/0

Direrat | Level 7 Creature

Shield: 0/0 | Str: 12 | Def: 2 | Agi: 7 | AP: 0/0

…

The hundred boxes overwhelm me; they strobe so quick it’s as if the windows themselves attack.

Then the wall peels off.

“Back!” I shout, stretching my fire-hand. “Back!”

And they do go back - all rats bar one. An indulged creature patters back with a chunk of my ankle between its fangs; blood smears on the stone floor, and it aches, but my foot still holds my weight.

The other rats snuffle and screech - shuffle and bare their teeth, dart back and forth, each time getting closer, closer, growing unafraid of embers in my left hand.

“Screrrk!!”

They begin another attack - one leaps for my neck, another, my shoulder, a third to chomp deeper into my bleeding wound -

and I clasp the alcohol-soaked rag tied to the mop’s end, the rag that I’ve tied to the mop-stick in twine that I’ve prepared -

“SPARK!!”

It alights in a beautiful blue blaze. I see now fully the mass of swarming rats, but their numbers have been made meaningless. I sweep my makeshift torch in a wide arc, and each rat becomes its own funeral pyre, incinerating at the flame’s touch.

You have gained 8EXP!

You have gained 8EXP!

You have gained 8EXP!

You have gained 8EXP… 8EXP… 8XP….! 

Level up! Level up! Level up!

“Hahahaha!”

To go wild over vanquishing a foe is a caveman’s base instinct. For modern humans, a level-up’s chime gives the same rush.

For both of these to happen at once, I’m overwhelmed with joy!

You have gained 8EXP!

You have gained 8EXP!

You have gained 8EXP!

You have gained 8EXP!

You have gained 8EXP!

You have gained 8EXP!

Level up!

Level up!

“Hahahahah-hack-hack-cough! Crap… the smoke…”

The problem with burning alcohol is that it doesn’t burn clean. Smoke rushes from the tip of the mop-handle; the cloth is almost gone, but the stick itself is still there to catch fire.

You have gained 8EXP!

You have gained 8EXP!

You have gained 8EXP!

You have gained 8EXP!

You have gained 8EXP…

Level up!

Level up!

You have gained 8EXP!

You have gained 8EXP…

Maru | Level 9 Journeyman

Shld: 0/24 | Str: 7 | Def 11 | Agi 20 | AP | 1/13 | Exp: 20/200

“Cough, cough… hack…”

The rats beneath the barrels desperately lunge at me, and I scald them too.

Blood runs hot within me and the torch blazes in my hand. A five-foot circle of ash beside me grows ever-larger. Finally, the gray-streaks of fur that dominated the basement are replaced with black soot.

It’s getting difficult to breathe in the smog, but I catch my breath the best I can.

“I did it… I killed all the rats.”

Thuk-thuk-thuk-thuk

“Huh…?”

Thuk-thuk-thuk-thuk

One of the barrels rattles and shakes. An enormous creature then bursts through the wood, dark-furred, whiskered, mad-eyed.

King Rat | Level 70 Creature

Shield: 700/700 | Atk: 120 | Def: 20 | Agi: 70 | AP: 0/0

It lands on a granite tile. What it leaves behind in the barrel is a dagger and an ovular skull - remains of a kameleon adventurer.

“What the hell? No, go to hell!”

I bat at him with the torch, and his fur blazes briefly -

1 damage! 1 damage! -

but the fire fails to catch. If Direrats are weak to flames, shouldn’t King Rats be weak to them too?? I sweep again…

1 damage! 1 damage! -

and again the fire flickers and dies.

This must be what they call a ‘skill gate’ enemy... a boss enemy designed to make sure I best it in fair combat rather than just take advantage of a weakness.

But I, a level 0 - er, level 10 hero - can’t possibly win without using a cheat! Making me have to beat this monster in fair combat is completely unfair!

The King Rat jumps, but rather than using its teeth, its paws pound on my shoulders and I fall, and the mop clatters down. My back snaps onto the hard floor, and hollow pain shocks through it, but I think I’m okay - I’ll find out when I try to stand.

“This rat’s more like a dog…” I say. What if it just wants pets…?

I reach out with a hand and draw it back quick as the rat snaps with its fangs.

Of course; a rat’s not a dog or a slime, it’s a goddamn rat!

Its claws tear through my clothing into my skin, long, bloody gashes that ooze blood.

This rat’s smarter than the others. It hid in the barrels, used the other rats to test my strength and tackled and disarmed me.

Yet unless I approach it, it keeps its mouth shut. That aspect of its strategy is strangely stupid, I think to myself, struggling to fend off its relentless scrapes and cuts, and guarding my stomach and face. If it just used its teeth, it’d completely overwhelm me. Why won’t it bite?

I see.. maybe it isn’t being dumb after all… if the outside can’t catch fire, then…

I feint, as if to punch it in the snout, and its jaws open wide to eat my fist.

With my other hand, I grab the flaming mop and stick it fire-side up into its craw.

“Scree!!” The rat shrieks, then rasps, then rolls onto the floor, gagging on the handle. I get up dizzily - the floor seems to swoop and sway under me as my blood coats it - and head toward the wood stairs.

There’s a strange wet noise coming from the rat. SKK, SKK… It’s biting the stick, eyes-bulging, mouth wrapped around it like a seal.

The rat writhes, and writhes, then - stops.

Shield break! You gained 256 exp!

Level up! [Level 10 reached - art refinement unlocked]

It rests there limply like a rolled-up rug. But its red eyes appear again - darker, angrier. It chomps.

SNAP

The small wooden piece sticking out of its mouth falls out like a cast- aside cigarette.