55 C55 Into the Caves

Jelia watched from a distance, eyes watering as she knew her mistake as she looked to Delina, clearly sorry for what she had done.

"No use crying now, remember for the next time. It seems the god is not offended; maybe he's used to people underestimating him and proving them wrong gives him pleasure?"

Both women watched as the rest of the vampires bowed in a frenzy, making sure to keep eyes low as they had to make sure not to upset this man who had entered into the depths below to fix the problem they were unable to resolve.

"Ok ladies, let's get back into the defensive walls and prepare. If that man starts killing and destroying some of the others may try to flee out in our direction."

Delina spoke as she started to move back in the direction of the plateau, brightly smiling as she picked up one of the discarded pikes, wielding it ready as she turned back to the long corridor.

"Remember everyone, leave nothing alive. Obliterate all!"

Nathan continued his advance down the corridor, many marks across the walls and floor which left the area jagged and hard to manoeuvre. It was clear that it was dug out by the monsters themselves, they had dug by chewing and biting through the solid rock.

"I'll need to be careful with more than just the claws then."

Nathan sensed many beings around him; it was possible that the creatures hid in the walls around him. The many connecting tunnels around him were giving him unease as he was not sure about this mission at this point.

"While I may be invulnerable to mortal weapons, they have been taking the direct power of divine energy. They could pose a threat if strong enough."

His arms stretched out as he pressed his fingers against the walls, mind racing as he pulled on the power of aqua, the water in the surrounding rock obeying his command as he forced the water into the holes that the ratmen were hiding inside.

He heard the screaming as the ratmen tried to escape, drowning in the water as they tried to snap, bite and claw out of the water trapping them.

"Stupid vermin."

He focused his power again, the aura erupting like a beacon as the water in many of the tunnels became ice, frozen solid as the sounds of screaming, scratching and movement stopped in an instant. Silence now invaded the area as Nathan listened for anything more, his senses telling him that he had killed everything nearby.

Nathan's footsteps alone as he continued down the corridor, he saw numerous burrows that extended from the main hallway, some filled with ice and the outlines of dead ratmen.

Eventually, after several minutes of walking, he reached a large open room, massive in construction and design. It was the shape of an egg with many hundreds of burrows lining the walls.

Directly in front of him was a broad corridor leading straight onwards. The telltale signs of something substantial coming towards him as he heard the rumbling, crashing of rocks as he watched a massive Ratman exit out, two heads on his body with four sets of arms, legs so bulky they could crush building under its feet.

"My. You are a big one."

Nathan smirked as he held his bow in one hand, his other out stretching as he summoned the water to make a platform in the middle of the room, cutting the bottom part of the egg shape with the top. This action allowed both himself and the creature to fight on equal ground but stopped any ratmen under him from taking advantage.

He looked above, the many holes leading to different burrows filled with ratmen, staring at him with a pang of hunger that would never be sated. It was clear they had gone mad from this corruption.

The massive Ratman entering as its claws sliced a gorge in the centre of the ice, water, and fragments scattering around into the air. The creature screaming as the other Ratmen cheered from the burrows they sat inside, merely watching this brawl match take place.

The giant took the first move, charging across the room, Nathan quickly sliding onto his back, allowing the ice to immediately take him away as the giant beast slammed into the wall, rocks falling and shattering against the ice.

Nathan quickly spun onto his front, fingers digging into the ice with his free hand as he slowed himself down from sidling straight into a Ratman burrow. Nathan stood straight as he pulled the bow back up, pulling back the string as the power cascaded from him again. The arrow of pure energy forming as the beast began to charge at him still.

Kaboom!

The force of release caused earth shattering roar as the bolt fired faster than the speed of sound as the area around them rumbled, rocks shaking as the ground began to vibrate.

The towering beast dived to the side before the bolt was even fired, knowing something was wrong with the situation. It was a shame that the speed of the arrow was faster than the speed of the beast.

Screeching, echoing through the walls and hallways as the beast felt its entire right shoulder getting obliterated, the arrow continuing as it dug nearly three hundred meters into the wall, destroying all in its path, red paste coating the walls and floor around the hole as a new burrow created in an instant.

The beast's right arm was falling onto the floor, the shoulder no longer able to hold onto it as this beast lost an entire side. Its body was falling to the floor as its strength was leaving it.

Nathan moved forward towards this beast; it was clear it had lost the will to fight as it had lost an essential limb without even much resistance.

Nathan moved his hand up, leaving his bow hanging down in his other hand as he felt the power flowing through him. Fear was coming into the beast's eyes as it tried to crawl away.

Tendrils of water erupted from the walls, the other ratmen in fear as they watched the water starting to fill the beast in all of its holes, quickly inflating its body as it could no longer scream.

A few seconds would pass before a horrible tearing noise echoed into the chambers, pillars of ice erupting from the new corpse that used to be the beast, its lifeless body turning into half corpse, half ice sculpture.

Nathan turned his head to look at the rest of the beasts.

"Who is next?"