Chapter 606: Rat King

Chapter 606: Rat King

Blood splattered all over the wall as Dallion did another triple spin slash. Whoever said that fighting rats was difficult had vastly underestimated the reality of the situation. A dozen rats or slightly more werent an issue, yet it soon became obvious that rats didnt travel in dozensthey moved about in swarms. And these were not mere rats that one would find in the less fortunate districts of towns and cities; each of these specimens was the size of dogs, with five-inch teeth and claws.

Theyre leaking through, Gleam said.

The familiar and Ruby were doing a good job protecting Dallions back from a second flow of rats that were trying to swarm him. While killing the creatures was no issue for them, however, killing all of them was. Already a small trickle of rats was making it through, charging at Dallion from behind.

Damn it! Dallion thought.

There was a mind working against him. This was different from fighting ordinary creaturescommon creatures had a sense of self-preservation, no matter how small. The elements of this swarm viewed themselves as replicable; their only goal was to slowly grind their enemy down to the point that he couldnt fight back.

Dallion had heard talk of such creatures from fellow hunters. According to the stories, swarm entities hid among some of the ruins. Most often, those would be creatures with the ability to control any pack of smaller creatures in the local vicinityinsects, rats, frogs, snakesand use them as a sword and shield when fighting far stronger enemies. In this case, though, things seemed different. The swarm adapted to Dallions tactics on the spot. Not only that, but he failed to notice any communication between them, just the same blobs of emotion within all the creatures, as if they were one organism.

Thrusting forward, Dallion did a multi-attack. Dozens of rats died every second, as he moved so fast, creating the impression he had three additional arms. Sadly, that wasnt enough to stop the flow.

Dont, Nil said, suspecting what Dallion might resort to.

I dont have a choice. Dallion concentrated, then did a point attack forward.

A wave of destruction flew through the tunnel, causing rats to explode by the hundreds. Loud squeaks filled the air. Moments later, the second flow turned around and fled, disappearing into the tunnel. With this momentary calm, Dallion could finally take a breather.

Lux, Gleam, keep watching, he said as he sat on the ancient tracks. There might come for another go.

Point attacks and flimsy tunnels dont mix. Nil sighed. I thought youd learned that much after the wyvern encounter.

Theres no one here but me. Dallion closed his eyes for a moment. The tunnels will hold. Trust me.

Because nothing can go wrong in a place where cutlings and other Star-spawn roam.

The Star wants me to reach the phoenix. Hell keep his critters in check.

To a certain degree, that was the reason Dallion had decided to push on towards the mountain rather than turn back. There was no way to know whether he had made the right choice or not, but he wanted to believe in Arthurows self-serving nature.

Clearing his throat, Dallion lay down on the tracks. It was outright impressive how they had managed to survive for so long. There were moments in which he could almost forget he was in another world, but rather stuck in an abandoned subway back on Earth. All that was missing was a train cart. After his point attack, there was no chance of coming across that anytime soon. Even if one had managed to survive all this time, it was blasted to splinters now.

Still maintaining three dozen of instances, Dallion searched through the remains. If they ever had anything of value, it had long been taken and dragged to some spot in the south. It was possible that it lay hidden in the pile of shinies collected by the gulls. Numerous teeth marks covered the bones, all of them made centuries after their demise.

Spending barely a few minutes in the room, Dallion pushed on. He could feel he was close. The air was buzzing with emotions: fear, aggression, desperation. Like an invisible trail, they led on.

Gleam, Lux, lets make this quick, Dallion thought, moving forward with two dozen instances. The focus is on the creature. If we kill that, the rats will scatter. Just be sure

A wave of rats poured in, filling rooms and corridors. It wasnt only Dallions front instances that were affected, but all of them. The swarm had attacked from all sides, crashing into him with the force and fury of a waterfall.

Immediately, Dallion saw his mistake. All this time he had assumed the rats to be simple creatures incapable of countering his combat splitting. That could well be the case, but the entity behind the rats was awakened. It had probably been aware of what Dallion was doing since the moment he left the tracks and ventured into its domain.

Spinning with his harpsisword, Dallion let out a series of slashes as he jumped up into the air. Using his acrobatic skills to evade the main attack, he leapt from wall to wall, while the whip blade extended in order to deal as much damage as possible. Blood filled the room like rain, though even that wasnt enough to think about the swarm substantially.

Think, Dallion told himself, assessing the situation.

Using his scholar skills he thought back, following the flow of the rats. All of them had surrounded his instances at roughly the same time, suggesting that the nest had to be in one of two places: either directly below or directly above.

Gleam, Lux, Ruby, break the floor! Dallion ordered.

That left him to deal with the ceiling. Since this wasnt a realm, he didnt have the time of freedom to draw his Nox dagger. Instead, he was going to use the weapon he already held.

Concentrating, Dallion combined music and attack skills. His left hand slid along the strings of the harpsisword as he struck the ceiling; this time the target of the music effects was the weapon itself. The entire blade of the harpsisword vibrated with such speed, causing it to blur. The last time Dallion had seen that happen, it was Harp who had created the effect.

Was this what you were trying to teach me? he asked.

The tip of the blade pierced the concrete like soft toffee. The pressure was so light that Dallion wasnt sure he had even struck the ceiling, despite seeing it happen with his own eyes. Cracks formed, though they were different from those of a crackling, causing the ceiling to bleed dust as it disintegrated.

The job done, Dallion pulled out the harpsisword, using it to propel himself in the direction of the most distant wall. Barely had he done so that the entire ceiling fell apart, collapsing over the rats. However, that wasnt the only thing that happened. Following the ceiling fragments, streams of new rats poured down like a waterfall, filling the already crowded space.

I was right, Dallion thought.

A grotesque creature composed of six massive rats merged into one let out a blood freezing squeak as it too fell to the floor. Each of the rats composing it had the back of their spines emerge through skin and fur, linking together in a giant knot of bone.

A rat king, Dallion gasped. He remembered hearing stories about them back on Earth. The creatures were said to have exponentially higher intelligence than the common rat, as well as the ability to control swarms of rats with its pseudo psychic powers. Now Dallion saw that the monstrosity wasnt a myth. The only thing that remained was for him to kill it.