Chapter 13, Cute, ugly and fucking annoying

I make my way through criss crossing intersections moving back towards the chamber where I had to leave my left arm behind to dissipate covered in rat saliva. I hadn’t found any other [Rallying Rat] except the one in that chamber and I planned on showing my appreciation for the wake up call to my weakness by braining the tiny fucker.

They wanted to show me my weakness? I’ll show them theirs. Such a small thing shouldn’t even need more than one well placed punch to the face to extract its core. First I need to find it again and I have no idea if it hangs around the scene of the crime a month after the deed or if it scarpered somewhere else.

Coming upon another razor rat I stride calmly towards it and using the slightest enhancement dodge and sink my dagger into its eye, pulling it out coated in brain goop as I continue my walk. After getting my physical attributes to a level even slightly above what I had in my old body and coupled with me and Ari’s almost perfect control and systematic application of power, killing these monsters has become too easy.

I’m going looking for the tiny pest both to give it its due and also because it’s the only other type of rat I’ve seen down here if you discount my first kill on this floor. There might be something else in that direction. Maybe a nest of sorts and the [Rallying Rat] its outer defense system or something.

When I finally arrive back where I had last seen it there is nothing to see. Not even the dead bodies of the razor rats I killed. Unless the [Rallying Rat] ate all of them, bone and all, there should be more monsters going forward. I’m not as timid as before since I’ve seen seemingly everything there is to this floor and I keep up a good running pace to make my way out of here faster.

It isn’t long before more razor rats make themselves known. First they come in singles, then in pairs and after a while they’re almost like a continuous stream. I have to really pace myself to let my severely lacking mana regeneration keep up while avoiding injury. It’s difficult but with my attributes high enough to pierce their flesh even without enhancement it’s doable.

A right handed slash to a throat, move on, a dodge followed by a left handed pierce through an eye, move on, a jump between two rearing rats and tearing both throats with reverse grip slashes, and move once again. Against the tide of seemingly unending rats I only have one goal.

I had seen what I thought might have been a [Rallying Rat] right before the continuous stream of bodies littering the corridor and chamber behind me. I might have slain 20 or 30 rats without pause, I’ve lost count by this point, and they just keep coming without ever ending.

Looking into the chamber ahead I only see rats and no gravel. They’re almost climbing onto each other in their haste to follow what must be that little fucker’s directions towards me. I’ve been lucky this far in that they only come from one direction but I’m worried it might change. I’m not so sure that I can fight for long if caught in a pincer maneuver. I’ll just have to hope that there aren't enough rats to make some of them go a different route to get ahead of their fellows.

I keep killing and killing for what feels like days. It might have been a day by this point as I have slain as many in this continuous stream as I had in a whole month prior, hunting them down in groups no larger than three. Ari and I are starting to tire mentally while being perfectly fine physically.

My coordination and use of enhancements have been refined to use no more and no less than what my mana regeneration can keep up with. Lowering my killing speed slightly if injured to regain the lost mana and increasing enhancement when perfectly whole. I might last one more day before starting to make serious mistakes but I hope it won't come to that. There must be a limit to how many rats are close to me even if there are tens of thousands on this floor alone.

Another half a day passes before the continuous stream of monsters starts slowing down. They keep coming at longer and longer intervals while I follow their path in hopes of reaching something new if not the elusive [Rallying Rat]. After another whole day of killing rats they only show up once every minute or so and I decide to let them come to us while we rest.

Staying still has the unexpected result of lowering the number of rats sent my way to almost none at all. We let our minds rest for a day or a little more and only have to get up and fight ten times during our stay. Having a sudden realization I smack my forehead and sigh.

Of course they would come to me if I kept moving. I’m not even trying to keep quiet and the [Rallying Rat] might not even have had to do anything to draw them towards me at the end of this crusade. There’s probably enough rats around me that no matter where I go I’ll run into them. Feeling stupid I decide to go over our notifications in hopes that they’ll cheer me up.

Ding! You have slain [Razormouth Scavenger Rat - Level 37]. Less experience awarded.

…

Ding! You have slain [Razormouth Scavenger Rat - Level 52]. Experience awarded.

Ding! [Mana Machine] has leveled from [58] to [61]. +[15 AP].

Ding! General skill [Identify] has leveled from [12] to [13].

Ding! General skill [Small Blades] has leveled from [42] to [47].

Ding! General skill [Dual Wielding] has leveled from [46] to [52].

Ding! General skill [Arcane Daggers] has leveled from [30] to [31].

Ding! General skill [Running] has leveled from [31] to [32].

Ding! General skill [Sprinting] has leveled from [22] to [24].

Ding! General skill [Jumping] has leveled from [33] to [36].

Ding! General skill [Dodging] has leveled from [38] to [46].

Ding! Skill [Passive Power] has leveled from [210] to [221].

Ding! Skill [Arcane Manipulation] has leveled from [331] to [336].

Three whole levels for three days' work might even be called good outside the dungeon but it seems like little to me at the moment. It was more rewarding learning to better synchronize with Ari and getting to enjoy the fruits of her labor with ever more precise and efficient movements.

“You’re getting really good at this, Ari. It feels like our minds are truly becoming as one when we’re fighting these monsters.”

“Thanks, Zel. It’s mostly because of the monotony of these rats and their limited variation in attacks that I’ve been able to get better at predicting and actualising your will. It might take a while before it comes naturally to me in every fight against every kind of monster. I need more data as you well know.”

“Well, we just have to work on it until we get there. It might help having a little more mana regeneration to work with and speed up the process. Do you think we should place our new attribute points there? That would allow us to activate more enhancements but it will also put a larger strain on you in these prolonged fights. What do you think?”

“Sure. Do it.”

Ding! Attribute [Wisdom] has been increased from [120] to [135].

Attribute Points: [0]

Strength: [24] -50%

Constitution: [24] -50%

Vitality: [24] -50%

Agility: [24] -50%

Dexterity: [24] -50%

Intelligence: [163] +100%

Wisdom: [135] +195%

Mana: [3260/3260]

Mana regen: [398] / Minute

“Getting our regeneration to like a thousand would make everything so much easier and more fun. Imagine constantly activating enhancements in small ways to slice and dice our way through a sea of enemies at lightning speed. Can’t wait until we get there.”

Ari sends me a mental nod and encouraging push to signal that our rest is over.

Standing up and fixing the tears in my clothes I check to see if the cores I picked up at the start are still there. They are and I’m almost tempted to make a prayer in thanks for whoever invented deep pockets. It’s not like the cores are especially important. I'll likely pick up hundreds more before I’m out of here but having anything go right feels nice.

Picking a direction and running I soon come upon the next target and it isn’t long before more are drawn towards me. It isn’t a flood like at the beginning but having something to practice on using the little bit of extra power our increased regeneration provides is welcome.

I keep thinning out the monster population of this floor for 4 more days before it once again becomes a flood of rats. It seems our little [Rallying Rat] has returned with reinforcements or I just went in it’s direction after it fled from my terrifying visage.

A sexy white haired elf-human with a killer body showing through torn asunder provocative clothing, covered in blood and guts while slaughtering its kin might have been too much for the small rodent. Who knows.

The flood of monsters gives me a direction and a goal. Killing the razor rats fast enough to catch up to whatever is guiding them to me or to find their source is the only thing on my mind. Keeping constant focus on the goal of killing faster and moving faster I steadily increase my pace without even noticing. I’m not burning through more mana but becoming more efficient at applying it and more efficient at killing them.

My daggers almost find their way towards eyes and brainstems without my conscious guidance as I keep moving forwards. In the end my efforts are rewarded by the welcome sight of the [Rallying Rat] running out of sight after bringing a new wave of enemies my way.

I don’t slow down and keep killing until I see it a second time. This time the force it has gathered is smaller, meaning that I’m outpacing its ability to gather allies. I see it 3 more times, each time accompanied by a lesser number of razor rats, before it’s gone once again. Once I realize I’d lost it I take my frustrations out on a stray razor rat by sending a fully enhanced kick from beneath its head, snapping the neck and sending it flying.

Ding! You have slain [Razormouth Scavenger Rat - Level 38]. Less experience awarded.

“We seriously lost track of it!”

“It might have scarpered once it realized that we were outpacing it. Leaving its last gathered aid as a distraction. We should have just ignored them and gone straight for it even if we had to lose a limb.”

“We might as well give it some time to gather a new flood of rats to follow. We won’t find it if we don’t have a trail.”

Sitting down with my back against the wall I close my eyes and just breathe for a while. No matter if I actually catch the annoying fucker or not it makes sense to keep chasing it as it provides us with a nice stream of monsters to kill and hone our skills on. While searching for a way up we might as well make use of it for as long as it lasts.

“Why aren’t you checking our notifications, Zel?”

“There won’t be much of a change and going through them too often is annoying. Might as well save it for when we catch the [Rallying Rat] or make it off this floor.”

“Alright. We’ll just rest and wait then.”

“I actually have another idea of what to spend my time on. It’s really annoying to keep this thing with us and in a good position.”

I point vaguely towards our arcane lightsource floating a meter above my head.

“Well how are we going to see anything without it? We could use [Mana Sight] or project [Mana Sense] outwards instead of just using it internally I suppose but it will cost too much and won’t let us collect any data for our vision. Making our eyesight poor in the long run.”

“No we’re not doing that. When we see the outside world again we’re going to have proper vision. I actually got the idea for a solution from our target.”

“The rat?”

“Yes Ari, the rat. Are we hunting anything else?”

She sends me an annoyed huff and I explain without her needing to tell me how childish I’m being.

“The rat’s eyes. They are yellow and slightly luminous. Our eyes are golden. See where I’m going with this?”

“I think so? You’re going to try and project light from our eyes instead of pulling one along with us.”

“Exactly. It might be tricky to get it right though. Do we incorporate it in our [Manabody] or do we reuse the glowing arcane ball of light we’ve already made but project it in a single direction like wide beams?”

After a bit of discussing it we decide to take the time to incorporate it into our actual eyes. We’ll most likely be using it for a long time which means making it part of us makes sense. It takes longer than we’d thought it would and the interruptions from rats walking in on us and breaking our concentration only increases our stay.

We have to completely rework our eyes using part of our original mana structure which was heavily inspired by my old eyes, creating something more out of it. The finished mana structure has a reworked base which will let us receive information that is filtered to remove any bleeding light from our glowing irises going into our pupils. Over the reworked base structure we added another layer which will let us regulate the luminosity of our new golden and glowing irises.

It lets us turn the glow down enough that our irises are barely visible in the pitch black chamber or turn it up to an intensity that fills our whole field of view in blazing golden light. No darkness or shadow is visible in our vision as the light is literally coming from our eyes.

The only downside compared to the external arcane light construct we used before is the range. We could have turned our external light source up to a luminosity that reached several hundred meters with our mana regeneration if we dispersed our daggers. Or just move the light away from us to light up something previously out of range.

Our vision starts becoming too dark to make anything out with our new glowing eyes at around a range of 80 meters if we keep it at its highest intensity. The restriction on range is alleviated by the greatest boon that is provided by incorporating it in our body. It counts towards [Passive Power]. That’s right. Not only do we not have to keep pulling an external construct along with us but it even frees up a little extra mana regeneration.

“You haven’t thought of the most obvious benefit, Zel.”

“I haven’t?”

“You forgot that having freaking glowing golden eyes is totally badass.”

“You said it. I wonder if an adventurer would attack us if they saw us now though. I’ve never even heard of a human with glowing eyes.”

Commemorating the occasion with a perfectly timed sacrifice I throw my dagger at a rat drawn towards our lightshow. It doesn’t hit its mark on the eye but bounces off its neck uselessly instead. Sighing I stand up and jam my other dagger into the offending eye before pulling it out and flicking ratbrains on the wall, silently amazed by how everything in my line of sight is clearly visible.

I’ve probably been in this chamber creating my new eyes for a day or two and if the [Rallying Rat] thinks I’ve given up it’s in for a rude awakening. Moving into the corridor taking me to the next chamber I settle in for a long session of slaughter.

Two months later.

There are no rats left. Or that’s what I’d like to say but I’ve probably only made a small dent in their population and it will most likely bounce right back in a decade or two. My time chasing the ever elusive [Rallying Rat] has led me on a wild goose chase, or rat chase, and wave after wave of seemingly endless monsters has broken against my banks.

It paid off though. I didn’t catch the annoying prick, who seemed to have learned to have an ever increasing buffer of loyal sacrifices between me and it, but it led me to somewhere I desperately needed to find. Not the staircase, if it even exists on this floor anymore, but something of equal value.

In front of me is a huge chasm filled with rats and debris. I’m looking over the chasm's bottom from a hole in the wall about 40 meters above it. Bright light going dim over a great distance lets me see what’s going on at the bottom with my eye glow turned all the way down.

There I make out rats much larger than any variety I’ve seen so far. From high above, probably at a height of 450 meters from my position, torches and flaming pans of oil hang from the walls and ceiling. Billowing black smoke sticking to the rock snakes its way in one unified direction, the direction of an exit most likely. Too bad it's not in my direction since I’m having a hard time making out the length of this chasm. The flickering torch light high above seems to go on without end.

Falling down from on high is what is unmistakably waste and rotten carcasses. They land with splats, crunches and cracks on the chasm floor in front of me. Some of the rats get crushed to death by larger remains that look vaguely human but much too large to actually be one. As soon as something lands it’s swarmed by a flood of rats, tearing claws and teeth in every direction. Not even leaving any bones behind from the dropped carcass or the killed rats beneath.

Some of the larger rats seem to cause the variety that I’ve killed so far great fear and they keep away from whatever the larger rats claim for themselves. I get to see why without even having to wonder about it as one razor rat comes a bit too close to a larger one and promptly gets devoured with the rest of its claimed food.

It is an ever changing sea of absolute chaos. Rats killing each other for scraps, rats dying from falling corpses, rats breeding in the grime and guts of their dead brethren. Even newly born rats are on the menu as they get picked up by their fellows before being torn apart and swallowed. It's an ugly sight and I feel sick watching it all.

Raising my head from the nightmarish infestation I look towards the high ceiling. Trying to make out what’s moving on the left side’s upper ledge. It’s green and most likely small and it doesn’t take a genius to figure out what they are. Goblins. Putting my whole effort into listening for anything else besides the cacophony of noise from the gorge’s bottom I manage to catch snatches of what must be goblins communicating in their horribly disgusting sounding language.

“Shouldn’t goblins be located between floors 5 and 8, Ari?”

“They should. It might look like they’re high up but I’m guessing the chasm’s ceiling is at its highest located at the 50th floor.”

“But if goblins are here then where are the hobgoblins and orcs? Shouldn’t they be located on lower floors than mere goblins? Or is it the same migration story of the Dragonewts?”

“Not quite. If I had to guess then I’d say that the orcs forced the hobgoblins and goblins to lower floors to serve their needs. What’s dropped from on high is most likely dead orcs and hobgoblins. As the lowest rank of the three the goblins would be tasked with the disposal of their dead and other things that might spread disease to even those filthy creatures.”

“But there’s so many of them. Probably several hundreds of goblins on only the disposal duty alone. And the bodies being thrown down, are they at war or is-”

“-is their population large enough to warrant this amount of naturally occurring deaths? Yeah, that’s the question isn’t it?”

We share an oppressive silence after that realization. We might be up against hundreds of thousands of thinking and semi-organized monsters on the floors above.