Flame washes over the walkway on one side of the sewage river. The dog sized rats on the same side as Nadira and Dean hiss and squeal as they are roasted. On the other side of the tunnel, Dean’s raised rat is fighting a half dozen of its living brethren. With is raised pet losing badly, Dean activates Corps Explosion. As the living rats swarm it, the undead rat swells, as though it was an over full balloon. A moment later it burst, spraying gore in all directions, bone shards flying.

The swarming critters took the brunt of the damage and blocked most of the fleshy bits that flew around. One of them dies outright as its face was buried in the mobile corpse. The others only sustained moderate wounds from the sharp bits that dug into them. With the remainder of the rats retreating from his side, Dean focuses on the injured ones. Raising a hand, more fire pours out. Flamethrower is the only spell he has that is decent for multiple targets so he makes ample use of it.

When the rest of the rats flee or die, Dean thinks about what he can do to improve his AoE (Area of Effect) damage. As he ponders a few ideas, Nadira brings his attention back to the situation. “Shall we follow?”

Looking around at the rat carnage, Dean finds a relatively intact rat to raise as his new minion. Using Reanimate raises one of the dead to replenish his ranks. Deadman’s Sight and Deathtap activate a moment later so he can pull in the remaining energy from the rest of the dead rats and replenish his EP. Essence full, Dean turns to the cat-girl and gives her a nod to show he is ready.

They don’t hurry, but take an easy pace as they both walk in the direction the monster rodents were retreating. “There seems like a lot of rats down here. Is this normal?” Dean says. The group they just fought wasn’t the only one they had encountered so far.

Nadira Shakes her head. “During the day this is about normal. Maybe there are a few more than usual but they mostly stay inside during daylight.”

“Well, let’s see if we can make a dent in the population then.” Rounding a few turns, the rats don’t make another appearance. Considering what Nadira just told him, Dean is getting a little anxious. If the rats live down here shouldn’t they be running into more of them. At first he thought there was a lot, and now they just disappear? Something doesn’t feel right.

Just when Dean thought that they had all fled far away, a sound became audible. At first he couldn’t tell what it was, but Nadira got a puzzled look on her face. At the next intersection she leads him down the left path. Dean knew she had better hearing than him so he followed along. Soon he was able to make out squeaking and what sounds like a scuffle. “Is someone else down here fighting them?”

His partner shakes her head. “I thought that at first but I don’t hear any sounds of other people. There are a lot of other, odd sounds though.” Then she gets a shiver before continuing down the passage.

Curious about what caused that reaction, Dean follows along, and soon he understands. There is a lot of cracking and slopping sounds, like someone slapping two wet towels together while snapping small branches. If he was to guess, it sounded like bones snapping and flesh rending. All of this is a backdrop to the distressed sounds of rodents. Shaking off the shivers, he walks forward and prepares for whatever they are going to find by refreshing his defensive spells.

Another turn and the volume of the commotion has gotten loud enough that Nadira and Dean would need to yell to be heard over it, should they need to talk. Instead of saying anything they just share a look before rounding another turn. Dean’s thoughts about the number of turns in this sewer stop dead at the sight of what appears in front of them.

A writhing mass of pink flesh takes up a corner of the spillway room ahead of them. Veins bulge on the flesh, blue and purple. The whole mass looks like a giant creature was turned inside out. Suddenly, a large clawed hand shoots out to snatch up a giant rat that was cowering nearby. The other rodents of unusual size all scurry away from the hand that snatched up one of their own. The clawed hand was big enough to wrap around Dean’s torso, and dragged its prey back into the pink mess without trouble.

Dean finds it odd that they don’t just leave the room through one of the smaller pipes around the room. The rats seem frightened, but they don’t go far from the churning mass of bloody meat. Stunned into inaction, both Nadira and Dean can only watch as that same hand shots out every few seconds to draw in a new furry beast. Their horrible cries ring out one after another as they are dragged into the mass to be devoured by the moving meat bag.

When there are none left, the movements from the horrific blob in front of them slow. As it does, a hand reaches out to grip the ground, and then another. The disgusting material contracts suddenly and legs start to form under it all. Continuing, the transformation produces a head like those of the rats it consumed, only larger. With one last contraction it all settles down as a huge bipedal rat is revealed. Hunched over at first, it slowly stands. Muscles bulge and veins pop as it stands to its full height of ten feet.

Presented with the huge mass of muscles, fur and teeth coming to life before him Dean shakes off his stupor. With a shiver, he checks out the huge creature. Tufts of fur peak out here and there over its pink fleshy body. “Rat King,” mutters Nadira from beside him.

Questions building in his head, Dean doesn’t get the chance to ask them. Raising its couch sized head, the Rat King releases a roar. The sound is like a physical thing as it reverberates around the underground structure of concrete. With his ears ringing, Dean knew it was pointless to voice anything, as he was sure Nadira couldn’t hear anything either. Two choices sit before him, to fight or flee. Dean made up his mind. He was no longer one to run from a fight, no matter how powerful or revolting his enemy.

Putting his thoughts to actions, he raises hands toward the beast before him. Both hands rise up in front of Dean and mana swirls to life within. The magical energies move to his hands and through the crystals on the gloves, converting into different forms of energy. Dean pushes as much as possible, putting the maximum amount of power he can muster at one time into his skills. The new focus crystals take everything he has, amplifying the power without a hitch. At that moment Dean knew he had a ways to go before he would be in danger of overloading them.

Lowering its head, the Rat King is just in time to see a churning storm of fire headed its way. The fire spewing from Dean’s left hand hits the ten foot tall rat king in the chest, instantly searing away the tufts of fur there and scorching the veiny pink skin. Before it can let loose another roar to voice its anguish, lightning catches it in the face. This time it isn’t over in an instant like with the rats before. Power still pouring into his limbs maintains Dean’s spells as he plays the arcing electricity over his enemies face with his right hand.

Despite the explosion of a super-heated eyeball when struck by lightning, the rat king doesn’t fall. Staggering back a step, it lifts its pointed face once more and releases a screech. The agony is obvious in the sound, but so is the outrage. The spells cut out a moment later as Dean releases them, out of breath from exertion. A promise of vengeance and unending torment can be seen in the beast’s remaining eye as it lowers its head and glares back at Dean.

Nadira wasn’t standing still during the short exchange though. Having heard myths of such a creature she had never believed them before now. all of the stories said one thing though. The rat king was an extremely resilient, and difficult to kill, monster. She was impressed by Dean’s display of power, but didn’t think it would be enough to end the fight so soon. When Dean had moved to attack she had quickly skirted to the side and started to circle.

The lovely cat girl bid her time, watching the huge smelly rat stumble back a step and then lean forward to glare back at her friend. Behind it, the position was just too much of an invitation. Running forward, she jumped, landing on the back of the Rat King. A pair of well used and maintained daggers plunged deep into the monster’s back as it glared at Dean with animosity.

The small blades provided Nadira with grips for her hands and she digs the claws on her feet into her adversary to stay in place. Overall, the rat king was so big that her attack didn’t really cause all that much damage, but that wasn’t the point. In her position in the middle of its back the Rat King couldn’t reach her as it then spun and flailed its arms in the attempt. The motion prevented her from doing anything, at first, as she could only hold on for dear life.

Dean didn't see what Nadira was doing as he was so focused on his own skills. When the Rat King flipped out and started spinning around wildly, it was a surprise. He quickly caught on as he glimpsed his friend plastered to the back of the boss sized monster as it flailed. Not wasting the opportunity, he took a deep breath before unleashing another Arc into the front of the Rat King when it came around. Not wanting to catch Nadira with his attacks, he sticks to the lightning spell and only the lower powered version that was instantaneous.

A few spell strikes from Dean and the Rat King focused on him again, seeming to forget about Nadira clinging to its back. Hopping forward far faster than Dean thought it was fair for something its size, the Rat King took a swipe at him with its sword length claws. The black, pointed appendages only clip him as Dean takes evasive action. His own hop to the side in an attempt to dodge ended in a tumble as he took the glancing blow. His shielding spells worked and Dean doesn’t take any damage from the assault, but he lands hard as the power of the blow still sends him twenty feet away.

Hauling up against a wall of the large room, Dean bangs his head on the hard surface. A cushion of force softens the impact but it still hurts and causes his head to spin for a moment. When he gets his bearings it’s to the sight of a huge hand reaching right for him. Unable to do anything in time, he only prays that his shielding spells can hold long enough to give him a chance. His prayers unneeded, the hand jerked back at the last second before griping Dean.

Nadira has started her attack. With the rat king’s focus on Dean it stilled enough for Nadira to move without being thrown off. When it was reaching for Dean she pulled her daggers free to plunge them in higher up on the Rat King’s back. The move staggered the monster and caused it to try and reach behind its back in an attempt to grab hold of her. It almost works when the Rat King reaches over its shoulder. Pulling herself higher in an attempt to climb the monster brought Nadira closer to the area it could reach her from.

With a swipe over her head that ruffles her hair, Nadira hunkers down just out of reach as it continues to try and get at her. She is able to stay out of range but she can’t climb to the head as she was planning. All she can do now is hold on and stab ineffectually into its back with her daggers when it isn’t moving too much.

Now that the pressure is off of him, Dean is able to get his feet under him again. Before doing anything to draw its attention back to him, he runs off to the side and away from the wall to get a little space between them. By far the largest thing he has fought to date, Dean looks up to the Rat King. A moment later he looks down. The first thing he needs to do is immobilize the boss. Flexing his mental muscles sends the undead rat he raised skittering forward.

Dean’s raised minion pounces on a leg of the over-sized rodent without regard for the difference in their sizes. Biting and clawing at the king, nothing it does slows down the rat king. That’s okay, Dean has another plan for it. Another application of his will causes the minion to explode. Hugging the leg of the boss sized monster causes most of the damage to focus on the limb. Chunks of meat blast away and forces the beast to fall on its side.

Nadira jumps away as the damage leg buckles, no longer able to support the creature’s massive weight. With a nimble roll, she is up on her feet in a flash. Throwing daggers fly and embed themselves in the prone Rat King as it slams a huge hand on the ground. “Stay back. Let me just take it out now that it’s crippled.” Dean’s shout stops Nadira before she can try and pounce on the boss monster.

Not waiting any longer, Dean sends another Arc into the rodents head. It freezes up for a moment, but then it continues to push itself upright with the arm it has planted on the ground. Switching tactics, Dean releases a gout of fire into their enemy’s face. This gets another pained scream from it. Using the free hand to swipe at its face leaves bloody furrows down its snout. As it tries to put out the flames, more throwing knives sprout from the back of its head.

With the damn thing still flopping around, Dean points a hand at the Rat King and releases Arc into the head over and over. It must have been half a dozen overcharged bursts of lightning before the rat king finally died. Falling back to its side to lay still. When he is sure that its down for good, he looks to Nadira on the other side of the corpse. “Now that it’s over, what the hell was that?” Dean points down at the dead Rat King while staring at the cat lady.

Looking around the room, she walks over to cut the tail from the back of the Rat King. “I’ll tell you what I know on the way out. Now that we killed this guy there won’t be any more rats nearby. So there is no reason to stay down here. Besides, I think that was a good enough test of your new gear.”

Nodding, Dean starts to follow her out of the room and down the tunnel they came from. As they go, Nadira starts talking. “I thought it was just a myth before today. It says that when the rats get agitated, and there is a great threat to them, they will call upon the rat king to protect them. Myth says its only purpose is to kill the enemies of the rats. I never thought that something like that was even possible. How disgusting was that thing? It was like the rats all got pulled together to form one super rat.”

“Yeah, that was crazy,” says Dean. He was thinking about the huge Rat King corpse that they just left behind. Dean wanted to raise it as his own personal super minion, but that just seemed impractical. What would he do with something that big following him around town. The logistics were just too difficult. He would be better off with something smaller that could be hidden out of sight easily. The regular giant rats, though big by rat standards, were still small.

It just seemed like a waste to leave such a promising body behind. Dean thought about raising another one of the smaller ones, but there weren’t really any of them left that he could use. Drawing the essence from the regular ones earlier made them unusable for Reanimate. He made a mental note to raise a new minion and stash it somewhere nearby while they were in the guild building. Never can be too careful, and he felt better having a trump card in the hole in case some of the people they met there got jumpy about him being a human. With the council’s decree and the protection of Sodek he didn’t think that would be a problem though.

Soon they reached the tunnel they entered the sewer from and climbed up the ladder to the surface. As they are getting in the car, Dean asks Nadira. “You hungry? I could go for some tacos.”