A cracking sound came from behind him, light leaking onto the blood soaked fur surrounding Daniel. Spinning around, a large pinkish eye could be seen retreating from a hole in the dome. After a short pause, the wall exploded, a wooden beam sending wood shards flying everywhere. The white light was blocked by a shadow, a small stream of the remaining small rats beginning to flow around it.

No time to think, Daniel sprinted forward, slipping between the shadow and the wall, stumbling out into the light. Quickly, he ran towards the water directly in front of him, eager to escape, only to find the remaining handful of larger rats gathering in his path.

Slipping messily into a sharp turn, he began to run towards the waterfall, looking for a way out. He was being boxed in from all sides, the now armed scouts throwing javelins behind, and a crowd of smaller rats, with the lumbering hulk, to his left. An approaching hut provided a solution, and without a moment's hesitation, he adjusted course slightly, stumbling, panting, into the dark of the nest. The rancid smell of the rats once again filled his nostrils, and the man grimaced.

Spinning around, his eyes widened, and he fell to the ground. The wooden shaft of a spear whistled overhead, imbedding itself into the wall behind him. Grabbing his spear, he stabbed forward, spearing the thrower through the stomach. Reaching back, he grabbed the thrown spear, and rearmed himself. The new weapon was longer than his spear, at least eight feet. Bending his knees slightly, quickly killed another approaching rat, dodging a thrown spear at the last second. Ignoring the surge of pleasure rushing through his brain, Daniel cast his eyes behind, surveying his remaining foes.

Five Scouts and a dozen Lesser Ratmen were the sole survivors of his surprise attack, a number that surprised Daniel. The tribe had seemed extremely coordinated from his observations, and although the surprise attack, as well as the death of their strongest members, would have done damage to both their moral and lethality, there was no way they were this bad. Any advantage they might have gained from having a more humanoid shape was completely sacrificed by their complete lack of coordination with one another, as well as their laughably ineffective tactics. The man supposed that he was a new opponent, but as the apex predators of the region, they had to put up at least a fighting chance. Sure, he was tired, but all of his injuries were little more than scratches. They had weapons, spears even, he should have been dead the moment after his surprise attack alerted them!

As he contemplated this conundrum, the last of the giant ratmen stepped around the wreck of Daniels previous killhole. Before Daniel had been too busy trying not to die, and hadn’t gotten a good look at the monster. Now, under the midday sun, the leader of his enemy was revealed in all its glory.

Much like the rest of its kin, he was a hulking slab of muscle, short dirty hair covering most of his skin. A smocklike creation, made of untanned deerskin, covered his torso - the first sign of armour Daniel had seen from the creatures. Pinkish scars marred his snout, currently wrinkled in a snarl, exposing brownish chipped teeth. An ugly pink tail lashed behind him, raising flecks of mud.

He was the first of the ratmen not armed with a spear, instead toting the large limb of a tree, clearly used as a club. The thing looked far too unwieldy to be used by any normal creature, but then again, this was a rat so who knew. A necklace of teeth decorated his throat, unlike the rest of his brethren it was those of his kin. Focusing his gaze, Daniel activated Find Weakness.

Ratman Alpha(Hulker) Lvl. 15

Strengths: Strength, Vitality, Intelligence

Weaknesses: Vitality, Wisdom, Agility

The thing was a monster alright. It had the highest level of any creature he had analysed, and was clearly built to take hits and dish out damage in toe to toe fights. Ducking out of the opening to avoid another two spears, the man tried desperately to think. Another of the Scouts reached the opening, and Daniel almost casually speared him, ignoring the rush he gained from the experience points. Grabbing his now blunt hatchet and stone knife, he killed the next to walk through the door, stunning it with the club, and then scrambling its brains through the eye with the knife. Grabbing one of the thrown spears, he took a deep breath and emerged from the opening.

Almost instantly, a spear whistled, wobbling harmlessly over his head. Glancing at the three approaching scouts, Daniel sneered. Even as tired as he was he could easily take them. The last of the Lesser Ratmen ran on all fours just behind them, tumbling and roiling in a small wave of filth. The Alpha Hulker approached in what would have been considered a badass walk, if not for the fact that Daniel knew it was just because of how slow the creature was.

Eyes darting back to the approaching trio, Daniel thrust forward, aiming at the throat of the unarmed one, who was rushing low to the ground ahead of its comrades. The sharpened stick skittered slightly off, but the slicing contact must have been enough, as blood began to spurt in a red fountain, and the Scout dropped like a stone.

Stepping back, Daniel shuffled into the nest, not wanting to fight both rats in tandem. The sound of wood knocking wood created an irregular rhythm, before being cut off by two squeals, one after another.

Looking at the approaching crowd of yipping bags of disease, the man yanked his original spear from the stomach of a dead rat, and picked up his blunted hatchet, acting more like a war club since he had begun fighting with it.

A wild swing down shattered one skull, sending a firework of blood, brains, and bone into the air. Not even bothering with a weapon, Daniel kicked and stomped the runts remaining from his onslaught, working out an irrational anger that had suddenly kindled.

“Fucking, good for nothing, parasitic, shit eaters!” he screamed, flashing back to the jaws that had haunted his sleeps for so many years. The crunch of bone, and the screams of pain that accompanied were oddly therapeutic, pushing out years of bundled up fear and anger. The rushes of pleasure that came with each kill spiraled in with the growing joy he felt in his act of vengeance, pushing him to a level of happiness not felt since his first kill.

When all of the vermin were slain, he spun, facing the lumbering furball approaching him. “Is this all you’ve got, asshole?” He screamed, before roaring wordlessly and running towards the giant.

The Alpha roared in response, bringing his club down on Daniel. Or at least, where Daniel would have been if he were a half blind tortoise.

Stabbing the side of the rat, Daniel lodged the sharp shaft of wood into a crack in the ribs just above the mangled hips of the rat.

Another roar blasted from the gaping maw of the Hulker, before it spun around with surprising speed, clipping Daniel with the edge of it’s club.

A sharp crack came with a spidering web of pain on the left side of his ribcage. The man spun to the ground, gasping for breath through the tightening pressure on his lungs. Coughing, the taste of blood flooded his mouth.

Rolling slowly away, and crawling onto his knees, each movement on his rib one of agony, he observed the rat.

It had ripped the spear out, ribbons of flesh decorating the site of the wound and bunching in clumps under its claws.

Hate filled eyes turned to Daniel, as it dropped the stick and lurched forward with the oversized club. Barely dodging, Daniel cast his eyes around frantically, looking for a weapon to defend himself with.

None were in reach. Maybe if he just spun around the creature, he could grab the-. The ratman reared back, clawed foot stepping on the shaft of Daniel’s shortspear, snapping the abused point off.

All hopes of killing the creature died, and Daniel began to think of escape, pushing back up to standing, the man prepared to run.

That is, until he felt the cylindrical handle of his now closed switchblade. Jumping away from a sweeping club, the man frantically worked his hand into his pocket, closing it around the handle.

Tugging it out, he thumbed the switch, and the blade shot out, grit miraculously not jamming it. Crouching, he waited for the Hulkers next strike, so he could counterattack whilst it recovered. Soon enough, the Alpha attempted an overhead swing, followed by a quick swipe of a bloodied claw. This last action proved too much for the creature, stressing his already wounded side. As it squealed in pain, Daniel struck.

Moving forward, Daniel launched himself upwards, just grabbing the side of the rats neck, and plunging the blade deep into the artery passing blood to the brain. A geyser erupted, and the rat choked, but before Daniel could drop down and away from the dying creature, something grasped him, and launched him airborne.

For a brief moment, he was weightless. Air rushed past his sweaty, grimy skin, caressing his wounds gently, his muscles relaxed for the first time in what felt like weeks, relief coursing through his body. Then gravity took hold, and he was falling, plummeting backfirst into the wood and mud side of a rat hovel. Crashing into the structure, Daniel's vision began to go dark, tunneling slowly onto the twitching corpse of the Alpha Hulker, grasping at its neck. He coughed again, and even more blood came up, something heavy filling his lungs.

As his vision began to fade fully, the man slowly beginning to understand he was dying, he heard a voice, as if coming from the bottom of a swimming pool, cheerfully exclaiming. “Oh no! You can’t die yet! We need to talk!”