“I sense the prey approaching. Come, prey. Come closer. Embrace your doom.”

Eric flashed a tight smile even as slimy words, slick and frigid as ice picks, slithered into his brain.

Vile words that sought to freeze and cripple, to ensorcell and destroy.

Rank 6 Mental Resistance reduces Psionic Attack to Light Wound!

Mental Resistance and Dominion Essence modified Willpower check successfully counters Words of Compulsion!

Eric’s eyes widened with his sudden epiphany. Shaken by a revelation so profound it sent shivers down his spine… so many pieces of understanding clicking together at once.

“So that’s how it works!”

Before he furrowed his brow in confusion, wiping his now bloody nose, and wondering if he truly understood anything at all.

Save for the invitation of the tunnel before him.

An invitation he was all too eager to accept, taking the first steps into rat warrens burrowing into the endless darkness, his infravision lighting every step of the way.

The first thing he noticed when he stepped into the warrens was the steamy humid air, smelling of rodent musk and desiccated flesh.

The second thing he noticed was the prompt on his interface he only dared glance at after making sure the narrow corridors that he could comfortably use his saber in, but would restrict his polearms to piercing strikes only, were clear of any foes.

You have entered portal 579A-3 leading to Greater Rat Warren.

You have elected NOT to destroy the links between Greater Rat Warren (Realm 557A-3) and Earth (Subjugated World 6783Y).

Clearing this Dungeon Realm (Queen Killer Feat, or 95% elimination of all underlings) will reward you with Standard Clear Bonus! Clearing this Dungeon Realm will award you with First Clear Bonus! You have cleared 96% of all wandering monsters within West Gilton Undercity Domain. Clearing this Dungeon Realm will allow any contender to CLAIM West Gilton Undercity Domain!

He flashed a bitter smile at the message popup, because sure as hell, he had no intention of shattering the links between Earth and any other realm, ever again. Not when there was sweet sweet profit to be made clearing the dungeon instead, especially a First Clear bonus, and most especially not when severing the links between realms might cost him another 20 precious years of his life.

The hell with him ever doing that again. It was one thing to be destined to croak in his late 50s or Early 60s. He hated the idea, but he could fit a lot in another 40+ years. He could even fool himself into thinking boosting his Vitality to overwhelming degrees might actually buy him unlimited extensions. But to limit himself to a lifespan of just 40 or so years, maybe less, would leave him haunted with regret for the remainder of his short, doomed life. And with so much absolutely out of his hands in this deadly, perilous world, this was one bit of folly very much in his control.

So it was with nothing less than heartfelt relief that he found himself skulking along bone-strewn corridors of porous limestone that countless sharp teeth had burrowed major tunnels and tributaries throughout, determined to exit far stronger than he had entered, without aging more than a single day.

You have successfully designed multiple new shapes for Undead Lizard Carcasses.

Flesh Sculptor is now Rank 15!

Eric couldn't quite hold back his feral grin at the pack of Sentinel Rats glaring at him from the bend just ahead as they squeaked and postured and did all they could to hold his attention, or so he assumed. As if they thought he couldn't sense the discreet handful of tunnels above and to either side of him.

So when the corridor was suddenly lined with a skin of lizard hide, scales, toughened flesh, all supported and reinforced by a complex latticework of bone, blocking off no less than half a dozen side passage, not to mention the corridor behind him, the cluster of rats just ahead froze in confused uncertainty.

Not surprising, since the corridors were still pitch black, the rats led by smell, hearing, and, Eric suspected, the hive mind that was their queen.

To be fair, the sentinels were the least stupid of the rats Eric had encountered so far, adjusting to the change in the terrain and the sudden flood of dried lizard hide and undead flesh within just seconds.

But by then it was already too late. Countless dozens of smaller rats squealed in frustration, blocked from their attempted ambush by the reinforced lizard scales covering their limestone burrows that their teeth had no chance of breaching.

Only then did Eric strike out at the cluster of massive 5-footers blocking the rapidly widening tunnel just ahead, exploding off his back-foot to blast into his foes blade first, his eight foot long spear effortlessly slipping between the ribs of the closest rat to pierce and rupture its heart, the creature collapsing with a startled final cry. Yet Eric refused to slow down his charge or waste time trying to reclaim his spear by hand, rather making full use of Soul-linked weapons and his ES Storage skill to instantly pop the longer spear back into storage before summoning forth and lashing out with his glaive bardiche, blasting the razor-sharp point of his weapon through the open mouth and right down the throat of the largest of the half-dozen rats that had positioned itself to the rear, it’s furious squeal choking off as it drowned in its own blood.

Even as the five remaining sentinels hissed lurched back, Eric had already switched weapons in the blink of an eye, embracing vicious underhand cross-cuts with his saber, completely tearing through the throat of the second closest rat before he sprung back, taking full advantage of his Soul-bound weapon to grip it mid-shaft so he had more than enough room to plunge it deep into a charging foe that might have managed to clamp razor-sharp jaws on a shoulder that yanked and twisted away one Light Wound later… but not without suffering a ruptured heart as Eric's bardiche ripped through its chest cavity in the blink of an eye.

Washing Eric and the surviving rats in a crimson shower of gore before the remaining trio of rats found themselves covered with deep bleeding lacerations that only grew in number as they stumbled back, minus paws, noses, shattered teeth, and finally their heads as vicious draw cuts turned to cleaving slashes… and then Eric was through, racing ahead for all he was worth.

Perception check successful!

Quickness check made.

A single squeak was all it took for an alerted Eric to roll-dodge past another pack of sentinels that had been waiting right around the bend of a far larger central corridor, and this time Eric couldn’t help but laugh as he sprang back, roaring a challenge and weaving a dizzying display of moulinets that kept his foes back just long enough for Eric to summon forth the second of his three barriers, now blocking the side tunnels along this corridor as well.

So that no foe could flank him, or so he desperately hoped, as his confident grin turned to a tight grimace, feeling a surge of something he refused to call fear as he beheld rats far larger and nastier looking than any he had encountered before.

Eight massive six-footers, now doing their best to flank him, eager to bring down the human that dared to enter their den.

Eric’s heart began to pound with a cold dread he chose to call exhilaration, giving a mad laugh of his own as he was suddenly forced to fight for all he was worth, making maximum use of his barrier, twisting and weaving with an intuitive sense of all the players on the board as he danced and spun, taking full advantage of his infravision giving him strikingly clear vision in darkness that reduced his foes to attacking by smell and sound alone.

Sounds that were soon drowned out by one giant rat after another as Eric embraced the boon of larger crowds ambushing him in this larger corridor.

It was wide enough for him to swing his massive war blade without hindrance, much to the sorrow of the swarming and soon panicking rats, who were forced to endure every grievous blow. But even in the frenzy of battle, Eric could sense his peril. If the surviving six-footers regained the initiative and attacked him in concert...

He was as good as dead.

Only now did he choose to reveal one of the trump cards he had kept so carefully hidden from the queen's awareness, for just a heartbeat tapping into the furious madness of a thousand blood-soaked battles he had never seen.

Cleaving Blow unleashed!

You have cleaved through the skulls of two of your opponents as you swing for the fences!

Finesse check made!

You have (barely) avoided being hamstrung!

You have successfully butted one charging rat in the teeth! Multiple incisors shattered!

Windmill strike successfully shatters skull of opposing rat.

You have managed to roll free of Rat Swarm.

You are now retreating!

But he wasn’t stupid.

When there was an opening to dash back the way he had come, he took it.

Taking full advantage of his speed to spin around to the narrowest part of the adjoining passageway, a passageway narrowed even further by the lizard framework he had left behind. Such that when the enraged squealing rats charged the foe they had finally thought mastered, it was to race one at a time along an ever-constricting corridor, further hindered by bone spurs and teeth killing their momentum and tearing at their fur and flesh as they squealed and hurled themselves at a grimly waiting Eric, whose bronze tipped spear and steel glaive sent one furiously charging rat after another tumbling to their death as he struck them in their chests and throats, his soul-bound artifacts proving their value once more as he never had to worry about any of his prizes getting stuck in his foes.

Frenzied rats Eric was now more certain than ever was being controlled by their maker, all of them attacking wildly, perhaps in the hopes of trapping Eric's weapons before finally overwhelming him and tearing out his throat.

Alas, such was not to be, as Eric ruthlessly cut down his foes.

Even if he did have a couple close calls, suffer a handful of cracked ribs and Light Wounds, a single finger actually torn off by a savagely gnawing sentinel, before he disemboweled it with a furious series of underhand slashes, and then it was over.

In just a handful of furious minutes, there was only one rat among the living, and now over a dozen giant rats that were nothing more than piles of eviscerated meat and bloody gore.

He couldn’t quite suppress the feral smile dancing across his features as the final rat glared and hissed, even as Eric grimaced in pain from his torn-off finger, regenerating far too slowly for his taste and throbbing furiously all the while.

“Time to dance, motherfucker!” Eric roared, ready for whatever the final rat might dare.

Save for it to open its mouth, and speak with a sibilant hiss. "You wish to fight? Then we shall fight. Come for me, human! To the central chambers, where we shall settle this forevermore."

Eric froze solid, breath turning ragged as he locked gazes with the rat.

“You’re sentient?”

But the creature just turned around and ran off as fast as it could, a bemused Eric not at all opposed to letting it free of his bulwark trap as he braced himself for a flood of rats dropping down from their ambush warrens in the ceiling above as he reclaimed his undead lizard bulwark, but not one did.

He blinked, slowly turning about the corridor, peering as intently as he could at the surprisingly thin limestone walls. Chilled to realize that there were countless corridors all around him, just a few inches from this main one.

And all of them were empty. No trace heat fluctuations, save for the tracks of the giant rat he had let flee, could even be seen.

And all he could hear was the odd susurrations caressing his ears.

Perhaps just a breeze in warrens designed much like a termite mound, allowing ventilation and exquisitely complex compartmentalization.

Or perhaps it was the hissing chittering whispers of a thousand rats, all singing in concert.

“Come forward, sacrifice. Your queen awaits!”

Eric felt a strange tingle in the back of his mind. An odd compulsion that sent shivers down his spine.

He clenched his fists and grit his teeth, glaring at his feet until they lurched to a stop.

Willpower check modified by Rank 6 Mental Resistance and the Essence of Dominion: Critical Success!

“You move at my command, bastards!” Eric snarled at his legs, before stumbling a foot despite his Finesse, feeling like an absolute idiot. Because at 31 Finesse, almost a dozen points beyond even Olympian levels, of course they were absolutely his. As for the Rat Queen’s attempts to master him, that was one psychic attack he most definitely intended to take advantage of, his Magesight boosted Infravision now letting him see so clearly the strands of arcane compulsion linking him to the dungeon boss. Faint lines of heat floating through the air, somehow dancing between infrared and a surreal kaleidoscope of notes and

flavors he could taste and hear as well as see. The colors of magic, he was sure.

And he couldn’t help cracking a grin at the message flashing across his interface:

Infravision is now Rank 11!

Congratulations! Superior Perception and boosted Soul Reserves has synergized perfectly with your Infravision! You have successfully resisted multiple attempts at mastering your mind! You now have an additional +4 bonus to perceive all elements of magic related to manipulating the mind and soul!

He furrowed his brow, sensing that smoke-like stream of energy not just bouncing inside his head, but going back the way he had come. A quick check made it clear that, yes… it led right to the gate between realms.

A revelation which made him grin.

Before racing back to where the queen was waiting, eager to finally settle the score.