Lucas and his party set up camp some way from the New Flame, eager to leave the settlement behind, sour taste from the last night events still lingering. Lucas was hoping that sparing the targets Prince wanted dead would be enough to derail any further plans the man had, hopefully buying Bruce enough time to sort everything out. For his part, he was relieved he managed to avoid further politics and return to his main purpose: Improving himself and his skills, and hopefully gaining more levels. They did manage to get information from Duck before leaving the city, learning of the few potentially interesting dungeons closer to civilized parts of Earth.

“So, we can arrive to the Rat King’s dungeon tomorrow. According to our spy friend, average level of enemies there is in mid forties, with highest level being in the fifties” Maggie started speaking after studying the map Duck hastily scribed for them “or we can travel further south, finding something labeled as “Ancients” dungeon” she finished.

“That is toughest one around here, right?” Lucas asked.

“Yup, everyone being in their sixties, with some enemies going as far as 75” Maggie confirmed.

“I don’t know about you, but I’m lacking in gear” Chen interjected.

“Tell me about that. I wore this same uniform when I was level 25. If there wasn’t some small enchants here and there, I would be running around butt naked” Margaret agreed with Illusionist.

“So, it is settled then. We are on our way to exterminate some rats. It shouldn’t be that hard, they are just rats” Lucas said, hoping his word aren’t about to jinx them. Resolving the matter, the party descended into chatter and bantering and just generally enjoying some calm times. Finding himself a little fatigued, Lucas excused himself and went to sleep, grateful he wasn’t on guard duty this night. As soon as his head hit the pillow, he felt asleep.

Waking up Lucas was feeling refreshed, his sleep not haunted by memories from the past after a long, long time. He was getting to used to nightmares, at least in some part of the night, so he find himself extremely surprised just how peaceful he slept. Nevertheless, he had a long day ahead of him so he got up, finding his party in similar states to him, except for Ted who was on guard duty. Murmurings of “Good mornings” filled their small camp and after a hasty breakfast, they were on their way towards the dungeon containing Rat King and his ratmen.

There were very few information about the dungeon itself, owning to the fact New Flame didn’t posses anybody capable to clear it, and even that covered only the first segment of the dungeon, marking the first boss being level 57. Lucas had enough experience by now to know that meant Rat King himself was somewhere about level 65 and hopefully once they finish the dungeon, Lucas would enter his sixties.

Arriving at the site map marked as entrance to the dungeon, they once again spotted some burrows, similar to one where they found monster nest before entering New Flame. Taking only a moment to reshuffle themselves into their standard battle formation, they proceeded to enter the dungeon.

After a few moment surrounded by impenetrable darkness, Lucas found himself in a vast dome that looked like it was underground, curved ceilings of stone and earth telltale signs of being underground. In front of him sprawled platforms of earth, reinforced by stones on its edges, wide chasms separating each one of them, only point of connection wide bridges made from stone.

On the bridge nearest to them, which connected their landing platform to the rest of the complex, Lucas could spot two ratmen standing, longbows in their clawed rat hands. The creatures were at least two meters tall, standing upright, they grey fur looking perfectly groomed in parts that weren’t covered in some sort of clay armor. Lucas activated “Sharpsight” with a murmur, the rest of his party doing the same with their identification skills.

“Ratmen lookout, Sentry level 54”

“Ratmen lookout, Sentry level 56”

“Mags?” Lucas simply asked, Maggie responding with a nod. She took a few steps forward, aiming her crossbow. First arrow fired almost too abruptly, the second following shortly. Lucas watched as the arrows flew through the air, finding their marks. Two ratmen fell to the floor, hissing in pain. Lucas took the chance to move out, keeping his eyes open for any further enemies, finding none as he closed the distance. “Guiding strike” was his mental command, his sword hand automatically finding the throat of the ratman and stabbing it hard. The injured beast managed to let out a slight gurgle before dying, alerting his colleague to the fact Lucas was near them. The second ratman stood up and aimed his bow towards one of the walls, firing it before Maggie arrow downed it permanently.

The arrow fired by the now dead ratman hit the wall with an uncharacteristically loud gong, that continued to echo all across the platforms and chasms. Bad feeling in his gut, Lucas approached the wall and removed the layer of earth, finding a copper gong underneath it.

“Fuck” Lucas muttered. Whatever the ratman activated, it certainly wouldn’t be pleasant for him and his party. Without much fanfare, they continued, keeping their eyes wide open in search of additional enemies.

The silence of the dungeon was broken with strange screeching that seemed to come from the walls themselves, putting the party on edge.

“Rats” Chen said with disgust “they are moving through the walls all around us”

“Stay sharp” was the only answer Lucas could muster before spotting a shape hidden behind a stone that marked the edge of the platform they were standing on. The shape looked so out of focus that Lucas was about to dismiss it as a figment of his imagination when suddenly it came into focus, revealing it to be a ratman with some kind of device that looked like a telescope, a prompt also appearing in Lucas’s vision.

“The effect of the Pendant of Truesight activated. You are immune to stealth”

Lucas quickly activated “Sharpsight” and focused on his enemy.

“Ratmen spotter, Lurker level 54”

The question about what he was spotting for exactly answered itself a moment later as the huge swarm of rats exploded from the walls on the platform next to them and immediately started charging. Luckily, Ted was extremely fond of explosive potions Martyn was making and he came prepared. Two bottles flew in close succession one to another, the first spreading the black tar – like substance all around, before the light orange liquid exploded and spreading fire all around the swarm. With every little body aflame, there were thousands of little bonfires that burned out quickly, decimating the swarm.

Unfortunately, those losses weren’t enough for the swarm for relent as the second wave immediately followed. Lucas shifted his focus to the spotter that was probably the key to stopping the swarm. With a quick mutter, Lucas activated “Infused piledriver” and spin right into the torso of the unfortunate ratman, his sword shredding both flesh and eternal organs, even managing to find the hearth and instantly killing the ratman. The moment the creature fell, swarm of rats became directionless, scurrying in all direction, completely ignoring the party.

“They use cloaked ratmen to spot for the swarm” Lucas informed his party. They sat down to take a breather, formulating a plan simultaneously.

“It’s not like we have much of a choice” Chen spoke “you are the only one who can see the spotters, it’s up to you to kill them. We will hold the rats at bay as best as we can” he finished. With something resembling a plan, they continued moving through the platforms, encountering heavy resistance every time they step foot on new platforms. Lucas was getting faster each time with finding and killing the spotters, but even so, the party hadn’t managed to come unscathed. A number of bite wounds could be seen on every member of the party, Margaret having her hands full, especially due to the fact that it seemed that some of the rats carried poison in their mouths, spreading it when successfully managing to bit someone. Even worse, on the platform before this one, the ratmen started supplementing their spotters with some archers from platform across the chasm, forcing Maggie to go into duels with them and distracting the party further from the swarm. Nevertheless, they continued their struggle, and with every platform cleared they could see the creatures getting more desperate, hopefully because they were arriving closer and closer to the place where swarm was controlled.

“I don’t see the spotter on this platform” Lucas said, his eyes darting from one edge of it to another.

“The screeching is not as loud. I think there will not be rat attack here” Maggie added.

They continued on the platform and fanned out, searching for any enemies. Lucas had a feeling this was a resting spot before the first boss and he was proven correct as he got to the edge and seeing the stairs leading down to the giant ratman, donned in some kind of purple robes and holding a giant scepter. A quick “Sharpsight” revealed information about their next encounter.

“Kra’zix, Swarm Controller, Puppet master level 59”