“Wow, everything here is utter shit” Lucas said, frustrated. They were searching the room for fifteen minutes now, trying to find anything valuable to loot. So far, however, this room provided little in the way of valuables.

“Hey, Lucas, could you come here for a second?” Maggie asked from the other side of the room.

“Sure thing, Mags” Lucas responded. Approaching her, Lucas could see she was fiddling with one of the shelves that dotted this room. After announcing his presence, Maggie left them alone and turned to face him.

“Look carefully, do you see the same thing as me?” Maggie asked and Lucas flared his Perception, looking at every little detail he could see in this corner. After some time, he was content with what he saw.

“You think there is a hidden room here?” Lucas asked, looking for confirmation.

“Exactly. I just can’t figure how to open them” Maggie said, her voice betraying her irritation.

“Where are the doors exactly?” Lucas asked, already having an idea how to deal with this.

Maggie pointed her finger at the wall next to shelves she was fiddling with and Lucas immediately activated “Infused piledriver” slamming into the piece of wall. Loud thud was overheard and the rest of the party was now watching with interest as Lucas inspected the aftermath of his skill. The wall held, but there were visible cracks from where the sword slammed into them. A moment later, Lucas muttered “Double strike” his hand slamming two times in quick succession, each strike taking more pieces with it.

There was one more thing and Lucas muttered “Guiding strike” his hand automatically striking the spot he was hacking away, his sword penetrating deeply. Pulling his sword out, he watched as the wall finally cracked. Turning his pommel, he struck it as hard as his Strength allowed it. The wall collapsed in the middle, leaving a gaping hole in the middle. Lucas looked through the hole, spotting a potential treasure trove through it.

“Shall we?” he asked the rest of his party before squeezing himself through the hole. On the other side, he spotted racks full of armor and shelves lined with weapons. On the far side of the room, a desk could be seen. Lucas activated “Sharpsight” and started inspecting items in the armory. The rest of the party soon followed, silence broken only as they exchanged thought on items found.

Lucas was slightly disappointed with armors they found, nothing proving as an upgrade over what he had, not even finding adequate gloves to replace the ones he received after defeating Big Kong way back. On the other hand, swords on display were good and a lot of them could rival the gladius he was currently using, especially now as the wear and tear started hitting it hard. He studied every item, but soon he managed to pick one he hoped would prove to be a big upgrade.

Disease – holding falchion (Epic)

This falchion was crafted by the most skilled craftsmen the Rat King’s land ever had, his skill making it one of the most treasured possessions to be found in the Rat King’s lands. Enchanted with all kinds of venoms and diseases the alchemists and mages of the ratmen were able to concoct, this falchion is able to put all kinds of weakness on the enemies of his wielder.

Bonus ability: Durable, Inflict poison, Inflict disease, Inflict weakness

Lucas was fairly certain he would take the falchion, but he started analyzing it anyways. First thing he took in consideration was that his gladius was giving him two points of Strength while the falchion hadn’t. Any free stat was good, but falchion was very versatile. He already tried it out, the information about all of its abilities present in his head, poison doing damage, disease slowing his opponents down and weakness sapping stats. So, while losing his stats would certainly hurt, Lucas could also lower the stats of his enemies, equalizing it somewhat. Only thing that was unfortunate was the fact that only the poison could stack. His rushed analysis over, he packed the gladius in his ring and took the falchion.

Turning around, he could see both Chen and Margaret changed their gear, now wearing dark green robes. He was especially glad to see Margaret finally getting out of her uniforms which were pretty bad, seeing as they were made to limit the growth of the person wearing it. Maggie was also sporting a new crossbow, leaving only Ted without new gear.

“This definitely isn’t my dungeon” he said with a sad smile, responding to the inquisitive gaze Lucas shot his way. Lucas only nod in understanding, hoping that his friend would get fulfilling reward after they finished with the dungeon.

“Okay, let’s pack what’s left and get back on our track” Lucas said, grabbing a nearby spear and putting it into his ring. About a hundred of items later, the room was picked clean, only the desk remaining. Lucas slowly approached it, wary of traps. Inspecting the desk, he realized it was only a desk only thing of import a inventory of the room. Disappointed, Lucas and his party exited the hidden room and the room from which they came in, finding themselves back at the main hall. Taking up battle formation, they approached stairs and started climbing them.

Floor by floor, they fought their way through about two dozen parties of the Royal Guard ratmen, their composition similar to the first one they fought, two melee fighter and a caster. Margaret once again came through, anticipating wounds and healing them as soon as they happened, while Chen’s new skill proved invaluable, his illusion army charging ahead of the party, informing the party of at least two ambushes.

“Fuck you” Lucas shouted as he activated “Guiding strike” his sword cutting the throat of a Royal Guard that was trying to contain him. As soon as the body of the ratman hit the floor, Lucas zeroed in on the aura of the caster, activating “Aura severing” and stunning the creature. Chen spotted the stunned caster, and soon eight illusions charged at the unfortunate ratman, half of them resembling Ted and half resembling Lucas. Overwhelmed by the sheer amount of attacks, ratman caster went down at the same time Ted and Maggie killing the last melee fighter of the Royal guard.

“I hope this is the last group, these fuckers are annoying” Ted grumbled.

“It should be, I see the end of the stairway” Maggie responded as she once again took her role of the scout. Just as she thought, they found no further enemies on the last part of the stairs, arriving at the room that gave Lucas a feeling of déjà vu. The throne room was decorated with a large amount of paintings and statues. One table, spanning the length of the room, was standing in the middle of the room, overlooked by the dais. And on that dais stood a throne, which was currently occupied by the largest ratman they saw since they entered this dungeon.

“It must be over three meters tall” Maggie whispered, Lucas activating “Sharpsight” and looking at the Rat King.

“Rat King, King of the Ratmen, Plague Master level 66”

“Prepare yourself, this is going to be a tough fight” Lucas whispered after everybody used their own identification skill, getting ready. A giant mace manifested in the hands of their opponent and he stood up, sending a bolt of green light towards their position.

“MOVE” Lucas shouted and with that the final boss battle had begun. Lucas activated “Dodge”, quickly somersaulting backwards. The bolt struck where they stood a moment ago, leaving a puddle of green goo, Lucas having a feeling he wouldn’t like to be struck by it. Left of him, Maggie fired her new crossbow two times in quick succession, Chen immediately conjuring illusionary arrows trying to confuse the Rat King. The giant ratman, however, hadn’t fallen for the trick, spraying acid from his free hand on the arrows as they come through, completely dissolving the real arrows and leaving illusions to harmlessly pass through him.

Lucas watched this whole exchange and as soon as the acid stopped, he activated “Infused piledriver” his new falchion in front of him. His spin quickly closed the distance between him and Rat King, but the ratman jumped out of the way, evading Lucas’s attack. Anchoring himself, Lucas turned just in time to see head of the mace going for his head. “Dodge”, Lucas shouted in panic, immediately starting somersaulting backwards. He wasn’t fast enough, mace hitting him in the leg and throwing him off balance, preventing him from having a clean landing.

“You take 488 points of damage”

“Shit” Lucas thought as he instinctively rolled away, a bolt hitting place where he landed, leaving green goo in its wake. Panting, Lucas got up and carefully observed Rat King, who was currently distracted by Ted who rushed the boss after Lucas was hit.

“This guy could probably kill us in one hit if he manages to connect properly. It would be best to finish this quickly” Lucas thought as he battled the familiar rush growing in him, urging Lucas to let go and enjoy the challenge this fight was sure to bring.