YoTS: Lord January ~ 17!

CHAPTER 17

Grant could feel his heart hammering as he stood at the bottom of a long flight of steps. He slowed his breathing by taking deep breaths, forcing his racing heart to calm down. It was so dark that, even with the torch, it took a while for his eyes to adjust to the gloom. Grant drew his sword and steeled his heart. This was the perfect opportunity to prove what he was capable of; both to Jo and himself. “Come on. I’m sure I can deal with a few rats!”

Using the torch to light the sconces, he saw a small brown rat scurry between his legs and almost jumped out of his skin. With the torch in one hand, and February Twenty Nine in the other, he swiped at the rat and almost cut his own leg off. He got it as it headed back between his legs; it looked like it was trying to escape the cellar.

“Gotcha! Ha! I expected a ‘giant rat’ to be bigger!” Grant cut the tail off the large rat and stored it in his pack. As he gloated, pairs of green points of light appeared in the darkness. First one set, then another… and another. He took a step back. The lights slowly grew in size as they approached. He couldn’t be certain but they resembled streetlamps. Or, perhaps… glowing eyes the size of a small chicken.

<That wasn't a giant rat. Those are giant rats.> Sarge sighed as oversized teeth began to glint in the firelight. <They don’t look too pleased that you killed one of their litter.>

“Did you know what these were? You could have warned me earlier… you know… before I accepted the quest?” Grant waved the torch, trying to shoo away the rats.

<Look, Wielder of a Weapon of Power. I’m not here to wipe your rear after you mess yourself! I've better things to do than listen to the inane banter of humans. It bores me.>

Grant stopped trying to argue, getting serious and slightly fearful. “Sarge… I need a plan. What do I do?”

<Survive, Grant. Survive.> This was the first time in days that Sarge had called him by his name, and it made Grant twice as nervous about the rats. <I’ll help as best I can, but the odds aren’t in your favor, and I can’t help you in combat for more than a few seconds after combat starts. Those are the rules, and I cannot ignore them.>

The Rats screeched and charged; instantly transforming into a multitude of gnashing teeth and glowing eyes as they scampered through the darkness.

<Throw down the torch in front of you!> Grant obeyed, and the torch clattered off the ground. It almost guttered out, but a few pieces of hay caught fire… and it spread fast. Too fast. The rats - rats with poison coursing through them if their gigantic, pustule covered bodies were any indication - charged on undeterred. Moments later, the greasy and furry rats running at him were replaced with giant rat fireballs that were running at him. Their hairy hides were mere tinder to the flames, and the fire caused their boils to rupture and pop; spilling poison across the floor. It was potent; going by the flagstones hissing and were popping.

<Don’t let the poison touch you. It appears to be corrosive.>

“Save your very few seconds of help for things that I don't already know!” Grant practically screamed at the sword as a flaming rat leaped at him.

<Not the time to whine!> Sarge barked a command, <Thrust!>

Grant followed instructions, and February Twenty Nine sank deeply into the first hungry creature.

Damage dealt: 2 piercing damage! (5 damage mitigated by Mid-Spring ranked armor cultivation.)

Target is on fire: -4 health per 5 seconds! Target is poisoned: -1 health per second!

“Two damage? Are you kidding me? I stabbed it in the face, and did two damage?” Grant grunted as his sword practically bounced off the rat. “This thing has armor cultivation? What?”

<It is an actual monster, trainee! It too has characteristics and its own cultivation. If you survive, it appears we’ll need to have a discussion on what your characteristics actually do, yes?> Sarge pulled his attention back to the issue at hand. <Still, to see a rat reach this cultivation achievement level? Even in only one characteristic? The level of lazy in this District…!>

Still, between the poison, fire, and Grant poking at it enough to keep it off him, the rat died. The familiar inner light bathed him, taking away his weariness as he obtained cultivation level five. For a brief instant, the light penetrated deeply into the cellar… illuminating a sea of burning, squirming bodies closing in. One leaped through the air with a screech a tiger would be proud of, and Grant didn’t have time to consider the swarm as a whole.

<There’s your last easy level. All uphill from now on.>

Grant lost his concentration from Sarge saying something so out of place. “What?”

<Pay attention, Maggot! Spin, then slice! Now!> The attacking rat bounced off the sword without taking any further damage, the weight of it causing the human to spin. <That’s… that’s all I got. Rules are…>

Sarge went silent as another fiery rat flew directly at Grant, who ducked and lifted, drawing his sword across its belly in a shimmering arc. It sliced like through the thick meat of the rat’s flabby belly and Grant wasn’tified of a critical hit. The gnashing teeth of the fallen rat reached out in one last attempt to nibble his flesh, so Grant let the sword turn at the end of its sweep, coming down and impaling the head moments before it would have torn into his ankle.

The heat in the confinement of the cellar was becoming unbearable. He panted, struggling for breath as he mopped at his brow. Around him, the fire and heat were having a toll on the rats. Bloated bodies burst as the poison evaporated in their blood, causing half-digested flour and poison to drift in the air and coat their fellows; resulting in screams as the increased poison and heat forced them to share the same fate. More and more rats started to pop, yet the swarm continued their relentless advance. New troops replaced the twitching, burnt bodies. Teeth and claws marched over fallen comrades. The air smelled of charred fur, roasted meat, and hate.

“D-defensive pose.” Grant changed to a defensive posture, terrified as the tsunami of teeth and green flaming bodies bore down on him. “Good-bye, Sarge. I don’t know if you can hear me, but thanks for being the nicest person I ever-”

*Thump*.

The air shook, and a numbness came over Grant as he was blasted away from the tide of vermin. Fire roared through the confined area, and a guttural scream came from somewhere deep within. As he watched his death approaching, he also took note of the fact that rats were being destroyed by the same explosion.

Half a dozen rats were airborne, focused on his legs, head and torso. Time slowed to a crawl, and Grant watched in terror as razor sharp teeth and claws groped toward him in slow motion as fire illuminated the area behind and around them. Grant lifted February Twenty Nine and held on tight as the explosion propelled the meaty rockets at him. They collided, pinning him to the wall… but also protecting him from the scorching flames that they had ridden in on. Numbers flashed in front of his face, and Grant woozily realized that his health must have increased with his level up.

Health: 41/95

Suffocating. Time remaining before asphyxiation damage is taken: Approximately 35 seconds!

Grant started to choke. He couldn’t breathe! Shoving his way out of the pile of smoldering bodies, he forced his way into open air, and tried to inhale. He figured that it would hurt to breathe in the hot air, a risk he was willing to bear… but nothing came in. No charred soot, but also no fresh air of any kind. Where had the fire… it was out? He stumbled around, trying to figure out what was going on. The air was gone! How was the air gone?

Around him, the few rats that had survived the strange and unexpected explosion began to die. He hadn't killed them; he hadn't done anything to them. Frankly, they should be up and attacking him at this point. But they weren't? They were just… dying. Grant managed to take a few more steps, but he was dying too. How? Why? His wounds weren't even that bad! Or, were they?

Health: 40/95

Poisoned. -1 health per second!

He looked down. Amongst his gore and blood coated body were droplets of green, eating away at the cotton shirt and pants. Grant’s flesh sizzled silently where poison splashes had connected with exposed skin. He felt good in the knowledge that not even the greatest swordsman could have avoided all of the poison in the air and on the ground. He dropped to the bloody floor and worked his mouth, doing anything to pull in one last gasp. Nothing.

The room started to darken, differently than just not having light. Had he been in a tunnel? That was strange, he thought he had been…?

Just before he suffocated completely, a blast of air sucking through the room rolled him along the floor, reigniting a few small fires. Grant pulled in a lungful of amazing, smoky air, and started coughing. After a long moment, he got to his feet and rolled a few of the smaller rats onto the fires to put them out completely. He looked back at the exit, which was only a few dozen paces away. He wanted to leave. But…

If he did leave, he would miss out on the reward of five Days. After everything he and Sarge had just been through, not collecting the reward seemed silly - considering the central shaft was just on the other side of the long, long room. All but one of the fires had all died out, and he got that one after he used it to reignite his torch.

Trudging along, he soon came upon the shaft. It was clear why it failed to turn. At its base, the twisted bodies of both a giant rat and mill worker were lodged into the great gears. He looked around for something to help pry the objects away, so he could leave this place as quickly as possible. A short search saw him returning with a metal rod from a pile of equipment in the corner.

A vibration shook the stone floor, coming more frequently the closer he got to the shaft. He started running: he needed to do this fast! The fine hairs on his arms stood to attention, and he had the feeling that he was being watched. “Celestial feces, the giant rats are back!”

No, it wasn’t the rats he discovered. It was a single, gargantuan, rat with teeth the size of gravestones. It was barely scorched, and clearly furious. Grant made a move to dart past it, but it slammed to the side, crushing bodies of its smaller fallen brethren and popping a few sacks of grain not already destroyed. As the grain spilt out, it lost focus on Grant and scooped the grain towards its gaping maw; greedily devouring the tasty treat.

Grant winced as he saw an extensive health bar explode into being and become proudly displayed above its head. Just like that, he got to learn the name of this filthy beast: Rabid Rodent Rat-a-Louie. A red skull pulsed beside the floating name tag, indicating that the enemy wasn’t hiding its power, and was a much higher level than he was.

Louie was distracted by the grain, so Grant took a chance and darted under its other paw. From behind, he sliced open a huge boil on Louie’s back. Poison pumped out of the open wound, and Grant thrust February Twenty Nine through it; entirely coating the blade in the corrosive substance.

The monster roared in anger at the unexpected pain, and a swipe from its arm caught Grant and launched him into the corner. The first attack was immediately followed by foot-long razor-tipped claws. Grant, dazed from the impact, managed to parry and deflect the weapons. He thrust deep into the flesh of its wrist. Checking the monster’s health bar, he saw that it had barely registered the impact, with only a tiny sliver knocked off the end. Conversely… he was only standing because his legs hadn’t got the message that it was time to collapse.

Health: 32/95

“This isn’t going to work. Ahh! Claws!” As Rat-a-Louie swiped in a frenzy, Grant screamed and flopped under the arm; rolling behind the shaft as fast as he could. Looking up at the shaft, the answer to his current problem came to him. He scrambled over to the base of the shaft and ducked behind it just as a pustule-coated arm swiped through the space he had first rolled onto. “Just a bit further, you freaky beast.”

He thrust his weapon at the monster’s palm, drawing a bead of blood. It hissed at him and crept a bit closer; Grant knew that it was now trying to make sure that it could kill him with a single hit. As the claw whipped toward him, Grant dodged… and the oversized paw smacked the twisted bodies stuck in the mechanism. The force of the impact shifted the corpses just enough to free the gears, and the shaft sprung to life with a rumbling noise. The remnants of the bodies were flung out of the way as the shaft of the Royal January Mill was free to spin once again.

Rat-a-Louie flinched at the sound, scurrying backward with a deep hiss. Now that the shaft was spinning, grain spilled into the awaiting chamber and was ground into flour by the relentless wheel. Grant took the opportunity to make a run for it, knowing that the oversized rat would be distracted by all of the free food.

It still took a half-hearted swipe at him and missed, then grumbled and returned to investigate the incoming deluge of grain. Shovel-like paws scooped up the crops that seemingly endlessly spilled into the chamber below. Grant nearly started sobbing when he realized that his plan had worked: it’d rather gorge herself on grain than deal with a nuisance such as him.

“Let’s get the abyss out of here!”