CHPT 130: Monster inside the Cave.
The inside of the cave was cold and damp. It's darkness was somewhat combated by the bright sun leaking through the forest outside, making the entrance of the cave slightly visible.
They only had a couple dozen feet to walk before the minefield of Ratmen nests in front of them littered the ground all the way to the Boss.
In this time, Claude walked at the front of the group, thinking about any plan to even their odds.
"Ratmen are pretty flammable due to their excess hair and skin oils, if we get Isaac to flame the first few nests....Fuck! No. He's a Knight, he's probably been low on mana for a while. Save him for the Boss...." Claude continued to think about different ways for his team to apply their Elements inside the caves when he got an idea.
"Dirt.....Dirt..." he suddenly stopped and dropped to one knee with his hand to the floor.
"What are you doing?" Ursula whispered.
"Trying something." He responded as his hands started to emit green energy and he pulled the Nature underground to the surface.
Crsh.....fwoosh...
The team watched as thick dirty brown roots burst from the ground and interlocked over the nests like natural cages that fastened back into the dirt. He was able to lock in the first two rows of Ratmen— which was about 15 to 20 nests.
"Woah.." Ursula said as she looked at the trapped nests.
"Ok. Ursula your weapon makes it so you can't kill them from the inside, instead I need you to go with Warren while he stabs them. If they break out, your his first line of defense." Claude whispered to her as he stood up, wiping the sweat from his forehead.
Ursula nodded once before heading off to the nests on the right with Warren close behind— putting away his bow and pulling out his daggers.
"Now. You two are with me. We'll go left and use our swords to stab them through the spaces in the cages." Claude said to Maris and Isaac.
"Won't they hear us?" Maris asked suddenly.
"They might. They definitely will after a few nests, but it's either this or face them all up front. So let's go." Claude said before approaching the first nest.
Frosty sniffed the dirt around the nest before growling quietly as the hairs on the back of his neck rose.
Claude kicked the dirt near the nest and stomped the ground lightly a few times. Almost immediately, he heard movement underneath and the dirt pulsed as the Ratman tried to breach the surface only to hit the top of the root cage.
Shmp!
[+30 EXP]
Claude moved incredibly fast and stabbed his sword into the dirt were he assumed the Ratman's head was. His assumption was correct after he felt his sword tear through flesh and bone.
"Did you get it?" Isaac whispered as Maris watched intensely over his broad shoulder.
Claude responded by pulling his sword out of the dirt. It was caked with bright red blood and clumps of dirt and hair.
Movement beneath the ground caused him to do it again.
Shmp!
[+30 EXP]
"Alright, Maris—" Isaac said, turning around only to find that she was already standing over a caged nest with her sword raised.
"Erhm. I guess I should get to work." Isaac said silently before walking off to a nest.
The group got through all the nests except for one on Ursula and Warren's side when the other nests of Ratmen began to move in response to the constant movement of footsteps all around them.
The sudden sounds of the Ratmen coming to their senses caused him to use his Element again, forming weak root cages over the tops of a few more nests as they fought to get out.
Crsh!....
The first Ratman to break out of the weaker root cages was on the left. A Dominant Male bit its way through and burst out of the ground, charging Ursula like a bull.
Sksksks!
Ursula ran at it with her axes raised— cold steam flowed off them as she met its charge.
Chnk!
Ursula sidestepped and slammed the blade of her axe into its gut. The Ratman bent over in pain, before it could recover she used her other axe to chop through 90% of its neck from behind. The Ratman hit the ground dead just in time for a few more to emerge on both sides.
"Looks like the fights beginning." Isaac said as he finished off a nest and backed away with his shield raised— in preparation for the new group of Ratmen running at them.
***
Shlck!
Claude was removing his sword from a Dominant Female Ratman's neck as he looked around and realized the rest of his team was almost finished with the large number of Ratmen. There was only a few more nests around where the Boss was still deeply sleeping.
Frosty released a Ratman from his jaws before jogging over to him panting slightly while blood dripped from his snout. Not long after, the rest of his group ended their opponents gruesomely and regrouped with Claude.
As they stood in the center of the cave, surrounded by the smell of dead Ratmen and dirt, Claude felt the air change. An added element of hostility and danger came to life in the darkness. Everyone must've felt it because he could smell their fear and noticed them all facing one direction.
DING!
[Defeat The Mother of the Nest's to complete the Tangent!]
"Everyone get ready. The Boss is waking up." Claude said as he heard deep and powerful breaths coming from the darkness in front of them.
Isaac instinctively shot his flames at the ripped up roots ahead of them, causing an eerie faint orange glow to light up the cave.
The light allowed him to see the large Ratman moving slowly on the pedestal. Every slow and tired movement knocked dust off its scraggly fur like it hadn't moved in years. As it's tail slowly unraveled itself, the Boss rolled over onto all fours. Giant pink hairless hands gripped the ends of the pedestal as it stood up.
The group collectively shrunk in fear as the Boss stood up.....and up...and up. Until it's head reached above the light of Isaac's fire. It had to be at least 8ft tall— the pedestal exaggerated its size as it towered over them in the dark cave.
It stood still for a moment before shaking its dirty fur— sending smells of dirt, must and rot in Claude's direction.
It's large body shook deceptively fast— hinting at its impressive speed despite being chubby in appearance. It stopped after a moment and quickly took a small step forward.
Warren inhaled in fear as its foot came into the light. One dirty pink foot that looked like a hand came to the edge of the pedestal with claws like hooks that gripped the edge of it as the monster sniffed the air for a few tense moments.
Claude quickly understood that the Boss was slowly realizing its offspring or guards were dead as the smells of death quickly told it a gruesome recap of the events that took place during its slumber.
"Warren, step back." Claude whispered urgently.
Warren was too shocked with fear to hear him right away.
"Now!" Claude snapped.
Warren jumped back just as the Nest Mother froze. It lowered its head in a fidgety motion— similar to a squirrel. The action brought its head into the light of Isaac's fire. It was almost identical to a rats aside from the overdeveloped muscles and overgrown yellow and brown teeth that curved out of its snarling mouth like thin tusks.
"What the fuck." Isaac said under his breath as the Nest Mothers mangled round ears twitched in response to his words.
It didn't take long for the Boss to look down and see the dead Ratmen all over the caves floor.
"AAAAAAAARRSKSKSKS!" The Boss raised its head and made an all too human screaming-squeal noise that felt like it ripped Claude's eardrums.
Frosty snarled next to him as he heard movement beneath the ground near the Nest Mother.
"The final nests." He thought as the Ratmen began to claw their way out of the dirt in response to the Nest Mother's cry.
Thwoosh!....Thwoosh!...Thwoosh!
At almost the same time, large pink muscled arms shot out of the nests around the pedestal. Their incredibly thin claws sunk into the earth as they pulled themselves out. In seconds, four dirty white Ratmen with blood red eyes stood before them.
"[The strongest of the Dominant Ratmen. Be careful.]" Arne commented
"AHHHHRRRSKSKSK!" The Boss screamed again while pointing at Claude. He noticed it's finger was shrouded in a dull green energy that matched its eye color.
He suddenly felt the magic wash over him as the Boss aimed its gnarly clawed finger at him.
DING!
[The Mother of Nest's recognized your scent on the majority of dead Ratmen and has used the skill, (Kill Command) on you.]
"Shit." Claude said as the muscled white Ratmen screamed and squealed before running after him.
Claude ran off to the right, leading them away from his team and creating more space between them and himself.
Ursula was the first to catch on as they turned to follow Claude. "Oh no you don't!" She yelled before throwing one of her axes.
Fwoo!
Chnk!
The axe sunk into the back of one of them as she ran after it to retrieve the weapon. Soon the rest joined in and the Ratmen had no choice but to face the rest of his team.
Claude and Frosty were left with two of the white Ratmen. They stood in front of them with red leaking cuts that stood out on their muddied white fur and nasty bite marks on their ankles.
"SKSKSKSR!" The Ratmen made an angered screech before they both took off after him.
Claude and Frosty snarled in unison before taking off. As they reached them, Claude dropped and slid over the dirt with his sword out in his right hand and his claws outstretched on his left.
Shlck!
His sword and claws ripped open the Ratmen's ankles and caused them to stumble onto their knees.
As soon as the Ratman on the left hit the ground, Frosty was tearing into its face.
"RAGHS!"
Shrip!
[+ 60 EXP]
Claude rolled over in the dirt and pushed himself onto his feet. Once he was up, he lunged at the crouched Ratman.
Shlck!
His sword sunk into its neck with ease.
[+ 60 EXP]
Claude spun around as the Boss screamed again. It faced the left side of the room looking pleased at something which made him uneasy.
He looked to where it was facing and saw Maris and Warren facing off against a badly beaten Ratman. Maris' movements were slow and lacked power as she swung at the white monster. It wasn't looking good.
"Frosty go help the others." He said before running over to the Ratman facing Maris.
***
Swoo!...Swoo!
"Dammit!" Maris said as two more of her swings missed the Ratman.
Her breaths were becoming increasingly more ragged as the fight continued. Due to her using her Element to stop her blood from leaking out of her cuts while she fought, her stamina seemed to be draining twice as fast. Warren was behind her— in an equally as bad state from taking two slashes from the Ratman earlier.
Woo!
The Ratman suddenly lunged, seeming to understand her exhaustion. In response, she raised her sword as it crashed into her.
Boom!
The impact sent her into the air and onto her back. She could hear the Ratman making a sound similar to laughing devilishly as it walked over to her.
She looked up and saw the Ratman snickering happily as it raised its ugly clawed hand. In her assumed final moments, she found herself back at her home— or what was left of it. She could even smell the river flowing behind her as the tall Goblin— Ratman loomed over her. She couldn't tell which since her vision repeatedly flashed from the forest to the cave in an odd clash of traumatic events.
"I don't fear death. I only fear dying while being this weak." She said as she raised her sword defensively.
Wooshlck!
Out of nowhere, a flash of black violently came across her vision accompanied by a gruesome tearing sound. She suddenly found Claude standing to the left of her with fresh red blood dripping off his dull short sword.
"Whe—"
Thud.
[+60 EXP]
She was interrupted as the head of the Ratman that was about to kill her hit the ground in front of her. It's body soon followed.
She looked from the Ratman to Claude as he stood with his back facing them. For some reason as he stood there breathing heavily, he looked oddly familiar to her.
***
Isaac wasn't doing much better than Maris was. His mana had been low since the fight started and his stamina was in a similar position. The only thing protecting him was his shield as the heavily muscled white Ratman fought to force it off him.
Clang!...Clang!..
The Ratman rammed into Isaac twice with a shocking level of force. Luckily Isaac was stronger.
"That all you got? You dirty overgrown mouse!" Isaac taunted from behind his shield.
In response— as if the Ratman understood him, it charged again, only more violent and wild than last time.
RASKSKSK!
The Ratman was on him in an instant, biting into his shield and using its strong arms to try and rip it off.
Right when he thought he'd be overwhelmed. A snarling noise came from his right as something large crashed into the Ratman and knocked it off his shield. He looked over it after hearing the sound of barks and snarls and saw the Ratman rolling around on the ground in a scuffle with Frosty.
The two bit and clawed at eachother until Frosty gained the top position and slammed his paw into its throat and lunged at its face.
Crush!
"Oh my god!" Isaac said in response to Frosty clamping his jaws over the Ratman's snout and ripping it cleanly off its face.
Frosty stepped off its limp body while he spat out the Ratman's teeth. Isaac didn't question where the rest went.
[+60 EXP]
***
After they finished off the guards of the Nest Mother, they grouped together in front of where she stood on her pedestal, ready to defeat her and finish the Tangent.
The group was silent as the Nest Mother stepped down onto the cave floor. There was nothing to say, all that was left was to fight and everyone in the cave understood that perfectly. So, Claude did nothing but snarl angrily as he led the charge towards the Boss.
Blood was spilled instantly with Claude slicing its naked arm open and receiving a cut to his own arm in return. The Nest Mother continued to face him and Frosty— assessing that the two were more dangerous than the rest of the team while it had its back turned towards the rest.
Claude immediately smelled Ursula's anger as it blatantly ignored them.
"HEY BITCH! we're dangerous too!" Ursula yelled before wildly swinging her axe.
Chop!
"AAAAHHSKSSK!" The Nest Mother roared as almost a third of its tail was cleaved off by Ursula's ice cold axes.
"Now!" Claude said through his link to Frosty and they both charged the Nest Mother while she was distracted.
Woo!
Frosty lunged at the Boss only for it to dodge with a sidestep. Unfortunately, it didn't have enough time to move again and Claude was able to sink his blade into its side.
"RARARASKSKS!" The Nest Mother went berserk and spun, swinging its thickly muscled tail into Claude's stomach and sending him crashing into the far left stone wall of the cave with a sickening crack.
The Nest Mother then swung at Ursula in hopes of getting revenge for her chopping a portion of its tail off.
Woo!
Isaac used his (Shoulder Charge), skill and dashed in front of her, eating the blow with his shield.
CLANG!
"Everyone place yourselves in between Claude and the Boss! Until he wakes up, we have to hold it off!" Isaac yelled back to them before they quickly shifted positions.
"Your gonna pay for that!" Ursula yelled to the Nest Mother as she stepped out from behind Isaac, emitting steam from her mouth while her eyes turned to an icy shade of blue.
***
Claude was very lucky in this moment as odd as that sounds. Now that their backs were too him and they were fully absorbed in the heat of battle, none of them were able to noticed the changes he was undergoing as he lay unconscious against the cold cave wall. None of them were able to sense that the true monster inside the cave was yet to be revealed.