The rustling in the bushes was getting louder and louder as whatever was traveling through the vegetation grew closer. Eclipse couldn't see what was making the noise no matter how hard he tried to peer into the vegetation due to how dense the foliage was.
Suddenly a pair of small gleaming blue eyes could be seen staring at him from the shadows within the outer edges of the bushes, its body concealed. Then as if done eyeing its prey the beast emerged to show itself to Eclipse stunning him silent.
Out from the foliage emerged a blue and white furred mouse no more than one and a half inches tall. Its fur was azure blue, with its belly being snow white. On its face were two beady eyes a person would see on a hamster with a small mouth, pink nose, and white whiskers. Its white rat-like tail was in the shape of a lightning bolt and had what looked like blue arcs of electricity coming off it every so often.
The two stared at each other for a few moments in a silent Mexican standoff until Eclipse finally broke the silence saying, "So cute!". He then knelt down and reached out a hand towards the mouse to pet its cute little head.
SQUEAK!!!!!!!!!
The moment Eclipse reached out his hand towards the mouse it released an ear piercing screech so loud that he had to cover his ears to prevent them from popping. After a few moments of screeching at the top of its lungs, the mouse finally ran out of breath. The sound that followed afterwards was a foreboding silence, not even the occasional cricket chirping or bird singing could be heard from the surrounding jungle.
Rustle, rustle, rustle.
All of a sudden everywhere behind the mouse the sound of twigs snapping, and leaves crumpling could be heard. Next came the tremors as the ground began to shake with the rhythm of what sounded like countless footsteps running forward in a frenzied motion.
The next thing Eclipse knew a second mouse appeared from the vegetation, similar in size and looks to the first mouse. Then a third, then a fourth, then a fifth…
Over the span of just a few moments a miniature army of what looked like hundreds of miniature mice appeared. They dominated the surroundings with their numbers, drowning out the forest and changing the scenery into a sea of azure blue colored fur, claws, and teeth.
All of a sudden a cold mechanical voice sounded off in Eclipse's head saying something he never thought he would hear in his life. "Declaration of war from host accepted, quest being generated…"
"BRING IT ON YOU JERK!!!!" Eclipse screamed at the top of his lungs shaking his fists at the sky.
Unfortunately this seemed to be a signal for the mice to charge forward towards Eclipse. Trampling everything in their path and frying any vegetation in the way with the lightning coming off their tails they closed in on Eclipse like a living tsunami.
Eclipse instantly turned tail and ran without a moment's hesitation as the once cute mice flashed their fangs and claws at him trying to tear him apart limb by limb. It was a horrifying sight, but even more terrifying was the lightning.
Currents of electricity ran along the wave of mice slowly building in power. Looking back while running and seeing the slow build up electricity, Eclipse could sense that something was very wrong. Every fiber in his body screamed at him to get out of there now if he wanted to live to see another day.
"Quest generation complete. Details will now be displayed for the host to see. The choice of whether or not to accept the quest has been nullified and force activation has been initiated." The system told Eclipse as it displayed a floating screen in front of him while he was running for his life. Reading the quest while he was running it stated-
~~~~
Quest: The Great War, Host vs System
Objective- Survive for ten minutes until the beacon is deactivated or kill the monster hoard.
Details- The host declared war on the system and insulted it even though it was trying its best. In retaliation the system has activated a beacon that attracts and agitates the monster species known as "Thunder Mice'' for ten minutes. Additionally the system says the host is an idiot in hopes of causing emotional damage.
Reward- Survival, 10 free rolls in Abyssal Summoning
Failure- Death obviously
~~~~
After quickly skimming over the text, there were three things that struck Eclipse the most. The first was he could either survive for a specified amount of time or kill them all to complete the quest. The second was the reward offered free summons from one of his new skills which elated him, and then there was the third thing.
The third piece of information, which was arguably the most important one, was that the system called him an idiot! The system and him were supposed to be partners for life in his second life, at least that's how it always goes in the manga! Seeing what one could call his partner for life calling him an idiot was needless to say a super effective emotional damage attack.
Holding back tears while running for his life, Eclipse shouted "It's people like you who cause relationships to fall apart you jerk!"
"Correction, the host started this first with a barrage of insults for no valid reason." The cold voice of the system responded. "Activating slowness status effect, speed will be reduced by 10% for the next 30 seconds."
"I'm filing for divorce you horrible system!" Eclipse shouted as he visibly slowed down. As soon as his momentum slowed the thunder mouse he first saw that was leading the tsunami at the front and was closest to him lunged at him. Opening its mouth wider than what a normal mouse should be able to, similar to an unhinged jaw, it clamped down its gleaming white fangs on Eclipse's already stinging back cheeks.
"%&*$! That's it, I'm exterminating you rodents here and now!" Eclipse shouted, turning around and staring into the face of death. Raising a hand and pointing at the hoard of monsters charging him, his eyes glowed an eerie purple and black. The surroundings went devoid of all sound completely and the light in the area visibly became darker even though there wasn't a cloud in the sky as if it was night now. The hoard of mice stopped charging him frozen with fear as their instincts screamed to get out of there if they didn't want to die.
Looking at his prey with eyes that looked like endless black holes that would suck in and destroy all of creation if they weren't trapped behind those irises of his. Eclipse said three dreadful words with what sounded like countless voices coming everywhere and nowhere at the same time and yet at different times.
"Abyssal Magic, Cataclysm."