Pandora Unchained B1C19 - Chaotic Battle

“You want to take a hostage?” whispered Lawrence. “Wait, that’s a good idea. Why didn’t I think of that? How about I do it?”

“You’re making a kidnapping sound like a heroic deed,” Sorin said to Lawrence. “But no. It’s best if I do it. For some reason, I have a feeling that this rat is nothing but prey to me. If I capture it, it’ll be very obedient.”

“Hm…” Stephan looked between Sorin and Lawrence. Lawrence was objectively the best option, since he could use his movements kills to evade capture while he went for the tiny rat. “We only get one chance at this, Sorin. How confident are you?”

“Seventy percent?” said Sorin. “Sorry, this is all instinctual.”

Surprisingly, Stephan accepted this explanation. “So we’ll get you to do it. Lawrence, cover him. As for Daphne… this idea of yours: it involves the mana crystal, doesn’t it?”

“It does,” confirmed Daphne.

“How far away exactly should we be if we want to survive this plan of yours?” asked Stephan.

“According to my very accurate calculations… not in this room should be far enough away,” said Daphne.

“All right,” said Stephan. “Then be careful when you – Sorin?” But Sorin had already bolted, and so had Lawrence. The two figures closed the gap between them and the three rat lords. Lawrence snuck past the rat lords but dodged when a claw came at him from behind. Another claw nearly hit him but found only shadow.

Sorin was the slowest between them. He struck a rat lord in the neck with a Viper Strike, then used Adder Rush to dodge its counterattack and the other rat lord. Yet despite his best efforts, he couldn’t approach the tiny mouse. It squeaked at him in a mocking fashion as he was forced to retreat.

Yet its mockery turned to horror as a mithril string tightened around it. Sorin yanked the rat king out from between its guards and pulled it into his left hand. “Everyone stop, or your king gets it!” shouted Sorin. “Tell them, or I break your neck!” The snake in his body let off an intimidating pressure that horrified the tiny rat king. It hurriedly let out some squeaks that brought everything to a halt.

Sorin retreated to his group, who’d been seconds away from waging all-out war against the rat horde. “I know you can understand me,” Sorin said to the rat. “So you’re going to translate everything I say, word for word. Got it?” The rat shivered and refused to answer. Sorin tightened his grip, and the rat squeaked out what appeared to be an affirmative.

“We mean you all no harm,” said Sorin. He waited a moment for the rat king to translate his message before continuing. “We did not understand that this wasn’t a small rat infestation, but rather, a glorious rat kingdom. We cannot in good conscience continue fighting against such a wondrous kingdom and wish to leave in peace.”

One of the rat lords squeaked back aggressively, and Sorin, having no idea what he said, turned to the others. “Who knows,” said Stephan. “Just tell them you can’t understand. By the way, good improvisation.” He gave Sorin a thumb’s up.

“I can’t understand anything you are saying,” Sorin continued. “Communication is impossible. So this is how things are going to go. We shall be taking the rat king with us.” The entire horde squeaked aggressively once the rat king translated. “But only until the entrance of your nest. Once we get to the cliff face entrance, we will release the rat king. Then we will retreat from your territory and never come back again.”

The rats relaxed upon hearing this, but the lords were still suspicious. Still, one of them squeaked out orders to the mass of rats, and the rats parted like they had for the rat king, revealing the entrance.

“Well that’s a good start,” said Stephan. “Let’s move that way and see what happens.”

The rat encirclement opened up further as they moved toward the entrance. But they also closed up behind them, starting with the rat lords, who would clearly be following them to ensure the rat king’s safety.”

“Well – It’s something,” said Gareth. “But how are we going to make sure we can leave after we release the rat king?”

“You leave that to me,” said Sorin. “Let’s just move over to the entrance. Far away from that mana crystal. Daphne? You had a plan, didn’t you?”

“Me?” said Daphne. “What are you – oh.”

The atmosphere remained tense as they walked through the rat-packed room. Though they didn’t attack them outright, the rats encircling them made threatening nipping gestures the entire way. The rat king scolded them, but its scolding seemed to have a limited effect.

“I don’t think they’re totally under control of this rat king,” Sorin whispered to Stephan. “Notice that they didn’t ask it for orders, and instead it was the rat lords that issued the orders.”

Gareth tightened his grip on his bow, and Lawrence took out a second dagger. The lead rat lord hissed at them, but Sorin clenched his hand around the tiny rat king. They pulled back, but kept their claws out and teeth bared.

It took them five minutes to finally arrive at the entrance to the cavern. The last of the rats parted, revealing a tunnel just large enough for three people to defend. “Steady,” said Stephan as they approached. “Get them to give us a bit of distance, will you?”

The rat king squeaked hurriedly, and the rat lords, still glaring at their group with undisguised hostility, backed up slightly. “Now!” shouted Stephan. A fireball five times larger than Sorin had ever seen lobbed over the sea of rats and smashed down on the mana crystal, shattering it. The blue mana rushing out of it caught fire, and the room was filled with a dreadful explosion.

Both Sorin’s group and the nearest rats were blasted out of the cavern and into the hallway. Sorin nearly lost consciousness, and he imagined everyone else wasn’t faring much better.

“Get your bearings quickly!” shouted Stephan. There was blood trickling out of his ears, so he words came out less like orders and more like a bestial growl. Two prone rats instantly fell to Stephan’s bear paws before Stephan launched himself at the nearest rat lord and smashed it with a Lunisolar Paw.

Sorin’s head was ringing. He looked about,, dazed, and saw that the rat king had flown out of his hands and was trying to nibble his way through the mithril string. “Not on my watch,” said Sorin, yanking him back into his hand. He then took out his dagger and proceeded to slit the nearest rat throat and did the same to the other rats he found while making his way towards the rat lord he’d previously poisoned.

Lawrence and Gareth had pulled the unconscious Daphne back and away from the rats. Gareth was loosing arrows, and Lawrence had taken out a small crossbow and was hurriedly killing off any rats that recovered enough to stand.

It’s just me and Stephan who have enough strength to take out a rat lord, thought Sorin as he approached his prey. The rat lord on the ground twitched ever so slightly when Sorin’s blade came down, injecting a fresh dose of poison, then shivered as Sorin found its heart between its ribs and stabbed it through.

The third rat lord was just getting up. It growled and launched itself towards Sorin as he approached. Yet as soon as it reached striking distance, Sorin raised the juvenile rat king as a shield.

The rat lord altered its trajectory, allowing Sorin to duck under its sharp claws and stab its side close to where the previous rat’s heart had been. Fur fell from the rat’s chest, revealing black, poisonous veins on its wrinkly pink skin.

Screeeee!

The rat lord, finally having had enough, shouted to all nearby rats. Those that hadn’t yet roused from their stupor entered a trancelike state and threw themselves and Sorin.

Sorin raised the small rat king but was dismayed to discover that they no longer cared about the rat king. This was now a life or death battle and saving their leader had now been punted to the bottom of their priority list.

“Buy me time!” shouted Sorin. Three arrows shot out and killed three rats, and Lawrence appeared behind him and dispatched another. The rats were throwing everything they had at Sorin, all to prevent the unwounded rat lord from retreating.

Stephan wasn’t much better off. He was in bear form and had entered a berserk rage. Four rats were hanging from his back; their powerful teeth had bitten through portions of his armor, and blood ran down his arms, his legs, and his neck.

The rat lord Stephan had wounded was also picking himself up and commanding rats. Under the orders of the two rat lords, the horde became completely reckless and ferocious to the point of suicide. Not all rats had been killed in the explosion. Half-burnt rats rushed into the tunnel from the cavern and launched themselves at their group. And without Daphne to support them, they were becoming increasingly overwhelmed.

One rat bit deep into Sorin’s armor, cutting through leather and flesh and into his bone. Blood gushed out as he stabbed the creature in the neck and pried it off.

These rats are nothing without their rat lords, thought Sorin. If we’re going to survive, we’ll need to kill one of them at least, and quickly. “Lawrence! With me!” Sorin shouted. He used Adder Rush to dodge several rats launching themselves at him and approach the retreating rat lord.

Seeing that it couldn’t evade Sorin, the rat jumped forward and bit at Sorin with its oversized teeth. Sorin dodged to the side and intentionally took a claw to the chest, but in exchange, he stabbed the creature in the neck between two vertebrae.

Blood spurted out over Sorin. The rat tried to pull back, but found it was impossible; Sorin had already wrapped his mithril string around its body, and he used it to anchor himself to the rat as he pulled out his dagger and stuck it into the hollow beneath its mouth, running its attempt to reach over and bite him.

Lawrence appeared behind the rat and struck out at its vitals. Once. Twice. Thrice. Every hit landed on the same point, widening the wound and increasing the damage he caused.

But Lawrence was weak in defence and was forced to stop when three rats jumped on him and bit into his arms and legs. Sorin had also been bitten in the leg, but he forced himself to ignore the pain and blood loss and made his way to Lawrence. Three dagger strikes slew the three rats, and the rogue, now free, picked himself off the floor.

“Well that’s one down,” said Laurence, looking at the dead rat lord. “Two if you count the unconscious one you killed.” He felt at his arm and winced. “Rockgnaw really doesn’t do them justice. They should just call them bonegnaw rats or something.”

“Stephan should be about done with his target,” said Sorin. A loud screech sounded three seconds later, followed by a communal panicked screech from the remaining rats. They fled in into the main cavern and retreated through all its entrance.

He immediately began a mental triage. Stephan is the worst injured and has the most blood loss, but he’s also the most durable of the group. Gareth got bit once, but it’s only his arm. Nerve damage is unlikely.

Lawrence had been bitten four times in total and looked to be in good spirits. Which meant that, ironically, Sorin was the worst wounded out of the lot. He had suffered several bites to the bone and had also been directly wounded by the rat lords’ claws.

“Let’s lay down and patch ourselves up for a bit,” said Stephan, limping over. “I think I’m going to need some of those stitches, if you’re still offering. How’s Daphne?”

“Feigning unconsciousness,” said Gareth, dragging her over.

“It’s a perfectly legitimate self-defence tactic,” grumbled Daphne as Gareth tossed her on the floor next to Sorin. “Ouch. My head hurts. And it’s probably going to hurt for the next few days.” She took out a mana potion and sipped at it gingerly.

“I’m going to need some stiches myself,” said Sorin. “But first, let’s decided what to do with this guy.” He yanked on the mithril string and pulled back the supposed rat king. “Call me silly, but I don’t think this is actually a rat king.”

“It’s probably a mutated rat demon,” agreed Gareth. “But since it was helping the other rats grow, the lords treated it like a king. Fortunately, it wasn’t a legitimate king, otherwise we would never have made it out of this alive.”

“We should it kill it just in case,” said Stephan. “We’ll hand over its corpse and its core to the Adventurers Guild and have it identified. Even if it’s not a rat king, it should be worth a pretty penny. Probably a thousand gold for the corpse and the core altogether.”

“Fine,” said Sorin, pulling the pitiful rat over. “Let’s get it over with then.” He pulled out his dagger and made to cut its throat. He ignored the rat’s teary eyes that begged for life. He had no mercy for demons. And yet… “Hey Stephan?” A preposterous thought for anyone with a medical background crossed his mind.

“Yes?” asked Stephan.

“Do you…” said Sorin. “Do you think I could keep it?”

“Keep it?” shouted Daphne. “It’s a rat!”

“So?” said Gareth. “There’s nothing wrong with keeping a rat as a familiar. It’s quite common, actually.”

“Are you sure,” said Stephan, giving Sorin a strange look.

“I’m sure,” said Sorin. “Call me crazy, but I think its worth it.”

Stephan shrugged. “All right. But you’ll need to pay for a taming contract and reimburse us for the lost bounty and demon core.”

Sorin agreed, then wrapped up the small rat in several wraps of mithril before taking out a needle and thread and getting to work.