Chapter 123 - Oh, Rats

  The tentacles dragged me deeper into the dark water. I thrashed, trying to break free, but for all my Strength, without anything to push against, I had no leverage. If I hadn’t still had Water Breathing, I’d have been in a lot deeper trouble.

  Then I saw it, mostly thanks to my NightVision piercing the barely-lit water.

  At the bottom of the pool, maybe twenty feet down, was the source of the tentacles. It was a massive, bulbous thing, round and easily ten feet across. Its skin was mottled gray-green, covered in warty growths. And in the center was a mouth. A huge, gaping maw ringed with needle-like teeth, each one as long as my finger.

  It was pulling me straight toward that mouth. I twisted, trying to get my hands free, but the tentacles had me wrapped tight. The creature yanked my right leg into its mouth. I felt the teeth scraping against my Natural Armor, trying to find purchase, trying to pierce through. So far, my Armor held, but the pressure was enormous. I had to bust loose somehow!

  I managed to get my left foot planted against the creature's skin, right beside its mouth. Using that leverage, I pushed back hard, keeping my right leg from being drawn any deeper. The teeth scraped and ground against my calf, but my Natural Armor continued to hold.

  Bound as I was, I still couldn’t use my full Strength against the thing. I flexed my arms, trying to free myself, but the limbs were stretchy and flexible. Nothing I was doing seemed to work. Fortunately, I had more than one way to fight back. I still had one hand not completely wrapped in tentacles, so I raised it and cast Drain Life.

  The black beam lanced through the murky water. The creature jerked when the spell hit. I felt its life force flowing into me, its stolen vitality restoring some of my depleted energy. The creature shuddered again, its mouth opening wider in what might have been a scream. The tentacles loosened. Just a little, but…also, just enough.

  I grabbed the tentacle wrapped around my left arm and pulled. I strained with everything I had and the tentacle started to come apart. The creature pulled harder with its other limbs, trying to drag me in, but I managed to free both hands and wrapped them around one of the appendages. I jerked hard, and it came free with a wet tearing sound.

  Now I had two free arms, and the monster was in a bucketload of trouble. I grabbed the tentacle wrapped around my waist and tore it off too. The creature was thrashing, struggling vainly to pull me in with its remaining tentacles, but I had the advantage.

  I yanked my leg out of its mouth with a surge of Strength. Teeth scraped against my Natural Armor one final time, then I was free. Then, I activated Flight and shot upward, rocketing toward the surface. I wanted to put some distance between it and me.

  "Cameron!" Maggie's voice, high and panicked. "Behind you! It's coming back!"

  As soon as she spoke, tentacles erupted from the water again, wrapping around my legs and waist. The creature pulled itself up after me, its massive mouth breaking the surface.

  “Seriously? Discretion is the better part of valor, buddy. But if you want more?" I snarled. “We can do that, too!”

  I let it pull me back down, but this time I was ready and went on the offensive. As soon as I was underwater, I grabbed the nearest tentacle with both hands and ripped it completely off the creature's body. Dark fluid gushed from the wound and clouded the water.

  I ripped off another tentacle, then more. One by one, I tore them off as the creature thrashed beneath me. When I'd removed enough that I could move freely, I activated Flight at full power and shot straight down like a missile, my fist leading the way. I slammed into the creature's mouth with everything I had. Teeth shattered under the impact. The thing's entire body convulsed, but I didn't let up. I punched it again. Again. My fists drove into its soft flesh, tearing and crushing.

  Then I cast Drain Life one more time, point-blank into what I hoped was its vital organs.

  The creature shuddered once more, then went still. The remaining tentacles went limp, floating in the water like dead seaweed. Dark fluid continued to leak from its body, spreading through the water in murky clouds.

  I reached out and touched its skin. A clear crystal materialized in my hand, a tier five Agility. Once the crystal appeared, I knew for sure the monster was dead. I shot back to the surface.

  "Is it dead?" Maggie asked. "Cameron, are you okay?"

  "It's dead," I confirmed, Flying back toward her. "And I'm fine. Just need a minute."

  I reached the entrance and pulled myself onto the dry stone, water streaming from my clothes. My gas mask was ruined now, completely waterlogged. That might be a problem, later. We hadn’t seen any signs of spore-type attacks since entering, but that didn’t mean we wouldn’t later. I tossed it aside and lay there for a moment, just breathing.

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  Maggie knelt beside me, her hands already glowing with white healing light. "You're hurt. Hold still."

  "I'm okay—"

  "You have bruises everywhere. And your leg—God, Cameron, did that thing try to eat you?"

  "Pretty much, yeah," I admitted, looking down at my calf. There were deep bruises where the teeth had pressed against my Natural Armor, but the skin wasn't broken. “Looks like it tried to bite off more than it could chew.”

  “Yeah, literally I guess,” Maggie said. Her Heal spell washed over me, warm and soothing. The bruises faded. The ache in my muscles lessened.

  "There," she said, sitting back. "That should help."

  "Thanks." I sat up and held out the crystal I’d won from the creature. "Here. Tier five Agility. You need this more than I do."

  "Cameron, you can't keep giving me all the crystals—"

  "Yes, I can. Take it." I pressed it into her hand. “Without stat boosts, you’re vulnerable right now. I'm not. These tier five crystals help you a lot more than they help me. Besides, the stronger you get, the better you can watch my back. This helps both of us."

  She looked at the crystal, then at me, and sighed. "Okay. You're right. Thank you."

  The crystal sank into her palm, and I saw her eyes go distant for a moment as the enhancement took hold. When she blinked back to awareness, she stood up and tested her movement.

  "Wow," she breathed. "I feel a lot lighter on my feet. Faster, too.”

  "Good. I’ve got a bad feeling you'll need it." I stood up, wringing water from my shirt. "Come on. We need to keep moving."

  I used Flight to carry us both across the deep pool. There was no way was I risking Maggie swimming through it, not when I couldn’t be sure there weren’t more dangers lurking in the deep. On the far side, we continued down the sewer tunnel, both of us hyper-alert for more threats.

  We didn't have to wait long. The tunnel opened into another chamber, this one maybe thirty feet across. Waiting for us in the middle of the space were four massive rats.

  These weren't normal rats. Each was more like the size of a large dog, with matted brown fur slick with sewage. Their eyes glowed red in the dim light, and their teeth were yellow daggers. I checked their ranks. They were all tier five.

  "Stay back," I told Maggie, moving to put myself between her and the rats.

  "I can help!”

  "I know you can. But let me thin them out first. Be ready with Heal if I need it."

  The rats charged as one, moving with surprising coordination. The first one leaped at my throat, but I caught it mid-air and slammed it into the ground hard enough to crack stone. It squealed, but rolled away before I could finish it.

  The second rat went for my legs, trying to hamstring me. I kicked it hard enough to send it flying into the wall. It hit with a wet crunch and slid down, but was already trying to get back up. These things were tough.

  The third and fourth attacked together, one high and one low. I had to activate Flight to avoid the low one, rising just high enough that it passed beneath me. The high one got close enough that I felt its teeth scrape against my leg, but couldn't penetrate my Natural Armor. I grabbed it by the tail as it tried to retreat and swung it like a club into another rat. They both went down in a tangle of fur and claws.

  The first one was back on its feet, circling me warily. I didn't give it time to plan or coordinate with the others. I rushed forward and caught it with a devastating punch to the skull. It went down and didn't get back up.

  One down. Three to go.

  The second rat had recovered and was charging again. I sidestepped its lunge and grabbed it by the scruff of the neck. It twisted in my grip, trying to bite my hand, but I just squeezed harder and then threw it at the two rats that were still untangling themselves. All three went down in a heap. I moved in fast, not giving them time to recover. My fist connected with the second rat's spine. I felt it break under the impact. That one was done.

  The third and fourth rats split up, trying to flank me. It was a smart play, but not smart enough to save them. The power disparity between us was just too much for them to have any chance of winning. I cast Drain Life at the one on my left, the black beam striking it in the chest. It collapsed, whimpering. I spun and charged the one on my right, closing the distance before it could react. One solid strike to its skull, and it dropped.

  I turned back to the last rat. It was trying to crawl away, badly injured but not dead. I finished it quickly. One blow, and it was over. I wanted to be as merciful as I could manage. These were monsters, yes, but there was no point in making them suffer.

  Silence fell over the chamber. Four dead rats lay scattered around me. I touched each, and four crystals materialized. One was white, which made me get my hopes up for a Cleanse, but it was a tier five Heal. Any other day, we’d have been thrilled for that, but today it was a disappointment. Three crystals were clear, giving us a tier five Strength, Stamina, and Intellect.

  I gathered them up and walked back to where Maggie was standing, her eyes wide.

  "That was incredible, the way you tore through them all!” Maggie said.

  “Yeah, but we didn’t get a Cleanse, still,” I replied.

  “We will.”

  "Yeah.” I hoped she was right. Finding one of those crystals was our only chance, and the last shot for everyone else who’d been bitten, too. I held out all four crystals. "These are all yours."

  “Seriously? All of them, again?”

  “We went over this. You need them more than I do,” I interrupted. "Maggie, look at me. I'm tier eight or nine in my critical stats. These tier five crystals are nice, but they're not game-changers for me. For you? They could mean the difference between surviving and dying. Please take them?”

  She looked at the crystals, then at me. "You really think building me up is the right call?"

  I nodded. “I do. You're smart, you're capable, and you learn fast. But right now, you're too fragile. If something gets past me and reaches you, you might not survive. These crystals will change that. The Strength and Stamina will make you tougher. The Agility you just got made you faster. The Intellect will boost your spell power. And the Heal..." I gestured at the white crystal. "That's redundant for you since you already have tier eight Heal, but you could give it to someone else later, or socket it anyway to rank up toward tier nine."

  Maggie was quiet for a moment, then took the crystals. "Okay. You're right. If I'm stronger, I can help protect us both. I’ll stop complaining about it so much and just say thank you."

  She absorbed them one by one. I watched as each crystal sank into her palm, saw her body adjusting to the enhancements. When the last one was absorbed, she stood up straighter, rolling her shoulders experimentally.

  "I feel... different," she said. "Stronger. Like I could actually fight something if I had to."

  "Good," I said. "Because before this is over, you probably will have to."