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Chapter 94: Into the Catacombs (4)

Through the dark hallways that were dimly lit by the litmus bugs in a small green hue, the group made their way through the catacombs. Whilst they did so, a few rats quickly pounced at them.

Unlike before, they were in small numbers. Thus, it wasn't hard to fend them off.

"...damn," Ethaniel clicked his tongue. "Is this place infested with rats or something?"

"Well... that's better than encountering s-skeletons... or something..." Kon muttered out.

"What are you? Scared of the undead or something?" he raised his brow.

"N-No...!" Kon hesitantly replied.

"Uhuh," Ethaniel shrugged as he moved forward. "If a skeleton appears before you, I'll leave it to you to handle it, alright?"

"Eh...!?" Kon flinched at the statement. "N-No...! I can't handle them alone!"

"...but it's just one skeleton?" he tilted his head in question.

"What skeleton doesn't come in groups?!" Kon shouted out.

"Big one's...?" Frey asked.

"B-Big one's...?!" Kon shivered at the thought. "...um...um...what do you mean big ones...?"

"Uh, well, I don't know! Wouldn't that guardian guy that we'll be fighting up against later be as big as the statue we saw earlier?" she questioned.

"T-That's an undead...?" Kon blankly stared at Frey.

"If not that, then what would that guy be then?" Ethaniel scoffed.

"Ahh!" he screamed.

"...hah, you guys," Shinto let out a helpless sigh as he picked up Kon, quickly he placed him onto his shoulders. "Stop scaring the poor guy."

"Waahh! Master!" Kon clung onto his shoulder as he cried out.

"Pfft..." Raina laughed. "Seeing him acting like this is kinda cute actually."

"Mm... it makes me want to pet him!" Frey said. "Can I?"

"No!" Kon refused.

"Aww..." she frowned.

"Bah. In any case, my question wasn't answered. Where the heck is all the other enemies?" Ethaniel asked. "I've only been seeing rats everywhere."

"Hmm..." Shinto calmly thought to himself as he observed the area around the group. With his vision, he could see the small critters moving about within the catacombs, eyeing on the group as if prey. "Unlike the rats that we've encountered in the hall... these guys seem far more ferocious."

"Well, they're still easy to beat," Ethaniel shrugged. "But that's beside the point. Wasn't this supposed to be some necromancer's catacomb? I don't see anything that is even relating towards such thing,"

"It could be that we're only touching the surface of the dungeon," Raina stated. "The conditions of the dungeon did say that we'll have to clear multiple bosses to leave..."

"...so. we're going to be up against some sort of rat boss first, is what you're saying?" Frey tilted her head.

"That's a high possibility," Shinto nodded his head as his eyes narrowed over towards his notification window. Soon after, he eyed the name of the mob that they've been fighting.

[ Dweller Rat Servant has been defeated! ]

"The monsters name is 'Dweller Rat Servant', so, my guess is that there should be a king waiting for us somewhere," Shinto reasoned. "If so... that could explain the strange behaviour of the rats earlier?"

"A rat king huh?" Raina repeated to herself.

"W-Would be able to go up against that guy...?" Kon muttered out.

"Your still worried about that?" Ethaniel raised his brow. "As I said, there's nothing to worry about."

"B-But still... aren't kings supposed to be strong?" he meekly said.

"...what's a rat king gonna do than rush with its big body at us?" Ethaniel scoffed.

"Um... maybe bring in a horde of rats to try and eat us alive...?" Frey said in a scared tone.

"Hah. If at that point, we'll be able to handle them," he confidently said.

"Ethaniel... l-looked in front..." she pointed towards the darkness.

"What?" Confused by Frey's sudden scared behaviour, he turned towards the direction of where she pointed at. "...?!"

The moment he turned towards the area, he was greeted by hungry red eyes upfront. It wasn't just a few eyes that lit red, it was plentiful.

"...another mischief of rats upfront..." Shinto said in a cautious tone as he tightly gripped onto his staff. "...but, from the looks of it, they seem fewer in numbers than last time."

"Kiikk!" The rats screamed out. In the next moment, the rats quickly rushed towards the group.

"Tch... such a nuisance!" Clicking his tongue, Ethaniel swiftly unsheathed his sword as he sent out a bright flashing light towards his front. Moments later, he connected it with a circular arc, quickly sending them over towards the horde of monsters.

"Kiikkk!!" Remaining persistent and taking the blows from the attacks, the rats remained vigilant as they continued their way over towards the group.

"...two attacks didn't stop them?" Shinto mumbled out. Quickly, he waved his staff around as he cast [Shadow Fields] onto the area. Following up with that, a burst of flames boomed forth.

"Orbal Shadow!" Kon jumped down from Shinto's shoulder as he quickly activated his skill. Together with the flames, the two mixed together as it protruded out towards the horde.

However, even with that burst of attack, the horde still continued on.

"Ugh...! These guys didn't get a dent in their formation?!" Kon gulped at the sight.

"...four burst attacks and they're still persisting..." Raina said meekly. "And... their health seems only to be downed to the half...!"

"Tsk... what's going on?" Shinto asked in a confused tone.

"U-Um... let's just try to stop them from coming forward...!" Bewildered by the scene in front of her, Frey quickly took a step forward as she gathered an aura around her. In the next moment, she activated a skill.

[ Frontal Collision ].

Soon after, her fists quickly moved down towards the ground of the catacombs, as she disrupted the area. "...E-Ethaniel...!" she mumbled out.

"No need to say it." Following up with her attacks Ethaniel swiftly lifted his blade up into the sky. Then, he slammed it down to the ground. Alongside Frey's earlier skill usage, the impact from his blade created a dent into the ground.

"Kikkk!" The rats still continued on as they neared the group. In half a minute time, they would reach the party.

"The ground's rubble not enough to stop the rats from moving forward!" Frey cried out. "What do we do?!"

"...Raina! Do you have any earth skills?" Shinto swiftly turned towards Raina in a hurry as he questioned.

"E-Earth? I only have a low levelled spell..." Raina replied.

"Damn..." he frowned as he turned to check the status of the rats upfront. Seeing that the health of the front line rats was in the yellow, it meant that after the burst skills of the party members were used, it only downed their health to half. "...this..."

"Hey, they're about to reach us! Do we go in and fight?" Kon shouted out in worry.

"...although still smaller in numbers... if they were to attack us, then... we would most likely lose," Shinto thought to himself.

"Then...?!" Ethaniel shouted out as he entered into a combative stance.

"Then... we'll have to... run...!" Shinto commanded.