The berserk rat and the other rat continued chasing after Ray, their assault only growing more frenzied and brutal as time passed, but Ray was not worried in the slightest.
He kept full focus on the rats while dodging each attack by a hair's breadth, always sneaking in an attack when he got the chance. He aimed to annoy and engrage the frenzied rat as much as possible and so he threw sand in its face, light orbs, and tripped it.
After being toyed with for so long the rat's power had increased by another notch as it's attacks grew faster and stronger.
A loud bang erupted as Ray used Shadow Shift to dodge another attack, causing the berserk rat's claw to strike the wall creaking fissures that trailed its surface. The other rat lunged in for a bite mindlessly but was dodged nimbly by Ray.
Ther berserk rat roared out and continued its attack, the same sequence of actions it always did, however this time Ray was ready to end things.
He cut the legs of the other rat, and after the numerous attacks it had recieved their, it's body finally gave in to the damage and fell. It tried to get up but the act proved too difficult and cumbersome for its destroyed legs to carry out.
As it struggled, Ray led the berserk rat to the otherside of the cave before using Shadow Shift to appear behind the berserk rat on its Shadow and running towards the injured rat.
'Alright finally... Let's hope this works'
The injured rat was showing similar signs as the berserk rat before it gained a boost in strength. It's muscles began to grow and its frame began to expand in size.
Ray paced himself just enough for the berserk rat to be right behind him as he rushed forward.
He soon reached the injured rat who erratically looked up at Ray before lunging forward to bite and him. Ray had slowed even more before reaching it, thus the berserk rat who was right behind him swing its claw forward in an attempt to pierce him.
Neither saw each other as their eyes saw only red, and a dark figure they sought to kill. Both of their attacks carried a powerful force behind them, yet the berserk rat's claw was both faster and stronger and it seemed his attack would hit Ray before the injured rat, even though it attacked later.
However just as they had begun attacking Ray had already dropped a light orb that blasted light outwards. It was underneath the large bodies of both the rats thus creating a shadow that loomed over their backs and reached the ceiling.
Ray activated Shadow Shift right before being hit by the claw, appearing right below the ceiling in the shadow of the berserk rat. Ray then concentrated his mind and sent a wave of psychic energy that pulsated in various frequencies, interfering with the mind of the berserk rat. And so he witnessed the culmination of his efforts.
The berserk rat's claw which contained its strange powers and pure wrath dug into flesh and shattered bones. An unexpected screech came from his prey. Its vision focused in on what it had attack, as the large, squirming body of another rat appeared.
Due to the size difference the berserk rat's attack had shattered the chest of the other rat and punctured its heart and lungs. And with a fading red light in its eyes it breathed its final breath staring at its brother who had killed him.
The berserk rat was stunned, its movements halted. Although its power hadn't weakened it seemed its heart had been. Why had he hit his own brethren? He didn't even realise when his prey had dissapeared... Its vision had blanked and its hand swung harder...
Ray had momentarily interfered with its mind, causing it not to register him dissapearing and instead blank out for a moment. He normally could not do this to creatures since they had a stable mind, or were too intelligent, but this rat fit just the right criteria to be affected.
Taking advantage of its momentary weakness Ray kicked off the ceiling downwards using shadows to boost himself even faster downwards.
Shadows swirled around his blade, coating and strengthening it. And with a flash of silver peeking from a corner of Ray's blade and a splash of red accompanied a loud screech.
Ray's rapier had pierced the monster's head and destroyed its brains.
Maintaining his position for a moment, in which he was gripping his rapier while being upside down in the air, he swiftly pulled his blade out of the monster and landed gracefully.
The berserk rat fell forward and onto the other rat with a thud as they both next to each other, separated in death by only a few seconds.
Ray then jogged towards the other tunnel as the light orbs he had dropped began to fizz out, their illumination dimming before darkness soon devoured the room.
The only light orb that still glowed remained trapped underneath the bodies of the two giant rats.
Ray clutched his head for a moment as he staggered slightly. Everytime he uses his psychic powers he gives a brief opening for Eribos to attack him. Although he defends against it most of the time if the psychic ability he uses is powerful or strenuous it gives a larger window of opportunity to Eribos.
Ray quickly reached the next room over which he found to be empty. Just as he was about to continue moving to the next room he heard the sound of fire and screeches. The sounds were getting closer untill he could feel tremors through the floor and see a slight orange light around the bend in the tunnel.
...
Feyd looked at the incredibly large rat infront of him as him. Its yellow, or maybe golden shard like Mark on its head seemed to glow with a strange, authoritative power.
The other three rats were also stronger now but not as strong as the berserk rat. They all rushed at Feyd from multiple different directions.
These rats were now much faster and Feyd could no longer dodge them as easily. He was slower and less agile than Ray and thus he could only barely dodge the attacks.
Yet right after he dodged all three attacks a large black blur flashed towards him as a powerful impact send him reeling away in pain.
With a loud crashing sound Feyd hit the wall behind him creating large fractures in it. Two different kinds of pain, sharp and dull, exploded throughout his body causing him to groan out.
He then Instinctively blasted fire to propel him away to the side as he ended up barely dodging another attack by the large rat.
Its attack caused the fractured wall to collapse and crumble as dust scattered around the rat.
"What the hell is that thing!?"
The other three rats also continued attacking causing Feyd to expend more effort dodging them.
The large rat almost seemed to give off the aura of a king, a ruler of rats. The rat king turned towards Feyd and prepared to lunge at him.
Feyd immediately created a Rift underneath him and another one on the otherside of the room. He would have loved to create one outside and escape but the room was just slightly too deep underground, barely exceeding the range in which he could make a Rift in just a few seconds.
He appeared in a corner of the room and saw the rat king dash past where he previously was, but instead of being confused it immediately changed direction the moment it landed on the ground to dashing towards Feyd once more.
This time he did not have enough time to create another Rift since he himself was caught off guard by the rapid attack of the rat king and thus had to propel himself away with flames to barely dodge the attack.
A mouthful of vomit came up as he prepared to belch it out when danger signals blared in his head as he created a Rift and appeared on the otherside of the room. This proved to be the right call as the rat king kicked the kicked off the walls and clawed at where he was.
If he had been a fraction of a second late he would've been shredded by those claws that were larger than his head.
All these uses of Rift had been too much as he immediately emptied the contents of his stomach and reeled forward, weakness and nausea filling his mind.
With another tingling sensation he quickly ducked before rolling away dodging another two attacks, though one of the smaller rats managed to nick his shoulder.
'Ughh this is bad... This is REAL bad '
While leaping backwards towards the only tunnel in the room he sent Fireballs and swats of flames towards the rats.
Although the smaller ones what to take the time to dodge and maneuver around the attacks since even a single hit would've damaged them pretty badly the rat king simply took them head on, barely taking moderate damage.
The weakness and nausea was slowly receding.
Another fire boosted leap allowed him to barely dodge an attack as he sent a Blast Burn at the rat king. It took a single step back before rushing towards Feyd once again.
As Feyd ran through the winding corridors that he wished would restrict the rat king his hopes were dashed as the rat king nimbly ran through the tunnel and continued to attack Feyd.
Although it no longer dashed forward like an arrow it instead steadily chased Feyd at a speed far exceeding his speeds unless he used flame sto boost himself back. But this was quickly consuming his reserved as he began to feel fatigued.
"I'm sorry I killed your family! Please get the hell away from me!"
Feyd's leap was just a beat too slow as the rat king manged to claw away at his chest causing deep gashes that began to bleed rapidly.
"Ughh crap..."
Feyd grimaced and staggered backwards while continued to flee. Concentrating a large mass of fire in his blade he took the rat king by surprise as he ducked forwards and dodged its attacked while stabbing the blade into the rat king's body.
However the blade only pierced only a few inches before being stopped by clenched muscles and thick skin underneath the rat king's dense fur.
Flames bursted out inside the rankings body causing it to screech out in pain for a moment before kicking Feyd away.
Feyd was launched towards a wall at high speeds as he was managed to weaken the impact, though a dull pain coarsed through his body.
The rat king's red eyes narrowed slightly as it begun to consider Feyd as a foe that could potentially threaten it. Thus it started taking Feyd seriously as it's muscles bulged and the golden mark on its head begun glowing even brighter.
Feyd immediately noticed the increased power levels in the rat king as his eyes began to twitch.
"Oh come on, you're getting even stronger now!?"
He immediately leaped backwards as a loud crash and a cloud of dust appeared infront of him. A large shadow inside the dust continued lunging at Feyd as he barely manged to dodge once more, this time parrying the rat king's claw away.
Feyd kicked off the walls and blasted flames once more but the rat king had already appeared infront of him. It swung its claws too fast for Feyd to properly react as he barely managed to bring his blade up to block.
The force of the swing sent him crashing to the floor as a wave of weakness floated his body. However Feyd knew that if he succumbed to the weakness and delayed his movements for even a moment he would be killed instantly.
Another blast of fire sent him flying backwards as he neared what he sensed was the next room.
'Please let it be near the surface please!', If the next room was near the surface, he could directly Rift out.
After another blast of flames, another screech, another crash and more injuries Feyd barely exited the tunnel and into a spacious room.
He barely had the time to react to another attack the rat king narrowly bit his shoulder off. However his position was bad, his footing was off and the continuous use of his powers had left him exhausted.
'I don't think... I'll be able to dodge this one...'
Just just as the rat king was about to swing its claws a dark shadow rushed towards the rat king at incredible speeds!
A slight glint came from the shadow as a sharp, long blade like shadow was poised to attack the rat king from above
However the rat king swiftly turned around giving Feyd the chance to jump away and properly see what was happening.
With a heavy yet swift flick of its tail the rat king made the shadow change its attack into a block as it was sent flying away for a moment before the shadow landed on the ground meters away.
The rat king cautiously eyes both Feyd and the shadow as it crouched close to the floor preparing its next attack. Behind it from inside the tunnel sounds of rats scurrying towards the room could be heard.
Feyd glanced at the shadow only to see the shadows receed, leaving behind a white haired dark elf with a frown in its place.
'Ray! But wait where wa–'
Feyd's thoughts were abruptly frozen for a brief moment, short yet long enough for Ray to notice. He then smiled at Ray while giving him a thumbs up.
"Glad your finally here! Was wondering when you would come!"
Ray glanced at Feyd having expected a similar response. The frown on his face dissapeared yet his emotions grew ever slightly more despondent.