The cavern fills with the sound of claws scraping against stone.
From the dark tunnels surrounding the chamber, shapes begin pouring into the open space.
Giant rat corpses.
Each creature stands nearly as tall as a man's chest, their swollen bodies supported by rotting limbs reinforced by unnatural strength. Their claws slam into the stone floor, leaving cracks and powdered rock wherever they strike.
Their empty eyes glow faintly with corpse energy.
And they move in a swarm.
Ten people stand in the cavern facing them.
Five armoured guards form a tight defensive ring around two figures.
Elie and Abel.
The guards raise their weapons as the rats rush forward.
Several meters away, Clive stands with his back against Rosalyn and Elodie.
Rosalyn grips her weapon despite the bandages covering her wounds.
Elodie steps away from them, sword in hand.
"I'll draw them," she says calmly.
Without waiting for a reply, she moves forward.
Her blade flashes.
A wave of ice sword energy bursts outward.
Three giant rat corpses collapse instantly as the freezing blade slices through their skulls.
The rest turn toward her.
Their attention shifts.
Elodie becomes the centre of their fury.
She moves across the cavern deliberately, drawing the monsters toward herself and away from the others.
Clive exhales slowly.
"Stay behind me," he says to Rosalyn.
She nods silently.
The first rat corpse lunges toward them.
Clive swings his sword.
The blade cuts cleanly through its neck.
Another leaps from the side.
Clive pivots and drives his sword through its skull before kicking the corpse away.
Across the cavern, the guards fight fiercely.
Two rats slam into the defensive line.
One guard's shield cracks under the force of a claw strike.
Another guard thrusts his spear forward, piercing through the eye socket of a rat corpse.
Elie stands behind them, her hands glowing with soft light.
Whenever a guard receives a wound, she casts a purification spell.
The black corpse energy hisses and evaporates like mist.
Abel watches the battlefield carefully, preparing his own spells.
But the swarm continues growing.
More rats crawl from the tunnels.
Elodie spins across the cavern, her sword sending arcs of ice through the air.
Frozen bodies shatter as they hit the ground.
Still, the numbers press forward.
Clive feels the strain building inside his body.
The Corpse Body ability continues draining his energy.
His muscles ache.
The bloodline power begins resisting him.
Clive frowns.
He cannot maintain the ability much longer.
He releases it.
The grey colour fades from his skin.
His claws retract.
His body becomes lighter—and weaker.
But his swordsmanship remains unchanged.
The next rat corpse leaps toward him.
Clive steps sideways.
His sword flashes once.
The rat's head rolls across the ground.
Two more rush him.
Clive ducks under one claw and slashes upward.
The blade splits the creature's throat.
The second rat slams into him.
Without the Corpse Body enhancement, the impact forces him back several steps.
Clive steadies himself.
Then drives his blade through its eye.
The corpse collapses.
Rosalyn fights beside him despite her injuries.
Her movements are slower, but precise.
She thrusts her sword forward, piercing through a rat's skull.
Across the cavern, the guards begin losing ground.
One of the rats lunges unexpectedly from the side.
Its claws smash through a guard's chest.
The man collapses instantly.
"Fall back!" Abel shouts.
The remaining guards tighten their formation.
But the swarm surges again.
Another rat leaps over the defensive line.
A second guard turns to intercept it.
Too slow.
The claws tear across his neck.
He falls beside the first.
Two guards remain with one heavily injured.
Elie continues casting purification spells, her face pale with concentration.
Elodie moves across the battlefield like a storm.
Her blade flashes again and again.
Ice explodes through the swarm.
Yet the rats keep coming.
Clive cuts through another monster and glances toward the guards.
The situation is deteriorating quickly.
Abel steps forward.
The priest raises his staff.
Light gathers around him.
"I cannot stand behind them any longer," he says quietly.
He moves directly into the fight.
His staff glows as he swings it.
When it strikes a rat corpse, holy light bursts from the impact point.
The monster's head explodes into fragments.
Abel fights with controlled precision.
Each strike carries divine energy capable of destroying the corpse energy inside the creatures.
Even so, the swarm continues.
Clive moves faster now.
Without the Corpse Body ability, his stamina recovers slightly.
He focuses entirely on technique.
His sword becomes a blur.
Each movement targets a weak point.
Necks.
Eyes.
Joints.
Another rat lunges at Rosalyn.
Clive intercepts it.
The blade slices through its spine.
Rosalyn exhales heavily.
"Thanks."
Clive nods without looking at her.
More rats rush toward them.
Clive steps forward again.
Steel flashes through the cavern.
Gradually, the swarm begins thinning.
Corpses pile across the cavern floor.
The last few rats attack desperately.
Elodie finishes one with a downward strike.
Clive cuts another in half.
Abel crushes the final creature's skull with a blast of light.
Silence slowly spreads through the cavern.
Bodies cover the ground.
Clive breathes heavily.
Two guards lie dead.
The remaining three are wounded.
Abel stands among them, staff glowing faintly.
Elie kneels beside the injured, immediately beginning healing spells.
Elodie stands untouched, her blade dripping with frozen blood.
Clive lowers his sword and scans the dark tunnels around the cavern.
The battle has ended for the moment, and the silence presses heavily against the ears of everyone present.
He begins to release the tension in his body.
Then Elodie suddenly shouts.
"Something coming!"
Her warning cuts through the cavern like a blade.
From one of the tunnels, a massive shape bursts forward.
A giant rat corpse barrels toward them at terrifying speed.
The ground trembles beneath its weight.
Elodie reacts instantly.
Fighting energy surges through her body.
She swings her sword downward with full force.
Ice energy explodes from the blade.
The freezing power strikes the stone floor ahead of the monster.
An ice wall erupts from the ground.
The giant rat crashes into it a heartbeat later.
The wall shatters violently.
Shards of ice scatter across the cavern.
But the barrier buys them a moment.
"Move!" Elodie shouts.
The group leaps aside.
The massive rat barrels past them like a boulder rolling downhill.
It slams into the cavern wall with a thunderous crash.
The entire cavern shakes.
Dust and fragments of rock rain from the ceiling.
The group quickly regathers on the opposite side of the cavern.
Weapons raised.
Eyes locked on the monster.
Elodie steps forward and stands at the front.
The giant rat slowly pulls itself upright.
It turns toward them.
Then it rises onto its hind legs.
The sight freezes everyone in place.
The underside of the creature splits open.
Hundreds of rat heads protrude from its belly.
Dozens.
Then more.
A grotesque cluster of twitching skulls.
Their mouths open together.
A shriek erupts from them.
The sound is unbearable.
Clive feels his stomach twist violently.
Rosalyn grabs her head.
Several members of the group stagger.
The shriek echoes inside their skulls like a blade scraping bone.
The rat heads continue screaming.
Elodie moves first.
She ignores the sound tearing through her mind.
Her eyes narrow with cold focus.
She charges.
Ice energy explodes around her body.
Her sword swings forward in a sweeping arc.
A wave of freezing power slashes across the monster's legs.
The giant rat roars.
The battle begins.
The abomination lunges downward with crushing force.
Its claws smashed into the ground where Elodie had stood moments before.
Stone cracks like glass.
Elodie slides across the icy floor she has already created.
Her blade flashes upward.
Ice energy slices across the creature's chest.
Frost spreads instantly across its rotten flesh.
The monster retaliates.
Its claws swing again.
Elodie leaps backwards.
The claws slam down, sending shockwaves through the cavern.
The others cannot approach.
The sheer power of the battle pushes them away.
Ice spreads rapidly across the cavern floor as Elodie continues channelling her fighting energy.
Each strike from her sword releases freezing waves that coat the ground and walls in frost.
The giant rat charges again.
Elodie sidesteps and drives her blade into its flank.
Ice erupts from the wound.
The monster screams.
The hundreds of rat heads beneath it screech in a chaotic chorus.
The sound becomes even worse.
Clive grits his teeth.
"We can't get near them," Abel mutters.
Every time someone tries to approach, another explosion of ice energy forces them back.
The entire cavern becomes a battlefield of frost and shattered stone.
Elodie moves like a storm of cold steel.
Her sword leaves trails of freezing mist through the air.
The giant rat crashes through the cavern wildly, smashing pillars and walls in its attempts to crush her.
Finally, Elodie gathers her strength.
Her fighting energy surges violently.
Ice spreads across the monster's body as she leaps upward.
Her sword glows with blinding frost.
She swings.
The blade cuts downward through the centre of the creature.
The ice energy explodes.
The giant rat splits in two from head to tail.
Both halves crash onto the cavern floor.
Silence falls.
For a moment, no one moves.
Then the group slowly steps out from the tunnels.
They walk back into the cavern cautiously.
Elodie stands hunched slightly.
She breathes heavily after the battle.
Everyone's eyes remain fixed on her.
But Clive notices something else.
Movement.
His eyes narrow.
The severed halves of the giant rat begin shifting.
Clive's stomach drops.
The upper half twitches.
Flesh begins growing rapidly.
Two pairs of new hind legs form from the torn body.
At the same time, the lower half begins regenerating.
Two new rat heads grow from the stump.
The regeneration happens frighteningly fast.
Clive's eyes widen.
"General, be careful!"
Elodie reacts instantly.
She turns just as the newly formed six-legged rat charges at her.
Its claws slam toward her chest.
Elodie raises her sword and blocks the attack.
At the same moment, the lower half lunges from the side.
The two-headed monster snaps toward her exposed flank.
The battle explodes again.