As Rael got deeper into the forest, he could hear the terrifying cries of different creatures in the distance. He made sure to avoid their direction, but while keeping his eyes out for the worst, he noticed that for each mile he covered, the system moved up a percent.
Still, that didn't make him feel at ease — he had already done the math and calculated that it would take a total of eighty miles before the system fully awakened.
Rael looked up at the sky.
"Won't be good if the sun sets," he muttered.
He knew he only had about an hour before sunset, so he had to find a hideout quickly. Covering eighty miles was impossible now — maybe if he was awakened, that would be easy, but he wasn't.
As Rael moved deeper into the forest, the trees around him began to change — the fine green trunks gave way to blackish, mossy ones. He ignored his groaning belly; he was famished. He hadn't eaten for two days before being kicked out.
He finally reached a clearing filled with fungi and circular-shaped holes that gave off a disgusting odor. Rael wasn't too bothered by the smell, though it was nauseating enough — what actually bothered him were the disfigured, rotten skeletal parts lying around the area.
He bent down to his knees and used his fingers to poke at a glossy, sticky substance on the floor that reeked of something he could only describe as rotten fish mixed with rotten egg paste.
"I really am cursed, aren't I?" Rael muttered, cursing under his breath as he got up and backed away slowly. His right hand instinctively drew the short sword from his waist.
He knew what this place was — a wormrat nest.
Though wormrats couldn't even be considered the lowest of Aether beasts, they made up for that weakness with numbers. A pack could grow from five to a hundred in just a few days, and each one could take down the average untrained man. To Rael, the worst part of all was their ugliness and stench.
As he stepped back, almost fully out of their area, he couldn't help but feel relieved.
"Just stay in your nasty holes," he muttered.
Unfortunately, he stepped on a broken twig, and a sharp crack echoed.
Rael froze. "Damn it…"
Seconds passed as he kept his golden brown eyes fixed on the holes, but nothing emerged. He let out a slow sigh of relief—
—until, from the farthest hole, something poked out.
A nasty-looking head — patched-up skin, a bulging bump where an eye should've been, and two long yellowish teeth. It sniffed the air, scanning. Then, stepping out of its hole, it began sniffing the ground, moving in Rael's direction.
Rael's eyes narrowed as he watched the chicken-sized rat shuffle closer. He couldn't help but recoil at the ugliness of the thing, but he stood completely still. Wormrats were blind, but they had an acute sense of smell and hearing. Their flaw was that they could only recognize scents they had previously registered — as a threat, or as food.
The wormrat sniffed closer until it finally reached Rael's boots. It sniffed and drooled, leaving its nasty saliva all over the leather. The stench assaulted Rael's nose, but he didn't move.
Just as the ugly creature turned away, Rael's stomach grumbled loudly.
"Ah, shit."
The wormrat turned and screeched, launching itself toward him—
—but Rael reacted instantly. The rusty short sword came crashing down on its head, smashing it to the floor. Before it could even twitch, Rael adjusted his grip on the sword stabbing straight into its skull, killing it instantly.
"Damn it, just my luck," Rael cursed.
he could already hear screeches echoing from the surrounding holes — and even from the trees behind him.
He brandished his short sword as dozens of wormrats began crawling out, surrounding him in the process.
'To die at the jaws of ugly rats… such bad luck', Rael thought grimly. Still, he wasn't going down without a fight.
"Come on, you ugly bastards," he growled.
As if in response, a loud screech came from the biggest hole, like a command — and the wormrats charged in a frenzy.
Rael sidestepped a leaping wormrat, slashing it mid-air. He rolled aside and kicked another that lunged toward him, then brought his sword down in a heavy arc, smashing its blunt edge on another before spinning to deliver a roundhouse kick at one that lunged at his neck, in that same motion bringing his leg down to stump on one's head that tried to claw at him.
He tried his best to dodge each lunge — wormrat saliva carried a paralyzing effect if bitten. His golden brown eyes sharpened as he leapt onto a branch, using it to swing himself above a dead tree, gaining a bit of distance. Below, the rats clawed and hissed, trying to climb up.
From above, Rael swung down his sword, bashing any that got too close, killing two in quick succession.
Then another screech echoed.
A larger wormrat emerged — dog-sized and grotesquely obese, its body glistening with slime. The smaller ones stopped climbing and began gnawing at the base of the tree instead.
"What… are rats supposed to be smart?" Rael muttered, scanning for a safe landing spot. But he quickly noticed the large wormrat staying behind, guarded by two others that hadn't joined the attack.
'Huh,that thing is ugly but that must be the leader ?
'If I manage to kill the leader, that should scatter them. Without a leader, they should definitely retreat, it's a pack after all… better to try than be rat food '
The tree creaked under the relentless chewing. Rael gritted his teeth and decided to gamble.
He leapt from the swaying branch, rolled across the ground, and sprinted straight toward the leader, his expression twisted with determination and madness.
Sensing the sudden charge, the wormrat leader screeched, calling the pack for help.
But Rael was already among them. He parried and smacked aside any rat in his way, then leapt — bringing his sword down on one of the guard wormrat that lunged at him. The skull cracked open with a wet crunch, blood and brain matter splattering across his face.
He didn't stop. He twisted his body and slammed his fist into the squishy face of another, then let out a roar as he lept and raised the sword high before bringing it down like some epic knight slaying a dragon.
The fat wormrat screeched in terror as the sword's tip pierced its skull, pinning it to the ground.
" You ugly pest better run now!" Rael shouted already anticipating their fear.
But instead of retreating, the rest turned toward him — and screeched louder, their cries filled with pure hatred.
"You've got to be kidding me," Rael muttered, tightening his grip on the sword as the horde rushed at him once more.he was certain he'll end up as rat food