Bigger rats or not, I don't think they would be too much of a problem for our rabble or recently unsealed vampires. We could beat them all with no problem at all...…right. The first person to make a move was actually Gus, but his maneuver was just a futile attempt. He tried gaining control over one of the two meter tall giant rats in front of us, but it seems he was not strong enough as the rat fought off his control, and left him looking a lot paler than normal.
Gus took a few steps backwards and turned his hands into claws as his blood gathered at the tip of his finger nails, giving them a sharp but bloody look.
I leveled my sword towards this new horde of rats as it glowed bright in the darkness of their dim tunnels. The glowing of my sword seemed to be the go ahead, as the rats charged at us en masse.
And we met the challenge head on. Kodak shot forward as he swung his Warhammer upwards, directly under the jaw of a giant rat that pounced on him. The hit was so great that crackling sounds could be heard from it's body as it smashed into it's comrade behind him. Teluna followed behind as he leaped up into the air, and brought his darkness coated dagger stabbing right into the unforgiven hard earth below.
The darkness on his daggers completely smothered the light that was shinning from the blade, as massive pillars of crystal like spikes shot out of the ground, and moved straight into the midst of the charging rats. More than a dozen of them were impaled by the spikes of crystallized darkness, painting a gory scene as most of them were still alive and struggling as they fought for their last breath hung from a spike twelve feet in the air.
Magellan turned and with all of his strength threw his great sword at the crowd of rats.
The sword twirled in the sir like some sort of saw as it sliced apart many of the rats, and when it was at the end of it's rotation, a cloud of darkness suddenly appeared, and Magellan stepped out of it, with his finger grabbing the hilt of the sword as he made another full rotation and slammed the sword on the skull of giant stone rat, splitting the creature in half from the force of the blow.
From then on it all just devolved into a full on melee as even Gus jumped into the fray, stabbing his blood covered fingers into the skulls of any rat that got to close to him, leaving behind five bloody clean holes. Magellan raised his great sword up, and a very different glow from the one caused by the rune weaved on it, showed up at the base of the hilt.
It was a red pulsing light that traveled through and fro the entire length of the blade, moving faster and faster until he swung the sword horizontally, letting loose a massive beam of light that swept and sliced away a lot of rats. I gasped in surprise, but quickly closed my mouth as I understood that was probably a skill that came with his warrior class. I have no idea what it was called though.
With nothing left to do, I joined the fight. The first stone rat that came close to me had it's head hacked by the glowing sword in my hand. The result was not what I expected. The rune [BREAK] sprung up into action almost immediately and turned the bones of the rat in front of me to dust, however the longsword in my hand, was just a common weapon.
Even though it had runes on it, it still did not change the fact that a weapon like this could not stand up to the hardened exterior of the stone rats. As soon as I hit the stone rat, the sword snapped in half, and I was left awkwardly holding a broken blade as the stone rat in front of me was tortured to death.
Without weapons, I would have to rely on my strength and body, also on my soul energy. Weaving was out of the question for now, because after almost dying from being struck by lightening, I was not to confident about using runes to battle at the moment. This giant stone rats were actually as strong as I was in regards to speed and strength, as for body, even though they were made of stone, I surpassed them in that aspect, so I would probably have to rely on my head and superior physique and vitality to beat his things.
I spread my feet wide and used both my hands to grab at the open jaw of the stone rat heading for me with a singular purpose. I held both it's upper and lower jaw open, preventing it from closing it shut and taking my hands with it. The rat kept on pushing and struggling, and even though I pushed back, by virtue of it's bulky body I was the one losing that battle as my feet skidded back on the ground.
Grating sounds came up as the soles of my flimsy leather boots scraped upon the loose gravel of the earth below me. I was pushed back a bit, before I yelled with effort and pulled my hands in opposite directions, dislodging it's jaws from their sockets and each other. The rat screeched in agony, but I slammed my fist straight at the center of it's skull, causing spider web like cracks to appear on it's stone skin, right at the point of impact.
But the rat did not die immediately, as it began to convulse and trash in an epileptic fit. I had hit the rat really hard on the head, but not enough to kill it completely. I turned my attention away from this rat, just long enough to see another one pivot its body and slam it tail into my chest.
The hit was so hard, I was thrown backwards into the tunnel we just came up from, I could feel my ribs crack as more than one bone bent inwards and punctured my organs. I landed on the ground like a helpless leaf in the wind, unable to catch my breath as I rolled down the incline, unable to stop myself from smashing into and through a few boulders that just seemed to miraculously appear in my path.
By the time my rough journey came to an end, my left foot was positioned at an awkward angle, as it turned completely backwards, and three of the fingers in my left hand were facing different positions like a sign post pointing to different paths. My assailant came bounding after me, and right behind him were three other friends who wanted a piece of me. Before my assailant could come closer than fifteen meters from me, there was a loud boom as it's head crashed to the ground, and shattered into multiple fragments of rocks and brain matter. Kodak was standing on the now flattened head of the stone rat, his fist pointing down. He had completely shattered it in one hit.
Then he turned to swing his massive hammer straight into the face of another rapidly approaching rat. The momentum from its approach, brought its rocky face slamming into the hammer, as it too had it's head exploded like a watermelon. Two more rats were approaching, but I was not some damsel to be rescued. I was physically weaker than all of them, but as far as abilities go....I'm the king!. I released my soul energy, and watched as the gas ran towards the approaching stone rats, and straight into their massive two meter tall and five meter long body.
I let my soul energy spread, and when I was sure it was everywhere inside of them, I raised my right hand amidst great pain, and squeezed it into a fist. None of the stone rats had a chance to cry out before their bodies caved in into itself, and all that was left of them was a crumbled mess of flesh and dust. I was admiring my handwork when suddenly.
"Craaaack!" "Arggghhhhhhh!"
I couldn't help the scream that came out of my mouth as bones started to move back into place. Even when I was healing from a lightning strike, it didn't hurt this much. But I had no choice but to endure fifteen minutes of that agony as every messed up bone in my body was put in place. A vampire's regeneration was stronger, faster and less painful at higher ranks.
As a Nosferatu you would be able to replace missing limbs, a Shadower organs, and an elder would live even if you cut of their head or vaporize their body. As long as there's one drop of blood left, then you can be rest assured that they will live, unless of course they're sealed. Then they wouldn't have any other choice but to die for you with injuries that severe.
Kodak waited by my side until I was completely healed and able to carry myself back up.
"Are you okay?" he asked me with worry in his eye. I looked at him as my fangs poked out, and my eyes turned red. Then I answered him.
"I'm hungry".
And that was all we needed to say as we both rushed up back into the cavern. The amount of stone rats left were almost fifty percent less than when we were still in. Magellan, Gus and Teluna have been hard at work, the only difference was that the stone rats left now, were no longer just two meters tall, they were four meters tall, and five to six meters long, and each of them had varying degrees of rather nasty abilities, from spewing poison gas, shooting spikes from their backs, and some of them had crystals growing out of their bodies, diamond hard crystals.
We all regrouped and stared at our opponents, I was pretty sure this things were beyond pissed at us. I mean we invaded their home, and started slaughtering them without remorse when they had done nothing to us. And worst part of it all was that we were winning, and no matter what they did, we just refused to die. I was not indifferent to their plight, but even back on earth this was what it was, life was like this. Morals looked and sounded very differently when you were the one standing on the top of the moral, and evolutionary power ladder.
"My Lord I think our work just got significantly difficult." Magellan said as he assessed the horde of really special and dangerous rats in front of us.
"And so what, if it's not a challenge, then it's meaningless!" Teluna answered back ferociously.
"Indeed. In order to really push ourselves and grow stronger, we have to go beyond our limits. The more danger and difficulty the better." Gus replied.
"We still have to be careful, we're not machines. Even though we can keep drinking their blood, we're going to get tired eventually. If we get tired before they're all dead, we're screwed." Kodak said as he added his own opinion to the matter.
I looked at them and smiled at the sharp contrast and two opposing characteristics I've just seen. Magellan and Kodak wanted to be careful and approach this situation analytically. They both did not want us to take unnecessary risks. Teluna was a freaking warmonger, he was just here for a good fight.
Its hard to imagine the boy was only ten. And as for Gus? he knew we came here with an aim and a goal, a goal to temper ourselves in battle and recognize, exceed and go beyond our limits. And he was willing to achieve that goal, regardless of the difficulty in front of him. I smiled, I couldn't help it, it was as if I could see a future where this four guys led warriors of their own, who shared the same philosophy.
Teluna had the skill set of an assassin, but he was better suited for the front lines, I think it was time I stopped trying to turn him into something he's not. He could be just as formidable out of the shadows than within it. Magellan was just as good as a frontline fighter, but he didn't have enough conviction of his ability to face insurmountable odds.
As such Magellan would never be able to become a leader of any sort, he was best suited to following and receiving orders, like a typical soldier. Kodak was the general among them all, he's able to recognize his problems, and try to plan to counter it, a strategist and a wise general in the making, he still has a lot of growing up to do.
And finally Gus, he was just as good a strategist as his brother and loved to do things with a surgical precision that would leave you feeling chills. With his class and abilities, it was Gus who was born to be an assassin, and not just an assassin, but also a spy. He's unable to speak, but he knows how to observe and acquire information and above all, he would see the mission to the end without fail. I shook my head and said to them.
"Let's not argue. We have enemies in front of us, it's rude to ignore them. We're going to fight them, and if we can't surpass our limits and beat them, we're going to run away. Then tomorrow we will come back and beat them some more, until they're all dead. Now this is something I've wanted to say for a while...Vampires! Assemble!"