The party of 16 finally left the nest, heading the next zone. Shortly after entering the second part of the dungeon, the form of the hallways changed. It went from cavern-ish tunnels to aqueduct style halls. You could tell by the water accumulation on the ground, that these were unclean aqueducts. There was trash everywhere and the smell emanating from the place enough to make the players cry.
Kary took some time while they were all walking without encounters, to look up the stats of her new pendant.
~Divine Essence of Fire~
Durability: Infinite (This item is of divine creation. Time will not affect it and it is indestructible.)
Special Attribute: This pendant will greatly boost your inner fire. It will also boost your cultivation power with fire techniques immensely. (Inner strength +100%, Cultivation boost +100%)
If energy is channeled into it, it can also produce flames of overwhelming power.
Description: This pendant, made from Hestia's divine essence and three strands of her hair, will forever burn bright. It is fire incarnate and will guide you through the darkest of nights.
Kary smiled. This would help her so much on her cultivation, she might break through again soon. Even though she had broken through just by wearing the necklace, the help it would give her was not even close from over.
A sound from ahead brought her back to her senses. She could hear small footsteps, and a lot of them too. Even Nala's fur stood straight.
" Master, there are small creatures coming from up ahead. They are numbered in the hundreds. I think we should get ready to fight " Nala told her master.
" Yes you're right " Kary replied, instantly becoming alert.
" Men! " She hollered. " We've got some company. Get ready for a big fight! " She added, drawing her sword and getting into position.
Kary closed her eyes for a second, trying to focus on the sound coming from ahead, trying too figure out what it was. She cursed, as she couldn't figure anything out from sound alone, but when she opened her eyes, yer vision had become all blue and she could see the heat signatures from her teammates and a huge wave of red coming at them. She focused on the wave and could finally see the shapes separating from one another. It was a horde of rats, hundreds of them, different in sizes from one another. She blinked and her eyes went back to normal.
Not taking the time to test her new ability again, she focused on the fight coming to them at high speed. She started giving out commands.
" Anthony! Split your team up. You cover me and get Alex and John in team one, and Martin and Jake in team two. You guys are to cover the DPS' asses. Carol! Marc! You come with me too! We are going to gather at the front, with your teams behind "
" Aye, sir! " Everyone responded together, as they got into formation.
For this fight, Kary wanted to have her elites take the brunt of the charge, leaving only a slight number of them through to the weaker members. That is why she took the team leaders with her and went to the front, becoming the tip of the triangle formation. This way, they could be assured that they weren't overrun by all those rats. Kary had a fear that if the formation stayed the same, with teams one and two not having tanks, things might get difficult against so many enemies.
Time proved her right, as with the lieutenants and Nala in one team, very few rats got passed them at first. This gave the other players no challenge, letting them keep their strengths for when the elites got tired. Anthony and Marc stood at the front of the formation, blocking and slashing at the rats, forcing them to split apart around them. Then Carol and Kary took the flanks, hacking at the rats passing next to them, thining the pack some more. Then Nala took the most she could down before what was left ended up in front of the rest of the guild.
This formation blocked up the hallway they were in, allowing no rats to go up behind them, making it much safer. If they were to be hit from both sides, things might have degenerated very quickly. After thirty minutes of fighting this way, the wave of rats showed no sign of slowing down. Kary and her lieutenants were slowly becoming sluggish and tired. Kary decided to switch up the formation.
" Teams one and two, formation switch. Hug the sides of the hallway, let us back up behind you, then go back to full width. Leave only a small opening between both teams for us to take care of enemies "
" Yes, Ma'am " They chanted, doing as asked.
Kary strategy was to invert the triangle, having the two teams take the charge instead. With more men taking the charge, they would still be okay, for now. By letting space between the two teams, it would alleviate the burden on them too. The lieutenants and she could still fight, but they needed a slower pace, to take their breaths. Otherwise, they would completely tire out, and that could spell their doom.
They fought for another half hour this way, killing rats by the hundreds. They could no longer count how many they had struck down, as it was way too much to keep count. The teams at the front were slowly starting to let more through, getting tired on their end too. Fortunately for them, the pack had started thining down.
The moment Kary saw the rear of the horde, she decided to end them in one shot. She channeled energy into her new pendant, and when the flames from inside her passed into the necklace, they manifested into the hall. She took this fire, expanded the most she could, to reach the sides of the hallway.
" DUCK! " She yelled out, after gathering enough flames to burn down a house.
When her men heard her yell this, they all ducked without hesitation. Kary didn't take a second more, and shot out the wave of fire in her control, towards the wave of rats. The rats had not even a second of time to react, the wave of fire burning through them, on its way to the back of the horde. The wave of fire ate anything and everything in its path, until it reached the end of the horde, making it slightly passed it, and vanishing into thin air, having done its job.
Kary then dropped to her knees. This had taken a big toll on her energy, but she would recover, after resting a while. Her guild members all looked on in awe at the burnt remains of the horde of rats. The first three meters of rats had been disintegrated by the force of the fire. The rest simply burned to charcoal. They then turned to their leader, looking at her with renewed respect. They knew they had made the right call to follow her. She would lead them into the spotlight, as the strongest guild, they simply knew it.
The party sat down right where they were, deciding to rest after this hour-long fight. They sat there for ten minutes, enough for Kary to be able to stand again. Nala had shared some energy with her master, to help her recover faster. After this ten minute break, they got back up and continued their venture inside this dungeon.
They crossed few enemies after the horde. They all thought they had probably taken out the majority of the enemies in this section. They would be proved right not long after when they reached a huge round room. The room had waterways coming from six different directions, but only two entrances. One from where they had come, the other across the room. Only, in the middle of the room, was a huge lump of fur, rolled in a ball.
This lump of fur was four meters high. It was a sleeping rat. A giant sleeping rat. Harold seeing that, gulped. It was a loud gulp, and everyone in the party heard it. Unfortunately for them, so had the giant rat.
The giant rat slowly got up and turned to face them. At that moment, the doors of the room closed shut, and a notification resounded in their ears.
" Welcome heroes, in the lair of 'The vermin Overlord'. This room is the second Mini-Boss event in this dungeon. The room has been locked down, and will not re-open until 'The Vermin Overlord' has fallen. Good luck! "
This fight would be easier than the first, as, since the room had locked down, there could be no more enemies coming in. So they all got into formation, splitting up into three directions, with Kary and Nala going at its back. They then all started advancing on the Overlord, hell-bent on killing it. It took them barely forty minutes to kill it. It had been a fairly uneventful fight. The reason for this fight to being so easy was that 'The Vermin Overlord' had been the one to send the horde earlier.
He had felt intruders in his territory, and had sent all his forces to kill the intruders, convinced that they would triumph. Only the party of sixteen had vanquished them instead, leaving the Overlord alone to fight them. He had spelled his own defeat, before even seeing his enemies.
The moment the giant rat bit the dust, they heard a notification, saying that they had completed the second event in the dungeon, boosting their spoils at the end by another 50% and another special reward. This cheered them up. The more rewards there would be, the happier they got. With the boss down, the two doors opened back up. The group took no rest this time, being all energized after this easy fight. They simply left for the next part of the dungeon. They hoped they could finish this dungeon quickly, to enjoy the spoils sooner than later.