With the entrance in sight, it felt like their journey was going end easy, but fate has other opinions. "Keee!" A group of rat humanoids said as they crawled out from another tunnel, one so small anyone would walk past without noticing it. "Seems like we'll get more manastones before we get out." Thurium said with a smile as he pulls out a pair of small pistons. All 5 are wearing steel armor, with spears for weapons. Telonio examines the tunnel, a small passage of only 2 meters in diameter and 3 meters tall, making it terrible for sword combat. Small group of 5 rats, all no taller than 2 meters. "Seems like those are not the only ones…" he says, sensing more rats behind him. "Dibs on the front ones!" Thurium said, unloading his pistols onto them; killing one instantly. Telonio turns around, ready to fight. A group of 20 or so rat humanoids are now in front of him, all armed with weapons and armor. As Telonio walks up to them, they laugh, assuming him being weaponless as a sign of surrender. As they laugh, one launches himself onto Telonio, its spear aiming at his heart; but all he saw was light. Telonio's punch sends the first rat's head back to its allies, leaving the body standing for just a moment before collapsing upon itself. Spears in hand, more charges at him, spears and swords alike going for a penetration, but all bounces off with no scratch on the armor.
"How are these monsters so dumb yet know to go for the vulnerable areas?" I wondered to myself as my fist hit another rat's chest, giving a hole where the heart and manastone was. Everyday my body goes through extreme performance and exercises to fight monsters, so it feels rather to take an easy quest every once in a while. Rat humanoids are born with agility as their primary traits for combat, so this small tunnel is more of an advantage to me then it is to them. One punch, another down. Another punch, another down. A third punch, and another one goes down. Any human would almost feel sorry for the rats in this case. Soon, upon a pile of 15 or so rats, only two are left. One the right stands a rat at most 1.2 meters, had its eyes not be of killing intent i would have assumed it to be a child, but its height is not the only thing that makes it stand out. All around its skin from its waist to its head, lays green emerald like spikes where its fur should have been. It looks at me with a smile, almost like a predator that can't wait to play with its food. But the rat on the right seems to be stopping him. No taller than 1.5 meters tall, a dark fur rat humanoid stands here, arms crossed with a sword strapped onto his right waist. Even with only a small light source emitting from the entrance, I can see multiple scars on its chest, almost like a pattern of sorts. "Come at men, Rat 1 and Rat 2." Rat 1 charges at me, hands revealing its sharp and ridiculously long nails. It dodges my fist, a small hole remains where it once was. Rats monsters are fast by nature, but it seems this one is an exception. It runs at a constant pace, laughing like fireworks crackling as it goes around me, as if its body doesn't follow the laws of gravity. Another punch on the ground, missed. Another punch on the ceiling, missed. Another punch on the wall, another miss. "Stop running like a coward damn it!" I yelled, punching with all my strength on the ceiling, resulting in a small cave in. Rat 1 continues to run around, trying to attack me but it too seems to be cursed by Lady Luck, as one of the rocks from the cave directly hits its head, making it lose consciousness for a moment. But that split second was all I needed, as I launched my fist directly at its head, ready to collect its manastone later.
But it seems like Telonio forgot one crucial part, to never get too focused into a fight. Rat 2 has joined the fight, making it now a 2 against 1. Just before Telonio's fist makes contact with the green gremlin's chest, he is kicked with such force a loud bang was heard. Telonio was sent flying back to Thurium, a small dent in his mithril armor. "Friend, are you ok?" Thurium said with bits of worryness as he catches Telonio from slamming into the walls, struggling to help the tall adventurer onto his feet. "That rat's skill is on par with diamond ranks if it can dent mithril armor…" Thurium said seeing a dent the size of a fist on Telonio's mithril chestplate. As Thurium helps Telonio back onto his feet, he can see the black furred rat recovering the green one by dumping an entire healing potion onto the green gremlin rat. "One of my potions must have dropped out…" Telonio said with an angry mutter as he noticed a small hole in his bags. "Gotta remind myself to buy the stronger quality bags next time…" The green gremlin has slightly recovered now, its sharp long nails out just waiting for another opportunity to attack. "I'll fight them both, just have my back whenever possible." "Wouldn't it be much easier to just run? We have an open exit right there." Thurium asks as he points towards the cave entrance only at most 100 meters away. But Telonio has already unloaded all his baggage,ready to bath in the blood of the rat duo as he walks towards them. "I refuse to have mere rats be the reason for me running away, those days are over." Telonio lunges at the pair, his fists stronger with anger. Both rats dodges his fist as it shatters the rocky floor, shreds flying to. Ignoring the green gremlin, Telonio launches his fist at the black rat humanoid, ready to one punch one kill his guts into the wall.
"Die you fucking rat! I'm gonna use your bones as silverware!" My fist launches like an arrow from the crossbow at the rat, too angry to even open my eyes. But suddenly, I felt as if my fist hit a solid bloodstone wall. I opened my eyes, and saw the rat blocking it with its three hands. Wait, three? That thought made me freeze for a split second. Crack! I was launched back again, this time with no dwarf to catch me. "Telonio!" Thurium shouts as he unloads his pistols on the rats, both taking refuge behind the rocks from the fallen cave in. But luckily I wasn't knocked out, and quickly got back up.