---
**BOOOOM!**
Don and the stone worm continued to clash; every time they did, a part of the building would collapse.
**BOOOM!**
Don and the stone worm clashed again, but the strike was so strong that it pushed them far apart. The fight was too intense; Don's left arm from the wrist to the elbow had become a mangled mess, while the stone worm had more than 70% of its stone armor missing. As for the warehouse, it was already destroyed, save for one wall that had somehow managed to remain standing.
Without wasting time, they both lunged at each other again. Don lifted his leg to deliver an overhead kick to the worm's head, but it was a tad bit faster as it used its tail, which had the most covering of the stone armor, to intercept the blow.
**BOOOM!**
The standing wall finally fell; the shockwave from the fight was very strong. Now, there was nothing obstructing the destructive wave that their clash caused.
Nicholas had left the building he was in; the sun was now completely blocked out. He was moving cautiously between the buildings to avoid the beasts. He met a few stray rats, but they were no issue as he avoided them quite easily. The wind felt chilly as it began to pick up speed, although it wasn't increasing quickly; it could still be felt.
Nicholas was walking when he came to a stop in front of an alleyway.
"I think this is the way," he muttered in a low voice.
Nicholas knew this road; it was a shortcut that led to the warehouse. He had made it as a fail-safe. If he somehow got captured, he would follow this road to escape, but now he was using it to go to the warehouse instead.
Entering the alleyway, Nicholas reduced his breathing to the minimum so that if there were any beasts in there, he wouldn't be discovered quickly. The alley was a bit long; well, it wasn't an alleyway to be exact, since it went through and sometimes between buildings, so it was more like a semi-tunnel.
Nicholas was walking when he suddenly stopped, and out of reflex, he moved to hide in the shadow of a building on the left side, away from the streetlight. He had heard something, a very familiar but strange sound—the squeaks of a rat creature, and from the cries, it sounded like it was in pain. Normally, someone would be happy to find an almost dead beast, but right now, Nicholas wasn't smiling; his eyebrows were furrowed, and his mind was working at great speed to come up with an explanation.
For him, it was very strange; the rats didn't attack their own kind. It couldn't be because of food because they only seemed to eat grasses, crickets, and human flesh. They never eat anything other than that. Then this could only mean that the rat he was hearing was attacked.
**Nicholas' POV**
I knew that it was strange, but I had no choice; this was the only route I thought was safe, and I couldn't go back all the way I came. But right now, there was the probability of a creature that was attacking the rats being in the vicinity. I was conflicted.
I knew I had to be prepared, so I searched and found two short iron rods that could act as daggers. Gripping them tightly, I moved, walking lightly to avoid making noise.
I had reached a bend in the road, and the squeaks had gotten clearer. Sticking to the wall, I slowly poked my head out to get a look at what was happening, and I saw...
"Huh?"
I saw the rat that was making the squeaks, and it looked to be in pain from the countless wounds on its body. But the way the wounds were, the pattern, the size, it didn't look like something that had been inflicted by another creature.
The rat was squirming and writhing in pain while I watched silently and curiously. I watched as spikes grew from its back, its nails grew longer, its red pelt became black, and I watched as its previous one-meter body length reduced to 70cm. As the rat was changing, so was the air around it; I could feel an oppressive aura, although it was nothing compared to what 'Don' had released on me, it was still a change. The transformation had ended; the beast was lying in a pool of black blood; its breathing was ragged.
"It's weak; it's better I strike now."
I knew that I had a chance to kill it; in fact, I knew I could because I had actually faced this beast before, well, I and Don had. We encountered the beast—the rat king—but we barely managed to escape with our lives, and that was how the creation of our fighting style had begun. That was a long time ago, and now I had enough skill and the element of surprise.
I moved quietly until I was about five meters away; then I lunged forward. Using the iron rod, I stabbed its back, but it didn't pierce through the skin.
I had calculated all my moves and all possible developments, but I failed to account for one thing: I wasn't fighting a normal rat but the rat king.
I had realized this too late as the rat king had turned and swung its claw aiming for my head. Although it was unexpected, I wasn't unprepared. I knew that the rod wouldn't do much, but I didn't expect it to do nothing at all.
I managed to avoid the claw by rolling to the side, but at the same time, I left myself completely open. The rat king didn't miss the opportunity to send its spiked tail at me. The tail was a few inches away from my face when it suddenly came to a stop; it seemed frozen in place.
"Huh?"
At the same time, I felt a warm sensation come from my hand. I looked down and saw the necklace glowing in a soft red light.
"How?"
I stood up and looked at the frozen beast; I couldn't believe this; the beast was frozen.
"Wow, this ring is powerful."
"I better get out of here fast; who knows how long that will last."
"Huh? What's that?"
I was about to leave when I saw some kind of symbol on the beast's head.
"Now, that wasn't there before, and why does it look so familiar?"
I stopped to look at the symbol for a bit before leaving. I had finally left the tunnel. I was standing in front of the warehouse? Sorry, what remained of it.
"What the heck happened here? Is that a stone worm? How the heck did Don kill it?"
I saw what was left of the stone worm on the ground with Don standing in front of it. From the direction I was coming from, he had his back to me, so I couldn't see his face, but from the way his body was, I knew that the fight between him and the stone worm had been tough, and although he won, it wasn't without a price; his entire left arm was missing.
I walked until I was about 15 meters from him before saying, "How? What happened here?"
"I have no idea. Some random beast attacked my base and started killing all my sacrifices, so I killed it"
"You need to stop," I said in a calm voice.
"I need to stop? Stop what exactly?" Don said, trying to play dumb.
"Really?"
"Oh, don't look at me like that. Of course, it was the worm that killed them... Well, most of them," Don said with a slight smile.
"Wow, you are unbelievable. I wonder, what will you gain from what you are planning? Do you think that killing them will bring back mum and dad?"
Nicholas said with scorn, then continued,
"I gave up trying; do you know why? It's because it's impossible to prove anything without power. Do you think I don't care? I do, it's just pointless; fighting and killing won't bring them back so why bother, why fight a losing battle?"
Nicholas spoke with watery eyes.
"Don't endanger your life and the lives of innocent people; just give up and hand over the ring."
"Look, I don't care if it's pointless, I will make them pay for what they did."
"Who, Don? Who? You don't even know who to go after."
"I don't know, but I'm not giving you the ring; if you want it, you'll have to take it off my dead body," Don snarled and got into a fighting position.
"You leave me no choice then," I said and lunged at him.
And another battle ensued.