It was with much trouble that we manage to reach the boundary. Human civilization ends here and beyond this lies the untamed lands, there will be actual monsters out here and I can't wait to fight one.
Just how much more nutritious would they be compared to the farm cattles, they might even provide more than the wizard himself. Best part was they wouldn't send anyone after me when I do kill them, and at this point that was all I could ask.
Me and the gang, the whole mischief of them all rush into the cover of the forest. Instantly I could tell that there was a difference between this forest and the forest I crossed along the road. It was the smell, it was hard to describe but it smelled wild, it smelled of death and of violence. Things will be very different here. I looked at the gang, I'm gonna make great rats out of you and together we will devour the very gods.
Right now what we needed was rest, I made them dug a hole underneath a tree near the entrance to the forest. There was no reason to go deep on the first day, I planned on taking things slow. The hole eventually became a cave we could hide in, something of a base camp. I let most of them rest here for now and took two of the bigger ones with me.
Preparation was a rat's greatest weapon and you need to know what your preparing for, that was what we were going to do, I know monsters roamed this forest but what kind of monsters are there I do not know. I want to know how they hunt, how they sleep, I want to know everything about them. As a monster myself I still have the need to eat, sleep, drink and breathe. I won't be surprised if there was a monster who doesn't have those basic needs but the cost for those kind of evolution should be quite expensive and should have some visual indication, evolution does change the body visibly afterall.
Me and the other two were small enough to not need stealth moving arround. I was quite confident I could escape anything that actually came for us, I'm alot stronger than I look and I have two others with me here who can be used as a distraction should the need arises, not to mention the various skills I have that was specifically chosen of escaping. My abilities allows me to one shot everything I have come across so far and that includes a wizard and fully armoured guardsmans, nothing with exposed flesh will kill me unscathed.
Still we proceed with caution, moving from the cover of one tree to another, looking around for any movement, any colour out of place before we move on to the next tree. It wasn't fast and as the one with the most upgraded eyes I was doing most of the safety checks, wouldn't have it any other way. I know we're basically on the border of the forest but damn was the forest devoid of life. Aside from the trees there really wasn't anything at all, we'll have to go far deeper to see any of the monsters.
We went back to the base and rested for the day, we will have to relocate and make a new base far deeper into the forest. I didn't really like the idea but it was a necessity, I want to keep an eye on the rat cave to see how close they are to the invasion but that will have to wait, knowing when it will happen wouldn't help me if I can't do anything about it, and to have the capability I'll have to levelup alot first.
Before we went to sleep in our base, we close the entrance with dirt, just barely open for air to flow. Don't want to be attacked while sleeping, no thank you. I even put some of the ratling on watch, I ordered them to wake me up if anything happened and take turns in their watch, which they did without question. It was a good thing they follow my every command, I can make great use of them with it but my talent stop there, I don't have the charm or charisma to make anyone follow my command. It really is a good thing I don't have to deal with that, I'm really bad at making people do things they don't want to do. I simply don't inspire.
The night went by without any incident. I'm always careful when I sleep and when nothing happens like this too often, I can't help but feel like the next night will be the night everything went wrong. My paranoia gets worst each time and I just hope something small happens sometime soon, I'm loosing my mind here and it's over something that has never happened. The rat stress is too real.
We dig ourselves out, covering the entrance to hide the fact that we were ever here. It was the crack of dawn, the sun had yet to rise. We didn't use the cover of the night despite being nocturnal animals, that was because I didn't want to contend with the others creatures of the night. But I will have to revaluation that assessment, I want every advantage I could possibly have.
We change our approach, I decided to take a risk. We were no longer hiding on our way to the deep forest, we did the exact opposite. We were looking for attention, we march on the open and make as much noise as we could. All the while constantly observing any reaction.