Pushing through the oppressive forest, Arthur and Eric's breath came fast and shallow, the aftermath of their clash with the Giant Rats still weighing on them. Each aching muscle and the bleeding wound was a standing reminder of just how close they had come to death.
"How far away do you think the portal is?" Eric wondered.
Arthur shrugged his shoulders, grip on his shield tight as his gaze surveyed the area around them. "I don't know. Honestly starting to think this place never ends."
All around them, the forest seemed to close in, trees casting long, flickering shadows that seemed to swallow all the light. The air was thick and heavy, the stench of rot catching in their throat and making their eyes sting. Neither of them spoke a word, the deafening silence around them only broken by the sound of their breathing and the faint rustling of their movements.
The silence around them didn't last long.
Ahead of them, the undergrowth shifted causing both of them to freeze, the grips on their weapons tightening. "There's more of them?" Eric hissed in panic and on cue, four more Giant Rats emerged, their hungry gazes locking on them. "Fucking hell! Again!"
Arthur took a deep breath, taking a single step forward as he attempted to calm his building nerves, Eric's words an expression of his own feelings. "We've done this once before." What Arthur failed to mention was the injuries they had sustained, but neither of them needed reminding of that fact. They bore the wounds and felt the pain every time they moved.
"Alright." Eric sighed, knowing just as well as Arthur that turning back was not an option. These Giant Rats were faster than them, running away was more likely to get them killed than standing and facing the enemy.
The first rat lunged, scurrying across the floor before leaping through the air at Arthur. Yet remembering his time against the first wave of Giant Rats, he was ready and met it with his shield. The impact jolted through his arm, but he held firm, gritting his teeth as he smacked the rat, its body going limp in a daze.
This left it completely exposed to his follow-up, a slash of his blade coming down and striking the rat. It found its mark, unfortunately not deep enough though as the blade cut through the flesh of its side. The rat screeched as it struck the ground, quickly scrambling to its feet and scurrying out of range.
"Fuck!" Arthur cursed, managing to catch the sight of another rat coming toward him. Eric was there though, thrusting his spear out and managing to catch it in the side. The creature hissed, its claws scratching along the spear shaft. But Eric, with a grunt drove the spear forward once more, driving it deep into the rat, pinning it to the ground.
"That's one!" Eric yelled, voice tinged with panic and triumph as he looked to see the other two rats bearing down on him.
But Arthur stepped in between them, a flurry of wild sword swings driving one back as he managed to deflect the other rat that leapt at him aside with his shield. His footing was slightly unstable though, the weight of the Giant Rat knocking against his shield nearly knocking him off his feet.
He managed to gather his footing quickly, but his inaction had halted his sword swings, the rat he had been warding off with them, coming back at him. Panicked, Arthur just barely managed to sidestep, arching his body to avoid the claws of the creature, though they scraped along his stomach as its jaws snapped furiously.
It landed, turning only for Arthur to be on it, his sword raised high and coming down and slicing through its throat. Blood sprayed across the forest floor as it crumpled to the ground, Arthur looked to see the Giant Rat he had deflected with his shield coming for Eric.
Its claws grazed against his leg as he stumbled back, yet managed to throw a few wild jabs with his spear, managing to drive the Giant Rat back. He failed to land a decisive blow but did manage to right his footing.
This is when Arthur came down, pinning the Giant Rat to the ground with his shield, pressing down with all his weight as he drew his sword along its neck. Together, they turned, looking toward the only remaining Giant Rat, the one Arthur had injured in the opening salvo. It was still alive, hissing at the two of them as it limped around, eyes flickering between them both as if deciding which one to attack first.
Wiping blood from his face, Arthur frowned heavily. "Only one left." Let's finish it—"
He stopped midsentence, a sudden chill running down his spine as he heard a faint sound in the distance. Arthur turned his head, gaze sweeping across the trees to try and locate the source of the sound.
"What is it?" Eric asked moving closer to Arthur with his spear pointed at the other Giant Rat. He refused to take his gaze off it, only briefly looking to Arthur to see what was going on with him.
"Can't you hear that?" Arthur asked.
"Hear what?" Eric wondered, his heart beating heavier when he noticed the Giant Rat beginning to go still, ears twitching as it too locked around. "What the hell is—"
Eric too went still, hearing something faintly in the distance.
A furious rustling beyond the trees around them, but closing in and growing louder. The two of them barely had time to process it all before, a wave of rats poured in from their right side, their countless eyes glinting in the dim light as they screeched and squealed.
"Fuck!" Arthur cursed, he and Eric got to their feet scrambling backwards as quickly as they could as the rats rushed toward them. They were smaller than the Giant Rats, looking more like average, normal rats in size. But there was dozens of them and they were each of them hungry.
The horde hit them like a tidal wave, countless bodies swarming over their legs and knocking them to the ground. Arthur's shield flew from his grasp as he fell, the mass of fur, tails, claws and teeth enveloping him.
"Get off me!" Eric cried out, smacking them aside with his hand and spear, legs kicking out as Arthur coped with his actions. Both desperate and furiously trying to get as many rats off them as possible. Arthur's own sword swung, cutting through bodies but it didn't matter, his and Eric's actions were in vain.
For every rat he killed, ten more seemed to take its place.
"There's too many of them!" Arthur shouted as he managed to bat aside a few rats on his face with his free hand, looking around to see Eric holding back the Giant Rat with his spear, its teeth chomping down on the wooden shaft while countless other rats ate and clawed away at his body like they did Arthur's own.
It was then, nearby, that Arthur saw his shield.
Desperately he clawed against the ground, managed to grab its edge and with a shout, swung it round. He surged to his knees and slashed and hacked with his sword at everything in sight. Legs kicked out trying desperately to shake loose the rats eating at them, but the other leg was used as a wall for them to scale, while more clung to his back.
It was as he stood, furiously trying to free his body from the rats eating away at him, that he saw the horrifying sight of the Giant Rats they had killed previously, bursting apart. Their bodies were torn apart from the inside, a single rats head bursting out in a screech before more and more holes appeared. From the body of the three Giant Rats, countless rats tore their way free and rushed toward them.
Knowing they couldn't stay here, Arthur rushed to Eric, sword singing as it cut through the air, then through the flesh of the Giant Rat. Kicking it to the side, he grabbed Eric's hand, ragging him to his feet and the two turned and ran.
They didn't say a word, just running as fast as they could, the rats still on their body digging their claws into their skin in an attempt to hold on. Many weren't able, claws coming free and they flew, smashing into the ground and being lost in the wave of rats chasing after them.
Arthur and Eric didn't pay attention, just running in the direction of the portal that would signify the end of this hellish First Floor.
Yet their journey was not so simple.
As if it wasn't bad enough that they were being chased by a swarm of rats behind them, ahead of them, four more Giant Rats emerged. They rushed toward yet Arthur and Eric didn't so much as slow their charge, just swinging their weapons more like clubs than anything else.
Their desperate attempts were rewarded, three of the rats darting to the sides creating an opening for Eric and Arthur to get through. A fourth though leapt at them, Arthur barely raising his shield in time to block the strike.
Though he managed to knock the Giant Rat to the side, the effort had slowed him down. "Gah!" He cried out, looking to see a Giant Rat biting down on his leg. "Fuck off!" His sword cut into its side as he ran with a limp after Eric, his gait getting steadier as adrenaline allowed him to ignore the pain of his injuries.
"It's there!" Eric called out ahead of him, Arthur was able to see that past Eric's body, a blue portal was waiting for them. It stood just across an open clearing that Eric reached first, Arthur a few steps behind coming onto it second.
There it was.
The exit.
It was just within reach.
But then came the shadows.
Arthur and Eric both looked up, but for the latter, it was too late.
The shadows swooped down, giant crows unlike anything either had seen before. Their talons were extended and they knocked him to the ground. Eric cried out, as their beaks jabbed at his body, each one piercing holes in his skin before his screams went silent, one piercing through his skull.
Arthur barely had time to even register what had happened.
One minute Eric was rushing for the exit that was ahead of them, the next he was dead under a pile of six impossibly large crows. Creatures that had now all turned their attention to him as behind him, a swarm of rats and Giant Rats rushed into the clearing.
'I'm going to die?' Arthur didn't know what to think, his body slowing with such urgency that he collapsed to the ground, the injury to his leg causing the limb to give out beneath him. 'I'm going to die.'
The crows launched off Eric's body and came directly at him and urged by a desperate instinct to survive. Arthur turned and ran right back the way he came, abandoning his sword as he ran in the opposite direction of the crows, only to come face to face with the swarm of rats.
'I'm going to die!'
He didn't know what to do.
So he just ran.
He didn't think.
He didn't stop.
He just ran.
His shield raised and he ignored the rats clawing at his legs, ignored the jolt of pain through his body as the Giant Rats slammed into his shield, claws scrapping against his arms and sides as they were knocked to one side. Arthur just ran back into the forest, vaguely aware of the sound of the crows and rats clashing together behind him.
His heart pounded as he sprinted back through the forest, the screeches and cries of battle behind him followed like ghosts. But he didn't look back, he didn't dare to in case he realised that the death chasing after him was already inescapable.
Arthur's legs burned, his breath coming in ragged gasps as he weaved through the dense foliage and trees. The sound of skittering claws and beating wings grew louder behind him.
Then as he burst through a few trees, he saw it.
The shimmering purple portal that had brought him here in the first place.
The entrance to the First Floor.
His ticket back to the only safety within this hellish existence.
He didn't care that he had come so close to the exit.
He didn't care that he had run all the way back to the start.
He didn't care.
Right in front of him, lay the only path to freedom Arthur cared for. With a final burst of energy, Arthur lunged toward it, hand reaching out as he felt the talons of a crow digging into his back, cutting through muscle and latching onto bone underneath. As his feet left the floor, his body rose as the crow began to lift him high into the air, rats falling from his body, all it took was a fingertip.
It brushed against the shimmer purple portal and suddenly the world spun.
Then Arthur hit the ground, the shield around his arm vanishing as the wounds across his body knitted themselves back together. Arthur just lay there though, face down on the ground as he looked out through the blades of grass toward the shimmer blue pool of water.
He had survived.
But he had nearly died.
Just like Eric.
He had seen someone die.
The thought struck him like a tidal wave and Arthur just lay there, numb as he stared out unblinkingly. He had seen someone die and die so horrifically, could still hear the sound of the beaks piercing through bone. Hear Eric's cries suddenly going silent with such a sharp suddenness it had been unnerving.
Was this the Tower?
A faint chime broke him from his thoughts and Arthur watched a glowing box of text appear before his eyes.
CONGRATULATIONS! BY PUSHING YOUR AGILITY TO ITS LIMITS, YOUR DEXTERITY HAS INCREASED BY 1 (6 → 7).
CONGRATULATIONS! BY ENDURING THE PAIN AND PUSHING YOUR STAMINA TO ITS LIMITS, YOUR ENDURANCE HAS INCREASED BY 2 (7 → 9).
CONGRATULATIONS! BY PUSHING THE LIMITS OF YOUR PERCEPTION, YOUR WISDOM HAS INCREASED BY 1 (6 → 7).
Arthur barely had time to register before another notification popped up, overlapping it.
CONGRATULATIONS! DUE TO REPEATED ACTIONS, YOU HAVE UNLOCKED THE ACTIVE SKILL: BLADE FLURRY!
Then came another.
CONGRATULATIONS! YOU GAINED 125 EXP FOR KILLING 5 GIANT RATS!
CONGRATULATIONS! YOU GAINED 17 EXP FOR KILLING 17 RATS!
CONGRATULATIONS! YOU GAINED A TOTAL OF 142 EXP!
Another followed it.
CONGRATULATIONS! YOU LEVELLED UP!
LEVEL → Level 2.
YOU HAVE BEEN AWARDED 5 STAT POINTS.
YOU HAVE UNLOCKED THE ACTIVE SKILL: SHIELD BASH.
YOU HAVE UNLOCKED THE PASSIVE SKILL: SWORDSMANSHIP (BASIC).
For a moment Arthur just stared at the messages that popped up before his hands clenched into the grass, jaw tensing as teeth grinded against one another. The notifications felt hollow, the words "CONGRATULATIONS" mocking him for his own weakness and Eric's death.
How was he meant to feel any sense of achievement?
How was this meant to be something to be celebrated?