Jayson swallowed and forced himself forward.
The darkness didn't completely consume the tunnel, but the light from the entrance faded quickly behind him.
Cold water flowed through a narrow channel running along the center of the passage. The constant trickling echoed softly through the stone corridor.
The walls were rough and damp.
Dark patches of moss clung to the ancient stonework, while moisture dripped from the curved ceiling overhead.
"Drip."
"Drip."
"Drip."
The sound somehow made the tunnel feel even quieter.
Jayson walked along the narrow ledge beside the water.
His boots occasionally scraped against loose gravel or cracked patches of ice.
The smell was even worse deeper inside.
Rotting waste.
Stagnant water.
Mold.
Something dead.
The mixture made his stomach churn.
'Ugh.'
The tunnel stretched ahead before disappearing around a bend.
Every shadow looked suspicious.
Every dark corner felt like a place something could be hiding.
Jayson tightened his grip on the sword Franklin had given him.
For the hundredth time since entering, he checked the tunnel behind him.
Nobody.
Nothing.
Just darkness.
'Get yourself together.'
'They're only Giant Rats.'
That was easy to say.
Much harder to believe when he was standing alone inside a filthy underground tunnel beneath Ashbrook.
The mission parchment mentioned that the nest was located somewhere beyond the second junction.
Jayson continued forward.
The sound of running water echoed around him.
Then—
His foot suddenly stopped.
Several small bones were scattered across the stone floor ahead.
Animal bones.
At least he hoped they were animal bones.
His eyes slowly moved further ahead.
Near the edge of the water channel, he spotted something else.
Droppings.
Fresh ones.
'The nest should be close.'
Jayson's eyes had mostly adjusted to the dark already. The small slits in the stone ceilings also helped get in some light.
"Scratch… scratch…"
He heard something moving around in front of him.
As his grip on the sword tightened, the horrifying noise came—
"Skreee!"
A giant rat, with a height that came up to a human's knees, jumped right at Jayson.
"Shit!"
"Clang!"
He blocked the attack with a flat side of his sword and knocked it away.
'It got way too close.'
Jayson quickly followed up with a downward swing, but the giant rat dodged swiftly to the side.
His sword however didn't linger and moved along with the giant rat.
He changed the grip on the handle and brought the sword up in a diagonal swing.
The tip of the sword faintly scratched the ground before rising—
And caught the giant rat, that was about to jump at Jayson.
"Schtk!"
Blood sprayed through the air as the blade cut across its side.
The giant rat let out a painful screech right before Jayson ended it with a following thrust into its skull.
'I did it! I killed my first monster.'
—
Osric was inside the library, reading The Nature of Monster Territories.
Giant Rats prefer living in dark and dirty environments.
What makes their territory dangerous, is that they like to spread out instead of constantly remaining at their nest.
Accurately predicting their location is difficult, and that's what makes them great ambush predators.
'That's very true. I had a really hard time against them. Giant Rats are the trickiest F-Ranks to fight against if they have a solid nest.'
Shortly after, Osric read a different part of the book.
Feral Dogs are the least predictable F-Rank monsters when living in groups.
They don't follow the concept of living in a nest or one fixed place.
Their packs are usually small and are made up of immediate family. They still tend to fight a lot amongst themselves and break up in smaller groups.
One can rarely predict where Feral Dogs are located and in what numbers they move. Even if they live in packs, they don't always move together like most pack predators.
'Hm. I didn't know all these details.'
Osric kept reading intently.
—
"Garrick. Look at all these claw marks." Dustin whispered.
"Yeah. Based on the mess in this clearing, there was a big fight here. I think it was between different Feral Dogs."
"But there aren't any corpses. And look, the blood leads in that direction. What do you think happened exactly?" Dustin asked.
"The smaller group probably tried to escape and the bigger one chased after them."
"I see. Is it normal for them to fight each other?"
"Well, definitely if they're from different packs. But it can also happen among family members."
"Oh okay."
"Let's go after them. But be careful. I think the numbers won't fit the information we got."
"Yes."
'I have a feeling that some surprises await us.' Garrick thought.