Head Hunting: Cliche Rat Problem

Sakrol was going to do his first hunt given to him this very day, completing this hunt will earn Sakrol the official license to go out and hunt some monsters that are causing trouble. But before he could do any of the actual killing he had to get to the right location, there was a map on the other side of the small paper that had the job description written on it. Sakrol was following the instructions on the map so he could find the place where he could get into the sewers. The map was leading Sakrol towards a narrow street, and in this narrow street is the very needed entrance to the sewers. The entrance was a round hole on the ground with a metal ladder inside of it, the drain cover was covering the hole only halfway. Sakrol put the small instruction paper into his right pocket in his coat and he looked at Neurus. Well Neurus, I think we are at the right place. It would seem that this thing has been left open like this just for us, now I don't need to figure out how to open this thing. Anyway let's just get this thing done and get back, I'm not entirely sure how much trouble these overgrown rats can cause but we will find soon enough... I'll go in first and when I'm at the bottom jump down so I can grab you. Sakrol then lowered himself a bit and he moved the drain cover completely out of the way, he then entered the sewers as he slowly climbed down. Sakrol reached the bottom of the ladder and he immediately got ready to catch Neurus, Neurus jumped down and Sakrol grabbed his familiar as planned. Sakrol put Neurus down gently and when Neurus had his paws on the ground again he spoke. I hope you are aware Sakrol that you don't need to always catch me when I'm falling or carry me over obstacles. I'm more agile than I look, so you don't need to worry about me that much. Sakrol looked at Neurus with a light smile on his face and he spoke. Well yeah, you're probably right about that but you look so awfully fragile Neurus so it can't be helped... We can talk about this more later, the only thing I'm interested now is completing this simple task. Sakrol was ready to kill a few pesky rats in the sewers, but first he had to find them. Not only that but the area around him also had its fair share of problems that made this job a little obnoxious, the sewer only had dim lighting so it was hard to see far away and there was this horrible stench that Sakrol didn't know how to describe even. Despite these factors Sakrol was happy that he was able to have some action in the day, like Neurus said earlier it might be fun.

Sakrol and Neurus were walking in the sewers along the only path that was available at the moment. The walls, roof and the floor were made from concrete all the way and metal pipes were here and there. Sakrol soon got out from this narrow path to a much larger area where sewer water was slowly coursing through the waterway, next to the waterway was indeed a walkway designed for people to walk on, it was probably for maintenance of the sewers. There were now 4 different directions to choose from, Sakrol was unsure which way would lead him to the prize. Sakrol wanted to end this quickly so he could get out of the sewers, the awful smell was getting to him. The only thing he could do now was just choose one way, walk along it and hope that he will eventually bump into the rats. Going around aimlessly trying to find the rats in this horrid smell written place wasn’t that great nor pleasant, just thinking about it pissed Sakrol off but there wasn’t anything he could do about it. Anyway Sakrol chose to go to the left path, he walked over a metallic bridge that was placed over the waterway. While walking forward Sakrol was looking for any clues that might tell him were the rats might have gone, he was also trying to listen for any unusual sounds though currently all he could hear was the sound of flowing water and falling water droplets. Sakrol had already spend 30 minutes walking around the place with zero signs of the targets, he came to the conclusion that this task surely was annoying as he was more pissed than before. Thankfully something just came up, a horrible loud squeak noise could be heard from one of the smaller pathways. Sakrol ran there as fast as he could but he had to do a sudden stop because this path wasn’t in a good condition and it shows because the path was blocked by a large puddle of sewer water and that stuff is deep. The path did continue on the other side though and when Sakrol looked to the other side he saw 2 rats that were the size of a tiger fighting each other but when the rats noticed Sakrol they started to run away. Finally the targets had finally shown themselves but Sakrol had no way to reach them unless he somehow crossed this deep puddle of sewer water. Only one option came to mind and it wasn’t pleasant. I guess I have no other way but to just go through this, I wonder how deep this is… Sakrol unsheathed his sword and he used it along with his arm to measure how deep the puddle was. When his sword’s tip hit the bottom he got some clue how deep it was, he then raised it back up and sheathed it. It’s not insanely deep for sure, I’m pretty sure it will reach only my waist. I guess here I go then, I don’t want to waste time trying to find another way there. Sakrol slowly lowered himself into the sewer water and the water only reached his waist as he had thought. Sakrol then turned around in the water to face Neurus who was still standing on the path. Come Neurus, I will carry you to the other side. A wet dog smells terrible, but a dog dipped in sewer water will smell twice as horrible and I don’t want that. Sakrol stretched his arms towards Neurus and he took a firm hold of his familiar as he started to walk in the water towards the other side. You know what Neurus? At moments like these, I really wish I could walk on water. Neurus did a light chuckle as he replied to Sakrol.  I’m sure you do, I hope you will clean yourself after this or I will have to resort to avoiding you altogether. When reaching the edge of the other side Sakrol placed Neurus on the walkway before he lifted himself out of the sewer water. Time to chase those rats down, kill them and get out of here as fast as we can. Both of them started to run with great speed, Sakrol hoped that they will soon find the rats again. Following the narrow pathway they ended up in another large area with a waterway but this time the water didn’t seem to move. The 2 rats were there as well, the rats noticed Sakrol’s presence and started to run away once more but this time Sakrol didn’t allow it. The rats weren’t that fast compared to Sakrol so he was able to catch up with one of the rats easily, he grabbed the rat by its tail and he flung the rat at the other one stopping it as well. The rats were now aggravated, they stood up and they were ready to attack Sakrol together. Sakrol was pleased since they were finally making progress, he drew his sword and he was ready slice up the rats. The rats started to attack Sakrol with their claws, he dodged this attack and one of the rats then decided to leap towards Sakrol for a bite attack. Sakrol countered this by slashing his sword sideways and into the gaping mouth of the rat which ended in splitting the rat halfway through, killing it instantly. Following that Sakrol quickly dashed towards the other rat that was ready to attack with its claws again. With a quick swing Sakrol cut the rat’s claws so it won’t be attacking with those anymore, the rat then quickly turned around and tried to escape. The fact that the rat was still trying to escape its unavoidable death was amusing to Sakrol, because he had already shown how fast he was. Sakrol ran right next to the rat and he used his sword to pin the rat on the wall, the rat was struggling to brake free but it was no use. Sakrol ended the rat’s life quickly, he grabbed the rats head and slammed it on the wall with force. The other rat was now dead as well, Sakrol pulled his sword out out of the rat which made the rat’s dead body fall down on to a small puddle of its own blood. I wonder if this was all of them, not much of challenge but at least it’s done now. Sakrol was going to sheath his sword but before he could do it he was interrupted by Neurus who informed him that there are 3 rats just as big as the other two coming this way. Sakrol kept his sword in his hands as the 3 rats approached him, it would seem that they heard the racket and came to investigate. Those rats didn’t seem any happier than the other ones, they were standing in front of Sakrol making those horrible squeaking sounds. The rat in front of the others jumped towards Sakrol with its claws but Sakrol did a powerful downward slash with his sword which cut through the rat’s head vertically, the rat dies just as easily as the previous ones. The 2 remaining rats start to make a run for it, Sakrol is once again forced to chase them down but the rats run around a corner and suddenly the sounds of them running disappears but a lot of their squeaking can be heard. Sakrol follows them to see what is going on and what he sees around the corner is an unpleasant sight. The whole hallway is blocked by an insane amount of spider web, the rats are stuck on it and trying to get free. Sakrol stabs the rats quickly to kill them so he won't need to hear them squeaking while he investigates. Look at this Neurus, a lot of spider web around here. This has to be made by millions of them… Sakrol started to slowly cut the thick spider web with his sword to clear a path, he is being a bit curious at the moment.

As he was cutting his way through he noticed something big moving on the other side of the web, the worst part of this was that that big thing also seemed to notice Sakrol. The last line of the thick web was broken by the one that put the web there in the first place as it tried to quickly attack Sakrol with its front legs, Sakrol was lucky as he dodged that at the last minute. He then continued to back down as the creature, the giant black spider with hairy legs and white markings on its back, slowly approached Sakrol. That monstrous spider sure was big, it was blocking the whole hallway but it was still able to move quite fast. It seems that a challenging opponent has finally arrived in front of Sakrol, even though it was a giant insect it looked tough. The spider seemed aggressive, well since this situation was what it was Sakrol decided to take the spider on. He started by going towards it and he did a few slashes on its left front leg, but these attacks only left some deep scratches on the spider and it didn’t seem to bother the creature at all so Sakrol quickly backed up. It sure is tough, I wonder if it has any weak spots to plunge my sword in. I guess I should try this as well… Sakrol chose to activate his ‘Amped Up’ ability that he had received when drinking the strange glowing orange liquid from a bottle that was given to him among other people that were present in that strange rift world. The ability makes him a bit stronger so Sakrol hopes it gives him a fighting chance, he also used a spell after that and that was the good old ‘Summon Boulders’. 3 boulders in the size of a football appeared in the air and Sakrol send them one after another right towards the spider’s ugly face. The spider flinched and it backed up a little while screaming in pain, it would seem that it did hurt it. But before Sakrol could be happy about it the spider was even more angry than before so it rushed towards Sakrol and it attacked with its front legs again by pushing them forward, Sakrol failed to dodge it in time so the spider flung Sakrol out of that hallway and he fell into the waterway filled with sewer water. Sakrol quickly swam to the surface so he wouldn’t drown in the sewer water. Sheesh, now I smell even worse than before... Not to mention that spider sure knows how to hurt. Sakrol swam towards the walkway and climbed up from the filthy water, he was now completely wet and the odor of the sewer was going to be hard to get off later. The spider walked out from its pathway and it seemed quite determined to kill Sakrol now and here. But Sakrol had a quite similar idea in mind, he was just as determined in exterminating the giant spider. Sakrol started running towards the spider in an attacking fashion, he was aiming the legs since what good is a spider with no legs? Sadly Sakrol's plan wasn't too great, the spider shot some web from its mouth aiming at Sakrol's feet. This caused Sakrol to trip over stopping his attack completely, he also had to use a little extra time in cutting the web from his legs that were badly tangled in it. While Sakrol was doing just that and lying on his back while doing it the spider tried to hit him with its front legs. Thankfully Neurus ran to the rescue and he quickly dragged Sakrol out of the way before the spider was able to land its attack. That was a close one, thanks Neurus. Now that my legs are free again I think I can continue the fight, but I need to be more careful. Sakrol stood up and he was ready to try again, this time Sakrol approached the angry spider with much more caution since running towards it didn't seem to work very well. Sakrol was looking for an opening to attack it, since Sakrol wasn't attacking the spider at the moment the spider decided to do a few swipes with its long legs. Sakrol dodged this attack and he moved close to the spider, at close Sakrol used the spiders legs to get a little higher. Sakrol was aiming the spiders face, he got enough height so he did one slash on its face before falling back down. Sakrol did a deep cut on the spiders face which also hit 2 of its eyes making it lose both of them completely. The spider didn't like that one bit so it went completely berserk after it, the spider started to swing its front legs recklessly around the place. Because of that it was impossible to read its movements and dodge all of them, the spider hit Sakrol on his abdomen causing him to fly backwards towards Neurus's current position. It hurt when the spider hit him and it also hurt when he landed on the concrete walkway, Sakrol wasn't sure if he was able to continue. Sakrol was lying on the walkway on his back thinking what he should do next while the spider was menacing the nearby air, Neurus walked next to Sakrol to see if he was okay which Sakrol had only one thing to say. You know, I never would have thought that I would prefer landing on sewer water than on cold hard concrete... This really hurt a lot, I can't believe I'm saying this Neurus but... I think we should retreat from this, that spider is tougher than I originally thought. Sakrol stood up and he was preparing to leave as the spider stopped its reckless attack and it started to run towards Sakrol and Neurus. Sakrol started to run away from the spider while also sheathing his sword in the process, Sakrol was aiming towards a narrow path were the spider isn't able to fit in. The spider was closing in fast so Sakrol dived into the narrow pathway before the spider was able to catch him. The spider wasn't able to follow them anymore, it was only able to fit at least one of its long legs into the pathway but that didn't do any good so the spider gave up the chase eventually. Sakrol was a bit disappointed since he wasn't able to kill the damn thing but he was able to get away from it with his life still intact, maybe someday he will be granted another shot at this. Right now Sakrol decided to return back to the Head Hunters and tell them that the rats were now dead as promised.

Stats:

SC: 117
WTSC: 117