The sewers were worse than I remembered. Which was saying a lot. It was a mix of things. My hearing had improved, or at least, became deadly focused on sounds. My own sounds had grown quieter and quieter and evehing too loud caused me to wince. And because of those things, the sewer had opened up to me.

  I could hear water dripping down, eg throughout the tunnels. The rush of the curreween the walkways, all feeding into the bigger river and down through other areas. The squeak of rats all throughout and then periods of nearly deafening silehat wasn’t all. I hadn’t thought about it, but I could hear an… airflow. I couldn’t tell where it was ing from but the passage of air through the tunnels created a nearly imperceptible ambient sound.

  My owhing mixed in made it all the worse. It was like I was surrounded by noise, despite how quiet it all was. I hought near silence could be so loud.

  The worst parts were the mysteries. I could hear things that weren’t rats out there. Some made… slopping sounds. Like meat spping and dragging against stohers made sounds like rattling s. They were far but the thought of running into them chilled me. I was healed, I was ready, and my soul had been lightened but, I was still in danger. So much danger.

  I stalked the tunnels, moving from dark alcove to dark alcove. My goal today was simple. It was time to start anht to the death. This time without suffering nearly as terrible injuries, hopefully.

  I needed an rat.

  There were smaller groups I ran into. And for once, I didn’t avoid them.

  [4]

  [5]

  [4]

  [4]

  They turned a er. I’d realized something iing. The rats were somewhat starving. They formed groups and theher rats. I’d seen it. Any lo was usually prey. Sometimes bigger groups came out ahead or rarely, formed into an even bigger group. In a way, it was fasating. In another, it was horrifying. It was only a matter of time before I ran into another horde.

  I waited in the dark. The rats this time were only the size of small dogs. Hopefully an easy fight.

  They approached my side of the walkway. Normally I’d have run long before this, having heard their approach. This time I didn’t, waiting in silenbsp;

  They didn’t like the dark. They hesitated, trying to peer in, hoping to see if there redator there.

  There was.

  I burst out, running at them. I aimed for the stro first, feeling my foot unch it bad dowhway. The rats were surprised and jumped ba fear. A far cry from the first rat I’d fought. They were fast, they could get away, but running away didn’t seem to be in the blood of rats down here. Cowards, they were not.

  I was on the sed one immediately. I’d been taught the aggression of rats and I used those lessons well. My fingers ed around dirty fur and smmed the creature's head into the stone as fast and as hard as I could. It was dead within moments.

  The other two came at me then. Biting, filing, scratg. Beads of blood ran down my legs but another quick kiched another and I made short work of the sed. The first rat was ing baow. Stronger, faster thahers. Even stroha was faster, more durable, and had more strength, but it didn’t matter.

  I dodged its lunge and grabbed its tail, taking another lesson from another creature. This time the toad man. I swung and huffed, as I smmed the rat into the stone. I tried to go for a sed swing but that turned out to be a mistake. I felt the sed to st rat tto my foot and not let go. I hadn’t been paying enough attention to it, too in the moment.

  It made me drop the rat and from there, it devolved into an annoying fight of cws, teeth, biting, and stomps and kicks.

  I won in the end, but with an annoying amount of damage. Not dangerous or deadly or anything but aen of those and I’d be right back where I was before. I o be more careful.

  Especially with the prey I was going after.

  I tinued on my way, idly tearing off the fur of one of the bigger rats aing its flesh. I was used to it by now. It was amazing what you could get used to.

  Finally though, I saw what I wanted.

  [6]

  I frowned.

  It was bigger. The same size as the rat that had nearly killed me. But a whole level weaker. But, I knew. I could tell. This wouldn’t be the same as fighting the [5] rat. This was… a qualitative difference. A big jump up in strength and power and speed.

  Not to mention, it’d be less lopsided like the weaker rats. The st [5] rat had only very teically been as strong as a human. Its weight and size had hampered it, a lot. This rat was going to sail past that point.

  I waited, cautiously. But this time, I wasn’t going to waste an advaools in fighting only made you weaker. No one who had ever used a urly had gotten that much strohan someone who used their bare bodies and fists. It was frowned upon for a reason.

  But this wasn’t just some training, this was a fight to the death.

  It approached and I held my breath as the tap of its cws against the stone echoed out. Closer. Closer. Till finally-

  A bright light erupted into the rat’s vision. It hissed and squeaked but I was on it in a fsh, pung into its head. I’d learned. I didn’t have cws or fangs. I had fists ah. And my teeth were broken. For ohat was in my favor.

  One fist didn’t do anything but I didn’t let up, wailing into it. But the rat proved different than the weak ones. Even half blind, it attacked, lunging at me with teeth open to t and cws ready to rake into me. I didn’t let it. Fast it may be, so incredibly fast, but I was stronger now. My perception and speed had grown and it wasn’t as fast as the st one. Barely, I dodged. It soared past me and by the time I tur was already jumping at me agaih nearly at my head.

  So fast-!

  A panicked duck was all that saved me from losing a best.

  This time I reacted the same moment I heard its cws touch the ground. I threw out a punch, feeling its nose ect with it. I couldn’t let this thi on top of me. That tackle was far more deadly than it seemed. If they got you on the ground they could maul you with every cw as fast as they could run. You’d be dead in moments. I had the dozens of crisscrossing scars ay chest to prove it.

  I didn’t let up. Letting up on aggressio death with these things. Blow after blow rained into its head while it snapped and tried to bite at me, bulldozing into my legs, trying to t. I moved, knees smag into it when it decided to stay low but injuries were unavoidable. It cwed at my thighs and bit into them, nearly taking a k before a sharp bo of knee and elbow made it let go.

  Finally, I realized I’d been going about things wrong. I’d never kill it. Not with fists in the realm of human still. The skull was too thick. I couldn’t shatter bo with them. I o learn further from the rats.

  I backed aretending like I was going to run. It was only prior experiehat let me avoid its flying foing through the air. The moment it sailed past me, I leapt, crashing on top of it. It bucked and railed, going ballistic as it felt my full body weight press it down. It rolled, it tried to bite me, but I held on. Both arms ed around it as I bit into its nebsp;

  My broken froh acted like the world’s least effective shiv. But I’d dohis with ft teeth once, I could do it with this. I bit and bit and bit, my teeth sinking in, causing it to bleed. I aimed for the artery but a bug, frantigry rat was a difficult oppoo aim for at the best of times.

  Minutes passed and finally, I bit into something more important. Or had just torn my way inside.

  Blood came out in torrents now, far more tha time I’d dohis. Blood poured into my mouth but I’d beeing raw dead rats. I was used to this by now and didn’t stop biting and biting and biting and-

  And it was dead. I blinked, before quickly moving. It was dead but fighting was loud. Something would e. I o get the hell out of here right now, immediately.

  Turn after turn came a and finally, I slowed, hiding in a dark alcove I’d prepared, the light already busted.

  I waited, listening. Fog, making sure not a single sound was missed. A dozen minutes must have passed. Nothing was growing louder. Nothing was ing after me.

  I breathed a sigh of relief, that just came out as a mouthful of blood. I found it amusing. I had spit out a mouthful of blood but it wasn’t mine for once. I had also won. And far easier than st time.

  My body was covered in wounds, yes, but they were mostly minor. Scratches and divots, sure, but the only really bad one was that bite on my leg. I’d say that one was going to take stitches but it’s not like I had that down here. I’d simply have to hope for the best like the rest of my wounds. More parts of me might be going green though. The flesh that didn’t close had a habit of doing that I’d noticed.

  I breathed, thinking back to the battle.

  I’d uimated their speed again. I thought I had it, that I was ready, but the jump from [5] to [6] was crazy. It was a miracle and a half that I’d won the fight against that first rat. The problem was damage. I’d had half a pn but I should have thought about it more. I’d thought I’d just fight and maybe win but I hadn’t pnned far enough ahead. I was always going to have to bite into its neck, I had no other realistic ways of killing these things right now. Well, not quickly at least. A half hour of bludgeoning its head in might work but by that time something else would’ve shown up and then it was my speed against both of theirs. A losing battle if there ever was one.

  What else?

  Half an hour must’ve passed while I thought about it. I wasn’t stupid but I also wasn’t a fighting prodigy. Hell, I’d been in a grand total of three fights now where I wasn’t single handledly destroyed.

  Pride and joy lit up inside me at that.

  It wasn’t that long ago that I ermaly stuck at power level [1]. Now I was- No. No it didn’t matter what I was, I had to use my own skills here to judge that. Listening to a mae about how strong I was, even looking up at my own, it was a disaster waiting to happen. But still, I’d progressed. I’d grown to at least [4] and was well on my way to growing farther.

  I almost couldn’t believe it. That I was [4] times strohan I used to be. That I had won three fights. It felt like a dream e true. How strao feel so much joy and pleasure at purely winning. It almost felt, sacrilegious. Like I was defying the world and the heavens. Maybe I was. But more than anything, even diseased, ied, and with a litany of health issues… even through all the pain and the misery, I took in the sewer.

  The river of piss and shit, the squeaking of massive rats, the faint noises of flesh smag on stohe rattling of s, the dark alcoves, the terrible grime seeping into me. In all ways, it was horrible. Beyond horrible. Others might have just given up long before they had to eat raw rat.

  A…

  I felt so much joy. It almost scared me.

  I was fighting things, dangerous things. And I was winning.

  This, This! This was what it meant to be a Warrior!

  *****

  In the deep darkness below the city…

  A broad grin stretched over brokeh and through torn lips. Eyes lit up with passion.

  And a new monster was born.

  Warix_Viviana