Chapter 508: The Rat’s Go Marching
"Hold up guys" said Kamiko suddenly. "I think I've found something weird…"
"Funny haha weird or oh that's kinda bad weird? Perhaps even oh dear god no weird, or is it just weird weird" shot Sue.
Kamiko hummed in thought as she tried to answer Sue's silly question anyway. "Maybe a bit of weird weird mixed with oh that's kinda bad weird. I found the rats..."
"That's not weird" said Sue without hesitation
"… except there all marching in formation" finished Kamiko
"I'm sorry what? Did you say in formation?" asked Sue
"Yes. I don't really know what to make of it… oh and they are pretty fare below us, the exit for our whole is in the ceiling" answered Kamiko
"That doesn't sound like swarm rat behaviour at all," said Sue. "I know they can act together but even the smartest swarm rat leader is still an animal. I don't think they'd even know what marching is, let alone be capable of forcing the others to follow along. From what little I know about hiveminds I know that the central mind, if there is one, has to have a really clear picture of what it wants to get the swarm to respond.
"That's why things like attack and move here or there are so easy. It's simple to imagine and doesn't require a tonne of thought. Just gotta point and say go. But… to march, not just individually but… they are in sync right?" Kamiko nodded, "Yeah that's gotta take some real smarts. I… I don't know that we're dealing with swarm rats anymore"
"Should we turn back? This sort of information might change everything." said Kat/
Sue bit her lip but refrained from answering. This was a more serious situation now and even though she DID want to leave now that things seemed to be more dangerous, it was likely that leaving things as is would be dangerous as well in the long term.
"I'm torn," said Kamiko, "looking at this, it's very clear that something strange is happening. Swarm rats can't do this. I don't want to just leave this as it stands. I think we should try and sort it out to ensure that nothing worse happens…
"On the other hand, this might be too dangerous for us. We have no idea what really created this infestation, and if they aren't just swarm rats, the range for mutations is larger. I thought the Giant Rat we fought was pretty strange, but still within the limits of what I'd have expected. Now that's all out the window.
"On the other hand, or tail maybe? Anyway, the third point to make is that I'm not sure anyone else could get here. Stone certainly couldn't make his way through, and I'm not sure if he'd be able to shift the stone around here. I didn't notice before but it's a different colour so it might not be safe to move.
"Anyone other then Stone might have a worse time. While Sue is a little or well, a LOT stacked up top and bottom none of us have particularly wide shoulders, so we can move our arms around with a reasonable amount of difficulty. If they sent any miners down here, they might be to wide to fit down the tunnel, then we'd be called back, or maybe they'd bring in someone else. If they did have to get someone else that's more delays.
"Adding to that, the fact that these rats are just casually marching and haven't noticed us talking makes me wonder how deadly the final boss might be. Adding on to that, is that while these might not be swarm rats, on average they aren't any stronger. Sue could take on a whole pack by herself if she really needed to. These things are weak. Cannon fodder. They might as well just be normal rats still. So… I wonder if it's worth pushing forward."
"Without sounding too cocky, I'm happy to continue. I'm not advocating for it though," said Kat. "I am much safer than you all. Worst comes to worst, I think we could block of a passage with our demonic fire and just leave, but I'm not risking injury in the same way you both are. Even getting back up to this little cavern. I can fly up here, but I'd have to help you both. It seems risky, but I'm certainly willing"
"Thought," said Sue "We're evaluating the risk to ourselves versus leaving the rats so far… but what about the fact whatever is controlling the rats might not have noticed we're here yet? The fact that rats are marching doesn't mean they know. Simply showing that someone knows about the swarm rats could be a problem. What were the ones you cleared out like? Organised at all?"
Kat spoke up to answer, "No, they might as well have been normal rats. The little gem they had was the only thing that made us think they were special. I mean, sure we know now they obviously are, but they didn't have increased intelligence or durability or anything. We just cut up a bunch of them with Kamiko's weapon and my nails"
"Fuck it, let's go attack them" said Sue
"What? Sue? You're advocating for this?" asked Kamiko
Sue nodded, "Yeah. You know what? I didn't just crawl through a tunnel that requires me to compress my tits against hard stone for the past half an hour just to turn back. This is a risk, but I trust you pair to get me out of it alive if it's at all possible. I'm not scared of the rats, and maybe we should be scared of what's at the end, but I do know we aren't going to die. The mines might not be good for teleportation, but the teleportation itself works. It's the rocks in the mines that might not survive. Let's pucker up and go for it"
Kamiko bit her lip. She'd actually been leaning towards backing out at this point. Seeing as how the rats would find them if they attacked, it didn't seem worth it. Still, with the other two confident enough to continue on, Kamiko didn't want to be a dissenting voice. "Should we just attack or should we try and sneak?"
"What do you see?" asked Kat "Is there space to sneak around? I assume they're covering the floor. Is there like… a ledge or something we could camp out on? I'm not sure I can fly with two people so we'd have to find space to sneak around or something…"
Kamiko shook her head. "No, now that you mention it, there's nothing. The rats take up the whole floor. If we go in, we have to just commit to an attack. Probably commit to either going all the way to the end or retreating… Wait! How is Stone supposed to come pick us up if he can't fit through the tunnel?!"
That threw a dampening on their mood. The knowledge that they should have brought a watch, or that Stone might not be able to tell them when to nock off. "I better be getting extra pay if we stay on late. Just because I'm willing to keep going doesn't mean I've suddenly lost a chunk of brain cells"
"Well while you have those brain cells," said Kamiko, "do you want to fight with me? Kat can't jump down without you also exiting the tunnel."
"It's just rats right?" asked Sue
"Yes" said Kamiko
"Alright I'll do it. I'll just stomp the buggers I guess." Said Sue
"Ok, follow behind me then" said Kamiko as she pushed herself forward and into the fray. She started to carve up rats instantly as soon as she hit the ground. Sue on the other hand, had a good deal more difficulty getting down, as the opening was slightly smaller then the rest of the tunnel.
Still, even with Rank 1 super strength it was enough to squash herself down just a bit more to escape out into the far more open tunnel. Those extra few seconds it took though, were enough for Kamiko to basically finish slaughtering the entire rat brigade.
"That's strange" said Kamiko
"Why?" said Sue kicking away some blood heading for her shoes.
"They didn't react at all," said Kamiko "even the normal rats at least flinch out of the way… these ones… it was like they didn't even feel it…"
At this point Kat managed to jump down, though her wings were all to willing to embrace their newfound freedom, so she glided down slowly. Once Kat hit the ground she gave herself a large stretch, letting her wings flare to there maximum.
"Showing of are we Kat?" asked Sue
Kat just waved the other girl off. "No, it just feels right. I don't think I can pull a muscle, or at least, not permanently because of my regen but my wings just did not feel right wrapped around me, I need to stretch them out," Kat continued stretching she spoke, "Still ignore me. What's this about the rats?"
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