บท 42: Chapter 42 - Teething Pains

The beast had the appearance of a large rat but it was far more ghastly. One side of its face was destroyed and it was missing an eye so it only noticed Gren after turning its head. Gren knew that more were on the way judging by the squeaking sounds getting closer. Now was his only chance to take out the enemy so he pulled out the short bow and the remaining arrows left in the second quiver.

He drew the bow back as far as his sore muscles would allow him to. Releasing the arrow, the first shot missed and landed a foot away--the string of the bow slapping against his forearm. Gren tried another arrow but that one also failed to hit.

The injured rat seemed to be waiting for its allies before attacking. "Mister! Take this!" Gren looked towards Impa and noticed that she tossed him the shield.

Gren didn't catch it but was able to quickly pick the shield up. The bow wasn't going to help him with his skill at this distance so he stored it along with its arrows. Gren only had a short amount of time to reach those stairs so he decided to try rushing while he only had one opponent to face. "Impa, go get help!" Gren ran towards the rat, preparing to bash it with the shield.

Gren got close but noticed that the rat was too low to the ground for him to get a good hit in with the shield so Gren decided to kick at it instead, hoping to at least stagger it so that he could climb onto the stairs. When his foot connected with the rat's head it had its mouth open and its sharp front teeth ready for him. The bite of the rat pierced through the leather and Gren's foot but the force of his kick caused the rat--and him by extension--to fall towards the area next to the stairs.

Gren was in pain but he'd be in even worse condition if he allowed the other rats to sink their teeth in him. He kicked at its head with his free foot hoping that it would help to free his other foot from its mouth. The shock of his kick was transferred to his other foot but this was a fight for survival; he'd struggle for as long as he was still conscious.

The rat managed to get off of its back, causing Gren to get flipped around. Its strength was incredible for something smaller than him. Gren started to get pulled away by the rat; his other foot continuously hammering it in its upper jaw. A lucky kick from Gren caused its two large teeth to get dislodged from his foot and Gren managed to scamper on top of the bottom step while the rat was recovering.

Unlike the long staircase leading down to the underground area from the bakery, this staircase only had the larger steps and the rat didn't seem to be able to make it up with its stubby legs. However, the rat was able to stand on its hind legs and bite at him so he climbed up to the top step just before the collapsed section. There were only three steps between the base of the stairs and the step he was on. Gren tried to put pressure on his foot while holding the railing but it hurt too much to stand on. There's no way that he'd be able to climb up the railing with this injury and he was bleeding so he really hoped that Impa would get back with help soon. The sounds of the rocks being broken by the team of women had gotten louder so Impa must have informed them about the situation already.

Soon after Gren thought about help, backup arrived; backup for the rat, that is. There were at least a few dozen rats making their way to Gren's position. The stairs might have been able to prevent one from climbing up but the rats started to try climbing on top of one another. The rats would turn to bite at the ones climbing them but a few managed to get on the first step.

Gren pulled the bow out again to fire arrows at the group on the first step. He was closer now and there were more targets so he should be able to hit them. Pulling back the bowstring, Gren released an arrow. This time the arrow hit one of the rats and the rat made a terrifying shriek. The rat was still able to move but Gren released a second shot, managing to hit it in the eye. The rat's brain was penetrated and it stopped moving after a short struggle. The rats that continued to make it up to the the first step couldn't choose whether to eat their fallen comrade or climb over its corpse to reach Gren.

Gren kept releasing arrows, killing one more rat before he ran out of ammo. He could purchase more arrows but his arm couldn't draw the bow far enough back to do serious damage to the rats by the end so it wouldn't help. The rats had now made it to the second step and it was only a matter of time before they reached the third step and were able to bite him again.

Gren was trying to think of a weapon that he could use to reach them without injury. The Advanced Arsenal would take too long to materialize the weapon. Thinking about it, Gren had the weapons from the treasure chamber under Newton; the trident that Gren saw was long enough to reach them.

Gren pulled it out and tried lifting it. The trident was lighter than he expected and he was able to lift it up even with his weakened arms. Gren stabbed down towards the group of rats, impaling one of them; that now made three rats killed. The trident got stuck inside of the rat due to the trident's barbs and Gren quickly lost control of it. The rats' claws gripped on to the trident and a couple of rats started to climb up its handle. Gren pushed the end of the handle towards the side of the staircase so that the rats couldn't climb all the way up using it, however they still made it to third step up--just before the step that Gren was on.

The rats were now able to bite at Gren's feet and he had no choice but to try climbing on to the railing to get away from them. Gren was able to hold on to the railing to prevent the rats from biting him but getting to the upper floor would prove to be difficult. Gren felt like he was waiting there for days as he watched more of the rats make it up the stairs. The rats had eventually reached the point where there were enough of them on the third step that they were able to begin climbing over each other. The rats were almost upon him and the area below him had a swarm of rats waiting for him so he really needed to make it up the railing.

Gren tried using his injured foot to help him reach the next post but there was no strength left in it. There was no way up and a rat was already on the top step. The first rat to get to the top step fell off the staircase when it lunged at him which bought Gren a little bit of time but there was nothing he could do.

All of a sudden there were large footsteps approaching from above. Backup had arrived just in the nick of time. "Gren, are you okay!?" Gren was relieved to see Jasmine. The last thing he could see was his dragon wife jumping down and breathing fire on all of the rats. Their fangs couldn't penetrate her scales and her overwhelming strength was used to crush them into dust.