Very much like last time, the weasel started its campaign of terror by having a light snack before the war.

The blackrot rat scurried over the old stones, its movements already desperate, and confused even.

"Ach, so that's yer weasel then?" Illy asked, dagger in hand. "Thought ya said it was near a meter? You one of the lads that round up two inches to six?"

"Har har, very funny." Wade rolled his eyes, "Just watch. The little bastard is way more deadly than you think."

The weasel, by contrast, showed no signs of fatigue. It bounded after its prey with calculated patience, maintaining a steady lope that spoke of hunting experience. Both were clearly infected with blackrot, completely consumed by it.

The rat made a sudden, desperate lunge toward a narrow crack in the sewer wall. For a moment, Wade thought it had found a potential escape route. It shoved its head into the opening, claws scrabbling frantically against the stone, before ripping back free and attempting to continue its escape.

The rat's momentary hesitation proved fatal. In the split second it took to realize the crack wouldn't accommodate its body, the weasel closed the distance. It pounced, jaws clamping down precisely at the base of the rat's neck.

Wade winced as he heard the distinct crack. The rat's body went limp instantly, its tiny legs twitching once before falling still.

Leon hummed. "Could be limit to blackrot? Is interesting."

"What do you mean?" Wade asked as the group watched the weasel start eating the dead rat, ripping it apart. Blackrot seemed to get sucked from the rat's body up into the weasel with each bite.

"Blackrot heals many things, da? And also keep body parts working even when they shouldn't. But not the spine?"

That hadn't been what Wade was thinking about at all, but on second thought, Leon did have a point. Blackrot had let Wade continue working through just about any damage. Even breaking his bones when he landed on the ground. But there had been a limit. Running around with broken leg bones had felt… weird. Almost like the blackrot's attempt to replace their use while it healed things wasn't perfect. Was there something about bones that blackrot didn't quite work right with?

Selena didn't care for the philosophical debates. Or the science. All she saw was a terrible dangerous creature who could deliver certain death with a single bite. Slightly less certain these days, but Wade figured deep training and a lifetime of training didn't get shaken off that easily.

She aimed the spear right at the weasel, likely judging that the use of mana to eliminate this critter from a distance was a good choice. Illy and Wade both grabbed onto her before she could continue, shouting.

Feathers puffed up and her ears twitched in silent seething anger at this whole mess.

"It's okay, we actually want it to infect us." Wade said. "I think you said that's something some people do in your world right? Get intentionally infected with the blackrot when they're basically cosigned to death already, or doing some suicidal mission in a war."

"Yes, however you are all perfectly hale and there is no need to tempt fate to this degree!" She argued. "You were extremely fortunate to have survived your first encounter with blackrot, do not be lulled into a false sense of security."

"We're fine, we know what we're doing." Wade said, looking at Illy.

She was frowning. "Might have a little issue. My boon to control animals is working, but the weasel's not following my directions. I get a sense it's making the attempt, just… not in con- ahh feck. I'm controlling the weasel itself, not the blackrot."

"Does that mean the weasel's still alive somehow in there?" Wade looked at the little devil ahead, who was clearly have the time of its life eating up the dead rat. Very gruesome.

"Could be the blackrot's not counted as a proper beast by the system. Bollocks. Was hopin' I could use that trick to keep it in check, but here we are."

The group visibly got ready for the confrontation, pacing forward as a team. All weapons drawn and ready.

The weasel stopped its meal, then looked up at the advancing group.

"Get ready guys." Wade said, holding one of Illy's daggers. "Once it starts attacking us, it's not going to stop until it gets to your neck. We got to pin it down first, and then we can have it bite us on legs and arms."

The weasel would also be far stronger than any normal weasel should be, which meant trapping it might be different.

It rose on its hind legs to get a better view at the approaching group, hissed and flashed its bloody teeth. Then bit down on the rat body, lifted it up… and ran of with its meal.

Really, really fast.

Wade did not have that on his bingo sheet either.

"Thought ya said the beast would come at us like a mad bull in a china shop?" Illy asked.

"It did for me…" Wade hummed. "In my defense, there's four of us now, and we're approaching it instead of running from it. Also, when we fought, the only reason it ran off was because it sensed a bigger threat. Well, we're that bigger threat now."

It still pissed him off somehow. The one time he actually wanted to get savagely mauled by that thing, it decides discretion is the better part of valor.

"Note to self, bring an animal trap next time. And a cage." Wade muttered, relaxing his posture.

"Bait too." Leon said with a shrug, "It looked hungry."

"It's not all a wash though. We might have luck finding blackrot rats around here." Wade said. "It'll probably be a lot easier than dealing with weasel."

It was not easier than dealing with a weasel. Mostly because the rats were small, scared easily, and were empowered with blackrot while the group was not.

When they noticed humans around, they'd run away instead of attack. And they could run really, really fast when fully rested.

And worse - they were hard to spot with the limited lighting. Black masses of void-like matting blended almost perfectly with the shadows. Only when Wade directly shined his flashlight on the little pests did the group have eyes on them. Identify was doing the heavy lifting in even finding where the rats were hiding out at.

They'd been at it for the past thirty minutes now without a single rat to show for it. They'd circled back all the way to the hollow where Wade had killed his first skeleton. The little table here was now fully in darkness as no light remained. Only Wade's flashlight kept the area lit.

"Cozy nook." Illy said, "So this is where you spent most of your early time?"

Wade nodded, which was difficult for the rest to see given he was the only one holding the light. It sweeped over the area, showing what Wade remembered. A path up to the makeshift ladder, and one to the stairwells. He decided now was a great time to find out what was beyond those steps.

As it turned out, his prior idea of following the running weasel had been the right decision. The cut stairs here led to a dead end. A sleeping quarters of some kind, filled with decayed makeshift beds and empty shelves. If he'd had gone this way, the skeletons would have trapped and ripped him apart.

"Might be because their diets down here isn't really that of a carnivore." Wade said, as the group sat down on the metal stools to take a breather. The last rat they'd spotted had instantly bolted into a crack and scurried away, leaving this room completely clean of anything. "Seen them eat plants and probably the mushrooms around here, maybe insects? We're not on their general diet."

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"They really do act like rats would." Illy said, grabbing one of the granola bars out of the backpack, then tossed one to both Wade and Leon before opening hers.

Wade shrugged, ripping the foil open. "I think your boon ability confirms that the animal itself is still alive in there, just not in control. Trapped in their own bodies?"

"Morbid end." Leon said.

"Well. What do we do now gang?" Wade asked, munching. "I don't think we'll be able to catch rats by hand, we're too slow. Baiting them out might take even more time. Might run out of batteries for this light."

"If we're going to take on yer 'Lapushka", I want to stack every advantage I can get my hands on." Illy said. "System gives us stat points, so I say we follow the path up, and see about baiting a horde of skeletons. With the right chokepoint, we could get quite a good chunk of experience. Make it past level four or five even."

Wade gave a thumbs up. The idea seemed sound. "We might find some more blackrot rats while we're hunting skeletons. I think it's a good plan."

Leon didn't answer, he simply picked up his hammer, and gave them a thumbs up along with his usual lanky grin.

Plan in mind, the group got up. Wade gave a final look behind him, at the only enemy health bar in the area.

Level 37 Undead Nathir Slave - 0%

He couldn't imagine the kind of warfare the slave rebellion here had to handle, with the golems running around hunting them down. But they'd been resourceful, safe enough to carve out these tunnels. They'd been here for a reason, the entire nook felt more like a barracks than a safepoint. Considering this skeleton was above the levels of all the others out here, he might have been a great leader or something. Wade considered how those levels worked. There were so many different game systems out there, he hadn't yet connected any one system to these levels. The skeleton had been higher level, but not physically stronger than other skeletons. And Leon was lower level compared to Selena, but equally physically stronger.

So what made the System assign such a high level to different mobs? He needed more data points.

Wade led the way back to the ladder, flashlight cutting through the gloom. The rungs were surprisingly solid as the group climbed up. The trapdoor on the other hand was not quite so sturdy: It had been ripped off its hinges.

The familiar rock walls greeted him, though they seemed smaller now with four people crowded inside. His initial panic felt like it happened years ago rather than days.

Wade swept his flashlight across the walls to where the skeletons had nearly got him. All the rock had been scattered on the ground now, as a clear horde passed through.

He passed through, this time with weapons, teammates and a plan.

Ancient Nathir Shelter-city - Lowest Level Lethal Difficulty

"Yeah yeah, good to see you too." Wade muttered as the region name flashed over before him.

Wade led the group through the mining section, his flashlight no longer the only source of illumination. The ancient Nathir streetlamps cast an eerie glow across the cavern, reflecting off small streams that cut through the floor.

"Haven't been further than this point, right about here I woke up the mob and had to run back." Wade said, sweeping his gaze across the open area. Massive granite slabs lay scattered throughout the space, some partially cut, others looking ready for transport. His light fixated on them. "Yeah. Those are definitely the slabs Lapushka used."

Leon crouched by one of the streams, dipping his fingers in the clear water. "Is clean. No smell."

"I prefer the yank's water bottles." Illy called out, busy investigating one of the storehouses. "At least we know those are sanitized. Last time we had no choice."

She peered into what appeared to be a storage building with its door hanging off rusted hinges. "Identify showing no enemies here. Nothing but empty shelves now too."

Wade checked his identify ability, scanning for health bars or enemy indicators on his side of the clearing. Nothing registered.

"No skeletons." He said. "No rats either. But I see vegetation and moss. So the rats are out here somewhere. Keep identify going." He felt like a termite crawling around on the lower floor of an abandoned colony. On the far side he could see the tunnels go in every direction.

There was something in the back of his mind, nagging him now that he was back to his origin point. "Play, why did you choose this spot out of anywhere else in the city?"

I didn't lol The System tossed you where it thought would be the best starting part. I just told it to be in this zone.

"What's that question about?" Illy asked.

"Just a feeling in my gut." Wade said. "I keep wondering why this place as a starting location. For you, it was a mansion house right?"

"Da." Leon confirmed. "Good base camp, at least until golems were dragged into it. Not so good base camp once discovered. You thought of something?"

"Yeah. Both starting places were safe initially. In this cavern, I could have stayed here forever and never been found by golems or the skeletons. And your manor, how long could you have stayed there without being seen?"

"Probably forever too." Illy said. "Place was sealed up tight, clearly upper nobility or something. Lot of space for everyone and no way for golems to see us or animals to sneak in. You think the System put us for that reason?"

Wade already knew the system had a sense of judgement and that meant opinions about something. Was it more like a DnD dungeon master, organizing things in the background? If so, tossing them into safe starting locations felt more on the scale of fair and just rather than cold and uncaring.

"I do think it's probably the reason. But I'm not sure if that's the only reason. My cave here could still be found by animals, so it's actually not the most safe place. And this city is really big, there'd be plenty of places the System would calculate as far safer. So why did it send me in this tunnel out of all places? I feel like there's something more it expected me to do or find here."

It was just intuition, his gut feeling.

And then his flashlight started finding things that shouldn't be there.

Golems. Like the ones they'd found in the lower sewers. Broken ones, equally colonized by moss and rust.

But none of them were at parade rest or showed any formation. Instead, some were disassembled, clearly scavenged for parts. Others had signs of slash marks through their body. Most of that damage was on the orb heads. One of them was completely sliced in half, part submerged inside a small stream. A lot had what looked to be puncture marks. Like ones a mining pick could do.

And then Wade saw it. A skeleton slumped against a wall on the building's far side, right before all these dead golems. The dead man held a massive looking greatsword at its side, clutching it like one would hold a bodypillow.

Given how peaceful the pose appeared, it was clear this skeleton hadn't died in a fight, but probably the aftermath of one.

A graveyard of golems defeated.

One single skeleton with a big fuck-off sword that looked out of proportion for its size?

Wade could sense a boss battle even if the real world didn't operate by those rules.

"Identify… Ah, fuck me."

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