Tiny Dungeon

Valterra felt his Core tighten almost painfully as he looked upon the invader who had just metamorphosized right in front of him even as it laid waste to the other two Fomorian Stalkers. Even as looked upon the creature he analyzed what he was feeling and realized that for the first time in his Sapient life, he felt true terror and fear. This wasn’t the anxiety of invaders being in his Dungeon, that he could deal with. This was far worse. His Core tightened further before he forced it to relax. He tried observing the creature and realized that this time he could see it through his system but what he saw did not alleviate his terror.

Shattered Avatar of the Fallen Shard - (Fallen - Unique Legendary)

He shuddered at the rarity and the power radiating off the invader’s new form. That wasn’t just a metaphorical shuddering either. His Dungeon literally shook where it connected with the invader’s aura. Aether went mad, bucking and twisting into loops and swirls that hurt to look at. Whatever it was doing to maintain its form was chipping away at Valterra’s Dungeon with malicious intent. He quickly looked away, trying to formulate some kind of response to this unexpected danger.

‘I’m not prepared for this,’ He thought. ‘How am I supposed to deal with a Legendary invader on top of all the others?’ He flashed over to where his Mouse Captain was climbing up the Sixth Floor before diving down into the Fifth to see how the battle was going. To his relief, other than the bearded ones group, the other invaders were being overwhelmed as their attack on the fortress of Guard Mice was turned back on them once the other creatures of the Fifth Floor arrived.

His relief was quickly shattered though as he felt one of his walls shatter. He darted back to see that the aura surrounding the Legendary invader had destabilized the walls enough that it could just blast its way through them. It wasn’t going to go through the Dungeon the normal way it would seem. In a panic, Valterra wracked his brain for some way to deal with this new threat but came up empty. At least until he noticed the rats. At least a hundred of the critters were flooding out of a new tunnel that had just opened up near his Aether Funnel. He hadn’t even felt them digging but with everything that had been going on that probably wasn’t a strange thing.

Valterra panicked and his panicking most likely saved his life. In his surprise at the new threat that he had thought was contained, he summoned his newest Schema to defend himself. And the Legendary invader went completely mad. It screeched a horrible sound and began recklessly charging toward where the Fomorian Stalkers had been summoned and charging fast. Valterra seeing this felt a measure of sanity return to him. He calmed, his thoughts no longer wild and chaotic. He looked at the rats and at the invader closing in and smiled. He made his Stalkers dart through the rats until they were on the other side.

For their part, the rats seemed confused, first at the summoning of the stalkers and then at their movement through them rather than attacking. That confusion shattered into fear as the invader crashed through the wall and into the room. After its transformation, the creature stood close to a foot and a half tall but once it got into the room it began to swell obscenely. It grew to around three feet tall and brayed a harsh cackle-hiss that reverberated through the room. To Valterra’s surprise, instead of running as he expected, one of the rats moved forward and chittered loudly to the rats around him before squeaking something in a rhythmic manner.

Even more surprising was the appearance of other rats who began to do the same thing. Then the Aether went crazy. It blazed around the chanting rats and condensed itself down until with a squeaky kind of roar the rats unleashed a sort of spell. A green-blue beam of energy ripped from their outstretched paws and slammed into the invader with a crackle of searing heat. It flared further when it impacted the creature’s aura but barely slowed down. With a screech of pain, the Fallen Shard staggered back under the onslaught even as it petered out. The rats involved in the spell staggered as the light ceased flickering around them. That didn’t stop the rat at the forefront from squeaking loudly.

At his ‘command,’ the rat horde charged, leaping onto the creature ferociously. Valterra watched, fascinated, as the rats flung themselves at the twisted creature, biting and scratching relentlessly. His fascination quickly turned to fear once more as the creature retaliated by doing something with its aura. It flared out flinging rats in all directions, the Aether lashing into them. It brayed out its rage and pain before turning on the rats and beginning its slaughter.

POV He-Who-Chitters-In-The-Dark

This wasn’t how it was supposed to be. The invaders were supposed to fall and Clan Spark was supposed to take their rightful place as part of the house. Instead, the one invader they had come across was stronger than the clan warriors and Mad-Ones combined. The rat squeaked orders wildly, trying to contain the chaos but the slaughter continued unabated. The creature was huge with twisted muscles that somehow contained great strength. It regenerated as fast as the warriors cut and gnawed at it, ugly wounds sealing over.

He-Who-Chitters-In-The-Dark would not be cowed though. He continued to order his rats while looking for any weakness he could exploit. As another blast from the creature threw rats off of it he saw something he hadn’t expected to see. The damage from the spark lightning they had unleashed was healing slower than the other wounds. It was still there. Working quickly the rat called his Mad-Ones to him and ordered them to bring the rest of the spark crystals. He had the other rats continue the fight while he prepared for the largest spark of lightning he had ever done. For the first time, he entertained the notion that he might fail but shook it away. Even if it took his own life he would pave the way for his pups and his clan. Some of the rats might be afraid of death. Not He-Who-Chitters-In-The-Dark.