As I took my first step into one of the tunnels of the cave, as soon as my front foot landed into the tunnel I heard what sounded like a loud screeching sound "Eeeeeek"
"What the?" I said as I almost lost my balance.
"Did I set off some sort of trap?" I must have. Otherwise, why else would some ravenous sounding beast make such a disturbingly unpleasant sound as soon as I stepped into the tunnel?
Taking a few steps back from the tunnel, returning to the safe zone. I heard the sound of footsteps slowly approaching the entrance of the tunnel I had just left moments ago.
Because of the poor quantity of light within this cave and because I was still holding on to the torch that was previously being used to light up the tunnel I was in, I couldn't quite make out what it was that was standing at the burrows entrance.
So I did what any sane man would have done if they were in my position. I sheathed my disgustingly ugly looking dagger back into my robe and then I stuck out my right hand and pointed the middle finger at the monster.
Okay, maybe I'm the weird one but hey, as long as I'm in this safe zone, it probably can't attack me. The monsters seem to be avoiding this area for some unknown reason so I might as well take full advantage of my extremely safe position to hand out a couple of middle fingers even though I doubt the dumb creature would understand anything I do or say, am I right?
But what happened next quite frantically shocked me. The being started swatting through the entrance to the cave I was in as though it was trying to tell a fly to bug-off. By now I could already see it's disgusting claws for fingers but I still couldn't quite make out the rest of it. That was until it decided to walk forward into the safe zone for some reason.
'What the fuck is that?' standing before me on all fours, was a creature about the size of a fully grown rottweiler except it looked like a rat. The rat had too many eyes to count on it's face and was covered in black fur. Not only that but it had what looked to be purple saliva seeping from it's mouth that looked extremely toxic to the touch. It also had a yellow tail which piqued my interest for a second until I realised it wasn't the key shaped tail I was looking for.
'How the hell did this thing get into the safe zone?' I thought with concern showing all over my face as I swiftly took out the dagger I had sheathed earlier for good reasons.
As I prepared myself for the savage beast to leap towards me, I watched as the rat seemed to be looking around the room with utmost curiosity. That was, until it decided to let out another loud screeching sound which seemed to have stunned me for a split second.
Yet for some reason, instead of rushing towards me in my bewildered state, it remained in its position while staring at me with anticipation in its many eyes.
That was when I realised what it was doing. It was buying time for some more of its rat buddies to show up. 'But why would it need to do that? Couldn't all his rat friends just come through any tunnel in sight? And why was it showing such precautions for me, do I look strong in its eyes, or was it captivated by my beauty?'
As all these questions kept flooding my mind, my eyes darted frantically around the room and then stopped on the rat. It was at that moment that I registered something. The rats eyes, they weren't directed towards me, well they were but it wasn't me that it was so concerned about. It was what I was holding in my left hand. That's when I looked towards all the other torches in the room hanging at the entrance of every single tunnel with realisation in my eyes.
'The torches are seals.' My eyes lit up. 'The rats can't enter into the safe zone because of all the torches hanging at the entrance of each tunnel.'
But my sudden epiphany came too late. By now four more rats were currently entering through the same tunnel the first rat came from. It was only a matter of time before an entire horde of rats came crawling into the cavern so I had to act fast.
There were exactly five rats in front of me blocking my path and I had to swiftly get through them and hang the torch back on the wall.
So I acted first. I ran towards the rats while holding onto the torch that had a burning flame that seemed to never go out. 'The torches seem to be what they're afraid of, I can use this.' I thought with a determined smile edged across my face.
As I got closer and closer, I saw three rats had huddled up into a lined formation while the others moved to my left and right sides. I heard them as the three creatures in front of me all seemed to be growling at me in a weird way. It sounded similar to the noise a person would make right before spi—
"Ptooey" three of the five rats spat towards me.
As the three spat towards me, to avoid the incoming basket balls of slobber, I side-stepped to the left narrowly avoiding the purple liquids that splashed onto the ground. That was until the other two rats decided to intervene by leaping towards me from my left and right sides. I quickly rolled backwards forcing them to collide with one another falling to the ground while I stood back in a crouched position.
'I see, they're smart enough to make battle formations. While three of the rats attack me from a distance, the other two engage in direct combat with me while doing their utmost to avoid the torch in my hand.' I thought with a drop of sweat sliding down my face.
"Still, it's not enough to beat me." I quickly got up on my feet and ran towards the two perplexed creatures with intent to kill. But before I had the chance to slash one with my dagger, I heard a sound that immediately caused me to cease my murder attempt.
"Ptouey" one of the shooters spat at me from the distance which made me jump back but it was then followed by two more projectiles launching at me one after the other causing me to distance myself about 10 meters away which gave the 2 bewildered combatants enough time to get back up and ready themselves.
"Damn it." I said to myself with eagerness in my voice. 'I don't have time to deal with these damn rats. I need to hurry up and set the torch back up on that wall before more reinforcements come my way.'
As I saw the rats getting back into their annoyingly efficient formation, I decided to make a plan of my own. I unwrapped the cloth tie from around my waist that was being used to hold my robe together and then I sheathed my blade back into the plain white scabbard that was previously hidden in my clothing. I then held my blade by the scabbard and wrapped the cloth around the handle of my dagger. Lastly, I held the torch up to the cloth and used it to light up the handle.
"Haha, now we're talking, let's see you get through this you ugly rats."
The giant critters seeing me hold not one but two flames in my hands quickly abandoned their former formation. The combatants from before scurried their way into the lined formation of the other three while making the same gurgling sound from their mouths.