The impact had been like getting hit by a runaway truck. I lay on the cold stone floor of the boss room, my lungs burning as I struggled to pull in air. My glasses lay somewhere in the dark, and without them, the vaulted chamber was a blur of flickering orange torchlight and oppressive black shadows. The heavy thud-scrape, thud-scrape of the Orc's footsteps echoed off the high ceiling, growing louder with every heartbeat.
I scrambled backward on my elbows, my fingers finally brushing against the familiar plastic frames of my glasses. I shoved them onto my face just in time to see the Orc stepping into the light of a nearby brazier. It was a nightmare of green muscle and scarred leather. The creature stood nearly eight feet tall, its tusks yellowed and sharp, and in its massive hand, it gripped a double-edged battle-axe that looked heavy enough to crush a car.
"Form up!" I wheezed, my voice cracking from the blow to my back.
My forty-eight rats, which had been scattered by the ambush, surged back toward me. They didn't just run; they flowed like a carpet of grey shadow, their red eyes pinpricks of defiance in the dark. The Orc let out a deep, guttural laugh, the sound vibrating in my chest. To him, I was just a snack that had brought its own garnish.
The Orc didn't waste time with a second roar. It lunged, the sheer speed of its massive body catching me off guard. The axe came whistling down in a vertical arc meant to split me from head to toe.
"Rat Wall!"
Twenty-five rats leaped into the air, their bodies interlocking into a dense, vibrating shield. The impact was sickening. I felt a sharp, sympathetic spike of pain in the back of my skull as the axe slammed into the swarm. The wall held for a split second—just long enough for me to roll desperately to the left—before the rats were pulverized against the stone floor.
I scrambled to my feet, my heart hammering against my ribs. I was down to twenty-three rats already. One hit. That's all it took to wipe out half my army. If I kept playing defense, I'd be dead in less than a minute.
"Rat Blade!"
Fifteen rats leaped onto my right arm, locking their bodies into a jagged, serrated edge. Because my Mastery of skill [Rat-king] had increased, the blade felt more rigid than before, the "edge" vibrating with a lethal intensity.
The Orc pulled its axe from the cracked stone and swung horizontally. I dove under the blade, the wind of the swing ruffling my hair, and lashed out with the Rat Blade. I caught the monster across the ribs, the living blade tearing through leather and green flesh. The Orc grunted, a spray of dark blood hitting the floor, but it didn't even slow down. It backhanded me with its free hand, the blow sending me spinning across the room.
I hit a stone pillar, the air leaving my lungs in a violent burst. My Rat Blade de-summoned as the rats were knocked loose, scurrying back to me in a panic. I looked up, my vision swimming, to see the Orc raising its axe for the final blow. I only had eight healthy rats left near me. The rest were stunned or dead.
"I am not... dying here," I hissed, coughing up a bit of blood. "I have a debt to pay."
I poured every last drop of my concentration into the mental threads. I didn't form a blade or a wall. As the Orc stepped forward, I commanded the remaining rats to scramble up its body, biting and tearing at the open wound in its ribs. The monster roared in frustration, swatting at itself, momentarily distracted.
That was the opening. I lunged forward, grabbing the Orc's discarded battleaxe handle with both hands while it was distracted. It was impossibly heavy, but I didn't need to swing it. I just needed to be close.
"Rat Enhanced Strike!"
I channelled the last of my energy into my fist, using the last three rats to harden my knuckles like iron. I drove the blow straight into the Orc's wounded throat. There was a wet, muffled crack. The monster's eyes went wide, its breath hitching in its shattered windpipe. It stumbled, the axe falling from its nerveless fingers, and finally hit the floor with a crash that shook the room.
I stood over the corpse, gasping for air, my hands shaking uncontrollably. I was battered, my bank account was zero, and my swarm was decimated. But the Gate was quiet. I had won.