Fifty rats.
On paper, the number seemed manageable. A grind, certainly, but a simple one. Leo had killed a Wire-Rat with a single swing of a rusty pipe. If he paced himself, used the choke points of the scrapyard, and didn't get surrounded, he calculated he could finish the contract in two hours.
He was wrong.
Leo stood atop a precarious pile of crushed compacted cars, his chest heaving, sweat stinging his eyes. Below him, the floor of Sector 4 had vanished. It was replaced by a writhing, squealing sea of grey fur and sparking teeth.
"System," Leo gasped, swinging his rebar weapon to knock a leaping rat out of the air. "You didn't say they were a hive mind!"
[System Note: Wire-Rats release a distress pheromone upon death. Killing one attracts the pack. Killing ten attracts the colony.]
Leo had killed twelve. And now, it felt like the entire mountain was vibrating with the sound of skittering claws.
There weren't just fifty. There were hundreds.
They poured out of the vents, the pipes, the cracks in the walls. They climbed over each other like a tsunami of vermin, their copper-infused teeth snapping at his boots.
[Contract Progress: 12/50] [Health: 90/110] [BP: 48/60]
Leo kicked a rat in the face, sending it tumbling down the slope, but three more took its place. They were coordinated. While the front line distracted him, the flankers were chewing through the metal supports of his high ground. The car pile shifted ominously beneath him.
"I have to Shift," Leo thought, panic rising. "I can wipe them out as a Wolf."
[Warning: Shift Cost is 40 BP.] [Current BP: 48.] [Duration Available: ~3 Minutes (including upkeep).]
Three minutes. If he shifted, he would be a whirlwind of death for 180 seconds. He could probably kill twenty or thirty of them. But then? He'd revert to human form with 0 BP, exhausted, surrounded by the remaining horde.
It was a death sentence.
"I can't Shift," Leo realized, grit clenching his jaw. "I have to move."
The pile groaned. A metal strut snapped.
Leo didn't wait for the collapse. He focused on a hanging catwalk about four meters away. It was too far to jump.
Perfect.
[Skill: Phantom Step.]
Leo pushed off the shifting metal. For a heartbeat, he was weightless, suspended in the grey gloom. Then, the world blurred.
Snap.
He materialized on the rusted grating of the catwalk, stumbling as his momentum caught up with him. He gripped the railing, looking back.
The car pile collapsed a second later, swallowed by the swarm. The rats shrieked, tearing at the metal where he had just been standing.
Leo backed away, his heart hammering against his ribs. This wasn't a hunt. It was a siege.
"Fifty kills," Leo muttered, wiping grime from his face. "I need a bottleneck. Somewhere they can't swarm."
He turned and ran down the catwalk, heading deeper into the sector. The air grew colder, the smell of ozone replaced by something metallic and coppery—blood?
The catwalk ended at a heavy blast door that had been pried open with hydraulic jacks. Beyond lay a maintenance bay, illuminated by portable glow-lanterns.
Leo slowed down, his [Feral Senses] prickling.
It wasn't rats. The smell was different. Unwashed bodies, cheap tobacco, and stale alcohol.
Humans.
Leo crept closer, peering through the gap in the door.
Inside the bay, three figures were huddled around a disassembled drone engine. They were rough-looking men, wearing mismatched armor plates scavenged from trash heaps. They were "Claim Jumpers"—illegal scavengers who broke into the Citadel's lower levels to steal tech.
"I'm telling you, I heard something," one of them grunted, lifting a heavy wrench. He was a big man with a shaved head and a tattoo of a spider on his neck.
"Probably just the rats, Jaxon," another replied, not looking up from the engine. "This sector is crawling with them."
"Nah," Jaxon spat. "Rats don't sound like... boots."
He turned, locking eyes with Leo through the gap in the door.
Leo froze.
"Well, well," Jaxon grinned, showing yellow teeth. "Look what the cat dragged in. A student. And he looks lost."
The other two scavengers stood up. One pulled a serrated knife; the other held a modified nail gun.
[Threat Detected: Human Scavengers.] [Analysis:] [Target A (Jaxon): Level 2 (Strength Type).] [Target B: Level 1 (Tech Type).] [Target C: Level 1 (Speed Type).]
"I'm just passing through," Leo said, stepping into the light. He held his rebar loosely at his side. "The rats are swarming back there. You guys should leave."
"Leave?" Jaxon laughed, stepping forward. "We just found a fresh payday. You see, kid, students usually carry nice credits on their wristbands. And nobody checks the bodies down here. They just assume the beasts got 'em."
Leo sighed. "I really don't have time for this."
"Get him!" Jaxon roared.
The man with the nail gun fired. Thwip-Thwip.
Leo triggered [Phantom Step].
He vanished from the doorway, the nails pinging harmlessly against the steel frame. He reappeared directly in front of the gunman.
The scavenger's eyes widened in shock. "What the—"
Leo didn't hesitate. He swung the rebar with all his Level 3 strength. The heavy iron struck the man's temple with a sickening crunch.
[Critical Hit.]
The gunman crumpled instantly.
[Target Eliminated.] [Exp Gained: 50]
Leo blinked. Fifty? That was almost as much as the Elite Stalker.
"You little freak!" Jaxon yelled, charging with his wrench.
Leo ducked under the clumsy swing. Jaxon was strong, but he was slow. He fought like a thug, not a soldier.
Leo drove his fist into Jaxon's gut, doubling him over, then brought his knee up into the man's face. Jaxon stumbled back, blood pouring from his nose.
The third scavenger, the knife-wielder, hesitated. He looked at his fallen comrade, then at Leo.
"I... I surrender!" he stammered, dropping the knife.
Leo paused. He wasn't a murderer. He was defending himself.
But Jaxon wasn't done. With a roar of rage, the big man pulled a hidden pistol from his belt. "Die!"
Leo's instincts screamed. He couldn't dodge a bullet at this range, not without Phantom Step, and he had just used it. The cooldown was only a few seconds, but that was too long.
Shift.
He didn't have a choice.
[Shift Activated.] [Cost: 40 BP.] [Current BP: 8/60.]
Black fur exploded from Leo's skin. The transformation was instant and violent.
Jaxon fired. The bullet grazed the Wolf's shoulder, searing the flesh, but it didn't stop the momentum.
The Wolf lunged.
Jaws clamped around Jaxon's throat. There was no negotiation. No mercy. Just the snap of vertebrae.
[Target Eliminated.] [Exp Gained: 80]
The third scavenger screamed and turned to run.
The Wolf didn't let him. The prey drive was too high. The scent of blood was too strong.
Leo leaped, pinning the man to the ground. One bite ended it.
[Target Eliminated.] [Exp Gained: 40]
Silence returned to the maintenance bay, broken only by the dripping of blood.
[Shift Deactivated: Low BP.]
Leo reverted, falling to his knees. He was panting, his shoulder burning where the bullet had grazed him.
[BP: 4/60]
He looked at the bodies. Three dead men. He felt... surprisingly fine. No guilt. Just a cold, hard satisfaction. They had tried to kill him. He had won.
[Combat Complete.] [Total Exp Gained: 170] [Current Exp: 175/400]
"Humans give a lot of Exp," Leo whispered, staring at his hands. "More than the rats."
Then, a new notification popped up. It was dark red, pulsating with a sinister light.
[System Opportunity Detected.] [Biological Material Analysis: Human Flesh/Blood.] [Quality: High.] [Compatibility with Shifter System: 100%.]
[Hidden Mechanic Revealed: The Forbidden Feast.] [Devouring the flesh or blood of Human Ability Users grants System Credits (SC) instead of BP.]
[Estimated Value of Target A (Jaxon): 150 SC.] [Estimated Value of Target B: 80 SC.] [Estimated Value of Target C: 80 SC.]
[Would you like to Consume?]
Leo recoiled, scrambling back until his back hit the cold metal wall. "What? No! Are you crazy?"
[System Logic: You require 2,000 SC for the BP Amplifier. The swarm outside is impenetrable with your current capacity. Consuming these resources would yield 310 SC immediately. It is efficient.]
"It's cannibalism!" Leo shouted at the empty room. "I'm not eating people!"
[Correction: You are a Shifter. Humans are merely another species on the food chain. You killed them in self-defense. Leaving the resources to rot is wasteful.]
Leo looked at Jaxon's body. 150 SC.
He thought about the BP Amplifier. He thought about the rats waiting outside, hundreds of them. He thought about Silas and the High Tiers who wanted to crush him.
310 SC. Plus the 220 he had... that would be over 500. A quarter of the way to the Amplifier.
His stomach rumbled. The Wolf inside him whined, scratching at the back of his mind. Meat. Power. Take it.
Leo stood up, his legs shaking. He walked over to Jaxon. He reached down... and grabbed the pistol from the dead man's belt.
He checked the magazine. Full.
"No," Leo said, his voice trembling but firm. "I won't do it. If I cross that line... I won't come back."
He turned away from the bodies.
[System Note: Opportunity declined. Host morality is... inconvenient. But noted.]
Leo checked the pistol. It was a heavy-caliber kinetic slugthrower. Crude, but effective.
"I have a gun now," Leo said. "And I have a choke point."
He looked at the blast door. It was narrow. Only two or three rats could fit through at a time.
"Let them come," Leo growled.
He walked to the door and kicked it wide open. Then he fired a single shot into the darkness, the sound echoing like a thunderclap down the tunnel.
"Dinner time!" he yelled.
From the darkness, the squealing redoubled. The swarm had found him.
Leo raised the rebar in one hand and the pistol in the other. He had 4 BP left. No shifting. No tricks. Just a desperate fight for survival in a room full of dead men.
[Contract Progress: 12/50]
The first wave hit the door.