Chapter 88: A Clever Capture of the Shadow Rat King 1

Darkya did not lead Kent along the main passage.

Partway through the journey, she suddenly turned into a side tunnel.

There were countless branches like this throughout the underground world.

They had not gone far before the Fluorescent Grass growing along the stone walls began to thin out.

With the help of his night-vision glasses, Kent could now see the plants much more clearly.

They were actually a kind of luminous moss.

More importantly, much of the moss here showed obvious signs of having been eaten by some kind of animal.

Kent immediately became more alert.

Without realizing it, he moved a little closer to Darkya.

With Darkya’s powerful perception, almost nothing within several hundred meters could escape her notice.

Naturally, she noticed Kent’s movement as well.

A faint look of disdain appeared at the corner of her mouth.

“Don’t be afraid.”

“There are only ordinary beasts around here.”

“They probably sensed us long ago and ran away.”

“I’m not afraid.”

Kent immediately protested, unwilling to lose face.

“I’m just curious.”

Even as he spoke, however, he could not help thinking back to the time when he had first entered the Dark Region.

Now that he understood how dangerous this underground world truly was, Kent realized just how unbelievably lucky he had been.

He had traveled such a long distance without encountering any serious danger.

Just thinking about it now still made him shudder.

Back then, he had even casually picked up magical beast cores.

That had been an extremely dangerous thing to do underground.

The glow from a magic core could attract wild beasts and magical creatures from a considerable distance.

Perhaps the saying really was true.

The ignorant feared nothing.

“Hehehe...”

Darkya suddenly laughed.

And she did not bother keeping her voice down.

In the silent darkness of the underground tunnels, her laughter traveled surprisingly far.

“What are you laughing at?”

Kent asked irritably.

Darkya looked at his unhappy expression and suddenly felt much better.

Her eyes shifted playfully.

“Oh, nothing.”

“I’m simply in a good mood.”

“Hmph.”

Kent decided not to argue with her.

Arguing with a woman was pointless.

In the end, the man always lost.

Seeing that Kent had finally gone quiet, Darkya continued leading the way.

To be fair, Darkya knew the area surrounding Muan City extremely well.

Most of the nearby territory had already been thoroughly explored.

Muan City also regularly organized hunting parties to clear out wild beasts and magical creatures within roughly a hundred li of the city.

Dark elves possessed a natural ability to see in darkness.

However, their range was not unlimited.

Under normal circumstances, they could see clearly for a little more than two hundred meters.

It was one of the racial talents shared by nearly all dark elves.

Kent followed Darkya for more than an hour.

Several times, he nearly asked where exactly she was taking him.

But each time the question reached his lips, he swallowed it again.

Darkya could not deliberately harm him.

If she truly intended to do so, the magical contract would immediately react.

Even knowing that, Kent still felt increasingly uneasy.

The underground world was completely different from the surface.

There was no sun.

No clear north, south, east, or west.

No mountains or distant landmarks to use as reference points.

Everywhere he looked, there were only tunnels and stone walls.

More tunnels.

More stone walls.

After another stretch of walking, Kent finally could not endure the uncertainty any longer.

“Where exactly are we going?”

He kept his voice low.

Along the way, Kent had noticed more and more wild creatures nearby.

Most of them were small animals.

And the farther they traveled, the more numerous those animals became.

If all Darkya wanted was to test the new crossbow, this area already seemed more than suitable.

“We’re almost there.”

Darkya did not even turn around.

“There’s an underground river not far ahead.”

“We’ll hunt there.”

Since she had already said that, Kent had little reason to complain.

Still, he became even more cautious.

Anything could happen in the Dark Region.

Not long afterward, Kent finally heard it.

Water.

The sound of rushing water echoed through the tunnel ahead.

Judging from the roar, the flow was not small.

At the same time, the air became noticeably fresher.

Kent’s eyes brightened.

Without realizing it, he quickened his pace.

“Wait.”

Darkya suddenly grabbed Kent by the arm and stopped him.

Leaning close to his ear, she whispered,

“Did you hear something?”

Kent listened carefully for a moment.

“No.”

He still could not make out anything besides the rushing water.

Darkya was standing so close that the warm breath from her lips brushed against his ear.

Kent felt an unexpected flutter in his chest.

It tickled enough that he nearly laughed.

“We should be careful.”

Darkya listened again.

This time, her expression gradually became serious.

Seeing the change in her face, Kent’s heart tightened as well.

He quietly followed behind her, making sure not to create unnecessary noise.

A faint, delicate fragrance lingered around Darkya as they moved forward.

But the moment the two of them finally saw what was gathered beside the underground river, all other thoughts vanished.

Their faces turned pale.

The river was more than ten meters wide.

Its depth was impossible to judge.

The current, however, was clearly strong.

And on the opposite bank stood an entire pack of magical beasts.

They resembled enormous rats.

But compared with ordinary underground moles, their ears were much larger.

So were their bodies.

Each creature was roughly a meter long and weighed more than fifty kilograms.

“Should we back away?”

Even Darkya’s face had lost some color.

The magical beasts across the river were not particularly high-ranked.

Most were only second- or third-rank.

Yet almost no one in the underground world was willing to provoke them.

Even fifth- or sixth-rank magical beasts were not necessarily as terrifying as these creatures.

They were called Shadow Rats.

A dark-element magical beast.

Their teeth and claws carried deadly poison.

They could also cast a dark-element spell known as the Shadow Arrow.

But their greatest danger lay in their numbers.

A Shadow Rat pack rarely contained fewer than several hundred members.

Groups numbering in the thousands were hardly unusual.

Fortunately, Shadow Rats almost never attacked cities on their own.

They had an extreme aversion to light.

Most underground cities were built near volcanoes and illuminated by fire, making them places Shadow Rats instinctively avoided.

“Wait.”

Kent had originally intended to retreat with Darkya.

But then he noticed something strange.

“Let’s watch for a moment.”

The Shadow Rats near the river were not drinking.

Instead, they were spreading outward in different directions.

Kent could already see more than two hundred of them.

And the number was still increasing.

Even more strangely, as more rats appeared, their average strength also seemed to rise.

Shadow Rats did not have a fixed upper rank.

Some people had encountered fifth-rank Shadow Rats.

Others had even discovered sixth-rank ones.

That meant the species belonged to the rare category of magical beasts capable of continuously growing stronger.

There was even a famous story recorded in the history of the continent.

A warrior had once successfully tamed a Shadow Rat.

Eventually, however, that very creature brought disaster upon its master and caused the warrior’s death.

The reason was one of the Shadow Rat’s most frightening traits.

Higher-ranked Shadow Rats could dominate lower-ranked members of their own species.

They could gather followers almost like a powerful leader recruiting subordinates.

“What exactly are you looking at?”

Darkya asked anxiously.

Although she was an eighth-rank Magic Archer, there were hundreds of Shadow Rats on the opposite bank.

If even a handful managed to rush close enough, Darkya would have little choice but to flee.

Still, when she saw that Kent did not appear frightened, she refused to show weakness.

Kent was only a low-ranked mage.

If he could remain calm, then she, an eighth-rank Magic Archer, certainly could not be the first to retreat.

Kent observed the pack carefully for a while.

Then he lowered his voice.

“There’s probably a Rat King among them.”

“A Rat King?”

Darkya visibly shuddered.

It was not simply because she was afraid.

The very existence of a Shadow Rat King carried enormous implications.

A Rat King was never weak.

Even the lowest-ranked Shadow Rat Kings were at least seventh-rank magical beasts.

And whenever a Rat King appeared, the pack surrounding it usually numbered in the thousands.

How could Darkya not react?

But after the initial shock passed, confusion appeared in her eyes.

She looked at Kent.

“How do you know?”

“Actually, a Rat King isn’t necessarily a high-rank magical beast.”

Kent kept his voice low as he continued observing the opposite bank.

“When a Shadow Rat colony grows large enough, a new Rat King will eventually emerge.”

“That new Rat King then leaves the original colony with a portion of the pack and establishes a group of its own.”

“At that stage, the new colony is still relatively weak.”

“So it naturally tries to stay as far away from danger as possible.”

Kent pointed toward the river.

“That is probably why this pack chose to settle here.”

“The roar of the water masks the sounds made by the Shadow Rats.”

“It also helps conceal their scent.”

“Otherwise, they would never dare live this close to a human city.”

“And with a river separating them from this side, they can retreat quickly if danger appears.”

Darkya listened carefully.

Kent continued,

“Look at their markings.”

“Most of these Shadow Rats have gray stripes.”

“There are a few with black stripes.”

“And I can even see two with silver-white markings.”

“The black-striped ones are fifth-rank.”

“The silver-white ones are sixth-rank.”

“So there must be a Rat King somewhere among them.”

Kent narrowed his eyes.

“But that Rat King almost certainly hasn’t reached seventh-rank yet.”

The colors Kent mentioned referred not to the rats’ entire coats, but to the distinctive stripes running across their bodies.

Darkya raised the modified crossbow and looked through the night-vision scope.

After studying the pack for a while, she had to admit that Kent’s observation was remarkably precise.

Still, her expression remained serious.

There were several hundred low-rank Shadow Rats in front of them.

Among those were several fifth-rank individuals.

And two sixth-rank ones.

That was far beyond what the two of them could safely confront head-on.

Even powerful high-rank magical beasts would usually avoid a pack like this.

The greatest danger came from the Shadow Rats’ dark-element magic.

Dark magic was not merely poisonous.

It was also highly corrosive.

Once enough Shadow Arrows struck the same target, even strong defenses could be overwhelmed.

Darkya reached out and tugged lightly at Kent.

“Let’s go.”

“If this river weren’t here, they would have discovered us long ago.”

Kent, however, did not move.

Instead, a strange grin slowly appeared on his face.

“Hehe...”

“Don’t tell me you’re not tempted.”

Darkya frowned.

Kent’s eyes seemed to shine like gold.

“Think about it.”

“What if we caught the Rat King and brought it back?”

He grinned even wider.

“That’s a Rat King we’re talking about.”