The tunnel opened up once more as Jake found himself in a small circular cistern. Water was stored below and a cross-shaped bridge allowed one to get across without getting wet. The road straight ahead led to another hallway while the path to either side led into pipes.

Jake had just entered the area when a rat appeared directly opposite him. He was prepared to take it down when it took the path to the left and entered the pipe. And that was when something truly interesting happened.

The pipe disappeared for just a few seconds before a new, perfectly identical one appeared. Jake couldn’t be sure if it was the same pipe; all he knew was that some dungeon-fuckery was going on. Was this perhaps where all the rats in the dungeon came from?

He knew that he was looking for a nest of some sort. His objective was to kill the Nest Watcher after all and to watch a nest, there needed to be one. And for the nest to be where the rats came from also seemed rather logical. I’m a genius, he joked to himself.

Checking his stamina and health one final time, he proceeded forward. The trap-filled tunnel had given him time to down a few more potions, topping him up entirely.

Walking at a brisk pace, he crossed the bridge and entered the tunnel, headed towards what he presumed to be the nest. A prediction that proved correct as he soon found himself on yet another platform overlooking a reservoir. But unlike the last, this one didn’t appear to be filled with thousands of weak rats.

The darkness still obstructed his vision, making him unable to get a good look, but he could feel something down there. Four strong presences, none of the auras weaker than the Den Mother had been. Unless the dungeon had decided to up the bullshit even further, this had to be the end.

He prepared his arrows and sword and dagger with poison as he waited the last twenty minutes for his potion cooldown to be over. Good to go, he began his assault.

Jake jumped down into the basin, his bow already out and an arrow nocked, ready to be drawn.

Advanced Stealth on full display, he advanced as sneakily as he could. He could feel the auras of the four powerful beasts, but none others. Perhaps they were hidden by a stealth skill like most rats possessed in the dungeon, or there were indeed only four of them.

Soon the situation became clear to him, and it wasn’t what he had expected. Four giant rats were lying on the ground together, surrounded by a massive number of smaller rats. The big rats were quite frankly far too big for it to make any sense. They looked like they couldn’t even move…

They were hairless like most of the other rats in the sewer, but their proportions were just all off. Their bellies were inflated to ridiculous sizes, and their external limbs looked like they could barely carry the beast. It didn’t even have any claws.

He identified one of the enormous rats and got at least a partial answer through it as to what the hell these things were.

[MoleRat Incubator – lvl ??]

The name made it quite clear what the function of these rats was, and it also explained the many tiny rats around them, one of which he also identified.

[Molerat – lvl 10]

They were indeed just pups. Far too small to pose any threat, yet Jake knew that leaving them alone would be unwise.

This was a dungeon and not the actual world. The death of these pups would mean nothing. They were never going to mature; they were just background noise added to the real challenge.

Jake looked around a bit further but didn’t spot the so-called Nest Watcher.

If it doesn’t want to show itself, then I will make it, Jake thought as he covertly marked the first Incubator with Mark of the Ambitious Hunter while he made tendrils of shadows attach to the three others. None of them even reacting to his actions.

Incubators, meaning he had a free line

before giving them the chance to retaliate. He was unsure of the Incubators’ combat capabilities, so he decided that it was better to be safe than sorry. Maybe they would awaken and be true monsters

back the dark mana around

the first Incubator’s

slain [Molerat Incubator– lvl 86] – Bonus experience earned for

the second Incubator, he managed to focus

prepared another shot right away and released the string once

Bonus experience earned for killing an

level 63 - Stat points

has reached level 57

But the momentary surprise didn’t slow down his movements at all as he marked his next target, charged, and released yet another attack. This

fired another, but this arrow didn’t hit at all. The Incubator still lay unmoving where it had always been so something

blocked. Jake decided to just charge a powerful Infused Powershot once more before shooting. He guessed that the last two had erected

felt his danger sense explode, followed by something entering his sphere

prematurely at one of the incubators as he ducked. Where his chest had been only milliseconds prior, a crescent wave of dark mana passed. The wave continued as it cut deep into the stones behind him,

another Incubator as he was forced to once more jump to safety from another dark wave of destructive mana. And just as he was starting to get his bearings, he

Jakes put together. It had hair all over

every aspect. It wore heavy armor that looked to be made of some kind of black exoskeleton, and over its shoulder, it carried a huge crude black sword that looked to be made of stone.

back, and to his surprise, opened its mouth

“Human! Why kill!?”

it could even speak. He had assumed all the enemies he met in dungeons just to be common beasts. While some,

ratman, however,

took too long to answer, the

“King send? Why come?”

himself as he answered honestly, seeing no reason

Beast Lords on my way to kill the King of

be taken aback for a moment before it started laughing with a bizarre rat-like

You pup! King's strong!

once more lifted his bow. He didn’t bother chatting with the ratman any more

Watcher –

that he could learn anything useful from the ratman. On the other hand, it would give the Nest Watcher

blade, releasing a crescent wave of black mana. The arrows still in mid-flight were annihilated by the wave as it continued onwards straight

arrows but was met by another wave of mana released by the now charging ratman. The ratman didn’t look like it had any intention to chat

he used Badger Jump to create some distance as he charged an Infused Powershot. This time, the

a few steps but didn’t seem otherwise affected as it continued its charge. Jake continued firing a few more arrows, but they were either blocked

as he came face to face with the giant figure. He barely reached its waist, and he felt the overpowering aura as it brought down its sword upon him. He dodged to the

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