Kenny swiftly threw his pack against the door behind him as he scanned the room looking for the threats. It was a plain room. Cobblestone walls, floor, and ceiling. A couple of flickering torches here and there on the walls. There weren’t any decorations, any hidden spots that he could see. The only thing that stood out was the raised cobblestone like altar with a chest sitting in the middle.

While there were torches that brought some light into the room, there wasn’t enough to light up the entire room. It was the dancing shadowy areas that Kenny kept his eyes on. Even though he could hear the sounds of rats in the room, he still couldn’t pinpoint where they were coming from. That was until he took a step forward and heard a click.

Kenny instantly looked down and cursed loudly as he realized he had stepped on a pressure plate. He heard the sound of stone grinding and snapped his head up. There. In the back of the room midway up the wall, Kenny could see something moving. Since the back of the room barely had any torches it was filled with more shadows making it harder for him to make out what was moving.

However, after the sound of stone grinding had stopped that area was replaced with glowing red eyes. Kenny felt the hairs on his arms and the back of his neck stand up as he counted each pair. From what he was able to see there were a lot more than the usual group of three or four he had run into in the halls. He had counted at least ten eyes.

Squeaks and hisses became clearer as the group of glowing eyes made their move. Like one, they ran out fast and quick. Kenny prepared himself as he tried to think of a plan. His mind didn’t work fast enough as the first four Grey Haired Colony Rats reached striking distance.

Kenny struck at the first one that had jumped at him. As he did this another leaped at a different angle and another two raced towards his legs. He was able to land a hit on the first rat, but at a cost of the others landing their own strikes. Kenny’s body stung with pain. However, Kenny noticed the pain wasn’t as much as it had been before. He wasn’t sure if he was getting used to it and his mind was finally catching up to his Endurance, but he didn’t have time to think more on that as the next group of monsters reached him.

Kenny went to strike the next rat that jumped at him while trying to reposition his feet and legs so he wouldn’t get struck. But before he could throw the punch he had prepared, he felt a force suddenly collide into his inner right bicep following a pain of something both scratching and biting.

As the rat latched onto his bicep with its mouth, Kenny’s upper body turned and followed the force of the momentum causing him to spin before falling down. He swiftly placed a foot down under him to regain his balance, however, during that time two more rats were able to clamp their teeth down on his legs sending more ripples of pain throughout his body. Kenny gritted down and fought against the pain as two more leaped right at him.

With a growl of defiance Kenny threw a left hook at the closest rat and was able to knock it right into the other rat making them fall onto a couple more rats that had approached him. He then turned and noticed how close the wall was and made his way towards it. The weight of the rats holding on tight made his movements slightly sluggish, but he continued to push himself towards it.

As he moved he could feel the jaws locked on him tighten more as claws started digging into his flesh. He wasn’t sure if it was saliva, sweat, or blood but he felt lines of liquid running down his legs from the area the teeth were dug in. He pushed the feeling out of his mind and tried to move his body in a way that helped him barely dodge the incoming attacks from the small swarm of rats running towards him.

When he finally approached the wall, Kenny swung his right arm as hard and fast as he could while twisting his body to give it more motion to slam the rat hard against the wall. He felt the monster’s teeth release and felt his arm grow lighter. Before the rat could fall completely against the wall, he threw his right knee into the creature’s rib cage and slammed it into the wall once more then turned and threw a powerful left punch at the rat attached to his right leg.

The force of the punch was enough to make it release its grip and back away. He then pushed his right leg back to bring his body away enough to dodge a jump attack from another rat. Its head slammed against the wall and Kenny took that opportunity to bring his right leg up to his stomach before thrusting his foot into the creature’s rib cage making it fly away.

Kenny then reached and gripped the rat’s, that was latched to his left leg, tail to make sure it didn’t squirm as he sent a powerful downward punch at its head. The rat squealed as the force ricocheted throughout its body and loosened its clenched jaw. Kenny pulled the rat away and swung it with all his might like a limp towel around. He was able to hit two rats with this motion before taking a step forward and slamming his impromptu weapon onto another rat.

Kenny pulled the monster off of the beaten down rat as he stepped back before coming back in and punting the monster into the small cluster swiftly approaching him. As the flying rat collided with the group two rats had jumped on the outsides of the cluster missing the crash and sprinted at him.

Kenny, pissed off by how this was going, gripped the tail of the Grey Rat he was still holding onto. He could feel the monster trying to break free as it flailed its arms and legs around, but Kenny wasn’t going to let go. He was tired of getting bitten by these monsters.

Kenny watched as the two rats suddenly jumped at him when they had gotten within range. One had jumped high while the other had jumped low. Each had their mouths wide open and claws extended. However, Kenny had predicted this familiar pattern and had positioned himself to the side as he swung the rat in his grip around and over his head before slamming the creature down onto the perfectly positioned monsters.

Two things happened when he did this. One, a screen flashed before his eyes probably telling him that one of the creatures had died. The second was the rat whose tail he was gripping and using as a weapon had suddenly disconnected from the body. The body of the rat that had lost its tail dropped to the ground and slumped; no movement was made after finally being free. Well…He found out which monster had died.

Kenny let go of the tail he was holding onto and quickly grabbed the tail of the closest rat and used it to slam into the other one before it could return to its senses. He continued to beat the monster down until two more screens flashed before him. Blood swam out of the rat he was holding and dropped to the floor, but Kenny didn’t pay any attention to that. He had more rats looking for a beating as they returned to their feet and raced towards him.

Kenny didn’t mind. He was getting irritated. Irritated that he made a stupid mistake by taking a risk he knew he shouldn’t have taken. Irritated that he almost missed his chance at coming to the Tower. Irritated at how much time he had to find and unlock his remaining Skill Trees. Irritated at how little his thoughts and dreams meant to his father. His father…he was irritated at that man. Almost as much as or even more than he was at his stepmother and sibling.

His irritation was slowly simmering into anger and that anger was beginning to fuel his reckless decision. His stupid and reckless decision to rush head first into the pack and prove that he could make it here in the Tower.

With poor movements and technique, Kenny swung his rat made weapon until it broke. He threw the tail away after that and continued his onslaught with his fists and legs like an enraged barbarian.

His senses only came back as an object suddenly slammed into him. The force wasn’t enough for him to be thrown off his balance and fall to his side. Instead, he felt his feet slide a bit from all the blood that had pool underneath. What snapped him out of the slow enrage building within him was not that he had gotten hit, but rather how weak the force of the blow had felt.

The object hitting him was a rat. However, the rat that hit him didn’t feel like it was intentionally slamming their body to attack him. Rather it felt like it was thrown at him because after he looked at the rat he noticed it was already dead before hitting the floor. Before he could think, a new screen suddenly appeared before him, answering the questions that was starting to form.

[A faint weak poison has been detected.]

[You have been afflicted with Crazed Mind Poison.]

[Poison Constitution has activated and absorbed the poison. Poison Stored: 1%.]

[Crazed Mind Poison’s effects have been neutralized.]

After blinking a few times at the notification before it faded away, Kenny grew confused. He was poisoned? How? When? He didn’t remember anything poisoning him. So when did he…Kenny felt something wet run down his arms and legs.

He looked down and saw blood slowly trickling out from the open wounds he had. Different scratch marks covered his arms and legs; each one had different depths and lengths. The bite marks weren’t as bad, but he spotted several more on him he didn’t realize he had received. He felt like he looked almost like a cat scratch post after several cats had decided to gang up on it for a long time.  

Kenny’s brows furrowed as he stared at them. He hadn’t realized how bad his wounds were. He remembered getting bitten and scratched, but after his previous battles and seeing how he hardly got hurt when he was attacked he never thought he’d ever be this damaged. Especially when it came to the Grey Haired Colony Rats. Their attacks weren’t strong, but they were fast.

He then looked at the monsters lying about on the ground and noticed the number of them. There were a lot. A lot more than he had ever fought since arriving both at the start of the Trial Grounds and reaching the area after the Mid-Area Boss. He looked at his health points and felt his eyes grow larger. His health was almost at the quarter mark. He had lost a lot of health. He needed to take a health potion before…

Kenny felt something approaching him and instinctively moved his upper body to the side right in time to see a rat flying passed him. He snapped his head towards the direction the rat came from and saw a chubby rat that stood on its hind legs.

The hair on this rat was longer and messier. The arms were slightly longer than the smaller ones and its tail was thicker and longer. However, what had Kenny’s attention was its grip one of its dead kin.

[Grey Haired Colony Alpha. Level – 4. Stat Talent – Vitality.]

Seeing it had Kenny’s attention; it let out a loud and deep hiss. It then brought its right hand back before snapping it forward and throwing the dead rat towards Kenny. Kenny hopped to the left to dodge it and glared at it. He reached down and grabbed one of the dead Grey Rats by the tail and muttered as he started to slowly make his way towards the creature, “So you want to use your fellow rats as a weapon huh? Alright. I’ll show you how it’s truly done.”

Kenny waited for the monster to throw another rat at him. After he dodged it, Kenny sprinted for the monster. When he was within striking distance, Kenny swung upwards in a forty-five degree angle and smacked the Alpha Rat under the pit and knocked its chubby body off to the side. Kenny chased after it, however before he could slam the monster made weapon, the Alpha Rat shot its tail at Kenny like a spear.

Kenny slammed his left foot down and crouched low enough to dodge it. He then spun his back foot in a fashion that looked like it glided slightly above the cobblestoned floor, bringing the limped rat club along with the motion and slammed it against the creature’s hip. This knocked the fat rat back a bit. Kenny used the momentum of the spin to continue to gain more as he spun once more before jumping up while swinging the dead rat over his head and coming down with it as hard as he could.

The force of the collision made the rat squeak in pain, but it easily regained itself as it turned its body and tried to swipe a claw at Kenny. Kenny  jumped back to dodge and was able to miss getting hit. However, the dead rat in his hand was caught by the passing claws and was yanked out of his hand.

Kenny clicked his tongue as he opened and closed his fist before turning and watching a horrific scene. The Grey Haired Colony Alpha opened its mouth as it brought the dead rat towards it. The head of the dead rat wasn’t big, and neither was the Alpha Rat’s, but that didn’t stop it. In fact as it brought the dead rat’s head closer he noticed the Alpha Rat’s mouth slightly grew in a frightening way. It almost looked like the edges of its mouth started to split open as it tried to open it wider.

He wasn’t sure if that was what happened, but the fact remained that it was able to fit the dead Grey Haired Colony Rat in its mouth and swallow it like it was nothing after crunching on the skull a few times.

Kenny felt a cold chill run down his spine as he heard the sound of bones splitting and crunching over and over. What made him shiver more was the fact that the length of the rat’s head that was just eaten was almost as long as his forearm. He had to make sure he didn’t get bitten by this monster.

Kenny jumped back in to attack the monster while it was still distracted. He was able to land a straight punch right into the Alpha Rat’s stomach, but as his fist connected he felt nothing but greasy fur and buoyancy. This creature had a stomach so fat it was like a natural armor against blunt attacks. Kenny wanted to throw up at the thought. Instead, he jumped back just in time to dodge the monster’s tail from crashing down on top of him.

Kenny jumped back in and threw a left hook right for the Alpha Rat’s face and this time felt his fist connect in a damaging way. The monster’s head moved with the force as it let out a pained squeak.

Kenny went in to continue his attack, but stopped himself in time as a claw was swung. After the rat missed its chance, Kenny stepped back in and landed two more attacks to the head. After that he jumped back far enough to miss both another attempt at getting struck by its claws and a follow up with its tail slamming down shortly after.

Kenny took this moment after stepping back to catch his breath and think. He compared this Alpha Rat with its smaller kin and found that while the Colony Rats were fast, this one was much slower. It might be because their Stat Talents were completely different, the Grey Haired Colony Rats being Agility and the Grey Haired Colony Alpha being Vitality, but he felt that just wasn’t it.

The body proportions between the two were completely different. Where the Colony rats were almost thin, the Alpha Rat was fat. Maybe having too much Vitality was the cause? Kenny wasn’t sure. It was that or this monster hoarded all the food and the smaller of its kin had to scamper for scraps. Either way if he kept dodging and attack with a faster approach than the Alpha Rat then eventually he would win. The only issues he had to worry about were its horrific jaws and its tail. Its horrific jaws were easy to dodge since it couldn’t move fast enough, but its tail…that seemed to be faster than its main body.

He needed to do something about that. As Kenny thought about his options he remembered something that happened earlier. He felt a shiver run down his spine again as he remembered what he had done. It was cruel, but it seemed to be the only way to deal with the tail. The only issue now was how he was going to catch the tail.

Kenny took another look at his health points. After thinking it over he let out a sigh. He had an idea, but he didn’t like it. He didn’t know how much damage the monster could inflict since it had yet to land an attack, but he couldn’t think of any other way.

Steeling himself, Kenny jumped back in. He was able to land another punch and went to dodge the swipe that he knew was coming. However, after the claws swung past him, Kenny stepped back in right as the tail came slamming down on his right shoulder. He grunted as he felt a wave of pain wash down his right side, but he didn’t buckle nor move back. Instead, he wrapped both of his arms around the tail and smiled wickedly as he stared at the confused creature.

Kenny then spun around and bent over as hard as he could bringing his head and upper body down low enough they almost touched the ground. He heard the shocked squeak escape the monster’s mouth as its fat and greasy body was thrown over his shoulder and slammed down onto the ground.

Kenny released his grip on the tail over her shoulder and quickly grabbed the tail with both hands in front of him. He then yanked the body to his right as he spun the rat along with him. The fat body of the Alpha rat shot off of the ground and spun around with Kenny once, twice, three times before he timed his release and sent the monster to crash into the wall.

Kenny didn’t stop there as he raced over and grabbed the tail once more and threw the monster over his shoulder again slamming it against the ground. He held onto the tail and flung the creature once more into the wall before repeating another throw over his shoulder and transitioning into a wall slam.

Kenny did this over and over. While he didn’t think this monster would die easily to this like its smaller kin, he did know it was taking some damage. After the fifth attempt of throwing the monster over his shoulder, what he was aiming to do finally happened.

As he yanked as hard as he could and felt the body of the monster follow suit, Kenny heard a tear echo in the room followed with a pained howl that was growing farther away from him. He felt the weight of the monster suddenly disappear as he saw the tail he was holding onto no longer attached to a body.

Kenny looked at the direction where the Alpha Rat flew and noticed a trail of blood that followed the body. After seeing where the monster had landed he noticed its back end was squirting blood like a small fountain. It wasn’t like the movies where when someone lost an arm or leg and blood sprayed out, but it didn’t disappoint either…which made him have second thoughts about his psyche if he thought that.

The Alpha Rat slowly stood up and let out an intense angry hiss before dropping to all fours and sprinting at him. As it ran Kenny noticed it swayed heavily left and right. He wasn’t sure if it was because the monster was doozy from blood loss or due to losing its tail, but he would happily take it.

He waited until the monster was close enough before it tried to lunge at him with a single clawed hand. Its movements was slow, slow enough that he was able to swat the clawed hand across the rat’s body, stepped to his left, and connect a strong right punch into the side of its face. The force was enough for it to fall to its side and slide right into a stand that had a torch on it by the raised cobblestone. The torch wobbled before tipping over and landed on top of the rat.

Kenny watched as the monster’s body lit up in flames. Screams and cries escaped the monster’s mouth as it got up and start to run around in a panic. The flaming fat rat stumbled around and slammed a few times against a wall as it tried to put the fire out, but the more it ran the more of its body the flames covered.

Kenny didn’t expect that to happen. He wasn’t entirely sure how it suddenly became a flammable hairball, but he wasn’t going to complain about it. He stood there breathing heavily trying to catch his breath as he watched the monster burn away. It didn’t take long after that when he received the message he was waiting for.

[Congratulations! You have defeated Grey Haired Colony Alpha. Exp Earned.]

[Congratulations! You have survived the Grey Haired Colony Nest!]

[Calculating results!]

[Surviving and fighting solo against the creatures within the Grey Haired Colony Nest has been taken into account.]

[Calculations completed. Loot has been determined!]

[Bonus loot for taking on the Grey Haired Colony Nest solo has been awarded.]

[You have been awarded 5 Free Skill Points for taking out the Grey Haired Colony Nest.]

[Congratulations! You have received an extra 5 Free Skill Points for taking out the Grey Haired Colony Nest Solo!]

[Congratulations! You have received the Title: Solo Exterminator 1!]

[Title: Solo Exterminator 1. Solo and kill every creature in an entire Nest. Title: Solo Exterminator 1 awards +5% to Vitality.]