In the end, only eighteen of us entered the tunnel. A majority of the adventurers answering the Church's call chose to remain above ground. Apparently, the lure of an easy gold piece for merely standing around was too great for them to ignore. It was a safe assignment compared to the danger of seeking out the wererats in their territory. Honestly, I was angry at their cowardice and I made sure to memorize the faces of each and every one of these cowards so that I will avoid adventuring with them in the near future. If these adventurers wouldn’t risk their lives to chase after monsters and eliminate this threat to Tregome, then they wouldn’t take similar risks in protecting my back. However, I was happy to discover that there were still some brave souls among them.

Captain Li decided to split us into three groups of six each. Captain Li accompanied me and Maisen. Three fighters from the Watch joined our group. Rijana and the twin elves were joined by three more Watchmen. The last group comprised of three adventurers whom I wasn't familiar with and three Watchmen.

Captain Li looked each of us in the eyes and started his prep talk. "We don't know how many wererats escaped into the tunnels. Kill however many you can without losing your own lives. If you find yourself facing too many wererats, then I want you to come back up to the surface and get more fighters as reinforcements. There is no need for you to take unnecessary risks. Also, I am currently partied with the Watchmen within your groups and I will stay partied with them during the Were-Hunt. I will personally guarantee that you will be brought back to the surface, dead or alive. Now, let's go!"

The Watchmen lit torches and marched, single-file, into the tunnel. I noticed that, instead of heavy metal armor such as plate or chain mail, they wore leather or studded leather armor instead. Each man carried a medium sized shield, one longsword, and a smaller weapon such as a short sword, a dagger, or knives. A leather belt was worn at the belt with pockets holding some half-dozen glass vials containing yellow liquid; I recognized them as healing potions. There were also a few green-colored potions that I didn’t recognize.

As I waited above ground, I took the opportunity to clear out my pop-up messages. The first seven were identical: “Spirit sense SUCCESSFUL. +50 XP.” The eighth message read, “Condition REMOVED. +250 XP.” Huh? When did I remove a condition? I quickly remembered that I had pressed my Truth Stone of Law against the berserker Kalistra’s forehead to turn her back to normal. I guessed that was the condition that I had removed, despite the fact that I wasn’t a priest or cleric. It was probably my “Kissed by Lady Luck” condition that made my attempt successful. Whenever this Were-Hunt was over, I definitely needed to pay the Lucky Shrine another visit.

The men held their torches high while peering into the dark tunnel.

One of the men put on a pair of magically enchanted night vision goggles and walked further into the tunnel. After a distance of roughly ten feet, he turned around and called out, "It's safe!"

Captain Li entered the tunnel and I quickly walked behind him.

The tunnel was relatively narrow, with barely enough space for two humans to walk side-by-side; it was wide enough for the bigger wererats to pass through in single file. The walls were covered with dirt and stone. Occasionally, a hastily built wooden frame supported a section of the tunnel, apparently to prevent the tunnel from collapsing.

Every now and then, we heard the sound of loose dirt or some rocks striking the floor. I couldn't help but look at the dirt ceiling and wonder if the tunnels will collapse and trap us inside.

The underground tunnel continued straight for about thirty feet before emptying into a chamber some ten feet by ten feet. There was an exit on each wall of the chamber with a lit torch placed on a holder to the left of the exit. I heard the sound of running water in the distance.

I peered into the chamber and wrinkled my nose at the sight. The chamber was covered with all manners of trash and rubbish. There were bones and skeletons of animals and also humans! Strips of torn cloth were on the ground along with trinkets—apparently owned by the victims of the wererats. The refuse inside the chamber was a grim reminder of the nature of our opponents, and why we MUST eliminate all of them!

"Jing!" Captain Li barked out a name while standing at the edge of the tunnel but not entering the chamber.

One of the Watch, wearing boiled leather armor, moved past the captain and tiptoed into the chamber. The small Asian man had put his shield on his back. He wore two shoulder straps stuffed full of knives along with a short sword at his belt. A pair of goggles with leather straps was on his forehead. He took small, slow steps and his head kept turning back and forth. He also looked up at the ceiling and down at the ground. Occasionally, he shifted his weight on the ground as if to test and confirm that the ground beneath his feet was solid. Apparently, the man was a thief and searching the chamber for traps.

After a good five minutes of examination of the chamber, Jing finally turned his head back toward Captain Li and flashed a thumb up sign.

The captain nodded and entered the chamber. When the rest of us joined him, Li said, "Group 1 will take the left tunnel, Group 2 the middle, and Group 3 the right. Good hunting." With that, Captain Li immediately entered the middle tunnel.

Rijana's group took the left tunnel while Jing's group took the right tunnel.

When we entered the middle tunnel, I immediately took note of the fact that it was slightly wider than the first tunnel that we had passed through. However, it was still too narrow for wererats to pass through shoulder-to-shoulder. But then again, nothing prevented the shapeshifters from returning to human form and passing through that way.

Maisen touched my right shoulder and nodded. Apparently, she agreed that this was the main tunnel leading to the wererat's den.

My heart started pounding harder as we walked deeper and deeper into the tunnel. I was having a minor anxiety attack because I was concerned with my fighting ability. Taking a good look at the other members of our group, it was obvious that I was the lowest level member of our party. I wasn't 100% certain, of course, because Li was partied with his comrades while I was partied with Maisen. That said, I had a suspicion that my bodyguard was higher level than even Captain Li, meaning that she was the most powerful member of our party. And her personal allegiance was to me rather than to the Watch. That final thought helped me relieve my anxiety and soon my heart beat returned to normal.

Our group continued walking through the main tunnel until it split into two smaller tunnels.

Captain Li took his torch and peered into each one, but neither gave any hint of leading to Ebenthal and his gang. The officer turned to me and asked, "Which way?"

I walked over and stood next to the captain. I closed my eye and triggered my Spirit Sense. I opened my eyes and peered into the left tunnel and then the right tunnel. Suddenly, I felt a red aura emanating from the right tunnel! A pop-up appeared but I set it aside. "Captain, I believe the wererats are in the right tunnel," I announced.

Li nodded and entered the right tunnel. Soon, we started hearing echoes of squeaks and this confirmed the presence of wererats nearby.

Every member of our group immediately pulled out a weapon and prepared for a battle with our prey.

We were not disappointed when we saw glowing red eyes just beyond the reach of the illumination from our torches.

"Foolish humansssss," a wererat scolded us and boldly strode into view. There were at least another dozen pairs of red eyes behind him. YIKES!

I became nervous and began to sweat as more wererats came into view. My group was outnumbered by at least two-to-one. The only saving grace was that the narrow tunnel allowed only a single wererat to come at us at a time, while we humans could squeeze two defenders shoulder-to-shoulder. In essence, this battle will turn into a war of attrition between the two sides.

I saw the dark gray fur and recognized the speaking wererat as Ebenthal. I walked forward and stood next to the captain. "Ebenthal, you will face justice for murdering our town judge and a witness," I said while pointing a finger at him.

"Hahaha! So, you are here in my lair too, stupid nobleman," Ebenthal replied and spat on the ground. Suddenly, he noticed the truth stone on my neck and his red eyes narrowed. He pointed a finger at it. "Whoever can bring me that cross will be promoted to my second!" he declared.

The underlings standing behind Ebenthal squealed and immediately rushed toward me!

"Shields up!" the captain ordered while shoving me back.

Another Watchman immediately took position next to the captain and braced for impact.

The charging wererats crashed into the shields and pushed our defenders back a few steps. Their apparent strategy was to push us through the tunnel and back into the large chamber. If they succeed, our group will be surrounded and then annihilated.

The rest of our group leaned against our two shield bearers' backs and tried to prevent us from moving back further. However, human strength was simply no match against wererat strength, and we were giving up several inches each time they charged at us.

Captain Li recognized our predicament and yelled, "Stab them!"

The remaining four in our group started stabbing at the wererats with our silver blades. One of the blades hit a weak spot and the wererat in front of us immediately went down . . . only to be replaced by another.

The other wererats callously trampled on their fallen comrade and continued charging forward into our shields, slowly pushing our line back inch-by-inch.

My group continued to stab at the chargers but we had very little luck in reducing their numbers significantly. The devious wererats were trying to grab our silver blades and disarm us; therefore, we weren't able to thrust deeply at our enemies and risk losing our weapons. Thus, our successful hits scored mostly superficial wounds rather than killing wounds.

"Grab the healing potions and feed them to our shield bearers," Maisen yelled above the noise of the fight.

I saw her reach around Captain Li's waist to grab the potions stuffed into his belt, and I copied the action with the other protector. When I popped out the cap and tilted the liquid into the man's mouth, he said, "More!"

I saw the defender spat out blood and quickly poured the second vial into his mouth. I alternated between taking stabs at the wererats and pouring healing potions into the defender's mouth.

Unfortunately, the crush damage being inflicted by the group of wererats was far greater than what little health could be replenished by the healing potions. Soon there were no more potions left on the defender's belt.

"Get ready to replace me," the brave Watchman said.

I quickly looked at the caption above his head and it read, "Name: Aohmene, Level: ?, Disposition: Desperate." "I will not forget your sacrifice," I said while patting him lightly on the back.

Aohmene grinned and steeled himself for a final charge from the wererats. *CRASH* The charge pushed his body back a foot and then he dropped to the ground, unmoving.

However, before the wererats could step into the breach, another Watchman quickly stepped in.

I looked at this new defender's caption and it read, "Name: Xenko, Level: ?, Disposition: Angry."

Without looking at me, Xenko shouted, "Make sure a few wererats die with me!" The brave man grinned and gritted his teeth to brace for another charge.

"I will!" I replied and stabbed furiously at our enemies. By the time Xenko fell lifelessly on the ground, three more wererats had died with him.

"My turn," said the final Watchman in a cheery tone of voice. "My name is Lijun," the defender introduced himself after a charge from the wererats. "We're almost back in the chamber," he noted during the pause from one charge to the next.

"We took out half the wererats," I replied.

"And still stuck with two-to-one odds," he said. "Please convince Captain Li to retreat," Lijun requested. Without waiting for my response, the man suddenly pushed forward and knocked the captain back! "Leave!" Lijun yelled as he swung his silver blade like a deranged madman. He stood right at the opening to the chamber.

"No!" Captain Li tried to join his subordinate, but the officer was pulled back by Maisen.

"Your health is too low," Maisen yelled. She turned her head to me. "Run back to the surface and get help!"

I nodded and started to run.