Chapter 7

He was cut off by the door slamming shut with a bang.

"-out." he finished lamely, "Well hell. Now I have to find another way outta here. Jeez. It's just one thing after another with this [Gamer] business."

By and large, the room was barren of any traces of another exit. The only things remotely interesting were the mock-ups of the three supernatural races. It was when Issei investigated Byral's throne that he discovered something interesting. Next to it was a table with a map spread over it, one that showed a familiar town.

"This is…Kuō?" Issei whispered. His eyes danced over the paper, quickly finding where he thought the ratman nest he was currently in was located. It bore an odd mark, a rat's head. Scanning the map, he saw several other similar symbols dotted all over Kuō.

Deciding he'd need it later, Issei rolled the map up and stored it in his inventory before he examined the throne. It was a ramshackle affair, made of bits of wood knocked together with nails and covered with a mouldy red piece of velvet. Next to it was a lever.

Not having any other options, Issei pulled it.

With a great groan of turning gears, the wall behind the throne collapsed into the ground, revealing a dark passage.

"Here we go again." Issei sighed.

Having the presence of mind to grab a torch from one of the wall mountings, the brown-haired boy cautiously entered the dark passageway, only for the door to slam shut behind him, as he expected it to.

"Yep. Definitely RPG mechanics going on here." Issei muttered.

The passage wasn't very long, leading to a largish room with a desk, chair and light above it. On top of the desk was a single piece of paper. Curious, Issei investigated it.

"To Division Head, Project Rat King,

Central Command has given permission for you to carry out your plan. The bioengineered race you created, #456b (Ratmen), are weak, but pliable and should be useful for human wave tactics due to their large breeding pools and rapid maturation.

You are ordered to disperse the current specimens across several lairs in Kuō City so they can amass a large host each. Once this has been achieved, you shall receive further orders.

For the Purity of our species and our souls."

"What the hell is going on here?" Issei muttered. This certainly seemed like it came from the Purifiers, to judge by that last line. They were breeding an army of those ratmen? Why?

"I need to think about this."

With that muttered sentence, Issei placed the memo into his inventory and looked around for an exit. A set of concrete stairs looked like a likely bet.

As he headed up the stairs, the Sekiryūtei had to wonder what his life would turn into as he became more powerful.

He grinned. 'I can't wait to find out.'

Reaching a door with an empty mounting on the wall next to it, Issei slid the torch into it and twisted the handle on the door to open it. The daylight that shone through when the door creaked open was blinding after his time in the poorly lit lair of the ratmen.

A pleasant little jingle of music played as a screen appeared in front of him. It took him a moment to make it out due to his eyes being half-blind in their adjusting state.

[Quest Complete!]

Defence for the Defenceless: Dungeoneering for Life!: You have successfully conquered your first dungeon!

Quest Rewards: +400 EXP, ¥3000, [Mental Mapping] Skill Book.

You have levelled up! LV5-LV6!

You have 5 Attribute points to spend.

[Lesser-Draconic Charisma] has levelled up!

[Basic Swordsmanship] has levelled up!

"Whew…that's cool." Issei said as he looked around. He was in an abandoned warehouse of some sort. He returned his attention forwards as yet another window popped up.

[Quest Alert!]

Ratcatcher: You have discovered that the mysterious Purifier organisation has created an army of the demi-human ratmen through some unknown process. However they were created, they cannot be up to any good. Hunt down and conquer every ratman den, nest and lair in Kuō City.

Bonus: Gather information about Project Rat King as you conquer each den.

Quest Reward: +1000 EXP, +¥8000, +2 AP, Random Piece of Equipment, Title: Ratcatcher.

Bonus Reward: [Sword Talent] Skill Book.

Quest Failure: Death

Accept?

Y/N

"Great, another quest I could die performing." Issei muttered, "And, joy, I can't refuse it. I'm not doing it today though."

With that, he hit the 'Y' button and started heading home.

"Let's go!" - Regular Speech

'Oppai!' - Thoughts

[BOOST!] - Sacred Gear/Ddraig Speech

That Night

Entrance to the Ratman Den

Rias Gremory wrinkled her nose as she stared at the opening in the wall that was hidden by a basic glamour. She and the rest of her Peerage were clustered around the doorway.

"Koneko-chan, can you sense anything in there?" she asked her [Rook]. The reincarnated Nekomata paused for a moment before shaking her head.

"Nothing alive." she said bluntly.

This made the Gremory Heiress frown. She had detected unusual magical emanations coming from this location earlier on today and she'd come here hoping to find a new Sacred Gear wielder or something, not a doorway that shouldn't be there.

"Kiba, take the lead." she directed her [Knight], "Akeno and I will follow, with Koneko taking the rear."

"Hai, Buchou." the blond boy nodded. He concentrated and a Demonic Sword erupted from the ground in front of him. He drew it and led the way through the doorway.

The group of Devils assembled at the bottom of the stairs and stared silently at the skeleton draped over the chest in horror.

"There are teeth-marks on the bones." Kiba said in a subdued voice, "Something…ate this man alive."

"Such a thing…" Rias shook her head with a shudder, "Be careful. Whoever or whatever did this may still be around."

As they started to explore the underground maze, it was with shock that they discovered the corpse of the first Ratman not far away from the entry area. Kiba, despite his distaste for the smell of the thing, examined the body.

"No supernatural race that I've ever seen." he said with a frown, "Someone killed this…thing…with a rather clumsy sword thrust to the chest. After cutting off its tail."

The further in they went, the more corpses they found. Kiba looked puzzled at one point, when they discovered eight ratmen slain in close proximity to one another.

"Whoever did this got verifiably better since the last lot." he said with a frown, "Before this group, the swordplay, judging by the cuts and other wounds, shows that it was an amateur who killed them. This group were killed by someone who was familiar and comfortable with the sword. Still not very skilled, but marginally more so than before."

"Who could change from unskilled to marginally skilled between groups?" Akeno wondered.

"A robot?" Koneko deadpanned.

Rias chuckled as she beckoned her group onwards. Finally, the only area they hadn't checked yet was hidden behind a set of heavy stone doors.

"Koneko-chan, if you would?" Rias directed her [Rook].

The petite girl walked forward and, quite nonchalantly, kicked the doors in, the great stone blocks crumbling down, forming a no less impassable barrier in the form of a heap. Akeno used her magic to remove the stone so they could advance into the room.

Inside, the corpse of the largest ratman the group had found yet lay in the middle of the room, the remains of half a copper sword still embedded in its leg.

"Copper? Really?" Kiba shook his head in disbelief, "Who on earth uses copper for swords anymore?"

"Is it magical?" Akeno asked.