A Final Request

Maisen was aware of my encounter with a wererat inside the tunnel because she was still partied with me and saw the pop-ups. She knew that I was still alive and she hoped that I would reach the surface safely. Unfortunately, her personal circumstances were much more perilous at the moment. After all, six wererats were surrounding her and Peng.

The swordswoman turned her head back and forth to look at her opponents. However, none of them was the one she sought—the dark gray fur of the wererat leader, Ebenthal. "Boys, I have a sad announcement to make," she began. Maisen needed to give her pupil as much time as possible. If the two of them were defeated in this chamber, then this were-pack would surely pursue Lawrence to the surface. With their were-blessed speed, they could even reach him before he left the tunnel!

"The only sad announcement is your death, human!" a wererat chuckled gleefully.

Maisen smiled. "Did you know that I'm partied with Lord Mulligan, the human wearing the truth stone?" she teased them.

"So?" another wererat replied dismissively.

"He's the guy our boss blamed for ruining our plans," another wererat said. He realized that the human was trying to make an important point to the were-pack.

"No wonder Ebenthal left us and tried to dig another tunnel to cut the human off," a different wererat added. Their leader preferred to stick around afterward so that Ebenthal will get first dibs on the loot recovered from their victims. It was unusual for him to leave the rest of the pack unsupervised.

"Your leader, Ebenthal, apparently did catch up with my lord. Guess who won the fight?" she teased again.

The were-pack looked at one another before one wererat spoke up. "We have seen your lord with our own eyes. He's a soft looking human whose flesh will soon fill our leader's belly." The other wererats squeaked in agreement.

Maisen shook her head sadly. "My lord is still alive. I guess that means he won?" Her eyes suddenly hardened and she stared at the three wererats within her view.

The wererats suddenly clammed up at the suggestion that their boss had lost the fight against the weak-looking human. Ebenthal was more powerful than any of them. There was no way he could have lost to that nobleman!

"You lie, filthy human!" a wererat snarled. "No more talking. We will kill you and then see the nobleman's dead body in the tunnel. Attack!" With that, the wererat lunged forward with its claws.

Maisen used the wererat's aggression against the creature by chopping his arm off. When her wounded opponent backed away, her natural instinct was to pursue and follow up with another attack. However, the body pressed against her back reminded the deadly swordswoman to stand her ground or else Peng would be vulnerable to an attack from behind.

The other wererats started laughing at the wounded comrade clutching its bleeding stump.

"It serves you right for presuming to be Ebenthal's second," another wererat said. "Let's hurry up and rush them at the same time. It will be two blades against the six of us. Now, attack!"

All six wererats attacked in unison and traded hits with the two humans.

Maisen coyly played along because she was confident that the deadly sword techniques at her command would allow her to defeat her three opponents. And she probably had as much health as the three wererats combined. However, she wasn't as confident that Peng will survive a similar trial . . .

The wererat with its arm dismembered rushed in for another pass at her. When it got within range, the attacker tried to punch a hole through her chest.

Reading the move all the way through, Maisen sidestepped the thrust, allowing the claws to brush past her armored arm harmlessly. She counterattacked and skewered her opponent through the heart. Sensing the other two wererats behind her back, Maisen used her brute strength to pivot in a one-hundred-eighty-degree turn and used the skewered wererat as a shield from the other attackers.

The move worked as each wererat had punched a hole through the skewered wererat's chest.

With the pendulum of the battle swung back in her favor, Maisen used her foot to push the wererat's body back while she pulled her blade out. She immediately activated "Power Sweep" at just the right angle and all three wererats' heads went flying!

Having dispatched her share of wererats in such a convincing fashion, the swordswoman turned around hoping for a miracle. Alas, it was not to be. She turned just in time to watch a wererat punch his claws through Peng's chest, impaling him! "NO!" she cried out in despair and activated "Sprint" to cross the distance to him. When Maisen reached him, she used "Charge" to split the remaining wererat's head like a watermelon.

The distraught woman had the discipline and presence of mind to realize that if she pulled Peng out of the wererat's arm, Peng will bleed to death from the gaping hole in his chest. Instead, she dismembered the arm to detach it from the dead wererat's body.

As she laid Peng gently on the ground and knelt before him, the man opened his eyes. His body was turning icy cold and his mind was losing its clarity. With his remaining strength, the dying man lifted his blade. "Take it," he implored her.

Maisen looked at the sword and admired it. The blade was slick with the blood of wererats. It had a golden hue as if the blade was kissed by sunlight. A small sapphire was encrusted at the base of the sword hilt. Peng's sword was special and named "Jiang." To accept Jiang was to accept deep obligations to Tregome. And these obligations, in turn, meant disavowing her obligations to the dojo. The dying man's request was a heavy one and not easy for her to accept. She looked into his eyes and saw that he was pleading with her to accept his final request. With a heavy heart, she made her choice and took the sword from him.

Peng smiled one last time and died in her arms.