Floor 2: Rats! (edited)

I awoke to the ding of system messages. Where's a snooze button when you need it? Grumbling, I pull myself up to the side of the bed, patting my bed head back in place.

'Floor 2 will begin in 10 minutes!'

'Floor 2 is a maze mission, and therefore only available to one party or individual at a time! Party will spawn at two to three starting points!'

'Floor 2: Survive till the exit in the center of the maze!'

Based on 'survive', I expected another batch of monsters to avoid. If they could be avoided. Hopefully, the forgotten skill would work well on potential threats. With nothing else to do, I stretched my muscles and did a light workout to limber up. Next time, I'll spend my time in the intermission zone rebuilding my muscles.

As the time widdled away, I found myself already heavy breathing.

"Tsk."

How could a body be so weak?! Giving up, I plopped back onto bed, till time ran out.

Absorbed once more by the flash of teleport, I ended up on floor two.

A closed-off room of stone walls with multiple openings to other rooms. There were no light sources, yet everything was eerily visible.

"Fern."

Including, an annoyingly handsome man.

"Don't call me Fern!" I snapped, I did not like to repeat myself.

He looked in one piece. No visible consequences of his earlier disappearance. He gave a smug grin at my inspection.

"Are you checking me out?"

My face visibly twitches. Was he always like this? Or maybe he just didn't bother while with the party?

"What happened to you? We all assumed you were dead."

His face flattens a tad, giving an equally flat answer.

"I got lost."

That utter bullshit of an answer left me ticked.

"Sure. The one person with a sense of direction got lost." A roll of my eyes and we move on.

I had no interest in his business. I only wanted to survive. A momentary pause. I have something to do, right?

I shake my head, no distractions.

Ren doesn't bother trying to translate my mood. He walks off towards the nearest path on the right. I follow him with no other bright ideas. We wander down the path he's chosen from room to room, without interference.

The silence is rather comforting. No chatter, questions, or required 'humaning'. I eye the walls relaxing, following the cracks between bricks.

"Stop." Ren gives a whisper of a warning.

He slinks back onto the wall, using his right hand to push me back against it. I slap his hand away but keep myself flattened. He looks out around the corner, focused.

"Two… Umm… rat people." He narrows his eyes. "They have swords, no armor. They are just standing in the middle of the room."

Rat people. Could be worse.

"Rat size, or people size?"

"Your people size." He grins down at me. "Manageable."

If we weren't in a stealthy situation, I would've kicked his ass. Instead, I gave a dissatisfied glare his way. His arrogant ass only grinned wider.

"Hmm." He looks back out at the rats. "We could go around, but I want achievements."

He gives me a glance before darting out like a madman.

"Are you crazy!" I screech at him. Planting a hand to my mouth when I realized how loud I was being.

I quickly tilt over the corner to look at Ren's movements. The rats roared a squeak at him. Charging at full speed. They were up to his shoulders, deep brown-furred, and naked. The swords they held were rough looking and chipped at places with a cloth wrapping for hilts. Ren had taken his daggers out and twirled around like some psycho dancer.

Each twirl left bloody cuts, and each slip to avoid the rats left them angrier. Ren was smiling, enjoying his taunts. He even tripped a rat by the tail. Despite his unorthodox movements, he precisely stabbed at the center of a rat's brain. The bloody body fell limply to the cold stone. The other rat squeaked and shivered, prepping to run.

He snatched it by the panicking rat's tail. Causing it to drop the sword in its paw. Ren glanced back, gesturing for me to have a turn. Taking his cue I stabbed my dagger into the furry noggin. It too fell dead.

He breathed heavily despite his bravado. Wiping his hair back, and grinning back at me.

"That better be an achievement."

I suddenly questioned if his disappearance was on purpose. If this guy knew something. I stared at him, accusatory.

He blinked at me, and couldn't help but laugh. He returned his daggers to his inventory.

"I know what you're thinking. My life was a bit interesting, that's all." He took out a water flask from his inventory for a quick drink. "You really should control your expressions more." He returned his flask and moved forward once more.

We kept on, the further we traveled the more rats we came across. Rather than hunt them all, which would be too exhaustive, we lured them.

Ren shifted into the shadows, causing one to move unnaturally. It shifted and swayed catching the attention of one of the rats. It would squeak in curiosity and move towards it. Completely unaware of me thanks to my forgotten skill, I'd stab it in the base of the skull.

We'd take turns, either I would kill the unaware rat, or lure it by causing sounds from a loose rock for Ren to surprise it.

The light levels of the maze never changed, but our worn-out bodies told us to take a rest. We chose a cleared-out room a distance from the nearest rat group. I shivered, without constantly moving around the maze was rather chilly.

The world finally darkened from a sudden blanket over my head. My momentary panic was sated by its warmth. I pulled it down to give a questioning look at my companion.

"I stole it from the intermission zone." He shrugs.

I look down at the familiar textured fabric. It was from the bed. I snuggle into it, curling it around as close as possible. Only for one side to be pulled over to my new neighbor.

"I'm sharing it, not giving it to you."

He scoots close enough for our sides to touch. His body's warmth slipped to me along with the blanket. Defensively I tense up, not a fan of the proximity.

"Fine, but don't touch me unnecessarily." I glare at him, before shutting my eyes.

I hear an amused chuckle close by as I start to slip into sleep.