The vermin of the rat king
When everyone was awake and wiped their amazement from their eyes, the mermaid apologized to everyone and explained that she had gotten carried away herself, which astonished many. Count Adam was just happy to see his wife again when he opened his eyes. Mortis and Merlin then applauded and thanked everyone for the extraordinary performance. In gratitude, they offered to play a song as well. Mortis sat down at the grand piano and Merlin took out a guitar from his ring. Together they played "Don't Stop Me Now" while Merlin sang. The Count's family and the entire castle were awakened by the sounds and now listened to the new, rousing tones. After they finished and received the applause, they said goodbye to the family and left the castle to move on.
At the gates of the castle, Mortis tapped Merlin on the shoulder and said, "You really have lost a bard. But now it is dark, and I too am getting tired. Let's go home first, to continue our journey tomorrow, then also with Nightshade, to speed everything up a bit here." Mortis whistled, and seconds later Nightshade jumped out of a crack and landed in front of them, delighted to see his master.
The next morning, as Mortis was about to leave, he was stopped by Leonie and Marina. They reported that they would be ready to leave in two days, but Mortis should finally decide on a new seal. It was unworthy, he said, to simply adopt the old seal. He should create a new one so that everyone could recognize him and his family, similar to flags that soldiers and citizens can take into battle. Mortis was surprised, but understood their point. He took a moment and said, "Take a black flag with a large silver scythe on it. Add some white feathers that look like they are falling from the sky." His two wives thought for a moment and could well imagine how Mortis had meant it. They were convinced by this suggestion and suggested to make rings as seals as well. Then they said goodbye to him and went to Miriam to work with her on the implementation.
Merlin watched the whole thing and said, "For not usually being so dramatic, you seem to think of yourself as an angel who fell from heaven." Then he laughed derisively. "Don't compare me to feathered creatures. I come from higher planes. But now joking aside, what is our next destination? Since your parents were adventurers and you probably already have it all planned out, you should know which cities and dungeons we can target." Merlin thought for a moment and replied, "Yes, there is a dungeon near Lichtenstein called 'Rat King'. Do I look like the Pied Piper of Hamelin? And what's next, Pinocchio?" Mortis replied, "Oh, what the heck, here we go! After all, we still have to get stronger and make a name for ourselves, even on the southern continent." "Yes, let's go. And Pinocchio doesn't exist, but there is a dungeon with wooden puppets. It's supposed to be a real horror show," Merlin replied.
Mortis called Nightshade to him and got on his back, along with Merlin. He said, "Hold on tight!" and so they made their way back to Lichtenstein. Nightshade flew at high speed over the Helwege and just before reaching their destination opened a crack from which he jumped. The people in the new town were startled when a huge dog suddenly appeared out of nowhere, but neither the dog nor Mortis cared. Mortis spurred Nightshade on, and this time they rode across the countryside to the next dungeon, which was in a southwesterly direction.
After a short time, they reached a village that was once again crowded with soldiers to secure the dungeon. Mortis and Merlin signed up with the adventure guild to clear the village's dungeon. As they did so, they were stared at in wonder, as this dungeon was normally entered by a group of five. But these two newcomers wanted to tackle it in pairs. The receptionist approached Mortis and asked again. But Mortis only confirmed what the lady wondered. Merlin then laughed and said, "See, that's why your wives said you should carry a seal. Even though you look unique, no one here seems to know you." Merlin laughed out loud. Mortis, however, kicked him in the butt and said, "Go ahead! If they don't know us, we'll just have to make sure they do. After all, this way you can certainly look your Opera in the eye with your head held high. She is stronger than you, after all." "It's all right, I'm going," Merlin said snappishly and led the way.
A soldier stood outside the dungeon, greeting Mortis and Merlin. "Good adventure! I see you are brave enough to attempt this dungeon two at a time. I wish you good luck. May the gods stand by you." Mortis nodded and quickly moved on, as did Merlin. As they stepped through the portal, they both nearly collapsed in laughter as the soldier seemed like a real NPC in a game.
In the dungeon, Mortis picked up Marshal as a tank, Sarah as a DD, and a new companion named Genesis, a respected healer who looked shaggy and old but had immense healing power. Together they set out to explore the dungeon. It looked like a huge dump from another world, and there was also scrap metal that reminded Mortis and Merlin of cars and other equipment from Earth.
When the group followed the first corridor and reached a large open space, there was a strange silence at first. But it was clear to all that something was wrong. When they reached about the middle of the cleared square, they heard loud clattering and chirping. Suddenly, the scrap metal shook and cockroaches and other vermin over a meter tall came rushing toward the group from all corners and larger pieces of scrap metal. Mortis' stomach almost turned when he saw these disgusting critters. Merlin also had a disgusted look on her face, but that didn't stop her from getting into position and throwing around large-scale attacks and spells to keep these creatures from getting near her. Merlin used arcane bombs to get rid of the insects, while Mortis struck with his ghostly weapons and immediately jumped back to safety with quick retreats.
After about five minutes of constant defending and slaughtering wave after wave, they were rid of the insects. But they had no time to breathe a sigh of relief, for no sooner had the last small insect been defeated than another pile of junk wobbled and a mixture of centipede and cockroach emerged. With great speed, it stomped across the scrap metal directly toward the group. This millipede cockroach had many legs, but most importantly it had a thick carapace with sharp edges and spikes sticking out of it. As heavy as it looked, it was agile and mobile. At lightning speed, she shot toward Merlin to slice him with her claws. But Marshall was faster and traded places with him, blocking with his huge shield and sturdy body the insect, which fidgeted in confusion and tried to strike the group with its rear part as if with whip lashes, while it tried to escape.
"You're not going anywhere anymore!" roared Mortis. Together with Sarah, he used ice fog to cool down the field and slow down the beetle. "I don't specialize in ice, but I have the right spell for the field," Merlin thought to himself, and used the Powder Snow spell, which clung to the beetle due to the cold environment and kept spreading until it disappeared completely into snow and ice. Then Merlin used the Spikes of Frost spell, and every few feet a shard of ice would shoot out of the snowy armor, piercing the giant centipede and stabbing it more than 50 times in a second. This caused the insect to twitch a few more times and finally ended its death throes.
As a reward for the boss, a silver chest appeared, which Merlin happily pored over. To his surprise, it did indeed contain respectable items, although neither he nor Mortis needed any of them, as they usually only used items from their own systems. Still, the items should fetch quite a bit of gold, so Merlin took them, since it seemed Mortis had no interest in this silver box. After everything was packed and Merlin took a potion to restore his mana, they continued on their way inside the dungeon.