Chapter 54

"More guests? We don't need more guests." I commented tiredly.

"It's the swarm we were worried about." Zephirah retorted.

"My previous statement still stands." I retorted back.

"Seems you finished the first floor just in time." Vanessa said.

"So it would seem." I replied then looked over at the foxes. "As Zephirah has said, you will have to wait until after we have dealt with this swarm." I told them.

"Can you even defend against the swarm?" The male fox asked.

I looked over at Zephirah. "Any idea what is coming?" I asked.

Zephirah shook her head. "No, I just noticed the same signs from earlier. If it is like the others we should get a lot of giant rats. This time might be different though. We have dealt with a lot of rats already, so they have to be running low on how many they can gather together." she replied.

The male fox snorted. "Shows how much you know." he retorted contemptuously.

"So probably more rats." I stated, without looking at the fox. "Any idea when they will get here?" I asked. I hadn't even touched the second floor yet. I didn't like that, while I was fairly sure that the first floor could handle a mass of stupid rats, I didn't want that to be all we had to work with.

"We should be fine Jason." Zephirah reassured. "It isn't the first time they have come and the girls handled them fine. With you awake we shouldn't have any problems."

I nodded, but it still didn't feel like it was enough. I had to admit the current first floor was better than the last one, even if there weren't any guardians. I sighed as I realized what was bothering me. I didn't want to fight them passively, and that was what the first floor was, a passive defense. While I didn't really want to get into the dungeon wars, I also didn't want any of them to keep coming here looking for trouble. "How long?" I asked again.

"The first of them are already fighting against the golems on the surface." Zephirah replied.

I nodded disappointedly, "At least we can have more golems and they can level up even higher." I commented. "Can you create an image of the surface and the first floor?" I asked.

Zephirah nodded then a holographic image appeared in the air above the table.

"That's new." Vanessa commented.

"When the dungeon reached level five. I got a couple upgrades." Zephirah replied proudly.

The smallest white fox looked intently at the first floor image. "What are all of those runes supposed to do?" she curiously asked, her eyes never leaving the image.

"Sorry, can't tell you." I replied seriously.

"See, rude." the male fox insisted.

I gave the male fox a stern glare. "What is rude about not giving away secrets to stowaways that want to leave and have every possibility of becoming an enemy after they leave?" I asked seriously.

"Enemy? We mean you no harm." The larger female fox insisted.

"Perhaps, but what happens if you are caught again? Besides, I have no idea what you actually intended to do if I hadn't noticed you." I replied. "No offense to you. You might be exactly what you claim to be, but I have had enough trouble since I arrived here that I have some trust issues." I told her.

"So it seems." she replied with a sigh.

"Mom!" the smaller white fox cried then looked at her mother with big pleading eyes.

"Just watch. Observe what happens, maybe you will be able to determine the use of the runes on your own." the mother fox replied.

I turned my attention away from the fox and concentrated on the battle on the surface. As we had guessed there were a lot of rats. However Zephirah had already taken it upon herself to add four new guardians from the slots we gained from adding new floors. She created two new earth and stone golems and placed them on the surface with the others. They would still need to level up, but the increase in numbers would help.

"Is this the same as what you had been dealing with before?" I asked hopefully.

"No, there aren't as many rats." Zephirah replied.

"Huh?" I asked stupidly. I was sure there were at least a hundred rats swarming the golems. In fact I had no idea how the golems were still standing. While the rats might be weak, in comparison to other beasts, a hundred rats biting on them would wear them down.

"This is maybe half of what we have been dealing with." Zephirah replied. Then sighed and made a gesture with her hand. As soon as she did the golems started to use large area attacks causing the numbers of rats to decrease significantly.

"Wow." I said surprised.

"The golems leveled up a lot too." Zephirah told me with a proud smile.

Despite reducing the number of rats, a hundred was still a lot for the golems to handle, after another ten minutes the last of the rats were dead, but the golems looked like they were about to fall apart. As soon as the last rat died a new swarm appeared. This time there were twice as many rats as there had been before.

"Damn it!" Candice yelled.

"Calm down." Zephirah told her. "I am already reforming the golems on the second floor, just in case they get through." she told her.

Candice seemed to calm down upon hearing that.

Vanessa moved up to my side then wormed her way under my arm. "Ready to see what the new floor can do?" she asked snuggling against me.

I nodded as I pulled her closer while watching the first floor. The rats had finished overwhelming the golems then headed straight for the portal. "Any ideas why they are using rats?" I asked.

"Easiest beast to gather in large numbers. Why?" Elisia asked from where she was sitting.

I contemplated that for a moment then shrugged. "Just curious why they are still doing it. You made it sound like you went through hell earlier, but were able to resist. So why do it again?" I said as I watched the rats enter my first floor.

"Worried about something?" Candice asked.

"Well, if they do the same thing, aren't they just giving us energy and levels?" I asked.

No one responded for a few moments. "Yeah it kind of does." Elisia admitted. "But haven't they already changed it up? There are at least three hundred rats this time."

I nodded but didn't reply as I watched. Two hundred giant rats had flooded into my first floor. As I had feared they took off in both directions from the southern room. Thankfully the runes worked just like I had hoped they were and nearly half of the rats began circling back before they even made it to the next room. What I hadn't counted on was the fact that the rats started to attack their own when they came face to face with each other after getting turned around.

"What's happening?" Selia asked as she watched the image.

"I don't know." I admitted. "Maybe they didn't like the look of the other guy?"

"It's more than just one fight, Jason." Elisia pointed out.

"They are ugly fuckers." I argued.

The fights quickly spiraled out of control until all two hundred rats were fighting amongst themselves.

"Is it the runes?" the smaller white fox asked.

"They have no idea what is going on, how could it be the runes." the blue fox commented.

I shook my head. "This floor was only meant to be a passive defense, to discourage those who weren't serious about attacking us. It's the rest of the floors that will be designed to be deadly." I told them.

"Did you just tell information to a potential enemy?" the black fox asked sarcastically.

"Yes, but it also doubles as a warning, so…" I said then left it at that.

"Are you sure it isn't the runes?" Zephirah asked.

I nodded, "I had to make some changes so I could use it, but there is no aggression factor." I replied. The number of rats were starting to drop dramatically and those that remained were now seeking each other out. The southern room soon reminded me of a bloody mosh pit. Blood, guts, fur, and limbs littered the floor.

Despite the grisly view, not a single one of the girls seemed bothered. I was surprised for a moment, before I remembered that none of them were normal human women, not even Candice.

"Seems that floor was more effective than we anticipated." Zephirah commented.

"I wonder why they are so aggressive. Did they do something to them, or is it natural?" I asked.

"Does it matter? It is working in our benefit. Do you have any idea how much energy we got from that?" Zephirah asked.

"Sure, but what else do they have for us?" I asked.

"That might be it." Elisia said. "Think about it. Swarms like that are not easy to handle, I doubt there are that many dungeons in this trial that can handle that kind of swarm yet. I know we almost didn't. If there had been another two waves we might not have made it. Just wait, once this wave is over and we reset there will be another wave of rats just like this one. I bet they are hoping to wear us down."

I nodded as I thought about it then looked over at the orb as it floated. "Maybe." I said then looked back at the image. "When this wave is over I will build the second floor. I will use my runes to make it as deadly as I can." I told them then smiled to myself.

"You are scaring me." Candice said as she looked at me.

"What?" I asked, trying my best to look innocent.

"No." Candice said closing her eyes and looking away. "Don't do that, it just makes it worse."

"What?" Vanessa asked.

"Whenever he has that look, he is thinking of something, something I am not going to like." Candice replied.

"Am not." I replied, still trying to act innocent.

"Really?" Candice asked.

I shrugged my gaze going back to the rat mosh pit. "I was just thinking that when the floors are done, I should go out and see what this place has to offer." I replied with a smile. The rats were down to ten, but something seemed odd about them. I scooted forward to stare at the rats.

"What is it?" Vanessa asked as she shifted to stay next to me.

"Are those rats healing?" I asked confused by what I was seeing.

"Leveling." Elisia replied. "It's a bonus that comes with gaining a level."

"Hmmm, oh how interesting." the male fox said.

The ten rats rushed at each other without a care for their own safety. I personally knew that I didn't have any rage spells included in my runes, but even I was starting to wonder.

"Are they…." Elisia said, her eyes narrowing.

"It seems so, that would explain a lot." the male fox agreed.

"What is it?" I asked without looking away. I didn't really have a favorite, but one of them had developed a dark gray fur that seemed to have a metallic luster to it and seemed more badass than the others. At least that was my opinion.

Though none of the other nine seemed to be normal rats any more. One had black fur and seemed to be able to phase through shadows. Another was a dark brown and was messing with the floor and walls. Several had extra long claws and teeth. There was even a white one that was summoning wind blades and shooting them at the others while it fought.

"That much battle, and quick levels caused them to evolve. Kind of like a poison bug jar." Elisia commented.

"Sweet." I said getting excited.

Everyone looked at me like I was a fool.

"What?" I asked.

"If they are developing that fast, what do you think the winner is going to become." Elisia told me.

"Food for my dungeon." I replied seriously. "Then a design that I can use to make more of them."