Tunnel Rat: A LitRPG Adventure by Walrus King

Author:Walrus King [King, Walrus]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Aethon Books
Published: 2024-11-12T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 31

Eels

Racing through the water, swimming fast to stay ahead of death. His brothers and sisters raced with him. The fast would live, and the slow would be eaten. This was slow-water. It dragged at you and made you work hard to move through it. The start of life was in slow-water. Those who wanted to live moved toward live-water. And moved fast. The slow were food.

The transition from slow-water to live-water was quick and bright. Left behind were the predators in the dark. With mana in the water, they could swim faster. Ahead were the Eels, who breathed lightning and grew wings to soar the skies. He hated the Eels. They used the energy of the live-water to gain power, then waited here to feed. Again, the slow died. He and some of his siblings grabbed the power of the live-water and drew the runes of speed on their skins. They wouldn’t last long, but skin-runes would hold until they were past the Eels. The speed-rune burned as it absorbed the bright mana of the live-water, and they raced upward.

They almost made it this time. They broke the surface, feeling the still-wind on their backs, and shot toward the outcrop of stone that marked where live-water ended and high-stone began. They needed to climb the high-stone and find where it held the world-blood. Then they would be safe. Eels would not brave the fires of the world-blood.

But here, at the start of the high-stone, they were seen! A winged Eel swooped down and caught them all with its sharp-fins. The others died; he pushed hard and slipped its grasp, tumbling down to the live-stone, landing hard and striking the rock. Rock broke. He had used the hard-rune on his bones. He was slower now, but he was alive. The Eel had stripped off his old skin and, with it, the speed rune. No matter; that was for live-water. Being hard was better when on high-stone.

He stayed in the cracks as he crawled higher and higher. Small, scampering creatures made their lairs here, using the husks of dead plants. Little things that ran on two legs and made homes from the grass. They amused him, so he only ate a few and tried not to step on their little lairs. The legend-makers said they would grow strong enough to kill Eels. Silly legend. Too small. But it was enough of a pleasant thought that he didn’t eat them all.

A land Eel caught him. It already had its land legs and boasted that it would soon have its wings. He didn’t care. He had the hard-rune in his bones and the sharp-rune on his claws. When the Eel pounced, he didn’t run. That surprised the Eel. He grabbed it with his sharp claws and didn’t let go. He bit its throat and held on. The Eel tried to bite him, but it only took skin and muscle. It clawed at him, but his bones would not break. He killed Eel and roared out what he had done.

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