The second station went about as well as the first. He cleared out several nearby patrols, a barricade that was guarding the trapdoor and exterminated every single roach that was within the station. He did try to go a merciful route. repeatedly asking the various roaches he ran into to lay down their arms, take him to their leader, or even their King for diplomacy talks. But he was consistently and repeatedly met with vicious attacks despite the clear overwhelming power on his end.

  “You know the least they could do is hear me out. If I hadn't heard a few of them talking in English I would have thought that they didn't understand me at all. How do they even know English? Hell, how does Ssevinac and the other Rat Kin know English??”

  “Beats me, I am going to have to say it has something to do with system shenanigans. And before you ask, no I do not know why you can understand some words and not others. Perhaps Ssevinac knows. I mean if you aren't going to kill him you might as well get some information out of him.”

  Quill tried to shake off some of the gunk he was absolutely soaked in. “That's the plan, at least it is when I finally take care of these two quests.”

  He then tried to wring out his hair, trying to get what gunk he could out. “This stuff better not permanently stay on me, it feels like it's getting into every crevice that exists on my body.”

  “Let's hope not! Only I should have such a privilege!”

  He shook his head, not dignifying her with a comment as he continued to try and shake off some of the gunk. Slowly realizing this was starting to become a lesson in futility he just headed to the bathroom in the station and tried to wash off the worst of it.

  The washing also allowed him to just have a bit of a breather, it wasn't much but frankly he would take every moment he could get. Once he was cleanish, he headed back into the tunnels to make his way towards the second inner station before the grand.

  As he traveled further into the tunnels he noticed that he wasn't running into any more patrols, and given how many roaches he had been running across before…. Yeah, they definitely knew something was happening and probably concluded that patrols were only going to make them lose more of their forces. He was going to have to keep an eye open for ambushes in that case. Or maybe trigger the ambush. After all, if you go into an ambush prepared for an ambush are you not ambushing the ambusher?

  “Just because you created a nonsensical word salad doesn't mean what you said was smart.”

  He let out a small chuckle despite himself and looked at the map for potential ambush routes. Sure enough there was a dome in the most direct path towards the next inner station. With two indirect paths around said dome with wider halls that looked like it would be good for the roaches In using their superior numbers.

  Also a good chance that there was a blockade on each hallway with likely many troops. Should Quill engage in one of the halls, the roaches lying in weight in the second Hall and in the dome would likely attack him from behind. If he were to engage in the dome the roaches in the halls will likely come in as reinforcements.

  Regardless of what route he took he was going to have a very serious fight on his hands.

  “Or! Shot in the dark here. Maybe just go directly towards the Grand Station. Take care of the king immediately, succeed in the quest, and then maybe have Ssevinac and his little pals fight the roaches. Technically his war anyways.”

  He looked over the map towards the routes that led to the Grand Station, noting various x marks on the hallways indicating something was blocking it. There was only one tunnel that led to the Grand Station and it was also the widest. Once again allowing the roaches to make use of their numbers. He had a good feeling that if he just went directly for Grand Station he was still going to get pincered and likely in a worse situation than he just triggered this other ambush. He was a little surprised at how much more organized the roaches seem to be with much better tactics than the Rat Kin.

  “To be fair, the rat king was an idiot, stupid, incompetent, smelly, gross, pathetic, vile, and just an overall asshole. Plus, while this is just conjecture, I think Ssevinac was more of the brains of the operation. I don't think their King was very good at ruling outside of just being the strongest.”

  “Still holding a grudge I see. And If that is true then that is a very stupid basis to structure your government on. Either way, I don't think going to the Grand Station would work. If I did then the forces from the Grand Station would easily be able to reinforce wherever their barricade is. Then all the forces from the dome and other halls, assuming I am correct in this, will be bearing down on my back. I'll be dealing with a much larger force than if I just continue on my route to the other inner station.”

  “Nothing stopping them from sending their forces from the Grand Station to you in the dome.”

  “Sure but they would have to travel further and longer. I should hopefully deal with whatever force is in the dome and hallway before then. Then it's just a matter of retreating back to the already cleared out inner station and barricading it until I am ready to fight again.”

  “Feel like the plan has a few flaws in it.”

  “Well I am working with what I got and I can't think of anything better. Absolutely worst case scenario I run all the way back to Ssevinac and have him and his forces help me.”

  Seeing as how putting things off would only delay the inevitable, Quill made his way towards the dome. However he stopped part way through at a tunnel he believed would be most likely used by some of the roaches coming to reinforce the battle.

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  He quickly shifted through all the supplies he had in his storage ring. The ground below his feet was dirt and soft. So he began to dig as quickly and as quietly as possible. He soon made several pit traps with various pointy weapons at the bottom sticking upwards. It wasn't going to stop even a small size force and he wasn't sure if the fall onto the weapons would even be enough to pierce the exoskeleton of the roaches. But the main point of this was to delay them. He kind of wished he at least kept a few rat bombs though, that would have been much more helpful in clearing out large crowds.

  He also made a mental note that he needed to learn how to construct proper traps, especially now that he had a skill for doing exactly that.

  Trap maker has leveled up to lvl 2

  That was a nice added bonus, and now that he could actually read what the skills did instead of getting pointless flavor text he checked and saw that the skill somehow increased damage to anyone who fell into his traps, decreased the likelihood of someone discovering his traps and increased the likelihood of a more complex trap succeeding. Simple enough. At least it didn't say anything about helping him create traps. That felt like too much of a cheat, even for him.

  Once the holes were covered he headed towards the dome. Hoping he wasn't making a mistake in doing this but also knowing his options were limited.

  As he turned the corner, he saw the dome entrance with a group of roaches scurrying about in the center as if in a panic. They were literally using the same tactic as they did with their rat kin ambush which worked out for him as he knew what to expect.

  He took out his crossbow and aimed it towards the roaches that were making a fairly believable last stand act. “If I miss, I do not want to hear any comments.” He muttered.

  “I make no promises.” She responded and he fired his crossbow, it flew through the air and surprisingly managed to strike one of the roaches making them chitter in what he could assume was horror as one of their companions dropped dead.

  “Ha! I actually hit one! I'm unstoppable now!” He reloaded up his crossbow and fired three more shots in a row, missing all three.

  “There it is.” she snickered, “should probably get a move on though, if you are expecting them to pincer you, you're wasting valuable time by doing this.”

  He spat out multiple curse words and started to walk with determination towards the group of roaches, taking out a short spear from his storage ring. As he got closer towards the entrance of the dome he suddenly broke into a sprint. Easily clearing the entrance way and passing the roaches waiting to drop down on him. He was practically on top of the group on the ground before the roaches on the wall and ceiling even realized what was happening.

  He skewered his first roach with the spear in one hand while bringing out a mace from his storage ring and smashing it into another. The rest of the roaches let out chittering shrieks and began to drop to the floor before charging him from the sides of the dome.

  By the time the first one was upon him, Quill had already easily dispatched the group in the center. He smashed the closest roach with the now bent mace, killing it and flinging it towards the nearest charging opponent.

  This began a very long session of him scurrying around the dome trying to kite as best as he could. Bobbing and weaving through attacks and blows, his dodge and enhanced reflex skills working overtime. It wasn't a lot but he did note that many of the roaches seemed stronger and faster than the ones he previously fought. But only barely.

  After dodging another attack which earned him a slight cut on the cheek. He realized he wasn't going to be able to make it through this without serious injury or using his energy manifestation and so quickly summoned up his Pizza Cutter, cleaving his way through the horde of enemies that had surrounded him. His Rat Tail also manifested snapping outward and skewered many roaches though largely worked to keep him from being flanked.

  They're chittering took on a panicked tinge to it as they began throwing themselves at Quill even faster but it made zero difference as he easily cut through 5 to 10 at a time with his Pizza Cutter alone. Any that he missed were quickly taken care of by the Rat Tail.

  As their numbers dwindled however a stream of roaches started pouring out from one of the dome's entrance ways but not the one he had come out of. Taking this as a good sign that his trap holes had worked to some capacity, he cut through the roaches he had engaged with and charged the reinforcements. Quickly carving through them as fast as possible.

  However as he neared the tunnel itself his survival instincts screamed at him and he jumped back, nearly dodging a very large roach as it slammed a spear where his body had been. Unlike all the other roaches he was fighting, this one was not only bigger, bulkier, and with four weapons instead of one or two. It also had wings on its back which meant the bastard could fly. It was clearly a step above the rest.

  He snapped his rat tail forward to try and counter attack but the large roach quickly flew up and away before he could land a blow. Landing by the far side of a wall at the dome seemingly content in watching Quill tire himself out but would likely intervene should he try to leave the dome again.

  He cut down several more of the roaches, the numbers starting to dwindle again just as more started pouring out of the tunnel he came out of. He quickly broke free from his engagement and charged those also. Slicing through the horde as he neared the tunnel.

  Sure enough the larger roach with wings struck down at him from above with the same tactic. Quill dodged the blow and leapt back, taking a pot shot with his Rat Tail and given the same conclusion.

  Seeing the winged roach fly back to where it was at the start, he turned and went for the original tunnel he had gone to before. The roaches have stopped coming out of that one making it open. He quickly cleaned through the ones that were blocking his path as he got closer.

  When his instincts warned him of the approaching attack, instead of leaping back he pivoted on his feet, extending the manifestation of his Pizza Cutter to a longer reach as he swung upwards. His spinning blade slicing right through the roaches midsection bisecting it as it shrieked out in pain and fell to the ground.

  With that taken care of he took stock of how many roaches were left and was surprised at how much he had killed. Sure there was still a bunch left but comparatively speaking it wasn't that bad. Most were already lying dead.

  Sadly that didn't seem to deter the roaches that were left, all of them still came charging at him with reckless abandon, determined to take his life. Thankfully the numbers were manageable and so will dissipate his energy manifestations knowing that he was starting to feel a bit of the strain because of it and took out some more of his weapons and quickly finished off the rest.

  It was a grueling battle and probably didn't go as well as he would have liked but he still managed. It was then after the silence of the fighting had taken hold from the final roach dying did he hear some clicking. Turning towards the bisected roach with wings lying on its back. It took him a second but he realized that the clicking was laughter as he approached. A sense of concern crossed his psyche as he stood over the dying creature.

  “You're too late, hairless rat.” its voice came out pretty and strained. “The forces are all bearing down on this point now. Everything that can be spared shall come. You may kill a hundred of us, or a thousand, but you will fall and then we will come and kill your king.”

  He didn't really see a point in correcting the dying bug but he did need to know “What do you mean by all available forces.”

  Its voice held triumph despite its mutilated state. “Every one of my kin that are not protecting the Grand Station are coming to this point here and now. You will die. Of that I promise you.”

  Quill took out a spear from his storage ring and brought it down onto the roach's head, killing it. He was in deep shit now.