The Hunter's Odyssey-Chapter 74: Infested Scavengers (1)
The rat's squeak cut through the ruined 7-Eleven like a nail scratching glass.
Jagger froze mid-step.
For a split second, nothing moved except the dim flicker of the damaged ceiling lights and the faint sway of a torn promotional banner hanging over the chip aisle. Then the creature's black eyes narrowed, and a translucent red panel flared to life in front of Jagger's vision.
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[Quest: Eliminate the Infested Scavengers.]
[Targets: 4/4]
[Threat Level: Minion]
[Warning: Hostile creatures have detected you.]
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The screen hovered there for the briefest heartbeat before fading.
Jagger exhaled through his nose and shifted his grip on the dagger.
The rat that had seen him let out another sharp squeal, louder this time. Immediately, the other three jerked their heads up from the corpse. Bits of flesh hung from their mouths. One of them had an eye dangling wetly from its teeth. They turned toward him almost in sequence, their spines flexing beneath matted fur as the bone spikes running along their backs rose higher.
Then all four began screeching at once.
The sound was hideous. High-pitched, frantic, layered with wet clicking noises deep in their throats. It bounced around the cramped store, echoing off shattered glass coolers and fallen shelves until the whole place seemed to vibrate with it. Their claws scraped over tile and broken packaging as they repositioned around the woman's corpse, bunching their hind legs beneath them, red glints flickering in those obsidian eyes.
Jagger's shoulders loosened.
His body was still battered, but it was no longer the wreck it had been earlier. The worst of the damage from the battlefield had been repaired. His left arm, though still throbbing faintly beneath the skin, moved properly now. His ribs no longer ground against each other with every breath. He was not fresh, not even close, but he was functional.
More than that, he was dangerous.
He lowered his center of gravity, one foot sliding back over the slick tiles. His dagger angled upward in his right hand while his left hand opened slightly, fingers flexing.
"From one fight to another," he muttered, eyes fixed on the rats as they spread out. "Just my luck."
The closest one launched first.
It came low and fast, claws skittering across the floor in a blur, its spiked back cutting a crooked silhouette against the dim store lights. Jagger twisted sideways just as it leapt for his stomach. The rat sailed past him, foul breath washing over his shirt, and crashed shoulder-first into a stack of plastic baskets near the counter. The baskets exploded across the floor.
The second was attacked before the first had even landed.
It came from his right, springing off a fallen shelf and driving itself toward his throat. Jagger ducked instinctively. Bone spikes scraped over the top of his shoulder, snagging his shirt and raking shallow lines across the skin beneath. Hot pain flared. He drove his elbow upward into the creature's belly mid-flight.
The rat squealed and hit the ground hard.
Jagger stomped down.
Its skull cracked beneath his boot with a wet crunch, black blood and grey matter splattering across a toppled display of mints.
- 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺
[Quest: Eliminate the Infested Scavengers.]
[Progress: 1/4]
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The other three reacted instantly.
Two darted apart, flanking him, while the one near the baskets regained its footing and hissed, its lips pulling back to reveal yellow teeth longer than they should have been. Their intelligence was ugly, animal, and malicious. They were no longer charging blindly. They were reading him.
One from the left. One from the right. One straight ahead.
Jagger backed toward the drink coolers.
The floor beneath his boots was treacherous, slick with rainwater dragged in from outside, melted ice from broken refrigerators, and blood from the bodies littering the store. Candy bars, crushed chips, and shattered bottles crunched underfoot. He almost slipped on a spilled carton of milk and caught himself against a refrigerator door.
The straight-on rat moved first, but it did not leap.
Its body hunched low, spikes rising as its limbs tucked inward.
Jagger's eyes narrowed.
"What the hell…"
The creature curled in on itself.
Its limbs folded tight. Its long tail wrapped under its belly. The jagged bone protrusions along its back shifted outward with audible clicks, locking into place as the rat compressed into a grotesque rolling sphere of fur, bone, and claws. Then it spun.
Fast.
The spike-ball shot toward him across the tile, shrieking as it rolled, sparks bursting where bone spikes scraped across metal shelving.
Jagger threw himself sideways.
The rolling rat smashed into the glass door of the cooler beside him. The impact shattered what remained of the pane, sending shards flying and sending cans tumbling out in a metallic avalanche. Energy drink and soda bottles burst open across the floor, spraying sticky foam.
The moment he hit the ground, the other two were already on him.
One clamped its jaws onto his forearm.
Pain tore through him as its teeth punched through skin and locked onto muscle. Jagger snarled and slammed his arm downward, smashing the rat against the tile again and again. Its teeth refused to let go. Black blood spread over his sleeve.
The third rat darted for his face.
He barely got his left hand up in time. Its claws raked across his palm and wrist, carving three deep lines into the flesh as it snapped for his eyes. He could smell rot and the greasy stink of sewer filth on its breath.
His dagger flashed.
He drove it up beneath the rat's jaw and into the base of its skull.
The body convulsed violently, claws digging one last time into his hand, then went limp.
Jagger ripped the blade free and flung the corpse away. It hit the lottery display with a thud and slid down, leaving a long smear of blood over scratch-off tickets.
The other rat was still attached to his arm.
Swearing under his breath, he staggered upright and slammed the creature against the edge of the drinks freezer. Once. Twice. Three times. On the fourth impact, something in its spine gave. Its bite loosened.
He seized it by the back of the neck and hurled it across the aisle.
It struck a microwave on the food counter hard enough to dent the metal casing, bounced, and landed, twitching, among overturned hot-dog rollers.
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[Quest: Eliminate the Infested Scavengers.]
[Progress: 2/4]
