The Dungeon's Worst Little Mistake

//You killed a Warrior of Chaos. Warning, no exp will be gained as the kill was registered with an illegal weapon. Please sell the weapon immediately.

"Hmm, the System really doesn't want me to use these things, huh?" Bug says to herself as she checks her notifications, two of the strange weapons held in her hands.

Wouldn't have gotten any experience any ways from killing these rats, for some reason. But it looks like using 'illegal weapons' can even deny me it as well… I wonder what the issue is with these things? Best I can tell, it's just a ranged weapon. The System doesn't have any issues with bows, so what is wrong this?

Putting her questions aside for now, Bug gets to work on trying to figure out how they work. The trigger is easy enough to figure out. You pull it, it fires. She had even already used it to blow a rat's head off. Easy.

But when she points the same one at a wall and tries pulling the trigger again it just clicks and nothing happens.

So, it has to be reloaded after every shot…

Remembering how the first rat had done it, Bug goes digging through the second one's stolen loot and finds a pouch full of little metal balls. Taking one, she stuffs it into the barrel and uses the rod running along the bottom of the barrel to cram it all the way in until it won't go any deeper.

With the bit of down time they have, Susan looks over at what Bug and asks, "What are you doing?"

"Learning." Bug say simply as she takes and aims the weapon at a wall again and pulls the trigger.

*BANG!*

Bug watches the spot where the bullet shattered against the brick wall of the Dungeon, not even scratching the brick.

"What the heck is that!?"

"No idea, but it's neat." Bug answers as she looks over the thing with fascination and watches smoke leave the barrel.

It must use some kind of explosion that pushes it out at high speeds. But it didn't make a bang when there was no bullet inside. Are the bullets special?

She takes another out of the bag and looks it over. When that doesn't reveal anything, she tries smelling it and even giving it a lick, but it is just a little metal ball. Iron probably, going by the taste.

Must be something inside of the weapon then. I'll have to take one apart to figure it out, but I have no time for that right now though. Later…

"Still, in the meantime I might as well have some fun with these. If I can't get experience from the rats anyways, then where is the harm?"

Reloading the weapon again, Bug walks to the front of the raft and waits as they continue to travel down the long corridor, the path carrying them down and along a right curve as the skeletons continue to row to the beat of the drum. Far behind, Bug can hear as the rats continue to fight the Boss and are losing. He'll be back on their tail in no time.

Eventually, the tunnel finally reaches another arc way that opens up to a large chamber full of glowing torch lights off in the distance.

"Oh, wow…" Bug gasps as she takes in the sight.

"What? … Oh. That wasn't here before." Susan says as she turns away from watching Elaine and sees what Bug is gawking at.

Ahead of them is another city built of wood and debris, lit by the glow of a thousand and one torches and more. Unlike the precious place in the round room they had quickly passed through, this place is truly massive, with houses and buildings filling the room so completely that they all come together to create a maze of structures that stack on top of each other in confusing and simply unsafe looking ways.

But aside from all the buildings there is the people living there.

Bug can't count all of them. It would take her days, and that is only going from what she can see of them all along the shores of this sewer city. She can't even begin to imagine how many must be living in this place.

Sadly, they don't get to have too much time to take it all in before their raft is entering the city at top speeds, heading into one of several canals that run through the city like rivers in a forest.

Rat civilians turn and gawk in surprise as their raft goes tearing through the dirty water, drum pounding and noise bouncing off the side of people's homes. Mothers grab their children and pull them back protectively as they try to point at the interesting thing. Others scream out words that Bug can't understand, and they must be words because they clearly hold meaning. Soldiers and guards start to yell and bark out orders, someone blowing a whistle. Merchants are yelling over the crowds, trying to sell their goods, and as some armored rats chase after the raft, a cart full of cabbages gets knocked over and destroyed. The merchant cries, holding a crushed cabbage in his hands.

Chaos is quick to ensues as the already bustling city of rats becomes even more lively, like a wasp nest that just got kicked.

More whistles call out. Soldiers and guards arrive at the scene. Civilians are running everywhere. Merchants are desperately trying to close up their shops. Looters take advantage of the chaos to rob a store, smashing things and running out with pots and pans held tightly in their greedy paws.

"We haven't even done anything yet and this place is going nuts! What the heck!?" Bug yells over all the noise as she aims and blows a hole through the chest of rat that was getting ready to shoot at her.

The bang only serves to make the chaos spike even further. A women's ratty scream somehow pierces through all the noise and suddenly a house is on fire. How it happened? Bug doesn't freaking know! But it happened, and now the city is on fire.

"All we're doing is passing though! What the heck is wrong with this place!?" Bug screams as she pulls the trigger on her second weapon and blows a hole through another guard rat.

"Seriously, what is all of this?" Susan agrees with her, looking rightfully confused.

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Off to the side, a rat jumps out of a burning building, screaming as he flails through the air. He had probably been trying to land in the canal, but his jump was too short, and he ends up smacking hard into the sidewalk, cutting his screams short as his corpse burns on the floor. Elsewhere, an old looking lady rat gets trampled to death by a fleeing crowd, her hand desperately grasping for help before it gets stepped on and broken. Elsewhere again, a pretty looking (by rat standards) lady rat gets pulled into a dark alleyway by some men taking advantage of the chaos. She screams for help as her clothes get torn off, but no one comes to save her. Elsewhere elsewhere again, a child cries for their mother, lost and scared and alone as people push and shove and run everywhere. Elsewhere elsewhere elsewhere again, a guard desperately tries to keep everything under control but is hit in the head by a thrown brick, knocking him to the floor. A man takes his weapon and holds it over his head, screaming something about revolution or bringing down the oligarchy or something. Again, Bug can't understand their words, but the surrounding people seem to agree with the guy and quickly form an angry mob, heading to go and burn down a big building off in the nicer looking part of town.

It is Chaos. Plain and simple, and it is everywhere and spreading like a plague.

In a matter of moments, the city is burning and in a complete uproar, and Bug and co. had only been there for less than fifteen minutes. For a short while even, most of the guard and soldier rats even forget about them as they have to try to deal with all the chaos.

But, most likely due to the drum and Mimmie's music, attention is eventually drawn back to the loud raft that is just trying to peacefully pass though.

It might be because they are strangers, maybe they look funny, maybe people just need an excuse, but a woman rat holding a sickle, points at Bug and screams something out to the crowd of looter and rioters.

Suddenly, they aren't just passing through peacefully anymore. They are the enemy, the ones to blame for all of this! And every single rat, be it civilian, guard, or soldier, for who knows how far, is now looking at Bug and Susan and Mimmie as if they had just insulted all of their collective mothers and murdered their beloved pets.

"Well, shit…"

"You just cursed."

"Not now Susan."

Like a tidal wave of fluff and teeth and claw and random objects turned weapon, the rats descend on the raft with murder in their eyes. They throw themselves into the canal, not all of them making the jump for the speeding raft. Many simply fall into the water and drown, getting pushed back into the water as others land on their heads or fight to swim after the raft.

Those that do make it get cut down instantly by Susan and Bug, but there are so many that with every passing moment, more and more of the rats are managing to get on board. Bodies are filling the canal after a short while, torn to pieces and coloring the already nasty water with spilt blood and shit.

Quickly enough, it gets so bad that Bug has to store away the weapons inside her Inventory and transform all her arms into bladed tentacles, ripping through the rats by the dozens as she and Susan fight to keep the hoards from destroying the skeleton rowers, or from targeting Mimmie.

The crazy girl, so lost in the rhythm of her own music has not stopped playing. If anything, the chaos spreading though this place has infected her as well and only served to make her play faster and faster, her beat growing frantic and crazy as all semblance of order is lost. With blood flowing out her nose, Elaine continues to beat on the drum with everything she has, the music seemingly taking on a twisted life of its own as it feeds into the rioting rats and they feed back into her. It grows almost to the point of where, impossibly, the sound of a single drum is somehow sounding like that of a full orchestra blaring in the background, the sound covering the entire burning city and working its way into every ear to reach the soul and spread even further chaos in turn.

Elaine screams, blood flowing from her eyes like hot tears as something else is playing through her, her mind and soul rebelling as her body continues to move beyond her will and orderly rhythm and music is turned into noise and madness.

Bug laughs as she cuts down a dozen more rats and fills the water with their broken bodies, her blood pumping through her veins like fire and her heart beating in her chest to the hellish beat of the drum despite being half-undead. She loses herself in the slaughter, cutting down enemy after enemy after enemy after enemy after enemy after enemy in an endless dance of Chaos.

Behind them, the corpses of slain rats begin to rise. The Undead crawl out of the canal with broken limbs and filth drenched bodies, uncaring as their entrails spill from their missing lower halfs and drag behind them. Grabbing rioting rats by their ankles, they drag them to the floor and tear out their throats, adding to their own numbers as more dead makes more dead and death becomes fuel for more chaos.

The Undead spread. Chaos spreads. The city burns.

Susan swings her sword, her Undead body moving beyond the limits of mortal flesh and threatening to shatter her bones and tear muscle. But she can't stop fighting. She is putting her everything into stopping the advancing hoards from engulfing the raft and swarming Elaine. Most of the rower skeletons have already been destroyed, the raft now stalled in the water as so many bodies have filled the canal that they have practically damned the water.

She can't reach Bug, stuck on the other side of a wall of bodies and chittering rats, laughing like a mad woman as she dances and slaughters with crazed eyes, her body utterly bathed in blood. Another bang rings out and Bug jerks to side, avoiding getting her head blown off as her wing get torn off by the bullet instead.

With a smile splitting her face and a bone chilling laugh leaving her lips, Bug looks to where a soldier rat is in the city, still holding the smoking weapon. Laughing like a mad woman, she explodes from the raft, punching a hole through the wood floor and damning the already failing raft to finally sink.

Soaring through the air, a freshly regrown wing helping her to literally fly, she dives into the city under a hail of bullets, laughing all the way and out of Susan's line of sight.

"Goddess dang it! Bug, get back here! What the heck is going on here!?!?"

She turns to look back at a screaming Elaine who is just banging away at the drum like a madwoman, losing her mind as blood trails down her face, then to all the surrounding rats that just will, not, stop, coming!

"CRAP! Screw this! Field, Thousand Kisses!!!"

A single second passes and like a thunderclap ringing out, everything around Susan for a dozen feet suddenly turns into a shower of gore, her sword glowing red with heat as her broken arms and legs all twist and heal back into shape.

Her stomach grumbles and complains, hunger starting to fill her, but she pushes it to the back of her mind as she takes the opening she just made to quickly run over and grab Elaine by her treasure chest shell's handles. She tries to pull her out of the skeletal mount spider thing that Bug made for her, but it has her firmly locked down and secured, not budging more than an inch.

"Crap, what was the… Ah! Emergency override, Big Sister controls! Order, follow Susan. Order, auto-guard Mimmie. Priority, survival!" Susan belts out the list of commands that Bug taught her in case of an emergency.

The bone craft spider immediately stands up, pulling Elaine away from the drum as she desperately reaches for it and cries like a child that just had her favorite toy taken away. In a whirl of motion, the bone plates covering the spider open up and a dozen arms unfold from inside, each one wielding daggers and holding them up menacingly, ready to stab anything that draws too close to their ward. With the arms extending, the armored plates of bone and chitin extend upward as well, covering Elaine's sides with short walls as the back of the spider unfold from underneath to then wrap up and over Elaine, forming a protective roof over her head.

Susan goes to jump off the raft, But Eleane's cries make her faulter for a second, the girl still desperately crying out for the drum as she reaches over the proactive armor.

"Ahhhh! The things I do for love!"

Susan quickly grabs the drum and rips it off the frame of the raft, handing it over to the crying girl.

"Put it in your Inventory, now!"

"But I wanna play!" A half-crazed Elaine complains back, hugging the barrel of a drum to her little chest.

Before Susan can try to argue further, the chest that is Elaine's lower half moves its big grey tongue up and grabs the drum. With a flash of light, it vanishes.

"Wait, Mimm-!" Elaine tries to complain, but the tongue reaches up and forcefully drags her back into the chest, the lid slamming shut right after and cutting off Elaine's complaints. The lock clicks shut and the eyes on the chest's lid look up at Susan with an unidentifiable expression.

She doesn't have time to question it.

Susan moves, the bone spider following right behind her as she leaps off the raft and into the burning city, cutting down anyone that tries to stop her. She needs to catch up to Bug. And if she can't, then at the very least she needs to keep Elaine safe until this is all over.