Chapter 95
There was a giant rat.
A cat-sized rat was scurrying along the wall with a rustling sound.
If you enlarged an ordinary sewer rat, it would probably look like that.
"Ugh... Gross."
I blurted out my reaction.
The sight of a familiar creature simply grown larger was creepier than I'd expected.
This was a type I'd never seen before, but was it a monster too?
No... Somehow, it didn't feel like one.
This feeling was... yes, if anything, it was close to the presence I sensed from 'Momo.'
An ambiguous presence somewhere between a monster and an ordinary animal.
"Ah... I see. Maybe..."
As I thought that, it suddenly hit me.
Maybe that rat, like Momo, was an animal that had defeated monsters and eaten magic stones?
With Momo as proof, that possibility was quite plausible.
Actually, I'd completely forgotten that possibility because I'd been dealing with nothing but monsters.
It wouldn't be strange for there to be animals like Momo that hunted monsters and leveled up, or ate magic stones and acquired Skills.
Besides, there were plenty of magic stones from defeated monsters lying around the city.
There had to be animals that had eaten magic stones left lying around, untouched by humans.
Was that rat one of them?
It kept twitching its nose and staying alert.
It probably had some kind of Skill.
In the first place, when it came to 'surviving,' animals could arguably be superior to humans in some ways. They already lived in the wild, after all, and were probably accustomed to an environment where creatures stronger than themselves attacked them.
So, what should I do...
"What is it, Kudo-san? What did you find?"
Perhaps my standing so still had made Ichinose-san uneasy, because she spoke up.
"Ah, sorry. I got lost in thought. Um, it was a large rat, not a monster."
"A rat...?"
"Yes, but it isn't an ordinary rat. It may have been enhanced by eating magic stones."
"Gasp...!"
"Huh? What's that? What do you mean? And what's a magic stone?"
I could sense Ichinose-san holding her breath.
Rikka-chan, on the other hand, didn't seem to understand what I meant.
"Magic stones are stones that drop after you defeat a monster. When other creatures eat them, their bodies are enhanced, or they become able to use Skills."
"Seriously? Ah, come to think of it, stones did drop after we defeated monsters. Huh, so that's what they were? They were that amazing?"
Well, it was understandable that she didn't know.
Even I wouldn't have known what they were called or how to use them if not for Item Box's list function and Momo and Aka.
"Are you going to hunt it?"
"I suppose..."
I thought about it for a moment.
It wasn't a monster.
It was an ordinary animal, albeit one that had grown enormous.
But...
"It may be carrying pathogens, and there's also a chance it could attack people. ...We should take it out.―――Momo."
"Woof!"
At my signal, Momo's 'shadow' stretched toward the rat.
Rikka-chan let out a startled cry.
"Huh!? The shadow stretched!? What is this!?"
"It's Momo's Skill. There's no danger. Please be quiet."
"Ah, yes, sorry. A-amazing..."
Meanwhile, the 'shadow' drew closer to the rat.
Good. I'd restrain it, then finish it in one blow.
"Squeak!?"
But the rat noticed Momo's shadow at the last moment.
Then it showed terrifying agility and dodged Momo's shadow.
"What!?"
I couldn't help staring wide-eyed at the movement.
No way.
What incredible speed.
To dodge Momo's shadow... It was as fast as a Lesser Wolf—no, a Shadow Wolf.
"Squeak, squeak!"
The rat ran sideways along the wall, deftly dodging Momo's 'shadow' again.
That was clearly a 'Skill.'
Besides, it probably had a detection-type Skill too.
I didn't know whether it was 'Danger Detection' or 'Hostility Detection,' but without one of them, it would have been impossible to dodge Momo's 'shadow' at the last moment like that.
"Squeak! Squeak!"
The rat shook off the 'shadow' and fled.
Its figure vanished in an instant.
"...It got away."
"Whiiine..."
Momo let out a frustrated whine.
"It's all right, Momo. We weren't hurt, so it doesn't matter."
I patted Momo's head.
The fact that it had fled probably meant the rat itself wasn't all that strong in combat.
'Danger Detection' hadn't been sounding much of an alarm, either.
It was undoubtedly weaker than a goblin, at least in terms of overall strength.
It had probably been enhanced to specialize in 'Agility' and 'Escape.'
In fact, I hoped that was the case.
"There don't seem to be any other presences. I think it's safe now."
When I said that, the tension left the other two as well.
Still, enhanced animals that had fed on magic stones...
What a pain.
Monsters were a threat, but these animals could become more than enough of a threat too.
Stray cats and dogs. Crows, too.
There were countless animals living in the city.
It had already been five days.
More and more enhanced individuals like Momo and that rat would surely start appearing.
What would happen if bears, wild boars, venomous snakes, and other animals living in the forest were enhanced?
Animals that were already strong becoming even stronger through magic stones...
Wouldn't they effectively be no different from monsters at that point?
One more thing to worry about...
"Speaking of which... magic stones."
They could strengthen the bodies of monsters and animals or let them acquire Skills when eaten.
But... was that really their only use?
Maybe they had other useful applications that we simply didn't know about.
In games, after all, they were standard items for enhancing weapons and abilities...
To begin with, if animals could eat magic stones, why couldn't we?
Man, I really wish I had Appraisal.
As I petted the dejected Momo, I wondered how I could somehow acquire 'Appraisal.'
Meanwhile―――.
Scary. Scary. Scary.
The rat was running for its life.
Something black had suddenly attacked it.
It had immediately known that thing was bad news.
So it ran.
It ran for its life.
Coming up to the surface on a whim had been a mistake after all.
It had eaten strange stones, grown larger, and gained strange powers.
It had felt as though it could do anything.
But it had been wrong.
There was always something stronger, and it didn't want to be scared like that again.
It would live cautiously and timidly in the depths of the earth, just as it always had.
Thinking that, the rat ran for its life.
"Squeak, squeak."
The 'hole' it had crawled out of loomed ahead.
Almost there.
It would be home soon.
Relieved, the rat let its guard down for an instant.
And that created a fatal opening.
"Squeak!?"
Its movement stopped dead.
No, more precisely, it had been forcibly stopped.
Why? Why couldn't it move?
It desperately moved its body, but the more it struggled, the more completely immobilized it became.
Only then did the rat notice the 'thing' wrapped around its body.
They were countless threads, too fine to see.
"Squeak!? Squeak-squeak-squeak!"
Looking closely, it saw that the threads had been spread thickly all around the area.
And then it appeared before the rat's eyes.
The hole it had been trying to return to.
From it, a spider emerged with a creepy rustling sound.
"Screeeeech!"
The rat's instincts raised the alarm with all their might.
Scary. Scary. Scary, scary, scary.
I don't want to die. I don't want to die. I don't want to die!
But it was already too late.
The predator was already right in front of it.
Sharp claws and fangs, and countless bones scattered inside a barely visible 'hole.'
That was the last scene the rat ever saw.