Silhouette

James looked all around him. The usually calm and silent tunnels of the sewers were filled with buzzes and croaks, all born from the armies of cockroaches and toads that seemed to be covering every available surface. All of the usual inhabitants of the damp and dark tunnels had fled or were hiding in their homes, James could even sense a spider the size of a man poking its head out of the hole in the ceiling where it resided, instantly closing the entrance to its nest once it saw the swarm of cockroaches approaching it.

Even the predators are wary of what's happening, then. This could be to our advantage.

Behind him, the ratlings cautiously exited the nest, carefully sniffing, watching, and listening to any potential threat. Thankfully it seemed the battling critters didn't care about the dry tunnels all that much, the force that they had just faced probably only being a group of cockroaches fleeing from a group of toads.

Which means the toads are stronger than them. Killing the Titaroach should probably be enough to end this chaos, without their leader the rest will just disperse or get killed.

Not that he was foolish enough to think it would be easy. Considering what he had read on the Internet, it was very likely the oversized insect had a few tricks up its metaphorical sleeves. And even if James managed to get rid of it, there was no guarantee the leader of the toads would just go back to sleep and leave this part of the tunnels alone.

"Is everyone ready?"

""Squeaks!""

The ratlings, no matter their opinion on the plan, were determined to win the fight to defend their home. They had trained - though admittedly not for long - for this kind of situation and were ready to show they could handle themselves. David was quite glad he'd get to kill more things, too.

James observed the five little rodents, all equipped with random scraps they had barely managed to assemble together, all with barely the minimum amount of training behind them and a clear lack of military discipline - except for Lucille, of course, though James had absolutely no idea where it came from.

And, upon analyzing this little group of rats wearing trash and living in the sewers, James couldn't be any prouder.

"Alright then. Remember, you don't have to constantly stick together but try to stay within each other's sight, you must be ready to help any of you at any point."

""Squeak!""

"Your objective isn't to kill as many opponents as possible, it's to survive while still proving to be a legitimate threat they cannot ignore. It should allow me to fight the boss on my own without worrying about too many reinforcements getting in my way."

""Squeak!""

James glanced at them one last time, noting their grinding teeth, their tight grips on their respective weapons, and the sparkle in their eyes.

"Well then, let's go."

The Titaroach looked upon its legions of insects. Soon, very soon they would eradicate the amphibians that had hunted their kind in sadistic pleasure. Under its rule cockroaches would finally get rid of their predators and rise above their status of a mere bottom feeder. Yes, all would fear them above the waters, and none shall dare defy their authority. The best way to guarantee safety.

It looked at its lesser kin, currently battling the army of toads that had answered their ruler's call. Many would die in the operation, and the Titaroach had no doubt the population of their species would greatly decrease once everything was done - still, they would have time to grow back. No one could ever truly get rid of cockroaches if they didn't want to leave, after all.

It ignored some of its more clumsy brethren as they flew right into its chitinous body, perfectly aware of how troublesome movements in the air could be, especially at larger sizes. It itself had given up on using its wings some time ago, once it had become large enough to kill rats with a single stab of its legs, painted blue by the blood of the numerous amphibians it had exterminated.

Thinking of rats, it recalled that strange encounter it had not so long ago. Two young ratlings, one surprisingly white and the other with an oddly shaped tail, both accompanied - and apparently following - some mysterious black creature it had never seen before. Not that it knew all there was to know on the sewers, of course, but still, this thing was truly... Unique. There hadn't been any need to attack it, it had shown no hostility and had respected their feeding grounds, but it was still unsettling. It had seemed as though the shadows were alive-

Slash.

It jerked up and jumped a few steps backs, its right side hurting. It wiggled its antennae and looked around with its eyes, slowly moving to put its back to the wall. Just a few seconds and-

Slash.

Again! It could sense the smell of its own blood, a small cut on each of its sides. A cockroach's blood was too thick and sticky for it to die of blood loss but the pain brought by the wounds was annoying. One of the drawbacks of its increased intellect was an increased sensibility sadly, born from the numerous new nerves he had grown.

But now was not the time to complain about its flaws, it was the time to eradicate the thing that had dared attack it! But how-

Slash.

AGAIN! A flick of the antennae quickly struck the area where the wound had appeared, shattering the ground and a part of the wall, but its attacker had already moved. It was in no mortal danger, but this thing was really getting on its nerves-

Slash.

AGAIN! It screeched, its call echoing in the tunnels. The closest cockroaches reacted, abandoning their amphibian opponents to help their leader handle the unknown thing that had suddenly begun attacking it. It waited, one, two-

STRIKE!

It had correctly predicted the thing's next attack and had struck it with its antennae before it even had the time to touch its chitinous armor. Hum, strange. It couldn't sense any blood on its antennae, how curious-

Slash.

RAAARGHHHHH! HOW?! HOW HAD IT EVADED ITS ATTACK?! It had definitely felt like it had hit something soft! How-

FWOOSH.

It jumped and looked under its body. There! It saw it, a small, familiar black mass. The shadow creature from not so long ago!

"SCREE!"

The Titaroach screeched once more. The little annoyance wanted to play? Why, there were legions of insects that would gladly play with it. It could already hear it, the buzzing nearby intensifying as its followers heard its call once more. It couldn't afford to waste its time and energy, the toads' ruler could appear any time now and-

And something was wrong. Why were its kin so slow? There should already be more right now, why-

It saw them. Five little furry things, each one wielding some amount of metal, running around and killing its brethren, broken chitin and white blood flying everywhere. How dare they! HOW DARE THEY! It screeched once more, canceling its previous orders and giving new ones. It would bear with the annoying strikes of the shadowy thing, at least until its army was done tearing apart the vermin that had the gall to attack them.

SHLICK!

"SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

It screeched once more, but this time without rhyme or reason. This was no order, only a painful and maddened cry. The Titaroach focused on the annoying little thing, barely having the time to catch it retrieving its own elongated and solid body from its insides, the stake-like thing turning into a liquid before reforming as a strange silhouette further away.

This. This would not be tolerated. In the back of its mind, it could perceive some of the other cockroaches' doubts, buzzing and emitting pheromones amongst each other, their instincts instructing them to flee and to go cower and hide at the sight of their mighty leader having such troubles with such a small, insignificant foe.

It set its sight onto the strange creature, its upper part reminding it of those weird two-legged entities it had seen from time to time, even eating a couple of them.

It buzzed. If its enemy gave up on stealth and truly fought as these intriguing preys had, this crisis would soon be over. And, if the thumping sounds of the heavy hops of a gigantic toad were to be trusted, it would be just in time for the main course.

James looked at the Titaroach and tried to study its body language. Which, on an insect, is unsurprisingly hard. Still, it didn't take a genius to understand that its screech following his spear attack was one of pain and not dominance or some kind of order, like those until now.

James barely had the time to see the thing's antennae move before he felt something going through him, moving to the side just in time to only lose a part of his shoulder rather than be cut in half. He didn't have the time to congratulate himself on his narrow evasion or ponder about why the pain he felt was closer to that of a light hit than a deep cut before he had to bend backward, the Titaroach's second antenna cutting through the air where his head used to be.

It quickly jumped and tried to skewer James with two of his legs, a mad glint in its eyes, but he quickly changed his body to incorporate holes right where they were going to strike, successfully letting them pass through without any of the pain the cuts had inflicted - right in time for his cut-off shoulder to melt and reunite with the rest of him.

The Titaroach looked down in confusion at its legs and how they had apparently pierced James without hurting him when it noticed the holes in his body, right as James began to quickly close them with an added sharpness to the edges. It jumped back as fast as it could, avoiding the complete loss of its limbs as the holes finally closed, merely cutting off the very tips of the legs.

Either it's really quick for something this big or I'm slower than I thought... Probably both.

James analyzed the situation. This thing was too big and its blood too thick for him to just exhaust it with light quick and stealthy attacks. At the same time, it was too quick to get caught by anything too slow or flashy. He had yet to take the time to develop a proper fighting style, sadly, mostly relying on killing his opponents before they had the time to react.

I really have to fix this... I'll do that as soon as we're rid of this.

The Titaroach took a step forward and-

SLAM!

Bent backward once more, James looked in horror at the wall next to him - or, more accurately, the gigantic hole where there used to be a wall - before looking back at his opponent, its antennae curled around each other to create a thicker whip. Another step forward and-

SLAM!

Another step-

SLAM!

Another-

SLAM!

Ano-

SLAM!

SLAM!

SLAM!

SLAM!

The Titaroach looked at the last spot it had seen James, its antennae unfurling. The tunnel was filled with craters on the ground and holes in the wall, leading straight into another, dirtier tunnel. It stepped forward, quickly turning over the rubble as it passed, checking every nook and cranny. Nothing. Nothing, except for a slow trickle of dust from the ceiling, probably from one of its strikes.

Except it hadn't hit the ceiling

Crack.

Rocks and bricks began to fall and crushed the Titaroach under their weight, the large chitinous body disappearing under the stone with mad screeches and loud rumbling noises. And then, silence.

In the tunnels, the silence spread. The cockroaches began to question each other with pheromones, what should they do? Was the leader dead? Should they keep on fighting?

The toads quickly followed, disrupting the silence with their croaking. The enemy had been killed, should they go home? Or should they keep on feasting? What about that weird monster, the one that had defeated the menace?

The ratlings took the time to breathe. James hadn't had the luxury to keep an eye on them but they seemed fine. Only a few bruises and scratches, nothing that wouldn't heal in a couple of days. He let out a sigh, glad to see everything had worked out.

Then a wall exploded.

Amidst a cloud of dust, on top of a ground littered with broken bricks, stood the leader of the toads. As big as the Titaroach, if not even bigger, with a slick, moist, and slimy red skin covered in growths, bumps, warts, and brown markings with a cow print pattern, the gargantuan amphibian let its lazy golden eyes with their unique shapes, the pupils and irises being longer than tall, scan the tunnels. Its gaze settled on James and the large pile of rubble behind him. Its gaze narrowed before it hopped.

CRASH!

The ground shattered and cracked where the toad landed and, now that it was outside of the cloud of dust, James noticed a very important detail. A very large and important detail. A massive pair of horns, going out of the sides before curving forward, like a bull's, adorned the toad's head.

It looked down at James and croaked before suddenly jumping forward, aiming the tips of its horns at James and easily snatching him up and crushing him against the pile of rubble, still skewered on the massive horns of the toads.

Ow... This... Is going to hurt...

Then the pile of rubble exploded.