Elemental Cats

Toz had slowed down slightly after the Rat King crashed into the ground in order to keep it right on his tail and make sure it steps into all the traps he leads it through. Since the Rat King might try and take shortcuts if the distance between them is too great and thus avoid one or more traps, Toz wanted the Rat King to not even have to think about finding a way to close the distance quicker.

Thankfully the Rat King was so caught up in chasing Toz that it didn't even think of trying to avoid the traps, especially when it couldn't even sense them until after they had been triggered. The Rat King couldn't understand how there were absolutely no mana fluctuations from the traps until after it had already been caught by them. Despite the attractions and devices clearly containing mana, there were no signs of them while they were still hidden underground.

Any attempts that the Rat King made, trying to burn the ground and absorb the mana and nourishment contained in it, left the traps untouched.

Of course, the traps weren't completely untouched, but until they were set off by the specific trigger, the traps were hidden by a coat of darkness, separating the devices from the outside world. The Rat King's mana did start burning the coat, but not fast enough for it to be gone by the time the Rat King passed by the trap.

If the Rat King hadn't been busy crazily chasing after a fleeing human and instead taken the time to carefully sense and perceive the flow of mana underground, it would have noticed a lot of telling anomalies about where the traps were hidden. But, while the Scorched Earth Rat King could be described with a lot of words, calm and cautious weren't ones that could be used sincerely, especially not when talking about an enraged Scorched Earth Rat King.

And so the Rat King was stuck chasing after Toz, springing one trap after another. A few that would have been lethal for many other creatures, but that the Rat King, with the vitality from having drained an area of the plane large enough to be called a wasteland of its life, easily healed from. Although the Rat King was getting weaker and, while not exactly running low on energy and stockpiled resources, it would take more than Toz and Hugh to get back to its previous levels.

The Rat King getting weaker didn't escape Toz's perceptive eyes as he continued leading it around like a tourist guide with a group of tourists.

The lethal traps weren't the only ones that Toz brought the Rat King to after he realized it was getting tired. Since it would need to expend energy to get free, it was just as useful as any other traps, especially since he could tire the Rat King with harmless traps, and then when it's running out of energy and can't heal itself as well as it has previously, Toz can bring it right into the worst traps he and Nil have set up.

When the tired Rat King tore another net made of metal wires, it cast a glance at Toz, that was obviously waiting for it to catch up and continue the chase. Toz was also panting and looked exhausted, as if he was about to collapse at any moment, letting the Rat King have his drained self and the still unconscious Hugh on his shoulders. But the fatigue had started clearing away the anger clouding the Rat King's mind, and it realized that Toz had been on the verge of collapse for a few laps now. It didn't take a genius that Toz obviously wasn't going to fall down any second but was instead goading the Rat King into continuing its chase.

Toz noticed the change in the Rat King's eyes and decided to change tactics.

"Huh. You lazy rat bastard, I thought you were scary. But you're just a bum, aren't you?

"Can you even do anything by yourself, you useless moronic piece of rat waste? Considering how you live at the bottom of those tunnels, that's how you're made right. All the shit is gathered at the bottom, and after a while, you pop out? Is that it? Wow, no wonder you smell like you do."

Although the Rat King wasn't yet strong or skilled enough to converse in a human language, it could understand the insults that Toz levied at it. And despite knowing Toz was only provoking it to lure it through more traps, it couldn't help itself and its desire to maul the infuriating human.

The Rat King let out a roar before resuming the chase. Although it also tried to fling a few stones at Toz, he nimbly avoided them every time, so instead of wasting even more mana, the Rat King wanted to figure out a way to either stop Toz in his tracks or catch up to him.

Unfortunately for the Rat King, its grand plans were put on hold as Toz lured it to yet another trap.

Aside from the first pitfall with a trapdoor over it, other traps of a similar type got filled in by the Rat King before it fell into them.

However, the pitfall that the Rat King encountered this time didn't allow it since even the walls of the pitfall were covered by loads of mana controlled by Toz and Nil, blocking any attempts the Rat King made to block the hole that opened up under its feet.

Unlike the other pitfalls that had been roughly dug out holes only meant to delay the Rat King, the one currently in charge of swallowing the Rat King was filled with barbed spikes protruding from the ground. The Rat King, with its weight, easily got its body ran through by the spikes as it slid all the way down to the bottom of the hole.

However, Toz and Nil weren't merciful enough to let it end there, as the moment the Rat King's feet touched the ground, the four walls surrounding the Rat King sent out their own barbed spikes that entered the Rat King's body with enough force to stop it from sliding further down.

The Rat King was filled with metal spikes piercing it from every single direction. A few even nicked the Rat King's eyes. Blood started filling up the bottom of the pit as the Rat King twitched in pain. Unfortunately, every single spike piercing its body was covered in barbs, so every time the Rat King moved the wounds would be torn open even further, and the spikes would dig deeper inside.

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