Limits

I walked through the tunnel for a bit longer, until I arrived at a larger opening. In front of me, another two tunnel entrances appeared. 'Let's test the smell of each tunnel' I thought and entered the tunnel on the left. I took a deep breath, and searched for anything that would give me clues as to where it might lead.

I could smell the usual dampness but there was something else. 'This is where the sour and suffocating smell is stronger. It's not to the point where I couldn't continue but I better check out the other tunnel as well' I thought and exited the tunnel.

I then entered the tunnel on the right. I again, took a deep breath and analysed the smells. 'Hmmm… The sour smell is not as present here but the smell of Corpse Dogs, is much more clear at the same time' I thought. I stood in front of a choice. I could follow the road towards the Corpse Dogs, which would probably result in fights later on, or I could follow that sour smell and try to find out, what it was that caused it.

I gave it some more thoughts and decided to follow the tunnel on the left. 'I can always return here as long as I'm undetected. I might not be able to explore that part of the Den, if I follow the tunnel on the right. Fighting with Corpse Dogs would alert the whole Den. Infiltrating this place later will be much harder' I thought and went inside the tunnel on the left.

I walked inside that tunnel for a while and the sour smell got stronger, the further I went. 'Just what exactly is causing that smell?' I thought and restricted my sense of smell. I was already in a tunnel and could only go forwards. There was no point in me smelling that sour stuff. A while later, I saw something glowing in the distance, the sour smell was very strong in that place. Even though, I restricted my sense of smell to the lowest I could, I could still feel that obnoxious smell.

I took out some cloths from my bag and wrapped them around my nose and neck. 'This will at least block some of it' I thought and continued moving forward. Soon, I found out, what that glowing thing was. Those were some sort of yellow rocks, that glowed slightly. I decided to investigate. I approached one of the rocks and stabbed an arrow into it. The rock crumbled into dust the moment my arrow touched it.

'This is weird, I didn't use a lot of strength…' I thought but soon, a strong smell of obnoxious sourness invaded my nostrils. "Pfuuu.. That damned thing smells very badly" I said to myself. I didn't know what it was, it could be poison but I didn't feel any effects whatsoever. I decided to scoop the dust up and take it. I returned to the crossroads, where two tunnels stood in front of me.

'This thing smells badly, I wonder what it's for?' I thought and took out the vial with the powdered something. The books that Nick gave to me, never described stuff like this, so I was completely lost. 'Let's do some experiments. I will try to mix it with water, that tunnel was pretty much moisture free, so maybe water will do something to it' I thought and took out a water container from my bag.

I placed some of that yellow dust on the ground and added water on top. That thing started to bubble immediately and what happened next, stunned me to extreme. 'This thing burned through the earth. Just how corrosive is this thing?' I thought. I placed some more of that yellow powder on a rock this time and didn't add water. After a while, nothing happened.

'So, I have to add water for it to work, otherwise it will just sit there' I thought. I added water and the same thing happened again. The mixture burned into the rock, leaving what looked like scorched, pit like holes. 'This could be a good poison, the only downside is that, it needs to… Wait! What if… This could work!' I thought.

I came up with an idea of making special containers for my arrows. Each container would house the yellow stuff as well as water. Upon contact with the target, it would break and create poison damage. 'Creating a container that shatters and houses those two things separately, will not be easy but this thing is great!'. I was excited about the prospects this substance could bring me.

'What about fire then? Water gives me poison, earth and air is neutral, they do nothing to this yellow powder. What about fire then?' I thought. I sprinkled some of the yellow stuff on the ground and lit one torch. It was risky, but as far as I could see and feel, there were no Corpse Dogs around. I touched the yellow dust with my torch and "PUFF!", the yellow dust caught fire immediately and burned so well, that it left a scorch mark on the ground.

"This thing is amazing!" I exclaimed. 'I have to get loads of that stuff. Not only can it act as a corrosive poison, when mixed with water, it can potentially explode, when in contact with fire!' I thought and returned to the tunnel, that contained those yellow rocks.

I filled up all the empty containers with the yellow dust. I collected about 10 kilograms of that stuff and although I didn't clear out the cave, I came up with another idea. 'If those damned Corpse Dogs are too much, I can just blow them up! With the amount of yellow stuff that is around here, I could destroy the whole Den in one go!' I thought.

Ultimately, I left that idea as a last resort. I wanted to check out the Den myself and find out what is the real strength of the Corpse Dogs inside. I left the tunnel with those yellow rocks and followed the tunnel on the right. The sour smell was no longer as obvious as it was before, it was getting thinner. The smell of Corpse Dogs, was getting stronger on the other hand.

After a while of walking, I could hear some noises. I inhaled deeply, in search of the smells. The smell of Corpse Dogs was really strong here and the noises were coming towards me as well. I took out my daggers and prepared. 'Those dogs must've figured out that I'm here. I already knew that confrontation would be likely. Let's see what you got then' I thought and waited.

Not even a minute later, I could finally see the Corpse Dogs arriving. There were loads of them. I couldn't even count how many due to darkness but judging by the sounds alone, at least 200 of them were running towards me. I didn't back away 'The tunnel is too narrow for many of them to fight me at once. I have the advantage of space, but the darkness is my disadvantage' I thought and started moving.

I met the Corpse Dogs halfway and started stabbing. I also released my aura, just to keep them in check. "Swoosh!" "Swoosh!" "Swoosh!" "Swoosh!" "Swoosh!". I utilised the Pressuring Dagger skill to the fullest. Each attack killed one Corpse Dog. The dogs were dying left and right, while I started moving backwards. The amount of dead dogs would make things difficult for me as well. Besides, there wasn't much space and the Corpse Dogs were mindlessly rushing forwards, without a care for their own.

I killed and back away. The amount didn't seem to dissipate, even though I killed at least 30 of them. I was forced back to the previous forkroad, and entered the marked tunnel for the exit. The Corpse Dogs were following relentlessly and there were some bad news as well. I could hear some noises from behind me. 'This is bad, they are not as stupid as I thought, or at least the leader isn't. They surrounded me now, I have to get away from this group quickly!' I though and sped towards the exit, even though I couldn't see much.