While Benny was on his rampage, the queen was enraged by this invader who had blatantly steamrolled through her kingdom. She had even mobilized her own Filthguard to catch this being. To hunt down this demon that terrorized her people night after night.
Unknown to even them, this same entity was the human who had discovered he could cross through the dimensional spaces months ago. The same entity that had invaded their kingdom before and killed their soldiers. But now he had returned, changed. Transformed into something worse.
So Benny being labeled as the Grim Reaper of the Labyrinth wasn't too far off. The name fits.
After he realized that the enemy had moved their more elite units to capture him, Benny changed tactics. Instead of fighting them directly, he decided to strike at the heart. To go where they least expected.
He went around the castle interiors. As puzzling as it was, there were so many burrows and tunnels, just like before when he and Nida had explored this place. Back then, they were searching for the source of the dimensional portal. For Nida, it was to assassinate the head honcho of the ratmen, which was the queen herself.
But having these burrows and roads interconnecting all throughout the castle interiors meant he wouldn't be found instantly. The place was a maze, and he had learned its paths well enough. He memorized the guards' movement patterns and killed those who had seen him for now. He was methodical, just like before, but definitely more sinister in his approach. More willing to do whatever it took.
Then finally, he found something worth noticing. A giant chamber with doors ten times his height. Looking at its elaborate interiors, he understood that this place held significant meaning. The walls were decorated with bones and trophies. The air stank of concentrated rot and something else, something like old incense trying to mask the decay.
The nine royal guards and their captain who were guarding it were dispatched without much effort. It took less than five minutes to kill them all. One by one, silently, efficiently. It meant only one thing. Benny had not only gained significant power since before, but he was also strong enough to challenge these ratmen guards solo. Guards he had struggled with before, even with Nida helping him.
These were Filthguard Knights. Full members of the royal military order, guardians of plague shrines, tasked with defending their queens and kings and relics. Elite warriors who should have been nearly impossible to kill.
And yet Benny had cut through them like wheat.
For the first time since entering the chamber, he saw a massive rat sleeping on a well-designed bed. At least, it was well-designed by ratmen standards. Covered in furs and silks stolen from humans as far as he could tell. The creature was enormous, easily twenty feet long from nose to tail.
He couldn't tell if it was a female or a male rat at first glance. But going by the pressure and mana signatures this one was emitting, he was sure of one thing. This was their leader. The one who ruled them all.
And yes, he was right in his assumption. Kings and queens of the ratmen were the largest of their kind. They were the source of most of the plague and rot that their species tried to aspire to and embody. Walking fonts of disease and corruption.
This was Queen Vermina Skittera, the Plaguemother, ruler of all the Rat Kingdom of the House of Scourge. The supreme authority in this realm.
Attempting to kill this monster on his own was a challenge, at least for his current strength. He could feel the raw power radiating from her sleeping form. If push came to shove, he could definitely try to kill her, although he would also likely die in the process. The queen would not go down easily, and her death throes alone might kill him.
So he resorted to other means. Something that would make her paranoid in her sleep and waking hours. As he watched this monster sleeping so peacefully, as if it had no care in the world, as if it trusted those Filthguards completely. As if nothing could touch her here in her sanctum.
For the longest time, he stood there contemplating. His mind, twisted as it was, conceived a plan. A terrible, yet beautiful plan.
"Hehehe, why don't I just burn this entire place?"
He laughed like a maniac, but in a whispered tone. He didn't want this monster to wake up and ruin his fun. Not yet. Not until the flames were already consuming everything.
So he went around setting the place on fire using his fire magic. Small flames at first, placed strategically. The palace wasn't made of the most sturdy materials he had seen. It was a mixture of differing hardwoods, stones, and other materials he couldn't recognize. Organic things. Fungal growths that had been shaped and hardened.
And since this place was already full of rot and plague, the gas that had accumulated from the decomposition was also immensely concentrated. Pockets of methane and other flammable vapors hung in the air like invisible bombs waiting for a spark.
Using that to his advantage, he lit the place on fire while he walked toward the exit very slowly, enjoying the process. Watching the flames spread. Hearing them crackle and hiss.
Within a minute, explosions rocked the entire castle. This was due to concentrated gases being ignited. While other places burned slowly, feeding on the old wood, the explosive pockets went off like artillery. The sound was deafening, echoing through every tunnel and chamber.
The explosions could be heard throughout the entirety of the kingdom. Every ratman in every burrow heard the thunder and felt the tremors. They knew something terrible had happened.
And Benny was no longer there. He had slipped away through the chaos. He was watching with glee from a safe distance, hidden in the shadows of a collapsed tunnel entrance. He enjoyed every scream and every moment of burning pain. The searing burns of flesh and the mixture of disgusting and foul things that embodied these ratmen as they cooked alive.
He watched the panic of the ratmen who tried to extinguish the fire from their homes and from their friends and families. Only for them to die due to another pocket of concentrated gas being ignited. Chain reactions. One explosion triggering another. The flames spread faster than they could contain.
In short, Benny did more damage than the entire siege the Four-on-Four Abominations did in their attack. And he did it in a single night. This made Benny chuckle in amusement. This was fun for him. This was entertainment.
He wondered as he slowly slipped past the chaos and went back to the portal, what did that massive monster think when she woke up from all of the explosions? When she realized her palace was burning around her?
Fear? Anger? Or was it the feeling of death creeping closer? The knowledge that she was vulnerable after all?
Anyways, he went back through the dimensional portal to get some well-earned rest. Tonight he would sleep soundly, knowing what he did would most definitely deal a significant blow to these monsters. Maybe they would think twice before sending soldiers into the labyrinth. Maybe they would fear the darkness now, just as he once did.
As Benny disappeared back into the labyrinth proper, the rat kingdom burned. The flames consumed the palace, the royal guard barracks, and spread to the surrounding warrens. The queen herself barely escaped, her fur singed, her pride wounded more than her flesh.
For the first time in her long reign, Queen Vermina Skittera felt something she hadn't felt in decades.
Fear.
Fear of a single human. Fear of the Grim Reaper who walked their tunnels and killed with impunity. Fear that he would return and finish what he started.
The rat kingdom would never be the same. The invincibility they had felt was shattered. And somewhere in the dark halls of the labyrinth, a broken human smiled in his sleep.
The monster had become the monster hunter. And he was very, very good at his job.