Isekai Elf King: Architect of a New Empire

 "Well, do you have this, Hugh?" Leo asked.

 Hugh also shook. "I'm… I'm not sure, Leo. The last time we encountered demons, it didn't go that well."

 He fought the goblins just fine and stood against the wolves, even if he didn't want to. What's going on?

 Leo reached out and ran his hand across Hugh's scaled back. "You're the guardian, buddy. You've got thick scales and sharp teeth. You've got this."

 "I don't think I do 'have' this, whatever that means," Hugh said. "I'm pretty sure that I don't have this, in fact."

 My dragon is broken, Leo thought to himself. I wonder if the warranty is expired or if I can turn it in for another one?

 Leo heaved a sigh. "Fine, I'll go first. Hugh, please follow, and for the love of all that is holy, charge in and save me when something inevitably tries to eat my face, okay?"

 "Yeah, I'll do that, Leo. Thanks."

 "Sure, no problem. Again, please remember—charge in and save me."

 "Yes. I will. Promise." Hugh's face firmed, the muscles around his eyes tightening slightly.

Leo was pretty sure Hugh would fight, so long as Leo started the combat. "Okay, then."

 Leo pulled Lily's knife out, held it in his right hand, and started down the stairs slowly, his every nerve feeling like it was on fire.

 The cold intensified as he descended. Leo stepped out into a stone room with frost on the walls and floor, most of it concentrated at the far end, where a stone hall led from the room. Behind him, another passageway led away. The room itself had numerous barrels around it, most broken open, many outright smashed on the floor. The room felt like the cold storage from a horror movie where the axe murderer hanged his victims to eat them later.

 He heard a scratching of claw on stone or ice, but as he looked around the dimly lit, freezing room, he couldn't see any animals.

 Leo stepped to the side, teeth chattering, as Hugh came down behind him. Lily followed, her own shivering violent.

 "W-we need t-to get p-past this p-part fast," Lily said, almost every word punctuated by her teeth clicking together. "I d-don't h-handle c-c-cold well."

 "Something's down here w-with us," Leo responded.

 Lily sounded like she was suffering from the cold more than Leo. He wondered if it was because he had raised his Toughness score when he leveled.

 Leo turned slowly in an arc, dagger held out, trying to make sure that nothing could jump him.

 He heard skittering again, near the exit hall at the far end, and turned in that direction. Then he whirled to the side as skittering came from closer, to his left beside the near wall.

 There was a blur as multiple creatures rushed from behind or within the broken barrels, small, brown-furred, and red-eyed.

 Just before they hit, Hugh let out a roar, shockingly loud within the confines of the dark and frozen cellar, and the creatures all stopped or dodged to the side. One of the ones charging lost purchase on the frost-covered floor and skidded, scrabbling, to Leo's foot.

 He stabbed down with all his might. His dagger entered into the side of the chihuahua-sized creature, and blood spurted, a disgusting red glove over his hand and arm. The creature looked like a hairless rat that had died of some terrible disease while freezing to death in the snow, then gotten up as a zombie to seek vengeance on all life.

 A second rat leapt at Leo and sank his teeth into his leg, biting him through his almost non-existent pants.

 Leo gave a grunt of pain and dismissed the notification boxes before he stabbed the creature in the neck, nearly severing its small head.

 A third rat leapt and bit the back of his thigh, and Leo screamed this time as his own blood splattered across the frost-covered floor. He whirled to get the rat, but it stayed on him, biting at his leg.

 Leo dropped to the ground, sitting on the rat and praying the last three were being handled by his team. The rat managed to let go and squirm away before he hit, rushing Leo again. Leo desperately turned where he was sitting and managed to catch the rat, throwing the gross zombie rodent against the wall as hard as he could.

 Despite his weak elven arms, the rat hit with the disgusting squelch of dropped meat and fell to the ground, blackish-red blood oozing from its mouth as it dazedly tried to get to its feet.

 Leo lunged over and grabbed the rat, smashing it against the floor with a shudder. The rat went still, and Leo dismissed the experience notification as well.

 Blood was still pouring from the bite on his thigh. Did that rat get the femoral artery or something?

 Leo looked back at his notifications and saw that the damned rats had a freezing-based slow effect he had resisted, and, like the wolves, had imparted 'Thel's Rot,' which he hadn't resisted. His bleed effects were accelerated again.

 A hand fell on Leo's shoulder and he screamed, briefly thinking it was another rat. The healing warmth that spread through him calmed him, however, and the leg wound closed—and the Thel's Rot debuff disappeared.

 "Thank god," Leo said, carefully climbing to his feet on the frost-and blood-covered floor.

 "Which one?" Hugh asked, trying to use the wall to wipe smushed rat off his claws.

 "I s-spent f-f-four e-essence, L-Leo," Lily said, then, by sheer willpower, she briefly stopped chattering. "I am going to start taking cold damage soon if we can't find clothes, and I've only got twelve essence right now. We need to move fast."

 Leo nodded as Lily went back to chattering, briefly examining the two passages.

 "Hugh, poke your head into the passage near the stairs. Lily, follow me into the next room. Call if you see anything interesting, Hugh, and if you don't, follow me please as soon as you're done."

 Hugh rushed into the room behind as Leo moved forward into the stone passageway, and ten seconds later, Leo heard another rat squeal behind him.

 The hall Leo entered was even colder than the room he had just exited. It had two small doors, one on each side, and each with a hole gnawed in the bottom. At the far end, there was a larger, open doorway. There were no torches or lanterns down here, and the light went from dim to dark as Leo moved from the first room into the hall.

 We are the least-prepared adventurers ever, Leo thought to himself with a grimace. I've no shirt, for crying out loud! In fact, Lily and I are both woefully underdressed, under-armored, and underequipped, and we didn't even bring a light source!

 I'll check the two side rooms, and if we don't find anything, we need to retreat and find another option. Rooting around in the dark while freezing is a surefire way to die fast.

 Leo opened the door to his side and entered. In the tiny rays of light that made it from the outside, he could barely make out a desk.

 Leo cupped his ear with his free hand. No skittering. He entered the room slowly, dagger in front, and looked around. The rank blood-and-incense smell was just as strong here, and his fingers and ears were starting to go numb from the cold. He had to be fast.

 There were multiple scroll shelves, with a lattice of space to put scrolls on each shelf, but he ignored those. He found a shattered lantern behind the desk, and a quick search of the desk revealed a lot of rotted paper, a small letter opener, ink and a feather-pen, and a sack of coins larger than his hand. The sack of coins was all silver, and Leo passed it to Lily, who was again violently shivering.

 Leo moved as fast as his numbing legs would allow him and opened the door across from him with a yank.

 His heart rose as he gazed inside.