Rat Rat's Dead End

Rat Rat's End

"Boom—!"

The earth-shaking tremor not only echoed through the entire mine tunnel, but also carried the clamorous dust clouds out of the mine.

Outside the entrance to North Wind Mine, beside a dilapidated inn at the foot of the rugged mountain path, a covered freight wagon stood parked by the roadside.

Several men who looked like adventurers gazed up the mountain path, their eyes filled with uncertainty as they watched the rolling clouds of dust.

"Was that... an earthquake?"

"Doesn't seem like it... I've never heard of earthquakes near Thunder City. Besides, earthquakes are supposed to affect a huge area. The tremor clearly wasn't that strong."

The experienced adventurer turned his gaze toward the distant forest. The birds nesting there had not taken flight in alarm.

Clearly.

Only this mountain had been affected.

"Could someone be mining in there?"

A long-haired young man with a Short Bow on his back curled his lips. The middle-aged man beside him, carrying a shortsword, shook his head.

"How could that be... That place became monster territory ages ago."

As the leader of the group, Jack said nothing. He merely frowned as he weighed whether it was worth wading into this mess for an old partner he had worked with for years.

Sitting on the wagon, the elderly driver looked at the furrow-browed Jack and spoke nervously.

"Sir... I brought them here last time. Do you think I can leave now?"

He was only a wagon driver.

If the Black Snake Gang had not come looking for him, he would never have wanted to mention that he had met with the Silver Scimitar people last night.

Seeing that it was already getting late, Jack finally made his decision and tossed a coin into the carriage.

"Wait here until the sun sets... Remember, after it has completely set."

A bitter expression appeared on the driver's face.

Though he had no desire to join in this trouble, he still had a family to support. He did not dare offend these vicious thugs who lived by the blade, so he could only nod meekly.

Jack waved his hand, signaling the others to prepare to head up the mountain, when he noticed the oldest adventurer in the group staring intently at the inn beside them, his brow tightly furrowed.

"What is it, Wei Lu? Did you find something?"

Hearing his leader's voice, the adventurer nodded and said thoughtfully.

"Someone has been to this inn recently."

Deep within the mine, the brutal battle had already ended, replaced by a one-sided slaughter.

Along the broken mine passage, the surging Rat swarm poured headlong into the web-covered maze. From afar, it looked like a black waterfall plunging into an abyss.

Faced with food falling from the sky, the Cave Spiders crouched at the entrance to the maze's first level pounced upon them in delight, charging through the Rat swarm and feasting to their hearts' content.

The ratmen who had fallen into the maze had no ability to fight back against the Cave Spiders' hunt. They could only be slaughtered unilaterally.

As time passed, more than half of the ratmen charging toward the Demon Lord Territory were quickly killed or wounded.

The remaining ratmen could no longer maintain their dense offensive. Seeing no hope of victory, they scattered and fled in all directions.

The Rat Tide was not unstoppable.

Once the overwhelming majority of ratmen were no longer swept forward with the tide, that suicidal charge that destroyed both enemy and self naturally vanished as well.

The Cave Spiders in the lower-level mine maze had already eaten their fill, seven or eight-tenths full.

Faced with the ratmen scurrying everywhere, they no longer continued biting them. Instead, they captured them in spider silk, then hung them from the webs like wrapped rice dumplings, turning them into "Rat Rat rations."

Hoarding prey they could not finish eating for the time being was one of the Cave Spiders' habits.

Milky White webs shot wildly through the pitch-black hall like machine-gun fire.

The scene was simply spectacular.

Some players watched their SAN values plummet, unable to stop themselves from covering their mouths and retching dryly, though nothing came out.

Other players did not notice at all. They simply cheered excitedly and high-fived over this hard-won victory... even though most of them had only served as meat shields and stepping stones, and had not killed many Rat Rats themselves.

Looking down at the giant spiders firing web after web, Gou Shi suddenly wore an envious expression.

"I suddenly realized... becoming a Cave Spider doesn't seem so bad."

Peerless Hero looked at him in surprise. "Are you sure? I feel like if I turned into one of those things, I'd scare myself to death just by looking in a mirror."

Gou Shi: "Hehe, that's not important."

Peerless Hero: "...?"

Elsewhere, Knowledge Explosion, who had resurrected for who knew how many times, crawled to his feet near the Demon Lord Territory's core and shook the dirt from his body.

"Brothers! I'm alive again! Hahaha!"

Not far away, One Gulp of Septic Tank also climbed up from a pile of ratmen, shaking his groggy head.

"Me too—"

Before he could finish, one of the explosives on his body suddenly detonated. In an instant, he was reduced to ashes in a burst of fire and scattered on the wind.

"..."

It was simply too embarrassing, so the surrounding players decided to pretend they hadn't seen it.

Leon, who had claimed MVP, let out a long breath and sat down on a stone bench beside him, one hand on his waist.

He had barely broken through the Steel-level bottleneck before being hit with a wave of high-intensity spellcasting. It had exhausted him badly.

But—

They had held the line at last.

The Slave Rats that had escaped the maze ultimately returned to it.

As for the new trouble brought by the Cave Spiders, they could deal with that later.

At least for now, they could rest.

Leon opened his status panel to check and discovered that he had actually leveled up.

ID: Leon

Race: Human

Soul Level: Steel-level (Level Cap LV50)

Level: LV.32 Experience Points: (1780/320,000)

HP: (1300/1300)

MP: (110/3800)

Constitution: 13 Strength: 13 Agility: 13 Intelligence: 36 (+1)

Spirit: 38 (+2)

Faith Points: 79 Daily Gain: 101–120 Daily Consumption: 100

"...After reaching Steel-level, the attribute growth per level actually became 3."

Also, he hadn't expected killing monsters to grant Experience Points.

Before this, Leon had always thought that the only way for a necromancer to grow stronger was through meditation.

The players didn't seem to find it strange, but to him, this discovery was an unexpected delight.

After catching his breath for a moment, Leon felt his spirit recover somewhat. He then had You You distribute the Hell Money and Contribution Points to the players.

Watching the cheering Skeleton Soldiers, he found himself infected by the players' high spirits, and a smile curled across his lips.

These guys were pretty easy to please.

Even now, he still hadn't told them how much Hell Money a bottle of undead potion would cost, or how much a greatsword would be.

Forget it.

He would let them be happy for a while longer.

At that moment, Leon suddenly noticed a rather piercing gaze from nearby and looked in its direction.

Behind the Stone Prison, Chris and several other captives were crouching there, staring this way with their eyes wide in shock.

Clearly, they hadn't expected the Rat Tide that struck terror into adventurers to be dealt with so easily by him.

She suddenly felt a little admiration for this guy.

His gaze falling on the captives, Leon suddenly remembered that he still had several "blood packs" that could replenish his mana. Without another word, he raised his right hand and drained them to his heart's content.

Am: "Aah~~~"

Chris: "Guh—!"

Greyhound: "Aaaah!"

Lexon: "..."

Feeling the surging energy filling his body, Leon, who had been somewhat tired just moments ago, was invigorated once more.

That felt good! He suddenly understood why Ms. Lilith had always wanted to keep a pointy-eared one as a pet.

Just as Leon was wondering what to do next, You You's voice suddenly sounded beside his ear.

"Lord Demon Lord, your players seem to have discovered something incredible in the mine!"

"Something incredible?"

"That's right! It's a huge, huge fat rat. It almost fills half the mine! I really have no idea how it got in there!"

You You's voice was filled with curiosity.

Unfortunately, that place was already far beyond the boundaries of the Demon Lord Territory. Otherwise, it would have run over to take a closer look.

The moment Leon heard You You's description, he immediately guessed the rat's identity.

Without a doubt!

That guy was the culprit behind the Rat Tide!

"Can you pinpoint the locations of those two players?"

You You: "Mm-hmm! I don't know their exact location, but I can figure out the general direction!"

Leon immediately rose to his feet.

"Take me there."

You You: "Roger!"

Taking out the Magic Wand and gripping it in his hand, Leon followed You You's guidance along the mine wall, skirting around the collapsed pit. He then controlled Bond, who carried a greatsword, to leap across as well.

A few young players happened to notice his movements and curiously followed along, wanting to see what was going on.

Leon did not stop them, simply allowing them to trail behind as he made his way deeper into the mine.

Before long, he spotted the lone Boar-Headed Knight and Minotaur Warrior.

Two Skeleton Soldiers were crouched sneakily behind a protruding rock, peering into the open cavern not far ahead.

Noticing the sounds behind them, the two Skeleton Soldiers quickly turned around, only to find the boss of the Great Cemetery standing behind them.

"Lord Demon Lord?!"

"Why are you—"

"Shh."

Leon made a silencing gesture, signaling for them not to make any noise, then looked toward the depths of the cavern.

A fat giant rat lay sprawled in the center of the dark cave, wheezing through its mouth.

The sound was filled with fear, yet carried a trace of reverence and the madness of someone terminally ill.

"What a fat rat... What level is that thing supposed to be?" Gou Shi, who had followed Leon over, could not help muttering under his breath.

One Leaf Knows Autumn stared intently at the rat and shook his head.

"Can't tell... but my instincts say this thing is strong. It might even be as strong as the Demon Lord!"

Gou Shi: "No shit! Did you really need to say that?"

Can't Afford to Play: "Exactly!"

One Leaf Knows Autumn: "..."

Leon shot the group of nosy players a sidelong glance without changing his expression.

He did not like hearing that.

What did they mean, as strong as him?

Was that even a fair comparison? Rather than argue with them, Leon lightly waved the Magic Wand and controlled Bond to step forward.

The greatsword dragging across the ground let out a scraping sound, quickly alerting the fat rat in the cavern.

"Who's there?!"

Gachi shrieked as his massive body sprang up from the ground. The fat hanging around his heels rippled like waves.

Finally seeing the man standing at the cave entrance clearly, Gachi narrowed his eyes into slits and let out a hoarse growl.

"It's you... You're that Demon Lord? The new Demon Lord?"

"It's me."

Under Leon's control, Bond's voice creaked like a rotten coffin opening and closing. He raised the greatsword in his hand and pointed it directly at the fat rat's nose.

"Submit—"

"Or die."