Not the one
Roars erupted from the depths of the alley, wave after wave.
The Rat King is summoning the largest rats in the vicinity.
Lu Heng closed his eyes, his consciousness sinking into his body. The Geothermal Talisman was attached to his meridians, providing ample heat. He drew out a wisp of scorching energy and pushed it along the meridians of his arm to the hilt of his Hunting Blade.
The heat spread along the Bronze's texture. The Bronze's soft texture and loose crystal structure made it a conductor. The heat from the Geothermal Talisman was continuously drawn out, passed through the arm, and flowed into the blade.
The Geothermal Talisman is the source, the body is the transit point, and the Hunting Blade is the exit.
The blade began to glow red, first a dark red, then growing brighter and brighter, the air around the edge slightly distorted by the heat.
That's enough.
He switched the Hunting Blade to his right hand and gripped it in a reverse position. He left the Giant Spirit Crossbow and revolver in his Wristband Space —the crossbow would be unusable once the rat swarm got close, and the bullets were for his maneuver.
The first large rat darted out from around the corner. It had grayish-black fur, red eyes, and was nearly three times the size of an ordinary rat.
"Perfect, I'll take care of your filthy bodies."
The giant rat pounced like a catapult. Lu Heng took a half-step to the side, and his Hunting Blade slashed upwards, cutting across its abdomen. The hot blade cut into the flesh with almost no resistance, and the giant rat was cut in two in mid-air, filling the air with the smell of burning meat.
The roars grew more frequent. More red lights emerged from both ends of the alley—at least thirty—scrambling out from cracks in the walls, sewers, and behind debris, their claws scraping against the stone slabs with a dense rustling sound.
The Bone Demon silently stepped out from behind and walked straight towards the Rat King. The Rat King was nearly the size of an adult Tibetan Mastiff, with its fur matted and tangled. It sat in the middle of the alley, with the entrance to its lair behind it.
The Bone Demon collided with the Rat King, shaking the entire alleyway. The Rat King's fangs bit into the Bone Demon's left arm, the sound of bones colliding dull and dry. Cracks appeared in the Bone Demon's ribs, but it didn't budge, its right hand directly gripping the Rat King's nape.
Lu Heng didn't look at it much. He turned to face the swarm of rats.
The second one pounced from the right. The Hunting Blade sliced horizontally, a short arc sweeping across the neck, the intense heat instantly burning through the trachea and spine.
He leaned against the broken wall, dealing with them one by one—stepping aside, the Hunting Blade slashed at their front legs; a large rat rolled and crashed into another; he stepped on its back, and the Hunting Blade pierced through its skull.
He drew his sword and turned around. The fourth one had already bitten his left arm.
The fangs bit into the left forearm, leaving white marks on the surface of the Bronze Tier Combat Suit. The fibers were taut but not torn. Lu Heng mobilized temperature energy, and a thin heat barrier emanated from the inside of the Combat Suit. The rat's teeth softened from the heat, and it hissed as it released its grip. The Ghost Claw Armguard popped out steel claws, gripping the neck and locking the trachea. The Hunting Blade followed up and severed the spine.
The rat swarm began to panic. Every cut resulted in a charred corpse, and the rats' instinctive fear made them hesitate.
Then he sensed something was wrong.
The Geothermal Talisman runes dimmed for a moment. This battle had been continuously drawing heat from the talismans without detonating them, but the continuous extraction was like slowly turning on a tap; over time, the heat consumption was no less than that of a single burst.
A rough estimate suggests that roughly one burst's worth of energy has been used. Two more bursts are left.
The dark red sheen of the blade dimmed. When cutting the first piece, the blade sliced through the flesh with almost no resistance, but now I could clearly feel the blade lingering a moment longer inside the flesh—it wasn't hot enough.
Lu Heng gritted his teeth and poured more Mental Energy into the conduction pathways to forcibly maintain heat output. Sweat beaded on his forehead, and his temples throbbed with pain.
The swarm of mice began to coordinate—two attracted the attention from the front, while the third attacked from the side. One pounced from a blind spot, its claws aimed straight for the back of the neck.
Lu Heng suddenly ducked, his claws sweeping across the back of the rat's head. He lunged forward, his Hunting Blade slashing upwards, severing the rat's jaw.
As I rolled to my feet, a loud crash came from behind me.
The Bone Demon was flung away by the Rat King, crashing into the wall and scattering bone fragments everywhere. The Rat King broke free of its grip, its crimson eyes fixed on Lu Heng, and charged towards him.
The Rat King was much faster than expected, its massive body moving with incredible agility through the narrow alleyways. The dark red light on the Hunting Blade had dimmed considerably, and the edge no longer distorted the air.
not enough.
Lu Heng poured all his Mental Energy into the conduction link, forcibly extracting more heat from the Geothermal Talisman. The talisman's patterns dimmed slightly, and the red light on the blade shone again.
The Rat King was right in front of him. Lu Heng dodged to the side, letting the fangs graz his ribs, leaving deep white marks on the surface of his Combat Suit, but without penetrating it. He then slashed the Rat King's abdomen upwards with his Hunting Blade.
The Rat King did not fall. A hole was burned through its abdomen, but it hissed and its tail lashed out like a bone whip at Lu Heng's side.
There was no time to dodge. His tailbone struck his right rib, sending him flying and his back slamming against the broken wall. A sharp pain shot through his ribs—they weren't broken, but they were cracked.
The Rat King turned and pounced.
Lu Heng gritted his teeth and persevered. His Mental Energy was almost depleted, and the Geothermal Talisman only had enough for two more bursts. He dared not draw any more energy from it. But the Rat King was already in front of him, and there was no way out.
He held the Hunting Blade horizontally in front of him, its blade gleaming as if it might go out at any moment.
The Rat King's fangs gripped the Hunting Blade. The immense bite force transmitted through the blade, making the tiger's mouth numb. The fangs scraped against the blade with a harsh, grinding sound, but they did not penetrate it.
Lu Heng stared into the Rat King's eyes—crimson red, filled not with fear, but with rage and hunger.
He pressed down on the hilt with his left hand, channeling the last bit of his Mental Energy into the energy channel.
The blade's temperature suddenly spiked. The dark red light intensified, the edge twisted the air again, and the Rat King's fangs hissed and smoked from the heat. It hissed, released its grip, and staggered backward.
Lu Heng took a step forward, his Hunting Blade slicing upwards, slicing across the Rat King's throat. The scorching blade burned through the trachea and carotid artery, silencing the roar. The Rat King froze on the spot, its crimson eyes wide open, before slowly collapsing.
The alleyway fell silent.
Lu Heng knelt on one knee, panting heavily. Several white marks and shallow scratches appeared on his Combat Suit, with the bite mark from rat teeth on his left forearm being particularly noticeable, but the protective layer was intact. His right rib was in constant dull pain, especially noticeable when he breathed. His Mental Energy was almost completely exhausted, and the light from his Hunting Blade had completely gone out, leaving only residual warmth.
He propped himself up on his knees and pulled the Hunting Blade from the Rat King's throat.
His consciousness sank into his body. The Geothermal Talisman runes dimmed by nearly a third. Roughly estimated, this battle had used up almost the amount of one burst of power. Two more bursts remained.
The Geothermal Talisman will accumulate heat on its own, but slowly. Now is not the time to worry about wasting energy.
He leaned against the broken wall, closed his eyes, and allowed his Mental Energy to slowly recover.
Then he heard a sound coming from deep within the lair.
It wasn't a roar, nor the scratching sound of claws scraping the ground.
It was the sound of crying.
It was very light and thin, like a baby whimpering in the dark.
Lu Heng's hand unconsciously tightened its grip on the Hunting Blade.
Lu Heng unconsciously tightened his grip on the Hunting Blade, readjusted his posture, and prepared to go inside and investigate.
Before going in, however, he glanced at the corpses scattered on the ground. Rat meat? He had no shortage of meat. After thinking for a moment, he put the Rat King's corpse and half of the giant rat's corpse into his Wristband Space, intending to feed them to the Bloodthirsty Vine —let the Rat King's corpse decompose and be absorbed by itself. The rest would be given to the Bone Demon to eat to replenish its energy.
After tidying up, he turned on his Wristband.
No new information.
The latest information is still the previous one; there have been no updates.
That means this Rat King isn't the boss of this area.
Damn, this is tough.
Lu Heng was a little disappointed. He waved his hand dejectedly, scratched the wall with his knife, and turned to walk in the direction from which the noise had come.