Chapter 9: Two-Legged Rat Dungeon

Chapter 9: Two-Legged Rat Dungeon Elliot moved swiftly. As soon as he saw that the first beast had already lunged at him, he knew that the others were waiting for him to drop his guard before doing the same. So, he attacked with the intention of killing from the very start. Closing the distance in two quick steps, he drove a crushing blow to the beast's stomach, forcing the air from its lungs. Before it could react, he followed up with a brutal punch to its face, shattering its teeth in a single attack. With these two hits, Elliot realized something—these things had low Resistance. Taking advantage of this, he delivered four more rapid blows in succession before it could react. In just a few seconds, the beast fell backward, dead. But this was only the beginning. Elliot stepped back just in time to dodge one of these fast beasts' attacks. Another beast lunged at him, its claws poised to strike—but he raised his left hand to stop the incoming attack. 'They're fast.' Even though he noted their speed, he realized that they were quite stupid. The one that had attacked him head-on had left itself in an impossible position to defend and was forced to take a blow to the chest. That blow was enough to sink its chest, but it wasn't dead. Not wasting a second, Elliot tackled the beast to the ground, pinning it beneath him. He finished it off by suffocating it with several blows to the throat. Then—PAIN. A sharp blow struck his back as if something one of those creatures was trying to dig its filthy claws into his flesh. But it failed and had also made a fatal mistake. Its attack didn't even make Elliot flinch, as his resistance was equal to the creature's power. Slowly, he turned his head around, a sinister smile creeping across his face. The rat trembled, and a tremor ran through its small frame. It had just realized—it had attacked a predator and knew that it had to retreat before losing its life. That was not the smile of a prey. It was the grin of a sinister cat! But before the rat could even get the time to react, Elliot grabbed it and slammed it to the ground, ending its life in just a few strikes. The remaining rats around instantly recoiled and immediately realized that they were in danger. For the first time, they felt fear. They had never witnessed such a one-sided massacre. In mere seconds, three of their kind had been wiped out. And yet, despite their trembling bodies and the instinct to retreat, their primitive minds recognized something else. They still had numerical superiority. There were seven of them and only one of him. Although they lacked true intelligence beyond survival instinct and primitive thoughts, their instincts told them that attacking together would give them an advantage. So, with an eerie, shrill cry, they pounced on the human. "KYAAAA!" And so, a fight erupted at the dungeon's entrance. The rats' screeches echoed through the air, blending with the sound of tearing flesh and crushing bones. A few minutes later, silence fell. Elliot exhaled deeply, steadying his breath. He kicked the last rat's lifeless body aside and surveyed his surroundings. The corpses of the last seven Two-Legged Rats lay scattered near him, next to the bodies of the other three. But he wasn't worried about them. What truly mattered was to prove his Talent. At that moment, a familiar message flashed before him: [You have killed 10 Two-Legged Rats. Do you wish to obtain 50% of the attribute energy in exchange for destroying 50% of the body?] [Yes] [No] Without hesitation, Elliot selected [Yes]. He felt a sudden wave of weakness wash over him, as if his entire being was being drained away, leaving him stunned. 'Wait... shouldn't it be coming back?' he thought, in shock. But before he could complete his thoughts, he noticed something. The energy swirled above the corpses, eating away half of each beast's body—before rushing back to him in a powerful surge. [You have absorbed enough Attribute Energy; you have created a stat point.] Elliot grinned. 'One point with only 10 rats...' He lifted his gaze toward the vast forest ahead, his eyes glinting with anticipation. 'It looks like it's going to be a long, beautiful night of hunting.' This place was crawling with hundreds of such rats. If he could kill them all, he would surely earn a massive number of stat points in no time if he continued with this speed. But before leaving, there was one more thing he needed—money. He crouched and examined the remaining half bodies, searching for any valuable parts. Despite being incomplete, he knew that even the body parts of the beasts had some value. He would take what he could and sell them later. First, however, he checked to see if any of the corpses had Beast Cores. But after a few seconds of searching, he sighed in disappointment. 'I guess it's not that easy to get those damn cores unless you hunt Rank C or higher beasts.' Beast Cores were rare but invaluable. These cores contain remnants of Attribute Energy that was previously inside the body to which they belong and could offer additional power boost to the consumer beyond what they had already gained through combat and killing of beasts. Unfortunately, there were no such beasts in these. 'No wonder I could kill them so easily.' Rising to his feet, Elliot cast one last glance at the bodies before delving deep into this open-world dungeon. Several hours later, he shook the last body of one of the beasts from his body, watching as it tumbled across the ground until it collided with the pile of 14 other rat corpses. Without hesitation, he activated his Talent and stored all the beasts in an instant. His eyes flicked to a specific section of the system, a satisfied smile creeping onto his face. Remaining Stat Point: 5. 'From here on, I should start looking for more beasts, and powerful ones... but I must be careful.' Although he had been fighting for hours, he felt no exhaustion. In fact, he thrived in it. This was what he liked. Back when he trained for just 4 hours, he would always be mentally exhausted. Perhaps it was the monotony that bothered him. But in these several hours he had been hunting, he had never felt bored or exhausted. But despite hunting the same type of beasts for hours, hunting beasts in the open air, facing unpredictable attacks and even in the ever-changing terrain was definitely different from training with weights or a puppet with boring attacks in a lonely room. Even after hours, he wasn't bored, he hadn't gotten tired. He was exhilarated. Determined to continue his hunt, he took a few steps forward—only to stop abruptly as he heard voices. "Are there other people hunting?" His mind immediately recalled the other section of his Talent. It stated that if he found corpses that he hadn't killed, he could absorb a good portion of their attribute energy in exchange for destroying the body. 'Normal Awakeners don't bother collecting the corpses in this area because they have earned enough money from guild missions. Maybe I'll get lucky.' He rushed toward the source of the voices and quickly took cover behind a tree, but upon looking at the people, he couldn't help but frown. He recognized several of them. Some of them were powerful Misfits, and the following 2 young people were from the city's elite families. 'It's those guys... What are they doing around here?' He thought as he focused on carefully listening to their conversation. They were Awakened, quite the famous ones around town, so they would surely know something important. _____ For the first few minutes, all they talked about was boring stuff, but after they'd finished killing several beasts, they started talking about something that caught Elliot's attention. "Have you heard the rumors about the Clarks?" one of the two young men asked his friend. "What? Is there something new?" "Yes, I heard that John contacted the Head of the Misfits and asked for the head of one of them, the Elliot boy." "Oh, that scumbag? What happened to him? Did they kill him yet? I've always hated that bastard... Hard to think that his father used to be the most powerful man in the city." "Hahaha, you're right. But no, that's the surprising thing—it seems that the one they sent to kill him was his local boss, a decent Misfit, but he failed. Nobody knows where he is, but Elliot was recently spotted in the city... acting boldly." "He killed him? Impossible; that guy is a piece of trash with no ability to even defend himself against a stray dog. How the hell could he still be alive?" "Yes... I know, right? But here's the crazy part..." The speaker lowered his voice. "There is a rumor going around that says... he might have Awakened." "..." Silence fell over the ground as soon as he said that. To say that about a misfit made no sense, but the one who said it wasn't some clueless idiot. "Tsk, I think you're telling a horror story," the other guy scoffed, but spoke up once more. "If that bastard Awakened and has someone found the courage to kill someone, I hope the next time he has enough guts, it's to sign up for the next Tournament of the Stars. I would love to crush him there and remind him what kind of scum he really is." "Hahaha, why don't you go challenge him through the System? If he has truly Awakened, you'll find out soon enough." "Tsk, let the Clarks handle it. They're the ones guilty of killing his parents—I'm just a bystander." "Hahahaha... That's true. Well, either way, don't worry about him. I heard they have sent more experienced people after him. If they find him before sunrise, he won't see another day."