Jin-woo adjusted his grip on his damaged weapons remembering all the battles he had already been through. This was it. This had to be it. The end of this entire floor was right before him. All he needed to do was kill the twelve foot giant rat Bane.
“Easy as taking candy from a baby,” he hyped himself up. He knew in the back of his mind this was about to be the worst battle so far. Just imagining those massive fists on the Rat Lord hitting made him uneasy and worried he wouldn’t survive a single one at his level. Five attribute points were really little considering how long it took to reach the next level. How in the hell did anyone get past level ten? Twenty? Level thirty must be unheard of except in hitler, Mao, or Leopold level killers.
He watched as the Giant Rats lost all sense of tactical acumen after the Mutated Rat Lord’s bellow. They launched themselves at him with fury and claws. This was what he expected from monsters, not the simple patterns he’d seen during his time in the dungeon. Nor the strange intelligence that included feints he’d seen from the first few in the room. And while it was a blessing to have them lose all ability to catch him over extended, it was still a type of difficulty he was not used to.
Their frenzied attacks continued to force him to dance back and around. Taking wide slashes and swipes hoping to clip a few during the haste of retreat. He injured a few but found it difficult to kill any of them. His mind was too focused on the behemoth boss.
The Rat Lord circled around them. Taking deep ragged breaths. Eyes set ablaze by the flaming red hues of their pupils. It lugged dented and crumpled tables, one in each hand. Waiting. Watching for a moment. Jin-woo would need to always keep it in his vision.
Unable to stop the rats from slowly picking him apart, he resolved himself to a new plan. One that he would not have suggested a few days ago.
I need to take drastic measures to give myself a shot! He understood that if he wasted his mana on these minions, he wouldn’t have enough firepower to deal with the boss. So, he couldn’t use Quick Strike. Instead he resolved himself to a similar amount of fury and frenzy the Giant Rats carried. He dove in between them. Hacking and slashing. Kicking and punching when necessary. They gave him their best, clawing at him, biting, charging headlong into his attack.
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While Jin-woo had taken an offensive pattern, he wasn’t suicidal. Dodging anything fatal and preventing the dwindling number of Giant Rats from encircling him. It was a dance of fury that came to an abrupt halt.
A massive crumpled table whizzed past his face in slow motion. He could feel the air it disturbed whip his hair to the side. It crashed into the mass of rats killing half a dozen with a single strike. Jin-woo in his haste to eliminate them had allowed the Rat Lord to get into his blind spot. Only his enhanced vision allowed him the scant moments to have noticed the large movements of the behemoth and get out of the way.
The Rat Lord roared in indignation and spun with both hands held tight onto the table in its grip. Another table was launched towards him, spinning like a top. He dove right. A thunderous boom echoed in the room, this throw had been more devastating and cut through the numbers of Giant Rats. They began to scatter.
The Rat Lord roared again, outraged that Jin-woo dared dodge its attacks. “BACK!”
The Giant Rats cowered in fear but ran back towards their master. Their numbers were dwindling fast, but all they could do was snarl and claw at the ground. Beady eyes trained on him only. If they go too close to him, the Rat Lord would rip them apart as collateral damage, but if they didn’t the Rat Lord would tear them apart anyways.
Jin-woo surveyed his surroundings. His mind was clear, though he could feel the physical effects of a fight like this set in already. Heart hammering, slick sweat running down his body and palms making it difficult to grip the smooth spear if not for convenient bends and dents. Lungs struggled to provide him massive frame air. And legs already beginning to burn. This was unlike the rest of his encounters. Those lasted moments at most.
Much unlike what he expected to be a long grueling fight.
His eyes saw glowing vials that his system had already identified as hazardous, pools of said hazardous liquids hissing on the ground. Massive anchored cages and walls he could use as collateral damage to slow the behemoth. A potential plan had begun to formulate in his mind within seconds. His time here had forced him to adapt into a cynical person or die unprepared.
The Mutated Rat Lord’s charge came with devastating force. Jin-woo barely managed to dive aside as the creature's massive fist cratered the floor where he'd stood. It arrived faster than he expected. The speed at which it had launched itself had been terrifying.
Chunks of concrete exploded from the ground. They were launched at him in dangerous angles he struggled to block. It forced him to shield his face as it bruised and battered at his body. His system helpfully cataloged the impact force.
[STRUCTURAL DAMAGE ANALYSIS]
[IMPACT FORCE: BEYOND MEASUREMENT PARAMETERS]
[WARNING: DIRECT HITS WILL EXCEED SURVIVAL THRESHOLD]
"I never would have guessed that getting hit by the bodybuilding nightmare rat might be unhealthy." He scrambled around one of the anchored cages.