Logan didn’t see what happened next, but he certainly felt it. The Rat King slammed into his chest like a runaway train. Everything went blank, his ribs creaked, and his body went flying down the hallway. It felt like an eternity had passed before he touched the ground again, rolling across the cavern floor in a heap. He even knocked a few of the water collection bowls over with a sizzling eruption of steam thanks to the flames enshrouding his body.

Logan groaned as he tried to recover, his eyes only opening when he felt the Rat King drop its paw on his chest. His ribs ached for a second before the monster screeched in pain and leapt away. Logan jumped to his feet and got his bearings. He prepared to use Shattering Strike now that he had a bit of space, but the Rat King pounced when he raised his spear.

It bit down on Logan’s right shoulder and tore his arm clean off. And if that wasn’t bad enough, the flames on the severed limb burned its snout before they died out. The beast screeched in pain and tossed the arm away. It flew across the cavern and sailed straight into the pit of sacrifice, his spear still in the grip of the severed hand.

Logan bit back a scream and stood up, the stump gushing with blood. The bleeding stopped as it was healed by the golden flames. That was one concern out of the way, but Logan had no idea how long it would take for his arm to regenerate. Actually, he didn’t know if that was even possible.

He hadn’t needed to restore a limb before.

Of course, that only mattered if he survived the next few minutes. The Rat King stared at him with unconcealed fury. Its snout and paw were raw from brushing against the flames, the soft flesh peeling away. Its crystal fur was still pristine, however, meaning he had only done one thing to the overwhelmingly powerful monster: piss it off by poking it with what amounted to a match stick.

The Rat King pounced at him once more, but Logan was ready. He used Flash Step to try and dodge the car-sized monster. He felt confident at first, but when he found himself spinning through the air, he realised that it had bumped into him. That would’ve been fine if it didn’t weigh half a tonne and moved as fast as an actual car.

Logan rolled across the ground and quickly jumped back onto his feet. The Rat King had already stopped and spun around, the beast lunging at him again. Logan pushed his usage of Flash Step to the extreme, just barely avoiding the brunt of the impact. Again, he blinked and found himself flying through the air.

This couldn’t be allowed to keep going on. It would only end badly at this rate, forcing him to come up with a plan he didn’t like very much. By the time Logan bounced off the cavern wall after a few more failed attempts at dodging, he was set on going through with it despite the odds that he would go down with it.

The rat pounced at him like usual, but Logan managed to dodge this time. He Flash Stepped away this time and to the right. It was more of a fluke than anything, the rat crashing into the cavern wall before it could get close enough to touch him.

It made a little squeak as its head cracked the solid rock of the wall. Logan took that moment when it was stunned to Flash Step behind the Rat King. From there, he burst into mocking laughter and got into a stance. He thought that the flood of rats charging past would turn and maul him to death, but they continued running down to the cells, their numbers beginning to thin out.

The Rat King turned around with fury in its eyes. Logan prepared to use Flash Step again, but he realised that wouldn’t be possible when its eyes began to glow. Logan’s technique faltered as a wave of pain rolled over his brain. He winced and tried to gather himself. When the halo of light blossomed around his mind again, he opened his eyes and found a wall of crystal about to crash into him.

It hit Logan head-on, throwing him back and down into the sacrificial pit. His original plan was to cast the beast into the hole and hope it stayed there. It could jump about ten metres straight up, meaning it should struggle to escape from the slightly deeper pit.

At the very least, it would give Logan a chance to run down to the cells and grab another spear. He could also kill the Crystal Rat before any of his companions died. Now, all of his plans had been knocked out of his head. Literally. With the Rat King pressed against him as they fell into the pit, Logan realised that the fight was about to become very different from what he had originally hoped.

He slammed into the wall of the pit and bounced off the uneven surface with a grunt, disentangling himself from the Rat King before slamming into the ground nearly twenty metres below. He landed on the solid rock with a thud. The enormous rat also came down a second later, a much deeper thud echoing throughout the cavern as it bounced nearly a metre off the ground.

It took Logan a few seconds to heal and shake off the dizziness. The Rat King faced the same problem, groaning as it slowly regained consciousness. Despite being so tough, getting thrown off a cliff was not for the faint of heart. Thankfully, Logan had experience with plunging into the earth.

He pushed himself off the ground and Flash Stepped over to his severed arm. Pressing it against the stump, Logan held it there as the egg did the rest. Unfortunately, the severe damage to his shoulder cost him precious seconds as he scanned the pit for his spear.

They had tossed one of the braziers down here for light. It reflected off the crystalline stalactites on the roof, almost like a giant blue chandelier. It also trapped the cool air in the pit since it would naturally sink. Now, he was glad they had done it as he wouldn’t be able to see a thing without the brazier.

Logan found his spear within a few seconds of searching, but he didn’t have enough time to grab it. The Rat King shook its head and screeched. It charged across the pit, Logan Flash Stepping out of the way and diving on top of his spear. The rat hurdled at him, but he had no time to stand up and use Flash Step again.

It was a good thing he didn’t need to. Logan rolled over and used Shattering Strike. It was awkward and a little weaker than it should’ve been, but he still managed to execute the technique. His spear stabbed into the Rat King’s shoulder as it bore down on him.

Despite the technique’s success, the weight of the rat on his spear launched him across the floor. He tucked his body into a roll before jumping back up to see the beast holding its paw. Logan thought he had broken its shoulder, the rat wincing as it put some weight on its arm.

He was proven wrong as it shook off the injury. The next thing he knew, they were locked in a lethal dance that neither appeared to be winning. Logan managed to land a Shattering Strike on the beast every so often, but in turn, it also managed to launch him across the pit or claw him down to the bone.

Thankfully, that only happened when its eyes glowed. Logan didn’t know how the ability worked, but a wave of energy would directly assault his mind whenever that icy white light flashed in its pupils. His consciousness would then become shrouded by that light. It was almost like a haze of acid fog that needed to be cleared away, which was only possible once the rat’s eyes stopped glowing.

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Unfortunately, that was also the same time that it chose to attack.

At first, the pain was enough that he couldn’t use any techniques or even move. He could only stand there and react when the rat was almost on top of him. But over time, Logan began to adapt to the pain and get better at resisting it. He also learned the pattern of how the beast would attack him.

That allowed him to realise something: the beast also couldn’t move when its eyes were glowing, meaning he had a small window of time after it stopped attacking to shake off the fog shrouding his mind. That was how Logan started to forcefully activate Flash Step and dive out of the way, his body already dodging to the side while he should’ve been immobile from the dissipating fog.

The strategy worked almost every time. The problem was the times that it didn’t work, his body getting torn to shreds. It was taking a massive toll on Logan. Not to mention that if he got unlucky once, the Rat King would simply decapitate or cripple him.

He was bound to lose at this rate.

He would eventually overdraw the egg and die from the debt of life force he had accrued. Logan couldn’t win. He Parried the rat’s blows, and used Piercing Thrust and Shadow Thrust. All of his techniques were used time and time again. No matter what he did, nothing left a mark on this horrifying creature.

Even when he got close to stabbing it in the eye, the Rat King easily tilted its head and avoided the lethal strike. And if he tried to use Shattering Strike, the beast would simply shrug the attack off with a yelp. He even aimed from its skull a few times, but all he got was a wince and a glare.

Logan felt the pressure. If amateur techniques were ineffective, then he needed to find a way to increase his damage. He searched for anything he could use, all his techniques and theories about combat coming into play, but nothing worked as the battle raged on. That was when he opened his Status and realised that he did have an option.

Concepts: Rotation (26%), Vibration (22%).

Logan immediately attempted to use the intermediate version of Piercing Thrust. He needed more power, and this was the only way he could think to do it. He couldn’t buy anything from the Shop, the Rat King was immune to all of his amateur techniques since they were too weak, and the golden flames still refused to gather on his spear.

His first attempt failed. It was stronger than any amateur technique, but it was a barely noticeable change in the first place. Logan tried to use it again and again. He was getting a better handle on it, the technique improving a little each time, but it wouldn’t be enough to injure the beast unless he succeeded.

After minutes of trying to use the upgraded Piercing Thrust, Logan found himself gasping for air. He had a constant headache from the occasional mental attacks. The egg could keep his body at peak form, but his mind would inevitably begin to slow down.

Logan could feel the shadow of death beginning to loom over him as the Rat King attacked his mind again. The halo of light blossomed around his mind, blunting the attack enough that he almost immediately regained consciousness.

Unfortunately, he wasn’t fast enough. With a swipe of its claws, Logan was thrown across the pit as his throat was slashed open. His lungs filled with blood. As he reeled on the floor, he began to choke on the fluid. Then the Rat King arrived, forcing him to stand and Parry its next blow.

Thrown against the wall, Logan’s injuries healed as they were licked clean by golden flames. He was ready to engage again when he took a deep breath and paused. A gurgling sound filled his ears, his lungs burning as the trapped liquid sloshed around. It took a second for his mind to catch up. The flames could heal injuries, but they had done nothing to remove the blood from his lungs.

Trying to take a breath again, Logan choked for air as his body reacted by instinct. He was drowning. Panic seized his mind. He was cloaked in flames that were strong enough to warp metal, so how the hell was he drowning? He didn’t know, and neither did he have the mental bandwidth to think about how ironic this was.

The rat didn’t let up in its attacks for a second. Logan deflected and dodged everything he could, barely keeping himself alive before the beast got lucky and landed a deadly attack. It was only a matter of time, but he didn’t even think about that.

The entire time the rat chased him, Logan was gasping for air. His lungs burned, and his vision began to narrow. Coughing up a splash of blood between clashes helped to keep him conscious, but the liquid in his chest refused to leave. He needed time to let it drain. Unfortunately, he would never get those precious minutes. He wouldn’t even get a few seconds to take a deep breath and cough.

Finally, Logan began to grow weaker. He tried to Parry a blow aimed at his torso and felt his arms give out, the sheer force of the impact knocking them away. Its massive paw slammed onto Logan’s chest and threw back. His ribs cracked, and he coughed up the biggest mouthful of blood yet.

That reinvigorated him for a moment. Logan jumped back up and continued fighting, but the feeling of drowning returned. That was when he noticed that his broken ribs had pierced into his lungs. They were filling up with blood again, the speed even greater than before.

Within two more clashes, Logan couldn’t breathe at all. When he tried to take a breath, he only heard a wet gargle as air failed to enter his lungs. Panic seized Logan’s mind like a vice grip. He gagged and spluttered as his vision began to narrow, the rat taking that opportunity to launch a mental attack.

It was highly effective.

Without the capacity to focus, Logan couldn’t resist at all. Even blunted by the halo of light, he was unable to do a thing to stop the mental attack. The sensations coming from his body, thoughts, and emotions all blanked out as a wave of pain overwhelmed his mind. But for some reason, a single emotion rose through it all.

Fear.

Embedded into his very DNA was an instinct for life that overwhelmed logical thought. Drowning as he was in his own blood, Logan felt a biological fear rise from the deepest recesses of his being. Willpower alone could not suppress this emotion, nor did he have the time to drain his lungs and fix the problem itself.

The only way to end this suffering was to kill the Rat King.

In this state of emptiness, Logan imagined an ordinary spear thrust. There would be no deviations or tricks. His attack was one of overwhelming power, shattering the rat’s claws and piercing its skull without any resistance. That was a nice dream, but with a mind bereft of all doubt, he realised that this idea could be made into a reality.

Logan had been pondering over the intermediate technique manual the entire time, searching for a path to survival that had been blocked from him. That was until now. Overcome by his instincts, he noticed a fundamental error he had been making this whole time.

He had been aiming his Piercing Thrusts at the Rat King’s weak spots. There was nothing inherently wrong with that. Targeting a vulnerability was something that even animals knew to do. At the same time, a tiger didn’t pull out most of its teeth on the off chance that it could only sink one of them into its prey, so why was he doing the same thing?

Logan now realised how wrong his approach truly was. Piercing Thrust was just that: a thrusting attack. He had been fighting so many powerful monsters that he had started using tricks to win. For example, contorting his body and thrusting his spear at strange angles made it much easier to take out an eye. At the same time, he was unknowingly sacrificing the power of his technique for a chance at striking a vulnerable area.

In reality, there was no need to deflect an enemy’s attack or twist around it. Why bother when you could simply pierce through all obstructions? His mind racing from one idea to the next, Logan gathered himself enough to push the mental attack away. He came back to reality to find his head flying through the air as his body lifelessly fell to the ground.