As Logan’s head bounced across the floor, the Rat King screeched in victory. It stood on its hind legs and roared at the ceiling. Then, it plopped down onto all fours and sniffed around the pit. It searched the perimeter for handholds or some way to jump up, but nothing could help it escape.

The beast stopped moving and stared up at the ledge above.

Logan guessed it was calling for help with its soul abilities. Unfortunately, he wouldn’t give it the chance. Liquid gold spilled out of his neck and slithered across the ground like a snake. It swiftly connected his dying head with the rest of his corpse, the golden rope dragging them back together.

Within seconds, Logan’s head was reattached to his body. He stood up and readied his spear. The Rat King failed to notice him. It was facing the other direction as it stared up at the sky, waiting to be rescued by its subordinates. Perfect. With a Flash Step, Logan pounced at the creature’s back, the beast noticing him a split second before he arrived.

The Rat King spun around and swiped at him with its claws. Before, Logan would’ve twisted his body out of the way and attempted to stab its eye. Now, he stood straight and thrust his spear, the weapon arcing forward without a care in the world.

Mid-thrust, Logan took a moment to examine his attack. The air folded into lines of silk that were much thinner than usual. It looked stronger than anything he had ever executed before, yet it was still so crude and wasteful in his hands. He made a few more corrections to the technique and found the spear moving slightly faster. That would serve him well for now, but he would have to do better on the next attempt.

A set of crystalline claws slammed down on Logan’s spear. His weapon was deflected to the side, but that didn’t mean the attack was a failure. Tiny chips of crystal flew away from the monster’s claw. If weighed on a scale, it would be less than a gram. That was a pitiful result, but it was still infinitely better than he had managed to do before now.

Logan smiled as the battle continued. The Rat King attacked him furiously, its claws even more vicious and deadly than before. Previously, he would’ve had to dodge and deflect these attacks, but things were different now. Logan met its rampage without hesitation, his techniques improving with each clash.

The lines of silk flowing from the tip of his spear were like blades of their own. After a dozen more hits, he knocked the Rat King’s claw out of the way and landed a strike on its shoulder. His spear shaved off a chunk of its armour, the hairs flying away in the breeze. There was no real damage to the Rat King. It didn’t bleed or cry out in pain, but its armour was now gone, creating another spot where it was vulnerable.

Logan continued to fight. He used all his techniques, each becoming more refined and potent as the battle raged on. Parry no longer made him feel like he was trying to deflect a falling tree. Flash Step was now quicker to use and made his body fly even faster through the air. And Piercing Thrust continued to chip away at the Rat King’s hide, its growth continuing to outpace all of the others.

Sadly, the battle was still a losing one. Piercing Thrust allowed him to chip away at the Rat King’s claws and hide. It took minutes of fighting to pull that off only once, and by the time he actually did hit the beast in a vulnerable spot, his spear only left a scratch on its shoulder.

After that, he couldn’t touch it even if he tried.

Finally, Logan made a mistake. The beast continually used mental attacks to try and keep him from fleeing. Judging by its timing, another was coming soon. Logan used Piercing Thrust and surprisingly found no resistance. His spear plunged into the Rat King’s shoulder, only stopping once it hit bone.

That was when he realised something was wrong.

Logan tried to use Flash Step to dive back, but the technique failed as he stared into its glowing white eyes. There was always a warning that the mental attack would come. It required the beast to stop moving for a second, which had allowed Logan to land a solid hit. Now, he was going to suffer the consequences of taking the bait.

The Rat King waved its paw, throwing Logan against the wall of the pit. As he reeled from the impact, the beast stood on its hind legs. It plunged its claws into Logan’s shoulders and pinned him against the wall. The crystal claws were long enough to stop its paws from being burned, the blades slicing deeply enough that it was holding onto his skeleton.

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When nothing happened after that, Logan slowly opened his eyes and found the beast staring down at him. Its eyes glowed purple instead of white. That was when another burst of mental agony washed over him, the pain far worse than anything he had ever experienced. It was like a tub of acid had been thrown over his head, only this time, it didn’t go away.

Blood dripped down the eyes of the Rat King, forming two lines of red down its cheeks. Previously, it had only used its mental attack in bursts, but now it was obviously done playing with him. It willingly took the brunt of the strain to make sure he couldn’t escape. Logan trembled from the pain, his entire body convulsing as a side effect of his mind being constantly attacked.

The Rat King slowly opened its maw and began to lower it over Logan’s head. It was struggling to move now that it was so focused on attacking, giving him a chance to reach out to his visualisation technique. The Long Night did almost nothing to stem the pain. This attack was far too powerful to be stopped by just a passive technique.

He was going to die. The realisation sent off waves of fear amidst the storm that was Logan’s consciousness. As he stared up at the rows of crystalline teeth, its mouth easily large enough to fit his entire head within, Logan felt something warm in his pocket. He could also feel it bumping around now that he was shaking.

It took him a moment to recall what it could be, his trembling hand reaching for his final chance at survival. The moment before the Rat King put its mouth over Logan’s head, his hand wrapped around the circlet. A wave of mental clarity washed over him. Just like that, a bubble appeared around his mind as the attack was rebuffed in its entirety.

The monster bit down on Logan’s head at that moment, but he dipped to the side with a painful wrench. The claws in his shoulders were pulled out as they tore his flesh to ribbons. The pain made him growl, but that was nothing compared to the Rat King biting down on his neck.

Suddenly, it let go and stumbled back. Streams of blood poured out of its nose, ears, and eyes as the mental attack faded away. It appeared to be suffering from some kind of backlash, either from the skill’s failure or the circlet itself breaking the ability.

Logan took the time to clip the circlet around his neck. His hands were shaking, but the rat was coughing up mouthfuls of blood and stumbling around. He had taken it off because it annoyed him while training, but now he would never go anywhere without it if he could.

The Rat King screeched out a horrible noise. The rats above chittered in response, four of them skittering over the rope bridge. They gnawed at the ropes, the bridge trembling as it began to collapse. Since it couldn’t do anything to him, the Rat King had obviously decided to escape in search of the easier prey upstairs.

Logan didn’t give it the chance. He lunged forward and used Piercing Thrust, the spear going straight for its bloodshot eye. Now that it was injured and still suffering the consequences, he felt confident in seriously injuring it. He was swiftly proven wrong. The beast twisted its body and avoided the blow, the tip of his spear bouncing off its cheek as shards of crystal fur were shorn away.

Logan frowned and got ready for a protracted fight, immediately realising that the hardest part was still to come. He had to create an intermediate technique or else he would die before this was over. Even if the rat gave up and escaped, he would still be doomed as it wouldn’t be stupid enough to leave the makeshift ladder intact, stranding him in the pit while it killed his companions.

Using Flash Step, Logan tried another Shattering Strike. The rat had become sluggish after getting a mental backlash. That gave him more opportunities to attack and test out his options than before, but he still found himself in the same position. He couldn’t do any real damage to the monster even if he tried.

Logan’s weapon, techniques, and strength were too low despite the egg already providing so much power. As he was at the peak of early Body Tempering and had a level of conditioning that pushed him close to the fourth, or rather middle stages of Body Tempering, the egg could push him all the way to the sixth stage in strength.

Logan was easily as strong as a Common Ore Rat at the sixth stage. Still, that was nowhere near enough, forcing him to try everything he could to create an intermediate technique. Shattering Strike, Piercing Thrust, and even Parry were thrown into the mix, but none could do more than leave a scratch.

Logan tried everything he could think of when the manual for intermediate Piercing Thrust didn’t help. It was just a guide on using two techniques at the same time, so why couldn’t he do it with any technique he chose? That was why he attempted to use every combination he could think of, even doing so multiple times.

The Rat King screeched and smacked him away with its tail. It tried to take that opportunity to climb up the rope bridge, but Logan used Flash Step to close the distance and grab its leg with a flaming hand. That forced the beast to jump off and spin around in the air. It landed to his right before trying a similar tactic again, forcing him to drag it back down by targeting a vulnerable area.

The Rat King failed to retreat every time until it stopped dodging him and counter-attacked while still on the ladder. Its tail whipped out and wrapped around Logan’s ankle, pulling him off his feet and throwing him on his back. This was the second time it had knocked him over, so he was ready to attack it when it tried to continue climbing up, but the rat didn’t attempt to escape.

It let go of the ladder and fell right on top of him.