The kitchen exploded.

Aditya felt the shockwaves as he rolled away from the trash can.

He stood up and started running with his dagger.

His right hand is injured and one leg is sprained. He doesn’t know how many other creatures are there and he doesn’t even know if all of them died, but he knows for sure that he cannot stay in that place for too long.

He also didn’t dare to go back to the carpentry and the SAE shed, he is sure that he wouldn’t be able to take down that many termites and ants and since they didn’t show up here, he would rather have it like that than go there and trigger them to come.

He looked around and tried to find the next best place. He looked at the timer and ten minutes is already over.

He felt relieved. There are still five minutes and for the past minute and a half there is not a single creature in sight, he wished that it stayed that way.

But his relief seems to have jinxed it and suddenly he saw something straight ahead. Far away, there is a large lizard crawling towards him.

It is four feet long and Aditya could almost feel his testicles going back inside as he looked at the large creature.

He never knew that a normal lizard that walks around the house looks this scary when it was enlarged to this size.

There is a danger-Level 3 glowing on top of it and as soon as it saw him, it started running towards him.

Aditya never knew that lizards are this fast, within a blink of an eye, it crossed one third of the distance.

He turned around and ran for his life.

“Holy fuck. A lizard? I didn’t know they were some kind of pest.”

[Every creature is a pest when it is considered from a different perspective.]

Ram suddenly appeared and spoke.

“Don’t start teaching now. Tell me a way to escape.”

[I don’t know any. You are in the middle of the Main department and most of the doors are already locked and to your bad luck most of them belong to administration departments so they all have mental doors. It would take some time for you to break them, before that the lizard will snack on your flesh.

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

It seems like you are going to die while trying to escape.]

“That is really helpful. If I survive this and get a chance. I will definitely beat you up.”

[You won’t get that chance, but you can survive this.]

“How?”

[Fight back. If all you do is run, what is the point of having all that training through those AIPs. You are a lot stronger than you think and the lizard is a lot faster than you.]

As Ram finished speaking, Aditya noticed the lizard is already right behind him, he immediately jumped to the side. He barely escaped the bite.

He looked around and found a volleyball court without the net, he ran towards it and the lizard followed. He thought of what Ram said and decided to fight back, so as soon as he entered the court, he didn’t get out and stopped.

He faced the lizard as it ran towards him. He held the dagger with his good hand and got ready to stab. But the lizard is a lot faster than he thought, he charged at his legs and almost bit him. The knife that was aimed for its head went past it and landed on the back and he barely managed to save his leg.

“INCINERATE.”

Aditya yelled out loud, but before the spark appeared, it is as if the lizard has sensed the danger and immediately ran to the side. The knife tore through its back, but it still ran away and when the fire came and burned everything in the surroundings, the lizard is nowhere near it.

At least, it stayed away from Aditya who is also within the flames which had no effect on him. He looked at the time. There are still three and a half minutes left.

He needs to survive this no matter what.

Most of the time in this round, he kept on running and when he looked at his leg which was tackled by the lizard in an attempt to take a bite of it, he knew for sure that he wouldn’t be able to run away anymore.

Fighting is the only way out.

After the flames are gone, the lizard became a bit vigilant. Aditya came out of the small crater which is still hot and got ready to go against the creature. He shifted the dagger to the injured hand as he walked around along with the lizard’s movements to keep the equal distance between them.

Looking at Aditya limping around, the lizard seemed to have grown courageous as it once again went for the leg.

He didn’t use the dagger, instead the metal limb appeared in his left hand as he stabbed it straight at the spot before his foot, the exact spot where the lizard has landed.

*GRRRRR*

The lizard hissed in rage and pain, Aditya took a step back and stabbed the lizard again, but this time, he didn’t go for the back or the head, instead he went for the limb.

After all, if it escapes once again, there is no point. The incineration ability will be wasted.

So, he left a stab at the limb making it bleed.

At least, the lizards regeneration ability was not also overpowered, otherwise, he would have had a tougher time than now.

The lizard once again feared the knife as it ran away, but this time, the limb stayed on its back, it didn’t go too deep, but it is not loose. Aditya is sure that it is stable.

He thought of something and picked a stone. As the lizard was looking at him vigilantly, he threw the stone forcefully, but the lizard didn’t even flinch because, from what it could see the stone wasn’t aimed at it and it is right.

*BANG* *GRRRRR*

The stone was aimed at the limb and the lizard once again growled in pain. Taking this distraction to his advantage, Aditya rolled to the side and landed two stabs on the lizard. One on its leg and the other on the belly.