“Oh, I can actually fit them in. That's incredible,” Lucas marveled, taken aback by his newfound realization. Not a single drop of blood stained his compact pouch. It served as a reminder that common sense is no longer applied in this current world.
Surveying the room, he was met with a scene of chaos; torn bedsheets, a broken closet, shattered lightbulbs strewn everywhere. It was utterly revolting.
When he opened the bathroom door, the stench hit him like a punch. It was a putrid odor, akin to a hundred dirty socks soaked in sewer water for years. Holding his nose in disgust, he couldn't help but exclaim, “Thank God Lucy isn't here.”
Inside the bathroom lay a collection of human bodies, most of them children under the age of ten. It seemed logical; rats were fast, and children, unfortunately, weren't. The children's bodies were brutally ravaged—eyeballs dangling, entrails exposed.
In the midst of this gruesome scene were a few rat babies, their current size about that of a water bottle. It was truly horrifying.
Overwhelmed by disgust, Lucas conjured a fire blaze engulfing the rats and corpses in flames before heading to the window. “Thank God I don't have a sister.”
“They'd just be a burden anyway,” he added.
Among the corpses, there was an adult woman lying beneath the children. She might have perished while trying to protect them, or perhaps she had been the hotel caretaker. There was no way to know for sure.
As the fire consumed the scene, Lucas stole a glance at the experience points he had gained before leaving the room. Continuing down to another floor, he suddenly halted.
This floor was a grim sight—piles of dead bodies, about thirty in total, stacked atop each other. Their expressions depicted the sheer horror they must have experienced.
‘Did the rats clear out the zombies?’ he wondered.
Although there were clearly the remains of zombies mixed in with the other corpses, no living humans could be seen. It was safe to assume that those on the lower floor had met their end, whether by zombies or mutated animals.
‘They must have been desperate to escape,’ Lucas mused. Nearly every room had its share of bodies; even the doors were left unlocked.
‘I wonder what it was like for them,’ he thought, but quickly brushed off the notion. With a global population of around 14 billion before all of this, he couldn't possibly fathom the collective experience.
Arriving on the ground floor, Lucas let out a sigh of relief. Initially, he had hoped for some illumination, since the rooms he had explored were dark except for the ones with windows. Yet, even here on the ground floor, there was no sign of light. The entrance to the hotel was barricaded as if the owner had hastily shut it to fend off danger. The typically ordinary metal door, resembling a garage door, now served as a protective barrier, though it seemed this decision had inadvertently trapped those insides.
For now, he decided to put aside his contemplations. This might well be the rat nest he was searching for. Following the trail of blood led him to the back of the hotel, where a storage area was situated. The space was filled with spare pillows, blankets, and various essentials like toothbrushes and combs. However, these details paled in importance as he found himself facing a horde of rats.
‘How did they reproduce so quickly?’ he wondered. A massive rat caught his attention, its red eyes gleaming in the darkness. It was a few meters larger than him, a sight that bewildered him.
‘Why do small creatures keep growing so large? What's the size of an elephant now?’ he mused, pushing such thoughts aside. Fighting in the dark was not ideal.
“Fire shield!” Lucas called out, employing one of his available skills to create a protective barrier. He wielded his jian sword to slash at one of the smaller rats, though the larger one seemed to be avoiding him strategically, perhaps acting on instinct.
“Clawing fang!” he muttered, tapping into a skill he hadn't used in a while. His nails elongated with a luminous glow, transforming into long, sharp claws. He used these to slash through the larger rat's abdomen.
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‘Thank goodness for the shield,’ he thought, his heart buoyed by the sense of retribution. With his claw, he extracted the rat's heart and organs, shoving them into the mouth of another larger rat.
Seeing his shield's duration drawing to an end, Lucas swiftly invoked, “Fire blaze!” Instantly, the room was bathed in red as the fire ignited, the flammable contents of the supposed rat nest catching ablaze. He hurled one of the jumping rats into the flames and tore apart the jaw of another.
“Here I am, fighting like a wild beast. I never thought I'd use this skill again,” he reflected.
Approaching the lifeless rat that still held his jian, Lucas wrenched the weapon free and examined what appeared to be the ringleader of these creatures. It was a gray rat the size of a horse, with red eyes and a menacingly sharp fang.
“How am I supposed to defeat that?” he wondered aloud.
Swiftly retrieving the lemon juice from his pouch, Lucas poured it over his jian, his heart pounding as he dashed toward the enraged rat, that continued to glare at him.
‘I hope this adds some extra bite,’ he thought, determined to inflict significant damage.
However, just as his sword was about to connect with the rat, it nimbly caught the blade in its fangs and chomped through it.
“Fire blaze!” Lucas exclaimed, seizing the opportunity to send a burst of flames into the rat's mouth. The pain made the rat momentarily release its grip on the sword, allowing Lucas to quickly maneuver and slash his jian against the roof of the horse-sized rat's mouth.
“Whoosh!” he exclaimed, half-expecting his sword to sustain substantial damage. To his relief, the blade emerged mostly unscathed, sporting only a few small dents.
Employing his jian like a lever, he pushed it further into the rat's throat, delivering another powerful slash. The rat's fierce cries abruptly ceased.
---
[Level 6 Mutated Rat Defeated, Awarding 150 Exp!]
[Received 15 Coins!]
---
Annoying whispers reverberated around him. “Tsk!” he clicked his tongue in frustration.
By now, the flames in the room had consumed most of the available pillows, along with some of the small-fry rats. Leaving the room to burn itself out, Lucas exited, the air still thick with heat. He cast a final glance around the room, finding nothing of value.
Displeased with his findings, he moved on to inspect the cabinets in the nearby staff room. Amidst the ever-present stench of death, he discovered spare toothbrushes, combs, and shampoo gels.
“These could come in handy,” he acknowledged, taking a moment to also collect a couple of power banks from a corpse's bag, stowing them away in his pouch.
Concluding his search, Lucas approached the iron wall that separated him from the outside world. It was a formidable barrier, a swift decision on the owner's part to evade the zombies.
‘Who could have anticipated rats?’ he mused darkly, exhausted by the turn of events.
Leaving his musings behind, Lucas ascended the stairs, simultaneously on the lookout for Lucy and ensuring he hadn't missed any rooms during his sweep.
‘I wonder how Lucy's faring,’ he pondered, the thought of keeping him company as he continued his journey upward.
With the display of Lucy's strength, he had witnessed, there was no cause for Lucas to be concerned about her. Yet, when he reached the upper floors, a few levels above where they had last rested, he discovered Lucy engaged in an unusual activity.
‘What on earth is she up to?’ This question immediately materialized in his mind as he entered one of the rooms on the higher floor, driven by the need to verify her progress as well.
“Oh, Lucas,” Lucy greeted him, her expression devoid of any worry as she smiled.
Adorned in a simple long-sleeved T-shirt and a pair of black jeans that seemed seasonally appropriate — though the specifics of the weather held little significance — she stood before him. However, his focus quickly shifted from her attire to the peculiar sight she cradled in her arms; a wriggling green entity.
‘What in the world is she holding?’ Lucas couldn't help but wonder, his astonishment growing with each passing second.
“What is that thing?” This question echoed once more within his thoughts, as he observed Lucy's obliviousness in his presence.
‘An explanation is in order, and fast!’ he thought, his bewilderment growing. While her nurturing gaze indicated that the creature wasn't likely a threat, its unfamiliarity bothered him considerably. Moreover, he found it rather repulsive...
“Ew...” he couldn't help but mutter, his gaze shifting from Lucy to the enigmatic entity she held. As his expectations dwindled regarding her realization of his presence, Lucas let out a resigned sigh. It was time to clear up his confusion, and he decided to initiate the conversation himself.