HP: 111.6/546.0(4% per min / 21.8 HP per min) Total HP regen 1.18 per sec

Noah was resting with his back on the wall, the exhaustion from the huge sacrifice and then swinging around the rats, that were surprisingly heavy, still present. Despite that, he was on high alert, constantly monitoring the tunnel for threats.

He still hadn't gotten used to the smell, and the sight, of blood and gore, so he tried to ignore the corpses next to him. Nevertheless, they might keep away other rats, while his HP regenerated. It was just as likely to attract and enrage them, but Noah had no way to test his theory reliably.

His time here hadn't been kind to his clothes at all, and they had suffered immensely. They were covered in splatters of blood, the front of his jacket was ripped with padding sticking out all over, his jeans had multiple holes in them and even his right boot had a big chunk missing near the heel. At the current pace, he would be running around naked in a few days.

The exhaustion he was feeling finally abated, and he got up. His HP was far from full and would take about 5 minutes to regenerate. Noah wanted some other way to deal with the rats than just kicking them and started working with Arcane essence combat mastery to figure it out.

For the small level 1 rats, kicking was the only viable option while on the ground, so Noah tried coming up with moves, that would be harder to dodge or would keep them away.

But his real goal was to come up with a way to defend himself from their jumping attacks. He figured out a few guard stances that would flow into dodges, punches, and slaps. The moves would have to be tested in a real combat situation to say for sure, but right now, they looked promising.

Noah kept it up, internalizing the moves until his Hp recovered. He really wanted to stay in one place and train, but his current location was less than ideal. Besides, the rats might trap him if he stayed still for too long.

He started moving again, keeping up the shadow boxing on autopilot and sacrificing 50 HP. He could spare that much but would wait to regenerate before sacrificing any more.

Anyway, Noah was training the sacrificial stat skills again. Last time he had gotten a good grasp of strength and dexterity and now tried to get just them, instead of the whole primordial soup, but in the end, came up short. Still, he was getting close, so he didn't get discouraged and patiently waited for his HP to come back.

When a rat's head popped out of the wall in the distance Noah smiled and rushed forward. Instead of stomping it, he grabbed the monster by the scruff of the neck and pulled it out.

Throwing it on the ground in front of him Noah took one of his new stances. The rat was dazed and just ran at his legs, but he swept him back with his foot.

After a couple of failed attempts, it finally got serious and activated its abilities. He was waiting just for that and braced himself. Noah was so confident, only because of his Sacrificial nova. If he missed the rat, he was prepared to instantly explode 100 HP, which would most likely send it flying back, even with the monster using its skills.

The rat jumped, hurtling towards his neck and Noah weaved to the side. The oversized rodent passed harmlessly through the space his throat had occupied a second ago and landed on the floor a few meters back.

Noah turned around lightning fast and took a stance, ready for the rat's next actions. It did not immediately jump at him again, but rather rushed him on the ground. He kept it at bay until the skill light lit up once more, and he again dodged the flying attack.

This kept repeating, Noah testing his moves and adapting to the rat's movements and tactics, limited as they were. Even before, he had noticed a pause between skill usage and now he put numbers to his observations.

In the beginning, the rat used his skills roughly every ten seconds, but the delay started getting longer as the fight went on. During all this time he had kept his eyes open for any other threats, which there were none of, but at this point felt like he was pushing his luck.

Noah had gotten a good grasp on the monster's movements and decided to try and slap it midair, before finishing it off and moving on. He took his stance, left hand ready to protect his neck, right hand ready to backhand the rat as it was coming in.

He was ready to launch a Sacrificial nova if he missed, but everything went according to plan. Noah managed to hit the monster quite hard, sending it into the wall and then landing on the floor back first.

With all the kicks it took during the skill recovery periods, albeit individually weak, Noah almost expected the rat to just die then and there.

However, it did not. It flipped over, its eyes lighting in a red hue, its fur standing up and its nails extending. He had seen the skill several times and classified it as some sort of berserker ability, making the rats faster stronger and more ferocious.

Nevertheless, he hadn't fought an enraged rat in a real battle so far. They had been either stuck in walls, or Noah managed to finish them off before they could do anything.

Now the monster rushed him, dodging the previously effective kicks, forcing him to jump back. That gave Noah a chance to try his more tricky and deceptive moves for just such foes.

Some of the techniques worked, others didn't, Noah steadily moving backwards under the rat's relentless rush. After less than ten seconds of delay, which before the enrage was close to twenty, the monster activated its skills and went for his throat.

Noah, almost unconsciously, sacrificed 200 HP for a nova, that exploded out of his chest. At the same time, his training so far automatically kicked in and he managed to punch the rat mid-air. The strike and skill landed at the same time, killing the rat before it even hit the floor.

Nevertheless, the reduced skill cooldown was an unpleasant surprise, and now he was missing 200 HP again. To think everything had gone so well up to that point.

Anyway, Noah was constantly faced with the choice of moving on with missing HP or staying and waiting for his regeneration to do its job. He had no idea what the correct choice was and it was starting to stress him out.

Still, he was afraid of rounding a corner and stumbling into a bunch of rats with a third of his life missing. So far he had always been the aggressor or at the very least, both parties were equally surprised by the situation. Getting ambushed was not on his to-do list, and in the end, he stayed put.

Noah started feeling a little down. Even if losing 200 HP seemed like not that big of a deal, he had felt in control of the battle, and by the end, confident in his skills and observations and it had all changed in a single moment.

It was something he understood, that he was in a hostile environment and the unexpected was the norm. But his subconscious had relaxed during the fight and then had been thrown into disarray. That combined with the recurring choice he had no answer to broke his mental floodgates.

So far he hadn't thought much about his situation, intentionally staying away from the topic. With all the Trait and Skill choices, training and fighting his mind had been constantly occupied. Now it came crashing down on him and he slid down the wall and sat on the ground.

His situation hit him like an emotional truck. During the initial shock, the fact he wasn't on Earth anymore hadn't registered, not really. Now Noah realized that even if he got out of this dungeon his family and friends and the world he knew, wouldn't be waiting for him.

The initial messages hadn't said anything about how he came here. It had to do something to do with the arcane probably... maybe...

"Do you know how I got here?" Noah asked aloud. After a brief pause, the system gave him an unsure feeling.

"Do you at least now if I can go back?" he asked hopefully, but got another unsure feeling.

"Are there at least humans outside?" he asked dejectedly after a while. Noah got the feeling the system was hesitant about telling him, but in the end, he got a positive answer.

"They aren't cannibals or something else equally horrible, are they?" The answer this time was less clear with notes of ' Can't tell you', 'Restricted' and 'Rules'.

"For the sake of my sanity, I'll take that as a 'No' and assume the people outside are perfectly fine human beings and very friendly to strangers."

Noah was looking for some kind of motivation or future goal to get him through his current situation. His energy had drained and his will to move had become nonexistent the moment he sat down. Also, the fact that he was in a seemingly endless maze of tunnels full of monster rats, wasn't helping right now.

There was at least something somewhat positive in the situation and that was the presence of humans outside. Someone out there might know of a way for him to get home, however unlikely it was when even the system didn't know.

Noah had suffered from depression before and knew he was prone to such episodes. He had been very careful of the early signs back on Earth and knew he was slipping right now. He had to do something before it got worse.

"Come on, just get up. Just for a second. You can sit back down if you don't feel like moving, but just get up."

It was a way to motivate himself he had found recently, which was surprisingly effective. It worked this time too, Noah slowly pushing himself off the ground.

His HP had actually recovered and the report from Arcane essence combat mastery was still in the back of his mind. Motivating himself in a similar way, he started going through it, the movements calming his mind.

It was having an effect, energy and will power slowly coming back to him. After he was done, he moved onto the sacrificial skills, sacrificing 50 HP.

This time he succeeded in getting a mix of only dexterity and strength, instead of all the stats. The success lifted his spirits even though he couldn't separate them and ended up just spreading them as they were through his body.

What followed was one of the most uncomfortable and strange feeling seconds of his life so far. His efficiency with the skill was terrible and he got only a few points of stats, otherwise, the experience would have been even more disturbing.

When he spread the energy through his body some parts got stronger while others got faster. it was confusing when one limb was suddenly stronger or faster than the other, but it was much worse when individual muscles were involved.

The second passed and his body got back to normal. During that time he had gotten a much better understanding of the stats, their nature and how they affected the body. He was getting close to executing the skills properly and that made him feel better.

Noah started walking. It had been a gamble, pushing himself so hard and could have just as well tipped him further into depression. Still, the situation had required drastic measures and it had worked in the end.

As he was walking Noah started thinking about his current enemies and what he knew about them. Level 1's had skills and were pushing the size limits, but aside from that, they weren't that different from Earth rats.

Level 2's were a different story - bigger, tougher, stronger, faster, smarter. He had noticed the level 2 scout leading the two warriors in the last swarm, showing at least some organization and tactics. Of course, it could have been a coincidence, but he had to be prepared for the worst possible situation.

Noah hadn't fought them but he had seen, what he assumed to be level 3's and the level 4 patriarch. If the trend continued, a swarm led by a level 3 or even worse a patriarch might use tactics against him, not to mention the impact their power alone would have on the battle.

He needed a new plan, different than just rushing in and exploding most of his health in a Sacrificial nova, hoping for the best. At least he knew he could fight a rat one on one without problems now.

Noah reached the end of the tunnel, which opened up to a bigger room. As he was approaching he heard a cacophony of sounds only dozens of rats together could produce. It was almost enough to make him flee the scene immediately, but the squeals and screeches were aggressive and threatening, almost like a fight was about to erupt, which intrigued him.

He slowly inched forward along the wall, trying to get a look inside the room without exposing himself. A level 1 rat entered his view and then another, but they didn't notice him, their attention focused on the other side of the room. Noah could hear the squealing of other rats from that side and moved back, changing walls and again moving forward to confirm it.

A similar scene played out on that side too and he moved forward to see more. A bunch of rat asses were sticking out of the wall, three of them, judging by the size, belonging to level 2's. In front of them was a defensive line of level 1's screeching at the other side of the room.

His current position against the tunnel's wall made him visible to only one side of the room. It was at that point that his advance was noticed by one of the lookouts. It screeched his way, shifting the others' attention to him and causing the level 2's to start moving out.

There was an immediate reaction from the other side that Noah couldn't see but could clearly hear, and then all hell broke loose.

His first instinct was to turn around and run away at top speed but the rats shifted their attention from him to the other swarm and rushed forward. The two groups, which seemed equal in terms of numbers, met just in front of his tunnel and smashed together.

The smaller rats were in the front line, biting and scratching each other, skill light swirling around their teeth, while the bigger ones, three on each side, stayed back, monitoring each other.

From time to time they rushed forward either trying to bite an unlucky level 1, leaving terrible injuries if successful, or trying to prevent their counterparts from doing the same.

Noah, whose existence had been quickly forgotten, was standing in his tunnel unsure of what to do. This was a perfect opportunity to escape, but a little voice inside his head was telling him he needed to fight and kill if he wanted to survive this whole thing.

He realized that he actually wanted to join the fight, which was strange, considering his depressive episode earlier. There was a part of him, that back on earth had yearned for excitement, adventure, and magic and was rejoicing right now. It had gotten stronger and stronger with each fight and success he had with his skills. Noah just hadn't realized it was there before.

By this point, the fight was nearing its climax. Most of the smaller rats were badly hurt, and the bigger ones engaged each other more and more often.

Suddenly all three level 2 rats on the left side activated their skills and jumped towards the other side's farthest level 2, hitting it and then rolling away on the ground. The other two big rats jumped into the fray, forming a squirming, biting and screeching mess.

With their leaders suddenly gone, the fighting between the level 1's momentarily stopped, the monsters confusedly looking around. His enemies were hurt and distracted and Noah saw his chance. He could wait until the level 2's took care of each other but he wanted a real fight to improve himself.

He jumped amidst the smaller rats and cast a 100 HP Sacrificial nova. He made sure to position himself in such a way as to not send any of them flying the level 2's way.

You have killed Dark Rat LV.1

.

.

.

You have killed Dark Rat LV.1

Noah didn't have time to check the messages, moving on and charging at the rat mound before they realized something was wrong.

He fell chest first on top of the monsters, sacrificing 300 HP that exploded in a red sphere of power out of his chest.

You have killed Dark Rat Scout LV.2

You have killed Dark Rat Warrior LV.2

You have killed Dark Rat Scout LV.2

He quickly positioned himself back towards the room only to see a bunch of small rats getting up, looking at him and some even coming his way.

Noah, on his knees, started punching the ball of flesh in front of him.

You have killed Dark Rat Scout LV.2

Before he could take care of the other two a screech came out of his punching bag and it was like a wave went through the level 1 rats standing on the sidelines. There were around ten of them, most activating their enrage skill, while three prepared their jump and bite combo.

Noah was standing up and moving back when the first jumped, flying at his belly. He backhanded it with his right hand, killing it. The slap flowed into a sideways dodge and the second rat was hit with a right elbow as it was passing by. The strike turned into another backhand that took care of the third rat.

You have killed Dark Rat LV.1

You have killed Dark Rat LV.1

You have killed Dark Rat LV.1

By this point, one of the level 2's had wobbled over behind the level 1's, while another in a clearly worse condition was dragging itself in the same direction. The two were screeching and squealing, albeit the second one much more weakly. Their smaller brethren even though enraged were apparently, still susceptible to commands and were lurching between the two.

Noah moved forward, kicking the dragger into the other rats, grabbing a dead body in each hand and using them as projectiles. The last two bodies were grabbed to be used as shields.

The kicked rat, now deceased, and the other two bodies he flung, crashed into their brethren killing some and forcing the only remaining level 2 to dodge out of the way.

You have killed Dark Rat Warrior LV.2

You have killed Dark Rat LV.1

You have killed Dark Rat LV.1

You have killed Dark Rat LV.1

You have killed Dark Rat LV.1

You have killed Dark Rat LV.1

Noah was upon them, kicking one of the four still living level 1's and killing it. The other three rushed him while the big one jumped back and started enraging. Noah realized an enraged level 2 might be trouble and threw one of his flesh shields his way.

The rat just took the hit to the face and continued, while the small ones activated skills. He jumped back and put the other dead monster in front of his neck and face feeling three distinct impacts a moment later.

Noah thought it was a good thing they always went for the neck and was proven wrong a second later. What felt like a battering ram, impacted his stomach, pushing him back, making him stumble. He managed to keep his balance, but when he looked down his brown eyes met a pair of black beady eyes shining with a red hue.

Noah felt the remaining three small rats crawl over the corpse in his grasp and onto his hand while the big one crawled up and opened its mouth in preparation.

He jammed his left wrist in the open orifice and started wildly spinning his right arm until all three interlopers were thrown off.

You have killed Dark Rat LV.1

You have killed Dark Rat LV.1

The big rat on his chest was quite surprised to get his mouth stuffed but bit down nonetheless, severing tendons and grinding bones. Noah pushed through the pain and located the remaining level 1 throwing his remaining meat shield at it.

You have killed Dark Rat LV.1

With only the level 2 left, Noah grabbed it by the skin on its back and pulled. The rat let a pained screech but didn't let go of his wrist, which did even more damage.

The monster was having trouble with his bones but at this rate, it would get through eventually, separating Noah's hand from the rest of his body.

He could just use a Sacrificial nova but was confident in dealing with the situation without wasting HP. He knelt down, putting his arm and the rat on the floor, pressing on it with his knee to stop it from moving and just started punching it.

You have killed Dark Rat Warrior LV.2

The third punch did the job and Noah got his hand back. Getting up he surveyed the battlefield with rats thrown all over the place.

HP: 131.6/549.8(4% per min / 21.98 HP per min) Total HP regen 1.23 per sec

When he looked at his hands, amidst the blood, he saw traces of a black oily substance on them and felt nauseated when he realized what he was looking at. He looked at the monsters around the room and many of them had the black sludge around their mouths. He hadn't thought exactly what the substance was before, but now an idea came into his mind.

'Why would they stick their heads in the holes and why would they fight over it? Are they eating the stuff?'

Just the idea alone, of eating the vile-smelling sludge made him gag. He tried asking the system and got no answer, but there was no other explanation. Whatever they were doing, it was clearly valuable enough to them to even fight over. Also, there seemed to be different factions among the monster population, which meant he wasn't the whole layer's sole target.

Just then another thought came to his mind and with it a terrible realization. He had overlooked a very important fact that had grave implications for the future.

"Wait a minute, what am I going to eat...?"