Chapter 40 - Ratmen

"Step!"

"Step!"

Step by step the group slowly went up the stairs as cautious as ever. Each one of them was feeling a strange cautious feeling which made them alert to every single thing around them. The stairs were marble-like as they reflected the yellowish light from the lantern. The stairs were spiraling upwards as they were unsure what was up there as it was completely dark. They only knew that a dangerous dungeon was up there.

Niko was in the back of the group as the translucent orb floated around him peacefully. He contemplated the use of such a harmless-looking killing machine. Although it was rankless, after seeing its usefulness in the previous events, he was almost changing his mind on these rankless spirits, however, he still believed that it would be much better to have actual spirits that can evolve. Sure these rankless spirits can be used as disposable things, however, he could only control a certain amount of spirits, and having too much of these rankless spirits would be a huge strain on his mind.

Currently, the translucent rat spirit was ahead of the group slowly climbing the stairs. The more this group looked at this rat climbing the stairs, and leaping over some of the stairs, the more they respected Niko. They wanted to know more of this skill of his and find out the limits of such a thing. There was a slight feeling of awe in their hearts the more they tried to figure it out.

There was another thing in their minds right now and that was their current situation. The odds were completely stacked against them at this moment. Dungeons were notorious around the community, for how it would easily kill anyone who attempted to complete it. They refused to believe that they would die here, they have come so far and done so much, there is no way they could die here. They reassured themselves of this, but deep down they were afraid.

Niko's heart was currently beating extremely fast and all of his tiredness had died down. Adrenaline raced through his body, as he was almost twitchy-like.

As time slowly flowed like water down a stream, they reached a dead end. Another wooden door on the wall stood there, making everyone look at each other. They didn't know what to do next. Anything could be in the opposite end of this door. Ten, hundreds, millions of rats!

"I'll open it quickly and move to the side if something within comes out attack instantly!" Fumito stated, and everyone nodded.

He slowly approached the door with quiet steps and gripped the handle. He didn't pull it instantly, he lowered his head and took a deep breath. A bald spot could be seen on the back of his head surrounded by his hair. Counting with his fingers he counted up to three.

"Swoosh!"

Fumito quickly pulled the door open revealing a scene that made their jaws drop completely. Inside of the room, there were ratmen standing on their two hind legs, and they were as tall as a nine-year-old child. On their hands were small rusty knives. They looked almost the same as the rats who attacked them before, but slightly cleaner. There were about eight of them in the room, and their heads quickly turned as soon as they saw the door open.

Since the lanterns couldn't reach too far into the room, there were huge patches of blackness within, and although only four were able to be seen, four other devilish red glowing eyes focused on them in the blackness.

Some of the members in the group shuddered, but then regained their composure. Before the ratmen could react and pounce on them Niko took advantage of the bee spirit he possessed, as it fired a stinger bullet into the room.

"Bang!"

The stinger pierced through the stomach of one of the ratmen that were in front, blood gushed out quickly as it fell down to the ground face first.

Although everyone saw this, they could not express their shock and astonishment, as the rats punched on them, as if one of their own had never been killed.

A fight ensued and these ratmen were quite troublesome. They might not have been strong but they were quick. Eitan beheaded one of the ratmen with the assistance of Candreva and Zheng, while the scales of Kyle's draconic tail were enough to defend against the rusty knife, as he killed one. Andrea also took out her own, as she was merciless with it, showing she was experienced in martial arts by giving one of the ratmen a spinning back kick to the face with her metallic legs, killing it brutally..

"Boom!"

A crimson light flashed on the side, and when Niko turned his head he saw a dead Ratman beneath Dharma. His hand wasn't as damaged as before after using his skill, which shows improvements.

Priya, Singh, and Veronica each fought their own ratman in an intense battle as well. Niko's small rat spirit bit the leg of one of the ratmen but it was slashed by the rusty knife, making the spirit shatter strangely. It was the first time that Niko had witnessed such a scene. The spirit shattered like it was a glass sculpture and the strange green light within slowly dissipated upwards.

The ratman who was bitten looked towards Niko and growled as he charged towards Niko. Niko was about to take a step back and go down the stairs in fear, but he was no longer a weak human, "No! Die for me!" Niko spoke, as he raised his arm and a huge boar appeared between himself and the ratman. The boar charged forward and completely impaled the ratman in the chest, as it continued to run forward until it ultimately hit the wall.

"Bang!"

The boar king spirit took a few steps backward and shook the ratman off its tusk before disappearing once more.

Sighing in relief Niko looked around and noticed that almost everyone else had also finished off their ratman, and stared at him in awe, but then a sound took their gazes away from him.

"Priya!" Singh knelt down as he held her.

"I'm fine… I was too careless since I have a high level I took it as a joke… Sigh..." She spoke, as there was a deep cut on her side. The leather armor on her body, although useful, did not cover everything.

Taking a cloth from his inventory, Singh slowly wrapped around her side with care and delicacy, and after finishing he picked her up slowly and helped her back to her feet.

"Even if you are high level, being careless can still get you killed… Even against weak opponents…" Niko thought to himself.

"I'm fine, worry not, I've had worse than this," Priya said putting on a strong look, but it was evident she was in deep pain. The cloth around her waist was already covered in crimson blood. Singh pulled out another cloth and began to wrap it around it again. As this was happening Niko took the initiative to extract the spirit of the two ratman he had killed, and made them quickly disappear afterward.

"Guys! You might want to come to see this!" Fumiko's voice came from the opened door. He had already looked into the room, and his voice sounded strange. They slowly walked to the door and as the lantern lit everything within, their eyes widened, and like before their hearts skipped a beat.