5

“Damn it!”

Bast can’t help but to curse. The odds of him surviving were greatly reduced now that he was trapped. Reviewing his options while treading the path carefully, he knew that in order the get out, he need only to defeat the dungeon’s boss. He was quite knowledgeable in game plots and scenarios and assumed that this would be no different.

But he was only level two. The efficiency of his Glaive would be halved in this tight and close spaced tunnel. Yes, he can still use Apophis to pierce, but huge horizontal swings are a no go. He won’t be able to use it well.

Guns are also a big no-no.

With nowhere to run to, the explosion like noise the firearms would create would definitely bring all the boys in the yard, and damn right it would. He double checked the Gun store a moment ago yet no silencers were found. His mind vied to produce counter measures for this grave predicament but only a few came to mind.

He splashed Basilisk Spit in the wall to his right. He then dripped a few in the ground which provided him holes to put his makeshift spears he nicked from the handyman store. He staked a defensive perimeter in order to hold off monster hordes even for just a moment.

He then continued forward.

Bast was caught unprepared, true. He was greatly out-leveled and the System was clearly not on his side. He also considered his skill sets. It wouldn’t do him good either. He only has utility skills.

Very powerful but the costs are too much to risk.

Bast has one movement skill Phantasm and an escape skill, Unbound Uncaged Unchained, both may only be fueled by large amount of energy reserves. In short, both are useless in the dungeon in the long run as he has limited amount of stamina and mana at the moment. He can’t use them very often. The instant he uses them and found himself without mana and stamina, and surrounded with monsters to boot, would be the end of his journey in this life.

He doesn’t know if he can teleport outside as he only practiced teleport to places he can clearly see. He was not about to make an experimental jump to find himself splinched in half.

Even though his passive skills are impressive, with his resistances, detection, and regeneration being monstrous, Bast has no real offensive skills. Well, no system offensive skills…

Bast remembered those summers he spent with his granddad. The Bonifacio family has a certain tradition passed down since the old times which was still being carried out by the latest generation on the male line. All those hellish trainings and building a solid foundation on “self defense” were more than a nightmare.

He didn’t hate it, he despised it to the very core.

Giant Rat Guard, Lvl 68 Elite tier Giant Rat Guard, Lvl 65 Elite tier

“Woah that was close!”

Bast whispered as he was put out from reminiscing his childhood traumas. As the tunnel curved, it revealed car-sized rats. He quickly hid, hoping that the dimed tunnel lights won’t reveal his position. There was no other way to describe the monsters. They were just sewer rats.

Only bigger. And has levels on the double digits. And extremely ugly looking. And smells bad funny.

They just spawned out of nowhere. It was lucky that they were facing the other way and didn’t seem to realize he was near. Bast thought of a plan of action. The rats have long bodies and would be hassled to make a turn. He could also feel other rodents in the far-off distance spawning.

This is bad.

No, this is beyond worse.

He could tell that these suckers are fast. They move with suppleness unbelievable to the eyes. And they have teeth which are sharper than metal. Bast shivered when one of the closer rat gnawed the metal railings and chewed on them like chocolate flavored brownie. And that’s not even the icing of the cake!

They are able to spawn anywhere in the dungeon.

He took Apophis out of his storage and readied himself to strike. Bast might not one shot kill these giant fuckers the way he did the goblins but he can try to slash their heads to disorient them and legs to decrease their mobility.

He was about to strike when he heard a voice, scratch that, a scream.

The voice was enchantingly beautiful and pleasant to the ears. The rats quickly turned to the source of the noise and scuttled rather rapidly towards it. Bast was left with little choice but to dispatch the rats and assess the cause of the screaming.

It didn’t bode well for him if all the patrolling rats are alerted of foreign presences. He's fucked, and whoever the hell it is making a distress signal which in rodent language literally translates as

‘Come one! Come all! Hear yea~ hear yea! I’m one of those attention seeking whores that wants to die really badly! I have supple meat, deliciously fresh! Aaaand~ I might not be the only one here so be alert for more meat in this dungeon!’

His expression dimmed and as he grit his teeth, Bast strengthened his resolve.

He activated his movement skill and sliced the right leg of the nearer rodent, accidental bisecting the tail as well. The rat screeched and became off balanced. It stumbled as it turned to look at its attacker. Bast in a blink of an eye stored his glaive away and pulled out a .45 and a baguette (?).

-140 (critical!)

- 30% movement speed

cursed (disabled regeneration for 10 mins)

-10 corrosive dmg/sec/3 min

- 15 poison dmg/sec/20 min -20% mvmt and rxn speed

*Pish! Pish! Pish!*

-90 (critical!)

-99 (critical!)

Blinded!

It took 2 seconds for Bast to teleport in front of the target, bury the muzzle of the gun to the bread, blind the rat by shooting it in the eyes and tucking the improvised weapon away while equipping again his glaive to do the same thing to the other rat. it was efficient and didn't make a lot of noise.

Bast was pressed for time.

His quiet execution was flawless but he didn’t confirm the kill. The incapacitated monsters are already incapable of becoming a threat even if they have larger health pools. As long as they’re blinded and with Apophis’ anti-regen curse and are slowed by removing a limb and being poisoned, by his concerns, they have been dealt with.

Bast wasn’t looking at them anymore. He sprinted forward, checking his stamina reserves which is still half full. His mana is in dangerously low levels. He needs to be careful not to empty all of them at once. He then entered a spacious passage of the tunnel, more of a rail crossings with lots of tunnels that leads to other areas.

The scene in front of him was indescribable. There are a few human bodies littered on the ground and two dozen crowd of rats encircling a petite girl. The person in sight was controlling three glowing balls of white light and holding what appears to be an improvised torch, keeping the nopes at bay. More and more are still coming out of the tunnels by the second.

“So you were the one I saw before entering this dump” Bast muttered quietly.

This girl has the right idea. The rats are surprisingly apprehensive towards bright stuff. The girl was backed against a wall waving the torch nonstop. The other rats in the perimeter are now having the time of their lives masticating the dead bodies on the floor.

Bast was left speechless after he had a clearer view of the woman’s face.

She was a foreigner of western descent. She has big round silver blue eyes filled with tears, perfectly shaped nose and kissable pale lips which were bleeding from being bitten too much. Her hair was silver white, which was very unnatural. Her figure was unexpectedly curvy and well endowed.

She was the most attractive woman Bast has ever met.

Evelyne Krevoslanov lvl 1 Human

Bast considered the option of killing her if he has even the slight suspicion that she was hostile and nonhuman. But the identification status checks out. She was a fellow survivor. If he was asked whether to sacrifice himself to save the heroine from certain death

He obviously won’t.

“Iyaaaaa~”

But he can risk it. There’s a high probability that he can survive along with the girl. He calculated the variables. The distance, and the numbers of monsters and their positions. He also took note of his energy pools and items he can use from his storage. It was already past 5 minutes and he has less than a few minutes more till the incapacitated monsters he left regenerate.

“Girl, Shut your eyes!”

Bast made a shout before throwing a flash bomb in the clutter. Activating his movement skill he further added lots of stamina to the skill to activate its variation

Phantasm-Sidewinder!

Like a snake he moved with much elegance and speed that left after images along the trail of his movement. It was like watching a slow-motion movie but in reality Bast was moving in high speeds while maintaining the zig-zag flow.

The specialty of this technique was the ability to curve his movements without altering the velocity of his steps. More like the S-shaped movement snakes make to crawl, only many times faster.

Bast knew from the moment he tried using his first acquired skill, he knew that what’s important is the image and the belief that the skill will work. So he went with his guts and pre-planned where to step swerve and sway. The word sidewinder was a dead giveaway. He knows how these types of snakes move. He watched a lot of discovery channel.

He instinctively knew where to land and what direction to go. He didn’t need his eyes as he shut them earlier. He memorized where everything's at. And the spot where they’ll have the probability to go. His mind was going faster than his own body and everything else. That’s probably one of the reasons why the skills are so natural to him.

He sidestepped a rat’s tail and just made it to the end of the mob. The girl shut her eyes in time. She wasn’t blinded. She opened them and stared at him unbelievingly. Bast was lost for words. He forgot his line the moment their eyes met. He even forgot that they were in the dungeon. A highly dangerous fuck you all kind of dungeon.

Shrieks of rats snap him back to reality. It’s not only him running out of time anymore. Both of them were. Another weakness added to his already riddled body full of weaknesses. He was still too weak to save humanity. He can barely save himself lest save another. He needs to get strong fast.

She was a liability. A very beautiful liability.

He had something to say. But now was obviously not the right time. Instead, Bast held up his palm, beckoning her to take it. She understood it quickly. It was either take it and live, or not take it and…

Even if she doesn’t trust him, there was no other way. The rodents are starting to get their sights back. She gripped his hand weakly, waiting for a miracle.

“Guueh?! Iyaaaaa~”

“Hold on tight”

Bast pulled her closer, preventing her from being bitten by a rat 9:00 her side. A moments delay and she would've died. He then swept her off her feet and carried her princess style. Despite her petite figure, she was quite heavy. Bast struggled to concentrate to include her on his teleport skill. It took twice the mana and a strong image of the skill to activate.

From the time they land he was left with barely any mana at all. Bast was panting hard and let the momentum of the jump move his body forward, away from the mob of monsters. His head was spinning. The rats were confused only for a moment and as if hit by a hammer, rushed to kill the humans.

“Argh!”

-165 (critical!)

-5 bleeding dmg/sec/1 min

His peripheral vision dimmed but Bast did not stop. He was lightly scratched by a rat’s claw which easily ripped his back. If it was a solid hit he couldn’t be more dead. Thankfully, it was not. He continued to sprint faster, further decreasing his stamina pool. He was running low on fumes. Just one more scratch and it’s all over for him.

-5 bleeding dmg/sec/1 min

Bast run as if he’d never run before.

-5 bleeding dmg/sec/1 min

The rats were highly agile and he can barely gain any distance from them. The two monsters that bast left behind came into view. Bast was clearly going to the place of the dungeon he started from. The two should-be-weakened-rats were in an enraged status. A state couldn’t even be more obvious from the red aura, body and eyes of the monsters. He underestimated the resistances of these rats

They were also starting to regenerate as well.

-5 bleeding dmg/sec/1 min

The mob on his back doubled again in size and was gaining on them. Bast can’t teleport anymore. His mana pool is almost empty. And his stamina and health should also be empty soon. A mob on his back and two angry fuckers on his front. The gods of the world clearly want to see him fail miserably.

Bast knew it. So he prepared a failsafe beforehand.

If the common mob can kill a pathetic human like him easily as breathing, then what’s to say about the beings lurking on the lower levels of this dungeon. Yes, he had a hunch that there would be as most Rpg games do. The boss monster(s) of this dungeon would definitely be stronger than the two he killed, and it would be in full health.

And the chance of clearing the dungeon as he is now is even less than none.

-5 bleeding dmg/sec/1 min

The enraged rats are getting closer and closer. If he was alone he has a high chance. But carrying a burden like her would be difficult. He can’t even let her do all the running herself. If he were to drop her off here and make her run, the rats would gobble her up in seconds.

Before he can even think of how enchanting the burden he’s carrying, the little princess made a few gestures in the air while chanting. Three balls of light quickly formed and flew in two directions. One in the back, two in front. The giant buggers hesitated and in that moment, Bast took advantage.

He activated Phantasm for the last time, bypassing the elite rat guards easily, making them collide with the others in the back. The balls of light quickly disappeared. Looks like he was not the only one who’s out of mana. Bast was panting hard but quickly rushed towards his makeshift stake fence and avoided the pointed edges with fear.

-5 bleeding dmg/sec/1 min

He coated them with Ormr’s venom. A rather potent poison if he says so himself. The frontliners of the pursuing crowd were impaled, bellowing a loud screech. The others on the back were pushing tho ones in the frond further in, impaling them further.

It was an impasse. But only for a moment. They were literally being sieged with nowhere else to run. Trapped like ants in a syrup. The woman was now glaring at him. He just postponed their deaths but they would eventually die in the end.

-5 bleeding dmg/sec/1 min

Bast has no more time to argue. He put her down and shoved a health tonic down his throat twice. He pulled Hephaestus out of his interspatial storage and started banging the discolored wall to the right. The fence of spikes was barely holding on and some of the rats are starting to break through. it was his failsafe. From the start, he knew that he had no chance.

"It's not my fault, you forced me to cheat"

+36 health

-5 bleeding dmg/sec/1 min

+32 health

Bast mumbled to no one in particular. The might of Hephaestus bore a head-sized hole in the wall. He could clearly see the right passage, devoid of monster rats. It was the tunnel he did not pick earlier from before the left-side passage became a fucking dungeon. He was about to make the hole a little larger when he saw the girl about to drink a blue liquid in a glass similar to the red potion he got-

A mana potion!

“H-hey!”

Yes!

Bast grabbed the blue concoction without saying anything and swiftly gulped the contents. The fence got broken down and the rats darted towards them in high speeds. Most of them are in an enraged status. While the ones further in the back were technically unharmed. Bast grabbed the girl's hand, smiles at the monsters, then muttered

+44 mana

“It’s my win”

(tbd)