In the distance, a teen stood off with his blue eyes scanning keenly and recording every piece of detail in his mind. He observed the surrounding area before locking his eyes at the red-eyed monsters not too far from where he was standing.

He heard a teenage voice in his earpiece.

“Miles, these rats are acting weirdly hiding underground. It must be a Psychic Rat. Other monsters above ground are in close proximity too.” A holographic 13-14 years old human boy appeared beside Miles. “Proceed with caution!”

“Put it on screen, buddy!” Miles looked at the golden wristwatch he was sporting. A holographic screen of information in a foreign language of the said beast appeared before him along with other multiple signals shown on the map just beside the information window. Coin provided him all the information he needed.

Coin is Miles’s wristwatch companion AI with a teen personality. It is an AI encrypted with a foreign language coded into its program. It had undergone multiple analysis and troubleshooting before it was secured to be harmless as a companion. It was only then given to Miles undeciphered. Ever since then, they had been together.

Miles read everything that needed to be known before closing the holographic windows and moved out to the nearest targets.

Three fiendish creatures, at least a meter in height each, were close-by.

These creatures were beyond the scope of imagination as their unworldly appearances and monstrous bodies were nothing like animals one would encounter on Earth. These abominations were called Armored Rats. They inhabited the outermost circle of the Rat Kingdom’s Forest, and were swarmed by their kind. Unlike the Earthling rats, these rats were much larger, smarter and have steel-like furs.

One of the three rats stood on its two hind legs, while the others were on all fours. The bipedal rat had a metallic gray fur, while the other two were bronze in color.

The variation of physical appearance of these creatures was due to their mutation caused by factors unknown to humanity. Miles knew he had to take out the bipedal armored rat first as it was wielding a sword.

Creatures that can wield weapons are far too dangerous to be left alone to deal with. They had to be eliminated first at all costs.

Armored rats are not intelligent enough to equip weapons without a mastermind interfering with them. Since the mutated armored rat was using one, it might have been controlled by a superior beast, Miles thought.

Miles’s abyss black hair flapped with the wind as he grasped a dagger in his right hand and engaged with the enemies.

The weapon he was using was not a regular dagger. Regular weapons were simply not strong and sharp enough to injure the monsters of this world. But the weapon Miles had brought was made out of a certain alloy that can penetrate and wound the type of creatures he was facing off.

He silently dashed toward an enemy, and by a quick strike of his dagger, it fell dead to the ground. His presence came unnoticed and it was too late for the rat to even react. Likewise, he sneaked up on the others. Before they knew it, their heads were rolling and their bodies laid crumbling.

Miles took out another group of three armored rats. He slashed their legs in swift movements with the dagger. One was then stabbed at its crown, while another had fallen when the weapon passed through its eye and out the other. As he came to end the remaining beast, it screeched in fear and hope of another breath. Miles slashed its throat and blood gushed out. However, as the creature had died, it had successfully called for reinforcements.

When the others had heard the cries of their brethren, they came out from their hiding. It took them no time to trace the rat slayer as he was basked in their blood. Their bloody red eyes locked on him.

These rats were brutal as they lunged forward. However, as a whole, they were uncoordinated. Their straight dashes created many openings Miles could exploit, thus the fight ended not long after it started. What really troublesome, however, was the Psychic Rat.

Psychic Rats were more evolved creatures. They were timid and more intelligent than Armored Rats. They would never show themselves and only fought through with their ability — the ability to control simple-minded creatures. They can link their minds with any other being with an inferior mind and any of their inferior kind nearby.

Miles had been searching for a psychic rat ever since he came to the forest. It took him several days to spot one. He finally got lucky. Aiming a Psychic Rat with a forest filled with Armored Rats was a risky move at his current strength. The situation at hand forced him to take dicey options.

His encounter with the previous rats, the one that wielded a weapon, told him that the psychic rat was nearby. It was only then that Coin had confirmed his suspicion. He made a short plan before moving for his prey.

Because psychic rats tend to hide underground, Miles had to trouble himself to force one out.

“I guess I have to shed some blood.” Miles grinned..

As he made his way, Miles had spotted an armored rat nearby. He was keenly following it ever since his slaughtering had begun. It was a meter and a half tall, taller than the ones he had encountered previously. Judging by its appearance, it weighed more than any other armored rats. This was a mutated armored rat of course. Once it got its prey under it, it was certain death. It would chew with its fangs once it had grasped hold of it.

Miles did not approach it recklessly. Instead, he climbed up a tree behind this creature.

He had timed his attack before leaping for the kill. The dagger was thrust into the rat’s neck. Another blood was taken.

Armored Rats may have huge bodies and sharp claws, but they have poor combat sense. It was the reason why they could not sense a human from a distance.

Miles made sure it was dead before moving for another kill.

An armored rat howled in pain as Miles attacked its forelegs. Another rat was stabbed in the eye before it lost its life to him. Some were silently killed.

Armored Rats lack combat skills and they could only act with instinct. So, they could hardly counter Miles’s attacks.

However, It was not without a cost that Miles was able to kill these creatures. He was only able to do so with the help of a Strengthening Serum.

Strengthening serum is a medicine created from plant type monster cores. Although all monsters had either a core or an orb in their brain, they didn’t have the same utility.

Using a serum requires the body to be optimized. Once the specifications have met, the serum will then be injected. It will cause the muscles to tear and heal over and over again. The process is so painful that it can induce a coma. In extreme cases, it can lead to death. But it allows muscles to become denser with enhanced strength.

Miles had undergone body optimization before going through with the procedure. This was the reason why he could last long and was able to kill monsters despite fighting with a dagger and nothing else.

As Miles shed blood to force out the psychic rat, the number of dead bodies was increasing.

One could tell that this psychic rat had controlled multiple of its kind. But the more one could control, the weaker the link gets.

Miles stood by an injured armored rat for the kill before another came to pounce on him. He dodged before a claw would pierce through his body.

The creature missed but it hit its injured friend. A deep scratch appeared on the other rat’s chest.

Miles did not waste his time on them as the injured armored rat counter-attacked by thrusting its body to the one who gave it a scratch. Two rats fought each other to death.

Miles then turned his sight to a mutated armored rat barreling toward him. He moved to the side and the monster hit its head against a tree with a loud crack. The fractured tree started to fall towards the other rat beasts. One giant beast got rooted to the ground before it could even run away. A dagger ended its life before it could even squeak. The fallen tree painted in red.

Miles circled another two armored rats, one with a sword in hand. He was going to finish them off when they suddenly spotted him.

He got caught off guard for a moment before withdrawing his attack. He realized he was out of their vision yet somehow they knew.

This only told Miles that the psychic rat was watching close by.

Because he was in close proximity, he wasn’t able to dodge in time and could only cover his chest against the sudden attacks. His back slammed against a tree.

Before he could even react in pain, one of the giant rats lunged at him. It missed but its mutated claw destroyed the tree behind into pieces.

Miles instinctively leaped into the air to avoid the attacks when a tree trunk came his way. The other had lifted a dead trunk painted by its kin’s blood to swing at him.

He was then thrown a few meters away, crash landing on his back. He coughed a bit of blood before standing and steadying himself with injuries. With a combat stance, he then faced the two giants as they came towards him.

As they charged with furious red eyes, Miles sprinted towards them before leaping at a tree to help him attack with his dagger in hand.

Miles had successfully stabbed one of the giants into its eye while kicking the other away.

It whimpered its body on the ground as its face covered in blood and pain. Its loud howling squeak was almost ear-deafening.

Miles took the opportunity to end its misery.

One down, one to go.

Instead of going after the other one, Miles took a turn to look for the psychic rat when the other rat gave him the chase instead.

A sword then came his way.

The rat threw the sword in-hand at Miles and ran at full speed like a bullet train towards him.

Miles dodged the flying sword by a hair’s thread then jumped high in the air to move out of the speeding monster’s path.

Despite its speed, it was able to stop beneath Miles and opened its giant maw.

Miles looked at the abyss beneath with dread and thought of a way to end this. Using the aerial advantage, he twisted his body, facing down the enemy. When he was about to arrive at the giant pit, he hit the dagger fixed on the beast’s eye with a strong kick to push himself away. The dagger thrusted deep into the brain. The mutated rat fell to the ground. Its body convulsed before it came to a stop.

Miles fell close to it, unmoving in pain. His breathing became ragged by the exhaustion that came over him. Killing many just to draw one out had drained his energy. He tried to move but couldn’t.

It was only after for some time that his eyes then came to a shut.

A few moments later, a head popped out of the ground. It was a small rat with white fur and sky blue eyes. It looked around cautiously and smelled the air.

After making sure it was safe, it made its way to the unmoving body in proximity.

When it arrived, it smelled the teenager’s body from feet to head. Seeing that there was nothing suspicious, it was about to devour the feast. But before it could do so, a sharp dagger entered its forehead that had sent red and grey in the air from the back of the rat's head.

Before it could even react, a voice then spoke with a sarcastic tone, “You made me wait on the cold ground for thirty minutes! Aren’t you over cautious?”