[You have defeated a Level 89 Sewage Rat!]

[You have defeated a Level 88 Sewage Rat!]

[You have defeated a Level 91 Sewage Rat!]

[You have defeated a Level 71 Sewage Rat!]

[You have defeated a Level 59 Sewage Rat!]

[You have defeated a Level 94 Sewage Rat!]

[…]

[You have leveled up!]

[You have defeated a Level 90 Sewage Rat!]

[You have defeated a Level 69 Sewage Rat!]

Logan disregarded the latest System message and looked down at the slaughtered rat underneath his feet. He'd slashed it with his talons from its sternum to belly, slick red intestines slopping to the floor as maggots fell from the wound like writhing rice. Ugh. By now, after killing what had to be fifty rats in a row, the Cursed Rope contributing at least ten to his kill count, his rage had dropped to a simmering anger.

For every rat he killed, another two people fell, and worst of all, although he'd made a dent in the monster swarm, they seemed to have an endless supply of surging rats. At the top of the wall, there were glimpses of shimmering bodies, indications of their camouflage effect. Then they jumped into the crowd.

Rats from around the city were converging on this area, scaling the wall and jumping into the fray. And holy crap, New York City must have millions of rats! Millions! Many of them had transformed into the lesser rats he'd seen rummaging through garbage, but if only a fraction of those millions had transformed into these camouflage versions, these people were fucked.

Shit, he needed to stop them from climbing over the wall, stop them in their tracks. That way it would give Logan and the soldiers a chance to kill what was already in the crowd. But how? The wall was immense, and he couldn't stand on top of it and stop them from climbing over it; he'd never cover enough area. The soldiers were too spaced out and had the added problem of being unable to see the monsters unless splattered blood ruined their invisibility effect.

Wait a minute.

Holy shit, why not? After all, it wasn't like Logan didn't have experience with a wall that could attack.

He could make this wall offensive, and all he needed was a source of life that would transform a normal vine into a rat vine. In fact, it might solve two problems at once. If he used [Life Fabricator] to sense the rats within the crowd, syphon life from them, he'd kill them below and create a weapon at the same time.

Better yet, he wasn't coming at this unexperienced. He'd already done this before. Admittingly, it hadn't been purposeful. Back in Hope's End, he'd wanted to craft a vine wall that would stop the charging two-headed and three-headed rats, yet he'd known what had gone wrong… and how to birth that monster vine. And hell, if he ended up with another Shoot on his hands, all the better.

Logan looked up as the Cursed Rope passed by, its tail flickering the top of his helmet playfully. It had swelled with blood and like an oversaturated sponge, it was dripping as it passed. After his latest level up, its electricity and acid had gone up in intensity, the surge so strong it would stun the naked eye like looking into the sun.

Glee glee glee, it crooned before it jumped through the air with another crackle of electricity, going after a rat who had dropped its camouflage effect. This one was odd—instead of black fur, it was grey with streaks of white, its whiskers white and curdled, nose scattered with age spots.

Logan scanned it with [Idiot's Inspect]:

[Sewage Rat. Level 56. A sewage rat that gorged itself on sewage and waste that was flush with battery fuel. The fuel warped it and caused its ingrown parasites to surge. A bite from the sewage rat will spread its sickness to its prey.]

So, no different than the others, just an older rat along for the ride. The levels of these things were all over the place, from a rat that resembled a raccoon in the upper 40s to an immense rat the size of a bear in the upper 90s.

We will feed! The rope sent a surge of happiness Logan's way as it wrapped its long body around the rat's neck, swelling as acid ate into the monster's flesh, the rope's tail snapping like an excited cat's. The old rat shrieked and jumped up and down, its camouflage effect flickering off and on, its pink tongue sticking out of its mouth as worms dropped to the ground.

Glee glee glee, crooned the rope as a System message flashed through Logan's senses.

Ding!

[You have defeated a Level 56 Sewage Rat!]

Good job, Rope, sent Logan as he turned his attention back to the wall.

The soldiers had organized into an offensive line around the civilians. A line so large that it bulged away from the wall. And yet more people kept pouring into the area, which meant that the soldiers had to continuously expand their perimeter. Instead of soldiers grouped together like sardines, they had to space themselves ten feet apart as the civilians cried and screamed in panic behind them.

Still, they'd realized that attacking the level 80 and 90 rats would do nothing but piss them off. These soldiers were level 20 to level 60, no match for the higher leveled rats. Logan had tried to keep those rats away, targeting them and letting the soldiers shoot the lower leveled monsters, but he couldn't catch them all.

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At least ten soldiers were on the ground in a pool of blood, and reinforcements hadn't yet arrived. A few had injuries, surviving bites from the rats… and yet they had an unhealthy, green tint to their faces, their lips bloodless and their hands pale. Sweat beaded down their foreheads—the beginning of a fever. Logan was reminded of the System's description of the rats:

[A sewage rat that gorged itself on sewage and waste that was flush with battery fuel. The fuel warped it and caused its ingrown parasites to surge. A bite from the sewage rat will spread its sickness to its prey.]

Yuck.

"The one on the left!" said Emily, her mouth in a grim line as she sighted her rifle on a level 50 rat. This one's torso was splattered with blood, but its camouflage effect was active, making it harder to aim at the rat's head.

They had a solution for that, though.

Emily and five other soldiers slammed bullets into the monster's chest. A spray of blood bloomed, splattering the ground, but also specking the rat's face and head. Now that they had a clear shot, twenty soldiers fired at once, drilling bullets into the thing's skull until it collapsed to the ground with a sick flop.

"Good kill!" said Emily.

"I've leveled up!" said a soldier next to her.

"Level up!" said one to the far left.

"I've leveled!" said one on top of the wall.

"Level 29 now!" shouted another.

"Good job, soldiers! On your…" she trailed off, blanching. "Fuck knocker! Incoming! Incoming!"

A level 99 sewage rat the size of a grizzly bear had watched the other rat fall and had let out a shriek. It was covered in blood as if it had jumped into a pool of paint. Its tail was the size of a firehose, the black ends slamming against the ground and creating deep divots into the dirt as if the tail were a weapon on its own.

En masse, the soldiers unloaded onto the thing, a hundred bullets slamming into its chest. But although the bullets ate into it, it was a flesh wound—if that, creating what Logan would classify as a scrape.

Unfortunately, although the bullets didn't damage the rat, it had the added effect of increasing its anger. Chittering, it rose up on its hind legs, mouth open in a pant as white maggots and worms fell from its mouth. Tilting up its head and pointing its nose to the sky, it let out a bellow. Unlike a normal rat that barely let out a squeak, this sounded like the roar of a reptile, a noise so intense that it made the soldiers wince and hold hands over their ears.

A rallying cry.

Around him, the nearest rats abandoned their prey, stepping over the bodies of fallen women, men, and children, and then chittered back, eyes glinting playfully as they turned their attention towards the soldiers. Until now, the rats had been focused on the crowd, on killing innocents indiscriminately while trying to avoid Logan.

Let it not be said that they weren't intelligent. Back before the System Integration, Logan had dealt with a persistent rat who had managed to create a nest in his garage. No matter how many traps he set, the thing always avoided them, even going so far as turning its nose up at the peanut butter and cheese he'd placed on five traps around the edge of the garage.

These were no regular rats, with added intelligence that came from their System attributes. So, they'd gotten wise to the fact that they couldn't win against him one-on-one and had tried to scurry away whenever he approached.

Logan hadn't given them that chance.

Logan glanced from the soldiers and the charging rats to the top of the wall, hesitating. He'd given up on these soldiers, fed up that they believed that Logan was the enemy, but if he didn't interfere, the civilians behind their line would be slaughtered.

Holding back a sigh, Logan tightened his grip on his sword and then used [Threshold Shift] to jump directly in front of the level 99 sewage rat. By now, he'd gotten used to jumping and could disregard the cold sensation that rushed through his bones, acting as if he'd just taken a normal step rather than teleporting through space.

The bear-like rat blinked at Logan, its eyes widening, before its expression hardened. This one wasn't going to flee. Behind him, to the soldiers, it had been less than one second, and they kept unloading their weapons, but now, Logan's back was directly in their path. He growled in annoyance as bullets slammed through his sandstone exoskeleton, a brief sting flaring through his back as some got through the material. And yet, it felt like a papercut, [Idiot's Paradox], taking the blunt of the pain.

"Hold your fire!" shouted Emily. "Hold your fire!" Emily had already adjusted and although it took the other soldiers longer to respond, she was barking out rapid-fire orders. "Shoot the one on his left, Dave! Go for the one on his right, Ryan! The one on…"

Logan tuned out her commands. Gripping his sword, he swung at the rat, the metal making a singing sound as it rushed through the air. The rat was higher leveled and intelligent at that, but it was no match for Logan, who was 65 levels above it.

Still, it put up a good effort and tried to use its massive body to overpower Logan, like a bear falling on top of a person. Using his strength attribute, Logan slammed his talon-clad fist into its chest, carving out a piece the size of a bucket while it latched onto his shoulder, scratching its fangs against his sandstone armour. A noxious reek of garbage mixed with sewage wafted past his nose, a stench that made his stomach slosh.

Then with a groan, it went limp, what had to be at least 500 pounds pressing against Logan.

Ding!

[You have defeated a Level 99 Sewage Rat! Experience points reduced and awarded based on contributions made.]

"Holy shit, I got seven levels from that!" shouted a soldier.

For expediency's sake, he threw the corpse into his spatial storage and then planted his feet wide. Cracking his neck, Logan deployed [Mimicry Armour] to dissolve his faceplate, and then gave the charging rats a wide, unhinged grin. "You want some more! Come and get it, fuckers!"

One after another, the surging rats came to a skidding stop, their expressions mulish and then wary. Logan kicked off with his back foot, using the Pink Sock to hurtle himself in the air towards the wall, then kicked with his sock once again to send himself flying at the line of rats in an arc. With his sword out and with a savage grin, he hacked at tails, necks, heads. Five, ten, fifteen, rat after rat, blood spraying, body parts flying, maggots falling to the ground like tipping over an immense bag of flour.

Ding!

[You have defeated a Level 89 Sewage Rat!]

[You have defeated a Level 75 Sewage Rat!]

[You have defeated a Level 91 Sewage Rat!]

[You have defeated a Level 90 Sewage Rat!]

[…]

[You have leveled up!]

Logan landed on the ground in front of the soldiers, the ground shaking. Flicking the blood from his sword, he grinned at the remaining rats. They hesitated and then turned with resentful eyes back into the crowd, activating their camouflage effect and disappearing to everyone but Logan.

"Thank you, Logan," said a voice behind him.

Logan turned.

Emily had already sighted her rifle on another rat, but she gave him a nod of acknowledgement. "We couldn't have overcome that horde. You've given us a chance."

Logan stared at her. He was glad to finally receive an acknowledgment, but it was too little too late. As far as he was concerned, these soldiers had burned their bridges. Logan would never trust them or take anything they said at face value. But for now, he needed them to survive so they could help save the civilians.

"I can do better than that," said Logan, as he kicked off with his Pink Sock and sent himself to the top of the wall. Logan scrambled for a second but then got his grip, firming his stance as he surveyed the scene around him. He had a better view here and could see into the crowd. Many people were still running around in a panic, others hiding inside of the tents and huts; one man with a bulging belly was even trying to hide underneath the barbeques.

And there were flashes all around, rats weaving through the crowd, some covered in blood and ruining their camouflage effect, others with it still active, letting them sneak up on unsuspecting people. The Cursed Rope continued to jump through the air and wrap its body around the rats within reach, the occasional System notification pinging through Logan's ears.

Ding!

[You have defeated a Level 71 Sewage Rat!]

To the sides, more rats climbed over the walls and into the area, dozens every five seconds. Soon, they would overwhelm the soldiers with pure numbers.

And to top it off, underneath the crowd's feet, a mass of life continued to burry its way up.

Logan had minutes, minutes at most if he wanted to take care of the surging rats before he had to deal with whatever was underground.

Someone cleared their throat next to him.

Hawthorne blinked at him, the lines around his eyes pronounced, the white stubble on his face looking rough, as if he'd just gotten out of bed and hadn't shaved. "And what do you think you're doing, here, son? Fleeing the battle? I should have known."

Logan narrowed his eyes.

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