Ow.

Logan blinked, then blinked again, his head feeling stuffed with cotton, the back of his scalp on fire. Looking down, he swallowed and then hacked, coughing up phlegm as he winced at the barbequed pork covered in sauce splattered all over his armour. Aww, shit, he was hoping to save that for when the fight was over. They'd even had beer! Beer and barbeque sounded like heaven after two weeks straight of bland green beans.

But the damn monster had thrown him so forcefully that he'd slammed into three of the barbeques. The impact had wrenched the metal and shattered the grills, shooting sparks and causing the charcoal to explode in a fireball.

But that wasn't all. After he'd pulverized the barbeque, he'd gone flying straight into the side of the wall and out the other side, tearing out a man-sized hole, cutting into the Wisteria Vine and through, all the way into a hill covered in sharp boulders the size of barrels.

Huh.

Logan had accidently flown face-first into the side of a cliff when he'd first tried out his Pink Sock, and although it had hurt, it hadn't cracked his exoskeleton.

Crap, just how strong was this monster? The sandstone material had cracked down his back, a fissure running up his shoulder. Worst of all, the impact had jarred the shrapnel sticking out of his bicep, hence the pain.

So, the Rattuspede had skin that was as tough as metal and must have a hell of a strength attribute to send him flying so forcefully. That meant that defeating it via brute force might not be as easy as he'd thought. A minor setback at this point, since he still had [Liche Devourer] and [Life Fabricator] to fuck the thing up, but every little delay and aggravation felt like nails on a chalkboard.

He wanted to finish this. Finish saving these people, finish deploying his last lodestone so he could complete his Build an Empire Quest and then return to Lara and Ernie. After all, he had a mental timer running in his head, counting down the days until the System pulled him into Pied's shitty knight's tournament. That meant he'd need time to level up Lara and the kids and continue shoring up his constitution stat.

Although he suspected that throwing fifty attributes into it had made himself more resilient to mental attacks, that attribute continued to be the lowest stat of all, a measly 138. 138 compared against his highest stat, strength, at 683, made it even worse. He wouldn't always have the mental fortitude to take out the shard of metal and cause himself pain if he felt an inkling that he was coming up against an opponent with a power like Mia's. He never wanted to be in that situation again, and who knew who he'd be up against in the Integration Tournament? Mia for sure, but what of the others?

Time was of the essence, and that meant he needed to move his ass.

Logan ground his teeth and took a deep breath as he used his sword to pry himself to his feet and away from the hill. Turning his head back and forth, he cracked his neck and then deployed [Mimicry Armour] to reseal the cracks in his exoskeleton. He'd gotten so good at it that it hardly took any concentration; one second, and his armour was once again whole.

The area around his bicep with the metal shard was free of armour, the injury continuing to throb like a burn, a dull ache that flared up and down, increasing in intensity, stinging like hell, and then fading before it flared all over again. Christ, if it hurt this much with [Idiot's Paradox] blunting the pain, Logan hated to imagine how he would have felt before the System Integration.

Logan tensed.

There was a sound of rushing behind him followed by a reek of rotting garbage. The scrape of claws on rock. Logan turned on his heel, narrowing his eyes.

Another sewage rat.

With a squeaking noise, it jumped from the treeline and down the hill, charging at him like a flying squirrel, its arms out as the wind lifted it, worms falling like dropping maggots.

Like hell. Logan held these things with nothing but disdain; at this point, they were an annoying pest more than anything, something keeping him away from his main purpose and causing inconvenience by threatening the civilians. Logan slashed the thing's throat with an uppercut of his sword, gagging as blood sprayed his chest and added to the gory, crushed barbeque pork clinging to his armour.

Ding!

[You have defeated a Level 98 Sewage Rat!]

There was a rustle behind that one, the crack of breaking tree limbs as another rat skidded down the hill. With a scowl, Logan let it come and watched it jump as if in slow motion. Logan's agility score was out of whack with these rats. While to one of the civilians, it might look like it was running so fast it was a blur, to Logan, it may as well be running through molasses.

Logan punched this one's chest with his fist, slashing with his talons, slicing deep and taking out a fistful of its heart. Rotting worms writhed in the bloody mess. Ugh. Gross.

Ding!

[You have defeated a Level 103 Sewage Rat!]

This one had been twice the size of the other; the high leveled rats were coming out to roost.

Over the wall and inside the complex, that click click click of the monster was getting louder. Although it had only been seconds at most since he'd hit the wall, Logan didn't want to spend too much time here mulling over his options and fighting these rats. If he did, the Rattuspede might think it could start chowing down on the civilians.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

Hell no.

Bouncing on the balls of his feet, Logan sidestepped the next charging rat, darting around it with his feet as if he were on the dancefloor and doing a two step. The maneuver meant that the rat ended up speeding past Logan and surged directly towards the vine.

With a snap, the vine sent a spear the length of Logan directly into the rat's chest.

Dancing. Dancing while fighting. If only Erin, his ex-girlfriend, could see him now.

The Wisteria Spike Vine had already started to spread its vines over the man-sized hole he'd blown through the wall, but Logan didn't need to go back the same way. Clenching his fist around the handle of his sword, Logan kicked off with his Pink Sock and sent himself hurtling over the wall, a muscle in his jaw ticking as he soared over Emily and the civilians.

Emily seemed to have taken his words to heart and was organizing a group of soldiers to encircle what had to be at least five hundred civilians, but the problem was that not all soldiers had been that smart. Half of them had left the group and were opening the wall entrance and urging the civilians through.

Aww, man. If the Wisteria Rat Vine didn't kill them, the rats would. There were people in that group who hadn't leveled up, and most of them were barely in the double digits. Against level 100 rats? Christ, it would be like Logan trying to take out Pied.

Logan landed on the other side of the complex, the ground shaking underneath his feet. He looked away from the fleeing civilians heading out of the wall. It wasn't his problem; he'd done what he could, and he couldn't fight both the Rattuspede and save people who were too stupid to take his advice.

On top of that, the soldiers who were leading the escape were Hawthorne's pals; the ones who had been his bodyguards who had been eager to attack Logan. Emily might have won goodwill with Logan when she'd thanked him, but he hadn't forgotten what Hawthorne and the others had done.

You've come back for more, hmm, little human? blasted the Rattuspede into his mind. It was swaying from side-to-side, its tail twitching in eagerness as it studied Emily and the civilians, looking one second away from letting its body fall and crushing them to death.

Crap. He needed it to chase him, so it turned its attention away from them.

Growling, Logan did the only thing he could think of short of throwing himself at the Rattuspede again. He reached deep, as deep as he could, visualizing his core, picturing every earned attribute, and then sent it out, blasting his attributes with everything he could in a killing intent. Doing half as much had almost pinned Emily and the soldiers to the floor; this time, he went for broke.

The Rattuspede's click click click paused, like a backed-up engine, before resuming as it swivelled around and turned its massive body until its belly and its circular mouths faced Logan. With a snap, it lunged, moving like a lurching lizard over wet soil, its round bulbous body flexing until it was less than twenty feet away from Logan. Although it was massive, at least it wasn't speedy. Logan could easily outmaneuver it.

The circular mouths made that flexing motion again that reminded Logan of an animal inhaling, sniffing the air, and then it paused, frozen.

Oh? it purred.

The mouths were definitely fucking sniffing!

You've got my attention. You smell mouth-watering, Idiot user. Juicy meat, juicy juicy. Like a human roast! A human pig-wrapped roast slathered in sauce!

Ugh, what a picture. "That's right!" shouted Logan. "Come and get it!"

Logan used [Threshold Shift] to teleport another fifty feet back, landing in a grassy area covered in corpses. He gave the Rattuspede a shit-eating grin and waved his sword as if taunting it.

The monster took the bait, lurching towards Logan, its bulbous, narrow long body flexing as the legs on the sides dragged it forward. Whatever the System had done with this thing was FUBAR. Logan knew the AI had a fondness for making freaky, mutant monsters—the spider rat came to mind—but this was messed up beyond belief.

While the monster continued to take the bait, Logan let it move closer and then used [Threshold Shift] to move further back. That way it would create distance between the Rattuspede and Emily and the civilians but also give him room to work. Brute force wouldn't work on this thing. There was no point in trying since if his sword couldn't cut through its hide, his talons weren't doing shit. No, the way to win was to use his skills. On top of that, this thing was immense and overpowered, and its Karma must be off the charts. What a way to feed his black hole and utilize [Liche Devourer]!

Unlike the sewage rats, when Logan scanned the thing, latching onto its lifeforce, its aura didn't come across as dark and rotting. Instead, it immitted an aura that reminded him of the rabid humpback whale, almost sending him reeling by how strong it pinned against his senses. Feeling his insides vibrating with impatience, Logan spread his legs apart and willed himself to concentrate. Impatience wouldn't get him there. That would cause him to make mistakes.

Logan closed his eyes, stilling his mind, and then envisioned a straw that connected to that strong aura, funnelling Karma for all it was worth. He—

Oh shit!

Logan gagged and clutched his head, dropping his sword to the ground with numb fingers. Blood trickled from his nose and into his mouth, the taste of copper making him gag. Even worse, that sloshing sensation of liquid leaking out of his ears was back, making him feel as if he'd just bashed his head against concrete. He couldn't breathe; he couldn't breathe!

With a gasp, he released the skill, reeling and blinking in stunned disbelief. As the Rattuspede continued to surge and lurch its way towards him, he stood in place and barely stayed standing. What the hell had just happened?

Foolish human, purred the Rattuspede. You think just because you have fancy skills that you can use them on Samantha? If anyone is going to use skills, it will be SAMANTHA.

There was a feeling of immense pressure inside of his skull, as if a vise had clamped onto his head, holding him still. DO NOT MOVE, commanded the Rattuspede.

It was using its mental manipulation skill! With a growl, Logan twisted the shard of metal inside of his bicep, wrenching it so he sliced open the flesh of his arm, cutting deep, the pain like a million knives digging into his flesh.

DO NOT MOVE, was blasted even louder.

"Fuck you!" he shouted and then pulled out the shard and stabbed it even harder into his arm. With a feeling of fingers loosening their grasp, Logan's mind became his own.

Still reeling, Logan willed his sword inside of his spatial storage collar. His head felt foggy, and his vision was swimming, as if he were seeing the world through a film. It felt like Karma deprivation but ramped up to the ninth degree. With a flex of his fists, Logan deployed [Threshold Shift], sending himself back another fifty feet, giving him time to recuperate.

Collapsing his facemask, he willed out a bottle of water and then splashed it onto his face, then chugged it down with huge gulps. Gradually, his head cleared, and his vision returned to normal, but his nerves were surging as if he'd just gone through the trial dungeon all over again.

[Liche Devourer] had backfired. That had never happened before. Granted, he hadn't used the skill a ton, and never against a monster who was higher leveled than him, but somehow, the Rattuspede had managed to fight back, overpowering the skill and sending a ricochetting effect back at him.

It had to be its high constitution stat. Holy crap, did that mean that someone with a high constitution stat could overpower skills that utilized Karma? Logan could only hope it was a feature of the Rattuspede and not something that was common with others.

But shit, if he couldn't use [Liche Devourer] that meant that [Life Fabricator] might give him just as much trouble.

How the hell could he fight this thing?

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