146 Killing the Giant Rat 2

"Watch the tail!" Sheila shouted as he watched the Giant Rat tilt to the side. They have already exchange a few clashes with the Giant Rat and its attack patterns were becoming known to everyone.

After an overarching swipe of its claws, its body would tilt to the side. Using its turning momentum , it would then sweep the floor with its tail.

Adrian together with Edward, Nik, Huwan and Gani, surrounded the Giant Rat. Huwan and Gani, together with Datu and Jejomar were the four remaining death slaves besides Nik and Bartolome.

The five people that surrounded the Giant Rat would alternate on hitting depending on who it was facing against. The ones who directly faces the Giant Rat would focus on defense while the people at the sides would strike. Since they formed a pentagon formation, they could attack all sides with enough space for everyone to move around.

The people at the back would slash at its tails while the people at the side would strike near the armpit.

Sheila and Angelica stood far behind too not cause trouble for the others. Sheila was the leader in charge of clearing the large rats that respawn. Datu and Jejomar are reserve substitutes incase someone got injured and is helping with clearing the respawned rats.

Bartolome could only watch the fighting as he sat cross leg and tried to hasten his recovery by focusing his energy on his back wounds. Though he doesn't know if it was  really working, the itching on his back is somehow giving him hope.

Huwan was a delivery guy. He had short hair and a round face. He had a thin physique which contrasted with his round face. Nothing really stands out from him except that he looks like a good man. When he leveled up, he got skills related to his line of work, Dash and Focus. Both skills were utility abilities that only empowers his raw strength. He uses Dash to easily evade the attack of the Giant Rat while Focus helps him get a sure-hit strike on the Giant Rat. All he had to do was to stare at a certain area then blink. He would then see a mark on the area and every time he swings his hand, it would be guided directly to that mark. There's a major flaw with the skill though, if he can't see the mark, his action would be interrupted and had to manually do it.

Afterwards, he jumped to dodge the tail sweep of the Giant Rat. It switched targets and faced Gani, a former construction worker. Gani slapped the claws of the Giant Rat away. He wasn't hurt thanks to energy covering the back of his hand and the skill applied to it, Safety First. This skill allows him to provide protection for a certain body part for a long time. The skill drains small amount of energy continously and when the protected area was hit.

Having its claws slapped away, the Giant Rat brought its other arm towards Gani. He reacted quickly and used his other skill, Toughen. His whole body emitted a green aura before the claws struck him.

The Giant Rat's claws struck his side successfully but caused no damage. He didn't even budge from his spot while the claws hit him. Toughen makes him more resilient and improves his defense by 100% for the next attack. It's pros could be seen from the way he counter-attacked and its cons was its energy consumption and the number of attacks it could block. Nevertheless, being able to block only one attack doesn't bring down its value.

After attacking Gani, the Giant Rat felt something heavy from its back. It quickly turned around with its tail sweeping the floor while swiping its arms randomly in the air.

"Did you miss me? I hope not 'cause I don't!"

Jun dashed forward while channeling energy to his bonehammer. After pounding the bonehammer on its back, he knew that the only way to kill this is from the front or sides. The hairs at the back were like hardened plate irons with spikes.

After pounding its back, he retreated to dodge its flailing arms and went it once again. The already burning hammer created black marks every time it pounded the Giant Rat's stomach. The stench of burning flesh surprised everyone but they bare with it. Jun noticed a lodge dagger on its sides and with a full swing, he nailed it in.

The Giant Rat wailed in anguish before spouting out blood. It swiped its claws a few times in defense but everyone easily dodge its attacks. Clearly, the Giant Rat was weakend because it became slower and is already on its final breathe.

With the battle stabilized, the Giant Rat made its final howl before crashing down.

Jun leveled up, together with Adrian, Edward, Gani and Huwan. He became happy since he became level 9, one level away before he could open the Level 10 Weapon Crate. Then, after realizing what happened, he became shocked. So it was true...

Experience sharing. He wondered why others could level up despite not getting the last hit but this idea solves that issue. Does that mean the experience gets divided? Equal division or by contribution... What the heck? Even my thinking becomes like someone on a game...

Jun shook his head and chuckled. He was then confused as to why the Giant Rat's body wasn't disappearing. He came forward and touched it. After reading its description, he immediately realized the reason why the body didn't dissipate.

It was a mine rat! A real mine rat that mutated after the mines become the—as Edward called it—a dungeon.

A mutated rat. Wait! Since its not disappearing, that means I can harvest it!

Jun used a dagger to cut its claw as an experiment. After several daggers broke, he finally got one finger off and used it to easily cut the rest of the claws. The arms, the foot—all the limbs were decapitated. He then stored its whole body and already has plans for it.

Jun turned around and searched for Sheila. He found her fighting the newly respawned rats together with some people. He looked at his former slaves and had various mixed feelings inside him.

After their unsuccessful raid on the mall, Jun enslaved them and didn't care whether they lived or not. Now that their contracts were gone, he felt awkward even talking to them. The main reason he kept them alive was to have cannon fodder since he found a means to get lackeys: the lawyer. But now that the contracts were missing, he felt that they would confront him and act problematic.

However, Jun has been thinking too much. At first, some might have grudges to him after being suddenly being enslaved but after realizing that they were becoming stronger and stronger, the way they viewed Jun became positive and in a much better light.

The Giant Rat extermination squad joined with sweeping the area of large rats. Jun took his chance and made his way to Sheila.

Jun tapped her shoulders and pointed somewhere, "There's an old man there. He needs treatment. He got rat bites. I also think he has a fever because he's burning hot."

Angelica who was clearing the large rats next to Sheila heard Jun, her eyes widened and quickly ran past them. Sheila followed right after.

"Dad?" said Angelica as she knelt beside his father. She grabbed his shoulders and shook him awake.

Dominic Sison slightly opened his eyes and saw his daughter in front of him. A smile appeared on his face before he lost consciousness again.

"Dad!" Angelica shouted in panic.

Sheila arrived and knelt down next to her. Her hands automatically reached for the forehead.

"Is my father okay? C-can I do anything? Is there anything you need help with?" Angelica worriedly asked.

Sheila handed her a pack of antibiotics and a few pieces of amoxicillin. Afterwards, she used cure and heal succeedingly before standing up.

"Give him the antibiotics after he wakes up. You can apply the amoxicillin to his wounds right now but its best if you clean it first. I can do it for you but I have no soap with me."

A water appeared on Sheila's hand. Angelica stared at it for a second before taking it. Though it was best if she cleaned the wounds first, a wash would have to do for now.

As Angelica started first aid on her father, the group relaxed and loitered around. Some went to the Leisure to see how it looked like. A spacious room that has tables, chairs and beds. The interested people felt cheated and walked out disappointedly.

The rest watched the flowing water and appreciated the cavern. The flowing water went under the wall, so they couldn't really follow it but with common sense, it should be heading towards the other path.

Jun was leaning on the wall and was about to email Evo to demand for answers about this "rescue operation" but noticed that there's already an unread email on his smart watch.

After reading the email, his heart beat faster and his expression suddenly soured. His eyebrows were like hawks as he gazed at the hologram infront of him.