[Third Person POV],

When Andrew Dawn altered his offensive attack, the effects of his actions became immediately apparent since any mutant rats he hit began to fall 'dead' as their soul departed their body.

A living species' soul can be thought of as its identity, thus if it were to vanish, what would remain of that specie then?

Absolutely nothing.

The mutant rats that Andrew Dawn's soul magic spell left behind as "dead" were proof positive of this adage.

For one, they weren't actually dead; rather, their souls had been stripped from them, leaving them as empty, lifeless vessels. To be blunt, it was preferable to refer to all of these mutant rats as the living dead.

While they were still living, they were indistinguishable from the dead.

Thankfully, as mutated rats began to reduce into smaller numbers and were eventually able to sense dread towards Andrew Dawn and dared not approach him, the strain Andrew Dawn felt from being attacked from all sides subsided.

Its queen was the same since, ever since Andrew Dawn began utilising soul magic, it dared not allow itself to be struck by the attacks because it saw what it caused to its subjects.

To Andrew Dawn's displeasure, the rat queen occasionally sacrificed some of its subjects to defend itself when it was unable to dodge in time. This specific rat was the one that he most wished to kill.

The rat queen appeared to be intelligent, but Andrew Dawn was not astonished by its behaviour because it was a monster and he never expected anything more from a monster.

As all he wanted was his dragon heart, he wasn't even in the mood to bother!

Ace watched as Andrew Dawn and his men continued to kill the quickly dwindling number of mutated rats.

Actually, Ace made an effort to watch, but most of the time he could only make out flashing lights during Andrew Dawn's battle with the rat queen. Nonetheless, even though Ace was unable to fully comprehend the fight, he was still able to learn something and that was about Andrew Dawn's job.

Although he recognised that someone like Andrew Dawn was unlikely to have a rare grade job and should have at least an epic grade job, which made him curious about Andrew Dawn's true power, it was still a different story when he was finally able to witness it.

Ace would have referred to Andrew Dawn as a god if he were someone who overthought everything.

For starters, Ace could still determine, despite his inability to capture the entire battle, that all of Andrew Dawn's damage came directly from his strength and without the assistance of any items.

He was extremely powerful and the fight was quite exciting to watch in Ace's opinion.

The several bodies that were lying in the hole in front of him did not even bother him; in fact, he was a bit excited.

He had already had a few occasions to feel this way, even a small bit in the true world, so Ace wouldn't be misled.

He was enthralled not by the sight of blood and carnage, but by Andrew Dawn and the rat queen's display of power.

Ace would have preferred to battle them both if he had his way, but he was aware that this was suicidal and that the only possible end was death.

He was aware that the bombs he was confident of might not even tinkle Andrew Dawn and the rat queen if thrown at them while they were still standing.

It was extremely unfortunate that he wasn't yet an evolved human.

Ace failed to see something that has been happening since the beginning of the apocalypse as he continued to watch the violence take place with his expressionless face.

Even though he was incredibly intelligent, Ace could not fully get that the very thing he had always desired was coming to him not once, not twice, but repeatedly. He only knew that things seemed to be considerably better than they had been in the past.

Ace was focused on the battle as well as the bizarre floating, red-emitting, still-beating giant heart that was in the hole.

Ace deduced that this was the dragon heart that Andrew Dawn was hunting for, and by the looks of things, he won't be able to get it anytime soon.

The rat queen was still present to add to his challenges, so even if the number of the mutant rats around him was gradually decreasing, they were still more than enough to hold him for a time.

Ace wasn't even planning to try to assist Andrew Dawn since, aside from the fact that doing so would be suicidal in and of itself, he had no desire in doing so.

If he could have his way, he wanted Andrew Dawn to cease murdering the mutated rats like ants.

After all, they were his quick route to evolution!

The only thing left for him to do at this point, aside from witnessing the bloodshed, was to begin hurling explosives into the hole and harvest the lives of the mutant rats, which are still unable to get up or adjust to the severe shaking of the den.

At this point, they were little more than living targets but Ace did not think he would be able to even gently kill the mutated rats if he went down to join the uproar going on.

He wasn't sure whether he could even manage to withstand an attack from the red-skinned rats if they managed to recover from the trembling ground when he got there. For one thing, there was a chance he might die from friendly fire if he went down there.

Their powerful humanoid form does not appear to be for show.

Ace was contemplating this as he continued to watch what was happening in the hole and kept a close check on the odd blood-sucking dragon heart, about which he was both interested and unsure of its function.

He was also checking for anything in the surrounding area that could help him get into action as well before his preparation for the earth rat den becomes futile.

It was safe to say that he was seeking the right time.