novelnext Chapter 24 Mutant Crusher, Dizzy Scream
Chapter 24 Mutant Crusher, Dizzy Scream
"Hide well!" Xia Lin shouted in a low voice, and without thinking, stepped forward.
Faced with the swarming rats, he did not choose complicated techniques, but simply used his longsword as the most unadorned tool, slashing and thrusting fiercely at the first few that pounced.
Relying on their fighting instincts, as well as the excellent hardness and sharpness of the longsword itself, they fought in the most direct and violent way.
*Sizzle! Pfft!*
The dull thuds of sword blades slicing through flesh and breaking bones echoed one after another.
Black, foul-smelling blood splattered everywhere, and the sharp, piercing screech of a dying rat assaulted our ears.
One mutated rat had half its head cut off, another had its torso pierced by a longsword and pinned to the wall, and two others, while trying to pounce from the side, had their soft bellies slashed open by Xia Lin's backhand sword.
Four sizable mutated rats turned into corpses or dying chunks of flesh within seconds.
Just then, Eileen's slightly nervous but clear recitation rang out behind Xia Lin.
The syllables are short and abrupt, carrying a unique, magical vibrancy.
Three fist-sized energy orbs, emitting a faint white glow, suddenly shot out from the crystal at the tip of her staff, tracing brief arcs and accurately striking a mutated rat that was trying to bypass Xia Lin and pounce on her.
boom! boom! boom!
The energy balls slammed into the mouse's relatively vulnerable head and shoulder blades one after another, producing dull thuds.
The mutated rat was knocked away, rolled over, twitched a few times on the ground, and then stopped moving.
Xia Lin caught a glimpse of this scene out of the corner of her eye and quickly made a comparison in her mind.
The power of this magic missile was worlds apart from the spells cast by the goblins.
Whether in terms of energy intensity, flight speed, or destructive power, it is significantly weaker, probably only half the level.
But that's enough to deal with the rats in these sewers.
The appearance of the magic missiles seemed to have intimidated the remaining rats.
Their originally fierce attack momentum faltered, and their squeaking revealed hesitation and fear.
Immediately after another rat that tried to approach was cut down by Xia Lin's sword, the group of cowardly creatures finally lost their courage, turned around, and quickly scurried back into the depths of the dark passage, leaving behind only a mess and a strong stench of blood.
The battle is over.
Xia Lin breathed slightly, shaking off the sticky blood from the sword.
He turned to look at Eileen: "Are you alright?"
The female sorceress was leaning on her staff, her chest rising and falling slightly, fine beads of sweat on her forehead, and her breathing was much more rapid than usual.
"Are you... alright?" She looked at Xia Lin, her face pale, whether from nervousness or from depleted magic power.
Xia Lin: "Shall we take a break first?"
"Hmm..." Eileen nodded a little shyly, slowly sitting down against the wall. "I only barely mastered the magic missile last week, so I'm not very proficient yet. I need to rest for my body to recover after each use."
Xia Lin understood.
It seems that even mages don't just randomly shoot bullets, especially novice apprentices.
He untied a small leather pouch from his waist and walked over to the dead rats. Suppressing his nausea, he used the tip of his sword to cut off their ugly tails.
These are mission tokens, each worth 5 silver coins.
He cut off a wet, blood-stained rat tail and handed it to Eileen: "Your share."
Looking at the bulging, seemingly still slightly wriggling leather bag, Eileen's face immediately showed obvious disgust, and she shrank back.
"No, no need!" She quickly waved her hand, her tone resolute. "Xia Lin, you take them first! We can... we can distribute them later upstairs! Please!"
Xia Lin found it both amusing and helpless to see her trying to avoid him.
Well, this young mage seems to have little experience in handling such "spoils of war," or rather, she's not mentally prepared for it.
He didn't say much, just nodded and hung the leather bag back on his waist.
"Let's continue, let's finish this quickly."
"OK."
After dealing with several more waves of scattered mutated rats, they finally obtained two orbs of light.
The space ahead of the passage seemed to open up a bit, but the stench and dampness only increased.
Xia Lin stopped, listened intently for a moment, and whispered to Eileen behind him, "Almost there, this should be the end of the passage ahead. Once we're done clearing, let's go up as soon as possible."
"Okay." Eileen's voice was clearly tired, and the novelty she had when she first came down was long gone.
The continuous battles, the foul air, and the pervasive filth left this mage apprentice from the Black Staff Tower feeling only tired and dirty; all she wanted now was to get out of this awful place as quickly as possible.
Just as the two were about to explore forward, a black shadow, much larger and faster than an ordinary mutated rat, suddenly darted out from the shadows of the mountain of garbage and debris ahead!
It was a rat-like monster almost the size of a calf, with sickly grayish-purple fur and blood-red eyes.
Adventurer's Universal Monster Encyclopedia
[Serial Number: 009 - Mutant Rat Monster]
Appearance: Canine to human size, gray-black or dark red fur, yellowish-green cloudy eyes, large teeth with a metallic sheen, and a bare, tuberculate tail.
Mutant individuals:
Crusher: Abnormally large (up to 1.8 meters), with abnormal muscle growth, deformed and developed forelimbs, and terrifying strength.
Disease carriers: Their bodies ooze pus, and their bites and bodily fluids are highly infectious, potentially causing high fever and ulceration.
Personality and Habits: Extremely gluttonous, organized, gregarious and vengeful, with a strong gnaw instinct, and its nests are piled with clutter.
Danger Level: Single ordinary individual ≈ armed human; the threat of the diseased organism increases over time; clusters pose a high risk. Mutated individuals possess special abilities, requiring a small team to handle.
Commonly found in: dark corners such as sewers, abandoned warehouses, cellars, and garbage dumps.
Recorder's notes:
"They are mobile plagues. The discovery of one means the nest is nearby. The threat is not in their fangs, but in the decay and disease that follow."
......
It did not pounce immediately, but stood up upright, its abdomen heaving violently, emitting a sharp, piercing, and strange hiss that seemed to penetrate directly into the brain!
Dizziness and screaming!
Xia Lin felt a buzzing sound in her head, as if she had been hit by a heavy hammer. Her vision blurred instantly, and a strong sense of dizziness and nausea surged up.
Behind him, Eileen fared even worse, letting out a painful groan as her staff slipped from her grasp and fell to the ground. She covered her ears with both hands and crouched down, her face deathly pale.
"Magic...missile!" Eileen suppressed her discomfort, chanted the incantation in a trembling voice, barely managing to gather a burst of energy, and hastily threw it at the rat monster.
The magic missile flew crookedly, crashing into a pile of trash next to the rat monster and exploding with a bang, but it didn't even scratch the rat's fur.
My hometown was forcibly demolished!
This completely enraged the mutated monster. It stopped its shrieking, got on all fours, and pounced on Eileen, who was now defenseless, with incredible speed!
"Get out of the way!" Xia Lin roared as the dizziness subsided. He lunged forward and shoved the still-recovering Eileen aside with his shoulder, while raising the round shield on his left arm to protect himself.
boom! !
A dull thud echoed through the tunnel.