3 Beyond Just Suicidal

Jie Heijun unconsciously took an intake of breath, as he felt his body shaking and keeping his footing on the ground, difficult. The dimness from earlier seemed to spread out, forcing him to close his eyes to avoid its powdery gold substance, which further blocked his vision from what was going on.

Not being able to keep holding his breath, or knowing when he started, he tried gaining oxygen in his lungs. Only to regret it later when his nostrils breathed in the gold powder of the crumbled floor pieces.

Shortly, a small coughing fit followed the loud crunching sounds of rocks hitting rocks, in making noises as the ground gave its last tremble with an echoing bang.

Finally being able to use his eyes again, Jie Heijun saw it was an entrance leading down a flight of stairs. After confirming it was true and not a trick, Jie Heijun gave a small sigh of relief.

"I must have lost it, thinking the floor lifting, was a giant resident. I should calm down, only G3-rank and lower residents are here." He ascertained.

Making sure there was nothing left in the room, not wanting to miss the treasure, Jie Heijun made his way to the stairs.

Except for the steps, pitch black greeted him. There wasn't even a sound to get a clue what might await him down below.

He couldn't stop the frown marring his face when creaks and squeaks filled his eardrums no matter how softly he walked. Even his heartbeat was rising. Was it fear or anticipation? He didn't know.

Finally, after walking for minutes, light, in the shape of a door came into view a short distance away. There, in the room, bore four fires lit on a torch in each corner while sitting on pillars, acting as lamps. Its colors were no longer gold ice, but a red and gold theme.

With a section of the ceiling coming down in the back near a chair, the room gave an impression of a throne hall with no windows. On that chair in the room was a fancy pillow, and a small chest on it, twice the size of an adult's fist.

Dungeon treasure!

He was sure the chest on the chair was an extraordinary object and the treasure in this dungeon. Treasures in Dungeon Zones where the same as items made from the earth itself. No mortal made items could compare.

Of course, everything had an order to it. Even if a rare item was better, if its overall level is low, it would still lose to something of inferior quality. Regardless, rare treasures were still, one of many reasons, Dungeon Zones where sought after.

Before he got ideas on receiving the treasure, hanging upside down off the ceiling top above it, was a Sound Bat. It was half a size larger than the other five bats. A name and information also revealed itself on the top of its head.

_Status_

Title - [Suicidal Sound Bat]

Body - [Lv0]

Realm - [Mortal Body]

Layer - [Half-Step Martial Body]{Late Stage}

Combat Rating - [G3]

Jie Heijun eyes widen in surprise for the first time since coming to this pocket dimension.

Half-Step Martial Body!

There was no such thing. Furthermore, the body level was still zero and the realm Mortal Body, yet it had a combat rating of G3. How could it unlock an extra layer? Was it because it was a resident lifeform? Or was the dungeon the cause?

Putting his thought to the side, Jie Heijun decided to grab the treasure first. He would then worry about the Sound Bat later. Taking a step forward to test the waters, he froze as his body broke out in a sweat.

His body stopped responding to his commands, despite him wanting to move. As for the cause of all this, the Sound Bat had opened a single eye to glare at him. This single action revealed that it could see.

He could now tell, even though both of them are body level zero, there was a large gap between their strength. The question he wanted to ask was, is its combat rating really, G3?

Who was to say that the bat hadn't fought another lifeform, above the G3 rank before? If it didn't fight someone with a higher level ranking, the rating would be at a default of its realm equivalent. With this all being true, the dungeon combat rating would naturally be the same as the highest rating a resident had.

This Sound Bat could very well be at a stronger rating. Still, he would not give up on the treasure. He didn't need to defeat it to get the treasure, being faster was enough. As long as he outsmarted the bat, it was his for the taking.

With great difficulties, he was able to finally move back to avoid the bat's fear like attack while determining its strength. Then once more he took a step forward, entering into the Sound Bat's attack range.

Closely watching it, he took a step back, leaving out of its range as the eye opened fully. He even thought of the bat being able to use its fear attack four times because it only had one eye open.

Wanting to test his theory, he quickly stepped back in range. Again the bat opened another while keeping the first two eyes open as well. Jie Heijun smiled at seeing through the bat. With this knowledge, it would be easy passing by its intimidation ability.

Having failed to stop him, the bat screeched loudly as a sound attack came his way. It was to bad, Jie Heijun had already moved out of the way from watching the body movements of the bat. The moment it grew angry, he knew the normal sound attack was coming.

The Sound Bat's sound attack was a straight line attack. It couldn't change directions in the middle, so he used the information to predict the shot it'll take. No longer taking steps, he rushed forward in a sprint, to the treasure chest while dodging the sound attacks.

Leaving the ceiling, the Sound Bat spread its wings while flying in front of Jie Heijun's goal. But how could he forget its weakness? These bats' bodies were fragile. And once more, he didn't even need to worry about the last fear shot because it opened all four eyes during its rage.

Since earlier, his thoughts were to test his limits while avoiding direct combat with the bat. It had superior strength in all areas except defense. If he were to guess the level of its body's resistance, it would be around his own body's resistance or a little lower.

The thing that worried him mildly was the title, Suicidal Sound Bat. His guess was, it would die before letting him grab the treasure chest. It moving to engage him in close combat was more proof of that.

Putting more speed into his sprint, Jie Heijun changed his goal. He would stick to this bat like glue and defeat it before it could use any more special attacks. Or at least that was the new plan.

What happened instead, the Sound Bat made a half turn of its body, easily dodging his fist. With a flap, one of its wings hit his passing figure. The direction led to an opening, of a path to the chest on the chair.

Enduring the blinding pain that wrecked his body, Jie Heijun reached out a hand to take the chest as his figure flew over it, before slamming into the dungeon wall. He could not believe how strong the normal attack's power was.

It was even to the point, standing back up was taking all his willpower. Wanting to check on the bat's actions, he suddenly heard a strange noise. It was a sound similar to inhaling air as strongly into their lungs as possible.

Taking a look at the Sound Bat, he saw its body bulging outward, into a shape of a ball. On its face was a death glare. As if in slow motion, he farther saw it close its eyes. Its last strategy was to freeze him in place so he couldn't run.

All signs of tiredness and pain vanish the moment Jie Heijun realized his predicament. As if his body had endless energy, he bolted straight for the staircase in a bid to escape. The speed he was moving at was at least twice as fast as his previous speed.

But how could the Sound Bat watch as the rare item it protected, get stolen by a human? With a strong blood thirst of a will to kill, all four eyes shot open. Its eyes, in the same direction Jie Heijun was trying to escape.

Jie Heijun made it all but 10 feet before he froze as an exploding sound rung out. With a burning heat on his back, he became like a child's string and bouncing ball toy. He launched forward first, then was dragged backward by a strong pull.

There in the place where the Sound Bat used to be, was a portal pulling everything into it. Jie Heijun and the condensed experience stone both disappeared into the portal.

His last thoughts were on how something could be that suicidal.