The escape

Inside the dungeon lab

"Huu," I let out a breath as the cold air in the lab brushed past my skin. I wanted to get out of this place as quickly as possible, but this was a secret lab. There had to be something in here that would help me understand more about the people conducting these experiments. With that thought in mind, I searched around for anything useful.

A strange 'kuku, kuku' noise caught my attention. It was coming from somewhere in the lab and almost sounded like a bird. Curious, I followed the noise and found a blue bird-shaped crystal lying in a corner of the lab.

The bird looked like a pigeon, its eyes glowing faintly as it made that odd sound. "Do you know what this thing is? And why is it making noise?" I asked the furball tucked inside my shirt. 

"Don't know, but it looks cute, and the kuku sound isn't bad. Maybe it's an ornament used by some haughty noble?" the cat said after a bit of thinking. 

That made some sense; after all, a lab like this couldn't be maintained by a commoner. A noble had to be involved. The crystal looked pretty expensive, and I couldn't help but think, 'Selling this will net me quite a bit of money, won't it?'

I grabbed the crystal, planning to take it away, but suddenly its eyes glowed brighter, projecting the image of a young around 20 year old, red-haired man with black eyes.

"Arya, stop this madness—" he screamed, but then his eyes landed on me. He looked around, confused, as if searching for someone, and then coughed to regain his composure.

*Ahem* 

"Who are you!? How did you find our secret lab? I am pretty sure I locked the lab. How did you manage to enter?"

The red-haired man bombarded me with questions, his gaze scrutinizing my every move. Sweat formed on my forehead. 'Damn it, that crystal was some kind of communication device,' I cursed internally, trying to come up with an explanation.

"Um, is this lab yours? You see, I just stumbled upon it by chance. Sorry for trespassing. I will leave immediately," I stammered, turning to walk toward the exit. But the boy's voice stopped me in my tracks.

"Do you really expect me to believe such nonsense? That some random guy and a cat stumbled across a hidden dungeon, in the middle of the night, and somehow managed to enter a secret lab located at the bottom of said dungeon? Do you take me for a fool?"

The red-haired man screamed, staring accusingly at my face. My mind raced, trying to find a way out of this predicament. Before I could think of anything, he continued, "I don't care how or why you found this place, but now that you have, I have no other choice but to bury you in this dungeon forever. Well, anyway, good luck surviving."

With that, the crystal bird's eyes dimmed, and the red-haired man's image disappeared. Seconds later, the green liquid in the large tubes housing the experimental rats began to drain out, causing the rats inside to stir awake.

"T-t-the rats are opening their eyes!" Systie screamed in horror while tightly clinging to my torso like a koala. I couldn't blame the cat; my face was also pale at the realization that we were going to be a midnight snack for those hungry rats. 

I quickly pocketed the crystal bird and rushed toward the tube containing the <level 25 mutated chunky rat>. It was the biggest threat to my life, so I plunged my knife into the tube while using <poison stab>. The knife cracked from the impact, but I succeeded in piercing the tube and poisoning the liquid inside.

Let's hope this works, I prayed, and as if responding to my prayers, a ding sound appeared in my mind.

*Ding* 

*The level 25 mutated Chunky Rattus has been poisoned by your attack* 

*Its level is higher than yours; the effectiveness of poison is reduced* 

*The level 25 mutated Chunky Rattus will lose 1/10 of its HP every 10 minutes*

"What the—1/10th every 10 minutes means I need to survive for almost an hour and a half! Are you kidding me? How am I supposed to survive that long?"

Groaning, I picked up my cracked knife. Other rats needed to be poisoned, and even though it was broken, that knife was the only weapon I had. I plunged the knife into all the tubes, poisoning the remaining rats. By the time I was done, my knife had completely broken, becoming unusable. I kept the pieces back in my pocket and sprinted out of the lab.

A few seconds after I left, I heard the sound of glass shattering, followed by the screeches of the rats as they were released from their tubes.

*SCREECH*

The loud, piercing noise echoed through the dungeon corridors. I ran for dear life, not daring to look back. My heart pounded in my chest. The rats were chasing after me, and I knew I had to find a way to hide or slow them down if I wanted to survive.

"Human, do something, I don't want to be their food!"

"Well, me neither," I said while scanning my surroundings for any possible hiding spots or ways to slow down the rats.

After a bit of running, I saw the narrow stairway leading toward the upper floor and, without hesitation, darted into it, hoping that I could escape from the dungeon before those accursed rats could get their claws on me.

Only after making it all the way to the rose field on the second floor did I stop running to catch my breath. Looking back, the chunky mutated rat was stuck and was digging furiously to reach me.

"Well, I hope you have the worst luck," I said to the giant mutated chunky rat and turned around to walk towards the dungeon exit, but then my eyes landed on the chunky rattus that I managed to kill, and I immediately froze.

The dead rat was still there, but along with it, there were nearly twenty—maybe more—forest rats all staring at me.

'Fuck, I forgot to use <lurk >.' Before I could regain my bearing, two forest rats rushed towards me.

I dodged their charge and punched the nearest rat in the face. Before I could follow up, the second rat attacked me from behind, forcing me to evade. 

The rats were pretty slow for my level; I knew I could win against these normal rats, but the problem was the large chunky rat clawing its way into this floor. 

If I didn't escape from the dungeon in time, I would become its meal. 

Also, I was feeling a bit groggy for some time, 'status' I mumbled to check if something was wrong with me.

Name: Ervin 

Age: 12 years old 

Gender: Male 

Level: 14

Class: Rogue (basic class) - evolve upon reaching level 20 

Ability: Prankster

Stats

HP: 24

MP: 15(35) *MP is less than 50%*

Physical attack: 35

Physical defence: 17

Magic attack: 15

Magic defence: 18

Agility: 36

Skills

Slot 1—Lurk (cost 2MP)

Slot 2—Poison stab (cost 3MP)

Slot 3— 

Slot 4— 

Skill points: 8

My MP was less than 50%, which means I can't just spam my skills to escape. I still try to use <lurk >

*ding*

*you are directly in front of the enemy*

*lurk failed*

'Of course I should have known, no other choice'

I curled my hand into a fist and rushed towards the group of rats, hoping to defeat them as fast as possible and escape.