Chapter 12

After enduring a staring contest for a couple of minutes, Issei decided to see how these things handled being on the receiving end for a change. He charged at the one on his right.

It roared and lashed out with its claws in an attempt to eviscerate him, but he was able to dodge most of them and block with the bracers that which he couldn't avoid. Sadly, it still managed to get through somehow and made him lose HP.

-45 HP!

Shit. That was him down to 110 HP now!

He lashed out with one sword and scored a cut down the Rat Ogre's flank, eliciting yet another ear-piercing shriek from the monstrosity. Issei dealt the crippling blow to the monster and it collapsed to the ground, leaving the last Rat Ogre to face him.

As expected, it decided to act exactly as its two comrades had and attacked with its claws and gaping maw, allowing Issei to cripple it in much the same way as he had the three previous Rat Ogres. He then killed the monsters by decapitating them.

You have slain a Rat Ogre! You gain 380 EXP!

You have slain a Rat Ogre! You gain 380 EXP!

You have levelled up! LV6-LV7!

You have 5 Attribute Points to spend.

[Short Sword Mastery] has levelled up! LV1-LV2!

You have slain a Rat Ogre! You gain 380 EXP!

"NO!" Farsqueaker screamed in denial as it stared down at the rapidly cooling corpses of its so-called 'pets,' "No! My best little pets!"

"Those are your best?" Issei called up at him, resting his blades on his shoulders comfortably, "Better see if you can do any better, eh?"

"You…!" Farsqueaker growled, "I will show you why no one mocks me!"

The ratman pulled yet another lever, which made him vanish from sight. Issei looked around nervously until he spotted a larger elevator being moved up on the other side of the arena.

"Oh c'mon! Not the old 'monster-from-the-floor' routine!" he groaned, "What now?!"

What emerged, seemingly in response to his question, was a Rat Ogre that made the four Issei had faced up till this point look like underfed runts by comparison. It was at least half again the height of the last one and the same wide. The muscles on the thing bulged like melons and one of the arms had been crudely replaced with a large lump of steel with one side sharpened into a blade. The head was grotesque, half of the skin and muscle were hanging off it, but the teeth inside the maw looked as sharp as swords and were the same size as daggers. Sitting atop it in a saddle/harness contraption was Farsqueaker, looking very smug.

Boneripper LV8

[Specimen 5584v1.0]

"Behold! My greatest creation…Boneripper!" the fat ratman declared squeakily, "He shall tear you to pieces! Die-Die!"

"This…might be somewhat troublesome." Issei admitted nervously.

"Boneripper! Attack!" Farsqueaker ordered, his whips lashing out to strike the Rat Ogre on its rear. With a bass growl, Boneripper started forwards.

"Crap." Issei muttered as he backed off. What to do? He squinted at the monster before he realised that it didn't have one of those machines embedded in its back. Could it not regenerate then?

'Only one way to find out.' he thought as he drew out one of the iron daggers and threw it at the encroaching Boneripper, embedding itself in the Super Rat Ogre's shoulder, making it roar in anger.

"Man-Thing, you'll have to do better than that!" Farsqueaker jeered, before he squeaked in pain as a flint dagger hit his muzzle, making it bleed.

"Looks like I just did!" Issei shouted defiantly as he threw another flint knife at the fat ratman.

"Boneripper! What are you dawdling around for!? Kill him!" Farsqueaker snarled in a rage after the Man-Thing, fortunately missed him this time.

Issei hurriedly redrew his steel short sword as the massive Rat Ogre drew closer. He dodged to the side as Farsqueaker lashed out with a whip, then he had to dodge again when Boneripper lashed out with its clawed paw, gouging a line of rock from the floor when it missed.

Issei counterattacked with several cuts from his swords on the arm that had just missed him before leaping back again to avoid another swipe from the sword-sized claws.

The Sekiryūtei grimaced as he saw that the black blood from the Rat Ogre was hissing as it hit the rock. Was it acidic enough to eat through rock? What about steel? He glanced at his swords and was relieved to see that there was no hissing going on there.

"Boneripper! KILL-KILL!" Farsqueaker roared as he attacked with his whips. Issei dodged one and cut the other down to size.

Boneripper roared, raised its massive blade arm and brought it down, aimed right at Issei. He leapt back, but the displaced air of the swipe sent him flying back.

-20 HP!

Warning! You have less than a hundred HP!

"OW! Dammit!" Issei cursed as he leapt to his feet again, "Heh…looks like you're in a bit of a pickle there."

Indeed, Boneripper's attack with its blade arm was so strong that it had gotten stuck in the rocky floor, much to the befuddlement of the dim-witted monster.

"Boneripper! Pull your arm-OW!" Farsqueaker snarled, and then yelped as another flint dagger landed accurately on his muzzle.

Issei charged in to take advantage of Boneripper's immobilisation. He hacked and slashed across its back and even cut off the beast's tail, which made a screen pop up.

You have cut off one of Boneripper's limbs! You have inflicted the [Bleeding] status on Boneripper!

With a roar of pain, Boneripper finally ripped its blade arm from the arena floor and whirled to face Issei with a growl.

'Crap. Looks like it's time to get serious.' Issei thought and called out, "[Boosted Gear]!"

[Boost!]

You have been affected by the status effect [Boost!]! Your power has been doubled!

The red fingerless gauntlet materialised and glowed red with power. Issei felt this boost more than the first two times he'd used the [Boosted Gear]. It was probably because he had far more impressive stats to double this time around. He mentally added actual jogging and weight lifting to his training schedule.

With a roar, Boneripper slashed at Issei with its blade arm. Issei ducked under it and struck at the part of its arm where the blade was connected to the stump of its shoulder with both swords in a scissor cut motion. His blades bit deep into the flesh, but Issei was forced to halt his attack prematurely in order to dodge the monster's teeth as it tried to bite him in half.

Farsqueaker lashed out with its only remaining whip, but Issei shouted, "[Parry]!" and deflected it, although it wasn't a classic parry. He then lashed out with his other sword and sliced the whip in half, leaving Farsqueaker all but defenceless.

Issei ran around the monster and cut several times with his swords, hoping to enrage the Rat Ogre to the point that it would use its massive blade-arm again. And, as expected, Boneripper roared and raised its blade-arm, bringing it down at Issei, who had already leapt back and driven his swords into the ground to not fly off like the last time.

"Boneripper! Fool-fool!" Farsqueaker raged impotently.

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