Chapter 11

Quickly, Issei ran around to the back of the Ogre, leapt into the air, drew back his sword and brought it smashing down on the machinery attached to its back with a yell. The steel blade cleaved the machinery in half and set off an explosion that sent Issei flying back into a wall.

-60 HP!

You have crippled the Rat Ogre! -70% Movement!

"Ow…!" Issei moaned as he shook his head to clear it. The Rat Ogre was slumped over, twitching, where it had fallen. The arcane device on its back was a melted hunk of melted scrap metal and plastic tubing.

Staggering to his feet, Issei walked over to it and looked down at the struggling monster before raising his blade and ending it by decapitation.

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

Issei cocked an eyebrow when no offer to loot came up. After recovering the dagger and stowing it in his inventory, he peered back into the Rat Ogre's former cage and spotted a chest, similar to the one at the entryway. Opening it, he beheld a circular item that looked suspiciously like it should fit the clasp of his cloak. He picked it up and placed it into the slot, making a screen pop up.

[Do you wish to add the [Eye of Obscurity] to the [Cloak of Obfuscation]?]

Y/N

"What does it do?" Issei asked plaintively.

[A part of the Unknown Set. Adds the ability to muffle sound to the cloak. (Does not include voice)]

"Better." Issei said with a nod as he hit the 'Y' key.

Effect added to [Cloak of Obfuscation]!

- Suppresses all sound from the user by 50%. (User voice exempted).

"Useful."

With that, Issei turned to the other two doors. He did not want to have to fight another Rat Ogre, even although he now knew how to fight the bastards. He was down by 145 HP as it was. He had to be careful as he only had 155 left!

"Let's see here…" Issei looked between the door on the left and the middle door, "The obvious location for a door to go onwards is the middle one, which is a clue that it isn't the way. So, left it is."

Thankfully, as the left-hand door clanked open, there was a conspicuous lack of Rat Ogre behind it, much to Issei's relief. He pulled his hood up and ran down the corridor, which was weird because his footsteps made no sound whatsoever. Talk about freaky.

Issei slowed down when the stone bricks around him turned into rock abruptly. This was obviously an older part of the dungeon.

Looking around, Issei spotted two more chests, on either side of a large stone door with the face of a large horned rat carved into it. Moving to the chest on the right, he opened it to find a plain steel short sword, basically the same design as his bronze sword. Hastily equipping it, he pulled up its stats.

[Steel Short Sword]

A short sword forged from steel. It bears no makers mark, but is in excellent condition.

Short Sword

Slashing Damage: S+18

Piercing Damage: S+14

Rather pleased with this prize, Issei moved onto the last chest. Opening it, he blinked as a pair of arm bracers, made of some kind of red metal, appeared.

Equipping them, he once again accessed his equipment screen in order to find out what it did.

[Bloodmetal Bracers]

Light armour made from Bloodmetal, the name given to steel that has been anointed with willingly gifted dragon blood and enchanted by a powerful magician. It offers decent protection for the forearms, but its true value comes from the effect it has on draconic abilities.

Light Armour

- Grants 15 Armour to covered locations.

- All [Draconic] skills gain +5 to their effects and gain 25% more experience while these bracers are worn.

"Nice!" Issei grinned, before a frown came upon him. If he was getting not one, but two cool pieces of equipment, that almost had to mean that the boss was behind that door. There was no such thing as a freebie in a dungeon, after all.

Drawing both of his swords, he approached the door cautiously and examined it for a way to open it. Seeing that there was a raised button in the centre of the muzzle, he pushed it with the butt of his sword until he heard a 'click' sound.

Issei jumped back as the entire carving of the horned rat leapt free of the door and spun around once, twice and thrice before sinking back into the door. The eyes glowed a crimson red before the door sunk into the ground.

"Ominous…" Issei muttered as he advanced into the room beyond the doorway, which made him gape as he caught the whole scope of it.

It was a goddamn mini arena, with numerous tattered banners hanging around the seats that surrounded the arena floor…where Issei was standing.

"Oh crap." he sighed as a high-pitched cackle arose from the large box at the opposite side of the arena from where Issei stood. Standing in it was the fattest ratman he had ever seen. It had a potbelly that made it look as if it was heavily and obesely pregnant. It also had four arms, both carrying whips, with the original two grasping the small barrier in front of it.

"Welcome, man-thing, to my arena!" it squeaked at him in a high-pitched voice at odds with its size, "Your death here will mean plenty of tasty data! AND your corpse will be an interesting dissection!"

Farsqueaker, the Grand Packmaster LV8

[Insane Genius/Cruel Experimenter]

"You can talk tough, just like Byral Warfang did." Issei remarked, "Can you match it though? He couldn't."

"Fool-fool!" jeered Farsqueaker, "Unlike that incompetent fool Byral, I take the leader's position in the rear! Face my pets!"

One hand reached out and pulled a lever hidden from Issei's sight, which made several pits open up in the floor even as elevators clanked their way to the top, revealing three Rat Ogres, each as large as the one he had defeated previously, roaring in bestial rage and smacking their talons against the cages that held them captive.

As Farsqueaker pulled yet another lever to release the monstrous trio, Issei was planning what to do. He had to destroy the machines that the three Rat Ogres had attached to their backs; otherwise they'd just regenerate all of his attacks. Problem was, he only had three daggers that he knew could pierce the thick hides of the Rat Ogres. After he had thrown those at the beasts, he was down to the flint daggers that could barely cut damp paper.

Ironically, he had at least ten of them, so they were a lot more expendable thanks to those two factors.

"Kill-kill!" the fat rat shrieked at his pets. They roared again and started stomping over to Issei.

'Why do these ratmen always have to repeat words?' Issei wondered absently as he flopped his hood down and took up a stance with his swords.

As the lead Rat Ogre leapt at him, Issei dodged to the side and slashed with both swords at the trailing arm, making a large wound that spat black blood out in a broad spray. Using the time that the monster took to howl in pain, Issei ghosted around its sides and smashed the machine on its back, jumping back immediately so that the explosion didn't knock him on his ass like it had the first time.

You have crippled the Rat Ogre! -70% Movement!

Instead of immediately finishing off the downed monster, Issei turned around to face the other two, who were now regarding him with something approaching wariness in their bestial eyes as they approached him. It would be tougher now because he had been moved from 'weak prey' to 'prey that has a strong bite' in their minds.

◤K◢◤o◢◤-◢◤f◢◤i◢

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