Chapter 56 Swords of Darkness part 1

Peter looks with great interest at the drama between two men of different world views, when the taller one says few words to a pretty girl wearing a fluffy white and black dress that has come with him, giving her a bow, quiver, two daggers, and a few gold coins. Afterwards girl departs, seemingly annoyed by his request.

A man who he met yesterday comes to him slowly, as if waiting for an invitation. His blue eyes are dull, while his legs walk towards them. Then those eyes come back to life, viewing all of Swords of Darkness.

Their armour is shabby and incomplete in comparison to other adventurers. The equipment is way worse than anticipated. Copper rank adventurers by rule are piss poor, but this is a new low. When adventurers are mostly known for their skills in monster extermination, like every profession they need to start somewhere. In reality, Copper Rank has the highest death rate, so one could think that guild would train their newbies to some standard before allowing them to take their first quest. At least this is a logical assumption, but reality isn't so bright. No matter where Lex goes and "experiences" such lack of care, unadalturated stupidity, or laziness, it infuriates him beyond measure.

Why give a fuck when it's easier to let them sort it out by themselves?

It always has been this way, and I'm not going to change it.

Why bother to waste money and effort on people who will die?

They are just a rabble, who is going to cry after them?

Don't worry more naive idiots will come to replace them.

A bit of his aura and mana leak from his body as strong emotions ravage his mind.

Nearby adventurers feel an ominous presence enveloping them in its grasps. The first ones to act are the platinum. Then, like domino effect others do the same, Many quick-witted adventurers specialising in close range, draw their sheeted weapons and carefully look around, trying to find a source of oppression. Before it could escalate, Lex cooled his mind by thinking about a few truly happy moments of his life.

In a few seconds, all of this passes away like a morning breeze. But adventurers aren't the ones to quickly forget. Spell casters cast low tier spells [Alarm] [Detect Magic] [Detect Presence] looking for any kind of hostile being. A few rogues run off from the building while others look inside.

The first to assume a battle formation is Manfred's team. He as tank on frond, to the side other fighter using a two handed longsword, behind them a battle is cleric in heavy looking steel plate armour with a shield and hammer, Archer/ranger of a team, at the back is a magic caster reading his stave.

When Chaos ensures Lex feels like a fish in the water and continues to walk

Demanour of slowly approaching man feels like he is proud of himself, or more sure of assured conquest. Heavy steps echoed through a hall full of the sounds of talking adventurers and the buzz of their armaments, giving a sense of rhythm.

Falsely making them believe that a man has perfectly adapted to life of an adventurer. Then his eyes looked at them from a closer distance

They especially focused on Ninya their talented mage

"Peter, are you sure that we should believe him? Those eyes give me a strange feeling, as if he has known me from long ago"

"I'm not sure either, but look at his plate its Mithril an elite, we don't have anything to lose"

"Did you see that girl? She was really cute. I wonder if she is a part of his team. It would be nice to see her again"

"Ehh… Lukrut, you are a lost cause"

"mmhh!" adds Dyne

When Lex came to them, silence fell. Now man in strange but alluring to their aesthetic armour, towers over them. Ainz, in his disguise as a Momon was taller than them, giving a sense of innate strength coming from his posture, increased by expensive looking armour. The man coming to them is even taller, combined with the fact that they are at the beginning of their journey as adventurers makes them somewhat impressed. Lex wears a mithril plate at the front, in place where front plate is the most violet, giving a striking contrast in colours. Green on the violet background seems to say "Hey look, I'm a Mithril Rank"

Silence breaks when Peter the Leader speaks first

"Hi Mr. Diethard, this is our Swords of Darkens, composed of me Pe- "

"I already know all of you…" Les points at them with his finger. "… Peter Mauk, Lukrut Volve…"

At the moment, he is pointing at Ninya

"So how am I called, Mr. Diethard? I think you didn't know it"

The gears in his brain work at full speed. Ninya is the younger sister of Tuareninya Veyron. In the novel, it was never stated how she was really called. Its probably because of her trauma of sister being taken by a local noble to be his plaything. Ninya has never told her true name or surname to her teammates. Probably because of this trauma, she is cross-dressing as a boy, or because of a comments from Lukrut about, how the women are dangerous things in a team.

'Tuare-Ninya, Tuare, for some reason it sounds similar to the zodiac sign Taurus, so maybe she is called in a similar manner….'

Lex looks at her even more, trying to guess her name

"I think this is going nowhere, I'm Ninya"

"No, you're not"

All of them look in confusion at Lex, While Ninya in particular has a bad feeling.

'Fuck it, let's roll with this'

"Your real name is…" he says making a dramatic pause to build up tension "… Gemininya Veyron, and your talent allows you to learn spells in half the time needed "

The rest of them look at Ninya not sure of his words. Ninya sweats a lot, and it appears that Lex has hit the jackpot. While being nervous, Ninya looks at him with a bit of fear in her eyes.

"How do you know this?! I have never told anyone this after leaving my village, and a talent too? Is it some kind of divination magic? What tier? Third? Fourth?"

Her stave trembled under her emotions. In some way Ninya fears that he will reveal her other secret to the rest of the team.

The rest of them are shocked by the sudden revelation, even Lex as he didn't expect his bullshit to work

"Now the easiest one" Lex points at a burly man with a beard. While they look at each other, Lex says

"Soberdick Morningwood"

Tension disappears when Lukrut begins to laugh. After Lexes successful guesses of Names, even Ninya's, he expected him to be correct, not to spectacularly fail.

"S-sober-DICK Morningwood, good one"

"I'm Dyne Woodwonder. You were almost righ,t Mr. Diethard"

"Just call me Lex. Well… I have mistaken you for a guy from Foresight named Roberdyck. It's probably because you are a timid guy, some sort of kind bear. Because of that, you didn't leave any long standing impression on me"

"oh, who was that Roberdyck?"

"A Mithril rank Cleric who was… is working in the Empire as a worker. Anyway, guys I'll babysit you for a day. The plan is simple: rats are in high demand, so we'll sell them to the guild. Any questions?"

Peter had expected something greater. Idea of Finding a mentor who would help him and others train to become stronger and then go on a grand quest, like in thirteen heroes. At the start, their leader was the weakest among them, but after adventuring together, he grew to be the strongest. He has assumed that it would go in a similar manner. Not killing some rats for one day

"Yes I have. Why not do something greater? Or at least different? Killing Rats is quite unheroic"

"Oh man… did you registered in guild literally yesterday?"

"…."

"It explains everything… I have bad news for you all. Being adventurer isn't anything heroic. In short adventurers are glorified monster exterminators, especially average ones. I can tell you about the future of your team. Most of you will climb up to golden rank, pinnacle of an average human, except Ninya. you should become at least platinum, because of your talent which allows you to rip through levels of mediocrity."

Under wave of praise, Ninya blushed

"I'm not that talented"

"In contrast to rest you are. In the bleak future, about two years from now. Ninya will outgrow you; the rest of you'll be a burden for him."

This idea has crossed Peter's mind.

1 out of 200 people is born with a talent, most of them are simply trash. Yet when a person is lucky enough to get good talent like Ninya, their future is mostly secured. Good training combined with a Talent and stubbornness makes miracles, added to that, a genius in a field of expertise makes people like Gazef, Brain, Flude Paradyne, or even the Golden Princess.

If Renner actually tried, she could easily rule over a kingdom. However Her talent to see the principles of a world and her genius-like intelligence made her go crazy. Loneliness and a lack of persons to speak on similar level, since childhood killed her sanity. Leaving only a broken shell of a person, she would grow up to.

In the matter of intelligence, most of it is genetic but nurture plays an important part in this as well.

Nurture and nature combined could make her the most intelligent being in the whole setting —

Yet the kingdom has failed her.

In the face of the truth everyone feels remorse. While the taste of lies is sweet, the taste of truth leaves only bitterness. Most of them feel bad, but seeing this Ninya tries to lighten the mood.

"I'm not gonna leave you guys. We all together make the Swords of Darkness, in the future, we'll find all of the weapons left to us by the Black Knight!"

While it worked, no one is going to argue about their future.

"This is the moment when I come to play"

All of them focus on Lex

"I'll teach you martial arts, and maybe something more. Follow me, we are going to the beggars district where is another entrance to the sewers"

"Mr. Lex, can I ask one question?"

"Yeah Lukrut, don't restrict yourself"

"Where is the girl that was with you?"

Peter is in quite a bad mood after hearing the words of a more "experienced" adventurer. Some of his biggest dreams were confronted and ruined by the harsh truth. While he doesn't completely trusts words of a stranger, he feels that they have some merit. Peter was never especially talented in any field be it arcane arts or martial ones. Deep inside of him, he has a feeling that all of these things will change and that his hidden talent will bloom. Stories of thirteen heroes inspired him from childhood to today; if he tries hard enough, it will work. He will be able to save innocent people from the fate of merciless monsters.

He lightly hits Lukrut in the back of his head.

"Lukrut, it's not a time or place"

"uuaaa~… Sorry"

Ninya and Dyne laugh at both of them.

"My plans changed. If not for better reward for rats, I would go help other girl in need. If you're curious, name of girl who was with me is Sara. I and Sara are our front line, there is another guy called Ludger who works as our Ranger. I told Sara that we'd split, and if the girls home was close enough Ludger would accompany her"

"So I'll see her?"

Lex nods

Lukrut instantly forgets about any kind of pain he feels, and eagerly says

"What are we waiting for? Let's Go!"

***

When Lex and company have left

one pair of brown eyes have looked at all of this time.

man to which they belong is backing off the wall

His armour is typical of an rogue. Hardened Leather made from some kind of large beast. Material of which Is definitely better than most of ordinary crafts sold in the Fortress city. It's a custom armour made to fit its wearer, enchanted by mages to increase protection and mobility. One thing is an eyesore, platinum plate in the front.

On his hip is a sheathed short sword, other scabbard is empty.

Man is toying with a dagger by balancing it on his finger. The edge of dagger is razor sharp, and the blade is larger than a standard one. His weapon is cross between dagger and short sword. When light falls on it, a green glow can be seen. One wrong move and, a man would lose a finger. When it appears that the dagger has lost its balance, one swift hand move and it's back on track.

Man is adept at handling his weapon.

"Maza did you see that? he has taken another bunch of newbies. And this time they have a magic caster. Isn't it weird? What he is doing with them? Making one big party with six coppers and one mithril? It's fishy at best"

"Maybe he wants to teach them a lesson?"

"When I try to remember, I have never seen him there. As a Mithril he should be famous to earn this status. There is no one, who cam reach this rank in one day"

"In other words, are you telling me that he is a fraud? I can see that"

"Before, I felt malicious presence. It was coming directly from him. In that moment, my talent warned me of him"

"So it's serious. Last time this happened, we discovered a monster wearing human skin"

A mage stands up from a chair. From a distance, keen eye is able to see a mage's tunic with many modifications. in some aspects her armour is similar to that of a comrade, but lighter with yellow stripes going across her neck, waist, and thighs.

She wields long stave with a crystal at the end. In the other hand, she holds a book. This book is thick, like a phone book. What's weirder is that the cover is made from green material. It's Mithril, when looking closer, stains from blood are easily seen.

"Where are those baboons? They always go together. We need to get moving after it, I'll use [Message] to contact them"

***

Lex and the rest are going through a beggar's district. It is localised outside of the walls, fortifications. It's a place where beggars, poor, cripples, unlucky and discriminated live.

In places closest to the walls are small crude wooden "houses" for the "richest" people of the district. The further you go the worse it is. On the outer end are many so called "places to live"

four long sticks with a sheet of cloth on top of them, "protecting" from rain. Shrewd ones even have cloth used as walls. More "prosperous" have even a modifications of these, with rooms for their closest ones.

Not that long ago, winter ended, and snow melted, uncovering the bodies of deceased ones, many of whom are rotting; others are better preserved, but not for so long. On this rare occasion few starving women and men are chopping carcasses far away from their homes. Parents are able to go to unsettling lengths to feed their starving children. What the eyes do not see, the heart does not regret.

Cannibalism can work in the short run, but the longer it goes, the worse it becomes. In the eyes of those people, it's better than dying from hunger.

What's intuitive is the make up of people living there. There are three races: Elves, Dark Elves, and Humans, others are half breeds. Most of them are humans

Elves are fugitives who have run from slavery in Empire and Theocracy. They surely would want to come back to their homeland. However, such a feat is impossible. Tight border patrol by the strongest human nation would make all of their attempts futile

Fortress City is a hub between Three nations Kingdom, Empire and Theocracy. Because of this with trade routes come slave caravans full of Elves.

Aristocrats from kingdom are known for their needs.

Halfway through slums, Lex stumbles upon a beggar, man in his early twenties with worn off clothes and even more worn off face. Beggar seeing him, assumes that he must be a rich noble with a pouch about to burst from heavy load. He begins to kneel on the road where noble would go.

"Can lord bless me with your mercy and gib me silver coin?" He makes a typical beggar gesture with a head looking down almost breaking his neck and open hands above his shoulder. He does it in a manner to not look upon the face of a noble to make him disgusted. Something about this gesture is unsettling, and in no time Lex will knows why. Man has only one hand. While one hand begs, the other stump tries to help hold potential money.

"What has happened to you?"

"Half year ago at the time of the harvest, I was conscripted to the army. In the battle with a soldier from… a fucking Empire, I lost my right hand. That day, I was ill-fortuned to survive and live another day. At this point my life had lost any sense. Could lord lend me penny?"

"I don't have any money"

man grinds his teeth while begging again.

"Please it's nothing to you, but a world for me. I haven't had anything in my mouth for the last fifteen days "

"I don't have any money"

man hears the same monotonous words of a man from higher strata. He hates himself for falling so low, to pray for the mercy of another person. However, he still does it, because he doesn't want to waste the effort his parents spend on raising him, their only child. He fears even the thought of it.

"I don't have any money" Lex says like a broken record.

"Just a single silver! It's enough for me!"

"Piss off"

Something in him broke, when Lex

"No! M-Merciful Lord, you have money! What is this thing on your waist? A pouch with coins. Show mercy, noble one!"

"There is no money there"

"Don't lie to me! Like others before you! All of you nobles are full of shit! What are you going to do with all of these coins? Use them in brothels and expensive inns? Give some to me, and I'll spend them well. Better than you"

"No, you know nothing about me"

"DON'T LIE IN MY FACE!"

Beggar stands up from his knees and uses his only useful hand to grab a bulging pouch full of money. While Lex stands there unmoving.

Upon snatching it, he feels the heavy weight of a pouch

'It's heavy, much more than I thought. Typical noble, only lies'

seeing that Lex isn't doing anything to stop him, and even better holding off his friends.

Man begins to open pouch using his teeth and hand.

'There must be 60 gold coins or even more'

In the grand moment of opening a fully loaded pouch, beggar feels amazing. The closest feeling to him is the warm embrace of his deceased love

His enjoyment of a moment doesn't last long. When he sees the contents of a pouch.

A small pebbles fill the pouch to the brim. He can't believe it. There must be something at the bottom.

He spills all of the rocks on the ground and finds nothing of value. No platinum, no gold, no silver or even copper. Only useless rocks.

Something has broken in him again.

"It's a joke? Did Our lives have no meaning for you? Our only purpose is to make you rich and get nothing in return… HAHAHA…. All of these years, I worked in the fields from sunrise to dusk. Blood that I have spilled in the battle, the pain that I have given to enemies of our nation. All of these are meaningless. All of this sacrifice was for nothing… I curse you, owners of land, In the future all of your servants will turn on you, and every bit of your bloodline will perish in great pain. DIE! DIE! DIE! NOBLE!"

Before anyone can make their own mind. Mad beggar starts to pound with a fury of hits and punches at Lex. From his skinny posture and atrophied musculature, no one could expect him to attack with such vigour.

He Punches with his only fist and slams with a stamp, all of his fury is concentrated on Front plate of Lexes armour. If he were a well fed and in peak condition with such fierce attacks, he would break both of his arms.

Barrage of attacks non stop land at Lex, but with every strike there is less and less steam.

Nimya shouts in the midst of action "We need to stop him" and proceeds to grab beggar by his arm, but before she can do it something else closers on her neck. A black gauntlet way bigger than her two hands. The more she tries to help the stranger, the more cold metal suffocates her. At some point she is lifted, while she stands on tiptoe, the closing gauntlet makes her unable to breathe. Upon realising it, she stops and looks at Lex with disgust. He lessens his grip and watches the rage of an oppressed commoner.

"Don't interrupt him"

After five minutes, place in between metal plate and a bone of a hand reminds nothing, all of the soft tissue and most of the bones are grinded off. Stamp isn't better. It's easy to see bones making a forearm.

With the last hit and breath, beggar ends his assault. He has died with the last punch, standing while fighting over what he sees to be worth it.

"Why have you done it? He has died because of you. If I could help him he would live. You're such a bad person! I hate you! If you are a noble then even more!"

"Who gives a fuck about your feelings? He has died while doing his best to fight against this cruel world. What a man I would be if I crushed him like a bug or let him live? He chose to die by his own rules"

Peter, Dyne and Lukrut can understand it in some way, but none of them is supporting Lex.

Then Dyne Says, while lightly putting dead body on the ground and closing his eyes.

"What are we going to do with his body? I can make small burial to make him go back to mother nature."

"No, the best thing we can do is remember him to the end of our lives. There are others who need him more"

"Don't tell me" Dyne looks with shock in his eyes at other residents of slums. They formed in circle around them. Their gazes leave only one message "Hunger". Starving people lust for the fresh body of one of them.

"No! We can't leave him there… it's immoral"

"Dyne as a druid, you know that in nature nothing goes to waste. Everything forms a perfect cycle.

When you take life to feed yourself, sooner or later you'll die, and then you'll be feasted on"

"It's true, but we're humans not animals. We have a sense of morality"

"If so, what did that man wrong do to be treated like trash? He gave his own life away in vain. He followed his morality and how far did he go?. In a sense if he followed his own heart he would go further and be happier"

Dyne didn't know what to say all of the odds are stacked against him. When he thought over it Ninya said

"Nobles, they are the root cause of his demise. It's all because of them. There are many other cases similar to them, like…. My sister, she was a beautiful woman and because of that a pig…. noble took her to his liking, He kidnapped her... after that, I have never seen her. Some of the nobles are the worst people walking on earth"

She has conveyed her true emotions into her words, gripping by hear rest of the team.

"That's why I want to become a noble. No one is bad at birth. They become evil after series of bad influences. Parents, friends, close background, social norms, amount of power in their hands, and more. My dream is to become noble and crush all of those evil people with my own hands.

Wield power so great that nobody could stand up to me. Push this god forsaken world into prosperity, or at least all humanoid races and some other sentient ones. Make the industrial revolution, increase the living standards of average people, not only the rich but also the poor. A Nation where such bullshits as starvation and nobles are past. An utopia cemented in my world view. I' won't accept any different outcome, even if it would mean my death"

They are shocked by his words. Lex is going against the world order, to them his ideas are as they are extreme as tempting. At some point in their lives, all of them have starved or experienced any kind of hardship from the nobles, small or big. Under the current order no commoner is fully safe from the injustice or tyranny of higher strata.

At one point Lukrut had enough of this talk

"Guys come on, we have come here to kill the rats, and now you're speaking about morality and other bullshits"

Peter feels the same

"it's not a place for a discussion…" His stomach growls "… we need to earn money to feed ourselves"

Party continues their walk, leaving dead body behind. People who encircled them made a gap for them to walk through. When they leave, starved ones jump at a fresh corpse, cutting it with crude tools, while others eat it on the spot.

Behind them is a scene of carnage that should not be seen.

When there is less and less meat, people begin to get violent. Stronger and less thin, use force to get more food for themselves. Starving parents can't resist them, but at the same time, they can't let precious nutrients go. Their children need this to survive. One of them has stolen a metal dagger. When one of the brutes doesn't look, he stabs him in the back. A vicious strike kills the brute. While others are terrified, the killer takes the body of a brute as his spoils, dragging the corpse to the house. This day his family would have full bellies.

Not long after from a body of a beggar, remains puddle of blood.

***

Not that far away from the slums, the second entrance to the sewers comes into view. The entrance is in a depression in the ground, drilled into a hill, with a large empty space at the front of it. A cave-like hole is narrow and short, Lex or any kind of person wearing a full metal plate would have great difficulty in moving through it, fighting in there is impossible.

Entrance to sewers was made in this way to discourage any kind of invasion. When a light armoured person would want to do it, he would be attacked by creatures living in the depths. In this narrow, moist tunnel is no place to make any dodge. No one sane would ever want to go in. Moist walls of the entrance are breeding grounds for plagues that come from the little stream of sewage fluid.

If someone used an electric spell it would backfire on them.

Air is dull and stagnant, making it hard to use the most destructive element, fire. A person would first suffocate before killing its opponents.

Using Earth element in this closed space is no no, that type of spells would block passage.

When trying to use summons only one medium creature could go at a time. Making it easy to defend legions of monsters with a few well-prepared guards taking turns.

Far away from the Entrance is a large boulder, and next to him is a girl with a short black hair and a fluffy dress. After going to Ludger, she became hungry and ordered a roosted leg of a small animal. When waiting for Lex, she had almost finished it. Seeing them coming, she quickly ends it, throws bone behind a boulder, and waves her hand to them.

Lukrut waves back at her with a pervy smile.

Sara seeing it instantly stops

When they are closer, she says

"What has taken you so long? It's because of dramamen Lex?"

Ninya while being conflicted, explained the event.

"He has killed that man, I could use [Cure light wounds] to save him, but he has stopped me…"

"Did you see how skinny he was? Only bones, he would die not long after"

Before they can begin to argue, Sara puts in her own two cents

"He has clearly gone mad, who would go after armour? I would go for an unprotected head. Lex why were you wearing a pouch full of rabble?"

"I wanted to lure thieves, and then catch them in the act"

"But why?"

"To extort money"

Everyone looks at him like at greedy scumbag. He didn't take into consideration that his imposing armour and mithril plate would deter any greedy person wanting to earn quick a buck.

Feeling their gaze he, changes the topic

"How long would it take for a Ludger to get back?"

"Sonia's village is located half a day to the south of the fortress city, she could go alone, but he insisted on going with her, saying that 'she is just a child, something can go wrong, I'll go with her' and so he did"

"That's our Ludger"

During all of this talk Lukrut was staring at her, his eyes focusing mainly on her breasts

"What do you want?"

"huh?! Hi, I am a Lukrut Volve ranger, and I was just looking at the high quality of your copper plate"

"High quality?" She looks at his own, it's exactly the same shape, colour and size.

"Mine has damage on the other side"

He turns back to her and goes behind burly Dyne takes off the copper plate and lightly slashes it with his, rusty poor looking sword, then goes back to her and shows it off

"See? Mine has a defect. Unlucky me, haha…. Do you have a boyfriend?"

She looks from a corner of eye at Lex, who is inspecting a huge boulder; something has made him interested in it, as he Is trying to take some measures.

"No. I don't have"

A stone has fallen from His heart; he thought that she was a sidekick of Lex. It's strange to him that Adventurer of so many ranks higher, would take her to a party for no gain. This revelation made him more sure of his chances.

"O, beautiful lady, would you want to spend an unforgettable night with me?"

She felt where it was going from the first moment of seeing him

"I hope that rats will rip you apart"

"How Cruelll~, I think it's a fate"

Peter has seen a lot of Lukrut's advances on women. One time, less patient lady got pissed off and tricked Lukrut into accepting his pursuit. Before making him open and delivering a kick to his groin.

After that, he felt pain for the whole week. He doesn't want his childhood friend to go through the same thing.

"That's enough, Lukrut"

While it's happening, all of them hear something heavy moving on the ground. That huge boulder is being pushed in the direction of the entrance. It looks to be weighing dozens of tons, the culprit is Lex of course.

All of them go to the back to experience a monstrous feat, no human would have that much pure force. Tales about thirteen heroes, evil deities, Greed kings look bleak, at least from what they know. What's weirder to them is that he looks fine, with no sign of doing it really hard. Just pushing his boulder, like a child playing with its toys. While Swords of Darkness look in awe. Sara has built up resistance to Lexes bullshits and antics.

"What are you doing, muscle-brain?"

"Didn't you see? I'm moving it"

"Daa~, what for?"

"I plan to use it as a blockade to decrease the number of rats being able to rush from the entrance, or at least slow them down"

"We have a bunch of people, it should be easy, I and Ludger were able to kill groups of rats, in complete darkness, on their home turf. In two, we now have six people. It should be easy to take nine or even twelve rats in one go"

When Peter hears that, his mind goes blank. Two people of copper rank are fighting a groups of rats, in darkness on their home turf. It sounds insane.

"Wait, how did you do this? How is it possible for a novice adventurers to do this? Giant rats are classified as an E rank beast with an 11 threat level. Because of their high agility, they aren't in the F category"

Lex halts pushing the boulder

"Sera, you and Ludger were able to do it cuz of my training and the fact that I taught you martial arts. You Peter where the fuck do you know this stuff? "

Peter's brain didn't register this fact. In his mind it's unreal. One of the prerequisites for advancing from silver to gold is the ability to use one martial art. For the average person, it takes one year to learn one martial art

"Excuse me, I must have overheard something, Mr. Lex. Have you spoken something about martial arts?"

"I taught them about two days ago"

"Whaaaaat!? Arts? You said it in plural?! How much time does it take them to learn?"

"Two arts in a day"

His brain literally melted. Has he met a genius adventurers at the beginning of their journey? Being mentored by an elite?

"Mr. Lex, how l-"

"As I told you before, call me Lex, no Mr. It applies to all of you"

"So… Lex, how long are you adventuring?"

"Two days"

Another bombshell has hit him. But this time, it's too much. How can one become Mithril in two days? It can't be true; it's too fairy-tale, even for a fanboy of the Black Knight and the thirteen heroes.

"Impossible, it must be fake. I can't dream about doing the same"

"Your dream is my reality. Sara, do I lie?"

"Not this time"

She prepares herself. Her aura sores as she uses martial arts to show off. [Perceprion] first green light envelopes her, and then [Evasion] second green light comes, usage of two martial arts puts great burden on her body, so she ends it as fast as it appeared.

In that moment when her aura left her body, Peter felt as if he was facing a superior fighter. That feeling passed away when she deactivated martial arts and hide aura in her body. In one moment, she was looking to be a normal girl, but in another she was a fierce veteran.

The others felt something similar.

Their mouths are agape; if it were possible, their jaws would fall to the floor, and their eyes pop out.

In no time, they look at Lex expecting him to show off, but it does not come as he continues to push the rock ignoring Sara's time like it was nothing special.

"ooo… Lex and you?"

"I'm not some monkey in the zoo. You only need to know that I'm way better than her. That martial arts are simple and easy to learn. When you think about it, most buffing ones are easy, even more if you know the anatomy of a human body. <ore complex are ones working away from the body like a sixfold slash of light. Martial art known by Gazef Stronoff or combination of talent and martial art like Nail chipper used by Brain Unglaus"

At this moment Sara is annoyed by being called a monkey and curious. Words of Lex are contradicting each other.

"Lex, that one time when you used two martial arts and destroyed a tree from afar, how did you do this? It was like 100m away"

"Simple, because of the unexpected reaction of the aura between arts and fact that I used brute force. It hit the target while flying quite slowly and after that attack, it dissipated into air"

"So Peter from where do you know this stuff about rats?"

"Receptionist has told me. Upon registration he explained basic rules and monsters/beasts that I should be wary of"

"Wait, Winia didn't say anything about that. She mainly told me that I can't start brawls and destroy the property of a guild. I need to have a serious talk with her."

***

While Winia is working hard behind a counter, her green eyes are focused on paperwork. Her long, well-groomed brown hair is made into a bun to not bother her at work. The clerk's suit is made to perfectly fit onto her body to not cause any inconvenience while moving and sorting reports.

When Adventurer comes to her to complete a mission, she welcomes them with an alluring smile.

Adventurer leaves with an even bigger smile, hyped up to take another quest, complete it and report to her.

It's one of the tricks of a guild to employ attractive people to increase the efficiency of adventurers.

While she is lost in her job a cold, northern wind blows in her back, making her shiver. In a moment, this feeling is gone, as she goes back to her work.

***

Lex has ended pushing the boulder, if moved by a meter it would eclipse an entrance ,blocking any light from entering the cave-like tunnel.

"Before we begin the hunt, I need to ask you Ninya"

"Yes?"

"I won't train you all for free. You're not a part of my team, and while I like you, I gain nothing from it. So I propose you a deal... "

There is a catch. Nothing can be gained for free. It is a giant chance for Swords of Darkness to go past their mediocrity. A chance in one of a million. They were ready for it, but how much is Lex going to demand?. It's a question on their mind.

"… Show me all of the spells that you know until I remember their circles"

Everyone is shocked, even Sara

"No! It would take you years to remember all of them, with my talent, it took four me years to the learn spells up to second tier. It took a long days of constant work to learn the simplest tier one spell like an [Alarm] or a [Magic Arrow] after this my head felt like it would split in half"

"Do you think I wouldn't know this? I have registered in the mages guild. A mage with depression working there explained all of this to me. I'm a beginner mage, capable of casting one spell. But at the same time, I have my own tricks. Let's make a bet. Do you know [Create Water]?"

A person capable of using martial arts and magic? It's unheard of. Rarer than a unicorn.

"How? Magic swordsmen are at the crossroads of both professions. When you train magic, you can't focus on martial arts and honing your body"

"That's one of my secrets. Are you in?"

Even though she dislikes him as a person, she is too curious to refuse.

"I am"

Before it, Sara adds

"Lex why are you so obsessed with this spell?"

"Human body can't survive in the wild without water for around three days. This spell has more applications than you can imagine"

"Oh~, Are you worried about us? Like those buckets full of water?"

"Just think about possible uses of this spell, it's Overpowered beyond measure and helps with traveling. Ninya begin"

Ninya casts a spell using her stave which magnifies her efforts. In no moment a magic circle materialises at the at the end of stave. While she tries to make it last longer, he observes it by coming closer, even kneeling in front of her. Their differences in height are too large to let him have clear a look.

Circle of a first tier spell is simple and complex at the same time. This spell has only one disc with strange engravings. On the inner disc are many strange geometrical shapes; the outer side has symbols.

He tries to remember as much as he can before pulling up a trick.

His eyes change from lively to dull, as if he is unconscious. He does it many times. At some point Ninya can't hold it any longer, firing a small stream of water on his face.

Lex shakes it off and says "Do it one more time, if not for me, too for your friends"

When a situation occurs Lukrut has a blast, almost laughing out loud. Others aren't better either.

Ninya blushes while being embarrassed as Lexes moist, handsome face basks in sunlight.

"Only one more time!"

She casts [Create Water] again, but this time she can't last that long. Magic needs concentration and Lex impacts her.

While his eyes do the same, she struggles to maintain magic.

In no time, he ends and stands up, and then her magic fires off. A stream of water lands on his groin.

"Well, well Ninya I didn't know that you were into a man"

Now everyone begins to laugh, Lukrut in particular is rolling on the ground, trying to catsh his breath.

"Nooo~… Noo~ it's not trueeeee" Her face is burning with red, eyes are watery. At some point she covers her front with hands.

When the situation cools off, Lukrut still Chuckles.

"Lex. Y-you are the funniest person I have ever met"

Sara adds "And the biggest clown"

"I'm hurt...

me clown?…

…...

…...

I'm the whole fucking circus!"

On this day Ninya felt like her childhood had ended. But the more she feared being exposed. She didn't know if he knew the truth. The potion of voice change is a perfect disguise.

While they were adventurers Ninya was hiding for more than a year. No one was able to discover her secret, at least when she was alive.

"Is Mr. Circus ready to use the spell?"

"See with your own eyes"

[Create water] he says while casting spell

Lex takes his arm forward, and the same magic circle activates and leaves everyone baffled.

Circle is the same as Ninya's

When a spell fires, it makes an even smaller stream of water, it's hard to see. The spell ends leaving Ninya confused

"Wait, has it made any water? I didn't see"

"It's because my affinity with water is shit. Watch now"

[Create Water] x500

The next magic circle is different. It radiates mana and otherworldly power. The circle looks like it's going to explode, but something is keeping it in place. When firing, water bursts from it with the power of a fire hydrant.

Ninya looks at it like black magic. Her world view shatter, all these days of hard work and sacrifices are worthless. When She sees that Lex is a genius magic caster… no, a god of magic.

She feels worse than a shit. Her talent was discovered not long after a noble has took her older sister away, she was called a genius, and her education in magic was sponsored by the Magic Guild. But before she could end her education, she ran to become an adventurer and save her sister. She couldn't wait when her beloved sister was used by noble.

She falls to the ground in disbelief.

'If I had this talent, I would save my sister after a few days… How can I make him help me? Didn't I say that I hate him?! But he didn't work for free….'

Ninya, with a corner of her eye looks at Sara. She is beautiful. After training in the unlocking of aura and learning martial arts, she has changed. She has become more charming. While Ludgers muscles become more defined. Sara has gotten more stunning.

'This option is closed too… Shit'

She hits the ground in defeat.

"Don't worry, I'm not special. I just have a better set of tools. If you work hard enough, I'll teach you a few tricks. So your dreams can come true. And way more"

When Lex takes his hand to help Ninya stand up, a ray of light falls on them.

"Can I become as strong as you?"

"No, but you'll free anyone you like, maybe a lady in distress?"

She looks into his pupils and sees a blue with a hint of black, as if a blue sky were being fogged by black smoke. In his eyes she sees her past, present, and future. In the last moment she sees herself, lying dead on the floor with a cut throat. Is it true or not? Her mind is playing tricks on her, or does he know everything?

"I believe in you"

She takes hold of his hand as he helps her stand up.

"Now that we're ready, it's time to kill rats. I begin to feel hungry. And when my stomach is angry, I'm furious. I'll train you after assessing your capabilities with rats"

***

While Lex goes through the narrow entrance to catch a bunch of rats, Swords of Darkness prepare themselves for the upcoming fight.

Their equipment is utter trash.

In the case of armour, no one is wearing any kind of protective gear. They are too poor for even a basic light leather tunic, Gambeson would be like a godsend. The same can be said about Sara, if she doesn't have any gear then she can wear things that don't restrict her freedom of movement.

If you compare swords at the beginning of anime and now, it's like heaven and earth.

Peter has only: wooden buckler, old jagged short sword and that's it.

Lukrut: bow and quiver with not so many arrows, rusted short sword that looks like it would break after one slash.

Dyne had a cool looking four sided mace. Now his weapon is a club. He looks straight up, like a barbarian.

And the Last Ninya, what's strange is that her equipment looks almost the same. She has the same stave, but her armour is worse. For a mage it didn't matter that much as she is on the back lines.

Ninya as the main brain of her team is responsible for strategy.

"So I have a plan. Rats are known for their agility, so we need to restrict their movements. Dyne you have a spell [Twine plant] that can bind them to one place allowing, for easy picking, How many times can you use it?"

Dyne strokes his beard

"If I use it to the point of exhaustion, I can do it…. Maybe twenty times? When rats are close enough, it can affect two at most. After that, I would need a long rest"

"So at most forty rats. Let's do something like this. I'll be in the back, Lukrut in the middle with Dyne, Peter on the frontline with... Sara and Lex? I'll cast [Reinforce armour] on our front line and then support it with a [Magic arrow] and [Earth Tremor]. Dyne will use [Twine plant] to entangle them. When situation becomes hectic conserve your mana for healing magic. Lukrut will support our front with a bow. Peter takes it on himself and…"

Ninya looks at Sara with a bit of unease, not knowing her fighting style complicates things. Experienced adventurer's have a sense that allows them to measure the strength level of a person. Be it a monster, beast, or other being, at least to some point.

"I know how to handle a spear"

"Spear can be behind the frontline, so while Lex and Peter take their focus, you can deliver an attack from behind their backs"

"No, I'll be at the front"

"Why? We already have a good vanguard. It would be safer for you to work as a -"

"How can I kill more rats than Lex when I'm behind him? I won't change my mind"

Ninya is quite worried about her. It's good when a person is motivated to fight, but too much courage can be hurtful.

"My lady, I'll be your spear and shield. I'll get rid of any dangers and you won't lose a hair of your head"

Before Peter can ridicule him, they hear squicking noises. Lex is coming from a cave-like tunnel holding two rats by their backs. The first thing they see are two beaten up rats, to be exact they have no teeth. Another strange thing is the missing top half of an armour. Why has he taken it off? They wonder

Dyne is curious why two rats are in this condition? Wasn't Lex supposed to test his team?

"Lex, can you explain why rats have their teeth pulled off? I think we can deal with them"

"Deal with them? They are a bait to lure a horde"

He is flabbergasted

"Horde? How much is it?"

"I don't know thousands? Maybe more"

Dyne swallows in shock.

"We can't do this i-it is too much for us"

"That's why I make an effort to get the boulder. When it looks like you're about to be swarmed, I'll block the entrance. Simple right? Fighting in controlled environment is the safest place to grow"

"Do we need to go to this extent to become stronger?"

"If you wish to collect the four swords left by the Black Knight you need to be fast. In one year, one of the blades would be taken by Blue Roses"

All of them have suspicions about Lex. It seems that he knows absolute everything, as if he already met them long ago. Their dreams and goals, Names and Ninya's secret. Now they doubt that his "mistake" about Dyne was true. This must be something like deception to fool them.

Peter looks at Lexes handsome visage and two beaten up rats.

'How did he even catch them?'

Rats are agile and careful Animals. Feeling creature way stronger, they would flee with their tail between their legs. However, he holds two by the necks. When Peter looks into their red eyes he sees fear. Rats aren't even struggling to escape, they have accepted their demise. Like a prey waiting for a predator to end the misery.

All of these points and many before, like action with a beggar, make Peter and the rest doubt Lex motives.

"How do you know our goal? We have never told you. Who are you?!"

In the meantime he gives a sign, that his party has prepared beforehand, it means "Be ready for anything"

When Dyne and Lukrut prepare, Ninya is conflicted. Who would be more important, her sister or her comrades?

At the time Lex is angry at himself for spilling too much. His first experience with Overlord was watching anime. As a kid, Lex was captivated by the story of a cool skeleton necromancer going on adventure. Ainz's and Nabe's first quest was to collect herbs, under a personal contract under Nfirea. There Ainz accepted the request to go with the swords of darkness.

For some unknown reason, Lex has fallen in love with Swords. And when they were murdered by Clementine he cried for hours. He has formed a weird parasocial relationship. Because of that, Lex felt unnaturally close to a group of strangers.

However, when fantasy seen on PC became reality, this bond was preserved until now.

There is nothing wrong with enjoying a setting, characters, and lore — until it makes his dreams never come to life.

Was Lex going to simp for Ainz and the floor guardians? No.

The same can be said about other people. As Lex feels longing for most of the cast. Should he offer them everything he can? No

If he compromises his dream of being an aristocrat, then he should join Nazarick and help them conquer the rest of the world. The easiest option

But wouldn't that mean he is a failure? Taking the simplest way of life without any struggle?

It didn't resonate with him. When playing or in real life, he always goes for the hardest difficulty.

Why settle for mediocrity if there is no fun in it?

He crushes the spines of both rats, killing them on the spot. Now lifeless bodies become twisted, rip, apart and molded under overwhelming force. Bones are taken out to make a sort of spherical cages.

Upon completion, he stuffs flesh into them.

These cages with flesh are made to lure as many as possible. Bones used as a protective cover should make them endure longer. If rats eat them in few a seconds, there will be no smell to bait the rest

Sudden violence makes them sweat. They observe and imagine themselves on the spot of rats, feeling the arctic wind run through their bodies.

In the end, Lex formed one normal and two lesser balls.

Then he throws two lesser balls into the entrance. The first one flies deep inside the tunnel, while the second does not. The third normal sized one is lightly placed before entrance like a sacrifice to the Divine.

At last, he pushes the boulder to block most of the entrance. Allowing only one hound sized rat to come through.

Then bloodied, topless Lex turns back to Swords and Sara. With an unsettling expression; he states:

"I've had enough of talking. If you survive, I'll reward you all"

"b-but -"

"Shh… Shut the fuck up. Can you hear that?" He takes his red hand to the ear, saying "Something is coming. Coming fucking big"

Before they can realise it a rumble comes from the entrance. Steps of countless little feet sound like a chaotic legion of marching soldiers. These sewer rats are more akin to a force of nature, but then it all crashes onto a magnificent boulder. Boulder shakes off rats like there are none. No matter how many ants try to move a mountain, it does not budge

Upon impact, a few rats shot out from the entrance under pressure, many of whom lost limbs in the process; others weren't that lucky.

Rats pour in one after another from a narrow gap. Seeing their crippled and dead relatives, hunger manifests in the eyes. In no time, they began feasting.

Swords look with horror at rats devouring each other. Before they can say anything, Sara comes forward with a spear in her hands.

"What are you waiting for? If we don't begin killing, they are going to flood us" and rushes at the rats.

Lukrut looks at the bravery of his "Soon-to-be girlfriend" and goes after her.

"I'll protect your side!" and fires an arrow at one of the unsuspecting rats. Arrow flies past Sara's, head killing it in one go. At the same time, he made the first kill, getting on her nerves.

"I wanted to take first blood!" She rushes at another rat, impaling its head on her spear in the same moment she swings the spear. Throwing dead rat at Lukrut.

He avoids it and sees her angry gaze.

"Ohh … I wish that was me"

Peter seeing the stupid bravery of them shouts

"Morons! Get into a formation!"

What surprises him is the action of Ninya and Dyne who go forward too.

Then Dyne looks at Peter

"Sara is right; we can't wait. Peter go to the frontline, show these rats where their place is"

The plan changed, but the principles are the same. Under the words of his friend, Peter rushes to the frontline

One of overly aggressive rats with rabies goes on full offensive and jumps at him. Peter bashes rat with a buckler straight in the face. Stunning it, and then delivers a devastating chop with a jagged sword, decapitating it on the spot.

When no one looks, Ninya concentrates, and then casts spell [Earth tremor].

[Earth tremor] is a First tier spell that makes the ground shaky in one place, making it difficult to traverse.

And when she uses it?

On the gap where rats come from. Slowing their advances. By making rats come slower, she effectively decreased pressure on her comrades by half.

Peter seeing this, can't express in words how lucky he is to have a talented spellcaster on his team.

"Good Job Ninya!"

He in his inexperience, looked at her creating an opening. A pair of rats sensed it and charged at him.

Rats as animals preying on the weak, can sense when their opponent is distracted. When they were about to jump, something weird happened. [Twine plant]

Their back paws were caught mid-flight by veins making them crash on the ground, alarming Peter who dispatched them with two chops.

"Peter! Concentrate on your job! Get your head out of the clouds!"

"YES!" This was one of those mistakes that could have cost him his life if not for his great teammates.

In the meantime Ninya was casting another spell. [Reinforce armour]

A blue light flared on Peter, and then on the rest of the frontline.

Deep inside his heart Peter felt touched.

'I'm so lucky to have him on our team'

He wanted to praise her again, but this time he didn't do it. He has learned from his mistake.

'I'll express my gratitude on the battlefield'

His will raised sharply as he struck another rat, making it dead.

***

When everyone was focused, Lex with a stoic presence looked at the battle.

Rats were clearly outmatched. Tactics, magic, and cooperation are able to triumph against a braindead enemy.

If rats were changed for wolves, it would be way worse. Wolfs are pack animals working in teams. They hunt bigger animals than themselves by using tactics. A pack of wolves separates the weakest member of a hoard by chase and provocation. When let's say, a deer is left alone, they encircle it and attack from all sides. Slowly but surely draining the stamina of its prey and then ending it when it can't defend.

All of these can't be said about rats.

Sara is at the forefront fighting against eight rats at the same time. When they encircle and attack her at the same time. She uses martial art [Evasion] dodging all attacks and slashes at them with a sword, killing four in one go. When rats are fearful, she uses a spear to safely kill them from a distance.

Braindead rats chose to take as their main target the strongest person.

Wolfs would never attack Male Dear in their prime. When provoked, deer would strike with huge antlers. Impaling many wolves in one go

' Maybe rats got dumber from incest? Who knows'

***

At some point, the battle comes to a stalemate. Rats are coming too slowly to replenish their numbers.

Many piles of bodies form, as the ground is coloured red.

It creates a cheerful atmosphere, after the beginning of a fight, it has become trivial.

The most winded is actually Sara, who looks to be mildly exhausted.

Others are fairly fresh. The stamina of a commoner is something that many nobles would be envious of.

However, it can't be this way. Lex wanted to make them all experience a phenomenon known as breaking their limits. People of the new world can do it when exposed to difficult or prolonged fighting, with a worthy foe or duel to the death. This phenomenon makes their brains go into overdrive, increasing their mental and physical capabilities. Former is accessible only to talented people, latter is mostly used by untalented ones like Climb.

Either way, he didn't see it triggering on any of them. If rats are too weak he needs to increase their numbers.

When no one expects it, Lex comes to the boulder and kicks it. Widening the gap by three times. As rats flood everyone panics

Ninya casts two [Earth tremor] one after another to slow down rats. When she does it, rats have problems moving as the ground shakes across the entire gap.

Now there are three times as many rats going through the entrance.

It starts to become tough for them. Tough, but still manageable. At one point Peter has a brilliant idea

"Let's kill them close to the entrance so they don't have to choose which direction to attack from!"

Everyone listens to him.

Lex mind is blown out when he sees an tactic old as time, The Spawn Camping

Lukrut and Dyne come closer to attack them in melee. Rats at the place where [Earth tremor] is cast can't make dodges and effectively attack, reducing their danger greatly.

Dyne slaps rats with a club like a real uncivilized barbarian, while Lukrut swiftly slashes

Ninya then buffs all of them with [Reinforce armour] and casts [Earth tremor] inside the entrance making rats come even slower

Lex is proud of them, and at the same time pissed. Now he knows that feels DM when players exploit the shit out of the setting.

In no time he knows what to do.

***

Peter chomps at the rats who lost their balance because of Ninya.

'It's easy picking' he thought while chomping at another incoming rat. When he kills it, its dead body is transported by other rats to the back. For what purpose? Only rats know.

One thing is unsettling for him.

When a rat is killed, his body disappears into the darkness, making all of the effort wasted. If they can't receive a body, there is no point. One rat is one gold coin and how many were killed?

He doesn't know — piles of dead rats are many and plentiful. There will be at least one platinum coin if no more.

Who would have thought that in one day, his team could earn this much money.

After this one escapade, they could afford better equipment. In one moment of respite, he looks at his worn-out jagged sword. His old weapon, in a sense comrade with whom he trained swordsmanship can't take it much longer.

But Then a sudden realisation comes to his mind

' How will collect their body parts when we are still under attack? ' He chops another rat and looks into the darkness.

This sight scares him

Countless red eyes look at him with a lust, lust for flesh.

If they retreat, rats are going to come after them. Then he looks at one small brown rat gnawing at the flesh of its fallen friend.

And then it struck him; if they retreated all of the spoils would be eaten by rats.

' So it will be for nothing? No There is Sir Lex right? He will move the giant boulder right?! '

"Give me a second; I need to look around"

"Be fast" replied Dyne Who is taking the job of two people, bashing rats left and right with a bloodied club

When Peter looked he didn't see Lex. Which scares him

In no time he goes back to the frontline taking the burden off of Dyne.

Then, out of the blue he hears curse of his friend Lukrut

"FUCK! My Sword Broke!!!"

Sword which was his only weapon left. A bow without arrows is worse in melee fights than a simple sturdy stick.

This makes one less fighter. Meaning someone needs to take the spot where Lukrut was. But there is no one.

A tight fight in close quarters is exhausting. At this point, everyone is struggling to catch their breath.

Stress and adrenaline in low, short doses are helpful in fights. However, long exposure has disastrous consequences.

Sara because of stress is unable to correctly breathe, making her natural recovery of stamina take less effect.

Dyne takes Lukrut's spot While shouting "AAAAAAAAA!" He slams the wooden club like a madman hitting and killing one rat after another. Like if a barbarian hidden deep inside of him came to the surface.

Is it an Effect of Adrenaline, something different Or both?

While Swinging His club, Dyne put so much strength into it that it broke. A Wooden club that killed over fifty rats suddenly broke. Rats saw it and jumped at him. Covering Druid deep in the stinky fur.

Ninya can't take it any longer and has begun spamming [Magic arrow]

"Die you vermin!" Circle formed and not long after [Magic arrow] flew at the rats. She can shoot only one arrow at a time, but it can pierce multiple rats. The arrow penetrates five rats before it loses its power.

However in a fight to the death, she can't focus properly. Every two spells she miss casts one.

It isn't enough to save Dyne.

….

….

….

Under great stress something changes. [Magic arrow] Two arrows fly from the circle stronger than ever before. Piercing seven rats. In one moment, fourteen rats are dead. Now Dyne can crawl from under the fur

To give him time, Ninya continues spamming. Hundreds of rats die under her barrage. Eventually Dyne with the last bit of stamina frees himself from a tide of fur. Then he sees that Ninya has passed out from overuse of magic, and he isn't better. As his mind goes blank he punches the ground.

….

….

….

Lukrut Sara and Peter are left to fend off rats. At this point, rats outnumber them greatly. What's worse they can't keep up the rate of killing with waves.

Three of them feel approaching doom. Calling it survival is a joke, more like fight against fate. Fate to die.

Even if they wanted to retreat, it would mean leaving people behind. Rats aren't picky eaters, they consume everything.

Peter is so drained that he wouldn't be able to outrun rats.

Three rats jump at him from two sides. He chops at the closest one mortally wounding it.

However there are two more.

When he didn't expect it, Lukrut slashed at one to the right with a half broken sword. It shouldn't be able to kill, but it does. Peter Bashes the other one with a buckler and disposes of him.

Lukrut backs himself onto Peter. Now Two childhood Friends Are protecting their backs.

"Peter…. I regret in life only one thing…. That I've never lost my virginity"

As Rats encircle them Peter Burst with laughter

"Lukrut, you will… never change… we -"

As Peter speaks, rats jump at them from all sides. In this last moment, all of his memories come back. Good and bad. Funny and Sad. Cheerful and sorrowful. When life flashes through his eyes he feels something strange.

A rush. It appears that time has become slower. When it happens, he feels euphoric, like the world is waiting for him to shine.

"We will survive"

He does a wide swing with an old sword, giving it all at once. Sword moves faster than ever before Slashing in half Over six rats. In the last moment before his mind goes blank, he sees Lukrut Taking out the rest. Two Friends have passed out at the same time.

***

Sara stands on the brink of her limits. Rats are unrelenting. When she dodges and kills four in one go, another eight take their place. But she is like a lone Stone on the shore. Waves upon waves crash on it, but she still stands.

Stone can withstand waves, but when a tsunami comes it is washed away.

From the Entrance Comes Grey creature It has a problem with a narrow gap for its size. But this thing has more intelligence than a rat. When rats want to come to feast, they push through a gap, but a creature blocks them.

In rage from being pushed, it turns back, catches unlucky impatient rats with its agile hands and bites the heads off. When blood squirts it takes headless bodies. Using the blood flowing from them to moisten edges of the entrance and the rock blocking its path.

It takes its time. Which gives Sara time to recuperate and end the rest of the rats on the surface.

When the Creature feels that the passage is moist enough, thanks to the sacrifice of several rats.

It pushes its fat body forward.

Sara sees a big Grey Thing trying to come to the sunlight.

At first she sees lower paws, then a fat stomach, then human-like hands ending with claws and last but not least a head of a rat with huge fangs and big red eyes.

Upon coming to the surface, an enormous Grey rat comes back on all fours.

Grey rat looks at the massacre of his brothers, feeling nothing, as if they were lower life forms. The deaths of Lesser beings don't bother it. When it looks at Sara, a lone fighter and more than that it is a human female.

It speaks with a low and squeaky voice

"Good-good. Human female-great gift to my father. He-he likes taste of hu-human flesh. In, in, in one-way or another"

Hearing it, she is disgusted.

"What does your father do? Eats trash and enjoys fresh waste in the morning?"

"BAD! BAD Female. DON'T speak. It, It-will ruin taste and humour of Father"

If she tried to taunt the beast, it worked. The big rat runs at her at a fast pace and jumps. Using a fat stomach as a battering ram.

She barely doges it, while making a counterattack at the stomach of a beast, the stomach of whom he is so proud.

She can feel all of the guts that are going to be flying.

However it doesn't come, sword deflects off the belly as if it has struck steel.

Grey rat lands on the ground unharmed. When a smirk forms on Rat's face, Rat begins standing at his back paws, when doing so he towers over her. Then he massages his fat stomach with great delight, even playing with folds.

"It-it is GREAT-GREAT blessing from father, Iron stomach. Be-because of it, I can eat-eat metal, stone EVERYTHING I want."

"Don't speak to me and just die beast"

This time she attacks with a spear, holding it in two hands. She plans to pierce through the skull to damage the brain.

While the spear is about to hit in the eye

Rat uses long claws. Trapping a spear in between them, shocking Sara with high agility and strength. She can't take the spear back, it's stuck.

In an instant, a long object like a whip flies at her side. It hits her, breaking a few ribs.

On normal occasion she would fly from such a devastating strike, but she holds the spear tightly. Spear a weapon wielded by her deceased father is too important to leave in the hands of a monster.

Rat sees that girl can't let it go — fury of whip-like attacks flies at her with a speed beyond her comprehension. Striking her on the other side, breaking another ribs. Then it goes for the legs.

Whip thorns her dress and parts of the skin on her tights.

When it feels like it never happened, attacks stop.

It can't damage her too much, or she will die not soon after.

Rat looks at the beaten girl with hunger.

This exercise made him peckish.

When their gazes collide she misinterprets it as a look of lust.

The same look who has a man brutally mishandling her mother. In midst of rage her eyes ignite with fire.

"Father-Fucker I'll kill you!"

It pissed off the beast enormously. Strict hierarchy of father children and the basic rule of the strongest rules — make it boil with anger.

To teach the girl how to behave, it readies a weapon. Whip flies faster and stronger than ever, the intent is clear. To break bones in arms and legs.

When Grey Rat hears the sound of broken bones and cut flesh it knows how much damage the target has received.

However, something is strange… why does he feel pain?

When it looks, everything becomes clear his tail... part of it is missing.

***

Sara in a moment of attack experienced breaking the limits.

When the tail wasn't that fast like before she could react with the sword.

First, she blocked the tail with the flat side of the blade while using her own strength to slam it, breaking bones. Dangerous move, if not for the good quality of a sword it would break.

Then she slashed not short after cutting the tail in half.

When Rat was distracted she ran to him, leaving the spear behind.

As soon as Rat got himself together he saw the girl being dangerously close and slashed at her with claws.

[Evasion]

She dodged it with a use the martial art and ran to him even closer. Rat tried to fight her off , but every one of his attacks missed.

When they were at close range, she jumped at his fat stomach. Stomach while being as hard as steel was elastic. Using it like a trampoline she soars like an eagle and them descended at his back like an angel of death. On his back she used sword to cut rat's throat — one hand was not enough, so she grabbed the edge and began to pull the blade to herself.

The rat began to panic and attempted to use its claws to cut her, but it couldn't.

In an act of desperation, the grey rat used its damaged tail to strike her back.

Now it was a battle of constitution. Who can survive longer?

While tail began to strike hurting her back. She pulled blade with all of the strength

However the flesh of a beast is tough, and her stamina is almost nonexistent.

In a matter of seconds it becomes clear who is the winner

The Grey rat.

Human back is protected by many layers of muscles, but the rat at the moment was fighting for its life. Nothing is more important than his life, not even his father.

Each attack of the tail devastated Sara's back reaping flesh and muscles in one go. Which every slash her strength diminished.

When it was clear who the winner was

Sara's Grip loosens and blade the stops cutting.

Rat burst with laughter, This encounter will make him more cunning and devious. He learned that he couldn't be cocky while fighting.

It has never known despair or struggle because it has been strong since birth

When the rat was enjoying the moment of victory, something heavy hit the battlefield.

It was Lex, and while he landed in hero pose, the ground cracked and blood was blown away.

"Heya bitches I'm back. What happened…." He sees Swords defeated, "…. ohh, shit. While I was away everyone died… Sad, anyway where is she?"

Rat is baffled by the uncaring attitude of a random man.

"I killed her. To bad-bad she can't be used as a gift to Father, sad-sad"

"If it is true, then I'll revive her. She should be strong enough for [Raise dead]. On the other hand, your days are numbered, funny rat man"

Lex grabs the handle of a giant black blade. As a lump of metal emerges from his golden long hair, the rat looks with fear.

Blade length is over half of size of rat. In some way, it looks to be weighing way more than his fat body.

Even with a blessing from a Father its stomach won't withstand a little graze.

When the rat is alarmed, Lexes aura soars to the sky. He prepares one attack to end it all.

In one moment, the presence of man reminds the rat of a Father, but then it exceeds him.

2 Fathers...3...4...5…. and it still rises

At some point the rat can't tell how many times it overthrow his Father.

When Lex is prepared, His aura is like the army of a Fathers

The rat is petrified from fear. His animalistic Instincts tell it to run, but intelligence says "It is pointless"

[Focus Battle Aura] Aura condenses on the blade, changing its colour to black red, like dried up blood. The sounds of tormented souls come from the blade: "Come to us" ,"We'll become one", "Death is near"

Lex is quite confused, for unexplained reasons it has become more Edge Lordy.

When he begins to use [Void Cutter] he hears the yell of a familiar voice

"You Asshole" Then the blade at the neck of Rat hard-pressed it to the point of bleeding.

With a multiplied strength, sword cut the throat of a rat, and it won't stop until there is nothing in between. the blade cuts through flesh and severs the spine, and then it can feel the fresh air.

Sara was so pissed off at Lex, and him going to take her kill that she experienced a second limit break. Out of spite she experienced a near death limit breaker, decapitating a rat when it was petrified

When Grey Rat's head falls to the ground, Sara's body does the same.

Blood flows like a fountain from a headless body.

Which makes Lex ponder how it is even possible. But at the moment, he needs to help her.

Sara's dress is torn in many places, if not for her being injured, the brain of a person like Lukrut would be overstimulated.

Yet Lex doesn't care, rolling her at the front and assessing the wounds. They are bad. He needs to work quickly, or she will bleed to death. But they have wasted all of the medical supplies.

From what he remembers, Dyne had healing magic, that with a use of the trick he could learn [Cure lesser wounds] and then amplify it. Making it work like a higher tier spell.

He looks for Dyne, funding him at the entrance. Entrance that should be swarmed by rats, but it is not.

Rats retreated deep into a sewer.

'Maybe a Father has called his brood? If it can be said that way'

To be sure Lex, blocks the entrance with a boulder and tries to wake up passed-out Dyne by lightly hitting his face. It didn't work. So he tries a different approach

He murmurs in his ear

"I found Nyukuri, Ajina and Enkaishi. What are these for? I think I should burn them"

"BURN THEM!! …. Wait whot?"

Dyne Awoken like under a spell. His inner nerd cannot hear this heresy "Wasting these precious herbs under my watch? No more!" Druids are mostly the same, caring about plants and wildlife.

"Can you use [Cure lesser wounds]? I need this now!"

While being dizzy and drained, his mind doesn't work at full capacity, processing words slowly.

It irritates him, but it wasn't the time to waste on arguing.

"I can try…" he uses magic when, Lex carefully observes. Circle materialises, but under a second it shatters.

After this, Dyne passes out. The fight has taken a heavy toll on him, he can't focus while being mentally and physically drained.

"Fuck" he didn't expect it. When Sara's life is in danger, he is unprepared. If he didn't waste potions, it would be different. On the other hand, potions are less effective the stronger a person is. The higher the health pool the more low-tier potions it needs to fill, at least in game terms.

He didn't want to go for the last option

Option to burn the Flesh. When he concentrates his aura in one spot it fumes with life energy, making that spot hot.

While there is another one, it's too risky. Monks who use ki can heal people by injecting their own pure ki into a body of injured person. However, Lex is no monk and more to that he thinks that ki and aura are completely different things, working under an incompatible set of rules.

If that wasn't true Sebas, would be able to easily master Martial arts from the New World and become an absolute unit. With his newfound power he would become the strongest being in Nazarick far above Rubedo, who was created using a world item or the Caloric Stone.

In times of need he doesn't overthink it, going for the safest option.

While it will hurt and permanently scar her body, it's the only real option.

Lex feels bad for it, but there is no other way. He takes out a simple stick from his inventory, breaks it and comes to her.

Stuffs it into her mouth, and on the other hand rallies aura. A normal stick put between her teeth should make her not bite off the tongue, yet people from the New World would be superhumans on Earth. Her biting strength should be increased, but who has time to analyse such details.

Upon closer inspection condition of the back is even worse, the spine is easily seen. the good thing is that the spine seems fine.

At one moment he isn't sure that he can save her. By burning flesh, he would stop bleeding, but at the same time expose the spine even more and make it unable to heal.

When his hand turns red, he begins treatment