Chapter 25: 25

The Rat Paradise was an impressive dungeon in many ways. As the name suggested, this was a place where rats went to have fun.

“This looks terrible, like Europe during the Black Plague.”

Soo Ah-rin’s face distorted with disgust.

“I feel like I’m going to be sick.”

Soo Ah-rin added with one hand covering her mouth. She was in a precarious situation since she was just as tall as the rats in this dungeon. She tensed and crawled up Jung Si-woo’s arms the moment she caught sight of a rat squirming near her. She found his arms very comfortable and nice smelling, especially compared to this rat-infested dungeon.

“Do you see that?”

Jung Si-woo said, his hands pointing at the darkroom in front of them. Soo Ah-rin only nodded in response. Hundreds of rats hid under the cloak of darkness. Only their twinkling red eyes betrayed their nearly perfect camouflage as they waited patiently for Jung Si-woo to make the first move.

Despite their low level, these rats shouldn’t be taken lightly. All of them were monster rats created specifically to combat players. Their fear of humans was completely taken away from them, leaving the primal instinct to gnaw into anything that happened to wander into their den. This entire dungeon was crafted with the intent to attack players psychologically. But Jung Si-woo wasn’t intimidated by their number.

“You all look so weak. At least you’ll pop better than the slimes.”

“What are you talking about?”

Soo Ah-rin’s eyes widened. She didn’t like what Jung Si-woo had in mind. Without answering her, Jung Si-woo put the sledgehammer and combat gloves back in his inventory. He wasn’t planning on fighting the horde of rats head-on. The idea of Jung Si-woo being a pacifist avoiding enemy confrontations was something Soo Ah-rin didn’t expect to see in her lifetime. And yet, she was thankful he didn’t plan to face the rats one on one. It would’ve been suicidal to do so.

“Hold on tight. We’ll skip the small rats and run directly to the boss room.”

“What in the world — ahhhhhhhhh!”

Jung Si-woo didn’t wait for Soo Ah-rin to finish her statement before sprinting off at a blinding speed. Unlike with the slime dungeon, he didn’t need to use “War Cry” to get the rat’s attention. They were attentive, the complete opposite of the dull slimes. They rushed to him like moths drawn to the flames.

[Queek!]

[Squee!]

Dozens of rats burst to death under Jung Si-woo’s heels with every step.

“Bead! The beads!”

Soo Ah-rin shouted, reminding him of the items they needed to collect.

“Let’s collect them after clearing the boss room!”

Of course, staying behind to collect the monster beads wasn’t a wise decision. The moment they let their guards down, the rats would envelop them in a swarm of black death.

“The boss room?”

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Jung Si-woo’s battle strategy was the same as the slime dungeon. He would run around, stomping the lesser monsters to death, and rush to the boss room. There, he planned to use another quick attack to kill the boss. A bright idea sparked in Soo Ah-rin’s head. She poked Jung Si-woo a little to get his attention.

“If you succeed in killing them all without hitting them, you might be able to gain the nonviolent achievement! It’s because the battle sprint is a battle assistance skill, so it doesn’t count as an attack skill!”

“What’s nonviolent about what I’m doing? Isn’t stomping little rats under my boots violent?”

Soo Ah-rin made a reasonable point. Technically, they weren’t launching any real attacks. The rats were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.

[Blop!]

[Squeak!]

[Pop!]

As they continued to argue, more and more rats exploded under the force of Jung Si-woo’s steps. But despite the carnage around them, the rats didn’t flee. They pushed on, armed only with the conviction that they must eat the human in front of them. The dungeon floor was painted red with the entrails of the fallen rats, yet the others plodded on as if led by an invisible Pied Piper.

“This is starting to get dirty. There’s so much blood everywhere!”

“I know. That’s why I don’t want to come out.”

Nausea was starting to catch up to both Jung Si-woo and Soo Ah-rin due to all the blood that painted the floor. But they couldn’t stop now; they had to continue their attack. At that moment, Jung Si-woo looked more like a typhoon than a human being. He ran through the dungeon at such a high speed that his momentum generated wind pressure strong enough to knock back the rats.

“Look! A green one! It has to be an elite monster.”

Before Jung Si-woo could even notice what she said, he had already crushed the green rat. It was torn to pieces under the weight of his boots. The green rat was an elite monster that spread infectious diseases when killed, but at the rate that they were running, it was nothing to worry about.

[Battle Sprint skill has reached Lv7.]

“Alright! This is good!”

Jung Si-woo smiled. Again, everything had value. Leveling up his skill now was just what he needed. Each time “Battle Sprint” increased in level, Jung Si-woo’s speed also increased. But the best part was that it also consumed less mana. As he continued, Jung Si-woo started considering whether it would be nice to keep using “Battle Sprint” even if he was outside a dungeon. He would reach places faster, and at the same time, he would also be able to level it up again.

The dungeon was much longer than the slime dungeon, and the number of rats was much higher than that of the slime, but Jung Si-woo’s speed was only growing. Even the elite rats appeared one after another, then disappeared just as quickly. Soo Ah-rin finally gave up on pointing them out.

“Si-woo, there’s a forked road ahead!”

Normally it would’ve been dangerous to rush into a crossroad at this speed. But luckily for them, Jung Si-woo was skilled enough to shift directions before they crashed into a wall.

“You thought we were going to crash, didn’t you?”

Jung Si-woo teased.

“Ahhhhhhhhh!”

Soo Ah-rin was too busy adjusting to their new speed to respond to Jung Si-woo’s quips.

“Look at my drift, what do you think?”

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Jung Si-woo was steadily getting better at this. The more he ran, the more he understood how his muscles moved and how the mana in his body flowed. He had no reason to find any difficulty maneuvering even at this speed now. His newfound understanding of his body made Jung Si-woo realize something else. Before becoming a player, Jung Si-woo had been accustomed to living a normal life without mana for his entire life years. And now that he had a taste of mana, he could no longer imagine a life without it.

He spent a huge portion of his life training his body and mind, but it was only with the help of mana that he was able to break the boundaries that previously hindered him. He also recognized that his success with mana control was only due to his immense discipline, which he had honed at a very young age. It also helped that he was lucky to have received the “Battle Sprint” skill, the only skill he currently possessed that could match his body and mana output.

Developing that skill now made him understand more about how his body worked. It was like learning the root formula of mathematics in middle school and understanding all the ins and outs of the equations. He didn’t only understand the answers, but he also had the confidence to solve the problems in reverse order.

“Si-woo! Si-woo!!”

“Huh?”

Jung Si-woo was deep in such thoughts when Soo Ah-rin interrupted him, bringing his attention back to the dungeon they were clearing.

“I saw the boss room!”

“What about the other rats?”

“They don’t matter anymore.”

“I see.”

Jung Si-woo made a clean U-turn.

“Are you really going to keep on running like this?”

“Of course! There’s no point being this fast if you’re not going to use it.”

Clearing the dungeon as fast as they could was the goal. They could worry about cleaning up the rat guts on their bodies later after dealing with the boss. They soon reached the boss room. Jung Si-woo broke through the doors, announcing his presence with a loud commotion. He rushed through the huge cavity without slowing down his momentum one bit.

Hundreds of monster rats bigger than the ones they faced before waited for them inside the boss room. Each one boasted a size as large as Jung Si-woo’s forearm.

“Eeeeeek!”

Soo Ah-rin squealed at the sight of the horde of monster rats, clinging tightly to Jung Si-woo’s collar.

“Let’s go!”

Jung Si-woo screamed as he rushed to his opponents. The rats, in turn, rushed towards them. They squeezed and squealed against each other, trying to get a clearer view of the blood-covered human that entered their dungeon.

[Queek!]

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[Squeaaak!]

Jung Si-woo continued running towards the sea of rats, using his “War Cry” ability to respond to their squeals. The monster rats were bigger and stronger, but they were still not enough for Jung Si-woo. Dirty blood poured down in the boss room for a while before they finally stopped.

[Battle Sprint skill has reached Lv8.]

“Woo.”

Jung Si-woo sighed, happy the battle was finally over. After confirming that there were no more monster rats left, Jung Si-woo finally stopped and took a bottle of water from his inventory. He opened the lid and poured the water on his head to clear off some of the blood and grime that have begun to dry on him.

“Let’s not do this again, please.”

Soo Ah-rin begged him. It was a dungeon that both grew tired of real quick. While they were exhausted, the dungeon collapse began.

[Dungeon Clear]

[Time required 0:15:36]

[Defeated 6,853 black rats, 7 green rats, 5 speed rats, 3 acid rats, and 375 giant rats]

[Achieved special achievement ‘Nonviolent’]

[Additional Reward, Player Skill Acquisition – Living (Passive)]

[Living Lv1]

[The ability to naturally mix mental, physical, and mana abilities. Deals mental and physical damage against enemy units. Has the chance to kill enemy units on the sport if the level gap is huge.]

“You did it! You got the ‘Nonviolent’ special achievement!”

Soo Ah-rin cheered. Aside from the special achievement, the passive skill “Living” was also a very good skill to weaken the enemy. However, the problem was that Jung Si-woo had just acquired it, so naturally, it would be difficult to control at first. For the time being, it was probably best that he didn’t rely on it too much in clutch situations. But, of course, there was no denying that it was one of the best passive skills out there. It combined not only physical ability and mana but also the mysterious power of mental strength. If he could master it, he would be an unstoppable force.

Jung Si-woo closed his eyes and relished at the feeling of success. Just a few moments ago, he was still too forlorn from the battle with the armored orc that he had nearly begun to consider himself weak. But now, he had a new passive skill that could potentially turn the tides against his future opponents.

He smiled, imagining his skill sparkling like a star deep inside his body. When he finally opened his eyes, a new line of text appeared in his eyes.

[Clear Rank-EX]

[Additional Reward, 2 Hearthstones]

[Experience calculation completed.]

The experience he earned in this dungeon wasn’t enough to level up. Moreover, despite having a clear rank EX, he only got two Hearthstones as a reward, and there were no essence fragments this time. But despite the lackluster item drops, Jung Si-woo smiled happily. Getting a new passive skill and leveling up his “Battle Sprint” was enough to make the entire dungeon raid worth his time.

Jung Si-woo turned his attention to Soo Ah-rin.

“Let’s go; we have a lot of money and beads to collect from all those rats we killed.”

After a week, Jung Si-woo succeeded in clearing up forty dungeons.

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