Minutes passed, and the battle inside the Boss room continued. The Mutant Rat began to visibly slow down. Its breathing was heavy, its massive body covered in open wounds that continuously dripped blood onto the stone floor. Its lunges were no longer as fast as they had been. Every charge was now easier to read, every claw swing a fraction too late. Without its tail, the monster had lost one of its most dangerous weapons.
The three groups of Nagawira surrounding it began to fight with more confidence. Shields moved forward; swords stabbed in rotation. They no longer retreated every time the monster moved. However, that victory still came at a high price. Occasionally, the Mutant Rat's horn or claws still found their mark, taking down Nagawira who were too slow to react.
The wounded were pulled to the back, but there were no healers there. Some could only lie there, holding their breath until their bodies finally stilled forever. There was no time to mourn them. The front line kept moving, pressing the monster bit by bit.
On this side, the battle felt like heavy labor that was slowly yielding results. The rhythm was clear: advance, attack, retreat, switch positions.
It was a far cry from what was happening at the back.
Behind the barricade, the fight raged without any neat pattern. The two hundred Nagawira under Rose and Roady faced a never-ending wave of Giant Rats. There was no pause. No room to breathe. Every gap that opened was immediately filled by a grey furry body lunging forward with wild screeches.
Rose stood at the front line. Blood drenched her shoulders and arms—some belonging to the monsters, some her own. Her leather armor was full of tears, her breath was heavy, but her sword kept moving. One rat fell, another immediately took its place. There was no time to look back.
Here, the fight was not about grand formations or strategy. It was about surviving for one more second. Even so, Rose was still able to manage a small rhythm amidst the chaos. She rotated the troops' positions—the front line retreating briefly while others stepped forward to close the gaps. That simple method kept them standing, even though their faces were deathly pale and their eyes bloodshot from exhaustion.
Two battlefields raged side by side.
In the midst of that relentless chaos, a Nagawira resting in the rear ranks suddenly felt something was wrong. His body was still heaving, his hands trembling from fatigue, but his eyes continued to track the movements ahead. Giant rats kept falling one by one under the slash of swords and the bash of shields. By right… their carcasses should have been piling up, filling the floor in front of the barricade.
But the floor was almost clean. Only a few bodies remained—far fewer than there should have been.
His brow furrowed. He saw Rose take down a rat with one heavy slash. The monster's body fell with a thud—but before he could look away, two other rats appeared, gripped the carcass with their teeth, and dragged it toward the darkness behind the lines.
The Nagawira swallowed hard. "Why...?"
His curiosity overcame his fatigue. He stepped forward a few paces.
"Hey! Rest first! It's not your turn!" Roady shouted from the side.
But he didn't answer. His eyes followed the trail of carcasses being dragged into the dark corridor. His pace quickened, his heart thumping uncomfortably. The sound of battle behind him slowly faded, replaced by the sound of heavy, wet chewing.
And there, he saw it.
A giant rat... but far larger than the others. Its body was nearly as high as a human chest, its fur matted and darker, its back covered in old scars. The carcass that had just been dragged over was tossed before it, and the creature pounced instantly.
Flesh tore. Bones snapped. The sound of chewing echoed in the narrow corridor. The monster devoured everything—flesh, skin, even bones—leaving nothing behind.
The Nagawira froze. The large rat's body began to change.
Muscles beneath the fur bulged; bones creaked softly like wood being forced to grow. Its frame expanded bit by bit, its breathing grew heavier, while the air around it seemed to vibrate faintly. The torchlight shimmered strangely in its eyes.
The Nagawira took half a step back, his breath hitching. As the creature raised its head, its eyes glowed brighter than the other rats—not just with hunger, but with... consciousness.
A cold chill ran down his spine. Suddenly, he understood. They weren't just being surrounded. Something was being born in the heart of this chaos. And what he saw before his eyes was happening in four other locations.
Fear gripped him. He screamed immediately, warning Rose about what he had just witnessed.
Rose, fighting on the front line, paused upon hearing the report. She followed the direction the Nagawira pointed, and the sight made her gasp. Their time was running out. Quickly, Rose ordered one of the Nagawira beside her to report to Shiki immediately. Without a word, the Nagawira ran toward Shiki's location.
Behind the lines surrounding the Mutant Rat, Shiki stood calmly, her eyes following the progress of the fight. She intentionally kept her distance. To her, descending directly to the front line wasn't bravery—it was stupidity. Her life was too important to wager. Although she knew she was as capable of fighting as Rose, one small mistake was enough for the monster's horn or claws to tear her body apart. Better to let the others bear the risk, as long as the end goal was achieved.
However, the report brought from Rose cracked her composure. Shiki's face hardened. She immediately understood the meaning of the news.
The giant rats in the rear weren't just attacking blindly. They were doing something far more dangerous—gathering carcasses to trigger a mutation. The Giant Elite Rats.
Her mind moved fast, arranging possibilities one by one.
An Elite Rat was vastly different from the common swarm. The monster was strong enough to tear through a small line in seconds. In a top-tier dungeon like this, mutations didn't just happen; each Elite Rat required the sacrifice of over a dozen ordinary rats. If Rose's calculation was correct, the number of carcasses gathered meant... more than three Elite Rats might emerge soon.
Shiki's jaw tightened. This was bad. Very bad.