Gratitude

[Giant Rat (Lv.3) has been killed!]

[Giant Rat (Lv.4) has been killed!]

[A member of the team has died!]

Cynthia's eyes went wide. She saw blood splatter everywhere on the ground. She had hit her mark, but did she also hit that player? Through the lens of her scope, she saw the player start disintegrating into particles. He left a single item behind, his pair of boots.

"I-I messed up…" Cynthia looked horrified, thinking she just killed someone. Her hands started to shake hard and she felt sick, like she would throw up at any moment.

"[No, he didn't die from your shot! He ran out of health from the rats attacking him just as your bullet impacted. I saw where the shot impacted, and it was nowhere near his body. You didn't kill him, so get a hold of yourself! The rest of the team still needs you!]" He was sure she hadn't killed the person she was attempting to save. The man simply ran out of health before Cynthia could help him. Her shot flew true towards her targets, and killed the 2 rats in one shot without hitting the player. While it was a shame that Cynthia couldn't save him, she couldn't let that fact get to her. It was only a game after all.

"Y-you're sure? I thought…" Tears welled up in her eyes, but she swiftly wiped them away. She had really thought that she killed someone.

"[Yes, I'm sure. Although you didn't save him, you also didn't kill him either. Calm yourself down now and help the others in need.]" Dags reassured her.

Cynthia closed her eyes for a moment, regaining her composure. When she opened them again, there was new determination in her eyes. Determination to help her allies and keep anyone else from dying. It was probably futile, and others would still die, but she would do her best.

"Fuu~, okay." She let out a long breath and brought her eye back to the scope, intending to see if anyone was in trouble. Although she could also shoot into the wave of enemies, it would just be a drop in the bucket compared to the people with the fast firing weapons. Since that was the case, it was better to just support the ones that needed the help.

The battlefield was alight with gunfire still. The flood of [Giant Rats] seemed never ending as the team fought off them all. As the bodies were piled up, they started to impede both the advance of the rats and all of the mercenaries' line of sight. The defensive line was broken up into smaller sections now, making it difficult to reinforce each other with the rats blocking the way.

"[There, in the middle, there's a group of 3 that's cut off and needs a way out. Support them until they can push their way out.]" Dags had noticed a small group of players that were surrounded and cut off from everyone else. If something wasn't done soon to help them, they would surely be wiped out.

"Got it, I see them" She said as few focused her view on that area. Rats were constantly pouncing towards the players, only to be met with a hail of bullets in mid-air. While they were ok for now, they would run out of luck sooner or later if they didn't find a way back to the rest of the group.

Cynthia saw one [Giant Rat] jump at their backs as they all turned to deal with a group of 5 attacking from one side. She quickly steadied her aim and fired.

[Hit! -41HP]

[Giant Rat (Lv.3) has been killed!]

[Gained 25XP]

The round sailed through the air, hitting the rear of the rat! Although it wasn't a perfect shot, the damage the N200 did was more than enough to take it down. The beast collapsed between the players who were finishing off the group of 5 rats that were rushing them, startling them as one turned around to check for more.

"Did someone prevent it from attacking us?" The girl asked, taking down other rats that were charging their way. Suddenly another [Giant Rat] was hit to her left, dying instantly. Through the gap, she saw more of their team that way.

"Ah! Guys we need to push this way! I see the others!" The girl player shouted at her teammates. They nodded and started to try to push that way back to relative safety. Three more times were [Giant Rats] stopped from attacking their blind spots, and they finally realized who was helping them.

"That newbie? They're better than I thought…" She gave her a thumbs up in her heart, grateful for the help. They probably would've been overwhelmed sooner rather than later if she hadn't given them an opening.

[Giant Rat (Lv.3) has been killed!]

[Giant Rat (Lv.4) has been killed!]

[Giant Rat (Lv.3) has been killed!]

[Gained 130XP]

[Level up! Lv.3 -> Lv.4]

[Gained 5 Free ATP]

After taking down that series of enemies, Cynthia had leveled up again. She didn't have time to mess around with her menus, so she ignored the notifications. After that last shot, her gun was empty. She reloaded her gun as swiftly as she could, taking a magazine out from her vest and replacing the empty one. With a fresh magazine ready, she went back to supporting those that she could. In the next 10 minutes she racked up another 7 kills on [Giant Rats] of various levels.

At that time, the rats retreated once again. This time though, an ear-splitting screech was heard, forcing everyone to cover their ears. The [Giant Rat Queen] was angry. Heavy stomps were coming from somewhere, but no one could pinpoint the direction as it sounded like it was coming from all the tunnels that lead to here.

"Everyone quickly reload, pack mags, and heal while you can! Scanner shows that the [Giant Rat Queen] is actually below us and making its way here! You have 2 minutes to get ready!" Darius shouted to everyone. The final boss was finally making an appearance after so many of its children had died.

"[Get your mags repacked. You only have a few rounds left. I doubt you'll be able to do too much to the queen because of the level difference, but maybe you can get through some of its weak points and do damage.]" If she could actually get through a weak point and use the [Sharpshooter] skill, he felt like she could actually do a sizable amount of damage with her sniper.

"Already on it. I really need more magazines when I get the money. Three is not enough for fights this big." She complained in her typical quiet voice. She quickly loaded up all three of her magazines, and assigned her stats while she had time. She added 2 to her dexterity and perception, and 1 to her agility.

[DEX: 10 -> 12]

[PER: 8 -> 10]

[AGI: 9 -> 10]

After doing that, she looked for Masterless Sword to see how she was holding up. Upon turning around, she saw her walking around the corner.

"Any problems?" Cynthia asked. She had heard explosions behind her at some point when assisting the team. She guessed that Masterless Sword got into a bit of trouble when protecting her back.

"A little. A bunch of rats came from elsewhere and were gonna pour out of this pipe. After fighting them for a while, the pipe got so clogged up with bodies that they couldn't come this way anymore. I set some explosives just in case to seal it off for good." She said nonchalantly with a shrug.

"Anyway, we don't have much time left. It's just about time to take on the big mama." Masterless sword readied her pistols and waited for the [Giant Rat Queen] to appear.

While Cynthia did her thing and conversed with Masterless Sword, Dags quickly went into his upgrade menu and bought [Magical Empowerment] with his upgrade points. While [Miracle] would be amazing, it wasn't super important right now since she wasn't yet level 5. The [Magical Empowerment] process would grant her up to double the damage when charged up fully. It was a bit expensive energy-wise, but he had enough to do a fully charged shot once. He'd have to give Cynthia a heads up when he used the skill so she could hit the weakest spot. Although the [Giant Rat Queen] wasn't shown in the Beast Compendium since it was a boss, he could guess where the weak spots were.

"Most likely the eyes, inside the mouth, and… the rear end." He hoped it wouldn't have to be the last one. He clenched his cheeks at the thought and shook his head repeatedly.

"SCREEEEE!" An excruciatingly loud screech suddenly blasted through the area as the middle of the floor burst open. Rubble and dust flew everywhere, obscuring everyone's vision. A rat the size of a double decker bus crawled out of the hole in the ground. Its red eyes gleamed with an ominous light as it cast its gaze on the intruders who were killing its kin.

[Giant Rat Queen]

Lv. ??

HP: 30,000/30,000