First real battle

Rat King, 80 centimeters tall, a thin body full of purple fur, its ribcage visible as it carried a bone it probably sharpened with its two buck teeth.

And then there's Takeru, 60 centimeters in length, black-scaled, blue-spotted, a somewhat confident snake.

The stare-off began, with each waiting for the other to attack in deafening silence.

They observed each other's every move until the ceiling let go of a single drop of water, allowing it to splash onto the ground. In that instance, they both rushed, ready to attack.

Woosh.

Rat King swung its bone with its long, thin arms, trying to hit the agile creature dodging to the right before circling around him.

Fast Strike!

From behind Rat King, Takeru aimed for its neck, launching himself forward like a lightning bolt. But without even turning, Rat King blocked the attack.

Takeru crashed into the bone before quickly jumping backward.

Damnit! I thought I had him. What the hell even was that move? It looked like he was trying to put his bone away in a invisible sheath.

As Takeru thought of his next move, Rat King lifted its bone from behind its back, pointing it in the air. A strange green aura outlined his body as green particles floating around him got sucked in.

In that instance, Takeru felt an extreme wave of pressure, almost as if his body was trying to sink into a sandpit. No... wait—his body was literally getting sucked into one.

He immediately used his skill.

Fast Strike! Fast Strike! Fast Strike!

He used consecutive Fast Strikes to launch himself forward to get out of the sand pit before he got sucked into the rotating ball of air in the center.

The pit was now between him and Rat King. Who turned around and started staring at him, Takeru took a moment to process what had just happened.

W-What the hell was that?! I almost died! A skill, I didn't know this freak also has skills.

He glared at Rat King standing there menacingly, lifting its bone back up into the sky. He knew what would happen next.

No! It's trying to use that skill again—Fast Stri... Huh!? Heh!

Takeru chuckled when he saw Rat King's skill fail, the reason being—the bone it held cracked into pieces, falling out of its hand.

I knew it! There's no way that bone would hold up when it was hit with Fast Strike!

With a smug look on his face, Takeru thought, I've basically won now that the bone's gone!

But he couldn't be more wrong.

There was no way that Takeru could have known that Rat King could use that skill without the bone.

With its hand raised to the sky and green particles entering its body, Rat King used its skill again. The pressure pressing down on Takeru's body instantly notified him of Rat King's attack.

Without a single thought, he used Fast Strike to dart closer to Rat King, moving past the pit in an S-shape.

Before Rat King could complete his skill's activation, Takeru stopped a few meters away from it. If he were to use that skill now, he too would get caught in it.

Heh! Try using your skill now! Takeru thought.

It glared at him, limply lowering its hand before letting out an ear-bursting screech.

Although Takeru couldn't exactly hear the screech, he could feel its intensity through vibrations. But that wasn't the only thing he felt—something was moving closer toward him.

The scurrying of multiple feet.

The Plague! He knew what was coming, and he didn't have any way to counter a hundred or more rats.

Rat King was also approaching him, waddling like a penguin, which was a stroke of luck for Takeru. Although Rat King's arms were fast, his tiny feet—not so much.

He used Fast Strike to move back toward the lake, trying to flee. He couldn't take on that many rats and, on top of that, deal with Rat King.

Upon slithering to the lake, getting in range of it, ready to cross the water, he stopped in front of it and looked down at his fear-struck face looking back at him.

Am I just going to keep running? How would that make me different from a coward? No! I have to fight... and become stronger and stronger and stronger!

Takeru turned around, facing the horde of rats and their leader running toward him in the distance.

His eyes flickered once before every emotion he was experiencing vanished. His mind was calm and steady. He glared at the army approaching him.

Adaptation: Vortex

Black Hole!

With his eyes locked onto the ground beneath the rat army, it began to rotate rapidly, getting sucked into a miniature black hole. The rats followed, moving with the ground before getting swallowed by the rotating hole.

Without a trace, they disappeared—every single rat except for Rat King.

Although it was only a miniature black hole, it was large enough to cover around twenty rats, meaning they never had even the slightest chance of escaping. Takeru's eyes widened—he didn't expect his skill, Adaptation, to be that powerful.

But.

There was no time to be awestruck. He still had to deal with Rat King, who was just out of the black hole's range.

And his skill began to deactivate as he felt the toll it took on his body. He felt drained, yet his mind was still strong, thinking of how to kill Rat King.

His racing mind slowed as he noticed his tail submerged in the water.

An idea popped into his head—ridiculous but plausible. To use his tail as a distraction by dropping it off. Literally.

In his previous life, Takeru had learned almost everything about snakes. And one fact he found very interesting was that some snakes could cast off their tails as a defense mechanism, similar to a lizard.

And now, he would have to do that.

He focused his tired mind, slithering toward Rat King, who just stood there in a fit of rage, flailing its arms around and stomping.

It's now or never, Fast Strike!

In the blink of an eye, he slithered past the giant hole in the ground that showed the aftermath of his skill. Before arriving in front of Rat King.

Rat King threw a heavy punch, cracking the ground beneath it into pieces, which Takeru gracefully dodged by moving around it.

Now was the time to enact his plan—he dropped his tail. Or... that's what he thought would happen.But his tail was still intact.

No! Why's it not working!? I thought... Fast Strike... that it was possible... Fast Strike... What should I do... Fast Strike...

Although Takeru was deep in thought, for some reason, Rat King's flurry of punches was slow—very slow. He realized this only after effortlessly dodging them, which gave him more time to think.

After a few seconds of thinking, he knew what he was doing wrong—he tried to drop off his whole tail when only the tip could break off.

Damnit! I can't believe I didn't think of this earlier! Okay... please work!

He focused solely on the tip of his tail, hoping it would work this time.

And.

It was successful—it just fell off, almost as if a sharp knife had chopped it off. It wasn't painful, nor did he feel any different.

That wasn't all that worked. Just like he theorized, Rat King turned his attention toward the tail, violently plummeting it into the ground. The plan only worked because Rat King was enraged.

In that moment, Takeru used Fast Strike to swiftly move behind Rat King, wrapping his body around its ankles, causing it to trip to the ground.

It fell face-first onto its stomach.

Now's my chance.

Complete Function!

His body began to extend as he coiled up Rat King's body, reaching its neck and digging into it with his fangs.

Venom!

The black fluid flowed from his sharp fangs into Rat King's neck as the beast squirmed and flailed its arms around.But it was worthless effort.

Takeru only tightened his muscles, constricting Rat King until its struggling completely stopped, its fingers still twitching.

Takeru pulled his fangs out of Rat King's neck, blood dripping from them as his body slowly returned to its normal length.

Rat King was dead. Its body now just waiting there for Takeru to consume.

"Hisssssssssssss!!!!!!!!!"

Takeru tried screaming in joy, but, like always, only hissing filled the cave.

Hahahaha! Hahaha! Yes! I did it! I won!

His tongue flickered out of his mouth, his eyes falling on Rat King's body. For some reason, it looked... enticing. Every cell in his body was screaming at him to consume it.

Without even questioning why he felt that way, he retracted his jaw, then unhinged it wide before swallowing Rat King in one go.

Its body disintegrated inside his stomach.

The moment he finished, a rush of energy flowed through his body, a strange mixture of warmth and cold.

His head flopped onto the ground as a familiar sound rang in his ears.

Wait! Isn't that the systems bell again! I thought it said that it would disappear?!

I'm too tired for this! So... I'll check when I wake up.

Yep... let's sleep for now.

______________________________________

Author's Note:

Rat King's Status Menu

Name: Rat King

Age: 5 years

Race: Jinxed Mouse

Species: Rat

Rank: King

———————

Author: A future auxiliary chapter will explain how Ranks work once the story catches up to that point.

———————

Skills:

Common: Sheathed Parry, Screech Alarm

Rare: None

Legendary: Vortex

———————

Rat King's Skills Description:

Sheathed Parry:

Blocks incoming attacks by creating an invisible sheath, but the user must perform the action of sheathing a blade. Can be used with any weapon.

Screech Alarm:

Calls upon "the Plague," aka the army of rats, by letting out a screech.

Vortex:

Summons a rotating ball of wind that digs a hole before spitting out sand that gets sucked back in, trapping the target and pulling them with.

———————

Author: Curious about Takeru's new skills? He'll break them down in the next chapter!

Thanks for reading!

Author Logging Out...