Chapter 4: First Boss

  Raiden was transfixed at the sight of this horrible new enemy that he had to face. This fight was going to be brutal. His chances of survival hung in the balance. The rat stalked forward. Streams of saliva dripped from its mouth onto the ground. It didn’t immediately charge straight at him to rip him limb from limb. Its gaze was cold, calculating.

  Raiden snapped out of his stupor and looked about, realizing that there could be more rats nearby. Raiden hopped up onto a boulder to get a better vantage point. There were no other enemies in the cavern. The giant rat suddenly sprang forward. Its feet pounded across the ground as it zeroed in on Raiden. It moved fast, much faster than the other rats. He hopped down from the boulder, his mind working furiously for a solution. The rat had its one good eye locked onto him as it weaved through the boulder field, bypassing the obstacles with ease.

  Raiden stepped out of the boulder that he was standing next to. The path between him and the rat was clear. The rat blazed forward, closing the distance with blistering speed. Raiden lowered his center of gravity in preparation for his attack. The rat hurtled toward him, its arms extended wide to embrace him with its deadly claws. Its mouth opened unnaturally wide, readying itself to shred his body with its massive teeth.

  As soon as the rat’s feet left the ground, Raiden dove to the side. His blade came up in the vertical position, and he slashed forward. The rat’s teeth missed his face by bare inches. His sword bit into one of the rat’s outstretched arms. Its momentum was finally stopped when it hit bone. Raiden was jerked back as the rest of the rat’s arm collided with him. After a brief moment of flying through the air, Raiden and the rat finally hit the ground. A searing hot pain lanced through his torso. His whole world went white. He inhaled, but nothing happened. His chest was locked up; all the wind had been knocked out of him. He was lying partially under the rat’s outstretched arm. A bony spike from the rat had punctured through his breastplate and jutted into his abdomen.

  The rat stirred as it lifted itself up off the ground. Raiden somehow managed to keep his grip on the hilt of the sword. He was still struggling to move as the rat leered at him with its one good eye, reveling in its victory. Saliva poured onto Raiden’s face as its jaws opened wide once more.

  I can’t die like this.

  Raiden pulled his left arm towards him as he aimed his mana gun at what he thought was the rat’s face, unable to use the gun’s sights from his position. A mana explosion erupted, and Raiden’s vision went white once again. For a moment, he thought the rat had clamped down onto his head with its massive jaws and that he was dead. Instead, his vision cleared, and he saw the rat flailing backwards as a spray of shattered teeth and blood erupted from its mouth. He quickly rolled away and got to his feet while forcing his lungs to work, demanding that they open. They finally yielded to his commands. With stuttering breaths, he fumbled his way into the boulder field. The rat gave out a deafening roar and scrambled after him. He looked back to see one of its arms hanging loosely at its side as it came at him with its other three good legs. The rat was still incredibly fast, though. After a few steps, the rat almost caught him.

  After passing a medium sized boulder, he dove to the side, doing a somersault. Hot breath washed over his neck. A loud snap accompanied the warm breath as the rat’s jaws closed shut, barely missing him. It crashed to the ground, and Raiden followed suit as he hit the dirt.

  The rat began its pursuit once more. Raiden weaved in and out of the boulders, using them as a barrier between him and his pursuer. With only one good front leg, the boss couldn’t change direction easily and had a hard time maintaining balance when it did so. Raiden used that to his advantage as he circled around.

  His insides hurt terribly from his puncture wound, but he forced himself to continue on. The giant rat closed in on him once more and lunged. He dove to the side, avoiding its jaws, but soon found himself flung in a different direction. The rat’s tail whipped out, catching him across the chest and flinging him a dozen feet away.

  Raiden felt bone jarring agony erupt in his torso as bones broke. He crawled onto his hands and feet, once again struggling for air. He looked down only long enough to assess the damage. The breastplate had been partially caved in when the rat’s tail had struck it. A crunch resounded from not too far away as the rat made its own crash landing.

  Raiden’s limbs were weak. He was struggling to draw breath. He wouldn’t be able to outrun the rat anymore, wounded as he was. The wound on his side was bleeding continuously, and he could feel himself getting weaker. As the rat got up, it looked at him. Its gaze was full of hate. The beast gave an expression that promised revenge for what Raiden had done to it. It had a hole in the side of its face where bone, flesh, and teeth were missing from when Raiden had hit it with his mana pistol earlier.

  Raiden stood there, resolute, ready for his death. The rat still had plenty of strength to rip him to pieces, and he was on his last legs. He pierced his blade into the ground to keep himself upright as he returned the rat’s gaze evenly.

  The rat began moving in his direction once again, and Raiden readied himself. It was then that the excruciating pain struck once more. A burning sensation in his chest that felt like his very being, both body and soul, was on fire. He felt like he would split apart at the seams, as if he would explode into infinite pieces. He held on to the pain. For him, time seemed to stop. The pain seemed to last forever, burning away at his very essence. But still, he held on, refusing to let unconsciousness and death claim him.

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  As his consciousness floated in and out of lucidity, he could see flickering images of the giant rat moving closer, crawling forward as if in slow motion. The pain finally climaxed after what seemed like an eternity. And inside, Raiden screamed. But still, he didn’t let go. He would fight until the very end.

  It was then that something inside of him resonated, as a piece of himself fell into place. Time began to speed back up to its normal flow in his perception. The unbearable pain subsided, and in its place, a newfound energy coursed through his veins.

  In the blink of an eye, he was back in the present. The giant rat was mere feet away. Acting on instinct, Raiden jumped to the side. His legs, which had barely been able to hold him on his feet before, burst with energy as they propelled him away from the rat. He watched the rat sail by, its one good eye giving off the impression of being shocked as the giant monster continued on past him.

  Raiden hit the ground and rolled to his feet, amazed that he was still alive. He had no time to ponder what had just happened as the rat quickly landed and turned around to face him. It took a few quick steps toward him, and its tail came across its body in a wide arc.

  Raiden held up his blade, unable to do anything else in time. The tail slammed into the blade. Instead of sending Raiden flying, he took a few steps back from the blow. The rat bellowed in rage at the ineffectiveness of its strike and stood on its hind legs. After it stretched its good arm up into the air, it came crashing down towards Raiden. He leaped backwards as the strike ripped through the air and tore into the dirt where he had been a moment before. His leap had taken him far further than he thought possible. He adjusted to the increased distance and landed while maintaining his balance.

  He circled the beast, sprinting around it and weaving through the boulders. He was moving much faster than his normal limits and had to catch himself a few times from tripping. The rat pursued him with just as much menace as before, and Raiden began to charge his mana gun. To his utter shock, he could feel the pistol charging rapidly. The mana in his body, which had coursed like molasses before, was now flowing smoothly, like water through a stream. Within a few moments, the pistol was charged.

  The rat was a few dozen paces behind him, and he slowed down, half turning to line up the iron sights of the weapon on the rat. When the sights were lined up, he fired, and a searing blue ball of mana impacted the rat in its chest. It shrieked in rage at the hole that opened up. Slowing down to take aim had allowed the rat to catch up. It was back in melee range.

  The rat whipped around to fling its tail at Raiden. He swung his sword as he ducked, deflecting the tail up and around himself. He stepped towards the rat. His blade slashed towards its torso. The blade struck true, and he hit the rat on its side. It raked its good arm horizontally to strike at Raiden in a counterattack, and he brought up his blade to block. Sharp claws met steel, and the blade sang in his hands from the vibration. The blow knocked him a few steps back, and he once again charged his pistol.

  The rat bit down at him, and he swung at its face. Not wanting to feel the sting of the blade, the rat jerked its head out of the way at the last second. He took that chance to stab deeply with a thrust into the rat’s chest. After delivering the blow, he retreated out of melee range. The rat, not wanting to let Raiden get away from it, charged towards him once again. It bit at him, and this time, the rat didn’t pull back as it committed to its attack fully. Raiden counter struck, and blade met teeth. Some of the rat’s teeth shattered at the impact, and Raiden took a few steps back to create some more distance. He aimed and fired his pistol again at the rat’s neck. The mana bullet hit a critical area. The rat reeled back and writhed in pain.

  After settling down, it came at Raiden once again. This time, it used its tail as it spun around. Raiden, anticipating the move, lined up his blade with the tail and swung downward with all his might. The steel cut through the rat’s tail completely, severing it halfway along its length. The rat hissed in fury. The savage beast came at Raiden once again after it had made its full turn. Its attacks were frantic and vicious. He blocked strikes from the rat’s claws as it struck out at him. When its face got too close or tried to bite at him, his blade struck back, repelling it and shattering teeth.

  He fired another round into its torso. The rat didn’t react to that attack, however, as it was already in so much pain from the other wounds that Raiden had inflicted. He continued to arc around, and the rat never stopped its onslaught of biting and swiping at him. At this point, the rat’s movements had slowed considerably. Its body was trembling. It was then that Raiden went on the offensive. He closed in on the rat. When it bit at him, he dodged to the side and struck deeply into its neck. A yank pulled the blade free. Then Raiden dodged as the rat chomped at him. Stepping forward, he let out a furious series of slashes along the rat’s face and torso. It only dodged a few of the blows, and numerous new gashes appeared.

  The rat was bleeding profusely and prepared itself for a final attack. It coiled its legs and then jumped so that it could impale him on its spikes. It sprang forward as Raiden leaped back out of its range. The rat landed right in front of him. Raiden surged forward suddenly and thrust his blade up under the rat’s jaw and out through its neck. It spasmed uncontrollably as the light slowly faded from its good eye. It continued to stare hatefully at Raiden until the life force finally fled its body, and it sagged listlessly. He pulled his blade free and sat on a boulder, exhausted.

  Raiden rubbed gingerly at the wound on his side as he sat there on the boulder. He was still bleeding considerably and was concerned about how much longer he would last before he passed out. The wounds on his neck and on his head didn’t help either, as those were both bleeding at the moment as well. The bandage on his head had completely come off at some point, and the bandage wrapped around his neck was barely holding together.

  Despite his grievous injuries, he flexed his arms and then his hands. A newfound strength coursed through his veins. He could feel the magic of the world, or mana, coursing through his body. It felt so much more potent than it had before. He had likely unlocked a class during the fight with the giant rat, which accounted for his sudden increase in combat ability. He wondered about what would come next when a notification window from the World Heart popped up in his vision.