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Chapter 10
It wasn’t uncommon for a mentor to deliberately put a rookie Paladin in danger.
It was a kind of shock therapy to prevent inexperienced new Paladins, who were overconfident in their abilities, from dying in an accident.
Probably Gina did the same to put me in danger for this reason, but there was something she hadn’t expected.
For one, I had never been overconfident in my own abilities, and secondly, this level of threat didn’t really qualify as a serious challenge for me.
‘It would be a challenge if I had to deal with all of them…’
Even I couldn’t handle this many monsters at once in my current state, having lost all my powers from my previous life.
But I didn’t need to fight all of them.
‘I just need to take down the leader.’
The mission was an extermination type.
Ideally, you could wipe out all the target monsters, but simply defeating the leader to scatter the group was enough.
The primary goal of exterminating rat-type monsters was to control their population, as they reproduced very quickly.
Once the leader was gone and the group dispersed, they wouldn’t be able to focus on breeding for a while.
Also, when there’s a large group like this, other monsters can’t attack them easily. But once they scatter, other monsters can hunt them, naturally controlling their numbers.
‘The key will be identifying the leader.’
Seeing that there were more than ten shadow rats, the leader was probably an evolved form of a shadow rat.
Shadow rats have three evolved forms.
Which of these monsters is the leader would determine the difficulty.
‘If it’s a Specter Rat or an Obsidian Rat, it might be a bit tricky…’
A Specter Rat, which can move at high speed, or an Obsidian Rat, which can almost perfectly hide, would be tricky to deal with.
‘But if it’s a Dark Rat…’
If it was a Dark Rat, it should be easier to handle.
Somehow, I had a feeling it was a Dark Rat.
Gina probably knew the leader’s identity and judged that I could handle it, which is why she pushed me forward.
‘The nest is probably further in, right?’
Unlike the escape route blocked by dozens of shadow rats, the passage leading inward had very few monsters blocking it.
Some shadow rats were among them, but they didn’t completely block the alley, so I slipped between them or jumped over them to get through.
“Chik, zzzt!”
“Zzzt!”
“Chik!”
The shadow rats began chasing me immediately, but I didn’t stop for them and focused only on running inward.
“Move!”
Occasionally, shadow or shadow rats would charge head-on, but I dodged them rather than blocking or striking.
Although they were fast as four-legged beasts, my body had greatly improved thanks to the Strength Enhancement trait, so I could easily outpace them.
Finally, after running, I reached the end of the alley.
‘The rat hole… it’s over there.’
At the dead-end wall, there was a large hole, more like a dog hole than a rat hole, through which shadow and shadow rats went in and out.
The nest of the shadow rats was probably beyond that wall.
“Haap!”
Unable to crawl through like the rats, I climbed the wall instead, leaping up and over to infiltrate the nest.
‘There aren’t many here.’
Fortunately, there weren’t many shadow rats inside the nest—maybe just a few dozen.
Most were probably out chasing after me.
‘The leader…?’
Thanks to the small number of monsters in the nest, I quickly found the leader.
It was a massive rat, almost as blurry as the shadow rats but radiating a much more ominous aura, and it had a few shadow rats under its command.
The surest evidence was the faintly protruding fangs wrapped in dark magic.
‘As expected, it’s a Dark Rat.’
The leader was indeed the Dark Rat, just as I had guessed.
“Chik, chik!”
The Dark Rat noticed my intrusion and, along with two shadow rats as bodyguards, charged at me. I immediately assumed a defensive stance.
“Chik!”
As the Dark Rat and its shadow rats approached, it suddenly lowered its body, and the shadow rat trailing closely jumped toward my face.
I raised my Holy Steel Sword to block the attack, but felt pain in my ankle.
“Ugh!”
The Dark Rat had bitten my ankle while I was distracted by the shadow rat leaping at my face.
Thanks to my enhanced body durability, it was only a scratch, but that alone achieved the Dark Rat’s purpose.
The Dark Rat’s ability was the “Darkness Curse,” which robbed its target of sight.
Normally, being attacked by a Dark Rat meant the end of the fight. Once blinded, I wouldn’t be able to respond to the shadow rats and shadow rats swarming from all sides, and my whole body would be torn apart.
But even after being bitten, my vision remained clear.
‘Good. I can handle this.’
This was why I had thought a Dark Rat would be easy to fight.
A Specter Rat, fast and elusive, or an Obsidian Rat, nearly invisible in darkness, would be difficult, but the Dark Rat’s curse could be blocked with Spiritual Techniques.
I didn’t even need to use the techniques; my traits alone were enough.
Unaware of this, the shadow rats attacked me directly.
They probably judged that the curse wouldn’t last long since they only scratched me, so they tried to quickly take me down.
Tat-tat-tat!
Clack, tat-tat!
They ran without making their usual squeaking sounds to preserve the element of surprise.
“Haap!”
I dodged their attacks and moved through them, targeting the Dark Rat’s flank, and stabbed it with my Holy Steel Sword imbued with sacred power.
“…Chik?”
“Too late!”
The Dark Rat tried to dodge, but my sword was faster.
However…
“Chik!”
One shadow rat leapt at my wrist with its whole body, altering my sword’s trajectory and only grazing the Dark Rat’s side.
“Chik, chik!”
“Zzzt!”
More shadow rats charged, so I shifted my focus to them first.
It was tedious, but I had to deal with these first before taking down the Dark Rat.
If they had used their usual ambush tactics, it would have been annoying, but fortunately, they were all confused by their leader’s shriek.
“Chiiiik!”
“Chik!”
They attacked without hiding, and I easily split their bodies in two.
‘…No recoil at all.’
I used my high-speed Dual Sequential Strike to take out two shadow rats running at me simultaneously. In previous tests, a triple strike caused severe joint strain, but this time there was no recoil at all.
‘Shadow rats are dealt with…’
Only the Dark Rat remained.
I turned to find it, but for some reason, it hadn’t run—it stood in place.
“…What?”
Instead of fleeing, it just looked around nervously.
“Chik, chik…”
Its cry sounded fearful, and its limbs trembled slightly.
‘…Why is it doing that?’
I didn’t know why, but it seemed unable to escape.
‘Whatever the reason…’
I couldn’t waste this opportunity. I attacked, and the Dark Rat, unable to evade, had its neck cut cleanly.
“Chik…?”
“Chik…?”
The head rolled to the center of the nest.
“Chik, chik!”
“Chik, zzzt!”
“Chiiiiik!”
The rats scattered immediately upon realizing their leader was dead, and even those chasing from outside fled once they understood the situation.
“Phew.”
I watched the rats escape for a moment, then looked at the Dark Rat’s body.
It hadn’t fled while I dealt with the shadow rats…
‘Why was that?’
That made it easy to defeat, but I had no idea why it hadn’t escaped.
‘Hmm…’
While I was pondering, I sensed Gina approaching.
“Wow, I thought you’d give up when surrounded, but you even took down the Dark Rat.”
“The Dark Rat wasn’t much. So, did I pass the test?”
“Yeah, you did well.”
Gina, smiling brightly as if entertained, then suddenly asked about the Dark Rat.
“So, how did you handle the Dark Rat? It didn’t run even though it could have.”
Gina seemed to notice the odd behavior too, but I had no answer.
“I don’t know. I thought it would run while I dealt with the shadow rats, but it stayed right in front of me.”
“Hm… I see.”
She examined the Dark Rat’s body briefly.
“Hm… I don’t know either.”
In the end, the reason for the Dark Rat’s strange behavior remained a mystery.
“Anyway, this should be enough for the extermination mission, right?”
“Yes. With this nest destroyed, things should stay calm for at least half a year.”
“Then the mission’s complete. And now… it’s free time.”
Gina paused, then stood and approached me.
Then:
“Let’s have a… serious talk.”
She suddenly pressed her sword to my neck, a kind of threatening invitation to a conversation.
“Wh-what…?”
I sweat nervously and replied cautiously. Gina, unlike her usual lighthearted self, asked coldly and firmly:
“What are you really?”
“…Excuse me?”
I was too shocked to respond. She pressed her Holy Steel Sword closer to my neck and repeated:
“What is your true identity?”
“Roizen Harper, Third-Class Paladin?”
“And you’re from the Underlake Sanctuary?”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
It seemed Gina already knew I was from Underlake.
‘Maybe she guessed.’
Harper was a name used by paladins from the church’s sanctuary, so if I was a paladin from the Underlake Grand Temple, it made sense to assume I was from Underlake.
“Alright, then…”
I wondered what exactly she was suspicious of.
“What’s your connection to the Titan family?”
An entirely unexpected question.
