The desperate struggle of a dying beast is even more fearsome than that of a ferocious predator during the hunt.
Tyler’s three arrows had inflicted a mere 32 points of damage upon the Giant Carrion Rat. Once ignited, the demon would suffer an additional 43 points of burning damage per second.
In ten seconds, Tyler swiftly calculated the outcome.
If he could withstand the Giant Carrion Rat’s assault for ten seconds, victory would be his.
“Squeak, squeak, squeak!”
Alas, the four-legged Giant Carrion Rat was already faster than Tyler. Agonizing pain only served to further enhance its speed, closing the gap between them in an instant.
— 8 seconds!
Tyler had no choice but to raise his shield and brace for impact. With a resounding clang, he was sent flying once more. The shield cracked deeply, rendered useless.
The fractured shield fell to the ground, and Tyler’s left hand, which had barely regained sensation, was paralyzed again.
In a split-second decision, he ignited a smoke bomb at his feet!
— 6 seconds!
Amidst the thick smoke, the Giant Carrion Rat charged forward with a resounding squeak. Its keen sense of smell remained unhampered by the smoke.
Devoid of defensive measures, Tyler abandoned his guard, focusing intently on the red light indicators within his field of vision… and then, the indicators appeared.
(3…)
(2…)
(1…!)
Relying on the red light indicators to navigate the obscured landscape, Tyler seized the opportune moment to dodge the Giant Carrion Rat’s pounce with a swift roll.
— 3 seconds!
The flames on the Giant Carrion Rat dissipated the surrounding smoke, leaving only a three-meter gap between it and Tyler.
As the creature turned to face Tyler, preparing for another charge, it stumbled and collapsed.
When life energy reaches its nadir, any creature — irrespective of willpower — succumbs to weakness, unable to compensate for physical deficiencies.
In these final three seconds, the life energy of the Giant Carrion Rat flickered like a candle in the wind.
— 0 seconds.
With its life energy depleted, the Giant Carrion Rat could no longer support its own weight. It let out a soft, mournful cry before succumbing to the scorching flames.
— “Successfully killed ‘Giant Carrion Rat – Lv32’. Occupation experience +0, current experience 4200/4200.”
·
As the Giant Carrion Rat collapsed, so too did Tyler.
During the final, lethal ten-second struggle, he had forgotten even to breathe.
The experience of close-quarters life-and-death combat differed greatly from that of long-range battles. The putrid breath and spraying saliva of the Giant Carrion Rat were etched deeply into Tyler’s memory.
Today, a valuable lesson had been learned from the Giant Carrion Rat.
.
?Regaining his composure, Tyler gazed at the rubbish heap nearby, which was now ablaze at its most intense stage. 𝒐𝔳𝒍xt.𝐂𝒪𝑀
With a thunderous boom, the heap collapsed, sealing every gap and leaving no escape for the mouse demons within.
(“Next time I battle such ill-suited foe…I must be better prepared…”)
Tyler slowly rose to his feet, and at that moment, a blond hair fox girl burst into the area surrounding the rubbish heap.
·
“Tier-1 Fire Magic: Fireball!”
A crimson magic circle unfurled before the girl as she pointed forward. Moments later, a fireball hurtled forth, striking the rotting Giant Carrion Rat in its body, blasting it far away.
(“…Huh?”)
The girl was clearly surprised that her single fireball spell had “killed” the demon. As she stood dumbfounded, a young man approached.
“Emilia, what brings you here?”
The girl was indeed Emilia, the fox girl from The Quest Guild. Hearing the young man’s voice, she finally noticed the presence of others.
“You…you are…Banning…Sir Banning, right?”
Emilia recalled her initial encounter at the guild’s reception desk, then remembered the branch chief’s endorsement of the young man. She hastily added the honorific “sir.”
“Yes, I didn’t expect you to be a mage.”
Emilia noticed the blood on Banning’s clothes, apparently from battling the demon rather than being injured.
She also spotted a broken sword and a cracked shield on the ground. After a brief contemplation, she realized Banning had already vanquished the demon, and her fireball had likely struck its corpse.
“Apologies…I didn’t understand the situation. Did I interfere?”
“No, you arrived just in time.”
Banning informed Emilia about the cave beneath the rubbish heap and the rat demons, then made a request.
“Do me a favor – say you did all this, take all the credit. I want nothing.”
“How could I? That’s a significant accomplishment!”
“It’s fine, there’s no issue. Thank you, Emilia.”
“Wait…!”
Banning departed without waiting for Emilia’s agreement.
She pursued him for a few steps but abandoned the chase when she realized she couldn’t keep up.
Before long, the bounty hunters of Sunny Town arrived, having heard the news.
The impoverished area was ablaze, and everyone knew.
·
“Have you heard? Emilia, the fox-girl from The Quest Guild, is amazing! She single-handedly defeated the Tier-2 demon, the Giant Carrion Rat!”
“I heard! It wasn’t just one, either. They found more corpses at the scene. The difficulty of battling a horde of rats is on par with a pack of wolves!”
“I can’t imagine a girl fighting those monsters.”
“Didn’t you know? Emilia used to be a mage, working on quests with the branch chief, Sir Oleg.”
“Ah, that explains it!”
“…”
While dining alone at the Cat Girl’s Restaurant, Tyler quietly nodded in agreement with the surrounding chatter.
Yes, he wanted all the credit for the mission attributed to Emilia, and now his plan had come to fruition.
He initially intended to carefully shift the credit, but to his delight, Emilia had arrived at the scene, the first to do so after him.
Thus, Tyler’s task became much simpler.
He calculated that Emilia would accept his request:
First, due to their prior encounter involving the concealed Treant task;
Second, his mysterious background and good relationship with the branch chief;
Third, the influence of his level 9 Deceiver skill.
Combining these factors, his success rate was absolute.
Now, Emilia had fallen into Tyler’s trap, and he had prepared other subsequent “mechanisms.” To make Emilia fall in love with him and confess her feelings, Tyler couldn’t afford any missteps.
·
When Emilia returned to The Quest Guild, guild employees and bounty hunters alike surrounded her.
They praised her spectacular performance that day as if they had witnessed it themselves.
Emilia maintained her usual poker face, politely thanked everyone, and resumed her work at the reception desk.
Only Emilia herself knew the depths of her regret.