Ludwig had no choice but to sever the mana flow to [Bounds of Latvia], the chains dissolving into spectral mist. But he was still holding the Rat Lord firm with his Soul Shackles which wrapped rightly around the Rat Lord’s chest.
But that wasn’t enough, because the moment the Bounds of Latvia were removed, The Rat Lord’s nostrils flared in triumph – it had been waiting for this exact moment. With a thunderous stomp that cracked the dungeon floor, the massive creature jerked backward violently, using its sheer bulk to disrupt Ludwig.
For one terrifying second, the rat lord was freed from the chains, it then stomped its clawed foot on the trailing end of his [Soul Chain], pinning it to the ground. Before Ludwig could react, the beast wedged a cleaver beneath the links and – with a movement terrifying in its precision – jerked the weapon upward.
The chain snapped taut, yanking Ludwig off his feet and sending him hurtling through the air directly toward the Rat Lord’s waiting second cleaver. The massive blade gleamed wickedly, raised high in a killing arc that would split Ludwig into two unmatching halves.
Time seemed to slow. Ludwig could see every nick in the cleaver’s edge, every fleck of rust and dried blood. His mind raced through options, discarding one after another until only a single desperate gambit remained.
“Explosive Mine!” The words tore from his throat raw and bleeding. A single glowing orb materialized at his left palm – any more would risk losing control of his undead minions. With perfect timing, he detonated it just as the cleaver descended, the concussive blast intercepting the killing blow.
KA-BOOM!
The explosion lit up the chamber like lightning, the shockwave sending Ludwig careening sideways while the cleaver was deflected upward with a metallic shriek. But victory came at a cost – Ludwig’s left arm took the brunt of the blast, the rotting flesh sloughing off in ragged strips to reveal blackened and bleached bones beneath.
[-1,800!]
He hit the ground hard, rolling several times before coming to rest against a pile of rubble. His robes hung in tattered shreds, barely clinging to his battered frame. The system notifications burned in his vision like brands:
[Your ribcage is fractured]
[Your left arm is broken]
[Mana at 12% – Critical Levels]
From somewhere beyond the jolts of pain from trying to move his broken bones, Ludwig could hear the skittering horde drawing nearer. His remaining zombie rats were being overwhelmed, their undead screeches drowned out by the tidal wave of living rodents. The Rat Lord itself was recovering from the blast, its beady eye locking onto Ludwig with murderous intent.
“We’re not dying here,” Ludwig thought, the words echoing in his skull. ” Not to some overgrown sewer rat.”
Ludwig didn’t have to worry about death, he’ll respawn back at the top of the mansion, but he’ll have to do all of this again. He was not familiar with physical exhaustion, but mental exhaustion was different, he’ll have to grind for months to even be at equal footing with the Rat that’s already two thirds dead.
‘No, not after having come this far. It bleeds, then it dies!’
His hand waved calling forth the [Codex Necros]. The grimoire hummed with dark energy as he summoned it forth, its pages fluttering open to reveal the entry he needed.
“Tibarian Guard!” The incantation left his lips in a hoarse whisper.
For a heart-stopping moment, nothing happened. Then the air before him shimmered like a heat haze, coalescing into the familiar armored form of the Tibarian Guard. But something was wrong – the spectral warrior flickered like a dying hologram, chunks of its form dissolving into black mist even as it materialized.
[The Tibarian Guard was absorbed into the Umbra Malvolume Codex Necros via crude means. Its existence is unstable – it will be destroyed after this use.]
“Fucking perfect!” Ludwig’s scream was equal parts rage and desperation. But even a dying guardian was better than none at all.
The fractured Guard moved with surprising speed, intercepting the Rat Lord’s cleaver mid-swing. Steel met steel in a shower of sparks, the impact sending tremors through the Guard’s already failing form. Yet it held firm, buying Ludwig precious seconds.
His mana was trickling back thanks to the Bastos Wine’s effects, but recovery was agonizingly slow. Thirty seconds. He needed just thirty more seconds.
“Stall them!” Ludwig bellowed to his remaining zombie rats. The undead creatures threw themselves at the approaching horde with mindless abandon, buying time through sheer sacrificial numbers.
The Rat Lord, sensing the tide turning, suddenly disengaged from the Tibarian Guard. It began backing toward the safety of its approaching minions, its movements calculated – this was a creature that knew the value of tactical retreat.
And the fucker laughed, it laughed at Ludwig’s despair and doom. The sound of it was anything but human, it was more nerve-racking than the laughter of a hyena.
“Oh no you don’t!” Ludwig surged forward, his broken arm dangling uselessly as he lashed out with his chain. The Rat Lord batted it aside effortlessly, then did something unexpected – it spread its arms wide and began to spin.
What followed wasn’t just an attack – it was a whirlwind of death. The Rat Lord became a living blender, its twin cleavers extending its reach into a ten-foot radius of certain doom. [The Mortal Nullification Tempest] wasn’t just spinning – it was a perfectly controlled martial technique, each rotation building momentum with terrifying efficiency.
Ludwig backpedaled desperately, only to feel cold stone against his back. He was trapped, cornered against the dungeon wall with no room to dodge. The spinning death machine advanced relentlessly, close enough now that he could feel the wind from the whirling blades against his face.
Then – impossibly – the Tibarian Guard stepped between them.
What happened next defied belief. The spectral warrior’s blade became a blur, intercepting each cleaver strike with pinpoint precision. Sparks flew like fireworks as steel met steel a dozen times per second, the Guard’s form flickering violently with each parry. It was a masterclass in defensive swordsmanship, but Ludwig could see the toll it was taking – chunks of the Guard’s armor were flaking away like dried paint.
The Rat Lord was about to win, the moment it would break through the Tibarian Guard, Ludwig was about to become bone paste. And it laughed some more, sure of its victory, guaranteed of its win.
Ludwig’s eyes darted frantically, searching for any advantage. Then he saw it – a protruding stone ledge about fifteen feet up the wall. A plan formed in his mind, as if a devil had incarnated into Ludwig’s mouth, its undead flesh contorted into a wide skin breaking grin.
In one fluid motion, he:
Flicked his sword into scythe form
Slammed the chain’s end against the weapon’s pommel
Hurled it upward with all his remaining strength
The scythe embedded itself in the ledge with a satisfying “thunk”. A sharp yank later, Ludwig was airborne, hurtling over the spinning Rat Lord like some macabre pendulum. As he reached the apex of his swing, the scythe dislodged itself, returning to his grip even as he twisted mid-air to face downward.
“WEIGHT OF THE WORLD! SUMMERSAULT SLAM!” The war cry echoed through the chamber as Ludwig activated both skills simultaneously. His weapon shined in an unholy light as the combined weight of half a ton concentrated behind his downward strike came down like the reckoning.
The impact was catastrophic.
[Disruption! + Stun]
[-16,500 HP!]
The Rat Lord’s rusted helmet exploded into shrapnel as Ludwig’s blow connected with its skull. The creature’s massive form cratered the stone floor, its body actually bouncing from the sheer force before settling back down. Both cleavers flew from nerveless fingers, clattering across the chamber.
Ludwig collapsed atop the stunned beast, every bone in his body screaming in protest. The Tibarian Guard – now little more than a translucent outline – nonetheless drove its fading sword through the Rat Lord’s back, pinning it to the ground like a specimen.
Through blurred vision, Ludwig saw the approaching horde had overrun his last zombie rats. They were seconds away – a living tsunami of gnashing teeth and claws.
With the last of his strength, Ludwig raised his weapon in both hands, the blade trembling from exhaustion and pain. The Rat Lord was stirring beneath him, its beady eyes regaining focus.
The rat lord’s face was no longer laughing, it was in pain, fear and despair as the Undead above it seemed to want nothing more than its life, it tried to scrape away and escape but the Tibarian Guard’s sword was pinning it down.
Doom, death and despair were now placed perfectly on the face of the Rat Lord, for it knew, after today it’ll be no more.
“YOU LAUGHED?! NOW TELL ME! HOW DOES IT FEEL?!” He hollered.
“THAT FLEETING HOPE OF YOURS?!”
The words tore from Ludwig’s throat in a primal scream as he brought the weapon down with every ounce of his remaining strength.
The blade found its mark – slipping between armor plates, through matted fur and tough hide, past shattered ribs, and directly into the Rat Lord’s black heart.
A shockwave of dark energy erupted from the killing blow, momentarily freezing the approaching horde in their tracks. The Rat Lord’s body convulsed violently, then went still. Its remaining eye glazed over as a final, rattling breath escaped its lungs.
The Creature moved no more, it fought no more and it was nothing but a corpse now.
Several notifications popped up in front of Ludwig, but instead of looking through them, he ripped his weapon out of the Rat Lord’s body, warm disgusting blood spraying like a fountain from its chest, enough blood that it coated Ludwig’s body and face.
His terrifying grin seemed to convoy meaning to the incoming enemies.
With their master dead, and though this undead was completely exhausted, drained and barely able to stand, it gave off an aura of death and despair that they instinctively knew that they should never, ever challenge.
The smartest one of them, or maybe the most cowardly immediately turned tail and ran away, starting a chain reaction where the many, oh so many rats turned to follow it, escaping in a sea of screeches and screams that would be described by nothing but utter, complete and mortifying terror.