Why the hell was that creature crying? Rue should be the one crying after seeing the two mountains of dead bodies between their table.

  It looked different from the Tall-rat beside it.

  [Blight Rats, Arch Noble-rat—Level 30]

  The Noble-rat was more prim, but by no means did it look weaker than the Tall-rat. It was just more put together. Its limbs were still lanky and bent, but its posture was straight, allowing it to wear a sort of leather armor with a trace of steel gleaming faintly across it. Bottles of acid strung across its armor, and they shone like a green lantern beneath the night.

  And more importantly… Arch-core? It was the first time he met another as an opponent. It was still level thirty. Sure. But Rue knew the potential of an Arch-core. At least he thought he did.

  Hold on.

  This rat wouldn’t have had the chance to invest Creation points into a spell like him, right? Roh did mention there was a way to do that. The Fallen Angel had mentioned something about Profession. Rue had no idea what that was, but assuming the rat had one… Or knew how to increase the spell’s proficiency fast with Arch-core.

  This might be troublesome.

  Rue somehow wished he could just face another group of Tall-rats again. Not that he was confident in beating them, but he just knew what to expect and could plan around it.

  Speaking of planning, I should go through the stairs and hide to recover.

  He had thought that it was just another two Tall-rats. Now, the question was, did he keep going?

  Rue inspected both daggers in his hands, scanning over their bright jade gleam. He did not know how to use these things. It was not like a sword came naturally to him either, but back then, those imps were so weak to his obsidian sword. So he learned by slaughtering, but these Tall-rats were clearly proficient in fighting. Rue might already have several levels ahead of the rats, but he was very aware that if one showed up with a full canister, he would be in trouble despite his level-up.

  He stepped out of the tunnel's shadow. Cold still fanned across his back. The tunnel exhaled with a freezing draft, and moonlight beamed down through his helmet.

  A brief comfort passed by.

  Then a voice boomed from the Noble-rat.

  “Human! Why don’t you come here and we can talk!”

  It can speak? Huh.

  The Imp could speak his language too… But the Drip-rats looked mindless with their savagery.

  Well, let's see where this was going.

  “I’m not going anywhere!” Rue shouted.

  “Are we supposed to scream across for each other like some savages! Have you no manners!?” The Blight-rat screamed.

  That was surely rich considering he stood between two mounds of bodies…

  Rue did not reply. He let silence drift for a moment, and soon the rat spoke again.

  “This does not need to come to a fight between us! Chosen ones! Do you really want to risk everything when your future is so bright?”

  Bright future.

  It was something that Rue was currently fighting for, if anything. Still, hearing Sruka imply that and now this rat did strike a brief hesitation, locking Rue’s body. This whole special quest was indeed madness if he thought about it again.

  The rat kept going.

  “I’m sure you have gone through some tragedy in your first Stage. Even as an Arch-core, it's very unnatural to achieve such a high level in such a short time, which was all the more reason we should coexist! Just leave this stadium—this city alone. All of this is mine! And once you enter the last World, I shall reward you with equipment or even a Class evolution involving Blight or Acid Property when I eventually become a Rat-King! As you can see, I’m also an Arch-core. My Corroded Throne will grow fast! Especially with the mana density of the last World soon. Now, what do you think, human?”

  A class evolution? Yeah, this kind of information was being kept from him by Roh. This was something he was not supposed to know until the Second Stage. Also, he had two classes, so how was this supposed to work? With his Authority too.

  “Can I take your no-answer as agreement?!”

  Rue scowled. “No, it merely means I’m thinking!” He shouted over. This would be tiring.

  “Here, take this.”

  Rue flinched at the new voice above him.

  He spun and hoisted his daggers up. Above him, standing atop the tunnel entrance, was a man in a dark-green military uniform with burn marks that scorched half of his face and one eye almost gone as they bubbled over with green.

  The man held a short metal baton and dropped it down for Rue to catch.

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  He eyed it and picked it up with his hand still holding his dagger. It was a microphone.

  “Just push it when you speak,” the man said. His head peered down at Rue. “It will carry your voice through the stadium.”

  “Who are you?” Rue cut to the chase.

  “Name is Fruer. Ein told me about you, James Lisbon. Now, I want you to buy time.”

  “Humans! How disrespectful must you be!” The Noble-rat howled.

  “Are you fine up there?” Rue asked. The Blight-rats should still be all over the stadium.

  “I’m not, but since the giant canister destroyed, the small rat has weakened and lost its mind. That priority target over there did not seem to realise.”

  Priority target? So it is dangerous.

  “Any plan? What am I buying time for?”

  “Evacuation.”

  Rue had to stifle a sigh. Evacuation? Screw that. He needed to plant the tree right here.

  “Ein had not briefed you on everything then.”

  “Oh, he did. But even the few small rats were too much for us to handle, nearly half of us already dead. That one commands the man-rats to keep going and destroy the reinforced watching platform with his… magic.”

  “Enough of this!” The Noble-rat screamed at the top of his lungs. “If you’re not willing to—”

  Rue pressed the microphone, and it turned on with a blue light. He shoved it into his jacket’s pocket and took up his dagger again.

  “Ah, I’m sorry about that. Now, what exactly do you want?” Rue asked, his voice carried away by the stadium’s mighty sound system.

  “You dare talk normally while I scream?! I—" The Noble-rat growled.

  It spoke to the Tall-rat beside him, and the next thing he knew, the Tall-rat was now the one screaming.

  “My lord just insulted you—” The Noble-rat whacked the Tall-rat’s head and rumbled something. “I mean, I believe my lord had already told you what he wanted! He wants you to leave! And as such, a reward shall be given!”

  “Can you specify what reward I will be getting? I’m still new to the whole universe. I would appreciate more explanation.”

  “Well done, James Lisbon,” Fruer said.

  It took a couple of seconds for Rue to realise that the man was behind him, now cloaked in darkness as he walked across the cold shadow. So, the side stairs led directly to the seating? Was Ein and the others safe then?

  Fruer was not alone; behind him, Ben followed with a toothy grin and the dagger Rue had given him, which had lost its acid.

  “Ah? This?” The old man lifted the dagger and slung one hand across Fruer’s neck. “Old Fruer here, and I ran into one of the rats. Let me tell you, it was lucky that another rat's body lay around, so we used it as a shield, and I got a stab at its head.”

  “The reason was those rats lost their minds because they can’t refill their acid thanks to you, as I heard,” Fruer mumbled the last part, his ruined eye peering at Rue, and for some reason, despite not having class or Authority, the man sure was scary.

  Maybe Rue had fought too much, but the thought of Fruer disappearing into the darkness around him and using it to choke him prickled his mind.

  What was that?

  “You’re welcome, it’s indeed me who had done that,” Rue said.

  The Tall-rat was shouting. “When you reach level one hundred, you will go from Null Being into Brittle being—doing so will unlock class advancement and your class can be decided by a myriad of methods, including a blessing from…”

  “That’s interesting,” Rue muttered, but right now his focus was on Fruer. Without turning to the man, Rue said. “I disagree with the retreat. We can kill that rat.”

  “You did not know what he was capable of,” Fruer pointed out.

  “Then tell me,” Rue this time turned, not bothering to half-listen to the rat anymore.

  “I agree with Fruer here, lad, better run. We could even set a camp in the national park not far from here,” Ben said.

  “In an open field!” Rue pointed out. “Without any defence. These stadium walls are perfect, Ben.”

  “The park is covered by tens of thousands of Arran trees, a natural hiding place even thicker than most forests,” Ben explained.

  Rue shook his head. “There is a chance that the System tree will grow very high; even here is already a bet. Also, I took down the big canister; now they have none.”

  Ben was about to argue further, but Fruer halted him. “If you think we could overcome him, then let’s hear it.”

  So it’s him? The rat did indeed act like a human.

  “That rat—the one feasting. He was capable of summoning an acid dragon! I saw it myself just earlier, destroying one of those fancy spectator boxes,” Ben exclaimed. “This is madness.”

  “Dragon?” Rue tilted his head.

  “Hydra,” Fruer clarified. “A seeking hydra, three at most, and its range encompasses all of Arbeau.”

  “How big is this hydra size?”

  “Five soccer balls big?” Ben asked Fruer, who merely nodded.

  “Then we can do something about it,” Rue said. He had a plan, a concept of it at least, and it should work…

  “Will people die?” Fruer asked.

  “Yes,” Rue said, bluntly. “And this requires a lot of people, as many as possible. How many survivors are left?”

  “Five thousand. We just rallied together thanks to the rats losing their minds, but the Tall-rats still roamed through the stadium and hunted down our people,” Fruer said without any trace of emotion.

  Almost half dead.

  Rue liked to think they had arrived as early as possible. Even so, this was the grim reality of their new world.

  “Enough! Enough! You are not listening!” The Noble-rat screeched.

  “Back away, now all the way through the tunnel!” Fruer commanded with all urgency.

  “Not up?” Rue asked as he retreated slowly. He reached down to grab one of the Drip-rat’s bodies. He stabbed into the dead monster's flesh with both of his daggers and yanked the bloody big rats up.

  “No, he would just target us if we went straight to the seating. And what are you doing?”

  “Come on, each of you grab them, I will show you the plan,” Rue said as he dragged the two rats up.

  “Hurry!”

  “A barricade?” Ben grumbled. He tucked the acidless dagger across his belt and lifted two.

  “No, not a barricade,” Fruer said, eyes narrowed on Rue. “A shield wall.”

  “What?” Ben blinked, staring at Rue. “Have you lost your mind if we’re out of formation even just—”

  “Incoming!” Fruer shouted.

  Rue knelt, bracing both rat bodies. Without missing a beat, the two military men quickly stacked their dead rats on top of Rue's and braced their backs against their makeshift barrier.

  How were they supposed to move like this?

  When Rue was about to complain, a sudden pressure almost blasted the barricade apart. A stream of acid splurged from a small gap between holes across the rat barrier, and poor Ben almost had his face melted away.

  “Shit!” Ben cried out.

  “Tighten it, Ben!” Fruer screamed.

  “This is the plan!” Rue shouted, eyeing the encroaching acid just to their left and above them. That acid flowed behind them thanks to the rat skin, which was very effective at spreading the acid apart.

  “Imagine a thousand charging at him, each holding a rat shield! That rat will run out of acid eventually! Leaving now is a waste!”

  “This might work,” Fruer said once the stream of acid let down.

  "Also," Rue added. "Negotiation is an option. That one sounds like he was desperate to talk to me."

  "Negotiation?" Fruer's eyes narrowed, and anger flickered underneath them. "Do you know what they have done, James Lisbon? Most of the survivors' dead family members' bodies are now being eaten by them. Their loved one's corpse was mangled. I saw a rat drink blood from a cracked skull. Do you think you can work with such a savage?"

  Well, I'm doing it now.

  "Too ask them to work with the rats? Such a thing is too cruel."

  "Well, commander, it looks like now you have a choice. Either me leaving, or you tell them to suck it up."