NOVEL NEXT Chapter 11
Chapter 11: The Three Rat Brothers
The Three Rat Brothers.
That wasn’t their official name.
Just—
“Right. Rat whiskers, rat teeth, and a rat-like face.”
It was because they oddly resembled rats. And, well, their behavior wasn’t far off either.
They dabbled in petty theft, sneaking around to gather and sell information.
Things like human trafficking or robbery didn’t faze them; they’d engage in nearly every foul deed imaginable.
Just like now.
“Ugh… Spare me…”
A bloodied man lay sprawled on the ground, seemingly caught mid-crime.
The reek of alcohol wafting over suggested they’d targeted a drunkard for their robbery.
“Why’d you have to gouge out his eye, though? Seriously, your standards are low.”
A deep wound marred his eye.
Even if they wanted to rob him, they could’ve just beaten him up a little. The unnecessary cruelty was just who they were.
People like them—weaklings who used excessive violence against anyone weaker than themselves.
And when things got risky, they scurried away under the name of their organization, like the trash they were.
-Crack.
I stretched my body.
I’d captured plenty of these scumbags in the game, and now I’d get to do it in reality.
“This is an early XP event.”
In the game, you could find and take down delinquents in alleyways during specific times and earn decent experience points.
The real reason I’m bothered?
“These guys were part of the Deep Worms, right?”
The reputation of the gang they belonged to.
That same gang had a habit of making appearances at regular intervals, in specific areas. It was a way to guard their turf and discourage intruders.
After all, who would willingly wander into an alley infested with punks like these?
Still—
“These guys have tasted blood.”
They weren’t to be underestimated.
“What do we have here?”
“A brat with a death wish, maybe?”
The men sneered down at me with savage eyes. Their gaze, sharp and predatory, gleamed unnervingly—proof they’d killed before.
-Clench.
I tightened my fists.
Facing knife-wielding thugs barehanded— It was something I would’ve never imagined doing on Earth.
In a game, losing HP is one thing, but in reality, the stakes were life and death.
If I said I wasn’t nervous, I’d be lying.
“Damn, this is nerve-wracking.”
Thump. Thump.
My heart pounded in my chest.
And yet—
“Oddly, I kind of like it.”
The more my heart raced, the less tense I felt, and a faint thrill began to rise.
At the same time, my body surged with strength as the Explosive Pulse skill gradually activated.
It suddenly clicked.
[Explosive Pulse (1-Star) – Passive]
– Enhances output through bursts and acceleration of mana.
– (1-Star): Mana Engine
The Mana Engine effect attached to Explosive Pulse had kicked in.
[Mana Engine]
– Fear and anxiety?
– The Mana Engine’s beat is stronger than your trembling!
– Provides strong resistance to mental damage.
My mental state stabilized, and a strange exhilaration replaced the trembling.
As I reveled in the sensation, the men started to position themselves.
-Swoosh.
Rat Face stood in the middle. Rat Whiskers and Rat Teeth took the flanks.
A basic yet effective formation.
The man in the center, positioned slightly to the rear, was the eldest of the Three Rat Brothers.
“What’s with that brat’s glare?”
“What, here to beg? Come on over—I’ll beat the snot out of you.”
“Hahaha! Hey, boss, don’t scare him too much. He’s frozen stiff!”
Their laughter grated on me as they advanced.
Their eyes gleamed with the slimy menace of those who’d killed before.
-Whoosh.
One spun a dagger in his hand, flaunting it.
They didn’t care whether I was a kid or not.
Fine by me.
That would make it easier when I killed them.
Still, since they seemed hesitant—
“You know, you’re all really ugly.”
I threw out a light provocation.
“You little punk!”
It worked like a charm.
The two thugs lunged at me immediately.
“Seriously? That worked?”
Pathetically easy to provoke.
But I couldn’t let my guard down. Those daggers were real.
-Leap.
I darted backward, keeping a watchful eye on them.
The adrenaline was cooling, my mind sharpening with focus.
It’d been a while since I’d faced someone so openly determined to kill me.
[Explosive Pulse (1-Star) – Passive]
-Boom!
-Whirrrrr!
I could hear the engine of the skill revving in my ears.
Mana coursed explosively through my body, strengthening it.
By the time they were nearly upon me, they were already in range—close enough to hit with a swing of their blades.
But—
“Too slow.”
Their movements were pitifully sluggish in my heightened perception.
With my body enhanced by mana, my senses and reflexes operated on a completely different level.
-Tug.
I grabbed the wrist aiming for my neck, twisting it slightly to divert the blade’s trajectory. Simultaneously, I sidestepped the stab aimed for my shoulder.
It all happened in less than a heartbeat.
“Plenty of breathing room.”
There wasn’t a shred of panic or fear.
If anything—
[Physique: Herculean Strength Shows Its Might.]
-Crack.
“Aaaaargh!”
Pathetic.
I simply grabbed his wrist and twisted it with raw power, snapping it.
-Clang!
The sound of his weapon clattering to the ground coincided with my fist slamming into his throat.
Then, I spun, driving a back kick into the stomach of the thug behind him.
The sensation of muscle and flesh giving way was deeply satisfying.
-Boom!
“Guhhh!”
One of them let out a bizarre noise as he flew backward, slammed into the wall, and crumpled to the ground with his head buried against it.
That blow likely caused a concussion—or ruptured organs, if nothing else.
Not that they deserved any sympathy. They were the ones who drew their knives and tried to kill me first.
Of course, even if they’d been minding their own business, I would’ve beaten them senseless anyway.
There were two reasons I came here. First, I wanted to sharpen my mastery of mana cultivation and develop my combat instincts.
And second—
“To shift my alignment to Good.”
In the game, every character had a karma system. Do bad deeds, and your alignment shifts toward Evil. Do good deeds, and it moves toward Good.
And what happens when you eliminate an Evil-aligned character?
“Your Good alignment increases.”
It was a straightforward system, and these guys were clearly Evil-aligned.
-Crunch.
“Aren’t you joining in? Or are you just here to watch?”
I grabbed the man, who was choking on his own breath from the blow to his throat, and called out to the last remaining brother.
The eldest stood at a distance, watching his siblings crumble.
I gestured with a crooked finger, beckoning him. The coward swung his knife around uselessly, unwilling to close the distance.
Fine by me.
“Makes my job easier.”
-Crack!
I drove my knee into the face of the man I was holding. My kneecap sank deeper than I expected, jarring me.
“Yikes.”
Was a human skull always this soft? I hadn’t noticed when sparring against Nohr.
“This physique is ridiculously broken.”
Now that I was facing some common thugs, I could see the sheer extent of it. My Herculean Strength and Mana Circuit weren’t top-tier for nothing. They were outright cheating.
“You’re all so weak, aren’t you?”
“You bastard!”
The eldest let out a bizarre howl in response.
It was only natural. These guys hadn’t even reached the lowest tier of power. The small fry were dealt with, and now it was time to focus.
“Let me ask you something.”
I slowly approached him, step by step. He matched my pace, retreating.
“If you’ve got questions, just ask!”
“How’s Baikal doing?”
“Why do you—”
“Answer.”
“…He’s fine.”
Good.
I’d just been confirming.
There were about four weeks left until the duel. At that time, I needed to deal with Baikal and obtain the Diamond Part.
“Might cut it close.”
If I moved quickly, I could manage.
“Take this!”
“Oh.”
My brief moment of thought gave the eldest an opening, and he bolted.
Wow. I half-expected it, but he really left his brothers to die.
Not that it was surprising—it was exactly the kind of trashy thing he’d do.
Still—
“Why does he think he can escape?”
I adjusted my stance, leaning forward.
-Crunch!
My thighs tensed, and the Mana Engine roared to life.
Like revving an engine before a race, the power surged, sending energy coursing through my Mana Circuit.
-Boom!
I launched forward, leaving the ground cracked beneath me.
The result of my training culminated in three techniques:
– Modern Martial Arts.
– Heavy Strike.
– And this—
[Full Sprint (E) – Active]
Its effect was simple: run really fast.
The speed just happened to defy common sense.
I dashed toward him like a speeding car.
-Grab.
My hand caught the back of his head just as he turned the corner into another alley.
-Crunch!
I drove his head straight into the wall.
Blood splattered everywhere as the poorly built wall crumbled, leaving a sticky red smear to mark where his head had been.
“I’ll need to work on this.”
Pain flared up my arm.
The sheer speed made it hard to stop myself. The combination of Explosive Pulse and my physique seemed to exacerbate the issue.
I wiped the blood off my hands and surveyed the scene.
“Maybe I overdid it.”
Two mangled bodies and one with its skull crushed lay strewn about. Broken bricks and pools of blood littered the alleyway.
Still—
“This should serve as a warning.”
It was excessive, sure, but necessary.
Now the Deep Worms would be on edge, sending stronger members next time. Fighting weaklings didn’t help me improve.
I needed tougher opponents to gain experience, grow Explosive Pulse, and prepare for Baikal.
As the leader of the Deep Worms, Baikal holed up in a safe house, rarely stepping out. I needed to create an environment that would draw him out.
“Time to leave.”
-Rustle.
The commotion had stirred the slum’s residents. Footsteps and murmurs echoed from the shantytown. I pulled my hood low and quickly exited the alley.
Before leaving, I dropped a single potion onto the drunkard who had been their victim. I wasn’t sure how badly his eye was injured, but the potion should help.
Though I felt a twinge of regret for wasting it—
“Good deeds always pay off.”
It would contribute to my Good alignment, after all.
* * *
The alley Kellen left behind.
From atop a rooftop, the demon Shureg watched with gleaming eyes.
It had been a short while since he began observing Kellen von Bayerle, the second son of the Count, on the Count’s orders.
From his incredible display during the test against Nohr to now—
“At fifteen, he’s already killing people in the slums.”
Shureg marveled at the madness.
That the targets were delinquents mattered little.
To him, humans were humans, regardless of their moral standing.
What stood out was Kellen’s ruthlessness.
Especially the last blow—crushing a man’s skull? Even for a villain, that was extreme.
Kellen had shown a gentle, almost meek demeanor at the Cradle of Wolves.
“Could he have been hiding his insanity all along?”
It was an intriguing thought. If so, it meant he’d concealed his bloodlust and madness perfectly.
A wicked grin spread across Shureg’s face.
“This might be a truly extraordinary find.”
A human suited to serve a demon. A human worthy of investment—perhaps even more so than the Count himself.
With that thought, Shureg stepped back.
He decided not to report this incident.
Curiosity burned within him to see just how far Kellen would go.
-Swoosh.
Shureg’s form vanished into the night.