The Mad Rat's Lab

"Five seconds," Ricard reminds us. That's the time until the machine fires again.

We sprint forward, keeping track of the seconds elapsed internally. Counting to five isn't that hard after all. But soon, we're forced to find another place to hide in, halting our progress.

*Zooom…* The next light burst floods the empty passage. It lasts five seconds, as it has always been.

"Four seconds."

We desperately resume our dash forward, but this time, we have one second less than before. We're making almost no progress like this!

I run as if my life depended on it. Which it does, now that I think about it.

*Zooom…* "Three seconds!"

"Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!"

This is the last stretch before the dungeon core room. We're almost there! We're so close, yet so far away!

We stumble into the last room and immediately disperse in all directions to avoid the incoming light beam.

*Zooom…* Waiting for the light to disperse, I take a look around me.

This is the last room. According to the preliminary match rules, the zones around the dungeon portal and dungeon core are always revealed, so we've known all along that this is a simple rectangular room without any monsters or traps. The only thing of note is the gap separating this room into two, and the narrow bridge to cross the instant-death fall, placed right before the dungeon core. We'll have to cross the bridge while the light beam is off, or jump over it somehow, and then break the core.

In fact, from my current position, I can already see the dungeon core's purple light. "If only I could break it with a ranged attack…" I shake my hand in protest.

I almost have a heart attack when I see 'someone' shake their hand at the same time as me. No, not 'someone', but 'another me'.

"Another me…?" Quickly, I realize the truth. Sorry, I was wrong. It isn't like it's a Doppelganger copying me, nor is it a 'dark clone' or an illusion. It's just a mirror… "Wait. A mirror!?"

It isn't until now that I realize something. The walls aren't as straight as I thought. Different sections protrude in different ways, creating irregular surfaces.

And they're all covered by mirrors. Even the ceiling and ground are covered by them, too.

"I have a bad feeling about this…"

Like a creaking robot, I turn my neck to look behind me. And sure enough, as soon as the light burst ends, the entrance starts shaking. The ground rises, and what was previously a large hole transforms into a mirror wall.

We're trapped. We're trapped inside a mirror room with a laser powerful enough to turn us into dust.

Why can't I ever stay quiet!? Why do I always have to jinx it!? Fuck me and my blabbering mouth that always says more than necessary!

"Two seconds!" Right then, Ricard reminds us of what little time we have to move.

It's no use running anyway... Even if we avoid the light, as long as the walls are set up as 'indestructible', the mirror will reflect the beam infinitely until it inevitably lands on us.

But even if it's useless, I instinctively start running, following after my teammates.

"If only the machine took longer to fire…" I complain. If the cooldown was still at ten seconds or more, we should have enough time to cross the bridge and safely destroy the dungeon core. "Time, we need more time! Time, time… Ah!"

I suddenly come up with a crazy idea. How can we get more time? That's easy! We just have to 'block' the light beam for a while!

"Lily, use Conversion Veil on the beam! Baldy, block it with your body. Buy as much time as possible!"

"W-what!? Are you trying to kill me–" Ricard shouts, complaining. But I cut him with a single word.

"Mirrors."

Ricard, as well as Clara and Laura, almost fall to the ground in shock. Their bodies shake in disbelief as they understand the meaning behind my words.

Ricard's change is the funniest of them all, as he suddenly turns pale. Well, paler than usual. Undead are pale by default.

"F-fine. I'll do it. I hope your plan works…"

Following my orders, Laura uses one of her new skills, Conversion Veil, right in the middle of the light beam's path, creating a shimmering wall. Then, Ricard places himself on the other side, ready to take the light beam with his body.

Conversion Veil is Laura's ultimate-like skill. Since our team lacks ranged capabilities – with me being the sole real user – we decided we needed a skill that could help us overcome a situation where we're forced into a ranged battle, and Conversion Veil is that skill.

Although it doesn't reduce the damage taken, just reducing the size of all attacks while increasing ours, if timed properly, is enough to turn any fight to our advantage.

We tried it the other day, and it also affects Chain Lightning's jump range. But the funniest part was seeing a Fireball passing through the Reduction side. As one of the most famous and commonly picked skills, I almost choked in laughter when I saw the explosion wasn't bigger than my head.

Sooo tiny! Sooo pathetic, hahaha!

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

…Sorry, now isn't the time for delusions. We're in deep shit. I should focus on the present.

As for Ricard, after the beam's size is reduced by Laura's skill, with the combination of Impenetrable Wall, which blocks all AoE attacks and skills and prevents them from hitting those behind him, and Undying, an undead-exclusive ultimate-like skill, Ricard should be able to block the beam for up to ten seconds.

There's no need to explain Undying. It's just a very undead-themed skill that prevents their death but reduces their maximum stats. Once the maximum HP reaches zero, after ten triggers, the undead automatically dies.

If you ask me, it's a perfect skill for an undead tank.

And an even better fit when you take Ricard's 'undying' passion for explanations into account. He can talk for several consecutive minutes without a single pause to take a breath… Something no one should be allowed to do according to the natural laws.

*Zooom…*

Just two seconds after the last beam passed by, a new one appears. The machine releasing them, now clearly visible, is massive. Standing proudly in the distance, far enough that it isn't considered inside the same room as the dungeon core, it looks as menacing as it is impressive.

As usual, the Extinction Glare (temporary name) is traveling at an incredible speed. Forming a massive two-meter beam, it makes all my fur stand on end… until it touches the Conversion Veil and suddenly shrinks.

At twenty centimeters wide, it looks pathetic in comparison. But don't be misled by its size: it still has the same power to obliterate anything it touches.

Ricard receives the tiny beam smack in the middle of his chest. As soon as the two make contact, his HP falls to one, the bar above his head going from almost full to empty in the blink of an eye. Ricard's pain is written on his face. It isn't that the light hurts, but that he truly hates having to stay put, watching impotently as his stats fall like this.

Meanwhile, Laura, Clara, and I continue our mad sprint.

We have five seconds to reach the bridge before the light stops. And then, we'll have one second to cross it before it fires again.

You're right. In any way you look at it, it's impossible. But, lucky for us, that's not my plan.

We stop at the edge of the cliff. While Laura and Clara anxiously wait for the five seconds to pass, I instead give them more orders.

"Lily, activate Scapegoat between Baldy and me."

"Are you sure? What crazy thing are you planning… You know what? Okay. It isn't like we have a normal way out of this..."

Yeah, demons are the nastiest creatures and have the nastiest faction-exclusive skills.

I still remember that time I used Chaotic Beam on a demon just to have its damage and effects redirected to another one, and then reflected at me, going a full round around. It was horrible. I knew the other demon was using a skill to reflect my attacks, that's why I targeted the other one! Who could have expected this double redirection!?

But now that it's in Laura's hands, Scapegoat isn't terrifying. Instead, it's one of the best weapons we have at our disposal. Furthermore, it synergizes absurdly well with Ricard's Undying.

"And Lemon…" Ooh, boy. I'm going to regret this so much. "...throw me to the other side of the bridge with your tentacles."

"Hehe, sure!"

My sister extends her squishy and slimy tentacles my way, ready to follow my orders, but I unconsciously take a step back. Luckily (or unluckily), her reaction is faster than mine, and I soon find myself in her grasp, unable to run away.

As a shiver runs down my whole body, Laura activates her skill. An ominous blood-like chord, invisible to our enemies, materializes between Ricard's Champion and mine.

When Laura activates her skill, we lock gazes. She says. "I can hold it for three seconds at most."

"It'll be enough," I nod. Then, I signal to Clara to proceed.

*Zooom…*

In the time it took for us to talk and get ready, enough seconds for the machine to stop, cool down, and fire again have passed. But this time, there's a difference. Starting now, the cooldown has reached zero.

There's no more cooldown. The machine won't stop anymore.

"Hehe. Here, I, gooo!" Clara starts spinning. My speed quickly increases, and I soon find myself soaring through the air, still encased in Clara's tentacles. "But how are you going to aim for the core? You won't see anything while inside the light beam!"

I didn't need to explain to them that all this was to destroy the dungeon core before we all die. That's the only way we can stop the Void Lance (temporary name). Everything inside the dungeon, monsters included, stops working as soon as the dungeon core is broken, and they're smart enough to understand this much.

But still…

You're saying this now, Clara!? Shouldn't you ask it before you start spinning!? No, before you throw me!?

"Uaaaaaah!" Clara extends her tentacles to give me even more speed, driving my whole body towards the light beam. Right under it, there's the hidden dungeon core, safe from the light's danger.

While in the air, I have a clear view of our situation. As if time slowed down, I can see Laura struggling to maintain two spells at once. I can also see Ricard, barely holding on for his life, and Clara, whose tentacles extend all the way from her shoulders to my waist.

I can also see the dangerous bright light approaching my persona.

With a soul-shattering evaporation sound, Clara's tentacles burst into dust. As soon as they touch the light, Clara's HP bar disappears, and her body drops to the ground.

Right then, the shimmering wall, Conversion Wall, shatters with the sound of broken glass, and Ricard, barely holding on, is completely engulfed by the original-sized light beam, disappearing from my view. The light then continues in a straight line, touching the mirrors at the end and splitting into countless, smaller rays.

"This is… The end." I mutter as gravity takes hold of me and I fall into the light beam.

There's no going back now. I only regret not taking this seriously enough. If we had known that the cooldown would keep getting shorter and shorter, we could have taken more risks. We wasted too much time making sure nobody died at the start, and we paid the price now.

I close my eyes and allow the inevitable to happen.

"Fufufu! Haha–" But as much as I try to, I can't hold my laughter in. "Fuhaha! It's all going according to plan!"

*BOOOOOM!*

The two light effects entwine and disperse simultaneously, and almost all the light in the bright room disappears. My eyes take a while to get used to the sudden darkness.

Silence prevails, only broken by the fragments of the dungeon core falling to the ground.

"We did it! Hahaha! I knew this would work! We did it!" Well… that, and my shout.