Chapter 48: Finding a Needle In...

[Mission: Kill The 7 Rat Elites!]

Floor 11 was a cave. One so big that Josh had no idea how far the walls and ceiling went.

All Josh knew was that he could feel the rocky floor under his feet and hear the scratching sound made by countless rats scurrying all around the place, not that he could see any.

Josh couldn't help but grimace from the cacophony as that sound reverberated all around. It felt like some kind of noise that would be used in a torture chamber to drive a prisoner insane.

Now, there was something peculiar. Oftentimes the blood-red sky could be seen glowing on the realm, but it was absent. The entire place was plunged in darkness, quite similarly to the Kobold Cavern.

This time, however, there was something different. The creatures had been organized and mining. No, here it was different! As Josh came closer, he could see a gray sea. There was moving fur all around. There was also the smell of beasts, a musky one. They clearly didn't do much toileting recently.

There were countless rats, but surprisingly Josh didn't feel threatened. The creatures seemed to be sticking to a vast circle in the middle of the cave. Some glared at Josh but none actually made a move to attack him. It was as if there was an invisible boundary forcing them to stay there.

Then again, such a thing wasn't surprising. The Tower seemed to present game elements that the gods had clearly included for their own enjoyment. It seemed like the edge of the cave was a safe zone.

Now, there was only one thing to test. Josh dashed inside. Instantly a few dozen rats jumped at him. He quickly retreated in a hurry, all the way outside the boundary. That's when happened something truly magical. The jumping rats in mid-air were stopped seemingly by an invisible wall, slowly sliding down.

That would have made a great window or window cleaning commercial! Josh could see the resentment in the eyes of the creatures. If they could speak they would have probably been shouting at him "Come and fight you coward!" or something similar.

Now, Josh needed to kill 7 elite rats. That would be difficult for a very simple reason. Looking around Josh could see tons of gray names. All the rats were level 11 Creeps! This mission was akin to searching for a needle in a church. (Yes that kind of needle)

To make things worse the names kept showing up and disappearing. It seemed like there was a limit to the number of nameplates that would be displayed at once. To make things even worse..the visibility was horrible. At this point Josh felt like he was using the Forc* more than his eyes, he would have made a great Jed*!

Josh simply had to keep his eyes open for anything blue and kill it. There was no point in procrastinating. There was only one way he knew how to clear such a thing. A guerrilla tactic!

Ready…set….go! Josh simply charged in the sea of giant rats. He could see their red glowing eyes and their long and sharp teeth. He could hear their constant squeaking and clawing.

Josh simply started cleaving his way through, sending dismembered bodies everywhere! It felt like riding a wave, with a plank, and in a storm. Point is, Josh could feel the threat of death. Well, such a tiny detail wouldn't stop him.

After slashing for a few minutes, Josh couldn't take it and had to retreat! Quickly getting back to safety he turned around observing the sea of rats.

He couldn't help but sigh. The pack showed no sign of having lost members. It was similar to trying to empty a sea using a cup, a goddamn waste of time! He couldn't pick any item either as it kept falling to the ground and getting lost.

Still, all Josh needed to do was an assassination. The main problem was locating the target in the first place. All he could do was a methodological sweeping of the entire area. Hopefully, there would be some results eventually.

How long does it take for a valiant man armed but nothing but a stick (that can morph) to kill a blue rat? Two days! Josh actually found one the first day already but came the problem of the meat shields. There were so many monsters between him and his target!

Josh eventually figured out a trick. The elite rats would be at key locations on the battlefield. He simply had to memorize those and he would be fine. Ah, there were more possible locations than the number of elite rats and they kept rotating but still.

On the third day, Josh had already completed the mission. Now, there was something he was curious about. Where and what was the boss?! All this time he had mostly seen regular rats.

Josh figured that said Boss would probably be at the dead center of the area. Thus started a journey filled with rat corpses. But soon came a problem. The distance to cover was quite big before he reached the Boss.

Josh eventually saw the creature he was looking for:

<Alpha Rat Lv 18☠️ >

The creature was bigger than a horse. I seemed very quick and had the potential to tear Josh apart easily. Plus, he was already getting pushed back by the sea of rats. For once he gave up, albeit only temporarily.

He would be back for sure! "Teleport out!"

While thinking about his next move, Josh couldn't help but wonder if he would be ambushed once more by some curious reporter or something.

As soon as the red glow receded, Josh could see people excitingly watching their UW and leaving excitingly. What was up with them?

That is when he heard a beep. There was a message from Dale:

Dale the Phoenix: OMG, did you see the new product Ouroboros is selling?! This shit is amazing! I heard that they limit the first sales to the members of the top guilds! This is discrimination! Actually, it makes sense. If the Rankers adopt it then everyone else will follow. Make sure you buy one when the public release comes!

This definitely piqued Josh's interest. It concerned Rankers so hopefully, it was related to the Tower directly. Josh simply followed the flow of circulation. There were many going to check it out, even the ones that knew they wouldn't get one.

Before long Josh was back in front of the awesome building with the holographic swimming snake!