The Mad Rat’s Lab

This chapter has a different POV.

 

As the water drags me away, I have free time to chastise myself for my own stupidity.

“What was I thinking!? I forgot the Minitaur Queen can push you away… I didn’t position myself properly, I had a water canal just behind me! Aaaaagh!”

Things like this are a common occurrence in this dungeon if you ever lower your guard… And let’s be honest, I DID lower my guard there quite a bit.

“But I was sure today was the day I could finally reach the end! My muscles are still filled with excitement and extra energy, telling me that I’ll beat it today! But I’m clearly doomed right now! What’s wrong with me!?”

Could it be that this is too a plan made by the Evil Mastermind? Can he really plan everything up to this level? No, no, no… stop thinking weird things, this is clearly impossible!

But if I can’t beat it even when my intuition tells me, when will I recover my orc pride!? Haaaaaaah, I want to cry right now!

While I’m blaming myself and complaining about the Evil Mastermind’s plans and strategies, I feel something biting my leg.

“What’s it now!?”

I lower my head but I only see water everywhere. Not very long ago, the water canal ended and dropped me into the underground river, so it’s pretty dark right now. But I still can see enough, and there’s nothing in the river…

“Agh!”

I’m in high tension looking for the culprit, so when I feel another bite, I can’t avoid being surprised.

Wait a moment… invisible and in the water… It’s the fucking WATER ANTS!

“Leave me alone! I’m trying to reflect on my mistakes here, you stupid weaklings!”

At the same time as I finish speaking, I feel the bite from another ant.

“You dare! I’m going to exterminate you!”

In a crazy fit of anger, I randomly attack everything in close proximity. I continue until the river drags me to the underground lake inside the big cavern. By then I’ve calmed myself down thanks to releasing all the accumulated anger caused by my failure and my overconfidence against the Minitaur Queen.

Now that I’ve calmed down, I start to talk to myself. “Now what…? I’m alone here, I don’t think I can reach the end of the dungeon easily without any support unit, and even less beat the Minitaur Queen… Is this another failure? But I was sure today was the day I was going to beat it…”

Not knowing what to do, I slump down to the ground. “Haaaah…” I suspire. “What should I do if I can’t believe in my intuition anymore? Should I leave the dungeon and accept defeat?”

For now, I decide to list what happened today and try to find out why it went wrong. The list isn’t very long, because I only did a single mistake; but the problem is with what led me to lower my guard and make that mistake.

“First of all is my intuition telling me that I would beat the dungeon today… It’s clear I shouldn’t have believed something like my intuition when it came to ‘The Mad Rat’s Lab’! How stupid can I be!?”

“Then, it’s the easy encounters and lack of trouble. Usually, we would have been ambushed several times, or suffered pincer attacks… Plus we didn’t find any dangerous traps… The only thing out of common that we encountered was the mysterious disappearance of the goblin mage.”

Now that I think about it… I was pretty lucky today, wasn’t I?

The only conclusion available to everything is: that it was all a plan from the Evil Mastermind for me to lower my guard and crush all my hopes at the same time! It’s always his stupidly convoluted and evil plans that make me suffer! Aaaaaagh! How much I hate him!

At this moment, I notice that there’s something floating in the lake, slowly moving in my direction. With my pride and expectations shattered, I can only think of it as part of the Evil Mastermind’s plan to finish me off once and for all.

“What’s up now!? Don’t tell me it’s another new enemy! I don’t want any more surprises, I’m already tired of them!” Wary of what’s to come, I prepare myself for combat.

Slowly but without stopping, whatever’s floating in the water approaches, until I can finally see what it is.

“...Oh!” Surprise and excitement fill my face at that moment. “YEEEEEES! Not everything’s lost! Huh, huh, huh.”

My shout and laughter fill the whole cavern, but I’m not worried about attracting enemies because we cleared them all the first time we crossed it.

What’s floating in the underground lake, slowly drifting toward my position, is a tall and very muscular green humanoid: one of my orc Warriors. And the best of all is that I can see the HP bar on top of it, so it means it’s still alive!

“We were fighting near one of the water canals, so it’s easy to imagine that the orc was pushed into it, the same that happened to me! My brother, you survived the fight against that nasty monster and came back to me! I’m so happy to see you again!”

I’m so happy that if this wasn’t a game, I would be crying right now.

When the orc drifts close enough, its AI resumes working properly, and the orc starts swimming in my direction. I wait for him, but right before he can reach me, I see something else floating in the lake.

“This…! No way… This can’t be possible! Not in this damned dungeon!”

Am I dreaming right now!? How could something as good as this happen in this dungeon? It’s the first time something this good happened in all my dungeon invasions! And this is including all the other dungeons I’ve ever invaded!

The second object that’s slowly drifting to where I am is the body of the second orc Warrior! And like the first one, it’s still alive!

“I must thank my luck for this reunion against all odds! Who could have expected something like this to happen!?”

“Huh, huh, huh!” My loud guttural laughter echoes throughout the cavern. “I knew it! This is a divine signal from the orc god! It’s the signal that I was right, and that today is the day when I’ll reach the end of the dungeon and recover my orc pride! Huh, huh, huh!”

Overwhelmed by emotion, I spend a short time crying (well, not exactly because my champion can’t actually cry). Who could have thought, after so many failed dungeon invasions, that I’ll have so much luck in this damned dungeon!

When I finally recover, I can’t stop myself from hugging my two surviving orcs. Completely sure of my incoming victory, I swear to myself and my sworn enemy.

“I’ll show you now, Evil Mastermind… I promise on my (lost) orc pride that I’m going to dismantle all your plans and destroy your dungeon core today! And nothing’s going to stop me, not even my (bad) luck!”

 

---

 

I’m currently in front of the door that leads to the Minitaur Queen area again. It must be true that I’m blessed by the orc god today because we didn’t find any trouble on our way back to this point.

“Now, focus! I can’t allow myself to lower my guard or fail again!”

I anxiously look around, but I can’t see any sign of the boss. I’m sure it’s moving randomly through the room, waiting for us to come inside.

Contrary to the previous time, I advance slowly, taking special note of my position and where the water canals are located. I’m not going to fall for the same thing again! I won’t get close to them until I’m sure the boss won’t push me into the water another time!

Now that I’m moving slowly, I have a lot more time to look around. The most striking feature in this room is the water canals, obviously. They randomly cover the whole room, making it impossible to easily traverse the room unless you can fly. And the Minitaur Queen can fly, that’s why it’s almost impossible to avoid.

The room isn’t flat, having elevated platforms and passages everywhere, further complicating the layout and making it more difficult to traverse. I’m sure there is a need to use the different floors and passages to reach the end.

Metal sheets cover most of the floor, especially near the water canals. The rest of the floor and walls are made out of cut stone, giving the room a mix of rustic and modern at the same time.

The room is also full of laboratory equipment. Everywhere I can put my eyes on, there are cables, mysterious capsules filled with colored liquids, large and clunky machines, big storage containers, and boxes dripping ‘suspicious’ substances… I’ve also seen a few containers with beating organs inside. Ugggh! Gross!

Unlike the previous laboratory rooms, this one is organized and the laboratory is properly stacked. You might think this is something good, and it usually would be a good thing, if not because of the fact that it is now impossible to move between them: the laboratory equipment, boxes, stasis capsules, etc., are tightly packed. This makes the room more difficult to move through because all laboratory equipment acts as walls that impede both my movement and sight.

And the distribution of the laboratory equipment and the layout makes me feel as if everything is unique but at the same time it all kind of looks the same, making it impossible for me to find clues about where I currently am, or where I should go.

About a minute after entering the boss room and randomly choosing paths to take, I can see a shadow getting close to our position at a fast speed.

“You decided to show yourself again, huh!?”

Just in case, and to not repeat my previous mistake, I immediately look around my current position. There are no water canals nearby, only laboratory equipment, so we are safe.

“Come here! It’s time for our rematch! Huh, huh, huh!”

The Minitaur Queen and I clash again, and like the first time, I’m launched a few meters back. The only (but very important) difference is that this time I fall on the ground instead of into a water canal.

“Hah! Your trick will only work the first time against me!” I shout. At the same time, I rise my battleaxe overhead and swing it against the boss monster. Both orcs join the melee and it quickly escalates into a lethal weapon dance.

It’s a 3vs1. Even if the Minitaur Queen has higher stats than me, and the orc Warriors are weaker, we deal quite a lot of damage. After exchanging a few attacks, the boss decides to disengage and fly around our position while launching spells.

At this point, there’s almost nothing I can do other than launch a few Phantasmal Weapons, so I decide to continue moving forward while avoiding the spells the best I can. 

“You little shit! Come here and fight like a man!” I shout. I don’t know if it’s because of my words, but the boss turns around and starts flying away. “Yeees! Run away like the chicken you are! And only come back if you are ready to have a straight fight! Huh, huh, huh!”

I mock the boss with my words, but in fact, I’m more scared about losing sight of it than having to face its constant spell barrage. That’s because I won’t be able to predict where it will charge from when it comes back… making it easier for the boss to surprise me and drop me into a water canal. Again.

“I’m sure it’s going to take a break to recover MP now, let’s move as fast as we can before it comes back!”

I switch gears and start running through the room. I don’t have any idea where I’m right now, or in what direction I should go. I’m just following my instincts here!

It’s impossible to completely avoid the water canals, so I don’t have any other option than to pray for the Minitaur Queen to not appear when I move close to them. And it seems it works because it came to attack two more times after the first, but every time we were far from the canals and there was no real problem!

Slowly but surely, the Minitaur Queen is exhausting us, after every clash, our HP is lower than the last time… But the worst is that every time the boss runs away, it seems like it recovers all HP, EP, and MP!

“What the heck did you do, Evil Mastermind! Is it even possible to kill this boss!?”

I would need to inspect the boss to know what skills it has, but it’s impossible to do unless it stays still for a few seconds, a very unlikely thing to happen during combat. The other option is to inspect the corpse, but this is even more difficult because it runs away every time we deal enough damage!

This boss and boss area makes me feel as if I’m hunted and played by a strong predator. I never know where the boss is, and I can’t hope to defeat it, so I can only defend myself. And the worst is that I can’t focus on the labyrinthic layout because most of my attention is on spotting the Minitaur Queen when it comes, to avoid being pushed into the water!

 

Our clashes continue. I’m at 30% HP right now, one of the orcs died a while ago, and the other is close to joining the rows of the dead. We aren’t going to last very long.

I then turn around the corner and find myself on a straight path. It’s cut in the middle by a water canal, but it has a platform that allows me to cross it. And on the other side… I can see a door that leads outside of this room. I can even see the dungeon core at the end of this path!

Is my current good luck compensation for all the previous bad luck I had in this damned dungeon!? If so, why couldn’t it be the other way around, so that I could beat it the first time!? I would have kept my orc’s pride and my sanity if it were the other way around!!

“YEEEEEES!” I shout. I start to celebrate my victory when I hear a metallic gear noise and the platform starts to move. “NOOOO! Nononononono!” I shout again.

Slowly, the platform starts to recede. Soon there won’t be any way for me to cross the water canal, and I’ll need to find another way around!

With my champion, it’s impossible to jump over the water canal because it’s too wide. But if I’m fast enough, I might be able to use the platform to cover part of the distance before it completely disappears!

I start to run. I believe I’ve never run as fast as right now. When I reach the water canal, half the platform is still outside, so I don’t slow down and make the last step before jumping.

‘Yeees! I’m going to make it!’ I think at this moment.

But, just when I’m sure I’ll beat the dungeon, and as if to crush all my hope and dreams,  I see a flying shadow approaching me in the middle of the jump.

Alarmed, I turn my eyes and see the Minitaur Queen! If nothing changes, it’s going to clash with me and I’ll be launched directly inside the water. And I can kiss goodbye to the dungeon invasion if this happens.

‘Is this the end of my good luck? Well, it was nice to feel lucky for one time…’ 

With all my hopes already crushed, I almost miss another shadow that appears right next to me before the clash happens. It’s… it’s the remaining orc Warrior!

The orc jumped to intercept the Minitaur Queen’s charge! Thanks to his honorable action, the boss hits the orc with the attack instead of me, and I can reach the other side of the water canal! When I turn around, I see the Minitaur Queen entangled with the orc in mid-flight. Then, the boss drops the orc into the water and turns to look at me.

“Brother! I’ll NEVER forget your honorable sacrifice!” I promise at the same time I turn around and run toward the dungeon core.

The Minitaur Queen follows me, but it stops once I cross the door to the next room.

“Finally! I’ve finally reached the end of ‘The Mad Rat’s Lab’! I’m going to celebrate it for at least one week!”

My guttural laughter is louder than ever. Maybe it can be heard from the whole dungeon right now!

“I’ll never forget the sacrifice and loyalty of my orcs and goblins! I’ll need to prepare something special for them!”

It’s the first time that I feel this good when I reach a dungeon core. With quick steps, I move to crush it. I don’t want to find more traps or monsters because I wasted time, and throw this rare opportunity away.

When I finally extend my hand to crush the dungeon core, I hear a *Plof!* sound at the same time I feel something heavy hitting me.

“What’s it now!?”

I look around and see a corpse near my current position. “No way…” I look up and see a Falling corpse trap. It didn’t kill me, but it did remind me of my first dungeon invasion failure ever.

“Are you mocking me!? Do you imply I only reached the end because you wanted to!? Aaaaagh! I HATE you, Evil Mastermind!” I shout.

I then grab the dungeon core. But instead of destroying it normally, I throw it to the ground and stomp on it several times.

Finally, the oh-so-much-awaited victory screen pops in front of me.

FINALLY!

 

It wasn’t too long after this adventure that the soon-to-be famous guide called ‘How to Stay Sane in The Mad Rat’s Lab’ came to life. Was it a coincidence?