Chapter 7

The mechanical rats facing Victor were getting smashed to bits straight away. Not a single rat could withstand his assault. Each swing of his saber cleanly severed at least one mechanical rat in two, while his shield delivered powerful blows that could smash several mechanical rats at once, causing sparks to fly.

However, the sheer number of mechanical rats was overwhelming. They numbered nearly a thousand and surrounded Victor densely. While he could violently sweep through the mechanical rats in front of him, he couldn't watch his back at the same time.

In just two minutes, the back of Victor's mecha was already covered with a layer of mechanical rats. They frantically gnawed on the back of his mecha like starving wolves. But despite their sharp teeth, they couldn't breach the mecha's defense, failing to inflict any real damage.

"This won't do." While slaughtering the rats in front of him, Victor examined the condition of his mecha. Although the mechanical rats couldn't breach the mecha's defense, their weight was a burden that the mecha had to bear. If it was just one or two, he wouldn't mind, but with such a large number, it became an undeniable pressure.

"The power is dropping too fast." In Victor's view, the engine's power was dropping rapidly. Although the power bar didn't display numerical values, it was like a fuel gauge, showing a rough estimate of the remaining percentage.

In truth, power loss wasn't actually a big deal for Victor. Source Crystals not only allowed the mecha to level up but could also be used to provide energy to the engine. He simply didn't want to waste them. Every Source Crystal in the early stage was valuable.

"Get off me!" Victor shouted, then executed a roll maneuver, which was just a fancy way of saying that he rolled on the ground. While it looked ungraceful, the effect was remarkable.

Victor couldn't handle the mechanical rats' weight, but they couldn't handle his weight either. Beneath his substantial weight, the mechanical rats were crushed like wheat. Their metallic exteriors warped under the pressure, with some rats even being completely flattened like pancakes.

"Haha!" Victor laughed heartily, feeling invigorated. Compared to the previous method of hacking at them, this rolling technique was much more effective and powerful. With just one roll, forty to fifty mechanical rats met their demise.

"Should I just lie down and keep rolling?" This efficient way of killing mechanical rats made Victor reluctant to get back up.

He decided to keep lying down. He held the shield up to his face while letting the rats attack other parts of him.

Once Victor felt that he had enough rats piled on him, he executed another roll, sending waves of mechanical rats to their doom.

While he was happily rolling around, a mechanical rat with striking blue eyes was giving orders to its minions.

It was hard to believe, but the rats were actually crafting something with the metal chains that Victor had used to bind them.

These were the rats that hadn't joined the assault on Victor.

Victor was completely oblivious. He was too focused on the rats attacking him to notice what was happening in the distance.

By the time Victor realized it, the abnormal mechanical rat had already instructed its minions to wrap the smartly-linked chains around Victor's limbs.

When Victor tried to roll to break free, even more chains entwined around him like parasites.

Victor was caught off guard. "What the...? Oh, I forgot about the mutant. I got careless."

After the rebirth, he had breezed through every challenge, so he had become complacent. The mechanical rats' massive scale had also dulled his vigilance.

This sudden turn of events doused his overconfidence and arrogance like a bucket of cold water.

"Still, you think you can restrain me with your puny strength?" Victor snorted, his voice brimming with confidence and pride.

He knew very well that in this world filled with machines and unknowns, one could never let their guard down. However, he also understood his own capabilities. This crafty mechanical rat was merely a small stumbling block on his path.

Though restrained, Victor remained unfazed. Considering his absurd combat power, being bound by chains wasn't a big deal to him.

Each chain had at least twenty rats desperately pulling at it. While this could limit some of his movement, it didn't render him incapable of fighting back.

With a powerful tug of his arm, the rats pulling at the other end of the chain were sent flying, crashing into Victor's embrace like arrows released from a bow.

However, before Victor could deal with these rats, the chain he had freed was quickly snatched back by even more rats.

When at least fifty rats started pulling on each chain, Victor finally felt overwhelmed. The combined strength of fifty mechanical rats was enough to overpower his limbs' strength.

"Absorb Source Crystals to replenish engine power," Victor thought in his mind.

The rats couldn't hurt him, but they could bog him down, and he didn't want to waste too much time dealing with them.

While the engine was absorbing the energy of the Source Crystals, the intelligent mutated mechanical rat finally showed itself.

As soon as it appeared, it lunged at Victor. The massive frame of the mecha didn't scare it in the slightest. In fact, the rat was excited because devouring Victor would make it stronger.

Being a mutant, it not only possessed high intelligence but was also significantly more powerful than its kin.

When it pounced onto Victor's chest, it opened its mouth to reveal sharp fangs and bit ferociously at the armor.

The armor that ordinary mechanical rats couldn't damage at all started to crack under the mutant's bite.

"Its fangs are really strong," Victor marveled at the sharpness of the mutant's fangs. However, even if its attacks were effective, it would still need some time to breach his armor.

By now, Victor's engine power had already been replenished to 80%.

"Use skill: Overdrive Combat Power Enhancement."

At Victor's command, 50% of the engine's power was immediately consumed, but his combat power doubled.

"Get off me!" Victor shouted, pulling the chains with all his might.

The mechanical rats dragging the chains tumbled, creating chaos all around.

Seizing the chance, Victor jumped up and grabbed the mutant that had been gnawing at his chest armor.

"You, how...?" The mutated mechanical rat spoke in fear.

Its voice was a sharp, synthetic sound which was produced by the electronic signals of its brain. This was a unique ability of mutated mechanical creatures. Ordinary mechanical creatures could not do this.

"Die." Victor's voice was cold and merciless.

He did not waste time talking to the rat.

With a mighty grip, Victor crushed the mutated mechanical rat's steel armor. Within two seconds, he squeezed the rat into a steel ball.

The mutant's death filled the ordinary mechanical rats with fear.

The mutant was their king. With their king now dead, what could they do?

Run!

But before these rats could escape, Victor swiftly picked up his saber and shield and charged into them.

Victor was completely different from before, moving faster and hitting harder. This was the effect of Overdrive Combat Power Enhancement.

Not only did he use the saber and shield, his feet also turned into lethal weapons, stomping the rats with every step.

The mechanical rats routed under Victor's relentless onslaught.

Although the mechanical rats were swift in their retreat, Victor was even faster.

Unfortunately, the mechanical rats were skilled at digging. Their speed at burrowing into the ground was astounding. In just a few minutes, Victor already saw no trace of them.

"Dang, they're fast.

"Also, legendary skills are insane," Victor remarked, standing still in awe.

Even though he used up a lot of power, it was nothing to worry about since he could replenish it with Source Crystals. What mattered was that after the skill's effect wore off, Victor felt no discomfort in his mecha.

"Right, the mutant!" Victor hurried back to the spot where he had killed the mutated mechanical rat.

A red Source Crystal floated quietly above the mechanical rat's corpse.

"Open the Source Crystal."

"Ding! Obtained fine Electric War Scythe."

"Holy crap!"