Chapter 37 - Running
Hundreds of lemmings were seen running across the landscape and all of them without exception chasing after him. They were terrifyingly fast.
This sight made Viktor couldn\'t help but wonder, these creatures were nothing but a small creature with around 20 battle power, so how did they get so fast that he would be in threat of being caught up if he slowed down just a little bit.
For a swarm of them to end up chasing after him, there were two possibilities. It was either his Djinn\'s sensors were broken, or the creature was a type that has all its stats distributed on agility while its strength and endurance would be absurdly low.
The latter reason would also explain the golden lemming\'s hard skin. Most likely, its battle power was all laid into its endurance.
Other than those, there was one other possibility, something that he still loathed to consider in this changed world. Magic.
Even so, it was a bit hard to believe that the tiny golden creature he was holding tight in his hand while running for dear life could do anything as complex as using magic.
Shrrieeekkk!!
As if being called upon, the golden lemming once again let out a piercing noise. The waves produced were enough to shake the trees, and the horde of lemmings went berserk before they proceeded to run even faster.
In the meantime, a violent headache assaulted Viktor once again as he heard the noise, making him almost trip on his feet.
If it wasn\'t for his high endurance, Viktor would immediately faint a little after hearing the noise, just like his companion.
As the hundreds of rats grew more and more ferocious the longer they gave chase to him, it was safe to assume that the tier 3 rats could do magic.
Viktor held the small furry creature in his hand and narrowed his eyes. "If I release you, will you tell your fans to stop chasing after me?"
It appears that it was able to understand him perfectly, as immediately after, the creature answered by nodding its head continuously.
Releasing the creature seems to be the safest option for now, however…
Thump!!
Without asking further, Viktor hit the golden rat as hard as he could with the handle of his dagger. The effect was immediate, as the golden lemming\'s eyes could be seen squeezed shut in an instant. It has passed out.
Viktor was not that stupid, there is no way he would believe the \'words\' of a rat. But then, the real problem was still hot on his tail.
Viktor knew that he wouldn\'t be able to fight all of them in a battle. As he kept thinking, the Djinn spoke to him.
<I must warn you, right now, you are heading towards the mutated bear.>
Before, the news would have terrified Viktor and he would immediately stir his course to get as far away from it as possible. But now, it was good news to his ears.
"That is great, where is it?!"
By following the directions provided by the Djinn, Viktor purposefully led the endless horde of rats towards the massive 5-meter tall brown bear. As it sensed Viktor approaching, the bear roared and showed its sharp fangs to intimidate the latter to stop his advance. Alas, Viktor was unperturbed.
"Hey, pooh bear! I brought friends over, say Hi!"
Roaarrrr!!
The furious bear\'s roar shook the trees, but Viktor was confident in his speed so he kept running. He quickly positioned himself between the bear and the horde as bait, before he dashed away as fast as he could.
However, the next thing that unfolded in front of his eyes terrified him more. The powerful brown bear couldn\'t even retaliate, as the horde climbed and jumped onto it. He watched as, within seconds, the bear was reduced into a pile of bones.
"What on earth is this?!!" Viktor quickened his steps in fear.
"This is scarier than the zombie hordes!"
"What should I do now?!" Viktor\'s thoughts ran in frantic circles as he wracked his brain for a solution to his predicament while he kept on running from the mutated rats for fear of suffering the same fate as the pooh earlier.
Even though he started to feel the fatigue, Viktor still pushed on, spurred by his primal desire to live.
He was getting more desperate as his mind ran out of options to think. Then suddenly, he remembered about the frozen river.
"Ah, yes, that will do!"
He dashed across the frozen river without thinking too much about how it cracked little by little by his steps as he went further to the middle of the river.
In almost no time at all, Viktor reached the other side of the river and turned around. The hordes of rats had emerged from the hills and forest; the hundreds of little creatures crossed the frozen river without knowing what fear was.
The horde began to step onto the cracked surface of the frozen rivers, and as more and more rats crossed, the cracks on the ice started to widen and gaps began to appear. Viktor, who watched this with an anxious heart, screamed loudly.
"Break!! Break!! Come on break!!"
He was desperate and frantic, as he watched the frontmost lemmings have all almost reached him. However, like the last straw that broke the camel\'s back, the frozen layer of ice finally broke as more rats stepped onto it, destroying the surface of the river into hundreds of tiny splinters. The horde of rats were mostly plunged into the icy water, causing them to start shrieking in panic.
"Hahahahaha!"
This was the most satisfying view he had ever seen.
"Yes yes yes! Die you all filthy scum!! Hahaha!"
However, Viktor\'s smile abruptly disappeared as he saw one of the rats jump out from the river in front of him.
Two.. three… a dozen.
Right at that moment, his face turned pale as realization hit him like a truck.
"Fu*k!! Lemmings can swim!!"
As he stared with mouth agape, dozens upon dozens of wet-looking lemmings poured out from the formerly frozen river in front of him.
"No, no, no, no!!"
One of the closest lemmings jumped up at him, and in reflex, Viktor used his dagger to cleave it into two. Two more lemmings jumped towards him from right behind the first one, and Viktor once again slashed them into pieces while he quickly turned around and continued his frantic escapade.
[You have received the spirit energy of mutated lemmings - level 20.]
[You have received one points of agility]
On any other occasion, Viktor would be happy seeing the notification, but unfortunately, one point in agility would have not that significant effect on his current predicament.
He needed a weapon that allowed him to kill all these lemmings, hundreds at the same time.
Viktor wished he had a flamethrower or something similar right at this moment, as it would be great to slaughter hundreds of tiny enemies like this.
He sensed movements from his hand, and as he looked down, Viktor saw the golden lemming was already awake. The tiny creature was trembling while letting out strange noises reminiscent of laughter. It was clear, the golden lemming was laughing at Viktor\'s misery.
The sounds from the rat, along with the ridiculous prospect of being made fun of by a tiny thing less than half his size made Viktor fume, and as he ran, he thought of another idea. He was so desperate that he had to resort to using a trick he saw on the discovery channel he watched in the past.
Figuring he had nothing else to lose, Viktor made the decision not to run too fast. He slowed down just enough that the lemming horde was able to follow him without catching him.
He then led them up towards a hill with a deep incline, and he finally reached his destination. It was the highest cliff in this area.
It was at least 300 feets drop, the scene below was pretty scary to see when he was this high. However, it was between this or being devoured to the bone like the poor bear.
He took another look at the hundreds of lemmings behind him, and at the last moment, he placed the golden lemming into his jacket pocket and braced himself for the jump.
Aarghh!
The fall felt too cold and quick, causing Viktor to scream as he descended.
With every inch of strength he had remaining, Viktor proceeded to stretch his hand and tried to grab the tall trees along his descending trajectory, and after a few hits and failures, he managed to hold onto one of the tree branches.
It was then that he saw from the tree he hung on to, that lemmings were raining down the cliff.
Crazed Lemmings jumping, committing mass suicide