The growing, survival-oriented part of Nick’s brain wanted him to walk straight in and slit the rat’s throat. This was an enemy that couldn’t be reasoned with. That would kill him without hesitation if given the chance. Ending the infected ratman’s life would take him one step closer to completing his quest and would offer him a chance to acquire some experience as well. Experience that Nick desperately needed if he wanted to live through the rest of the tutorial.

He was lucky to have caught the creature while it was asleep. A perfect opportunity to put the rat out of its misery while minimizing the danger to himself. A chance that he would be foolish to pass up. Moreover, the ratman was blocking his access to clean water, not to mention the metal tins and whatever they were storing in the barrels.

The rest of Nick, the person who had grown up in a comfortable, civilized life on Earth, was deeply conflicted. He had never fought or killed anything before, other than the komo, which had been trying to eat him, and the rat on the first level of the dungeon. Unlike his other battles, this wouldn’t be self-defense; it would be premeditated murder.

If I do this, I will open a door that can never be closed. Change a part of myself forever. I will become Nicholas Henry the murderer, and my hands will be irrevocably dyed in blood. While he stood there, caught between his rational mind and his humanity, Nick remembered the description of the dungeon. The torment he had seen reflected in the ratman’s eyes.

They aren’t self-aware anymore Nick. They aren’t people. They aren’t even conscious animals. Just unwilling hosts for the parasite. All they feel is hunger, pain, and rage. As he reasoned with himself, clasping his hands together to keep them from shaking, Nick visualized sneaking up close and drawing his dagger across the creature’s throat. It’s not murder, it’s an end to suffering. I will become a killer; there is no denying that fact. But in this case, delivering death will be mercy rather than mere savagery. If I slit its throat while its sleeping, its death will be quick and painless. It’s all that I can do for them now. It’s all that anyone can do.

Mercy aside, there was no way that Nick would have been willing to eliminate the ratman if it wasn’t helpless at the moment. The battle with the first rat was still fresh in his mind, and he had no desire whatsoever to engage another in a fair fight. His life was on the line, and he would do whatever it took to make it through the dungeon and the rest of the tutorial. Over the last week, Nick had begun to internalize that he was locked in a brutal battle for survival. A contest that he had no guarantee of winning. A merciless struggle, where passing up an opportunity to grow stronger could be even more dangerous than the risks involved in seizing it.

Nick knew that he was stalling. The creature could wake up at any moment, and his chance to penetrate deeper into the dungeon would be lost forever. He had to make his decision now, then see it through to the end. It was time for him to either become a killer or abandon the dungeon and head back to the island. After allowing himself a final deep breath to consider, Nick made his choice. The glint in his eyes was colder than ice and sharper than his dagger. He grabbed the handle of the door that led to his new self, opened it wide, and then stepped through, ready to act at last.

He took off his robe and set it on the ground next to his spear. This assassination would require stealth, and the spear was borderline useless against the ratmen anyway. After taking three steps into the room, Nick came to a halt. Not due to hesitation, but because he had realized something important. The noise he had been hearing sounded off for a single ratman, so he took two more steps to widen the angle of his view.Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

Sure enough, he saw a second rat sleeping in the far corner. Their territories must border each other, and they bunk here due to the convenient access to water. You can still do this Nick. If you kill them both, there will be only the foreman left. You might actually be able to complete the dungeon, as long as you can survive the next few minutes.

Heart pounding like a jackhammer on methamphetamine, Nick took one trembling step after another. Barely daring to breathe as he approached his target in slow, measured steps. He was worried that the creature would appear peaceful in sleep, extinguishing the sparks of his newly forged resolve like a candle in the rain. But as he drew near, the look on the ratman’s face was one of agony. It slept fitfully, whimpering in pain, lips locked in a tight grimace. Like it was trapped in a nightmare with no end.

It’s clearly suffering, Nick told himself. I’m here to put it out of its misery. Nick could not completely assuage his doubts, but it was enough to keep himself moving. He took a long look at the other sleeping ratman, which showed no signs that it was about to wake, and then stepped in front of his target, foot sliding through a line of white powder ringing its bunk.

Forcing himself to look straight into the creature’s face, Nick raised his blade as he came to a halt, pausing until his shaking hands were fully under his control before proceeding. While he waited, he looked for the beating of a pulse along the rat’s neck, until he was certain that he had identified a major artery. Ten seconds later, something deep inside Nick told him that it was time to act. He listened to this inner voice rather than his doubts, then brought the edge of the dagger down on a patch of skin pulsing below the ratman’s fur.

The instant that cold steel touched the creature’s throat, its eyes snapped open. Nick knew with abrupt, crystalline clarity, that if he hesitated in this moment, he was going to die. However, instead of faltering or fumbling, Nick’s hands moved with a brisk efficiency that surprised him. He drew the blade clean across the ratman’s artery, windpipe, and jugular in a single, savage motion, cutting the rat’s throat all the way down to its spine.

The creature’s eyes bulged, wide with panic. It tried to rise from the bunk as it shook and gurgled and gasped. He used his elbows to hold the ratman in place, as hot spews of blood poured over them both. Fortunately, it didn’t take long before it was all over. The rat bled out so fast that it was unconscious within seconds and dead soon after.

A part of Nick was revolted by what he had done, but he ruthlessly suppressed the useless emotion. Dangerous baggage from his prior, peaceful life. He silently spun in place, terrified that the soft sounds had been enough to wake the other rat. But when he looked over, he saw that it was still fast asleep. One down and one to go Nick. Do it fast, then you can freak the fuck out, throw up, or do whatever you need to do. If you fuck this up, your blood will be painting the pavement instead of theirs.

Nick kept up his inner monologue to distract himself from his tumultuous and roiling emotions, preparing to repeat what had wound up being a flawless assassination attempt. Keep it together Nick. One more time, quick and clean. Then you can fall to pieces and lose your shit.

Although he could do nothing to slow the frenzied beating of his heart, he forced himself to take deliberate, measured breaths. Eyes on the prize and let your ears guard your back. Nick forced his body into motion. Walk, don’t run. Don’t think about what you are about to do. Just walk on over like it’s no big deal until your body believes it. It’s do or die Nick. Fake it till you make it.

Despite the tension saturating his body, which felt taut as a drawn bowstring, Nick crossed the room silently and swiftly. He raised his blood-splattered blade in front of the sleeping ratman, waiting to find the ideal angle to land another critical blow. This rat looked less agonized than the others, if no less wretched. As he gazed into its sleeping face, the morals of his previous life began to stir within the depths of Nick’s subconscious, shrieking that he was slaughtering a defenseless creature. That killing a living being while it was helpless was wrong. Evil. Abhorrent.

With a surge of determination, Nick ruthlessly plunged that obsolete piece of his heart back into the lightless depths of his soul. He knew that listening would make him hesitate. That in his new, System-governed life, hesitation was just another word for death.