Alchemist In The Apocalypse: Rise Of A Legend!

[This is the edited chapter guys.

Thanks for reading]

New World Kingdoms[2]

[Ace POV],

Throughout out our journey here, we didn't come across any earth rats apart from seeing their traces here and there, which was unexpected because I expected to meet at least one because this hill is apparently their home or sort, but after moving for a certain long distance, I didn't have much expectations again when I didn't meet any.

The traces we encountered on our journey became numerous though, but that all changed when we began hearing sounds that were not created by us, but by something else, and as the sound became louder by the second, whatever was creating the sound was getting closer.

"W-what would that be?" A male voice said from the four men a distance away from me with a shaking voice as the others replied to him but because they all tried to talk at the same time, it became disorderly fast.

"I-I d-don't k-know."

"Oh, no! I knew this was risky!"

Seeing this and given that these four men were all quickly rendered ineffective, I decided to fend for myself while surveying my surroundings.

It was already established at this point that these men were regular people prior to the apocalypse since they lack even the basic ability to remain calm.

I'm not sure if it was by chance, taste, traits, habits, or style, but the tunnel we were crossing through and the one we came across were both large and spacious enough that we didn't have to bend our heads or bodies to walk.

When I first saw this, I had a series of thoughts about how those short rats could create something like this, but when I considered their element, it didn't seem so strange anymore.

As I considered these things, the sound became louder, to the point where the ground began to shake.

This took me out of my thoughts about my plans.

Seeing this, I decided to stop bothering about these four because it was clear at this point, from the sound I was hearing that whatever was approaching us was not a single entity but multiple ones and the only creatures that were likely to appear in a place like this were earth rats.

Well, it could be something else unrelated to rats, but I wouldn't know.

And, while I said the rats were weak, I meant weak individually, but the problem was that if my suspicions were correct, I would be dealing with multiple earth rats rather than one, and given how these 'weak' rats handled the bear I saw, I don't think I have thicker skin to deal with that.

I've hurt myself for experiments in the past, but that doesn't mean I can't tell what will kill me and what won't.

As I was thinking about these things, I turned to look at the surface of the tunnel above me as an idea came to mind and without thinking too much, I decided to act on it without hesitation because the sound was already getting super close and as for what would happen to the four men I was following earlier if the sound we were hearing now were indeed multiple earth rats charging at us, they were left on their own because their safety was never my concern and was never on my mind.

As this thought passed through my mind, I did a small jump to carry me to the top of the tunnel and gripped the rough surface of the tunnel with both hands tightly to keep myself in mid air.

This procedure was quite simple, but finding balance was a little more difficult because I was literally carrying my entire body with my fingers.

After finding a balance in mid-air, I tried to follow the plan that appeared in my head.

Looking at the holes the earth rats were running in and out of, or the holes on the rocky hill, or the unnaturally formed tunnel in the rocky hill we were in, it was clear that all of this was the work of the earth rats, and the one thing I and the earth rats had in common was that we both had the earth element.

Perhaps the earth rats were better at using the earth element than I was, but that didn't mean I couldn't do anything because I could still barely manipulate the earth around me.

With this in mind, I circulated the mana in my body, specifically the earth mana, and then focused my entire attention on a spot on the surface of the tunnel that was directly in front of me.

I could only make do with this rough method as I continued to circulate the earth mana inside me while attempting to manipulate the earth right in front of my eyes because I had only recently acquired the earth element, which was barely 'hours' ago, and I was quite inexperienced in manipulating the earth element compared to my fire element, which I'd been using for a while now.

Fortunately, I didn't have to wait long to get the reaction I was looking for.

After successfully manipulating the earth in front of my eyes, I immediately opened a hole in the tunnel wall and climbed inside with the rough edges that came with my inexperience. After that, I immediately closed the hole while leaving another hole just below for me to breathe and see what was going on down below.

The men didn't notice the commotion I caused because the ongoing sound was loud enough to drown out my entire actions.

And yes!

The reason I and the four men never attempted to return the way we came was because the source of the sound that made me take the actions I just took and made the four I was trailing after nervous came from our very back, which was also in the same direction we came from, so we couldn't go back.

And I'm not sure why the four men didn't continue on their way with the route in front.

Perhaps it was because they had no idea what was coming and didn't want to end up in a dead end, but it could also have been because the four men were scared to death to the point where they couldn't think straight.

It was none of my business at this point because my life was more important, and even though I didn't know if what was coming could harm me, no matter how severe, I was never going to try it.

As I was thinking these thoughts, whatever was making the sound got closer, and the four men who had been stupidly panicking in fear before screamed and dashed away from their location.

When the sound got closer, all I could hear from them was cursing and the sound of something cutting through the air, so I assumed they fled.

Then there was the part of their footsteps that all sounded together for a second before suddenly disappearing.

This led me to believe they had fled, and when I finally saw the source of the loud sound and the group shaking, I felt the air in the hole I was in turn cold.

I saw multiple big black rocky looking rats run forward tightly joined together that their appearance looked like a stormy black sea passing through the tunnels with the little hole I created for air to pass through and for me to get some information about the situation below me.

It was more unsightly than the previous one I saw just outside the rocky hill when the earth rats gathered to enter the hill.

Aside from that, I was able to know the level range of the black rats running beneath me.

[Rank 1 Mutated Earth Rats Level 27],

[Rank 1 Mutated Earth Rats Level 25],

[Rank 1 Mutated Earth Rats Level 27],

[Rank 1 Mutated Earth Rats Level 26],

As if their level wasn't bad enough, the hole I dug for myself was slowly collapsing due to the shaking caused by the mutated earth rats running around.

Because I couldn't afford to come out of the hole and die, I had to make sure I didn't fall out, so I immediately began to circulate earth mana in my body to keep the earth around me steady, albeit barely.

This scenario continued for a few more minutes, which meant I also had to hold on for a few minutes before the last wave of mutated earth rats passed.

Even when this happened, I stayed inside my small little hole for a few more minutes before deciding to come outside when I was fairly certain that nothing was wrong, and when I finally did come outside, I saw something that made me look at the other side for a second before turning back to face it.

....

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[I thank you all for reaching this level with me really.

I really appreciate it.

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