With the room now properly sealed up through the help of the gnome, Ashton turned around and stared at the mass of rats climbing onto each other. They were starting to drop dead, whether it was because they ate parts of the marked's corpse laying on the ground, or because they were hurting each other in their ravenous rampage.

  But their reason for death didn't matter right now. Most of them were turning into zombies, and some have already started.

  Without hesitation, Ashton channelled the gnome as the elemental sat atop his head, using it to sense all the earth in this room. Rather, all the 'changes' to the earth in this room.

  Even this had changed, though, through the influence of Veil Mastery. Before, Ashton was only able to sense directly when some dirt or rock was moved. He was hoping to use that ability to stop any rats from escaping this room. It was possible that some of them were strengthened enough to dig their way out through the wall. Especially with a rat constellation watching this place right now, plus a bunch of others that were actively trying to ruin him and the town, Ashton couldn't risk anything.

  Otherwise, he would have just sealed the room up from outside and turned it into a furnace with the salamander, but it was far too risky. As long as he had the gnome, he would be able to try and seal up anything that the rats were digging up as he killed them all, preventing them from escaping.

  But now, through Veil Mastery, Ashton was able to see more than he thought. Far, far more. It wasn't like the channelling suddenly became stronger, but maybe that moment of realization that came with the Veil Mastery skill gave him a new perspective on that initial 'sensing' step, too. Ashton could see all the vibrations flowing through the ground. Whether they were caused by him or the rats. Usually, these tiny tremors would be far too weak to be sensed, but now they were as clear as day.

  So much so that it was tiring him out almost right away. Ashton wanted to conserve himself as much as he could. With the combination of the 'Mental Strength' and 'Stamina' potions that he made, he was effectively able to reset himself as if he had fully rested, but in return, he would grow tired much faster until he slept for real.

  He wasn't sure by how much, though. Back in Lumia, Ashton's body was different. He was strengthened considerably through the Summoner's magic, so although he grew exhausted, he could stay up for days at a time without even feeling it. During the times when Ashton was acting independently and particularly when he was under time pressure, he used this potion combination a few times, but there, his ability to stay up for a week would be cut down to five days. He wasn't sure how it would affect him now, especially if he expended this much mental strength by using magic.

  Hopefully, he would be able to finish this fast. At this point, he didn't even care if he had to burn everything in this room afterward, but he would kill all of these rats.

  Ashton channelled the wisp through his staff, and mentally locked on to all of the tiny footsteps in the room. He started spinning his staff around, hitting zombified rats and mice with the wisp. Every time the elemental hit the ground, Ashton flipped the end of the staff it was channelled through and had it jump back up to hit the next.

  It looked like the wisp was bouncing up and down from spot to spot, leaving behind crushed rats in its path.

  Ashton jumped over an old table, landing on some cardboard boxes standing behind it. They were mostly empty and were crushed under his weight. But it was still safer than just standing on the ground.

  He leapt over, from box to box, rolling over the tables while spinning his staff in this small, narrow space.

  The rats were climbing on top of each other, trying to get closer to him while clawing at the others' bodies. Their infected blood was forming a puddle on the ground, making it even harder for Ashton to get closer. He would have to fully disinfect and get rid of any trace of blood from his clothes later anyway, and he would prefer not to have to fully throw his shoes away. The way things were now, everything was still salvageable.

  Of course, not all of the rats were attacking directly, since not all of them had turned right away. They were scared and in pain, and were trying to get out. Even the monster rats. Influenced both by the barrier placed on the school by the guardian, and, presumably, the Ruler of Rats, some of them were trying to escape. Their claws were strong, and they could find and dig through all the weakest spots in the walls.

  This place was old, so there were plenty of those. That meant that, all the whilst dodging the rats to avoid being infected, Ashton had to get close enough to the rats trying to escape to not only kill them first and seal the wall back up with the gnome. Luckily, for the ones that were a bit deeper in the wall already, Ashton could do both at once, and then force out the rats' corpses.

  Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

  Though he wanted to finish this fast, this was a fight much more suited to be stretched out. Take it easy and be safe about it.

  Ashton could push himself a bit; he would just need to speed up the rest of his plans a bit.

  "This is... fine!" Ashton pushed the staff into the ground, vaulting over a group of rats, but they immediately tried climbing up the staff. "Not going to happen!"

  Ashton twisted the staff as he lifted it off the ground, leading to some of the rats being thrown into the air. Immediately, Ashton swung his staff at them, managing to kill two with that attack while the wisp's trajectory caught another one of them.

  But the rats were still getting a bit too close for comfort. Ashton had the wisp fly over the group of them, sticking to the ground, before using the 'force' spell to throw them all backward. Since most of the rats and mice were pretty small, they were tossed away easily, but some of the bigger ones, those that started out as monsters in the first place, managed to recover pretty easily and came at Ashton again immediately.

  At least this way, he was able to focus on those and take them down immediately, so that he just had the small fry to worry about after that. Not that there was any monster in this room that couldn't be categorised as a 'small fry'.

  Things were looking good. Ashton would do this, in just a few more minutes, all the rats would be dead, he could burn down everything in this room, and then move on.

  At least, that's what he thought.

  But as the rats that were thrown away all recovered, Ashton had to deal with something he didn't expect.

  [[Eight-Legged Queen] points out the beautiful web in the corner of the room]

  [[Ruler of Rats] is angry at you for killing so many of their children]

  [[Banner of Freedom] is amazed by your ability to move]

  [[Smallest Shadow] promises that you will not be able to escape them for long]

  [[Undying Breath] asks you to join them in eternal death]

  [[Year's First Rain] silently stands back]

  [[Ruler of Rats] curls up their tail]

  [[Smallest Shadow] says you are a worthy opponent]

  [[Undying Breath] happily looks at the puddle of blood on the ground]

  [[Year's First Rain] refuses to join this farce]

  [[Eight-Legged Queen] laughs at the Year's First Rain]

  [[Banner of Freedom] points out they just did]

  [[Ruler of Rats] tells their children to attack]

  [[Smallest Shadow] loudly proclaims themself as your nemesis]

  ...

  ...

  ...

  A flood of messages appeared in front of Ashton. When they came at a normal speed, he was able to just push them out of sight and ignore them, but that wasn't the case now. They popped up right in front of his face, exactly in the place where he was looking. Even when he tried to mentally dismiss one, two more will have already taken its place.

  The worst part was that system messages weren't just a visual thing. The information on the windows was, for the most part, placed directly into your mind. The higher your ability to sense and control mana, the 'louder' the messages seemed to become.

  And Ashton's sixth sense was strong enough that this sounded like people had surrounded him and were trying to talk to him all at once, blocking his view.

  [[Guardian of the Innocent] realises what is happening, and asks for help of the others]

  [[Daughter of the Scarlet Heart] is furious at the fellow constellations' cowardice]

  [[Observer in the Veil] is ashamed at the sight of their fellow constellations]

  The other constellations had caught on to what was happening as well. In a battle where just the tiniest scratch could kill Ashton, this was essentially a death sentence.

  But there was someone who had a word to say about that.

  [[Executor of the End] refuses to let you meet your end this way]

  [[Executor of the End] invites you to a private chat]

  [[Executor of the End] points out that all other messages will be momentarily blocked]

  [Do you agree to a private chat with the [Executor of the End]? Yes | No]

  Ashton didn't even have to think twice. He immediately agreed to the private chat, and the flood of system windows that were still popping up all around him instantly disappeared and were replaced by a singular window.

  [You have entered a private chat with the [Executor of the End]]

  [[Executor of the End] tells you to-]

  That last message was cut off. Or at least, Ashton's perception of it was. There was something else that drew his attention more.

  Really, all of this stupid message business happened over the course of a few seconds, and it wasn't like Ashton had stopped moving and fighting during that time. But it did open up some blind spots.

  A blind spot in which a rat, which had climbed up onto a tall pile of boxes by the wall, leapt over to him. It had landed on the staff, and the instant the messages disappeared, it bit his right hand's index finger.

  What happened after that happened almost completely without a moment of clear thought. He could feel that burning pain of the infection in his finger already. The wisp shot toward him and used the 'force' spell to throw the rat away, as Ashton let go of his staff with his right hand.

  He brought it to his face, and placed his finger in his mouth.

  And then, Ashton bit his index finger off.