Both Kanaria and Melody furrowed their eyebrows as the pace of these rats coming out was much faster than their original expectations.
When Kanaria shot it, one beast might die, but three or even four would have passed that door.
As a result, she only managed to kill three rats before the remaining seven came out. She was lucky that she managed to hit the last rat.
However, the situation didn't look that bright. There were seven rats, moving at lightning speed toward them.
More importantly, the rats were moving at high speed toward them. And without the light, they couldn't see their tier or gather more information like their body or strength.
Kanaria hurriedly changed into her pistol again and shot the incoming rats multiple times. To her surprise, these rats were actually more agile than the rats that stayed on this floor.
None of her bullets actually hit. Melody also did the same, but the result was similar to Kanaria. She managed only one hit, which wasn't fatal.
Her left hand reached for the grenade in her bag, but she soon stopped, realizing that this place was important. If the grenade ended up destroying the basement, their purpose of coming here would be gone.
Noticing their situation, Kanaria shouted, "We are going up."
"Yeah." Melody nodded in agreement as they climbed back to the ground floor. She remained facing the bottom of the stairs and kept shooting even if there were no rats. They should be aware that charging into her line of sight would kill them, so the two managed to reach the ground floor without any injuries.
However, the rats began to emerge one after another.
Their shape looked like that of a rodent, but their skin was white. There were a few green spots on their fur and their heads seemed to be bloated. It seemed that the radiation had mutated them to a certain degree.
The fact that they managed to avoid their shots earlier meant that the radiation also boosted their reaction speed.
"This is Gobiconodontidae. Similar to the modern rodent…" Melody recognized it through the AI.
"If I'm not wrong, they were supposed to live alongside dinosaurs." Kanaria's expression turned grim.
However, the one that caught their attention the most would be the slightly bigger rodent. Its eyes were bloodshot and the claws were long as though they were blades.
These seven rodents charged ahead, splitting into three to surround Kanaria and Melody.
To their surprise, Kanaria charged ahead.
"I'll take care of the big one. You take care of the rest." Kanaria believed that this rodent would be either Tier 1 or Tier 2 based on its strength. So, she chose to fight this one while letting Melody take care of the Tier 0 creatures.
She widened her vision to check her surroundings. The rodents from the front took this opportunity to stop her. Two more rodents also turned around, trying to eliminate her first.
But Kanaria got a good grasp of her surroundings. She hurriedly turned diagonally to the left and stepped onto the chair before jumping over it.
During her spin in mid air, Kanaria pointed her gun toward these four rodents, shooting them.
The rodents avoided it the moment they saw Kanaria pointing her gun. It seemed that they understood how it worked and made their move accordingly.
The high tier rodent also went toward Kanaria. Since she was still in mid air, she wouldn't be able to block him.
But to his surprise, there was actually light attached to the ceiling on the third floor. She grabbed the cable with her legs and swung around, avoiding the beast.
The rodents thought she was just lucky that the cable was there. But for Kanaria, she knew that she wasn't lucky. It was a well-calculated move. Only someone with wide vision could do it.
Kanaria landed on the ground with a confident smile. When she was about to pick up the gun, another gunshot echoed inside the building.
"!!!" The rodents were startled, realizing that one of them who focused on Kanaria got hit by Melody's bullets.
*Scree!* The leader informed the others to focus on Melody while he took care of Kanaria personally.
Unfortunately, the one who got hit ended up succumbing to his wound before it was able to attack.
Kanaria couldn't help but smile, finally getting the chance to fight against this mutated beast.
The mutated leader charged toward her while sweeping its right claws.
Kanaria ran to the side, avoiding it. When she turned around, she saw the claws actually slice a wooden chair cleanly.
It was also fast since the leader closed the gap between them in just a second, not letting Kanaria shoot him.
Kanaria was forced to grab her rifle and use it like a shield.
Kanaria frowned. The impact of that attack was quite powerful. Fortunately, this rifle was made of high quality materials, so she didn't have to worry about it being destroyed.
'This attack power surpasses that of a normal Tier 2 beast,' Kanaria muttered. However, she didn't think that this rat would be comparable to the Tier 3 beasts that Jay and Clovis fought.
'I guess I should call this mutated beast… a Tier 2.5 or something.' Kanaria chuckled inwardly as she received another attack from the claw.
When the rodent wiped its tail, Kanaria took a big step to the back and rotated her rifle, aiming it toward the beast. With this range, there was no need for her to look at the scope anymore.
The rodent tried to avoid it, but Kanaria pointed it at the center of its body. So, even if it managed to twist its body, the bullet still hit the edge.
The rodent looked like he was in pain. But he had learned enough from Kanaria.
Suddenly, he reached out for the chair he had slashed earlier and threw it toward Kanaria.
"!!!" Kanaria was startled, thinking that the rodent was supposed to attack her more straightforwardly.
When she got distracted by the chair, the rodent closed the gap between them.
Kanaria had to jump to avoid the chair, so by the time the rodent reached her, she was still in mid-air. She hurriedly put the rifle in front of her like a shield, but the rodent ended up slapping her to the ground, causing her to roll a few times.
"Mhmm…" Kanaria bit her lips.